This page contains Mary Soon Lee’s mailbox mutterings from 2000 to 2002. For more recent news see the latest Mailbox Blues.

25 December 2002: Happy Christmas and New Year!

A very happy Christmas and New Year to anyone reading this 🙂 I plan to spend the next 8 days having fun with Andrew and William, so I don’t expect to update this page again until January 2003….

20 December 2002: Asimov’s

Poetry rejection from Asimov’s.

18 December 2002: Chronicle + 3SF 🙂

My collection Ebb Tides and Other Tales has been reviewed by Don D’Ammassa in Chronicle, December 2002. Happily, he enjoyed the collection! I also received payment for my story in the first issue of 3SF, and I received a rejection from Spectrum SF.

16 December 2002: MarsDust

I received the contracts for last month’s sale to MarsDust 🙂 And I also received a mainstream poetry rejection from Beloit Poetry Journal.

13 December 2002: American Poetry Review

A mainstream poetry rejection from the American Poetry Review.

4 December 2002: Mythic Delirium 🙂

An acceptance of my poem “Flame War” arrived from Mythic Delirium today, my first sale to them 🙂 I also received an email rejection of a poem from Strange Horizons.

29 November 2002: Ploughshares

Mainstream poetry rejection from Ploughshares.

26 November 2002: Alchemy

A rejection from Alchemy today, following a week of silence on the mail-front….

19 November 2002: MarsDust and Mobius 🙂

Two bits of good news: today I received an acceptance of my short-short “Growing Pains” from MarsDust, and yesterday I received copies of Mobius, containing my poems “Soliloquy of a Nanotech Souffle” and “Rush Hour” 🙂

16 November 2002: 3SF 🙂

I have now received my contributor copies of 3SF, having received my subscription copy two weeks earlier 🙂 Less happily, I received an 82-day rejection from Talebones.

(Later) 12 November 2002: Fictionwise 🙂

In today’s snail-mail, my 3rd quarter 2002 royalties from Fictionwise 🙂

12 November 2002: Third Alternative 🙂

I received an email acceptance of my short story “Immigrants” from The Third Alternative 🙂 Happiness 🙂

11 November 2002: SFRevu 🙂

My collection Ebb Tides and Other Tales is reviewed by E.J. McClure in the October 2002 issue of SFRevu 🙂 McClure writes: “Lee has clearly mastered the art of the short story. Some of these tales are only a few pages long, but all have a crystal-clear central concept, robust characters, effortlessly natural dialogue, and a clever twist or hook at the end. So go ahead; open Pandora’s box! Me, I’m looking for her earlier anthology, Winter Shadows and Other Tales, and eagerly awaiting her next collection.”

7 November 2002: Axe Factory Review

Mainstream poetry rejection from Axe Factory Review.

2 November 2002: 3SF + Waxing & Waning 🙂

After the bad mail day, a much happier one: I received my copies of 3SF, issue #1 containing my short story “Making Fields,” and of Waxing and Waning, Volume 2, issue #1, containing a reprint of my short story “The Mother.”

1 November 2002: Asimov’s, 5 AM, Indiana Review

Not a good mail day, alas, with an SF rejection from Asimov’s, and mainstream poetry rejections from 5 AM and Indiana Review.

31 October 2002: Beloit Poetry Journal

A 13-day mainstream poetry rejection from Beloit Poetry Journal. And now it’s time to go Trick-or-Treating with William 🙂

30 October 2002: Space and Time

A 25-day rejection from Space and Time.

26 October 2002: 3SF + car 🙂

I received the contracts from 3SF for my story “Making Fields.” The story has just been published in their first issue, though copies haven’t yet made it to the USA…. In non-writing news, we bought a new car today, a Passat GL Wagon — a considerable upgrade from our 1996 Dodge Neon. We decided to get a wagon after some friends had a recent car-crash (and after double-checking that the Neon doesn’t have good crash-test ratings). N.B. Happily our friends were not seriously injured!

25 October 2002: Scifi.com

A 52-day rejection from Scifi.com, my first story response in 8 days, a comparatively long silence for me.

24 October 2002: Shocklines.com

“Ebb Tides and Other Tales” can now be ordered online from Shocklines.com, in addition to Amazon.com (where it was already available).

21 October 2002: S&S royalties 🙂

I received more royalties from my story in Sword & Sorceress 18; it’s not a large sum of money, but still very welcome 🙂

20 October 2002: Asimov’s Review 🙂

I was surprised but delighted to learn that Paul Di Filippo has reviewed my collection “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” in the December 2002 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

 

17 October 2002: F&SF + Axe Factory Review

A 8-day story rejection from F&SF and a 13-day mainstream poetry rejection from Axe Factory Review.

15 October 2002: Mobius 🙂

Acceptance of 2 poems for the Thanksgiving 2002 issue of Mobius: The Poetry Magazine — I am very happy about this 🙂

14 October 2002: Dreams & Nightmares

A fast, friendly poetry rejection from Dreams and Nightmares.

9 October 2002: Space & Time

A 32-day poetry rejection from Space and Time.

8 October 2002: Descant

A 229-day rejection from Descant.

7 October 2002: The Leading Edge

A first for me: I received a rejection saying from The Leading Edge saying they would love to see the story published, but don’t think they’d “be allowed to publish a story with these sexual overtones.” (I note that the story didn’t have graphic sex scenes.)

5 October 2002: Best of the Rest 3 🙂

My story “Homecoming” has been reprinted in Best of the Rest 3, edited by Brian Youmans 🙂 This story first appeared in Winter Shadows and Other Tales.

4 October 2002: American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal

Rejections from both of the above for mainstream poems, but the latter included a note saying one of the poems was “good” (underlined), which made me happy.

3 October 2002: Strange Horizons, MSP

Today I received a short story rejection from Strange Horizons, and a friendly poetry rejection from The Magazine of Speculative Poetry.

30 September 2002: Silver Web

A 23-day rejection from the Silver Web with a note saying they are closed to submissions indefinitely.

26 September 2002: Axe Factory Review

A friendly and helpful 6-day mainstream poetry rejection from Axe Factory Review.

23 September 2002: Asimov’s

A 73-day poetry rejection from Asimov’s…. In reading-news, I finished re-reading “The Two Towers” (excellent) and am hugely looking forward to seeing the film version in December.

19 September 2002: Amazon.com 🙂

“Ebb Tides and Other Tales” can now be ordered from Amazon.com 🙂 🙂 Hopefully the cover-art will soon appear at Amazon as well (I just ftp-ed it to them)…. Less happily, I received mainstream poetry rejections from 5 AM and Mothering Magazine.

