This page contains Mary Soon Lee’s 2003-2009 mailbox mutterings. For more recent news see the latest Mailbox Blues.
26 December 2009: Atlanta Review
My poem “Details” was accepted for the Fall 2010 issue of the Atlanta Review 🙂 This will be my third poem in the Atlanta Review…. I hope everyone reading this had a lovely holiday, whether Christmas or some other variety. We had a very happy day, with two sets of very good friends joining us for the annual festival of overeating and presents.
17 December 2009: 5 AM, Ship of Fools, Jury Duty
Yesterday was a busy day! I received contributor copies of 5AM, containing my poems “Becoming Human” and “All the Weird Men,” plus a contributor copy of Ship of Fools, containing my poem “Love Songs of Elephants.” In addition, I spent the day being considered as a potential juror, which turned out to be more eventful than I had anticipated, though not without prolonged stretches where I had time to read. In the end, I was not selected for a jury.
5 December 2009: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Yesterday I emailed four poems to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Four minutes later, they emailed me back accepting my poem “Christmas Cards”, and it appeared in today’s paper — now that’s a fast response time! I find it odd to re-read the poem now, since I wrote it about William when he was four years old, and now he is ten years old.
7 November 2009: Atlanta Review, and Lucy again
My poem “Master of Chocolate” was just published by the Atlanta Review 🙂 This is my second appearance there…. And on the non-writing front, after six and a bit weeks at home with me, Lucy will be returning to her PreKindergarten class on Monday. I was worried about her catching the H1N1 flu, since she has had wheezing problems in the past, but she was vaccinated a couple of weeks ago. Lucy and I had quite a bit of fun together; I particularly liked our excursions outdoors. We went outside often, sometimes on short hikes, sometimes to feed the ducks, once to collect leaves, many times to walk around our neighborhood spotting Halloween decorations.
14 October 2009: Iodine Poetry Journal, Lucy, and Winnie-the-Pooh
On the writing front, my poem “Fossil Light” was just published by Iodine Poetry Journal 🙂 And on the home front, I have had Lucy at home with me for the past three weeks. I have got zero writing done, but we have had some good times together. For instance, this morning we fed the ducks at a local pond, which I think we have never happened to do until now. And I am reading her “Return to the Hundred Acre Wood,” David Benedictus’s sequel to the Winnie-the-Pooh books, which is a delight. It tries, and mostly succeeds, in being faithful to the originals, while at the same time introducing a new female character, Lottie the Otter. The illustrations by Mark Burgess are also amazing, and very close to the E.H. Shephard originals.
23 August 2009: Kelleys Island + Iodine Poetry Journal
William, Lucy and I returned yesterday from a 16-day vacation on Kelleys Island, a small island in Lake Erie. Andrew joined us at the weekends. We had a fun time, visiting the beach almost every day, driving around in a golf cart, playing mini-golf, going for short hikes, eating lots of ice-cream, and watching season 5 of “Project Runway” on DVD (a guilty pleasure)….
While we were away, my poem “Fossil Light” was accepted by Iodine Poetry Journal 🙂
17 July 2009: Atlanta Review
My poem “Master of Chocolate” has been accepted by the Atlanta Review 🙂 This will be my second appearance in this magazine.
4 July 2009: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Happy Independence Day! My poem Laryngitis appeared in today’s issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This is my sixth appearance in the Post-Gazette, and the second time the poem has been published — it first appeared in Main Street Rag.
28 June 2009: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette accepted my poem “Laryngitis.” The poem first appeared in Main Street Rag and should be reprinted in the Post-Gazette sometime in July 🙂
23 June 2009: 5AM
5AM accepted my poems “Becoming Human” and “All the Weird Men,” much to my pleasure…. In non-writing life, I am enjoying the relaxed pace of summer vacation. I have been spending more time reading than I have in ages, and it’s been a great delight.
3 June 2009: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag accepted two of my poems: “Inside the Suits” and “It’s a Small World.” Hooray! This was also the last day of school for William and Lucy, and it is fantastic to have the whole summer stretching ahead of us.
22 May 2008: Ship of Fools
My poem “Love Songs of Elephants” was accepted by Ship of Fools 🙂
16 April 2009: Strunk and White
The excellent writing guide, “Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, is 50 years old today. Happy Birthday!
11 April 2009: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag published two of my poems: “Laryngitis” and “Conscripts” 🙂
4 April 2009: Fourth River
My poem “No One Could Love It” was accepted by Fourth River 🙂 Fourth River is published by Chatham University, which is within walking distance of where I live.
30 March 2009: Bicycle
On Saturday we bought Lucy — who is four years old — a bicycle. She was very excited indeed, and cycled around the grounds of Carnegie Mellon University with great determination 🙂
7 March 2009: Mad Poets Review
My poem “Property Values” has been published in Mad Poets Review, Volume 22, my third appearance as a Mad Poet.
26 February 2009: Shelves
Nicholas Ridge has just finished crafting and installing floor-to-ceiling dovetailed oak bookshelves in my office — and they are wonderful. Some of my books had been waiting in boxes since we moved last summer, and they have now been released from captivity.
27 December 2008: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
My poem Mall-Fever appeared in today’s issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This is my fifth appearance in the Post-Gazette, and the second time the poem has been published — it first appeared in The Atlanta Review.
22 October 2008: “Singularity’s Ring”
I have just finished reading “Singularity’s Ring,” by Paul Melko. It’s an excellent book — engaging, imaginative, fun, moving science fiction — and I am only a little biased! (Paul is a friend.)
