We’ve Clarified Some Rules!

We learned all kinds of things during Contest #5. Among the most prominent lessons was, some of our rules were open to interpretations we never intended. So, we’ve revised how we explain our contest rules.

Here’s a summary of the new language:

Contest Entries Must Be Unpublished

I know we’ve always said that, but we didn’t emphasize it strongly enough before. Now we’ve added relevant language to the e-mail template we offer contestants for use when sending us stories.

When We Said “No Copyrighted Characters,” We Really Meant “No Characters Other People Created”

We forgot about public domain characters. Dracula, Little Red Riding Hood...these are characters other authors created, but they’re no longer under copyright. So rule #8 has been changed to disallow fan fiction, pastiches, etc.

Having said that, we need to draw a distinction between using other people’s characters as themselves and using them in other ways. We don’t want to read stories where Batman fights crime. But what about a schizophrenic character who’s hallucinating Batman, and sees that Batman fight hallucinatory criminals? We could live with that.

We also had no problem with Ken Rand’s use of Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn in Issue #3, because the Warner Bros. characters themselves were not really in the story. If you wonder where the line is, read that story and we think the line will be clear.

Anyway, we have five stories for you this issue -- three speculative, two mainstream, all good. We also have cartoons drawn by Erika Moen. So check out our offerings and let us know what you think at Feedback@OnThePremises.com.

Keep writing and keep reading,

Tarl Roger Kudrick
co-publisher of On The Premises magazine