16 September 2002: Three Honorable Mentions 🙂

Upon buying a copy of The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror #15, I was very happy to see that three of my stories received Honorable Mentions 🙂 The stories are “City of Mercy,” “The Fall of the Kingdom,” and “The Winter of the Rats,” and they are all included in Winter Shadows and Other Tales.

12 September 2002: F&SF

A friendly 7-day rejection from F&SF, plus a 76-day mainstream poetry rejection from Indiana Review…. In non-writing news, William has now been to three mornings of preschool this term, and seems to be doing well. (He is still reluctant to let me leave the class room, but is fine afterwards — though on the second day he complained about the yogurt flavor!)

6 September 2002: 3SF

I received the proofs of my forthcoming story in 3SF today; I’m very looking forward to appearing in the magazine — it’s always particularly nice to be in a first issue 🙂 In other news, I received a very quick 6-day poetry rejection from Mythic Delirium.

4 September 2002: On Spec

A 160-day rejection arrived yesterday from On Spec. In non-writing news, today is William’s first day back at preschool — he is there as I type this. He will now be going to preschool for nine hours a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings). Needless to say, I am hoping he makes a smooth adjustment back to school.

31 August 2002: Harper’s

A 70-day rejection from Harper’s – this is the first time I’ve tried this non-genre market.

30 August 2002: TOTU

A friendly 118-day poetry rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated.

23 August 2002: Scifi.com

A friendly 43-day rejection from Scifi.com.

20 August 2002: Analog

Returning from a very enjoyable mini-vacation in Toronto, I found one friendly rejection from Analog.

13 August 2002: Aurealis

A 38-day rejection from Aurealis.

10 August 2002: Fictionwise royalties

I received my 2nd-quarter 2002 royalties from Fictionwise; also, yesterday I received a rejection from Beloit Poetry Journal (a mainstream poetry market).

8 August 2002: “Ebb Tides and Other Tales”

I have now scanned in the cover for Ebb Tides and Other Tales; the beautiful artwork is an illustration of “Ebb Tide” by A.B. Word 🙂

 

31 July 2002: “Ebb Tides and Other Tales” 🙂 🙂

Ebb Tides and Other Tales has just been published by Dark Regions Press 🙂 🙂 I received my copies on Monday, and am very happy! This is a science fiction collection, a companion volume to my fantasy collection, Winter Shadows and Other Tales. The collection contains 4 original stories and 16 reprints, including two stories that appeared in volumes of Year’s Best SF, stories that were finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the British Science Fiction Association award, and tales from Amazing Stories, F&SF, Interzone, and Spectrum SF.

In other news, Fictionwise have reprinted another story of mine (“Crew-Dog”), and I see that my story “Rewind” is currently #5 on their best-seller list…. Also, I had a lot of fun at Confluence this past weekend.

25 July 2002: Analog payment 🙂

Today, I received the check from my recent sale to Analog 🙂 I also noticed that my story “Insight” is now up to #10 at Fictionwise, and my story “Rewind” is at #17 there (both stories appeared on Fictionwise in the last week or two). Lastly, I got a friendly rejection from The Magazine of Speculative Poetry.

24 July 2002: Alpha workshop + Fictionwise

Checking the Fictionwise site again, I see that my story “Insight” is now up to #11 on their best-seller list…. In other news, today I got to eat lunch with the Alpha workshop, which is a week-long speculative workshop for young writers. It was a nice, relaxed occasion, and William (who accompanied me) particularly enjoyed sharing his Wikki-sticks with Amy, one of the workshop participants 🙂

21 July 2002: Ebb Tide and Other Tales 🙂

Joe Morey of Dark Regions Press emailed me to say that my second collection, Ebb Tide and Other Tales, should be out in early August — just a couple more weeks to wait 🙂

19 July 2002: Nova SF, Fictionwise 🙂

Since I last updated this page, I have received contributor copies of the Italian publications Nova SF #30 and #33, containing translations of my stories “Silent in the Cities” and “Ebb Tide.” These reprints date back to 1997 and 1998, and I had tried several times before to get contributor copies — after five years, I had just about given up hope!

 

10 July 2002: F&SF rejection

A rejection from F&SF….

9 July 2002: Honorable Mention + Rhysling Anthology 🙂

No responses for a few days, but I received my copy of the 2002 Rhysling Anthology containing my poem “Insignificant Others” (first published in 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology), and I learned that my story “Crew-Dog” from Spectrum SF received an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois’s latest Year’s Best Science Fiction…. I also received proofs for my forthcoming stories in Fictionwise and The Best of the Rest 3.

5 July 2002: Double rejection

Rejections today from both Future Orbits and Absolute Magnitude; I have also written another couple of poems, bringing me up to 14 new poems in the past three weeks….

1 July 2002: Asimov’s rejection

A 34-day rejection from Asimov’s, plus I have written another couple of poems since my last entry here.

27 June 2002: Confluence schedule + royalties 🙂

It’s been a good day so far: I received two checks from Dark Regions Press, the advance for my second collection (“Ebb Tide and Other Tales”) and royalties for the first collection (“Winter Shadows and Other Tales”). Plus I received my schedule for Confluence. I am particularly pleased to see that I will be on a panel with Paul Melko, a former Worldwright. Lastly I completed another poem, my tenth in the past couple of weeks. This brings my tally of poems up from 20 to 30. For the curious, my Confluence schedule is:-

 

• 6:00pm Friday, “The State of the Art: SF, Fantasy, and Horror Short Fiction” (moderated by David Hartwell)
• 8:00pm Friday, “Dulling the Edge: Are How-To Books and Workshopping Reducing SF to Formula?” (moderated by Ginjer Buchanan)
• 11:00am Saturday, Reading
• 10:00am Sunday, “Manuscripts, Agents, and Publishers (Oh, My): The Business End of Writing” (moderated by John R. Douglas)

20 June 2002: Analog sale 🙂 🙂

I have sold a story to Analog for the first time, and I am very pleased indeed by the news! The story is titled “Coming-of-Age.” I had accumulated 22 rejections from Analog before making this sale…. In other news, I had a friendly rejection from Strange Horizons, and I have written half-a-dozen poems since my last post here (half of them mainstream poems).

10 June 2002: Magazine of Speculative Poetry 🙂

The Magazine of Speculative Poetry accepted my poem “The Travelers” 🙂 This is my third acceptance from them 🙂 No other story-related mail for a week….