20 October 2008: Paper Street
My poem The Third Man has appeared online at Paper Street 🙂
15 October 2008: Update
It’s been six weeks since the end of the long summer vacation, and I am slowly returning to normal life. Lucy is at PreKindergarten for up to 3 full days and 2 mornings per week — although this particular week she only has 1 full day and 3 mornings — so I have more time alone. Today I started reorganizing my list of poetry markets; dusted off the pile of waiting poems; and sent out my first submissions in quite a while. Tomorrow, I plan to swim and to back up my computer. Ah, the excitement of it all!
31 July 2008: The Kit-Cat Review
I received a 500-day rejection from the Kit-Cat Review, which might be my slowest response to date (not counting those manuscripts that vanished into a black hole and never emerged at all).
21 July 2008: Mad Poets Review
I had a poem accepted by Mad Poets Review, which will be my third appearance there. And I saw the baby elephant at the Pittsburgh Zoo — twelve days old. A good day 🙂
12 July 2008: New roof
The roof has now been replaced at our house. After about four weeks of hard labor, with many days off due to bad weather, the roofers have finished 🙂 We hope not to need to do anything to the new roof for many decades to come….
9 June 2008: New house!
We moved into our new house at the end of May, and it is wonderful 🙂 There has been much activity of the expected varieties: unpacking, contractors in to do repairs, etc. And the biggest job — having the roof redone entirely — will begin very soon. But we are happy!
18 April 2008: Atlanta Review
My poem “Mall-Fever” (inspired by Masefield’s “Sea-Fever”) is in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Atlanta Review 🙂 Coincidentally, the issue focuses on China, and my father was ethnically Chinese, so it feels appropriate to appear in this issue. The poem itself, however, has nothing to do with China.
16 April 2008: Main Street Rag
I am delighted to report that Main Street Rag has accepted my poems “Laryngitis” and “Conscripts” 🙂
3 April 2008: House + Iodine Poetry Journal
I think our house hunt may be behind us! We made an offer on another house in March, and on Monday we completed the post-inspection negotiations with the sellers. Many steps remain — mortgage, title search, appraisal, etc., but usually these go smoothly. So we are very hopeful that we will own the house on May 30th 🙂 🙂 🙂 It is a large house with a relatively large yard for the city neighborhood. Not only will Lucy finally get a room of her own, but we will have a guest room, two home offices and a DVD room. We will also probably have roofers working overhead for most of June, as we are going to have the existing roof replaced.
On the writing front, Iodine Poetry Journal published my poem “Halfway House” in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue.
15 March 2008: Sow’s Ear
My poem “Prayer” is in the latest issue of The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review.
23 February 2008: Ship of Fools
My poems “Mute” and “Household Appliances: Iron” appeared in the latest issue of Ship of Fools 🙂 On the house-hunting front, we found another house we liked and made an offer on it, but failed to agree on a price with the sellers. So I am going to look at more houses, starting with three open houses tomorrow….
8 February 2008: Lucy
Today we received the letter saying that Lucy has been accepted for the PreKindergarten program at St. Edmund’s Academy 🙂 This is the same school that her brother William attends (he is in 3rd grade). Lucy will go for 3 full days and 2 half days a week, starting in September…
28 January 2008: Mad Poets Review
My poem “The Third Man” was accepted by Mad Poets Review 🙂 On the non-writing front, I plan to resume our house-hunt in earnest on February 1st.
15 January 2008: Main Street Rag
I received my contributor’s copy of Main Street Rag, containing my poem “Cleaning Woman” 🙂 This is my seventh poem to appear in this magazine.
3 January 2008
In a happy start to the New Year, my poem “Mall-Fever” has been accepted by Atlanta Review 🙂
22 December 2007: Happy Christmas
May all who wander through here have a very happy Christmas and New Year 🙂
The house hunting I mentioned in November’s entry suffered a setback this week, but we will resume our hunt in 2008.
19 November 2007: Sow’s Ear
On the writing front, I am happy to report that The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review accepted my poem “Prayer” 🙂 In other news, we recently began house hunting, which is consuming a great deal of my time, but is mostly fun. We are looking for a bigger house in the same neighborhood — we would like to be able to give Lucy a bedroom of her own and also have a spare bedroom. In theory, our house is large enough for this, but we have one room set up as an office and another as a family room/DVD room.
22 September 2007: Iodine Poetry Journal
Iodine Poetry Journal accepted my poem “Halfway House,” which should be in their Spring/Summer 2008 issue.
7 September 2007: Sword and Sorceress
Today I received a royalty check for my story “The Hollow Dancer,” which was published ten years ago in Sword and Sorceress XIV; the money is from an Italian edition of the anthology. An unexpected, but agreeable, surprise!
4 September 2007: Tales of the Unanticipated
I received my contributor’s copies of Tales of the Unanticipated #28, containing my short story “A Piece of Strangeness.” This is my fourth time appearing in TOTU.
25 August 2007: Harry Potter
I finished reading the last pages of the last Harry Potter book to William about an hour ago. Without giving any spoilers, I would like to offer one more thank you to J. K. Rowling 🙂
2 August 2007: Computer
The summer is a quiet time for me on the writing front, because both William and Lucy are home with me. But I had some excitement over the past week as we upgraded to a new computer. I now successfully transferred my old files and installed most of the software I need, and there is no doubt that the new machine is a much prouder, faster beast 🙂
13 July 2007: Teeth
I had a root canal yesterday 🙁 On the plus side, it was decidedly less gruesome and painful than the two root canals that I had a decade ago. On the negative side: I had a root canal yesterday 🙁
12 June 2007: Ship of Fools
Upon returning from a short — and most enjoyable — family vacation at Disney, I found a bunch of mail, amongst which was an acceptance from Ship of Fools of my poem “Mute” 🙂 I also received back some poems submitted to ACM nearly two years ago!
