Accepting eBook Submissions

Starting September 1st, White Cat Magazine will be open for eBook submissions. Guidelines will be posted this weekend.

Also, we will be posting new Flash Fiction selections mid-next week. Thanks so much to the wondeful writers who have submitted work to us. We’ve had so many that in August we will be posting one new piece of Flash Fiction every week.

The short stories have been so interesting we’ll also be increasing the number that we accept!

A Victory Against Plagiarist David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana

Great news in the fight against serial plagiarist David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana!!

The Attorney General's Office for the State of Indiana has written me that since they cannot mediate the matter with Boyer (who couldn't see that one coming), that they now need "... evidence of a pattern of deceptive conduct in order to sue under the consumer protection statues we enforce."

Fortunately, B Thoughtful compiled a massive pile of evidence proving conclusively Boyer's pattern of plagiary against innocent authors!

So now we are contacting Boyer's victims and packaging up the evidence for all the people we've found that he plagiarized and will be presenting it to the AG of Indiana.

This is a key breakthrough in information for busting serial plagiarists like David Boyer (under his plethora of aliases), Richard Ridyard (who we're now actively after), Angela Priest and many more.  Establishing the pattern for the state AG's lets them go after them.

We're setting up the legal defense fund (adding a Donate Button to the Fight Against Plagiarism, packaging up the evidence, and then going after David Boyer first and foremost!  We'll need lots of help, so I'm contacting the National Writers Union.  Every writer should join them as their first and foremost defense.


Finally a way to bust these plagiarists!

Jeani Rector's Publishing Success!

Jeani Rector

Jeani Rector is an impressive woman with a strong sense of purpose.  As you read the interview below (which is also posted on White Cat Magazine), I think you'll be impressed by her combination of talent vision, self discipline, and focus.  Add to that the fact that she's a great person, and you'll see why I was so anxious to interview her.

*****

Editor: Jeani, you’ve had wonderful success as a writer, an editor, and most recently as the publisher of the online magazine at www.thehorrorzine.com, but for those of our readers who are being introduced to you for the first time, can you tell us more about your career?

 Good question! I started off as a writer, and I would submit short stories to online magazines. Suddenly the recession hit in 2008, and all sorts of zines began folding. When even The Harrow went defunct, I asked myself: “Who is going to replace these zines?” I must have been looking into a mirror when I asked myself that question. LOL

 Serendipity happened. I got an offer to join in a website building class free of charge, a freak thing. I said, “Let me think about it.” No I didn’t! I said YES!

Start-up costs for The Horror Zine weren’t cheap. I had to purchase the name and also the domain space because I didn’t want to use any free websites like webs.com or weebly.com. I wanted full control and ownership of what goes on my site, and you don’t get that for free. Plus there was the website software costs: I use Adobe Dreamweaver, a very expensive choice, but that was the negative of being invited to a free website building class…they used Adobe products. AH HA! Nothing is free! There was a catch! Too late now! I’ve been caught in the catch!

So anyway, I started The Horror Zine in July 2009. And at the end of this year, 2011, I am going to register The Horror Zine legally as a small business. I need to do it in anticipation of the book titled WHAT FEARS BECOME: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE HORROR ZINE , which will be available in October or November 2011. 

Editor:  Your hard work has been rewarded with numerous prestigious awards.  Can you list some of them for us and explain the process by which your magazine was selected?

Well, thank you! Not numerous awards, not yet. But The Horror Zine has won the 2010 Predators and Editors Awards for Best Fiction Magazine and Best Poetry Magazine. We have been Long Listed for Best Magazine by the British Fantasy Society twice. And we did have a presence at the World Horror Convention in both 2010 and 2011.

You have to remember, The Horror Zine has only been operating since July 2009. Give us another year, and maybe we can add to that list of awards! 

Editor:  The Horror Zine has been a tremendous success and in large part many of us attribute that to your talent at both bringing out the best in people and encouraging established writers to contribute to your magazine while you bring them together on your site with talented writers who deserve recognition.  How exactly do you that?

Because I had been a writer, I knew a lot of magazine editors. Trevor Denyer of Midnight Street Magazine (who incidentally wrote one of the best ghost stories I have ever read) introduced me to Ramsey Campbell, and one thing led to another, and now The Horror Zine is frequented by best-selling authors.

The Horror Zine has been privileged to publish such “masters of the macabre” as Ramsey Campbell, Graham Masterton, Joe R. Lansdale, Simon Clark, Piers Anthony, Tom Piccirilli, Elizabeth Massie, Melanie Tem, Ronald Malfi, Conrad Williams, Cheryl Kaye Tardif, Scott Nicholson, Jeff Strand, Gregg Hurwitz, and the current issue features Susie Moloney.

But I never forget our mission: to support and promote struggling writers, poets, and artists. So even though we have a lot of star power, we also have some of the most talented newcomers and lesser-knowns in the business.

