Browse through the book till you find a page that appeals to you. Then pick up to ten words or phrases from that page. Phrases should contain no more than 3 words.

Write down all these words and phrases at the top of the page that you are working on. Now start to write. You can write a short story, flash fiction, or poem. Incorporate the words you wrote down into the piece in the order you wrote them down. This is one of my favorite prompts. You end up writing about different things then you normally do, when you are incorporating another person’s language into your own writing.

Seven Stories Press is an independent publisher that has been around for twenty years. They have published a number of highly respected books. Their books are distributed by Random House.

Seven Stories Press primarily publishes fiction and non-fiction as well as the occasional book of poetry. They are interested in journalism and social justice. The books they publish tend to be either literary or academic in nature.

Seven Stories Press is  a well respected publisher in both academic and literary circles. They publish over 20 books a year on average so they have a hefty back catalog as well as a number of new releases at all time

Seven Stories Press also publishes books aimed at children young adult readers, something they have started to focus on in recent years. They call this imprint of their publishing company Triangle Square.

They accept manuscript submissions only through the mail. They expect a query letter as well as two chapters of the work. They will not read complete manuscripts. Make sure to include a self addressed and stamped envelope so that they can reply to you. They try to respond to most submissions within a few months. They will not consider email submissions. To learn more about their submission process visit the contact section of the site.

But first, a bit about our contest series. Every week we are going to have a contest on our Facebook Page. The contests will change from week to week, but the winners will always be published in the magazine. The contest winner and the runner up are chosen by a voting system, and then the editors of Authors Publish will select several additional entries from the rest to be the Editor’s Choice winners.

Below are all the winners of this week’s contest. This week the challenge was to write the first line of a novel.

The next contest starts at 9 am PST on Saturday. The contest will be to tell your life story using only six words. We have held this contest before and it is one of our personal favorites.

Winner:

Runner Up:

Editor’s Choice:

Cli-Fi or climate fiction is a relatively new term being bandied about in literary circles and the media. What you might not be aware of is the controversy surrounding this new genre. In a conversation with Nina Munteanu, ecologist, science fiction novelist and university writing instructor, I discovered that the importance and impact of climate fiction rises above the simple concept of a coined phrase like cli-fi.

Climate fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction. But this is where the controversy strikes. Dan Bloom, literary theorist and climate activist, originally developed the term cli-fi to be a completely separate genre from science fiction. In his mind cli-fi “focuses solely on climate change and global warming issues,” as he stated in an interview on the blog Former People: Bangs, Whimpers, Arts, Culture and Commentary in April 2014. These writings can look into the past but most often revolved around the present or near future. While many are dystopian in their outlook a positive or hopeful view is equally viable. Bloom associates science fiction with bizarre occurrences, aliens and outer space.

The holes in his reasoning are brought to light by writers of the genre, such as Munteanu. “Science fiction is subversive literature that illuminates our history and our very humanity. It does this by examining our interaction with ‘the other’—the unfamiliar and unknown. A scientific discovery. An environmental disaster. A calamity related to climate change.” Munteanu also highlights the inclusion of the natural sciences and any variant thereof, like eco-action and eco-punk, to be indisputably vital and long-standing sub-genres of science fiction.

So what does this mean for authors trying to accurately classify their genre? Simply to know that the term cli-fi exists and is an accepted categorization (be it a genre of its own or a sub-genre of science fiction) in the literary field. Munteanu deftly points out, “What legitimizes a genre of literature is how it is embraced by a culture.” She highlights the importance of being aware of “catchy terms used by the media [to] perpetuate a mis-concept” but stresses that “it’s not as important to define a term like cli-fi as it is to embrace the writings the term encompasses.”

Surprisingly, Bloom echoes Munteanu’s sentiments stating that no one owns or controls the cli-fi genre and that the idea of climate fiction should be allowed to “go in many different directions, depending on where writers […] and readers want to take it.”

Ultimately, the term cli-fi is a signifier to industry professionals of a particular type of writing you do. Don’t fall into the trap of needing to be absolutely correct on the matter of whether or not it’s a genre or sub-genre; be proud, bold and state clearly that you write cli-fi.

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M.J. Moores began her career as a high school English teacher with a passion for creative writing. Recently, she left the teaching profession to work as a freelance writer and editor. Unimpressed with the lack of straightforward, simple (and free) resources available to new and emerging writers, she started her own online editing company and writers’ blog (Infinite Pathways) to help her fellow compatriots. M.J. is the author of Publicizing Yourself: A Beginner’s Guide to Author Marketing available through Smashwords. Her first science fiction/fantasy novel The Chronicles of Xannia: Time’s Tempest will be released Oct. 1st, 2014 with GWL Publishing.

Every good book deserves a chance to be read. http://infinite-pathways.org

Squalorly has published eight issues over the past two years, starting in fall 2012. Each quarterly issue features work from about fifteen authors. They accept submissions year-round, and submitting writers can expect a response within about three months.

Fiction writers may submit one short story, 1,000 to 5,000 words, or up to three pieces of flash fiction, up to 1,000 words each. Non-fiction writers may submit one essay, 1,000 to 5,000 words, or up to three shorter essays, up to 1,000 words each. Poets may submit up to five poems. Writers in all genres should send only one submission at a time. Multiple submissions won’t be read.

Squalorly accepts submissions online, but not via post or email. They accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that writers withdraw work accepted elsewhere. They don’t accept previously published work.

If you’d like to learn more or submit to Squalorly, please visit their website at http://www.squalorly.com/submit