21 May 2007: Concho River Review
I received my contributor’s copy of the Spring 2007 issue of Concho River Review, which includes my poem “To Mary.” This is my second appearance in Concho River Review…. On the non-writing front, Lucy recently finished the regular sessions of her two-mornings-a-week preschool. She will be starting a morning summer camp with the same (excellent) teachers next week.
30 April 2007: Rosebud
My poem “Last Words” has just appeared in Rosebud #38 🙂 In other writing news, a few days ago I received the line edits (consisting of two punctuation changes) for my story “A Piece of Strangeness,” which will be the next issue of Tales of the Unanticipated.
20 April 2007: Mad Poets Review
Mad Poets Review accepted my poem “Green Things” 🙂 This will be my second appearance there…. On the home front, Lucy and I bought two chairs for our porch today, and tested them out in the beautiful spring weather while she listened to a story.
19 April 2007: US Supreme Court
I believe this is the first time I have discussed politics on my website, other than to encourage people to vote. But I strongly oppose yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the ban on certain abortions, without any exception for a woman’s health. News Release from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
23 March 2007: Iodine Poetry Journal
My poem “Bequests from a Bachelor” is in the latest issue of Iodine Poetry Journal 🙂
15 March 2007: Concho River Review
Today Concho River Review accepted my poem “To Mary” 🙂 This will be my second appearance there…. In non-writing news, tomorrow is William’s last day of school before his two-week-long Spring Break. I am very much looking forward to spending more time with him, and to the respite from school bedtimes, early mornings, homework, etc. Hip, hip, hooray!
12 March 2007: ACM
Another slow reply today: I received a rejection slip from ACM for some poems submitted back in July 2005, and about which I queried back in August 2006.
8 March 2007: Fantasy Magazine
Today I received a story back from Fantasy Magazine, in itself not a notable event, but this was for a story that I submitted in 2005, and which they rejected by email — after I had queried them — back in September 2006. Moreover, it was accompanied by a rejection letter dated January 2006. Curiouser and curiouser….
3 March 2007: Cider Press Review
My poem “Consequences of the Speed of Gravitation” appeared in Cider Press Review, Volume 8 🙂 This is my 70th poem to be published, a minor milestone. In my non-writing life, I am impatient for warm weather. We managed one trip to a playground last week, but today snow fell again, and although it didn’t settle, I resented its presence!
20 February 2007: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag accepted my poem “Cleaning Woman” 🙂
8 February 2007: Sword and Sorceress
My friend Vera Nazarian will be publishing the next volume of Sword and Sorceress though her publishing company, Norilana Books 🙂
19 January 2007: One Trick Pony
Today I received back some poems from One Trick Pony with a note saying that they are folding. Alas.
11 January 2007: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag published my poems “Borrowed Minute” and “Call” 🙂
29 December 2006: Favorite books of 2006
As we approach the end of the year, I thought I would list the books I most enjoyed reading this year:
- Voices, by Ursula K. Le Guin – a beautifully written fantasy novel.
- The Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner – another beautifully written fantasy novel.
- The Diary of a Provincial Lady, by E. M. Delafield, first published in 1931: a funny autobiographical account; the kind of book that makes you happy as you read it.
- Jane and Prudence, by Barbara Pym, first published in 1953: a highly entertaining novel by Barbara Pym, who manages to hold my interest without any grandiose events.
- Riding Rockets, by Mike Mullane – an account of his experiences in the Space Shuttle astronaut program, sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving, sometimes (intentionally) infuriating.
12 December 2006: Royalties + porch
Today I received a (small) royalty check for my story “Shen’s Daughter,” published back in 2003 in Sword and Sorceress XX. This is one of my more lucrative short stories, having now brought in over ten cents a word, including a payment for being reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy #4. As you can deduce, writing short stories isn’t a good way to get rich… In non-writing news, the last work on our porch was completed today! Hooray!
29 November 2006: Iodine Poetry Journal
I am delighted to report that my poem “Bequests from a Bachelor” has been accepted by Iodine Poetry Journal 🙂 This will be my fourth poem to appear there.
17 November 2006: Porch
I am happy to report that our porch repairs our now close enough to complete that we can enter the house through the front door. It has been more than a little awkward carrying our groceries down the narrow alleyway at the side of our house, up the wooden stairs to our deck, and in the back door, all while escorting (often carrying) Miss Lucy.
9 November 2006: Rosebud 🙂
I am very happy to report that my poem “Last Words” has been accepted by Rosebud 🙂
27 October 2006: Ship of Fools
My poem “Homewood Cemetery” has been published in Ship of Fools 🙂
20 October 2006: Update
I had such good intentions of updating this page more regularly, but, alas, they came to naught. In the five weeks since I last posted here, much of our front porch has been dismantled. We thought just the front wall would need to be repaired, but the damage turned out to be more substantial. Our front door now opens onto a 6-foot-drop into a gaping hole. Hopefully the repairs will be finished in a couple more weeks.