3 June 2002: Realms of Fantasy

In today’s mail, a rejection from Realms of Fantasy.

Later on 28 May 2002: Pirate Writings 🙂

The US Mail service delivered a second batch of mail that had been held while we were on vacation. This included an unexpected request to reprint my story “One Small Step” in the Best of Pirate Writings, Volume II. The letter appears to have first been sent in February to my previous address, so there’s a risk that my reply won’t arrive in time (I have already emailed the editor, Ed McFadden)…. I also received rejections from F&SF and Scifi.com, plus royalties for my story in Sword and Sorceress 18.

28 May 2002: Cover art by AB Word 🙂

I have just received a jpeg of AB Word’s beautiful illustration for the cover of my forthcoming collection, “Ebb Tide and Other Tales.” (Click here to see the picture.)

27 May 2002: Star*Line 🙂

Returning from a most enjoyable two weeks on Cape Hatteras, I found that Star*Line had accepted my poem “Backwards” 🙂 I also had poetry rejections from Atlantic Monthly and Asimov’s, plus a story rejection from Playboy.

8 May 2002: 3SF 🙂

Happiness: I sold my short story “Making Fields” to 3SF Magazine 🙂

3 May 2002: “Ebb Tide and Other Tales” 🙂

Good news: I received email from Joe Morey of Dark Regions Press, and he expects my second collection, Ebb Tide and Other Tales, to be published in June 🙂 🙂

Less happily, I received rejections from Cicada and Strange Horizons.

2 May 2002: Magazine of Speculative Poetry 🙂

The Magazine of Speculative Poetry accepted my poem “Experiment Eighty-Two” 🙂 This will be my second appearance in their magazine…. I also received quarterly royalties from Fictionwise.

25 April 2002: Fictionwise

I’ve just finished getting another 5 stories ready for Fictionwise, and will send the contracts back to them tomorrow. The 5 new stories include a personal favorite of mine, “Crew-Dog,” first published in Spectrum SF, and they should appear at Fictionwise later this year. (“Crew-Dog” won’t be there until June at the earliest, as my contract with Spectrum SF gave them 6 months exclusivity.)

It’s been interesting watching how the 17 stories I already have at Fictionwise have been doing. Despite being almost my lowest-rated story, “The God on the Glass Cross” has sold almost twice as many copies as any of my other tales. This is puzzling to say the least! I wonder if it is because that story is my only one classified as horror — is horror just selling better?

23 April 2002: William turns three 🙂

William turned three years old yesterday, and we marked the occasion by letting him eat chocolate for the first time. To no one’s surprise, he liked it very much, hopping up and down while he ate it and asking when he would be allowed to have more 🙂 In writing-related news, during the past week I received two rejections, one from Future Orbitsand the other from Spectrum SF.

15 April 2002: Best of the Rest + Fictionwise

In the last week, I have received the contract and check for my forthcoming story “Homecoming” in Best of the Rest 3, plus a request from Fictionwise for more of my stories 🙂 Less happily, I received poetry rejections from Asimov’s and The Magazine of Speculative Poetry.

8 April 2002: Update

Three responses since my last update here: a story rejection from Playboy (the first time I’ve tried them in nearly 2 years), and poetry rejections from Talebones and Crab Orchard Review.

27 March 2002: F&SF rejection

A 7-day rejection from F&SF.

23 March 2002: Analog rejection

A 30-day rejection from Analog.

20 March 2002: Interzone publication 🙂

I received contributor copies of Interzone #176, February 2002, containing my story “New World” 🙂 This is my seventh publication in Interzone 🙂

18 March 2002: Ouch

After a quiet start to the month, with just one rejection up to today, I received 3 rejections (from On Spec, F&SF, and Scifi.com).

14 March 2002: Signing 🙂

This evening I did my first ever signing in a bookshop, at the Borders in Monroeville, near Pittsburgh. Happily many of my friends turned up, so I was not left all alone and forlorn as I had dreaded. As a result it was a happy event for me 🙂 William played around in the bookshop, partly looked after by Andrew and partly by our friend Chris Atkeson. (William’s face lit up when he saw Chris arriving.) And now to bed….

10 March 2002: Bookshop event

Well, I have made my first ever appearance as an author at a bookshop: I was one of the speakers for Amazing Woman’s Day at the Borders bookshop in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. It was a friendly event, and I think I got a gentle introduction to such things. On Thursday I will be doing my first signing at a bookshop — at 7:30 p.m. at the Borders in Monroeville — having only signed once before at a convention….

8 March 2002: “Ebb Tide and Other Tales”

Today I received the contracts for my second collection, “Ebb Tide and Other Tales,” which is tentatively scheduled for publication in April/May 2002 🙂 And I also received a very nice review of “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” from Shoshana Kaminsky 🙂

4 March 2002: Kinships publication 🙂

I received my contributor copy of Kinships, containing my short story “Common Courtesy.” Less happily, yesterday I received an email rejection from the anthology Imagination Fully Dilated.

24 February 2002: Dreams and Nightmares

A fast and friendly rejection from Dreams and Nightmares.

19 February 2002: Best of the Rest + Rhysling 🙂

My story “Homecoming,” one of the four previously-unpublished stories in “Winter Shadows and Other Tales,” has been selected for the Best of the Rest 3: The Best Unknown SF and Fantasy of 2001. 🙂 And my poem “Insignificant Others” (from 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology) has been nominated for a Rhysling Award 🙂

16 February 2002: SF Site review + interview

Trent Walters’s interview with me and his review of “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” are both now up at SF Site 🙂

7 February 2002: Holt Language Arts

A first for me: I sold reprint rights to an extract from my short story “The Day Before They Came” to be included in a school textbook that is part of the Holt Language Arts series. David Pringle of Interzone, where the story first appeared, forwarded the request to me in January, and I have just signed the contract 🙂

6 February 2002: Fictionwise royalties

I received my quarterly Fictionwise royalties 🙂

5 February 2002: Locus review

I now have my copy of the February Locus and so got to read Jennifer A. Hall’s review of “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” 🙂 In other news, a 72-day rejection came from Asimov’s.

31 January 2002: Interviews and reviews

“Winter Shadows and Other Tales” has now been reviewed by Jay Lake for Tangent Online, and by Locus (though my subscription copy hasn’t yet arrived (gnashing of teeth). A review by Trent Walters will also soon be appearing at SF Site, as well as an interview by him.

