Summary: This week on Hide and Create, Joshua Essoe, Jordan Ellinger, Debbie Viguie, and Michael J. Sullivan talk with Richard Salter, slushmaster at Urban Fantasy Magazine about slush. So who slush reads? Some editors, some agents, mostly assistants of both of those, or outside contractors better known as mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha minions. Sometimes they’re called a publisher’s readers or first readers — note that’s a lot different than what writers mean when they talk about their first readers. Kinda. Why slush read? Slush readers’ job is to pan for gold. When they come across an MS that interests them, they pass it up the chain to the editor or the agent to make a final decision on whether that story should be purchased. What do editors look for in the slush? I want to quote Catherynne Valente, Apex’s former editor-n-chief: “We do not want hackneyed, clichéd plots or neat, tidy stories that take no risks. We do not want Idea Stories without character development or prose style, nor do we want derivative fantasy with Tolkien’s serial numbers filed off. “What we want is sheer, unvarnished awesomeness. We want the stories it scared you to write. We want stories full of marrow and passion, stories that are twisted, strange, and beautiful. We want science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three—the dark, weird stuff down at the bottom of your little literary heart. This magazine is not a publication credit, it is a place to put your secret places and dreams on display. Just so long as they have a dark speculative fiction element—we aren’t here for the quotidian. “Keep in mind that the search for awesome stories is as difficult as writing them. If you are rejected, don’t get angry—instead, become more awesome. Write something better, and better, until we have to accept you, because we have been laid low by your tale. It really is that simple.”