We went away for a magnificent 3-day trip to Walt Disney World, accompanied by our good friends the Connollys. Between us, we had four children aged seven and under, and all had a very good time. To my surprise, Lucy was keen on all the rides that her short height allowed her to go on. She and William were also delighted by the hotel pools, the hot sunny weather, and the chance to meet Mickey Mouse, Goofy, et al. William gave the Magic Kingdom an A+++ grade, and I would give an A+++ to my meeting with Tigger.
I also read “The Privilege of the Sword” by Ellen Kushner, which is my favorite book in nearly two years (the previous being “Gifts” by Ursula K. Le Guin). “The Privilege of the Sword” is a beautifully written sequel to Kushner’s earlier novel “Swordspoint.” My only quibble is that I liked one section toward the middle of the book so much that the remainder — while still excellent — didn’t quite live up to it.
Finally, in the past five weeks I have also done as much writing as in the rest of the year to date. This would be more noteworthy except that I had done so little writing up till then!
13 September 2006: Lucy
Lucy, not yet awake this morning, has her second birthday today. She is a cheerful and confident young person, who didn’t need me to stay with her for her first morning of preschool last week. (I stayed in William’s classroom for his first two months, which translates to about eight lessons in a two-morning-a-week program.) Lucy is also becoming more articulate, and can speak sentences of 6 or 7 words. Needless to say, I remain rather fond of her.
31 August 2006: date
Last night, Andrew and I went out on a date with no children present for the first time since Lucy was born. It’s been a long time since we ate a meal so slowly and without any need to attend to people of diminutive stature….
2 August 2006: Ship of Fools
My poem “Homewood Cemetery” has been accepted by Ship of Fools 🙂
17 July 2006: Cider Press Review
My poem “Consequences of the Speed of Gravitation” has been accepted for issue #8 of Cider Press Review 🙂
30 May 2006: Biosurveillance
Andrew Moore — my husband — just had his first book published! With the catchy title of Handbook of Biosurveillance, it is a 624-page tome. Andrew is one of the book’s three authors.
15 April 2006: Ship of Fools
Ship of Fools published my poem “Household Appliances: In the Basement” a little over a week ago, and I have finally found time to report it here. This is the third poem in my Household Appliances sequence to appear in Ship of Fools, and I have a fourth in their inventory.
29 March 2006: Flonet Biltgen
Flonet Biltgen, a friend and a science fiction writer, died early this morning. I first met her twelve years ago, attended over a hundred writers’ workshop meetings with her, and every single time her company was a pleasure.
8 March 2006: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag accepted my poems “Borrowed Minute” and “Call” 🙂 They have previously published four of other poems…. As is evident from the month-long gap between entries on this page, I am finding time at the computer to be in short supply. Lucy is ever more active, and doesn’t seem inclined to sit quietly on the floor while I type away.
6 February 2006: Super Bowl
Here’s to the Steelers! 🙂 🙂
21 January 2006: America
I received a contributor’s copy and payment for my poem “Silk Road,” which appeared in the December 5, 2005 issue of America. Looking back through my records, I see that this is the most I’ve been paid for a poem (one hundred dollars).
10 January 2006: New Year
Belated wishes for a very Happy New Year! Yesterday was Andrew’s first official day working for Google. On the writing front, my poem “Twenty-First Century Woman” appeared in Concho River Review 🙂
15 December 2005: Andrew and Google 🙂
Today it was announced that Andrew Moore (my husband) will head a new engineering lab that Google is starting here in Pittsburgh 🙂 🙂
3 December 2005: Ship of Fools
Today Ship of Fools accepted two poems of mine from a sequence titled “Household Appliances.” The poems they took were “In the Basement” and “Iron.” Last year, they published two other poems from the same sequence.
1 December 2005: The Chaffin Journal + On Spec
To my surprise, I received two contributor’s copies in today’s mail: The Chaffin Journal, containing my poem “Fundamentals,” and On Spec, containing my poem “Future Poetry.” 🙂 In non-writing, news, we are enjoying having my father-in-law visit for a couple of weeks. William and Lucy love having their Grandpa to stay, and it was especially nice to have him with us for Thanksgiving.
15 November 2005: Tales of the Unanticipated
My short story “Luna Beat” just appeared in the latest issue of Tales of the Unanticipated; this is my third story to appear there…. On the non-writing front, we think Lucy may have asthma, and are trying to eliminate dairy products from her diet to see if that is the cause. Meanwhile Lucy is becoming ever more grown-up. She likes to choose her own outfits and can say a few words.
14 October 2005: Sword and Sorceress 20
I received a small royalty check for my story “Shen’s Daughter,” which first appeared in Sword and Sorceress 20. Looking back in my files, I realized this is my first writing-related payment since February. In the interim, I have had ten poems published and nine poems accepted, but of course many poetry markets only pay in copies.
13 October 2005: Concho River Review
I received a friendly acceptance of my poem “Twenty-First Century Woman” from Concho River Review, which is just getting itself organized again after Hurricane Rita.
11 October 2005: The Sound of Angels + Main Street Rag
My friend, Lisa Silverthorne, has just had her first collection, The Sound of Angels, published. Many congratulations, Lisa! 🙂 On the home front, my poem “Screwups” appeared in Main Street Rag.
8 October 2005: Iodine Poetry Journal
I received the latest issue of Iodine Poetry Journal, containing my poem “Relativity.”
4 October 2005: White Pelican Review
I received my contributor’s copy of White Pelican Review, containing my poem “These Two Things.” I also recently celebrated my fortieth birthday, a milestone which William marked by presenting me with a walking stick.
