Please read this page through to the end before sending anything. Also, don't panic when you see how long the page is; it's really quite simple and straightforward, but I've elaborated on most points.

Submission guidelines:

1. Submissions must be Elf-fic, Elf-art, or Elf-poetry/songs, defined as LotR works in which an Elf is the main character. Supporting characters may be of any race accepted by LotR canon, though the more Elves, the merrier. ;o) Dinosaurs, space-aliens, mary-sues, etc. are *not* canon.

1b. Poetry should be in the form of Tolkien's poems and lays, and tell a story (like the lay of Beren and Lúthien). :o) Modern poems and/or stuff reminiscent of pop-songs are not a good place to start. [Nothing makes me cringe faster than an otherwise great story in which Legolas or whoever suddenly decides to start belting out Britney Spears' latest. *shudder* Songs of Middle-earth *always* told a story.]

2. Stories can be any length. Authors of stories 13 pages (or longer) that are chosen for publication will recieve a free copy of the 'zine. Authors of stories not long enough for a free copy will get a discount in relation to the number of pages of their story. (For example, if the 'zine runs to $18 and your story is 10 pages, it would cost you $4.16)

3. Any genre and rating (up to R) is allowed, but there is to be no sexual content.

4. Stories must be NEW; not published anywhere before (website, other zine, mailing list, school newsletter, etc.) and they must have a completed header at the beginning of the file. If you are not used to using headers, this is what I'm looking for:
     Title:
     Author(s):
     Email:
     Rating:
     Summary:
     Genre: (Angst, Drama, Humor, Romance, etc.) [opt.]
     Warnings: [If any]
     Author's Notes:

4b. Stories must have an original plotline. "Girl in Middle-earth" or "Tenth member" fanfic will not be accepted. Period. Be creative, but stay true to canon (see note 7). There are lots of ways to get a good story out of our Elves without going into the sadly overdone.

5. Accepted stories are exclusive to the zine for the entire year following publication; authors/artists may not publish those items anywhere during that time, not even if it's "just on my personal webpage." Notices that say "Hey, I (wrote this story/drew this pic) and it's in this 'zine and here's where you can find out how to get one" are fine. Posting the done deal isn't. Email me if you have questions (my email is below).

6. Stories must be proof-read and not full of spelling/grammar errors. You have plenty of time to correct them and/or get a beta or three. There is no excuse. Submissions I can't bear to read because they are so full of errors will not even be considered. "Creative spelling" is not an artform. [Note: Both "English/Australian" and "American" spelling is acceptable. In my part of the country, we use either depending on how much emphasis we want to put on something. Just be consistent. ;o)] *Please* make sure that you spell people and place name correctly!

7. Please be true to canon. Movieverse; bookverse; mix of both; I don't mind any of those. But have the characters speak like someone from a ghetto or have Thranduil zooming around Middle-earth in a spaceship... that won't get you anywhere. Excessive use of bad language is frowned upon.

8. Fic submissions should be in either .txt, .rtf, or .doc format, with a blank line between each paragraph. The preferred format for artwork is .jpg but I can work with some others. Ask. Art should be 'line-art' (black and white) or 'pencil-art' (greyscale). No full color, please.

9. Submission does not guarantee acceptance. Authors of submitted fic/art will be notified within two weeks of the end of the submission period whether or not they've been accepted.

10. I reserve the right to edit all works- this means if I see the occasional typo in an otherwise fine fic, I'll fix it. (Hey, we're only human, we can miss a couple!) This doesn't mean that you can send something that is full of mistakes and expect me to clean it up. That's what betas and spell-checkers are for.

***
To sum it all up:
Make it about Elves, make it original, make it interesting, pay attention to spelling and grammar, and you have a good chance of getting published. Write a mary-sue with spaceships, pop-songs, not even spell-check it, and you have no chance.

Deadline for submissions is Thursday, August 14, 2003.

Send submissions to me (SkyFire) at rabid_plotbunny@HotPOP.com with something like "Gen. Zine Submission" or "Hall of Fire submission" in the subject line. Don't forget that subject line- as well as working on another 'zine with the same submission email, I get over 600 messages a day at that account, and delete most from the server without reading them. If you have something else in the subject line, I might delete it by mistake. On that note, I will send an email to people whose submission I get, letting them know that I did get it. So if you send something and haven't heard from me three days later, try again.

Questions can be sent to the same address as above, with "gen zine" or "Hall of Fire" in the subject. Feel free to ask anything about the 'zine-- I don't bite, and I like talking to people. ;o)