Please Note: The print edition of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders has been placed on indefinite hiatus.

Important Note: Any submission that doesn’t conform to the guidelines on this page will be deleted unread.

We have two different sets of guidelines, one for website-only content and one for print content. Please note that print content will also appear on the website in a limited capacity.* Click on either of the headings to jump to the relevant guidelines for where you want to submit.

Web Guidelines

Print Guidelines

*Installments of serialized novels and short stories will be excerpted on the website unless a different agreement is made with the author.

General Information

All submissions must be sent to submissions@doctorfantastiques.com with the subject line of “(Type of Submission) Submission: (Title) by (your name)” in the subject line. 

All submissions must be .DOC, .DOCX, .ODT, or .RTF files unless otherwise stated.

RESPONSE TIME: In general, we respond to submissions within 1 month of receipt. If you do not receive a response within that time, please check in with us.

Legal Information

Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders reserves First Web Rights and First World Serial Rights for all accepted material. In the case of Reprints, which we are also interested in, we generally request Second Web Rights and/or Second World Serial Rights for all accepted material.

Please note these are general Rights terms. Any agreement negotiated between the Publisher and the Author/Artist may or may not supersede these general terms.

What We’d Like to See

For Fiction (Applies to Short Stories, Serialized Novels, Radio Plays, Webcomics, Webisodes)

• Engaging storytelling and characters
• Inventive and unusual settings and characters — Examples include non-European settings and characters, LGBTQ protagonists, non-human heroes
• Stories where the “-punk” elements are integral to the action

For Non-Fiction (Applies to Feature Articles, Blog Posts, Reviews, Opinion Columns, Radio Shows, Non-Fiction Webisodes)

• Well-crafted and well-researched pieces that inform and entertain
• The ability to engage your audience

For Photography

• Unusual settings or inventive photo examinations of the subject

What We Don’t Want to See

Anything that could be classified as Hate Speech as it regards to any of the categories protected by Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other United States laws. Note: This applies mostly to non-fiction, as we’re well aware that a racist/hateful character in fiction does not necessarily equate to a racist/hateful author.

Website Guidelines

The website of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders accepts a number of media types. This includes short fiction, serialized novels, radio shows or plays, web-based television shows, photo essays, feature articles, opinion columns, and blog posts. Please scroll to the appropriate heading to go to the section of the guidelines most appropriate for your submission. Please note that we are currently unable to pay for any submissions, but do hope to change this in the near future.

• Short Fiction
• Serialized Novels
• Poetry
• Radio Plays/Shows
• Webcomics/Web-Based Graphic Novels
• Webisodes
• Photography
• Feature Articles
• Reviews
• Opinion Columns
• Blogposts
• The Con Report

Short Fiction

We accept short stories of up to and including 10,000 words in length for web publication. Our primary genre is Steampunk, but we will consider any of the -punk styles for web publication. When you send in your submission, please include a standard query letter in the main body of the email sent to the email address noted in General Information and your piece as an attachment.

As it regards format, please include your name, address (including email) and wordcount in the top right corner of the first page. Center your title roughly halfway down the page and include whatever name you want the story to be published under as a “By XXXXX” under the title.  For the rest of the text, 12 point Times New Roman double spaced with an indent on the first line of each paragraph is preferred. After the first page, please include your last name and the page number in the top right corner.

The format note above is the preferred format for submissions as the Submissions team has found it’s one of the most readable ways to format a short story.

Please note that Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders reserves the right to publish your short story in installments should it be required.

Serialized Novels

Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders is interested in bringing back the Victorian England tradition of serializing novels, and as a result we are open to any authors who want to serialize a work of 15,000 to 100,000 words on the website. While our primary genre is Steampunk, we do consider other styles as well.

Please send a query letter and the first 5 pages of your manuscript as an attachment to the email address noted in General Information above. Formatting guidelines for the manuscript pages are the same as those noted in the Short Fiction section. If you wish to serialize your novel, there’s also the option to publish the completed work with our sister company, Doctor Fantastique Books.

Poetry

We accept all forms of poetry for web publication. Preference is given to poems of 200 lines or less, but we’re interested in most anything that fits under the “-punk” genres. Please send an introductory email and your completed poem to the email noted in General Information.

