SK#4 took even longer than SK#3. So we're going yearly.

Why?

Because finding great stuff is plunging your hand into a shit-filled toilet. You swim around to find the tiny diamond... lurching back at the stench of people "published" on meaningless litsites and "outsider clubs".

The internet isn't the problem, it just makes the shit more visible. Who out there is telling people to work and to live? Agents? Publishers? Websites? Who out there won't publish shit to earn easy money?

People don't like criticism. Check out our real-life piece on one submittor. And almost all writers give up before they're thirty. Maybe life catches up with them... or maybe no-one ever told them their stuff is shit. They're greeted with form letters or accept-all websites. Backslapping websites kill promising writers by not saying "work". And the same sites kill workers - the Dan Fante’s and Mark SaFranko’s of the world - by making readers think they can get everything for free.

Support writers. Buy a book. Hold it in your hands. Feel the discovery of something great.

You’ve stumped up the cash for SK#4... many thanks for that. If you've submitted stories to SK and got close, thanks again.

Read. Live. Work. There’s something in there. Don't send your stuff out to anyone if you don't like 99% of their stuff.

Turn inward, criticise everything you do and only take advice from people you respect. Folks, fuck the rest. And enjoy The Savage Kick #4.

Murder Slim Press