13 September 2005: Lucy is one
Lucy turned one year old today. She is a very busy person, always hurrying around trying to grab interesting objects. The whole family is rather fond of her 🙂
3 September 2005: Chaffin Journal
I received an acceptance of my poem “Fundamentals” from The Chaffin Journal 🙂 In non-writing news, the summer vacation is nearly at an end — William will go back to school in three days….
14 August 2005: White Pelican Review
Yesterday I was very happy to receive an acceptance of my poem “These Two Things” from White Pelican Review 🙂 On the non-writing front, Lucy turned eleven months old yesterday. She is a keen walker, though still rather wobbly on her feet. We took her to a water park today, and she wandered all around and got thoroughly drenched.
27 July 2005: mail
I have now gone through all the mail we received while we were away (including non-story-related mail). The mail included a blindingly-fast 7-day response from Cotyledon reporting that they have ceased publication, and a 260-day rejection from Asheville Poetry Review.
24 July 2005: West Virginia
We just spent nine days in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, where we had a lovely and relaxing time. It’s a beautiful part of the country and we spent a lot of time outdoors: walking, having picnics, playing mini-golf, biking, going up ski lifts, and, on one occasion, watching a wild black bear playing on a fallen tree near the roadside.
2 July 2005: Mad Poets Review 🙂
My poem “On Leaving” was reprinted in the latest issue of Mad Poets Review — the poem first appeared in St. Anthony Messenger.
29 June 2005: Main Street Rag 🙂
I received a contributor’s copy of Main Street Rag, containing my poem “Remnants.” This is my third poem to appear in Main Street Rag.
24 June 2005: Ship of Fools 🙂
I received contributor’s copies of Ship of Fools, containing three of my poems: “Island Voices,” “Office Rainbow,” and “Humidity” 🙂 On the home front, William is bouncing around again, and will officially be cleared for strenuous activity in a few more days.
16 June 2005: William’s surgery
William’s inguinal hernia surgery was yesterday, and happily the operation went very smoothly. Alas, William was very sore afterward, but he is feeling a lot better this morning. Hurray! 🙂
20 May 2005: William
My son William has an inguinal hernia, and is scheduled for surgery on June 15th. This is a relatively minor and relatively common operation in children, and he should be released from hospital on the same day. Nonetheless I am somewhat stressed about it…. On the writing front, my story “A Piece of Strangeness” has been accepted by Tales of the Unanticipated.
4 May 2005: Irene G. Eneas
We have just returned from an emergency trip to England to see Andrew’s grandmother, Irene G. Eneas. She died on Saturday April 30, but we did get there in time for Andrew to talk to her and to introduce her to her great granddaughter, Lucy. Mrs. Eneas was a wonderful, kind woman who was loved by many people, and she will be much missed…. In writing news, reprint rights to my story “Crew-Dog” have been accepted by the magazine Talking Dog.
2 April 2005: Ship of Fools 🙂
In today’s mail, I received a very encouraging letter from Ship of Fools accepting three more of my poems: “Office Rainbow,” “Island Voices,” and “Humidity” 🙂 Lest anyone is wondering, rejections still come to my mailbox, I just don’t have as much time to report them, but, for old times’ sake, I shall mention that I received an eleven-month story rejection from Kalliope.
15 March 2005: Lucy + Ship of Fools
The most notable event since my last update is that Lucy has turned six months old; she seems to be doing well, and is a sociable, cheerful small person. Her grandfather is visiting, and both she and William are enjoying the extra attention. On the writing front, I received my contributor’s copy of the Winter 2005 Ship of Fools, containing my poem “I Will Not.”
26 February 2005: Iodine Poetry Journal
Iodine Poetry Journal accepted my poem “Relativity.”
25 February 2005: St. Anthony Messenger
In the past month, I have had one poem published (“Naturalization Oath Ceremony, March 21, 2003,” which appeared in St. Anthony Messenger), and several rejections. The rejections included a very friendly but very slow 16-month rejection from Crab Creek, followed a few days later by their response to a query letter, in which they said that they would have replied long ago to a September 2003 submission….
24 January 2005: Star*Line
My fantasy poem “Divorce in Faery” appeared in Star*Line #28.1.
18 January 2005: Axe Factory Review
I received my contributor’s copy of Axe Factory Review #18, containing my poems “Imperial History” and “The Last Time” 🙂 Also, after three weeks without any poetry responses, last week I received rejections from FIELD and the Massachusetts Review.
3 January 2005: Dark Regions
After a very quiet couple of weeks for the mail (though filled with Christmas festivies), I started 2005 with a most agreeable piece of mail: a friendly letter and royalty check from Dark Regions for my two collections.
20 December 2004: Main Street Rag
Today I received an acceptance of my poem “Screwups” from Main Street Rag 🙂 I also spent four hours at the Children’s Museum with William and Lucy 🙂
15 December 2004: Ship of Fools
I see it is almost a month since I last updated this page, and, coincindentally, the same publication — Ship of Fools — accepted another poem from me, this one titled “I Will Not.” Meanwhile William has one more day of school before Christmas break starts, Lucy is now three months old, and I have a stack of poems waiting for me to get around to mailing them somewhere…
17 November 2004: Ship of Fools
I forgot to mention that Ship of Fools published two of my poems earlier this month; the titles of the poems were “To a Raspberry Plant, Deceased” and “After the Party.”
8 November 2004: Main Street Rag
Main Street Rag accepted my poem “Remnants” 🙂 They have previously published two other poems of mine.
