Planet Scumm publishes speculative fiction—with an emphasis on science fiction—stories (or collections of flash fiction) of 2,000-6,000 words. “We cherish the genre as an open forum for philosophy, anxieties, and thought experiments.” Read the complete guidelines here.
SQF: Why did you start this magazine?
Sean Clancy: Tyler Berd, Eric Loucks and I started Planet Scumm because we all had a passion for short fiction and science fiction, especially. Eric had written a few columns for Tyler's site about sci-fi zines of old called "Attention Scum," and we took that scrappy zine mindset for our own and used it as the inspiration for the Scumm project. We even adopted the column's accompanying art—this slimy little dude with a megaphone—as our namesake and mascot, Scummy.
Part of the appeal of the magazine, and what makes it fun for me, is that we try to fuse a certain devil-may-care old school sensibility with contemporary writers. We want every issue of Planet Scumm to be a bit of a mystery, like those sci-fi mags of the 50s and 60s. You'd see this wild cover art—some Buck Rogers-type wearing a fishbowl helmet and a tank top, on the moon—only to find that the associated cover story is about, like, a time-traveling insurance salesman. A little provocative, a little unpredictable, sometimes even a little gross—that's us, but without all the rank sexism, racism, xenophobia, classism, and other nonsense that could infest those heavy-hitter mags back in the day.
That attitude extends to our visual approach as well, and the work done by our excellent in-house artists (including Alyssa Alarcón Santo, Sam Rheaume, and Maura McGonagle) and our growing team of guest illustrators. Giving each story in an issue a spot illustration with our (sometimes wild!) take on a character or location isn't just about looking good, but about treating each story with maximum love and respect.
SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?
SC: I don't think we're unique in looking for a strong opening which gets to the heart of the story quickly, and an ending which brings the story to a fitting (if not necessarily "satisfying" or "neat") conclusion. I think if you have those two things the middle often takes care of itself.
SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?
SC: Too much setup or exposition at the start. Don't waste the reader's time. We often get stories where the ideal starting point is buried on page four or five of a twelve-page submission. (And keep in mind that our handful of slush readers might be going through, say, 570+ submissions for a given call.) Writers—short fiction writers even more so than others—need to start as close to the action (or "the point" or "the drama" or whatever) as they can, and make those first few pages count.
SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?
SC: A reason to keep reading. It's ironic that I keep harping on brevity, but still: cut your story close to the bone. After the first few paragraphs, the reader should be guessing as to what the story's about. (They don't need to be *good* guesses, mind you. In fact, it's probably better if they're not!)
SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?
SC: These days we try not to include too many forbidden categories/topics when we open submissions. We used to have several "Do Not Submits," but we removed them because we worried authors would self-reject stories that we'd actually want! There are certainly sci-fi genres and tropes that are hard to do well, but I'd rather not say what I think those are, in part because... I'd like to be proven wrong? So instead of listing our hard sells, I'd like to challenge anyone reading this to make me eat crow.
We've had an in-house joke from the beginning, where one member of the team advocates for a bizarre or risqué story, and someone else counters with "WE SAID NO EROTICA." While we don't necessarily seek them out, sexually explicit stories aren't at a disadvantage at Planet Scumm, so long as that material suits the overall direction of the piece. Writing intended solely to arouse isn't really our thing, though.
SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?
SC: "What's the best way to gauge if my story will fit at a given publication?" Read the publication. We put excerpts and full stories up on our blog for a reason—we want folks to read them! And we're especially keen on potential contributors using those examples to tailor their submission for a Planet Scumm submission call.
Thank you, Sean. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.
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