Welcome to (almost) Spring! Our March issue comes with some good news and bad news.
The main good news is that we have five great stories this month! In “Fifty Miles to Gone” and “Row I – Seat 4b“, couples deal with a dying Earth and the choices that come with it. In “All the Way Home” and “A Matter of Fate“, taxi drivers take their passengers on trips which were more than the rider had expected. And “Stay Down Nellie” features a man trying to deal with a loved one who keeps coming back from the grave. I hope that you enjoy them all.
The other good news is that we will be having our first-ever unthemed flash fiction issue in May. So, we have our “The Writer’s Life” issue coming in April (due to be released around April 15), and a completely unthemed issue (though, as always, we do look for some element of speculative fiction in all submissions) in May. (All submissions currently received for the themes we had planned for May, June, and July will be considered for this unthemed issue.)
The bad news, as that last sentence sort of hints at, is that this May issue (which should be released around May 15) will be our final issue.
I’m sad that Kazka Press is closing its doors. This place means a lot to me, having been first a place where I made some of my earliest fiction sales and then a place where I had the opportunity to select, edit, and present some really great flash pieces. But endings happen, and when the publisher and I realized that it was getting harder and harder for us to turn out a quality publication on schedule, it became clear that the responsible thing to do was to say that it’s been a good run and close things out on a good note rather than letting things implode or trail off with a whimper.
To all our readers over three-plus years, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. To all the writers who have contributed stories, we thank you as well. And to the writers who submitted, but whose stories we did not select — my message to you is that if writing is your dream, keep pursuing it! Hone your craft. Read. Get input on your stories from fellow writers. Submit, submit, submit.
And, on that note, a quick reminder that you can submit stories here at Kazka Press through April 20th for our Unthemed issue! I hope that we get a number of great submissions and that I have to make some of my hardest choices yet!