L.S. Engler

“Damsel in Distress.”

L.S. Engler

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Who doesn’t love a good bit of publishing news? I am pleased to announce that my short story, “Damsel in Distress,” is now available in the latest issue of Phantaxis magazine, which can be purchased in on Amazon. Phantaxis is a fairly new magazine out of Canada (this is only its second issue, the first issue having appeared just last month), and I’m very excited to be a part of it so close to its inception. Theirs is an ambitious and impressive goal, to bring readers a magazine chock-full of great science fiction and fantasy every month, which makes me wonder how they ended up being suckered into publishing my drivel.

I kid, I kid. “Damsel in Distress” is a pretty good story, if I do say so myself, though I suppose I am a little biased. Written for an anthology that ultimately rejected it, I’m glad its finally found a home with someone who can appreciate its whimsy and humor. For those of you keeping track or need the encouragement to just keep persistently submitting, I brushed up and submitted this one six times before Phantaxis graciously picked it up. It tells the story of a disenfranchised old knight named Leopold who goes on one last quest in the hope to finally establish his glory and his love, though things turn out quite a bit different for him in the end.

The story is a humor piece, which is always interesting, because humor is such a varied thing. What one finds hilarious, another could find to be completely stupid, so I’ve always found humor to be exceptionally difficult and have oodles of respect for people who pull it off well (there’s a reason Terry Pratchett is my favorite writer!). It’s also a straight-up fantasy story, the first one I think I’ve managed to get published outside of my self-published things, which is another thrill for me. When I started writing, it was all fantasy. I wanted to be the next J.R.R. Tolkien, I was all about the dragons and the elves and the princesses, but when I got into college, I began to really explore a lot of other things. Part of this was because genre fiction generally gets a bad rap in academia, but I also enjoyed these other things, too. I really love the idea of being known as a multi-genre writer. As I started to get things going, most of what I’d had success with was horror. I never really considered myself a horror writer, but, hey, it seemed to be working for me, but now I’ve got this fantasy under my belt and another one to be published in an anthology at a still undisclosed date. Twelve year old me who wrote her first epic fantasy novel in the sixth grade is freaking stoked, y’all.

So, if you get the chance, please check out Volume 2 of Phantaxis magazine, be it in print or ebook, because there’s some other great stories in there, too. You’ll be supporting a new, exciting magazine on the fantasy/sci fi rift, and you’ll get to hopefully fall in love with a pottering old knight just trying to do his best.

5 responses to ““Damsel in Distress.””

  1. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    Congratulations, L.S.! 😀

    Reply
    1. L.S. Engler Avatar
      L.S. Engler

      Thank you, Jessica!! 😀

      Reply
  2. Lauralynn Elliott Avatar
    Lauralynn Elliott

    Congrats! I admire your persistence. Years ago, before ebooks and easy self-publishing, I submitted a story to a well-known magazine. After I was rejected, I never submitted anything else anywhere. I actually stopped writing for awhile except for myself. I’m glad an author friend got me started writing again, but I never submitted any more short stories to any magazines. Maybe I should try that again in addition to my self-published books.

    By the way, where in the world do you FIND all those places to submit? How do you find time to research that? I just think you’re awesome. 🙂

    Reply
    1. L.S. Engler Avatar
      L.S. Engler

      Thanks, Lauralynn! That’s really means a lot to me. I always say, college was totally worth the price of admission if only because it taught me that this field definitely favors the patient, the persistent, and the thick-skinned. This was right before self-publishing really took off, so there were plenty of stories about all the rejection you were bound to get. I was good and prepared for it.

      I’m glad your friend got you writing again, too! The world would be a bit sadder without your contributions to it, that’s for sure.

      And I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and websites that frequent post different submission calls and I keep a close eye on them. The World Unknown Review has helped in that, too. Authors who submit to me often mention journals they’ve been published in before, and then I go scope them out, too. Some of my best resources at the moment:

      Horror Tree: easily the place that has introduced me to the most successes. I use it to tell people about WUR, too, and a lot of my authors have come from there.

      Poets & Writers has a GREAT, extensive database of journals and anthologies and contests. I don’t think I’ve even managed to scratch surface of journals through their list! These are usually the Big Ones, though, so I haven’t had as much luck with them.

      Authors Publish Magazine sends out a newsletter every few days or so with various publishing opportunities. They try to focus on ones that don’t require a submission fee, which I really like.

      Winning Writers focuses a lot on contests, so there’s interesting stuff there, and they send out newsletters, too.

      And I just started following the Review Review recently, but I’ve been blown away by how much they have to offer, as well as the quality. It’s quickly becoming my favorite after the Horror Tree.

      I know I’m probably forgetting some, but these are definitely, easily my most used resources for finding places to send things. I have a few notebooks, too, one to keep track of contests or anthologies with approaching deadlines, one with journals and magazines, and one with all my stories, so I can keep track of what I’ve spent to who and when. Keeping track is almost as fun as the actual writing for me, because I’m a big nerd.

      Reply
      1. Lauralynn Elliott Avatar
        Lauralynn Elliott

        Thanks for sharing the resources! I’m a big nerd, too. I like to track things. 🙂

        Reply

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