Dog Horn Publishing - Editor's Blog

Looking at Polluto Stories: Dear Derek and The June Parrott Scrapbook

Vicky Hooper — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:59:48 +0000

To kick off, not just one story but two, chosen by Victoria Hooper as a nice little teaser for Polluto ...

Writing Tips: How to Write Short Stories and Poems That Will Get Published. No Simple Golden Rule.

Vicky Hooper — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:51:31 +0000

Why do some stories really get published when others don't? What are editors looking for?

Much Needed Update

beyonce — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:02:04 +0000

Dog Horn has being going through some very positive changes. First and foremost, we have a new team of editors ...

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Dave Migman

beyonce — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0000

No one quite knows where Dave Migman came from. When I took over Dog Horn Publishing, he came with all the computers, files and folders Ellis France had accumulated over her two years in charge. His manuscript swam to the top of official letters and contracts and said 'Read me' in an ethereal, acidic whisper.

See, Dave's writing is incandescent. It's toxic. It's corrosive. And he seems to secrete it from every pore, like Giger's alien.

We hear very little from him and frequently have no clue where he is--whether it's the Highlands or some farflung colony off the coast of Indonesia. But every quarter he floods our inbox with the creative meanderings of the past three months and scares our socks off! He is at once artist, poet and author, and his first novel, The Wolf Stepped Out, is evidence of his cross-disciplinary skills. He's designed the covers for each edition himself and there's a haunting lyrical quality which shakes you to your bones.

Wolf is a story of religious obsession, urban psychosis and razor-edged revenge. If you like Polluto, you'll love this!

Rhian Waller . . . Baldy!

beyonce — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:42:29 +0000

Well, here are the pics of Polluto 3 contributor Rhian Waller, shaven for Amnesty International. Feel free to support her....

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Steve Redwood

beyonce — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:00:00 +0000

I'm surprised I never encountered Steve Redwood before. He is entirely not what I expected when Rhys first (electronically) introduced me to him, but he's everything I love in an author. Now I can't help but keep in constant contact via Facebook and email!

Steve, like Rhys, writes satire. But whilst Rhys is a pervy Python, Steve is a slightly twisted Tom Holt or Terry Pratchett. His humour is jovial, but nearly always black. He chills and thrills in equal measure. In fact, if Rhys is the Monty Python crew, Steve is the cast of The League of Gentlemen. His are characters with devious plans, selfish whims and an eager urge to fuck others over for their own good. And yet, they still make you laugh, the way Blackadder's abuse of Baldrick always does. It's mean, it's slightly terrifying, but it's always entertaining.

Broken Symmetries seems to me the perfect title for this latest collection of Steve's. For in his own wonderful way, he takes popular tropes, commercial icons and mythological familiars and shoves them in a blender to make something bloody, wonky and fun. The symmetries are there, but they're always skewed. So in this collection you'll see hues of this, that and the other, all glued together with Steve's confiding, man-sat-on-the-stool-next-to-you-in-your-local-pub style. There's a more biting wit than Pratchett could ever manage, and whilst Rhys is surreal he is brutally down-to-earth, but these two are the closest approximations we have to Steve's work, for the uninitiated.

You can check out a bunch of his stuff over at Whispers of Wickedness and see what you think. If you love him as much as we do, check out Broken Symmetries later this year.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Deb Hoag

beyonce — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Deborah Hoag, for anyone who's read Polluto, is one of our favourite new authors. And with good reason.

Deb and I first met back on Orson Scott Card's wonderful Hatrack River Writer's Workshop, along with fellow contributor for Issue 4, Anne Pinckard. Deb was one of the most attentive workshoppers, who really read everything I'd sent her and gave invaluable comments regarding every letter. She also wasn't put off by some of the more . . . extreme stories I've written. Little did I know, back then, that this mother of many was just as much a deviant as I was.

When Polluto first formed in my manic, substance-abused mind, Deb was immediately interested. In the early call for submissions, I'd mentioned types of stories that might appear in the mag, including one about a battered wife werewolf. This was the seed for the first of Deb's anti-genre works: 'Wereworlf of Sappho'. Teaming up with Vince Locke, who illustrated the story, she received good reviews from the likes of The Fix and Whispers of Wickedness, and she's stuck along for the ride. With each issue, her stories get darker, funnier and more appropriate to the concoction of perversions Polluto has become.

