An Excellent Initiative : “Fantasy Scroll Magazine” !

Fantasy Scroll Mag   is a quarterly publication featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal short-fiction.

Fantasy Scroll Mag is publishing short fiction from it’s contributors four times per year, and one annual anthology. The magazine is published by Fantasy Scroll Press, LLC, and it’s a sister site of Fantasy Scroll, a fiction writing blog that publishes tips, information, and resources for writers.

Both projects are the brain prodigies of Iulian Ionescu, a science fiction and fantasy american writer (of romanian origin) enjoying to give back to the community. As an aspiring writer, he was faced with the difficulties of making his works known to the world, so he decided to donate a portion of his time, money, and sweat to help others have an easier ride. By launching this science fiction and fantasy magazine, he hopes to give voice to some new, talented writers, and publish excellent stories that will stand the test of time.

What Kind Of Stories ?  Fantasy Scroll Mag magazine publishes speculative fiction.  Fantasy Scroll Mag  is not a literary fiction zine. Fantasy Scroll Mag publish fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories, and it is pretty much open to all sub-genres or combinations thereof and will publish stories that test the boundaries and stretch the imagination outside of the usual.  It’s not favoring one genre over the other, it’s simply looking for great stories. Period.

If you are ready to submit your story please see the submission guidelines.

If you want to read even more about how  Fantasy Scroll Mag started, please check the issue where the Editor-in-Chief, Iulian Ionescu, talks about what Fantasy Scroll Magazine is all about.

If you want to learn more about the types of stories that  Fantasy Scroll Mag is looking for, read the science fiction guidelines page, and the fantasy guidelines page.

What is Fantasy Scroll Mag‘s  Mission ? It’s publishing everything? Certainly not. It’s a misconception that a new publication will have lower standards just to get started. Fantasy Scroll Mag‘s staff mindset could not be further from the truth.

•High Quality –  Fantasy Scroll Mag is looking for well written speculative fiction. In other words it’s looking for a great story.

•Entertaining –  Fantasy Scroll Mag wants the readers to enjoy your stories. They should be taken on a journey to places they have never imagined and return to reality filled with satisfaction.

•Thought-Provoking – Last, but not least,  Fantasy Scroll Mag is also looking to publish stories that give a different perspective on various aspects of life, stories that make the readers raise a brow and go ‘Hmmm… that’s an interesting thought.‘

Support : For now, Fantasy Scroll Mag is a token payment market and all content is posted for free and is hoping that sometime in the near future will be able to pay pro-rates, but until then, is working hard at building this magazine from the ground up.

Any donations from you will help  Fantasy Scroll Mag to grow faster and better. Thank you!

Credits : The header image is a wonderful dragon render created by Cygnus. Check out his DeviantART profile and gallery as it is full of cool pieces of art.

For this year  Fantasy Scroll Mag will have three more issues planned. For the next two Fantasy Scroll Mag have already acquired a lot of great stories and is working relentlessly on the interviews and other non-fiction features.

Only great things to come we’re expecting !

ROUNDTABLE: New Short Fiction Markets

Recently, “Nerds of a feather, flock together” blog kindly organized a roundtable discussion about new short fiction markets. Iulian Ionescu spoke on behalf of Fantasy Scroll Magazine, and was joined by R. Leigh Henning of Bastion Magazine, Ana Grilo and Thea James of Book Smugglers Publishing. The topics included multiple issues faced by new short fiction markets, and the various tools we have to keep our readers engaged, our writers happy, and still run a viable business.

We’d love to hear your comments about this discussion.

 

Issue #1/April 2014

Editorial

Issue 1 : Introduction by Iulian Ionescu

Fiction

“Single-Bit Error” by Ken Liu

“The Unforgiving Minute”  by Seth Chambers

“Wind in the Reeds” by David Sklar

“In the Shadow of Dyrhólaey” by KJ Kabza

“Passenger Space” by Julia Watson

“Letters to the Editor of Tempestas Arcana” by Alexander Plummer

“Seven Conversations in Locked Rooms” by Alex Shvartsman

“Sponsored by…” by Hank Quense

“The Sculptor’s Son” by Jason Gorbel

“Smew of Skray” by Rebecca Brown

“Your Lair or Mine?” by Cathy Bryant

“Shades of the Past” by Kurt Kirchmeier

 Non-Fiction

Interview with Author Ken Liu

Interview with Author KJ Kabza

Interview with Author Sarah Hans

Interview with Editor Neil Clarke

Artist Spotlight: Jonathan Gragg

Book Review: “The Dreamblood”

Movie Review: “The Wind Rises”   

Iulian Ionescu is the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Fantasy Scroll Mag. He is a science fiction and fantasy writer who enjoys blogging and technology. He runs the fiction writing blog Fantasy Scroll and if you want to know more about his works, check out his author page.

Virtual Reporter:“Iulian, why did you start this magazine?”

Iulian: “Because I can? Ha! That’s not it. Because I wanted to. I get really involved when I get into something, so much so that it becomes an obsession. I’ve been putting off my writing for so long, when I returned to it I felt as though I have discovered a new me. I want to get involved more. I want to be a part of the writing community. I do run a blog, but I wanted more. I can’t think of a better way than giving other writers an avenue to publish their work.”

Virtual Reporter: “What about the business model?”

Iulian: “Good question. After all, I am a CPA, so I should know these things. But the true answer is: what business? There’s not a lot to make in short story publishing, at least not until you get to a certain level. I am doing this because I love it. It’s passion.”

Virtual Reporter: “Where do you see this magazine in three years?”

Iulian: “I see it publishing 6 issues per year with an annual collection issued as an e-book.”

Virtual Reporter: “What about five years?”

Iulian: “Maybe monthly, with a printed anthology.”

Virtual Reporter: “That’s very ambitious, don’t you think?”

Iulian: “And you are not real thing.”

Virtual Reporter: “Good point.”

© Iulian Ionescu & Fantasy Scroll Magazine

Iulian Ionescu was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, where he earned my Bachelor’s in Finance. He moved to the U.S. during 2001, continued his studies and eventually became a CPA. He practices his profession at a translation company in downtown Brooklyn and he lives in New Jersey with his wife and son.   He’s been writing all his life, mostly in Romanian, his native language, but for the longest time he didn’t try to publish his work. It was more of a hobby, a love of Iulian, something that he kept for himself. At some point, though, he realized that a true writer is a published writer, so he decided to start refining his works, come up with new material, and start submitting.   He had published a few short stories in several markets and he’s currently working on two fantasy novels and a sci/fi series.   In parallel with everything, he also runs a blog on fiction writing at www.fantasyscroll.com, and he has a personal blog at www.iulianionescu.com.

Congratulations, Iulian ! We’re wishing you a lot of success !

http://fantasyscrollmag.com/