The stories I write don't seem to fit into the forms that the mystery mags that pay professional rates desire (Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, and the like). They're too edgy (dirty) or violent or lack a true mystery. Having given up long ago the notion that I could get rich with fiction, I now look for venues with a new criterium. Ideally, I'd like my stories to appear in journals that work hard to draw attention and readership (
Switchblade Magazine is a good example), a hard sell in a market where there are ten submitters of stories for every reader of such stories (my guess).
While most of the magazines that are more narrowly focused on noir type fiction are primarily e-mags, some also produce print versions. I've come to favor those journals, as I enjoy seeing my collection of magazines and anthologies grow. I'm up to about two and one-half feet of shelf space to date, hoping to reach a full three feet before I croak. So look for me in Tough, Switchblade, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Modern and the like as long as I can fool the editors into running my stories.
