written by David Steffen This year we published the long-awaited Long List Anthology Volume 9, which marked a few milestones in the anthology. The previous 8 volumes were edited by me alone, this one was co-edited by me, Chelle Parker, and Hal Y. Zhang. It also marked the first time that a story in the … Continue reading 2025 Retrospective and Award Eligibility
written by David Steffen Hello! I am here to announce the original stories that were chosen from the general submission window that ran in July 2025. First, some stats:# of Stories Submitted: 1797# Rejected (First Round): 1676# Rejected (Final Round): 55# Withdrawn: 30# Disqualified: 7# Rewrite Requests: 4# Accepted: 25 Note that the overall numbers … Continue reading Diabolical Plots Lineup Announcement! (from July 2025 Window)
written by David Steffen In 2020, on April 1st, we’ve had a recurring gag on the site where we “rebrand” by replacing the banner from a list of joke banners that sound kindof like “The Grinder” but pick a different title, different subtitle, and different logo. There were nine banners created by our original banner … Continue reading Submission Grinder April Fool’s Recap Number Two
written by David Steffen A Kickstarter campaign for The Long List Anthology Volume 9 will launch on March 31st and run until April 14th. You can follow this link for the preview page and you can ask Kickstarter to remind you of it when it launches.
written by David Steffen We have been publishing the annual Long List Anthology since 2015. Last year at this time we hadn’t been able to run the Long List Anthology yet because the nomination statistics had not been published yet. This was extremely unusual since WorldCon 2023 had been in October and they usually publish … Continue reading 2024 Retrospective and Award Eligibility
written by David Steffen Hello! I am here to announce the original stories that were chosen from the general submission window that ran in July 2024. First, some stats:# of Stories Submitted: 1323# Rejected (First Round): 1220# Rejected (Final Round): 57# Withdrawn: 15# Disqualified: 2# Rewrite Requests: 6# Accepted: 23 Note that the overall numbers … Continue reading Diabolical Plots Lineup Announcement! (from July 2024 Window)
written by David Steffen Applications to become a first reader are now open to everyone through June 3rd! See the previous post for more details.
written by David Steffen Diabolical Plots is bidding a fond farewell to Kel Coleman, who is stepping down from their position on the editorial team to pursue rest, as well as other creative endeavors. For those who don’t know, our working relationship with Kel started on the story side of things, when we had the … Continue reading Announcement: Kel Coleman Stepping Down
written by David Steffen In 2023 Diabolical Plots published our second guest-edited themed issue, this time for the “Diabolical Thoughts” telepathy theme, guest-edited by assistant editor Ziv Wities. We have been publishing the annual Long List Anthology since 2015. In 2021 there was a hiccup in the schedule due to WorldCon timing that pushed that … Continue reading 2023 Retrospective and Award Eligibility
written by David Steffen Elemental is a CG animated film published in general release in June 2023 by Pixar. It takes place in Element City, which is populated entirely by people who each are elementals: creatures of the four classical elements of air, earth, water, and fire. It is, broadly speaking, a star-crossed romance story … Continue reading MOVIE ANALYSIS: Elemental (Pixar), a Movie About the Dangers of Government Incompetence
