Articles by Emily Harstone

Emily Harstone is the pen name of a published writer. Her work has been published in ten countries, four continents, by over fifty different journals. She is a professional submissions adviser and editor. If she owned a dog it would be named Wystan.

Writing Prompt: Wrongly Accused

In The Fugitive a doctor is accused of killing his wife. In Double Jeopardy a wife is accused of killing her husband. Both did not commit the crime they are accused of. They are both innocent. That has been a reoccurring theme in movies and literature for a very long time. It can be a…

Amira Press: Open To Manuscript Submissions

They Have Gone Out Of Business Amira Press started out as a small e-publisher of romance and erotica and has grown considerably over the years. They have sold a lot of e-books and now even have some print editions. Writers that have been published by Amira speak of then highly. They have good editors and…

Quote Of The Week

Writing Prompt: After Death

There is a book called Sum: Forty Tales of the After Life. It is a book of very short stories by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist and writer. Each of the short stories is a completely different interpretation of the afterlife. In one afterlife you know everyone else there, but just tangentially. You can never meet…

Annoucing the Winners of the Haiku Writing Contest

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner…

Quote Of The Week

Writing Contest: Announcing the Winners

Congratulations to the winners of this week’s writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our new contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest…

Writing Prompt: Dark Alley

It is a familiar scene. If you close your eyes and you can picture it. A pretty woman walks into a dark alley. She is in a big city. Their is steam rising from the sewer. It goes without saying that it is dark and the alley is dirty. This scene has been shot a…

Crack The Spine: Open to Submissions

Crack The Spine is an online and print journal. They publish four print issues a year and 52 electronic issues. They seek to publish  strange literary works in a number of different forms, including flash fiction, micro-fiction, poetry, short stories, personal essays, and book reviews. Crack The Spine has an easy to navigate website that…

Halfway Down The Stairs: Open To Submissions

Halfway Down the Stairs is an established electronic journal that has been around for some time and seems to have established a regular readership. They publish poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, as well as book reviews.  New issues are published quarterly (March, June, September, and December), and each issue has a theme. They primarily publish mainstream  literary…

Ace/Roc: Reading Query Letters

UPDATED MAY 21st, 2015: Ace/Roc is not currently accepting unsolicited submissions and their submission guidelines page  has been removed. Ace/Roc, the science fiction and fantasy imprint from Penguin, has a slush pile. A slush pile a place where writers who do not have agents or previous publication experience can submit. Not only can writers submit…

Quote Of The Week

Shock Totem: Open To Submissions

Shock Totem is a literary journal that publishes horror and dark fantasy short stories as well as non-fiction about real horrors, such as addiction. They are also open to poetry, as long as it is dark, on a more limited basis. They are primarily a bi-annual print journal, but they do publish some writing electronically…

Announcing The Winners of The Best First Line Writing Contest

Congratulations to the winner’s of this weeks writing contest! They are listed below. But first, a bit about our new contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest…

Writing Prompt: Amnesia

Amnesia has been a great literary prop for centuries. One of the greatest action characters of our time had amnesia: Jason Bourne. But he is not the only one. In See Jane Run by Joy Fielding the main character has amnesia. The same is true of Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson. However…

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