Radio Plays/Shows

We are actively interested in showcasing radio plays, whether as a serialized work or as one-shots, on the website. Additionally, we’re also interested in radio shows such as music hours, talk shows, podcasts, etc. To submit a Radio Play/Show for consideration, we require:

For Radio Plays:

• A pitch letter with an elevator summary of your concept
• A 5 to 10 page treatment of the story arc along with 100-word descriptions of the main characters
• (If Serializing) Your projected schedule
• The script for the first episode if serializing or first 10 minutes if not serializing

For Non-Fiction Radio Shows:

• A pitch letter with an elevator summary of your concept
• A 5 to 10 page treatment of your show including segments (if any) and general format
• Your projected update schedule

Please send the requested documentation to the email noted in the General Information section.

If you’re syndicating a Radio Play or Show that’s already hosted somewhere else, we ask only for a link to the episodes so we can listen for ourselves.

Webcomics/Web-Based Graphic Novels

As ardent fans of webcomics and web-based graphic novels such as Girl Genius, Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, and others, we’re most interested in giving new comic artists a platform for their work. To submit an idea for a webcomic or web-based graphic novel we require the following information:

• A 5 to 10 page treatment of the story arc (if there is one, a la a “slice of life” comic)
• Your projected update schedule
• 5 complete example pages (for graphic novels) or strips (for webcomics)

Alternate option: If you don’t have any completed pages of the work (completed meaning in a form that could be published right away), we will accept a written script of the first 5 pages/strips.

Please email all your materials to the address noted in the General Information section.

Webisodes (Web-Based TV Shows)

Our submissions requirements for web-based television shows are similar to those for Radio Plays. To submit an original web-based TV series for consideration, we require:

For Fiction:

• A pitch letter describing the overall concept and how you’re going to produce the show
  
• A 5 to 10 page treatment of the story arc along with 100-word descriptions of the main characters
• The script for the first episode if serializing or first 10 minutes if not serializing
• Your projected update schedule

For Non-Fiction (i.e. “Talk Shows”)

• A pitch letter describing the overall concept and format of the show
• A 5 to 10 page treatment of your show format, including any segments
• Your projected update schedule

Photography

If you have a photo essay, or takes lots of pictures of events or fashion, we want to hear from you. Please email a pitch letter to the address specified in General Information and include some brief details about yourself, your photography experience, and a brief description of what you’ve taken photos of.

All photos must be 2.5 megapixels or higher in quality, and must be in .JPEG, .GIF, or .TIFF format only.

Feature Articles

We have a number of staff writers, so please be sure to peruse our archives before you submit a query for a feature article. If it’s a topic we’ve already written about previously, we generally won’t accept any new articles on it unless you take a new angle with the piece. Feature articles are typically 1,000 to 2,000 words in length unless they’re part of a longer series.

In your article pitch, please make sure you mention where you’ve been published previously and include either links to your work or 3 to 5 articles as samples of your writing. Please send all materials to the email noted in the General Information section.

Reviews

The vast majority of our reviews are staff-written, however the possibility that we might miss something does exist. Before you query to write a review of a book, album, TV show, or anything else however, please send an exploratory email to the address noted in the General Information section. If we don’t already have a review on file, we might assign it to you.

Opinion Columns

Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders aims to be inclusive in terms of the types of things it covers. If you have a strong view on a topic, be it a social issue, a writing style, or anything that might be germane to a Steampunk audience, we encourage you to submit an opinion column for our Opinion section to the email in noted in the General Information section.

When submitting an opinion column for consideration, please include a brief introductory letter summarizing your main points and why you think this needs to be said. Please note that we discourage swearing in any submissions, as in general we feel an argument is made better by using reasoned evidence that doesn’t involve George Carlin’s Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.

Please also note that we absolutely will not publish anything that can be classified as Hate Speech under Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other United States laws.

Blogposts

We have a number of staff bloggers, so before you submit a one-off blogpost for publication please check our archives to see if we’ve covered the topic recently before you query. If we haven’t written about the topic you’re querying, or you feel you have a new angle on it, please send a pitch letter to the email noted in General Information.