Lastly, it looks as though I will be interviewed by Bernadette Mihalic as part of the Amazing Woman’s Day event at Borders bookstore in the North Hills (Pittsburgh) on Saturday March 9.

25 January 2002: Ebb Tide and Other Tales

I have created a web-page for my forthcoming science fiction collection, Ebb Tide and Other Tales, and I am also feeling very virtuous for finally getting around to revising a story and a poem that have been awaiting rewrites for far too long….

23 January 2002: Don D’Ammassa review in SF Chronicle

My mailbox has been quiet, but, with Don D’Ammassa’s kind permission, his review of “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” (from SF Chronicle) is now on my website.

16 January 2002: Jim Lee review in Scavenger’s Newsletter

With Jim Lee’s kind permission, the curious may now read his review of “Winter Shadows and Other Tales,” which was published in Scavenger’s Newsletter #215….

15 January 2002: Interzone acceptance 🙂

Interzone accepted my short story “New World,” much to my delight; this will be my seventh story to appear in their magazine. At the same time, they rejected another story of mine…. Also, a few days ago Joe Morey of Dark Regions Press selected the twentieth–and final–story for my forthcoming science fiction collection, “Ebb Tide and Other Tales” 🙂

8 January 2002: Scavenger’s review + book signing 🙂

Jim Lee reviewed “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” in the January 2002 issue of Scavenger’s Newsletter in his column, “The Skeptic Tank.” The following is a brief extract from his review: “… fiction at once fantastic and utterly believable–written with conviction and a steady, subtle hand…. Lee’s best work is absolutely true in the deepest emotional sense and so many of these strike me as Lee at her best that it’s impossible to pick a single favorite–or even 3 or 4.” What a happy moment — to read my first review of the book and discover it’s favorable! 🙂

Book signing update: this will take place at Borders in Monroeville on Thursday March 14 at 7:30 p.m.

2 January 2002: Borders Book Signing 🙂 🙂 🙂

I will be doing a book signing of Winter Shadows and Other Tales at a Pittsburgh-area Borders one Thursday evening in March 🙂 🙂 🙂 I will be sure to announce which store and which Thursday here as soon as I know, in case anyone reading this lives close enough to attend 🙂

Also, my first rejection of 2002 came after 84 days from New York Stories.

1 January 2002: 2001 statistics

Here are my 2001 statistics in the easiest form for me to generate, which lumps stories and poems together, but separates each book into its constituent stories….

• 39 publications (20 in Winter Shadows and Other Tales)
• 31 acceptances (19 for “Ebb Tide and Other Tales”)
• 58 rejections

It was a good writing year for me, with the highlight being the publication of my first book 🙂

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28 December 2001: Tales of the Unanticipated

A detailed and friendly rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated.

26 December 2001: “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

I saw this movie on December 22nd, but haven’t had a chance to update this page until then. So – with no spoilers! – here goes: If you liked “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien, or if you like epic fantasy, or if you enjoy a diversity of movies, then hurry to the box office now!

19 December 2001: Dark Regions Press + Pittsburgh City Paper 🙂

Two pieces of news today: firstly, Dark Regions Press, the publisher of my recent fantasy collection Winter Shadows and Other Tales, has accepted a companion volume of science fiction stories, tentative publication date, summer 2002 🙂 🙂 🙂 And secondly, I am mentioned in an article about “The Lord of the Rings” in this week’s Pittsburgh City Paper – the article is written by fellow Worldwright, Ken Chiacchia.

17 December 2001: Kinships

Today I received payment for my story “Common Courtesy,” forthcoming in Kinships.

16 December 2001: Amazon.com 🙂

Yay! My collection “Winter Shadows and Other Tales” can now be ordered from Amazon.com 🙂

15 December 2001: Keith Allen Daniels

I received my contributor’s copy of 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology today. Very sadly, the book was accompanied by a letter from Toni Luna Daniels saying that her husband, Keith Allen Daniels, the editor and publisher of this anthology, is terminally ill with cancer. Keith Alien Daniels founded Anamnesis Press in 1990; he is a poet and a supporter of speculative poetry.

12 December 2001: Future Orbits 🙂

I am a few days late reporting this, but my story “The Strangers” has been published in Future Orbits #2 🙂

6 December 2001: Selling books 🙂

A new first for me: for the first time I sold a copy of a book of mine directly to someone. Indeed to two someones on the same evening 🙂 (At a La Leche League meeting as it happens — yes, William is still a very ardent nurser at age 2 1/2 years old.)

29 November 2001: Asimov’s

A 55-day rejection of a poem by Asimov’s.

28 November 2001: Spectrum SF 🙂

I received my contributor copies of Spectrum SF #7 containing my short story “Crew-Dog” 🙂

16 November 2001: Scifi.com

A lengthy, thoughtful, and friendly rewrite request from Scifi.com.

14 November 2001: Hayakawa SF

Back in July, I discovered to my surprise that the Japanese magazine Hayakawa SF had published a story of mine. After exchanging several letters with the publishers, I learned that they had in fact published two stories of mine (“Ebb Tide” and “The Day Before They Came.”) Happily, today I received payment for both stories 🙂

I note as an added curiosity that one of the stories, “The Day Before They Came,” has now earned me a little over 26 cents per word, which is considerably more than most of my stories have made. This is thanks to the original payment from Interzone, plus payments for reprinting it in The Year’s Best SF #4, in the Polish magazine Nowa Fantastyka, and now also in Hayakawa SF. It really is true that reprint rights can bring in some handy additional income — at least once in a while!

13 November 2001: Spectrum SF

I received payment today from Spectrum SF for my forthcoming story “Crew-Dog” 🙂

9 November 2001: Contents + Dark Regions

My Winter Shadows and Other Tales page now includes a contents section with a brief comment on each story (brief because I created much of it while William was sitting on my lap!) I’ve also put a picture of the cover — in addition to the cover art — onto the page… In other news, I had a friendly poetry rejection from Dark Regions Magazine.

6 November 2001: Cover art

The cover art for my collection, a beautiful pastel painting by AB Word, can now be seen at my newly-created Winter Shadows and Other Tales web-page 🙂

5 November 2001: Fictionwise royalties

I received another royalty check from Fictionwise 🙂

4 November 2001: First book! 🙂 🙂

My first book, Winter Shadows and Other Tales, has just been published by Dark Regions Press 🙂 🙂 🙂 It contains twenty fantasy stories, including four new stories 🙂 I am happy! In case anyone would like to buy a copy, here is the information about mail-ordering it direct from the publisher:-

Title: "Winter Shadows & Other Tales"
ISBN:  1-888993-23-5

Joe Morey
Dark Regions Press
P.O. Box 1558
Brentwood CA 94513

Send a check for $13.95 payable to Dark Regions Press (includes $2 shipping charge) 

3 November 2001: F&SF rejection

A 12-day rejection from F&SF.

