Volume 3, Issue 3: November 2013

We received a lot of excellent submissions for this, our “Out of Time” issue. And I’m very pleased with the variety we’re able to bring you from the authors of the seven stories I chose this month.

The impending end of the world is faced by couples alone in their homes in both Kevlin Henney’s “Ashes to Ashes, Mañana, Mañana” and Bernard S Gaidasz’s “As the Day Fades Into Darkness.” Both of these stories have moments of great beauty and poignancy.

Paul Magnan’s “Dearest One” tells the story of a man facing the end of a year of wishes, contemplating the cost he has paid. The protagonist of Miriam Harrison’s “As Long as it Lasts” has a theory about life which he puts to the test. In Melinda Moore’s “Zeitgeist” a young woman tries to find something to fill the emptiness inside her, and discovers something more than she could have imagined. Each of these stories features a protagonist who is trying to make sense of his or her world and their place in it.

In our last two stories Charity Tahmaseb presents a family tradition of clocks and time and lives in “Keeping Time” and Danielle N. Gales deals with a day — or… something — in the life of agents of the Department of Anachronisms in her “Now and Then.”

We’ve also got a nice balance of returning authors and newcomers to this month’s issue. Bernard, Charity, and Danielle have all appeared within our virtual pages in the past while Kevlin, Melinda, Miriam, and Paul are all new to Kazka Press.

If you enjoy these stories as much as I did, I hope you’ll take the time to leave comments on them, or share them via social media like Twitter and Facebook. As someone who has had stories of his own published, I know what a delight it is to hear that a story of mine has brought a bright or contemplative moment to someone else’s day.

I’m reading for all of our open themes at the moment. The one with the closest deadline is the “Outlaws” theme. Submissions for it will close on November 20th and we’ll be publishing it on December 1st.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy our “Out of Time” issue.

-Michael Haynes

Volume 3, Issue 2: October 2013

Volume 3, Issue 1: September 2013

We’re starting off our third year here at Kazka Press (wow!). Just want to say thank you to everyone for helping make this tiny idea for a site work. I feel so lucky to bring such great, short pieces of speculative fiction to the web each month. Special thanks to Michael Haynes for taking on the editorial reins this year. Without him, we wouldn’t be here.

-LLL

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Hello again and welcome to our September issue where we have three stories based on our “Warning Sign” prompt. And three quite different stories they are! Nicholas Stenner brings us “Warning Signs in Warning Signs.” I’ve seen stories based on email conversations, instant messages, tweets…. But this was a first for me. A Tumblr-based piece and a fun one at that. We’ve got JC Sullivan’s “Do Imaginary Dogs Bite?” where a friendly challenge gets the main character into a scarier situation than she could have imagined. Finally, DeAnna Knippling’s “The Last Pearl” takes us to the bedside of a dying man who has just produced the titular item.

We’re leaving The Talking Heads behind after three months of stories inspired by some of their song titles. The next three months we’ll be exploring “Out” stories: “Outsiders,” “Out of Time,” and “Outlaws.” Submissions are open now for “Outsiders” through the 20th of September. Please note that we have a new submissions address (kazkasubs[at]gmail.com) and remember that our minimum word count is now 500, so stories of 500-1000 words are eligible for submission.

Until next month,
-Michael Haynes

A Note to Our Submitters

This is LLL. Any problems this month, blame me…not Michael.

This month, logistically, has been less than stellar. My wife and I have had the chance to spend a month and  half together traveling, and we took advantage. [We live in separate cities Sept.-Dec. and Feb.-June, so we only get weekends together most of the year.] As such, I’ve been away from home and from Kazka–which has put Michael in a bind since I’m the only one with Kazka email access.

He’s been a true gentleman, but I know it’s been frustrating for everyone.

Thus, last month, though Michael read all the stories, only the folks we accepted for publication this month got a response. Every one else got the ‘silent rejection.’ No email. Nothing. (Though all the stories were diligently read by Michael.) Shitty, I know, but it is what it is.

That was my fault. Not Michael’s. Hanging out with my wife took all of my time.

I am sorry about leaving those of you who expect a response from us–as we do every month–in the dark. This is a two man show, and we do it out of love for the great stories we find. And we do it in our free time. (Michael more artfully than I.)

So, every so often, I’ll drop the ball. It’s always me. Never Michael.

In an effort to change this, we’re shifting our submission address to kazkasubs@gmail.com. We’ll check both for a while, but then we’ll shift over fully to kazkasubs@gmail.com so that Michael has access to the account and can reply at will (instead of praying that I’m able to). You can submit to either address for at least the next two issues.

It’ll be better for everyone this way.

So, to close, I apologize for dropping the ball with rejection letters this month (and a delayed issue).

My wife is more important to me than anything, and sometimes everything else falls away.

I’m not apologizing for that part.

Best,

L. Lambert Lawson

Publisher