3 November 2004: Election
Lucy continues to be both enchanting and tiring, and, evidently, I am doing a poor job of keeping up with this page, but I did want to note that yesterday I voted in a US Presidential election for my first time. Lucy and William both accompanied me to our polling station, which is a wonderful one for children, since it is in a fire station.
8 October 2004: Danish publication
I have been neglecting this page and spending most of my time with Lucy and William, but I did recently receive a copy of the Danish fanzine Science Fiction, which contains a translation of my story “Ebb Tide.” This is the first time my fiction has been translated into Danish 🙂
22 September 2004: Lucy Mairead Lee-Moore 🙂 🙂
Just wanted to announce the birth, 9 days ago on 13 September 2004, of my daughter Lucy Mairead Lee-Moore 🙂 The picture shows her being held by her brother William.
11 September 2004: Mad Poets Review
I received an acceptance letter from Mad Poets Review for my poem “On Leaving,” which first appeared in St. Anthony Messenger 🙂
7 September 2004: mail summary
As well as a couple more poetry rejections, since my last update I received payment from On Spec for the poem they accepted last month.
26 August 2004: Ship of Fools 🙂
Ship of Fools accepted two of my poems, “After the Party” and “To a Raspberry Plant, Deceased.”
23 August 2004: mail
Assorted poetry rejections continue to trickle in. Meanwhile the birth of my second child gets ever closer — she will be born sometime in the next three weeks!
14 August 2004: Fictionwise
I received a royalty check from Fictionwise, as well as a poetry rejection from Pennsylvania English.
9 August 2004: Bli Panika, On Spec
Today was a busy mail/e-mail day: I received email saying my story “The Turtle God” has been reprinted — in Hebrew! — in Bli Panika; I received contracts for my recent poetry sale to On Spec; and I received 3 poetry rejections.
3 August 2004: MOTA 4
I received one hundred dollars payment for my story “Sarai,” which has just been published in MOTA 4: Integrity 🙂
29 July 2004: On Spec, Funny Paper
I am finally catching up on my mail after a (fun) vacation. In my absence On Spec accepted my science fiction poem, “Future Poetry,” and I received payment from The Funny Paper for the poem they published earlier in the month, plus I had several poetry rejections.
15 July 2004: Atlanta Review
A friendly 28-day poetry rejection from Atlanta Review.
9 July 2004: The Funny Paper 🙂
I received an acceptance and contributor’s copy of The Funny Paper #74, containing my poem “After Nineteen Years Together” 🙂 I also received a poetry rejection from The Kit-Cat Review.
8 July 2004: Ship of Fools 🙂
I received a contributor’s copy of the Fall 2004 issue of Ship of Fools containing my poems “Desiderata” and “Ode to a Dishwasher.” This is the third issue of Ship of Fools in which I’ve appeared 🙂 Also in the mail, a poetry rejection from Virginia Quarterly Review.
2 July 2004: Louisville Review and Mid-American Review
After eleven months, I received a poetry rejection from Louisville Review. In contrast, I received a poetry rejection with an encouraging and friendly note from Mid-American Review in just 17 days.
1 July 2004: Year’s Best Fantasy #4 🙂
My story “Shen’s Daughter” has just been reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy #4, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer 🙂 🙂 The anthology also contains stories by Octavia Butler, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Michael Swanwick, Gene Wolfe, and many others.
29 Jun 2004: Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine 🙂
Since my last update, I received a contributor’s copy of Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine #35, containing four of my science fiction poems, plus a poetry rejection from The Journal.
25 Jun 2004: America 🙂
I received an unexpected email from Paul Mariani of America, requesting permission to print my poem “Silk Road.” I had entered the poem in the Foley Poetry Contest earlier this year, and knew that I hadn’t won, but apparently they liked the poem well enough to wish to publish it. I believe this will be the most I’ve been paid for one of my poems ($100)…. I also received a story rejection from Third Alternative.
22 Jun 2004: Lilliput Review + Poetry
A very friendly rejection from Lilliput Review came today, and yesterday I received a rejection from Poetry Magazine, which I had decided to try again after a year and a half of not submitting there (it being an ultra-ambitious market).
14 Jun 2004: LIGHT + Spinning Jenny
After a week with no writing-related mail, two poetry rejections: one from LIGHT after 7 months, and one from Spinning Jenny after seven weeks. I also finally withdrew a submission that I made to The Plastic Tower back in March 2003, having queried in February and not having received a response to my query.
7 Jun 2004: Open Cut 🙂
I received contributor’s copies of Open Cut, a broadside put out by Iodine, containing my poem “Children’s Classic.”
5 Jun 2004: On Spec
A 229-day rejection of a genre short story from On Spec…
4 Jun 2004: Ship of Fools 🙂
After a week with no responses, how nice to receive a note from Ship of Fools accepting two poems: “Desiderata” and “Ode to a Dishwasher” 🙂 I also received a 148-day poetry rejection from Gulf Coast.
28 May 2004: Paper Street
A friendly poetry rejection came from Paper Street.
26 May 2004: Star*Line + PPG 🙂
A good mail day: I received payment from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for my poem “Our Mother,” and an email acceptance from Star*Line of my poem “Divorce in Faery.”
20 May 2004: Fictionwise
I received a small royalty check from Fictionwise, as well as poetry rejections from Barrow Street, Meridian, and Magazine of Speculative Poetry.
19 May 2004: Danish fanzine
My story “Ebb Tide” will be reprinted in the Summer issue of a Danish fanzine, which will be the seventh language that the story has appeared in 🙂
18 May 2004: Third Alternative + turnrow
I had a science fiction story rejected by The Third Alternative and also a poetry rejection from turnrow.
