Outshine

NOTE: @outshine is open to submissions, and actually in dire need of them. So send them in!

A Twitterzine for optimistic, near future prose poems. They’re flash length, and look ahead: why not call them flashforwards?

Submission guidelines:

What I’m looking for: prose poems of optimistic, near future SF that fit within the ‘tweet’ limits (check out Twitter); i.e. maximum 140 characters long.

• prose poem: what the heck is that? Well, anything you think it is. Write what you believe fits the bill and let the editor sort it out. Don’t limit yourself and feel free to push the boundaries, like, e.g.:

1. Haiku–written like this: Maybe a haiku/there in the twitterverse/would appear like this;
2. Prose rife with poetic elements both formal — such as rhyme, alliteration (which is easy to overdo!) and meter — and thematic such as syntax, tone and reference (images, symbols & metaphors);
3. Imbue it with a certain rhythm and a unique voice;
4. I’ll look at actual poetry, too (the boundary will be blurry, anyway);

• optimistic: anything with an (eventual) positive attitude or upbeat tone;
• near future: from next year up to about fifty years later;
• SF: ditto as in prose poem: write what you believe fits the bill and let the editor sort it out;

One submission per person per week: I’ll be publishing one prose poem per week, and will be checking the submissions once a week. Don’t feel limited: this means you can submit up to 52 prose poems a year. I prefer people submitting their best rather than people submitting at will then hoping something will stick.

Submit by email to shineanthology@gmail.com , in the body of the email (and yes: anything longer than 140 characters will be rejected: this is, after all, for Twitter);

Payment: 5 dollars per prose poem, payable through PayPal (don’t have a PayPal account? Either get one, or don’t submit), on publication.

Accepted prose poems will be published once a week on Wednesday on Twitter, here: OUTSHINE!

Bio: a published biography with author name will follow the published prose poem almost immediately. Bio must be shorter than 136 characters (as bio- will precede the actual biography). Hint: use a tinyurl to link to your website/blog/LJ or to your FaceBook/MySpace/Twitter account. [Edit]: as Gord Sellar mentioned in the first comment below, is.gd is an ever shorter url compressor.

UPDATE: Due to a number of humourous submissions I liked, I am making Saturday the day for funny pieces. Tentatively: that is, if I get *enough* humourous pieces then they will appear every Saturday; if I don’t get enough I prefer to *not* to publish rather than desperately clinging to schedule. Obviously, the Wednesday prose poems are a schedule I *do* intend to keep.

On Mondays there will be the “Quote for the Monday” (QftM): this one will be the more serious, inspirational one;

On Tuesday there will be [#SoundBytes]: Paul Graham Raven’s music review tweets;

On Thrusday there will be [#SpitBalls]: Lucius Shephard’s movie review tweets;

On Fridays there will be the “Quote for the Friday” (QftF): this will be the more frivolous one;

On Sundays there will be [ShineComics]: David Alexander McDonald’s comics review tweets.