Status Update

Meanwhile, in the offices of Stupefying Stories...

Just a few quick notes here to let you know what’s going on. First and foremost, STUPEFYING STORIES #21 releases this coming Friday, August 3. We’re still undecided as to whether we’re going to launch it with another Free e-Book Friday, but we’re leaning in the direction of doing so. Stay tuned for more details.

Next, we’re rolling out some new changes to our Submission Guidelines, effective August 1. If you’ve been watching, you know that we’ve been tweaking and refining our guidelines all along, and if you haven’t been watching—well, that explains some of the stories that have turned up in our Inbox. The most important change we’re making is that we’ve decided to go back to our 6-months-on / 6-months-off reading schedule, to clear time for new book production. Therefore, effective 9/30/18, we will be closed to unsolicited submissions until 4/1/19.

It’s fun reading everything that comes in, but the sheer volume of submissions we’re receiving is getting in the way of releasing books, y’know?

Speaking of releasing books: STUPEFYING STORIES #22 is scheduled for release on August 31, #23 on September 28, and #24 on October 26. We can’t decide whether to release #25 on November 23 or 30, but we have time to decide, and #26 is slated for December 28. The key consideration here is that issues #22 and #23 are already full-up, and #24 is pretty close to filled, so you can stop sending us horror stories now. We already have all the horror stories we’re going to need for the rest of this year.

Finally, the Saturday SHOWCASE feature resumes this coming Saturday, August 4, with “The Moshe 12000,” a story I either need to brag about or apologize for, I’m not sure which. After that we’ll be running new SHOWCASE stories every Saturday, from now until either writers stop writing or The End of the Universe, whichever happens first.

Cheers,
~brb