11 May 2004: Buffalo News
I received a very courteous reply from Buffalo News in response to a query about a submission sent at the end of October (verdict: their original reply was probably lost in the mail).
8 May 2004: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
My poem “Our Mother” was reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and I also received rejections from FIELD and Pavement Saw.
7 May 2004: Choice Cuts reading
I will be one of the readers at the Choice Cuts reading series on the evening of Friday May 21st 🙂
3 May 2004: 5AM, Agni, Cimarron Review
Some days the mail is good; some days, such as today, it is definitely not: I received poetry rejections from 5AM, Agni, and Cimarron Review.
30 April 2004: Lake Effect
An 88-day poetry rejection from Lake Effect.
29 April 2004: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette accepted my poem “Our Mother,” first published in The Funny Paper, for their May 8th issue 🙂 This will be my fourth appearance in this newspaper.
26 April 2004: ultrasound + Capper’s
I had a prenatal ultrasound today and the baby-to-be looks healthy 🙂 I also received my tear-sheet from Capper’s, who published my poem “Climber.”
22 April 2004: Year’s Best + birthday
Today is William’s fifth birthday 🙂 He seems to be having a fine day, and is now taking a late nap. It was a busy mail day, with payment coming from the Year’s Best Fantasy #4 for my story “Shen’s Daughter,” plus prompt and friendly rejections from Atlanta Review and Boston Review.
19 April 2004: 411 days
A friendly, but glacially-paced, 411-day poetry rejection came from Kalliope. A few days earlier I received a story rejection from Analog after a much more moderate wait of 50 days.
9 April 2004: Ship of Fools
I received my contributor’s copy of the Spring 2004 issue of Ship of Fools, containing my poem “Obsessive” 🙂 This is my second poem to appear in this magazine.
7 April 2004: Pregnant
I think it’s about time to report here that I am pregnant with our second child, due date September 19th 🙂 On the writing front, I received a nice poetry rejection note from Bogg today.
29 March 2004: Main Street Rag
I received my contributor’s copy of Main Street Rag, Spring 2004, containing my poems “After Cleaning Windows” and “Life Without Makeup” 🙂 Also in the mail, a poetry rejection from Iodine Poetry Journal.
27 March 2004: Whiskey Island
A nice poetry rejection came from Whiskey Island Magazine.
22 March 2004: St. Anthony Messenger
A busy mail-day: payment came from St. Anthony Messenger for the poem they accepted earlier this month, and I also received rejections from Ploughshares and Tin House.
17 March 2004: American Scholar 🙂
I received contributor’s copies of American Scholar, Spring 2004, containing my poem “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition” 🙂 🙂
10 March 2004: Two rejections
I received poetry rejections from The Gettysburg Review and West Branch.
8 March 2004: Trained Monkey Press 🙂
Unexpectedly, I received copies of Trained Monkey Press Broadside #22, containing my poems “Couple” and “Dating Rules” 🙂 I had submitted the poems in December, but hadn’t realized they were going to be published.
6 March 2004: St. Anthony Messenger 🙂
A busy mail-day: St. Anthony Messenger accepted my poem “Naturalization Oath Ceremony: March 21, 2003,” and I also had poetry rejections from Boulevard and One Trick Pony.
4 March 2004: Tales of the Unanticipated 🙂
Tales of the Unanticipated have accepted my science fiction story “Luna Beat” 🙂
26 February 2004: Iodine Poetry Journal 🙂
I received my contributor’s copy of the Spring/Summer 2004 issue of Iodine Poetry Journal, containing my poem “Signs and Portents” 🙂 And I also received a science fiction poetry rejection from Full Unit Hookup.
23 February 2004: American Scholar 🙂
I received the proofs from American Scholar for my poem “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition,” which is scheduled for their Spring issue 🙂 I also received a friendly story rejection from Third Alternative.
22 February 2004: Futurismic
I received a story rejection from Futurismic but my second submission to them is in their second-read pile, and I also received an encouraging poetry rejection from New Criterion.
21 February 2004: Year’s Best Fantasy #4 🙂 🙂
David Hartwell emailed me with an offer to reprint my story “Shen’s Daughter” (from Sword and Sorceress XX) in the Year’s Best Fantasy #4 🙂 Needless to say, I am delighted.
In lesser news, I received a small royalty check from Fictionwise, plus a poetry rejection from Mid-American Review, and I finally got around to querying some stories and poems that have been languishing for up to a year.
18 February 2004: Pif 🙂
Two of my poems, “Guarantees” and “In Between”, have been published by Pif Magazine.
17 February 2004: mail update
I am doing a poor job of keeping this page current, but have so far received four rejections in February and, more happily, the signed contract and payment from American Scholar for my forthcoming poem “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition.”
An addendum to the above from today’s mail: Ship of Fools has accepted my poem “Obsessive” 🙂
29 January 2004: Cimarron Review
A 237-day poetry rejection from Cimarron Review with no rejection slip or note of any kind….
26 January 2004: mail update
Despite my failure to update this page recently, rejections continue to arrive. Over the past 17 days, I have had short stories rejected by Zoetrope and Arabella, and poems returned by turnrow, Yale Review, and the Virginia Quarterly, with response times varying from 82 days (Yale Review) to 175 days (Arabella)….
9 January 2004: Asimov’s + Pudding
A 71-day genre poetry rejection from Asimov’s, plus a 6-day mainstream poetry rejection from Pudding.
7 January 2004: Lilliput Review
A friendly poetry rejection from Lilliput Review.
