A head’s up: a recent submission claimed that their translation was not AI-assisted, but it was clear from the initial reading and further analysis that it was indeed the case. I confronted the author—one of the few times I have ever done so in over two decades—and there has been silence ever since.

A minor update to my guidelines for The Dark: “We will not consider any submissions [translated,] written, developed, or assisted by these AI tools. Attempting to submit these works may result in being banned from submitting works in the future.”

I need one more reprint for next month's issue of The Dark. Anything in hard copy but not online and from 2023 onwards.

1) Two updates for The Dark, one minor, one major: It looks like the rate of submissions might have slowed down, though we just went past eight hundred as of this morning. (812, now.) There’s a possibility it might go past January’s totals (836), though who knows?

We’ve now gone well past eight hundred submissions for The Dark. Will we hit even higher or even close in on nine hundred on this last day of the month?

An observation: the average # of submissions as sent to The Dark over the last few months has steadily climbed. I used to get about 600 but now that’s inching closer and closer to 800. No obvious reason for the uptick, but it’s something to worry about if the response rates start to slow down . . .

A sneak peek at tomorrow’s issue of The Dark Magazine:

1) As you may well know, The Dark Magazine has been sustained for years with support from its sales channels and its patrons, though with the loss of Amazon subscriptions some years ago, it has been difficult, with several cost-saving actions being taken to shore things up.

1) My position on generative AI, if it isn't clear enough: if you are caught using it in your submission or if it gets as far as getting published, then you will be entirely blocked for the former and the story yanked for the latter and then blocked.

3) Or just fill in the blank with a suggestion of your own? I am open to all ideas, within reason. Right now the magazine is in a break-even stage, even after the loss of the Amazon subscriptions, but clearly we need to move forward . . .

2) a $250 target to bring the podcast adaptations back, once a month, as I think the magazine should provide stories in more than one format, in order to be fully-rounded, and this is something covered in our current contract

1) a $250 target to hire a co-editor. To be honest I do my best with someone else, as I cherish my previous relationships, with Jack Fisher, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Clara Madrigano. I’m well aware of my inadequacies, so . . .

A question: I may wait until the school year begins with this, but I was thinking a subscription campaign for The Dark, but for what exactly? Here are the options:

Or, at a glance, it just doesn’t fit what I need for the magazine, for whatever reason. It’s better to dust yourself off and take that story and resubmit to another market as soon as possible, to maximize your time and energy. Please do not respond to rejections, at all.

As a reminder: rejections can come as fast as a few seconds after a submission’s receipt. Sometimes this is because the inbox is empty, and I just happened to get to it when the notification pops up. Or it’s an instant rejection because, well, it violated a guideline, somehow.

I have need for two reprints, preferably published within the last two years, only in print (not online), either in a magazine or an anthology or a ss coll, under 6,000 words, sent to [email protected]. TIA!

The Dark inbox is once again empty: your best bet, at the moment, would be something on the smaller size, 2k to 4k, rather than something longer. As always, quick responses are the usual norm at this magazine, so you really can’t go wrong in trying us out!

1) As initially feared, some straight talk when it comes to The Dark Magazine basically boils down to this: the early reports from Amazon for the KU subscription model are not looking good at all. I can’t go into details, not yet, but this is pretty cataclysmic.

1) I’m going to make this public: for The Dark the loss of Amazon Newsstand effectively resulted in ten thousand dollars of revenue going poof, for the entire year. (Yes, that much!) I’ve made some cost-saving changes, but I don’t hold much hope for the monies from Kindle Unlimited . . .

A sneak peek for the 100th issue of The Dark, with stories by TJ Cimfel, Adam Callaway, Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada, and Osahon Ize-Iyamu, with cover art by Mx. Morgan G Robles. And if you aren’t subscribed already, please visit www.thedarkmagazine.com/amazon-subsc...

1) Something new to The Dark, too, as I believe that the stories should usually speak for the magazine: an editorial about some changes, courtesy of the Kindle Newsstand closures, which will nearly erase over ten thousand dollars of revenue, in its first year:

Unfortunately, with covid having knocked both my wife and I right out for the last two weeks, we’ll have to pass on Readercon this year, What this means is that we have two memberships available for sale / transfer. Just let me know if you’re interested and I'll reach out, asap!

Some nonfiction selections from Ingram’s High Interest Titles report for the month of September!

Some graphic novel selections from Ingram’s High Interest Titles report for the month of September!

Some chapter book selections from Ingram’s High Interest Titles report for the month of September!

Some picture book selections from Ingram’s High Interest Titles report for the month of September!

The latest issue of The Dark is out for the month of July, with stories by Sam J. Miller, Steve Rasnic Tem, Kristi DeMeester, and Françoise Harvey, with cover art by Tithi Luadthong!