29 October 2001: Future Orbits payment 🙂

I received payment from Future Orbits today — they appear to be very efficient as well as friendly 🙂

25 October 2001: Asimov’s rejection

A 78-day rejection from Asimov’s. Also, I signed a slightly amended version of the Future Orbits contract 🙂

17 October 2001: Future Orbits and Fantastic Stories 🙂

A doubly good mail-day: I received an acceptance of my story “The Strangers” from Future Orbits, and an acceptance of poem “If They Come” from Fantastic Stories 🙂 I am querying Future Orbits about some details in their contract, but am very optimistic that all will turn out well!

10 October 2001: Bones of the World 🙂

I received my contributor copies of the 4th SFF Net anthology, Bones of the World, edited by Bruce Holland Rogers, ISBN 0-9669698-4-7. This contains my short story “Clever People.” According to my records, this is my 62nd story to be published (not counting reprints). The anthology also contains stories by Jeryr Oltion, Ray Vukcevich, M. Shayne Bell, Darrell Schweitzer, James Van Pelt, and many others.

9 October 2001: The Paris Review

A 5-month rejection from The Paris Review…

4 October 2001: Royalties

I received a royalty check for my story in Sword & Sorceress 18 🙂 I also received a rejection from Strange Horizons. To my amazement, this is my first rejection since August 17. I have had one acceptance since then, but it’s still been a very quiet seven weeks at the mailbox.

26 September 2001: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Today I received $50 payment from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for my poem “Trees,” which they published a month ago. The poem is so short that this comes to over a dollar a word!

25 September 2001: Dark Regions Press 🙂

Joe Morey of Dark Regions emailed me to say that “Winter Shadows & Other Tales” — my first book! — will be out by the end of November 🙂 🙂 The collection will contain 20 stories, mostly fantasy, but a couple on the science fiction side of the borderline, including 4 stories that have never been published before. I am very excited about this!

14 September 2001

My heart goes out to all those were injured, or who have lost someone they loved, or who witnessed the events of September 11. The whole tragedy is deeply disturbing in many ways, and I hope it won’t lead to us hurting any more innocent people. I am troubled to hear of anti-Muslim discrimination, and it casts a shadow over the heroic and wholly admirable efforts of all the rescue workers.

In story-news, I had a 163-day rejection from On Spec at the start of the week.

5 September 2001: Brief Worldcon report

A very brief post-Worldcon report, mainly to say that I had fun and my program items went fine. I met several other NAW-beings, mostly (alas) just for a brief time, but I did get to attend Christy Hardin Smith’s reading (nice job, Christy!), and to chat to Vera Nazarian twice. I particularly enjoyed the five readings that I attended, and was also exceedingly pleased to meet Paul Melko again. (Paul is a good friend and former Worldwright.) And now it is all over 🙁

29 August 2001: Worldcon

My Worldcon schedule is:

    Fri,10.00-Works of Le Guin
    Fri,15.00-Reading: Lee
    Sat,12.00-Autographing
    Sun,15.00-You Need Good Sentences

I plan to have a bowl of Smarties (the British equivalent of M&Ms) on offer at the autograph session, so please drop by to eat candy and chat — no need to bring anything to sign!

25 August 2001: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂

My poem “Trees” is indeed in today’s issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂

23 August 2001: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂

I received a phone message saying that my poem “Trees” will be in this Saturday’s edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂 This is my second sale to them, and my 6th poetry acceptance 🙂 In other recent news, I had rejections from Talebones and Speculon.

9 August 2001: Spectrum SF 🙂

I received my contributor’s copies of Spectrum SF #6, containing my story “Luna Classifieds” 🙂 I also learned that my story “PauseTime” from Spectrum SF #4 gained an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction #18 🙂

6 August 2001: Hayakawa, Kinships, Space & Time 🙂

I heard back from Hayakawa S-F — in a very friendly letter they apologized for printing “The Day Before They Came” without obtaining permission, and also told me that another story of mine, “Ebb Tide,” appeared in the October 1999 issue. They have already sent a copy of both issues, and offered me $200 for each story, which I am happy with…. I also had an acceptance from Kinships for my story “Common Courtesy,” and an acceptance from Space & Time for my poem “To the Whales” 🙂 🙂 And I got a rejection from Glimmer Train, which, remarkably, is my first rejection since late June. I am expecting the flood gates to open now….

30 July 2001: Fictionwise royalties

I received my first royalty check from Fictionwise — it was only for a small amount, but it was still good to receive it. Two of my stories, “The God on the Glass Cross” and “Courtly Love,” have now earned back their advance of 3 cents per word. It’s fascinating to me that “The God on the Glass Cross” is the story of mine that has sold most copies (about 350) and yet has one of my lowest reader-ratings. My personal favorite among the stories, “Cause and Consequence,” has had about 220 readers.

25 July 2001: Hayakawa SF

I have discovered the curious fact that my story “The Day Before They Came” has been reprinted in the March 2001 issue of the major Japanese magazine, Hayakawa SF. While I am pleased to have appeared in this venue, I am also puzzled as I never submitted the story to them. I am not yet sure whether someone else pretended to be me and submitted the story, or whether the magazine knowingly published it without permission. Odd anyhow…

23 July 2001: Realms of Fantasy and Spectrum SF 🙂 🙂

It’s been a good few days: firstly I had fun at Confluence, where, among many other pleasures, I got to meet fellow-NAW-person Tobias Buckell; secondly I returned home to find my contributor copies of the October Realms of Fantasy, containing my story “Patterns”; thirdly, today I received e-mail from Paul Fraser accepting my story “Crew-Dog” for Spectrum SF — this last makes me particularly happy, as the story is a personal favorite of mine. So I am in a good mood! 🙂

16 July 2001: Millenium Philcon

How could I have forgotten to mention that I received my schedule for the Millenium Philcon? I am on two panels, one about the works of Ursula K. Le Guin (hurray!) at 10 A.M. on Friday, and one titled “If You Have a Good Idea, You Need Good Sentences” at 3 P.M. on Sunday. This will be my first time on a panel anywhere but the local Pittsburgh convention, Confluence, which is much less intimidating because it is a) far smaller, and b) I know many of the people there.

