Dear Writers:

Please stop listening to whoever it is telling you to include a synopsis in the cover letters of your short stories.  There is no need to do this.  If I like your story, 99% of the time I'll read it one sitting.  If I don't like your story, 99% of the time I'll stop reading within a couple of pages.  Either way, I don't want to know what happens before I start reading the story.  One of the beautiful things about a shorter work is that I can read it in one sitting, and it won't require an inordinate amount of time to do so.  So why in the world would I want to read a bunch of spoilers?  Realms of Fantasy is not a literary agency.  We do not have to slog through countless novel manuscripts, and therefore we do not require synopses to help us figure out what works to invest our reading time into.  We are a short story market.  Please let your story speak for itself.  Please let go of this silly notion that we want to read a synopsis of your short story.  I will skip over them every single time.   Other than your contact information, you may include your worthwhile publishing credits (or just a sample of them if you have a lot), your worthwhile awards (same as before), and if you feel there is some other relevant information I must absolutely know about you before I read your story, please keep it brief.  Beyond this, little else is necessary.  As to your story itself, telling me anything more than its title and word count is overkill 99% of the time.  Unless a short story market specifically requests queries or synposes in their guidelines, please assume you should never use such devices when submitting.

Sincerely,

Assistant Editor
(Presumably on Behalf of All Short Story Editors)