Volume 3, Issue 6: February 2014

Posted by Kazka Press on February 14, 2014
Posted in: New issue. Leave a Comment

We apologize for the delay in getting you this month’s stories. We’ll keep them on the main page for the next two issues to make sure everyone gets a chance to enjoy them. We also appreciate your patience as we redesign the site and get our archives back up. -LLL

We’re releasing our Dreams issue a few days in to this, the shortest month of the year. We hope you’ll find these seven stories to be worth the wait.

We have a lineup I’m particularly pleased with this month. On the fantasy side, Brooke Wonders brings us a truly weird tale of a woman in a bad relationship. Brynn MacNab returns to our digital pages with a story of three dreams binding two people together. Gerri Leen brings a familiar character to life in an unfamiliar way. Leo Norman shows how such small things as the odor of burnt toast can strike chords of memory. Shenoa Carroll-Bradd lets us see what is planted in the nightmare garden and the value it holds.
We also have two science fiction stories this month. In Carrie Martin‘s story, a woman’s ailment worsens every time she sleeps. In Stuart Turnbull’s piece, an accused man who claims not to dream may be more than he seems.
A lot of great stories this month and I hope that you’ll take a moment to comment on your favorites or share them on places like Facebook and Twitter.
This issue marks a year from the first issue released under my editorship. I looked back at the twelve prior issues, from February 2013 to January 2014, and selected six of my favorite stories from those twelve issues. Ultimately, this was a very subjective effort and if I did the same thing a month from now I can imagine that I might have switched one or two stories around. While I think all of the stories in our archive are worth reading, these are six I’d like to give a little extra attention to:
Pop Culture by Bernard S Gaidasz
Ashes to Ashes… by Kevlin Henney
Enteral Feeding by Gary Philips
A Burden of So Many Roses by Charity Tahmaseb
The Bleeding Game by Natalia Theodoridou
There’s at least one story from this month’s issue which I can imagine being a strong contender for my “best of” list a year from this time. And I hope that the upcoming months bring lots of wonderful stories as well. If you’re a writer, please consider looking at our guidelines and upcoming themes and submitting to us. Remember that we are open for all posted themes up until each theme’s deadline.
Thanks for visiting. Until next month…
-Michael Haynes

Volume 3, Issue 5: January 2014

Posted by Kazka Press on January 1, 2014
Posted in: New issue. Leave a Comment

Appropriately for the beginning of a new year, our issue this month is on the theme of Discoveries.

Brynn MacNab’s “The Price of Awakening” is the story I selected for the issue. There are multiple layers of discoveries (and choices) in this short piece.

In February we will be exploring Dreams. If you have a story to submit for this theme, send it in by the 20th of January!

Best wishes for the new year.

-Michael Haynes

Volume 3, Issue 4: December 2013

Posted by Kazka Press on December 4, 2013
Posted in: New issue. Leave a Comment
We’re in the thick of the holiday season now. Speaking of the Thanksgiving holiday which we recently celebrated here in the United States — I can say, in all sincerity, that one of the things I’m thankful for this year is the high quality of stories our contributors have been providing for Kazka Press. Once again we read a record number of submissions during November for our Outlaws call. Four stories from those submissions were selected for publication and they’re a diverse lot. Amanda M. Hayes returns to our virtual pages with a dark fantasy story “Across the Sea.” The other three stories this month are by newcomers to the monthly Kazka Press contest: Anatoly Belilovsky’s near-future “Pas de Deux“, Brennan M. Wion’s contemporary dark fantasy “A World Without Me In It“, and Ian Dundore’s way-out wild-west-of-the-future “The Return of LED-Eye Dick.”

I’m reading now for the issues which will be coming out in January through April of 2014. I’m sure we’ll continue to see great submissions come in to our email box and I look forward to presenting the best of those to our readers.

My best wishes to you all,

-Michael Haynes

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A small message from L. Lambert Lawson, the Kazka Press publisher:

Анатолій правильно про значення слова казки. Я сподіваюся почути одну зі своїх казок один день.

Volume 3, Issue 3: November 2013

Posted by Kazka Press on November 1, 2013
Posted in: 713 Flash, New issue. Leave a Comment

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

Posted by Kazka Press on October 1, 2013
Posted in: Uncategorized. 2 comments
This month I selected five stories for our OUTSIDERS theme. At least two of the stories are by authors for whom these are their first published stories: Richard Durisen’s “The Pop-Up Book” and Colin Bashford’s “Mean Monsters.” Both of those stories touch on some familiar elements from the horror genre but do so in radically different ways. Richard’s story is poignant; Colin’s is amusing. We have two fantasy stories this month, “Knave of Crows” by Rachel Anding and “The Peregrin” by Tracey Ambrose. Finally, William Rotor brings us “Implicit” — is it fantasy? science fiction? horror? — a case could be made for any of those. The genre, though, is not the key element, but the connection between the pseudonymous youths in the story.

Choosing the stories this month was quite challenging as we had over 50 submissions. There were stories I enjoyed which didn’t end up making the final list of selections and I’m proud to present all five of these stories. I’m also pleased that we have writers who are currently living in four different countries in this issue — Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States.

Finally, I’d like to let people who are considering submitting to Kazka Press know about some updates to our guidelines. We’ve increased our pay rate to $15 per story and we’ve also loosened up some of the submission formatting guidelines. In addition, all of the themes which we have announced are open for submissions as of this moment. So that means that right now there are SIX different themes for which you could submit a story! The first of those, OUT OF TIME, will be the basis for our November issue.

I hope that you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did. If you do, please comment on the stories and/or share them on Facebook and Twitter. I know it means a lot to authors to see people appreciating their work.

Until next month,
-Michael Haynes

Volume 3, Issue 1: September 2013

Posted by Kazka Press on September 3, 2013
Posted in: New issue. Leave a Comment

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