If that weren’t enough to make me nervous (which I am), I am also scheduled for a reading on Friday at 3 P.M. GULP! I have never given a reading anywhere before. Jumping into the experience for the first time at Worldcon is daunting to say the least. And I also have an autographing session at noon on Saturday, at which I anticipate very few people…. Although I am nervous about all this, I am delighted to be on the Le Guin panel: she is my favorite science fiction author.

16 July 2001: Spectrum SF, Bones of the World

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for me at the mailbox, which is a relief because I have zero child-care help at the moment for William. And although William continues to be a delight, he is a very time-consuming companion! But I did receive the galleys for my forthcoming story in “Bones of the World,” plus payment for my forthcoming story in Spectrum SF. No rejections yet in July (just typing that dooms me to at least 2 rejections this week…)

1 July 2001: Realms of Fantasy

Checking my P.O. Box today, I found the payment for my forthcoming story in Realms of Fantasy 🙂 Alas, I also recently received a rejection from Pif Magazine.

26 June 2001: Talebones publication

I received my contributor’s copy of Talebones #21 containing my poem “Silicon Bird” 🙂 This is my third poem to be published, and my third appearance in Talebones.

25 June 2001: The New Yorker rejection

My first story-related mail in 12 days: a rejection from The New Yorker.

13 June 2001: Elysian Fiction publication

My story “More Than Magic” is now available in the first issue of Elysian Fiction 🙂 I also received a very friendly rewrite request from Strange Horizons.

7 June 2001: Realms of Fantasy proofs

Today I received the page proofs for my story “Patterns,” scheduled for the October 2001 issue of Realms of Fantasy 🙂

6 June 2001: Pedestal rejection

An 82-day rejection from The Pedestal…

5 June 2001: TOTU publication and more

Since my last post: I’ve received my contributor’s copy of Tales of the Unanticipated #22, containing my short-short “On the Irritating…”; I’ve received contracts and payment for my recent sale to Elysian Fiction; I received a rejection from Analog. And I read the best short story that I’ve read for a year or more: “Bones of the Earth” by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the five stories in her new collection “Tales from Earthsea.” Movingly and beautifully written.

24 May 2001: Mail catch-up

Alas, I’ve received three rejections in the past week: a 28-day nope from Sci-Fi.com, a 59-day nope from Fantastic, and a 65-day nope from Absolute Magnitude…

18 May 2001: S&S royalties

I received another royalty check for my story “The Hollow Dancer,” which was published in Sword & Sorceress 14 in 1997. My calculations show that I’m now up to a pay rate of 15 cents per word for the story 🙂

17 May 2001: Rhysling anthology

Today I received my copy of The 2001 Rhysling Anthology, containing my poem “Every Other Day of the Year.” I feel very honored that my poem is in the anthology.

15 May 2001: Elysian Fiction acceptance

Today I received an acceptance from Elysian Fiction of my story “More Than Magic” 🙂

10 May 2001: Talebones payment

Today I received payment and the page proof for my poem “Silicon Bird” from Talebones….

9 May 2001: On Spec rejection

A 5 and a 1/2 month rejection from On Spec….

3 May 2001: SFF Net payment

I received my check from SFF Net for my story “Clever People,” forthcoming in The Bones of the World 🙂 Also a 50-day rejection from Pif Magazine.

29 April 2001: Fictionwise

Checking the statistics for my stories available online from Fictionwise, I see that “The God on the Glass Cross” has earned out its advance, my first story to do so 🙂 It’s had 285 readers to date. My short-short “Courtly Love” is also close to earning out, but the other stories still have quite a way to go….

24 April 2001: Spectrum SF contract

I received the contract for my recent sale to Spectrum SF today. Less happily, I have also received a rejection from Analog and one from Speculon since my last update.

20 April 2001: NAW publications page and Sword and Sorceress

I received my contributor’s copy of Sword and Sorceress XVIII containing my short story “The Fall of the Kingdom.” My pleasure in this publication is blunted by the death last year, as she was finishing the selection of stories for the anthology, of Marion Zimmer Bradley.

In other news, those interested in learning what stories are currently available by me and other NAW members can browse the new NAW publications page.

12 April 2001: Spectrum SF acceptance 🙂

This is a good week! I just sold my story “Luna Classifieds” to Spectrum SF; this is my second sale to this UK magazine 🙂

10 April 2001: Realms of Fantasy acceptance 🙂 🙂

Yay! Oh, happiness! My story “Patterns” has been accepted by Realms of Fantasy and will probably appear in the October issue 🙂 🙂 🙂 I am so pleased 🙂 I also received a very encouraging rejection from Sci-fi.com and a re-rewrite request from Spectrum SF.

2 April 2001: Magazine of Speculative Poetry publication 🙂

My poem “Fall Clearance” is in The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, volume 5 #1, Spring 2001 🙂 This is the first poem that I sold, but the second to appear in print 🙂

29 March 2001: Third Alternative rejection

A friendly email rejection from The Third Alternative.

27 March 2001: Bones of the World contract

In today’s mail, the contracts from Bones of the World.

26 March 2001: Strange Horizons rejection

A friendly email rejection from Strange Horizons.

20 March 2001: “The Bones of the World” acceptance 🙂

Bruce Holland Rogers emailed me accepting my short-short, “Clever People,” for the fourth SFF Net anthology, The Bones of the World 🙂 This will be my third appearance in an SFF Net anthology (I had stories in volumes 1 and 3).

19 March 2001: Spectrum SF

Received in today’s email, a rewrite request from Spectrum SF — I very much hope I can rewrite the story to their satisfaction. Also in the mail, a rejection from Asimov’s.

8 March 2001: Mail roundup

I don’t think I’ve had any story responses in the past week, but I received contributor copies of On Spec, containing my story “To the Maxi-Blender 3000, Serial Number 1-498-86,” and I also received contributor copies of Kinships #1, containing my story “Birthdays” 🙂

1 March 2001: Mail roundup

It’s been a fairly quiet couple of weeks at my mailbox, but I did receive contracts for my earlier sale of a poem to Talebones, and also received a rejection from Spectrum SF.

16 February 2001: Anamnesis double acceptance

My poems “Every Other Day of the Year” (reprint) and “Insignifiant Others” were accepted for Anamnesis’s 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology.

8 February 2001: Space & Time publication

Since my last mail update, I’ve received copies of Space & Time #93, containing my short story “Insight.” This is my second story to appear in Space & Time…. I’ve also accumulated three more rejections, from Analog, F&SF, and On Spec.

