If you saw our ad in Poets & Writers...

... the best place to find info on submissions is now the Melusine site itself, which was launched earlier this month.
And while you're there, hope you enjoy our first issue!
Check it out if you're curious about the sort of work we're looking for.

IE Compatability Issue Resolved

So we had our first little technical "situation" here that's happily been resolved, at least according to our testing of all recent versions of IE.
We had tested Melusine in the recent releases of five major browsers, but a last-minute change disabled the IE compatibility workarounds, which would also affect some AOL users.
We should now be reconciled with IE... Sincere apologies to those affected!
If you are still not able to view the site, our web admin advises to clear your cache and restart your browser. And if that doesn't do the trick, please send an e-mail to melusine21cent@gmail.com.

http://www.melusine21cent.com

To AOL users who cannot view the above link even after clearing your cache, try the following one for now. The main address should be accessible in a day or two.

http://www.melusine21cent.com/mag/node/3

Live, at Last!

Thanks so much for your patience, everyone!
Knowing how first-time projects are and how hard it is to plan for all contingencies (especially the wind knocking out the cable for several hours today and the hosting site's server being down for an hour, bafflingly) I shouldn't have made that joke about Pacific Time (or so confidently used the word "Friday" in the same phrase as "at the latest") but it is indeed still Friday on the West Coast ;)
And, needless to say, I'm thrilled to finally announce the new link:

http://www.melusine21cent.com

Thanks for all your support so far, and hope you enjoy!

Almost there.

OK, well, what are deadlines for if not to push? My apologies... I had wanted to see Melusine out by the 31st, and that might still be possible (Pacific Time) with constant infusions of caffeine in place of food and sleep and an impromptu change in my work schedule, but I think y'all will understand if I push it just a couple days instead ;) I feel safe saying Thursday, or Friday at the latest.
In good news, it's looking pretty nice, thanks mostly to our talented web/design team, as well as this issue's artists, and it's reading pretty well, too, thanks to our talented contributors.
I'm looking forward to finally posting that link. Soon, soon.
Thanks so much for your patience.

Counting Down, 6 Weeks to Launch

Well, it's been a while since my last update, hasn't it? No, nothing is amiss in Melusine-land, just hectic. I apologize for the silence to any readers who've been checking here for updates. The journal is indeed proceeding pretty much on schedule. My original hoped-for launch date was March 20, but to be safe rather than sorry (this being my first journal and me not being the necessarily early-bird sort) I'm going to amend that to March 31, with a possibility it will come in a day or two earlier -- better to err on that side, right?

Proofs will be going out soon for the debut issue. I'm still reading and accepting submissions for the summer issue. This time, art is the only genre that is filled so far, but if you have art to send, feel free to submit it for the fall issue. I will start replying to submissions again after the Spring issue is out, although of course there is the occasional submission that will get a 24-hour acceptance if the stars are properly aligned.

So I look forward to announcing the site/issue launch in just six weeks. There's some rather awesome work in this first issue that I feel privileged to be publishing, and I'm pretty excited to share it with you all.

Until then...

Fiction Length Guidelines

It just occurred to me that I never gave any word limits for short stories. Although I've only received one story so far that I considered a bit too long, it seems like good form to give some basic guidelines in this regard. So, OK, there's no minimum length, and short-shorts or flash fiction is fine. As for maximum, I'd say 10,000.

I don't have any limits for nonfiction, since I'll be honest; like art, the nonfiction category has been more challenging to fill, and quality and fresh subject matter is really the only criteria.

And while I'm on my soapbox here, the art category for the Spring debut issue is still open, and all categories are open for the Summer 2009 issue.

Debut issue full, except for artwork.

Melusine Update:
As indicated above, the debut issue is now full... except for one or two spots for artwork, particularly full-color artwork. So far we haven't received any photography, B&W or color, so we'd be especially interested in looking at some of that.

From this date on, all poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and queries for reviews will be considered for the second issue, slated for June 2009. But don't worry that, if you send stuff anytime soon, it will necessarily go into a black hole (I say "necessarily" because it could take me the whole 6 months to respond, but if your work really blows me away, I may respond much sooner.)

Which is not to say that if you've submitted stuff already and haven't heard back yet, that we don't want to publish your stuff. I have a handful of things I agonized about when making the final cut for the Spring issue that I may be holding for summer, in some cases just because it seemed to have more of a summer theme, and, if that's the case, I'll get back to you in a reasonable amount of time.

And, thesis deadlines notwithstanding, I will be getting back to everyone over the next few months, in the order that the submissions were received. And I want to take this moment to thank everyone who has supported this new venture with their submissions, and offer my assurance that, even if your work wasn't accepted on this go-round, that you're very welcome to submit again in the future!

Just one more note: I've started thinking seriously about a print "best of" annual issue, the first one being the Spring 2010 issue. More details on that later. One thing at a time, right?