You ask: “How do I do that?” I do it by treating my contributors with the courtesy and the respect that they deserve. I work hard and remain honest. They are all important to me, every one. And I am grateful to them all. And I tell them that, because I mean it.

Editor:  Where do you see your writing and publishing efforts taking you in the future?  Will your emphasis be more on your own writing career or will you focus on becoming even more successful as a publisher?

 Another good question. Can I dodge this one? No? LOL.

Okay, here’s the deal: I will be leaving my full-time job as an analyst this December to devote more time to The Horror Zine. But! Leaving an eight to five job frees up time that I can use to finally begin writing again. And the next book I write will not be horror; it will be historical fiction about the 1930s Great Depression in the Midwest USA. I have run the idea past the literary agent I have, and she agrees to represent that book. Pretty nice to get an agent even before I write the first word for that book!

So stay tuned folks! Kind of like, “But wait! There’s more!”

In the meantime, come visit us at http://www.thehorrorzine.com, and look for the book WHAT FEARS BECOME: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE HORROR ZINE coming out around Halloween 2011. WHAT FEARS BECOME not only contains works by most of the writers I have already named, but it will also contain a never-published-before story from Bentley Little. How’s that for a teaser?

International Submissions Pouring in for Fall Issue of White Cat Magazine

We’d like to take a moment to express our surprise and gratification with the number of stories that we’ve received from writers around the world!

This is an exciting development for us, and we’ll be increasing the number of stories included in the new edition to include a special section for international writers who have been thoughtful enough to send their work to us.

Our editor lived for many years in Canada, and was especially grateful to see the large number of Canadian stories pouring in!

Over the coming months, we’ll be exploring ways to make White Cat Magazine multi-lingual.

White Cat Publications Asked to Publish eBooks

Due to an increasing number of inquiries, we're considering publishing a select number of eBooks under our White Cat Publications, LLC imprint. To begin with, we will be publishing both a yearly eBook and print anthology of the best stories we publish here.


After that, we're interested in non-ficiton works that are focused on the How-To, self-help and inspirational genres. From there, we'll look at a variety of fiction focusing in on mystery, suspense, romance, western and science fiction genres.


We'll be moving into these areas beginning January 1st, 2012. We're interested in your feedback before we begin the process.

White Cat Magazine Has a New Contest

We have a new monthly contest at White Cat Magzine!

At the beginning of each month we'll post a picture as the basis for a short story competition (2,500 word max). Send us the most intersting story you can come up with about what you think is going on in the photo and we'll select the best to showcase at the beginning of the next month.

The photo to the left is titled "The Escape." You come up with the story. Deadline is 25th of July. Our standard rates apply.

Ignite Your Imagination

Which is more interesting- your writing or your life?  Think carefully before you answer.

Do you write about interesting things in an uninteresting way?

Do you do the same things day after day, month after month, year after year?  Is television more exciting than your life?  How can you hope to write interesting fiction if all of this describes your life?

Writing is no substitute for an interesting life.  Research is no substitute for experience.  This applies to your imaginary life as well as your real life.  What I'm saying is if you can't live large, then dream large.  It will show in your writing.  No one wants to read stories about people who settle written by writers who settle.

Here's a three step recipe to put some passion in your writing so your readers don't fall asleep on you:


1.  Read Charles Gramlich's "Write With Fire."

2.  Quit attending writer's groups and pay attention to life around you.  And maybe quit getting your weather reports from weather.com and pay attention to the sky.  Ignore group input and think for yourself for a change.  You'll be amazed how much more interesting your writing gets.  Vary your life routine a little.  Don't keep doing the same things day after day after day.

3.  Read Charles Gramlich's "Write With Fire" again.  Seriously.  Your writing will immediately improve.

First Issue!

The first issue of our new web magazine is now up at White Cat Publications.  Come on over and take a look.  Let us know what you think.

Every new enterprise should acknowledge those who made it possible.

I would like to dedicate this first collection of stories to William Jones, whose patient mentoring has been such a tremendous help with my own writing and so many other authors. William is a wonderfully gifted writer and editor. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of being acquainted with his stories, I wholeheartedly recommend that you seek them out. He is one of those authors who can write exceptionally in any genre he puts his mind to. Although his most recent novel is Pallid Light, I have always been especially fond of his The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson and his science fiction anthology Artifacts.

William has his PhD in Literature, is an engineer, a professor at a prestigious technical university, and undoubtedly the finest writing teacher a writer could ever have the privelege to know. He is one of the few people I know who can successfully correct, instruct and inspire sincere students of the craft.
I would also like to thank the writers who contributed to this first issue. Without out their fine efforts, this would not have been possible. Some names you might be familiar with, some may be new to you, but they are all impressive in their own right.

We'll be publishing new collections at least every three months, post twice weekly and have ongoing reviews and interviews.

Going forward we'll be publishing print anthologies and a selection of new novels and non-fiction. We're open to suggestions and comments to the me at editor@whitecatpublications.com.