YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR INFORMATION

EARTH, SOLAR SYSTEM, MWG [SDP] -- If you have been published this year in any Sam's Dot publication, the following probably applies to you:

If your original work was published in any Sam's Dot print publication, copies of that publication have been or will be sent to Year's Best Science Fiction and/or Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, as appropriate. The only exception to this are the poetry chapbooks, because I have not yet received definitive word as to whether YBSF and/or YBF&H consider such publications. If anyone knows whether they do, please let me know . . . or post it on our messageboard.

If your original work was published in any Sam's Dot online publication [The Martian Wave, The Fifth Di..., the online Aoife's Kiss, KidVisions, Expressions Newsletter, Between Kisses, and possibly Scifaikuest], OR IN ANY ONLINE PUBLICATION ANYWHERE, here's what you must do to be considered:

1. Prepare a hardcopy of your work in manuscript format. That's double-spaced, 12-point font [probably Times New Roman or Courier New would be best], with your name and contact information on the first page in the upper left hand corner and the word count in the upper right hand corner. Paperclip the manuscript if necessary--do not staple. Use a header with page numbers. This should appear in the upper right corner. An example might be: Campbell - Mystere, p.73.

2. Prepare a cover letter for the manuscript, containing the following information: the title of the piece, the byline, and where and when it was published in 2007. Also include your e-mail address, in case there are questions.

3. If the work is a science fiction piece, mail it to:

Gardner Dozois

Year's Best Science Fiction

874 N. Judson St.

Philadelphia, PA 19130-1937

4. If the work is a fantasy piece, mail it to:

Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

Kelly Link & Gavin Grant

176 Prospect Avenue

Northampton, MA, 01060

5. If the work is a horror piece, mail it to:

Ellen Datlow - YBF&H

PMB 391

511 Avenue Of The Americas

New York, NY, 10011-8436

Be sure to use enough postage. You needn't include an SASE, as there will be no replies. If there are questions, they will contact you at the e-mail address you provide, or they will contact the publisher.

Good luck.

This Public Service Announcement was brought to you by "Cold Linoleum," Karla Ungurean's latest poem, which appears below. She asks your consideration when you vote for your favorites.

Cold Linoleum

by Karla Ungurean

Take me to the bathroom and teach me how to die;

Light a candle for your possessions and your breath,

And suck the pills of tragic splendor down your throat.

I want to take pictures of your musky lips as they

Swallow

And kiss the blade before it graces your wrists.

Not here, not in the public light of day

Will we skin our souls of all humanity

And blood-let our spirits as sacrifices

For whatever god we choose to believe in

Today.

I will follow your lead like a helpless child,

For I lust after your stained grace

Like a teenager in heat.

Let me be the stalker of your dreams,

The daughter of your numbed womb,

As I lie on your chest and we

Die together.

*************

Three of Karla Ungurean's poems appear in the anthology Ceremony Collected, which is available for order at Barnes & Noble. Karla graduated in 2005 from Ohio

University with a B.A. in Creative Writing/ English. While she is first and foremost an avid reader and writer, she is employed as a substitute teacher and English tutor.