Feels Like The First Time: Issue 8’s Contest

The struggle to come up with a theme for the contest every issue is nearly as prolific as the quarterly search for cover art, but hey, I’m only a day late this time around!

For Issue 8, the theme for the contest is the first time. It’s a pretty loose theme — first job, first house, first kiss, first break-up, and of course, the sex.

Prizes: $20 to the winner of the flash fiction category, $20 to the winner of the poetry category, and publication for both.

Rules: Just make sure it relates, at least to you, to the idea of the first time for someone or something. Plus, do everything that the usual submission guidelines say. Everything submitted until July 1 that follows these guidelines will be considered for the contest. And of course, even if it’s not the winner, we’ll still consider it for publication as usual.

 

Issue 7 Update and Contest Winners

Did I say later that week? I meant in three weeks. Whoops.

Anyway, the winners of our flash fiction and poetry contest are Sarah Ann Winn for her poem “Sargasso Sea” and Ruben Rodriguez for his story “Inheritance.” Thanks again to everyone who submit their stories and poems; we’ll be giving you another shot in five days when the submission period for Issue 8 opens up!

And while they didn’t win the contest, we’re excited and, frankly, undeserving to have Rhiannon Thorne, Nancy Hightower, and  Marie Nunalee’s poetry, along with a short story from Tom Weller.

The new issue will be out at the end of the month, so check back here to buy one then.

(thanks for your patience)

Issue 7 is closed to submissions….

Thanks to everyone for their stories and poems. It’s been a blast reading them all, especially these past few days when business really picked up. We’ll be in touch later this week with the winners of the contest and the rest of our wonderful authors for this issue.

Issue 6 Contest Announcement: Home

It’s become a tradition to have a contest for every issue, and every time I have to rack my brain to figure out what it’ll be. I can’t just stop giving away FORTY DOLLARS, you know? So I settled on home as the theme for this issue. Makes sense, with people coming home for the holidays, good or bad. My wife and I also gave twenty bucks to a couple of train hoppers with adorable mutts, which got me thinking about what exactly home is, since I didn’t truly consider three people with two dogs to be homeless for some reason.

Anything that you feel is about home or your hometown or what home is or isn’t whatever (we’re pretty broad here), send it on in with a note saying you’d like it to be considered for the contest (all entries will also be considered for regular ol’ publication too).

All the other submission guidelines are the same as those listed here. The contest deadline, like the general deadline, is January 1. $20 goes to the winner for fiction, and $20 to the poetry winner. 

Good luck to you all, and I’m excited to read your work!

Issue 5’s Contest Theme: Innocence

So, I originally started doing a contest each issue because 

1. being one of the fastest markets in Duotrope’s database seemed like an accomplishment worth celebrating.

2. more submissions are always a good thing.

and 3. it seemed like something a literary magazine does. 

So, this’ll be our third contest, and I struggled for a theme. Working and going about my business, the question knocked around in the background noise of my mind.

After a few days, I realized that there was a reoccurring theme over the past few days. I remarked to someone that one of the ways I know I’m getting older is that when I see innocence in someone, I don’t want to corrupt them anymore, but instead admire anyone that still has it, especially at our age. Also, now that I’m older and married, I’ve got a raging case of baby fever, and infants are about as innocent as they come, what with their stupid faces and useless legs. Finally, I remembered that the first story I ever got published was about the futility of trying to maintain someone’s innocence in a place that’s anything but. 

So, the theme of the issue is innocence in any of its forms: judicial, moral, and even the euphemistic way of referring to virginity. 

$20 will be given to the best story for the theme, and $20 for the best poem. The submission guidelines are the same as the ones listed here: https://bopdeadcity.wordpress.com/submissions/, except that you must indicate that you would like your poems or story (or both, I guess) to be considered for the contest. The deadline is the same as the one for all submissions; October 1.

Finally, since I’m posting this a little late, anyone who has already submitted to us is more than welcome to submit something different that fits these guidelines. I’m not about to screw anyone out of twenty whole dollars.

Sorry, I’m having trouble with the envelope…

Oh, there it is. We’ve finished judging the submissions and we’ve picked the winners. For poetry, Sandy Hiortdahl won with “August Vortex,” and for fiction, Brianne Kohl won with “Her Feminine Circumstance.”

Thanks to everyone for their submissions over the past two months. The issue will be available for purchase sometime next week. Feel free to buy one or twelve. 

This Issue’s Contest: Summer

Our last contest was such a success that I wanted to make contests a regular thing for Bop Dead City. The last contest was for flash fiction and poetry to recognize our ranking as one of the fastest responding publications, according to Duotrope (if you’re not a member, just trust me when I say we’re quick), but I didn’t want to repeat myself. So, I needed a theme.

The first story I ever got published was set during the summer. Specifically, it’s set on a summer night in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, where I’m from. The season lends itself to sensuality, for one: the smell of sweat, the taste of saltwater, the way chlorinated water burns in your eyes. When many of us were kids, it was also a long stretch of unstructured free time, which seemed to lend itself to experiences both good and bad. For example, my first kiss was in the summertime, and my first (only, promise) arrest was in the summer too.

So there it was. I figured summer was something we’d all experienced in similar but different ways, and everyone had a story to tell about it. Not to mention, the issue’s going to come out in at the beginning of the worst part of summer, so the timing was nice as well.

Obviously, we’re still looking for the best fiction and poetry out there even if it isn’t about summer. Last round, we published lots of stuff that wouldn’t have qualified for the contest, and I’m sure this issue will be the same.

BUT if you’re interested there’ll be two prizes, one for fiction and one for poetry. The submission guidelines are the same as for any other submission, it just has to be about summer in some way: summer as the setting, summer as a subject, even Summer as a character’s name (or if you want to get way out there, the personification of summer as an actual character is an option).  Twenty bucks to the winner of the fiction category, and twenty bucks to the winner of the poetry category, just like last time. The deadline for the contest is the same as the general deadline: July 1. Just mention in the body of the email that you’d like to have your story/poem(s) considered for the contest.

As the saying goes, a life without love is like a year without summer, and who the hell wants that?

1st Annual Flash Fiction and Poetry Contest!

I mentioned in the last update that I wanted to have a contest, and now I found a decent reason to do so. Duotrope (if you’re not familiar, you need to be) recently ranked Bop Dead City fourth on their super-scientific list of “25 Fastest Poetry Markets” (and I think we’re going to be pretty high on the fiction list too). They keep a bunch of other stats too. 

So anyway, to celebrate this rather neat fact, I decided we’re having a flash fiction and poetry contest! 

Prizes: $20 to the winner of the flash fiction category, and $20 to the winner of the poetry category.

Rules: For fiction, we’ll use Duotrope’s definition of flash fiction as “less than 1,000 words.” For poetry, we’ll use my made-up rule of 50 words or less. Plus, do everything that the usual submission guidelines say. Everything submitted until April 1 that follows these guidelines will be considered for the contest. And of course, even if your work isn’t within these parameters, we’ll still consider it for publication as usual.

Thanks for all the great submissions so far, an even bigger thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of Bop Dead City’s Issue 2, and good luck to everyone who enters.

Nearly February News

Straight to the bullets:

• Issue 2 is officially printed up and ready for purchase! All you contributors should receive your issues today or soon enough, and anyone who’d like a copy can just click the “Buy” tag above to purchase through Paypal or any credit card (unless you use a Player’s Club card and are therefore Moe Szyslak). 
• This means, of course, that the submission period for Issue 3 is about to commence. Review the submission guidelines before submitting, please. It’s pretty standard and straight-forward stuff, and when it really comes down to it, I’m not too much of a ballbuster about them. 
• I’m considering having a contest during this submission period. No fees or anything silly like that, and everything submitted will be considered, so if you’re thinking about submitting, do it regardless. I figured, I already had my favorites in each issue, so why not just come out and say it?
• Hopefully we’ll soon have interviews from our lovely and presumably beautiful (if their outsides match their insides) contributors for this issue. I got a ton of great feedback One person said they really liked the interviews, so I’m going to keep trying to do them. 
• Finally, if you’re reading this, go ahead and submit. I started this little project last year for three reasons:

1) Reading new and interesting things, and learning about people. Everything people submit is, at least I think in some way, an extension of themselves, and I’m a nosy bastard who wants to know your business. What can I say? The South rubbed off on me. 

2) To feel like I’m doing my part in the literary community. Another way of saying this is to say I feel like I’m accomplishing something here.

3) To help other writers in their quest for…whatever. Fame? I guess. Wealth? Maybe not, or at least I’m not getting rich (I figure we’re at about $-40 or so at this point, but whatever. It’s about the words, man). Mostly, just to acknowledge to a small percentage of other writers out there that, yes, you did a good job, you’re good at what you do, and this deserves to be recognized in some small way. Even though Bop Dead City might be small potatoes, at least it’s something to snack on until your main course, right? Or in a less tortured way of speaking, who doesn’t like seeing their work recognized for having some merit (whiskeypaper.com sometime in March, keep an eye out for me, holler at your boy)?

Anyway, the point is, it’s a symbiotic relationship you and I have. I can’t publish you if you don’t submit, and if you don’t submit I’ll have nothing to publish.

So, read the guidelines, get your shit together, and fill Bop Dead City’s inbox on February 1.