It's January 1st, 2012 and Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Publishing is officially in business.  The 90 day count down to the release of A Big Book of Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Volume I, has begun.

DLR

With our 2^nd issue of Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine I noticed a pattern in short stories that was somewhat alarming to me.  The unease wasn’t caused by any of the content of the material I received, in fact, on that note it was just as I expected when this magazine was founded; there is much more talent out there, than there are publications able to showcase it all.

       My agitation was based solely on the fact that writers seem to be unaware that creativity in their titles is just as important, when it comes to a short story, as the content of that story.  On several occasions, I opened up an emailed submission only to roll my somewhat lazy, brown eyes at “Submission: The Stick,” or “Submission: Crying Tears.” Titles like these, I can say without even reading the submission, do not give the reader sufficient interest to keep reading!

       Yes, to purpose of the first sentence is to make the reader want to read the second and so on and so on, but it is the title that makes them want to read the first sentence. 

       More than once, in the past submission period, I was forced to write back to the Writer and inform them of my opinion of their limp noodled title.  Within many of these stories, great, succulent, prose could be found, and I often pointed that out also. 

       Unfortunately, many of those I contacted just didn’t want to hear it, for which my alarm was only increased, because I know for a fact that any writer worth his own salt, is open to constructive criticism, if it would lead to a sale, but this was not the case with most.  I was told bluntly, to “butt out,” “the title is fine,” and “the instructor in my workshop like it!”

       Is this the new industry standard?  One word titles or a title that gives away, in no uncertain terms, what the unread short story is all about?  I hope not.

       Take “That Hell-Bound Train,” one of my favorite short stories of all time.  Imagine if Robert Bloch had simply called his 1959 Hugo Award winner, “Train Ride.”  It seems unthinkable, doesn’t it.  Or take “Joe R. Landsdale’s “Tight Little Stitches on a Dead Man’s Back.”  If you’ve read the story, you understand that any other title would have been literary heresy. 

       I’d like to know if you feel I’m just a ranting nut job, for being so picky about short story titles, or if you agree with me.  You can also pass on any creative titles that made you want to read a story.  If I like it, I just may hunt it down and read it too.

DLR