When pitching a new blogpost, please include in your email any links to previous writing work if you have it.

The Con Report

In general, we have staff who write about the Steampunk conventions happening across the English-speaking world, but we’re always interested in new writers adding their voice into the mix. If you’re attending a convention or event and would like to write about it for the website, please email us at the address noted in General Information and we will see if someone is already attending on our behalf or not.

Print Guidelines

The print version of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders is released 9 times a year and includes 4 pieces of fiction as well as 7 to 10 articles that cover a variety of topics. We have a handful of theme issues throughout the year, such as the Vacation issue in the summer months so please keep that in mind when submitting.

Our editorial lead time for the print issue is two to three months, and we generally publish accepted freelance submissions approximateyl

• Short Fiction
• Serialized Novels
• Poetry
• Photography
• Feature Articles
• Reviews
• Opinion Columns

Short Fiction

We accept short stories of up to and including 10,000 words in length for print publication. Our primary genre is Steampunk, but we will consider any of the -punk styles. When you send in your submission, please include a standard query letter in the main body of the email sent to the email address noted in General Information and your piece as an attachment.

As it regards format, please include your name, address (including email) and wordcount in the top right corner of the first page. Center your title roughly halfway down the page and include whatever name you want the story to be published under as a “By XXXXX” under the title.  For the rest of the text, 12 point Times New Roman double spaced with an indent on the first line of each paragraph is preferred. After the first page, please include your last name and the page number in the top right corner.

The format note above is the preferred format for submissions as the Submissions team has found it’s one of the most readable ways to format a short story.

Please note that Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders reserves the right to publish your short story in installments should it be required.

Serialized Novels

Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders is interested in bringing back the Victorian England tradition of serializing novels, and as a result we are open to any authors who want to serialize a work of 15,000 to 100,000 words on the website. While our primary genre is Steampunk, we do consider other styles as well.

Please send a query letter and the first 5 pages of your manuscript as an attachment to the email address noted in General Information above. Formatting guidelines for the manuscript pages are the same as those noted in the Short Fiction section. If you wish to serialize your novel, there’s also the option to publish the completed work with our sister company, Doctor Fantastique Books.

Poetry

We accept all forms of poetry for web publication. Preference is given to poems of 200 lines or less, but we’re interested in most anything that fits under the “-punk” genres. Please send an introductory email and your completed poem to the email noted in General Information.

Photography

If you have a photo essay, or takes lots of pictures of events or fashion, we want to hear from you. Please email a pitch letter to the address specified in General Information and include some brief details about yourself, your photography experience, and a brief description of what you’ve taken photos of.

All photos must be 2.5 megapixels or higher in quality, and must be in .JPEG, .GIF, or .TIFF format only.

Feature Articles

We have a number of staff writers, so please be sure to peruse our archives before you submit a query for a feature article. If it’s a topic we’ve already written about previously, we generally won’t accept any new articles on it unless you take a new angle with the piece. Feature articles are typically 1,000 to 2,000 words in length unless they’re part of a longer series.

In your article pitch, please make sure you mention where you’ve been published previously and include either links to your work or 3 to 5 articles as samples of your writing. Please send all materials to the email noted in the General Information section.

Reviews

The vast majority of our reviews are staff-written, however the possibility that we might miss something does exist. Before you query to write a review of a book, album, TV show, or anything else however, please send an exploratory email to the address noted in the <General Information section. If we don’t already have a review on file, we might assign it to you.

Opinion Columns

Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders aims to be inclusive in terms of the types of things it covers. If you have a strong view on a topic, be it a social issue, a writing style, or anything that might be germane to a Steampunk audience, we encourage you to submit an opinion column for our Opinion section to the email in noted in the General Information section.

When submitting an opinion column for consideration, please include a brief introductory letter summarizing your main points and why you think this needs to be said. Please note that we discourage swearing in any submissions, as in general we feel an argument is made better by using reasoned evidence that doesn’t involve George Carlin’s Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.

Please also note that we absolutely will not publish anything that can be classified as Hate Speech under Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other United States laws.