Crashin' the Real is tamer than her Sex in the Time of VHS story, or the transgender/race politics of her bastard Queer & Loathing on the Yellow-Brick Road, but this is perhaps her returning to the beginning and explaining who she is and why she writes what she does. Until I read Crashin' the Real, I knew a whole lot less about our Deb. This story of one ageing punk's quest for Steve Tyler is partly biographical, and this infuses the text with a raw, confessional energy and an emotional impact her shorter, more kickass stories haven't had (or needed). But that aside, it's just as much rollicking fun as anything else she's written. In fact, it's fucking hilarious, and is guaranteed to make you love her journalist heroine, for better or for worse.

Other projects from Deb include the intriguing Dragula, which is an account of what happens when Dracula meets Dr Freud. But that, dear readers, is for another time.

[Crashin' the Real is expected to be released in time for Mother's Day, for all you punk mammas out there!]

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Rhys Hughes

beyonce — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:00:00 +0000

I first discovered Rhys Hughes when I was about 16-17. I was going out with my first serious boyfriend, Sam, ...

UPDATED SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES

beyonce — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0000

These are going up here before they'll be updated on the site. This isn't ideal, but the main website will be relaunched over the next few months once our already slave-driven Creative Director/web designer/deformed ghoulish side-kick Michael Dark finishes the Polluto and Troglodyte Rose websites.

We are now CLOSED to submissions for 2009. We are considering projects for 2010 onwards, but please just email a query first of all. Here's what we want:

-a cover letter, explaining who you are and what your publishing credits, if any, are;
-a 25-word (max.) summary of your narrative, which should indicate your main character, their main conflict, and the resolution (for example: Snow White is a young girl who must defeat her evil stepmother, find her true love and overcome death to live happily ever after);
-a breakdown of your plot, being as concise and direct as possible;
-your contact details.

You can now contact us BY EMAIL, but only for this query stage. Then we will decide if we want to read more. If we do, we'll either ask you to email it to us or post it, depending on how much clutter we have in the office (READ: my living room) and how strained our eyes are feeling this week (staring at computers to read a novel is a bitch, and we don't have the funds to print it off).

DON'T email us if less than three months have passed. If more than three months have passed, it's probably a good sign. If you don't hear from us by six months, assume we've passed on your ms and couldn't come up with a nice enough excuse to tell you it wasn't right for us. We usually confirm receipt of emailed queries and emailed mss within a week. For postal receipt confirmation, send a stamped, self-addressed postcard (or email address).

DON'T send any attachments without permission. Query only.

DO read these guidelines. If you've at least read the ones on the website, we'll forgive you, although it does suggest you've maybe not researched your markets as well as you should have.

DON'T send us typical genre stuff. We want books that break the rules and make some new ones. We want cross-genre, slipstream, bizarro, postmodern, surreal, illustrated, experimental, punky, spunky, collaged madness. No vampires, zombies, emotional drivel or realism, or we'll get our nailgun out and stick a hole in your forehead. There are always exceptions, but we've yet to encounter any.

DO study us and our publications before you submit. Really think about this. Can you see yourself working with us? Do you like our other authors? How do you think our covers match your own sensibilities? Be absolutely positive we're right for you. This is a big deal. Don't just get excited about the prospect of being published. Get excited about the prospect of being published by the right people.

Now, get writing, get workshopping, and then get submitting!

Polluto Writer Shorn for Amnesty!

beyonce — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Polluto #3 writer Rhian Waller is due to shave off her hair for charity Amnesty International. If you're kind enough to donate, or nosy enough to pry, check out the Facebook group <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46506923946">here</a>.

Those who loved Sigourney in Alien 3 or Demi in GI Jane will love it, I'm sure ;)

Identity Theft & the Octopus Kid!

beyonce — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:00:00 +0000

[I posted this over at http://troglodyterose.blogspot.com too, but it needs to be here as well.]