25 January 2001

The day after my last mailbox entry, I flew to London because my mother had had a brain haemorrhage. Mummy died on 1st January 2001. I miss her very much.

On the writing front, I received six rejections during my absence, was paid for my forthcoming story in Kinships, and received contributor’s copies of Spectrum SF #4 (which contains my story “PauseTime.”)

9 December 2000: Dark Regions + Kinships 🙂 🙂

I received the contract and advance for my forthcoming fantasy collection, “Winter Shadows & Other Tales,” from Dark Regions Press 🙂 I also sold my short story “Birthdays” to Kinships 🙂

5 December 2000: TOTU 🙂

Quick mail update: I sold a short-short (very short!) to Tales of the Unanticipated for issue #22, and received $50 payment for my recent poem in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂 I also had a poetry rejection from Asimov’s.

27 November 2000: Talebones and Spectrum SF 🙂 🙂

Since my last mail update, I have sold a poem titled “Silicon Bird” to Talebones and received payment from Spectrum SF for my story “PauseTime” 🙂 I’ve also had one rejection (from Analog).

11 November 2000: Dark Regions and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂 🙂

Tomorrow will be the one-month anniversary of our move and house-purchase, so the time has come to bring this page up to date. Since I last posted a detailed report, Dark Regions have confirmed that they would indeed like to publish a collection of my fantasy stories, and have selected the stories to include 🙂 I sold my poem “Every Other Day of the Year” to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and it was published in today’s edition — this is my first poem to see print and my first appearance in a newspaper 🙂 I also received payment from Electric Wine for my forthcoming story there…. On the rejection front, I had friendly rejections from DNA, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, and Tales of the Unanticipated, and I heard back from Redbook who are no longer accepting unsolicited fiction, and also heard back from the Avon anthology, which will not be published after all.

27 October 2000: Still here

… but only getting occasional access to email, etc. (We moved a couple of weeks ago, and don’t yet have a good Internet connection from our house.) I will update this page properly when I get a chance…

10 October 2000: TransVersions rejection

A 299-day rejection from TransVersions….

5 October 2000: Spectrum SF acceptance 🙂

An e-mail acceptance of my short story “PauseTime” from the British publication Spectrum SF 🙂 🙂

2 October 2000: Asimov’s rejections

Two rejections from Asimov’s today (one for a short story, one for poetry).

30 September 2000: Terra Incognita publication 🙂

Today I received contributor’s copies of Terra Incognita #5, containing my short story “Rewind,” as well as work by two friends, Timons Esaias and Paul Melko 🙂 🙂

29 September 2000: Sci-fi.com rejection

A 53-day rejection from Sci-fi.com.

28 September 2000: TTA rejection

My first (and very friendly) rejection from The Third Alternative.

25 September 2000: On Spec payment 🙂

I received payment today from On Spec for my forthcoming story, “To the Maxi-Blender 3000, Serial Number 1-498-86” 🙂

23 September 2000: Age of Wonders publication 🙂

I received my contributor’s copy of The Age of Wonders (the third SFF Net anthology, edited by Jeffry Dwight) containing my story “Murder Absolute” 🙂

22 September 2000: Analog rejection

A 45-day rejection from Analog.

20 September 2000: Dark Regions collection 🙂 🙂 🙂

Dark Regions would like to publish a collection of my fantasy stories, probably appearing in about a year’s time as a trade paperback 🙂 🙂 🙂 I am exceedingly happy about this!

7 September 2000: On Spec acceptance 🙂

I am very happy to report that my story “To the Maxi-Blender 3000, Serial Number 1-498-86” sold to On Spec 🙂 🙂 This is my third short sale to On Spec.

5 September 2000: Star*Line rejection

My first-ever rejection from Star*Line.

2 September 2000: Fictionwise #10 🙂

My story “Monstrosity” is currently #10 in the highest rated stories list at Fictionwise 🙂

30 August 2000: Returning…

After two weeks in England, I returned to find two rejections (from Playboy and Talebones).

13 August 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

An e-mail rejection from Spectrum SF.

7 August 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

And one today from Spectrum SF.

5 August 2000: Asimov’s rejections

Two rejections today from Asimov’s.

3 August 2000: Space and Time payment

In today’s mail: a check from Space & Time 🙂 plus a rejection from DNA.

31 July 2000: Two rejections

… from The Urbanite and Darkling Plain…

28 July 2000: F&SF rejection

A rejection from F&SF, but my story “Interior Landscape” is now the 12th highest rated story at Fictionwise — at least for this minute!

23 July 2000: Fictionwise story #14

Well, it probably won’t last more than a few hours, but as I type this my story “Interior Landscape” is the 14th highest-rated story at the Fictionwise site 🙂

21 July 2000: Playboy rejection

After a quiet week, a rejection from Playboy, my fifth from them.

13 July 2000: Age of Wonders proofs

I received my page proofs for The Age of Wonders anthology, and there were only three tiny glitches. The anthology is due out in September 🙂

12 July 2000: Visionair publication 🙂

Another good mail-day: I received payment plus my contributor’s copy of Visionair #4, containing the Dutch translation of my story “Universal Grammar” 🙂 Also in the mail, a rejection from F&SF.

11 July 2000: Magazine of Speculative Poetry acceptance 🙂

Today is a good mail-day — I received my first ever poetry acceptance from The Magazine of Speculative Poetry for a poem called “Fall Clearance.” I only recently started writing speculative fiction poetry, and this was the second batch of poems I’d submitted 🙂 (I sent three poems each time, so two were rejected today.)

8 July 2000: Three rejections

Three more rejections in the past couple of days from Spectrum SF, Black Gate, and Pulp Audience.

6 July 2000: Talebones rejection

A 26-day rejection from Talebones….

5 July 2000: Mail catch-up

We were away in San Francisco for a week, and I expected to find several responses when I came home, but there was just one: a rejection from Glimmer Train. The form letter notes that they now receive about 30,000 submissions a year!

24 June 2000: S&S royalties 🙂

Today I received royalties for my short story “The Hollow Dancer” from Sword & Sorceress XIV — this story has now earned more from royalties than it did from the original advance…. I also received my first ever poetry rejection (from Asimov’s).

 

14 June 2000: Double rejection

Two rejections today, one from Analog and one from Scifi.com.

9 June 2000: Talebones rejection

A friendly 118-day rejection from Talebones.

8 June 2000: F&SF rejection

A fast and friendly rejection from F&SF.

