A word from Christopher Dwyer

Dear Readers:

Welcome to Rotten Leaves. A couple months ago, my ink-brother and good friend Axel Taiari (co-editor here at RL) suggested that we start our own literary magazine. Something for the fans of darker fiction. A place where the cold meets the dark meets the fantastic.

So, here we are. Rotten Leaves makes it debut to the world today and the two of us could not be more excited. Axel and I grew up on Stephen King, the Halloween series, and Philip K. Dick. We were raised on a steady diet of horror and noir. We adore the darker side of things, whether it be crime fiction or steampunk.

And now, we’re here to provide a new literary outlet for talented writers, both those who are established and those who haven’t had a piece of work in print. Rotten Leaves will showcase the very best in horror, noir, fantasy and beyond. We’re just as happy running a psychological horror story as we are publishing an underground noir tale of bad guys with drugs and guns.

Right at this very moment, we’re accepting submissions for the site. Axel and I are ramped and ready to read your work. The first issue will launch on everyone’s favorite holiday: Halloween.

Thanks for stopping by,

Christopher

P.S. Although we’re launching on October 31, the first issue of Rotten Leaves will not be a Halloween-themed issue. However, one story with jack o’ lanterns isn’t going to hurt. So, in the spirit of the holiday, we’re going to accept a single Halloween-themed short story for the first issue. If you’re interested in submitting, please note in your email that the story is tailored for the holiday.

On the evilness of ads…

A quick word regarding ads.

Bandwidth doesn’t come cheap – so until the editors randomly stumble upon a big fat pile of money, a very small number of ads (three spots, to be precise) will be used. I am okay with that.

However, what I am not okay with – ads that annoy the readers, or take away from your reading experience.

I’ll get to the point: I made extra sure to pick ads that are pretty unobtrusive. However, should you end up seeing any ad that is either not worksafe, borderline worksafe, makes sounds, moves around too much, threatens you or insults one of your relatives because you are not clicking on it, let me know. Send me an email at comments@rottenleaves.com . Give me a rough description of what it looked like, and the company / product name if possible, and I will make it disappear forever, straight back to the capitalistic Hell from whence it came.

-Axel

EDIT: Banned three pro-scientology ads. Well, well.

First issue launch date: Halloween 2009

In honor of everyone’s favorite psychopath and manifestation of pure evil Michael Myers, the first online issue of Rotten Leaves magazine will be available on October 31st 2009.

Until then, please check out the submissions page and send us your stories/poems.

Also, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, talk to us, spread the word about the magazine, and get ready for a flurry of great stories.

Website issues & feedback

The website is now live, and entering the final design stages. It’s been tested on multiple browsers and various resolutions. Still, should you encounter any issues or have any feedback on how we could improve the design, let us know at comments@rottenleaves.com

(yes, the Amazon store requires a bit of side-scrolling on some resolutions. Unfortunately, this is not something that is currently easily fixable. Sorry about that, hope it won’t bother you guys too much.)

About

Read about the magazine and the people behind it.

Poetry

Prose and verse poetry.

“Once, if my memory serves me well, my life was a banquet where every heart revealed itself, where every wine flowed.

One evening I took Beauty in my arms – and I thought her bitter – and I insulted her.”

Arhur Rimbaud

Fiction

Here you will find various short stories, novellas and novel excerpts.

“Giving me a new idea is like handing a cretin a loaded gun, but I do thank you anyhow, bang, bang.”

Philip K. Dick