Okay, so I bet you're wondering what's with the freaky title? Well here's the deal:

Issue 6 of Polluto needs a theme. The above is what I'm thinking. But is that too restrictive? What I was thinking of, for this issue, is the following:

-identity, body issues, identity politics, transgenderism, gender
-crime, especially in the digital age
-fraud, money, theft, appropriation, property (or the lack of)
-mutation, transformation, genetic experiments, aliens
-deep sea biology

Huh? How does that translate into fiction, right? Well here's some of the possible interpretations of this theme:

-anarchist cacaelia bankrobbers running round on unicycles
-deep sea Westerns with cyborg shamans and damp side-kicks made of money
-sucker cyber sex for sale to the highest bidder on eBay
-the man who stole a mermaid's identity to emmigrate to Atlantis
-a noir thriller set in a futuristic Japanese squid market, with wads of cash and oodles of noodles!

Does that inspire anything? Yes? No?

Adam-lowe.com Goes Live!

beyonce — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:08:45 +0000

I've just registered http://www.adam-lowe.com. There's my agent info and some basic contact details, as well as links to some of the things I do. But I reckon it needs dressing up. If anyone can design me a splash page, not only will I include a link to your own website but I'll put your name in my next novel and send you a bunch of freebies. Can't say fairer than that, right?

Anyway, email info@adam-lowe.com with your suggestions and let me know!

Juno Sampler Madness!

beyonce — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:42:40 +0100

Okay, not to sound like a total Juno whore today (I've blogged about their cocktails earlier for The World in ...

Doghornpublishing.com Back Up!

beyonce — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:37:58 +0100

So visit at whim!

Visit Doghorn.com not Doghornpublishing.com

beyonce — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:09:05 +0100

For the moment, Doghornpublishing.com is down for maintenance, so please just go direct to http//www.doghorn.com. If that doesn't work, http://www.polluto.com/doghorn ...

Issue 3 Out Now!

beyonce — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:09:37 +0100

Issue 3 is now available to purchase over at http://www.polluto.com/Subscribe.html.

Issue 4 will be Queer & Loathing in Wonderland. Think ...

Kudos!

beyonce — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:24:52 +0100

For all you aspiring writers out there, here's a little information on a great magazine called Kudos:

- Hide ...

Naughtily Nautilated

beyonce — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:55:25 +0100

Today we got a rather nice bit of feedback about our interview with Matt Staggs over at Nautiloid Burblings....

Polluto #3 Competition!

beyonce — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:31:48 +0100

Okay, it's giveaway time.

We want to create a blog explosion across the net. Simply repost this competition on your ...

Issue 3 Advance Review Copies

beyonce — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:02:03 +0100

Advance review copies of Polluto #3 are winging their way to reviewers now. If you'd like a review copy, send us the details at editor@polluto.com.

Dogcast Central

beyonce — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:00:45 +0100

Well we have a few little bits in the pipeworks for you all. We're working on Dogcast Central--an online podcast ...

American Gods for FREE!

beyonce — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:02:22 +0100

Well, as part of an interesting experiment on whether offering free online books for a month increases sales, Neil Gaiman ...

New POLLUTO website!

beyonce — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:07:32 +0100

Hey guys,

I've updated the Polluto website. We've also added The Vanguard Book Club to Facebook, which will be our ...

REVIEW: Caitlin R. Kiernan's 'In the Garden of Poisonous Flowers'

beyonce — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:03:47 +0100

Somewhere between sensuality and horror lurks the Gothic prose of Kiernan. It's definitely on the purple side, and often breaks ...

Chimeraworld #5 - THE REJECTS ISSUE

beyonce — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:18:30 +0100

News just in: our editor-in-chief (yes, me) has just been accepted for Chimeraworld #5. His story of paedophilia, child sexuality, ...

SUBMISSIONS UPDATE!

beyonce — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:12:04 +0100

Okay, folks. We've had a fair few submissions to us recently for our novels/novellas line. So far we've accepted Dave ...

REVIEW: Jeanette Winterson's The Passion

beyonce — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:08:00 +0100

The Passion is a strange novel. It's less fragmented than Sexing the Cherry, and in places more colourful, although its ...

REVIEW: Jeff Noon's Nymphomation

beyonce — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:11:29 +0100

As part of our plan to help you decide what kind of literature we like and don't like here at ...

House Style Sheet

beyonce — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:01:38 +0100

We accept any ms in standard ms format (size 12, Arial/Courier/Times, double spaced, underlining for italics), because they're easy to ...

Polluto #1 and #2

beyonce — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:24:50 +0100

We've had a few queries about the Issue 2 hardback and Issue 1.

Firstly, we will, at some point, be ...