7 June 2000: Year’s Best SF #5 🙂

David Hartwell’s “Year’s Best SF #5” is now out, containing my story “Lifework,” first published in Interzone #144, June 1999 🙂 🙂

5 June 2000: Adventures of S&S payment

In the mail today, a check from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery for May’s sale, plus, alas, a rejection from Pulp Audience.

2 June 2000: Fictionwise – 17 sales 🙂 🙂 🙂

This has been in the works for some time, but I can now announce that I have sold reprint rights to 17 of my stories to Fictionwise. The Fictionwise site includes stories by such writers as Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Robert Silverberg, and Damon Knight. The editor has been uniformly friendly and professional throughout, and it has been a pleasure to do business with them 🙂 🙂 🙂

Less happily, I also received a rejection from Best New Horror.

30 May 2000: Adhoc rejection

In today’s email, a rejection from Adhoc.

24 May 2000: Dark Regions payment

Today I received payment from Dark Regions for my story “Dragonslayer” in issue #14 🙂

21 May 2000: Electric Wine acceptance 🙂

Electric Wine accepted reprint rights to my story “Assembly Line” (first published in Interzone) 🙂

12 May 2000: F&SF rejection

And a 6-day rejection from F&SF…

11 May 2000: F&SF rejection

A 59-day rejection from F&SF.

5 May 2000: Triple rejection 🙁

Ouch! Three rejections in one day:-

1) In response to a query, I received a friendly note from Invisible Cities saying that they enjoyed my story, but are not currently accepting any submissions.

2) A 6-day rejection from F&SF.

3) A 62-day rejection from DNA.

4 May 2000: Year’s Best payment, Adventures of S&S acceptance 🙂 🙂

An excellent mail-day! I received payment and signed contracts for my story “Lifework,” forthcoming in the Year’s Best SF #5 (edited by David Hartwell) — this story first appeared in Interzone. And I also received a letter and contracts from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery accepting my story “Fairest.”

2 May 2000: Electric Wine publication 🙂

My story “Conversation Pieces” has been reprinted by Electric Wine in their current issue (May/June 2000) 🙂

1 May 2000: Pulp Eternity un-acceptance 🙁

A sad letter from Steve Algieri of Pulp Eternity: he will not be publishing the cat issue after all, and so he is returning the rights to my story “Spell Night.”

25 April 2000: Electric Wine payment 🙂

Today I received a check from Electric Wine for my forthcoming story in their May/June issue 🙂

20 April 2000: Sci-fi.com rejection

A 17-day rejection from Sci-fi.com.

19 April 2000: Dark Regions publication 🙂

I received contributor copies of Dark Regions #14, containing my story “Dragonslayer” 🙂

17 April 2000: Playboy rejection

A rejection from Playboy; this is only the fourth time I’ve submitted to this market.

7 April 2000: Space & Time acceptance 🙂

My story “Insight” has been accepted for issue #93 of Space & Time 🙂 This will be my second story in this long-running magazine. Less happily, I had a 174-day rejection from Realities Escape, and a 36-day rejection from Analog.

4 April 2000: SFF Net payment 🙂

More money 🙂 My check from SFF Net for my forthcoming story in “The Age of Wonders” anthology arrived today 🙂

3 April 2000: Contracts, payment 🙂

Today I received contracts (for earlier sales) from both Terra Incognita and Electric Wine, together with a check from Terra Incognita. I also forgot to report that I recently received the contracts from The Age of Wonders 🙂

1 April 2000: Ah ha!

Just as I suspected, I challenged the Mail Gods and they responded: a 49-day rejection from Asimov’s arrived today.

31 March 2000: quiet…

It’s been very quiet on the mailbox front, but by posting this announcement, I am sure I am guaranteeing a busier April….

15 March 2000: On Spec contributor copies

Belated but welcome, I received my contributor copies of On Spec, Winter 1999, containing my story “No-Name in the Long Winter.”

14 March 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

A friendly and speedy rejection from Spectrum SF.

3 March 2000: TOTU rejection

A 185-day rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated.

1 March 2000: Scifi.com rejection

A friendly 33-day rejection from Scifi.com.

29 February 2000: SFF Net acceptance 🙂

A happy close to the leap-day: an e-mail acceptance from Jeffry Dwight; my story “Murder Absolute” will be in the third SFF Net anthology, The Age of Wonders 🙂 🙂 This is a nice way to end nearly three weeks of mail silence.

Since my last update here, I have finished another story and two poems – and William is walking!!!

9 February 2000: Still here…

I still exist, and the mail still comes, but I have been using all my spare time to finish a story. (With William, there is much less spare time than there used to be!) I have had three rejections since my last entry, from Tales of the Unanticipated, Altair, and F&SF…. In non-writing news, William is just beginning to walk! 🙂

21 January 2000: Double payment 🙂

Things seem to be coming in twos at the moment, and today brought two checks for my recent sales to Sword & Sorceress 🙂 🙂 Also in the mail, a postcard from The Fractal announcing that they have folded.

20 January 2000: Double rejection

Another two rejections today, one after 80 days from Asimov’s, the other after 36 days from Weird Tales.

18 January 2000: Double rejection

Two friendly rejections today, one from Tales of the Unanticipated and one from The Age of Wonders.

10 January 2000: Double S&S acceptance 🙂

Wading through the piles of mail that accumulated while I was on holiday, I discovered that my story “The Fall of the Kingdom” has been accepted for Sword & Sorceress 18 and my story “Shen’s Daughter” has been accepted for Sword & Sorceress 20 – I am delighted, though Marion Zimmer Bradley’s death renders these two sales bittersweet…. I also learned that my story “Ebb Tide” (F&SF, May 1995) has now been reprinted in the Spanish magazine Gigamesh #21, and I received a rejection from Asimov’s.

1999 Summary

A quick summary of my story-submitting fate in 1999 (this includes the two S&S acceptances mentioned above, which I estimate arrived on 29 December 1999):-

• 95 responses to submissions
• 73 rejections
• 22 acceptances, including one at the start of the year from David Hartwell for the Year’s Best SF #4 and one from him at the end of the year for the Year’s Best SF #5; two stories accepted by Interzone; and two stories accepted for Sword & Sorceress 18 & 20.
• 10 stories published for the first time, including my first appearance in Amazing Stories

For comparison, my career statistics to date are:

• 766 responses
• 680 rejections
• 86 acceptances (in perhaps half-a-dozen of these, the magazine folded before publishing my story)
• 48 stories published, with quite a few more reprinted; I have had stories appear in English, Czech, Dutch, German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish.