What We Want

Quantum Kiss is a journal of Romantic Speculative Fiction.

The stories must have two things: a solid speculative element and a strong romantic element.  Both of these things have to be central to the plot and characters.  It can’t be a romance story with the setting changed from Iowa to Mars or a space opera with a hot love scene thrown in as an afterthought.  The foundation of the tale must be rooted in the love story, the romance aspect, because that is what our readers come here to read.  Above all, what we want is really great stories that are 100% character driven.  Send us a story that makes us root for, sympathize with, and care for the characters and we are sure to like it.

We will take stories up to 10,000 words in length, but since they will be read on a computer screen we think short is better, so those 5,000 words or under stand a better chance of getting in.

We are not looking for reprints, but if you have a story that we really like that had limited circulation, we’ll still consider it, as long as you tell us up front.

We do publish flash fiction — that is anything under 1,000 words — but we do not pay for it.  See the payment section below.

What We Don’t Want

We do not publish nonfiction, reviews or poetry.  We also do not want fan fiction or anything using characters or settings that are not your own.

Note:  This doesn’t include historical figures, or characters that have been in the public domain for a long time.  They’re fair game.

We like racy and sexy tales, but since we have no control over who reads our stories, we will not print anything that is overly explicit or pornographic in nature.  This is not a point of argument.  If our editors think it is too explicit, then we will not buy it. Use your writing skills to make us breathe hard without giving us a biological play by play.  The same goes for blood and gore.  If it is absolutely essential for the story, then let us see it and we will decide, but chances are we won’t like it.

Our Format

We don’t consider this a eZine, or a magazine, or whatever.  It’s a website.  It’s available online formatted for a reader’s web browser, and also looks good on a mobile web device like an iPhone or a Kindle.  Because of this, we publish continuously as new material is available without respect to volumes, issues, etc.

We now use Twitter to announce to the world when new material is available to read.

Payment

Quantum Kiss is a market which sole purpose is to make more “Romantic” Speculative Fiction available to the public. We pay a flat $10 fee for each story accepted, and it comes out of our own pockets.

Also, each story will be presented with a PayPal donations button, so that readers may tip the writer directly. So, in a way, there is the possibility of more remuneration, but nothing is guaranteed. Quantum Kiss will not keep any of the donated money for expenses, etc. This publication is not out to make money.

Note:  PayPal, however, may get a percentage of each donation before it reaches the author.  It’s the price of doing business with PayPal.

Flash fiction exception:  We do not pay for stories under 1,000 words, but will supply the same PayPal donations button as with the other stories, so there is some chance of remuneration.

Rights

We are seeking web-publishing rights only. You are free to continue marketing your story in other venues as you see fit.

All stories will appear with a copyright notice attributed to the author.

How To Submit

All short story submissions of more than 1,000 words should be in Standard Manuscript Format. That means 12-point type, double-spaced, black on white, ragged right margins; author’s name and contact information on the TOP of the first page; and  name, page number, and story name as a header every page thereafter.

Further details are available at http://sfwa.org/writing/.

Attach your submission to an e-mail message in .rtf (Rich Text Format) and submit it to: Submissions@QuantumKiss.com

Flash fiction (fewer than 1,000 words) may be submitted within the body of your e-mail message. If you wish to send a cover letter, please include it in the body of your e-mail message as well.

This is important: Put the words “FICTION SUBMISSION” in the subject field. If you don’t, we won’t see it. The SPAM filter will have sent it directly to the trash.  Also, make sure to include a current, working email address on your manuscript.

Because of the nonexistent budget and dependence upon free mail services, some submissions may be lost. If you haven’t heard back from us within 45 days, assume it didn’t reach us, and send it again.

Please submit only to the address above. Submissions sent to the editorial addresses may not be read.

Reasons for Rejections

Most of the stories we pass on have one or more of the following problems:

Not Romantic SF. Please see our definition of romance (also our definition of speculative fiction).

No hook at the beginning. It’s your job, as writer, to grab your reader’s attention right up front and not let go until the final line of the story. If you haven’t caught our attention by the third paragraph, we’re not going to read any further.

Failed suspension of belief. It’s also your job as writer to give us cause to suspend our disbelief. Douglas Adams, for example, got us to accept the most ridiculous, impossible things, and we did it gladly. You too must accomplish this.

Lack of empathy for characters. Your readers have to care about your characters. If not, the mind wanders, the story gets put down, and the TV goes on.

Bad story arc. Your story must have a beginning, middle, and end. A story requires a problem and a resolution. The resolution must come somehow — directly or indirectly — from the actions of the protagonist.

Broken story arc. The story ending needs to match the beginning. In other words, if it starts out a love story, it has to end a love story.

Basic lack of writing skill. Raymond Chandler used to tell aspiring writers that they have a million words of crap to get out of their system. Alas, some say it’s actually more like two million.

Good but not good enough. We liked it but not enough to shell out money for it. This happens a lot. If, maybe, more people clicked on the ads, we’d have more money for more stories.

Remember that even Stephen King collected a huge pile of rejection slips while he was learning the craft. Just because we don’t like a particular story doesn’t mean someone else won’t like it. It also doesn’t mean we won’t like your next story.

Never take it personally. If you are to become a professional writer, this must be your mantra. The road you’ve chosen is a gauntlet of rejection that you must endeavor to ignore, and continue traveling.