All Clear

The Final Anthology is now available at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/243335.

There.

I think The Final Flashshot sums this up pretty well:

“He hit the SEND key with a finality that seemed almost surreal. Ten years of psychotic killers, cheating hubbies, alien invasions, criminals caught and uncaught, monsters, housewives, Santa Clauses, leprechauns and New Year’s celebrations. Ten years. 73,000 minutes, 1217 hours, 50+ days of his life…Made a lot of friends, not so much money.

He waited. A little anti-climactic. No explosions. No ten-ton ACME weights falling with deadly force. FLASHSHOT ends not with a bang, not even a whimper.

Just a last slurp of coffee, as he turns to the headlines on Yahoo and a thought, what adventure will I turn to now?”

This site’s going to stay up, but don’t expect Jake’s Monthly to return. It’s time that we all move on to even greater projects. And don’t worry about me, because I’m not going anywhere.

To keep track of me and whatever new projects I’ll be doing, check me out at http://experimentsinwords.wordpress.com/

It’s been fun.

-Jake Johnson

September- The Final Anthology

Welcome back. The Slipstream Anthology will be out shortly, and a link will be posted here when it becomes available.

EDIT: The Slipstream Anthology is out now, here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/232811

Now- you sitting down?- our last anthology’s open. We’ve had our fun, but we’ve accomplished everything Jake’s Monthly was set out to do, and now it’s time to lay this project to rest with the greatest stories out there.

This month: any genre. This is the endgame. Send Bizarro, SF, Fantasy, Slipstream, Lalalandpunk- anything, but make it awesome. Let’s sing this project to its rest and give it the strongest finish possible.

I look forward to your stories.

-Jake

August- Slipstream

Welcome (back) to Jake’s Monthly. This is our next-to-last collection, and it commemorates a years’ effort on my part and on the part of every one of our amazing authors. Thank you all.

Magic Realism has not yet been published, but we’re prepared to shove it out the door as soon as possible. A link to it will be added here when it has been published.

EDIT: (I’ve never done that before. It feels interesting.) Here’s a link to the finished collection.

Now, this month’s genre is Slipstream, which can have a lot of different meanings. So, before anything else, let’s define it:

Slipstream is, most basicaly, a blending of different types of stories. This can be a clash between genres or it can be a mixing of speculative fiction and literary fiction. A lot of Slipstream has a literary flavor to it, so feel free to exercise the old lit-muscles, but make sure to keep it interesting.

All of the regular guidelines are available under Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines, as is my email address. I look forward to your stories.

-Jake (The Staff)

July- Magic Realism

Greetings! Welcome (back) to Jake’s Monthly. The Alternate History anthology is out now, here. Also, in light of the fact that they’re already dirt cheap, the prices have been changed to “Set your own price.” Frabjous day.

Now, onto Magic Realism. Magic Realism is, in a sense, a milder flavor of fantasy; for example: dragons, elves and goblins exist, but they exist in the real world. Magic Realism works on being as realistic as possible, but including Fantasy elements- ones which science cannot explain. Take it into the past and you can end up with classic Sword-and-Sorcery Fantasy. Take in into the future and you end up with Science Fantasy, which we’ve already done an excellent collection on.

For these reasons, all stories submitted here must have some fantastical or supernatural element, and be set in the modern day. In this case, “the modern day” means “any point in the last 20 years”, so feel free to exercise some freedom there. For an excellent example of this genre in action (as well as a great study of how to create and portray a flawed protagonist), try Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files.

You’ll find the general guidelines and my email address at Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. I look forward to your stories.

-Jake J. Johnson

May-June- Alternate History

Greetings! Welcome (back) to Jake’s Monthly. The Thriller anthology has not yet been published due to a number of last-minute submissions which are still being perused.This message will be updated with a link to the book’s page when it is published.

UPDATE: And here it is!

Due to these extra submissions and a maelstrom of finals, exams, and standardized tests which will comprise the majority of May for me, the next anthology, Alternate History, will have a two month submission period. The last time this happened was at this project’s genesis, and it led to the jam-packed, amazing Science Fiction Anthology. I hope that this collection can match it.

Alternate History is basically what it says on the tin. Write a story about, in, or involving a world where history turned out differently. Feel free to write historical fiction, like an alternate Wild West where Rome never fell. Feel free to write any form of punk, although those stories should be kept to a minimum, since they already had their own collection. You can even write far-future SF, if you like, but the event or events which happened differently have to be set in our present or past, like “SETI contacted and managed communication with intelligent extraterrestrials in 2006″.

Feel free to take it slow and put a lot of extra effort into your story, since you have double the normal time. Feel free to submit multiple stories even if you usually don’t, or send longer stories than you typically do.

You can find the submission guidelines and my email address at Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. It’s basically guaranteed that I’ll respond to you before the end of June, and it usually takes about a week, although with my current schedule, I make no promises.

I look forward to your stories.

-Jake J. Johnson (Editor)

April- Thriller

Greetings! Welcome (back) to Jake’s Monthly. Locked-Room Mystery’s been published, and is available on smashwords here.

Now, the next volume is going to be Thriller. “What kind of thriller?” I hear you ask. The answer? All kinds: eco-, apocalyptic, SF, fantasy, paranormal, spy, fantasy, political, and so on. Any kind of Thriller will be accepted. However, the best stories will be those where there isn’t a single dull moment. High-quality thrillers typically feature daring escapes, chases, countdowns, and likeable protagonists facing incredibly powerful enemies. Feel free to go full-on action movie, but make your readers care and give them a ride well worth the price of admission.

You can find the submission guidelines over at Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. It’s guaranteed that you’ll receive a response before the end of the month, and it normally takes less than a week.

I look forward to your stories.

-Jake (Editor and Publisher)

March- All Clear, Aprl- Coming Soon

The Locked-Room Mystery collection is now closed, and will be compiled and published shortly. Full guidelines for next month’s collection will go up when this one is published, but here’s the main idea:

Thrillers are pretty straightforward. Make a countdown. Put someone’s life in danger. Pit a man against a massive conspiracy, or a crime syndicate. Every moment is tense, every action dangerous, and the protagonist risks life and limb. Pick up some Dean Koontz or James Patterson for the typical popular thriller. Thrillers may contain supernatural, historical, bizarre, fantastical or SF elements.

-Jake (The Staff)