2 January 2004: American Scholar
A busy mail-day, in which I received the contract for my recent poetry sale to American Scholar, as well as rejections of a fantasy story by Black Gate and of poems by Pennsylvania English.
1 January 2004: Happy New Year
Happy New Year! Looking back at my records for 2003, I see that I had 38 acceptances, most of them for mainstream poems, including a recent poetry sale to American Scholar. I also had my first appearance in Analog with my short story “Coming of Age,” my first appearance in The Third Alternative with my story “Immigrants,” and my third appearance in the Sword and Sorceress anthology series with my fantasy story “Shen’s Daughter,” plus 26 other publications. And I achieved my goal of writing 200 poems (201 indeed), although some of those poems will never see the dark of an envelope….
31 December 2003: Space and Time
A 19-day science fiction poetry rejection from Space and Time closes out the year….
26 December 2003: American Poetry Review
Just as I was thinking there’d be no more replies until 2004, a 97-day poetry rejection arrived from American Poetry Review….
20 December 2003: Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Pirate Writings 🙂
5 publications in one day! I received my contributor’s copies of the Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Autumn 2003, containing four of my poems, and of The 2nd Coming, The Best of Pirate Writings Volume 2, containing a reprint of my story “One Small Step” 🙂
19 December 2003: Spider
A 36-day poetry rejection from Spider, my first time trying this children’s magazine.
16 December 2003: Journal
A 75-day poetry rejection came today from Journal, and yesterday I had a 21-day poetry rejection from Threepenny Review.
9 December 2003: American Scholar 🙂
I am very happy indeed that American Scholar has accepted a poem of mine titled “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition.”
8 December 2003: Ship of Fools 🙂
I received my contributor’s copy of Ship of Fools, Fall 2003, containing my poem “On Lying” 🙂 I also received poetry rejections from Indiana Review and Cricket.
1 December 2003: Dark Regions 🙂
I received a royalty check from Dark Regions today for my collection Ebb Tides and Other Tales 🙂 While not a vast sum, it is my largest payment so far for 2003.
28 November 2003: Mid-American Review
After a very happy Thanksgiving, today I had an encouraging poetry rejection from Mid-American Review.
20 November 2003: Crab Orchard, Bogg
In the past couple of days, I received poetry rejections from Crab Orchard Review and Bogg.
17 November 2003 – later: MOTA 4 🙂
My short story “Sarai” has been accepted for the anthology MOTA 4: Integrity 🙂 I also received quarterly royalties from Fictionwise and had a 76-day poetry rejection from Gulf Coast.
17 November 2003: Bli Panika 🙂
The editor of Bli Panika, an online Israeli fanzine, requested permission to translate and reprint my fantasy story “The Turtle God” 🙂 I believe this will be the ninth language in which I’ve been published.
15 November 2003: Field, Pudding
Two recent poetry rejections to report, one from FIELD and the other from Pudding Magazine.
11 November 2003: Pif 🙂
Two of my poems, “In Between” and “Guarantees,” have been accepted for the next issue of Pif 🙂
8 November 2003: Uncle Andy’s Digest
Alas, the poetry corner in Uncle Andy’s Digest is ceasing, so three of my poems accepted in September will not, after all, be appearing there. And in a setback on the non-writing front, our furnace had to be replaced 🙁
3 November 2003: Capper’s 🙂
Accompanied by three poetry rejections — including a 150-day one from North American Review — I received an acceptance and a check from Capper’s for my poem “Climber” 🙂
26 October 2003: Trained Monkey Press
An 89-day poetry rejection from Trained Monkey Press.
24 October 2003: St. Anthony Messenger 🙂
I received my contributor’s copies of the November issue of St. Anthony Messenger, a Catholic magazine, containing my poem “On Leaving” 🙂 I think this is the highest-circulation publication I’ve appeared in, although possibly the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is higher.
23 October 2003: Pulp
The six poems that appeared in Pulp turn out to have also been put on their website. (The poems start after the book review.)
In non-writing news, William has had two recent milestones: yesterday he turned four-and-a-half, and today he had his first filling at a new and much more child-friendly dentist. His previous dentist spotted three cavities over a year ago, but this is the first one to be tackled. William clearly didn’t relish the experience, but behaved well. Afterwards we went to a toy store for him to select a reward for being good. He passed up boxes of Lego, additions to train sets, and many cars for a toy broom! Everything, even our bed, has already been swept 🙂
18 October 2003: Argosy
A friendly 71-day rejection of a science fiction story from Argosy – my first short story reply in over a month!
17 October 2003: Blind Man’s Rainbow 🙂
I received my contributor’s copy of the Autumn 2003 issue of Blind Man’s Rainbow, containing my poems “A Child’s Seasons” and “Three” 🙂
16 October 2003: Pulp 🙂
Six of my mainstream poems were published today in Pulp, a weekly Pittsburgh magazine 🙂 This is the most poems I’ve had appear at one time 🙂
15 October 2003: One Trick Pony, Antioch Review
In the past couple of days, I’ve received mainstream poetry rejections from One Trick Pony and the Antioch Review.
9 October 2003: Ploughshares
A 68-day poetry rejection from Ploughshares.
8 October 2003: Pulp 🙂
One or more of my mainstream poems have been accepted by Pulp, a Pittsburgh magazine 🙂 Christopher Dreher emailed me yesterday to say that he liked the poem I sent at the end of July, but that he runs more than one poem by a poet at a time. So I emailed him five more poems today, and he will be running some of them in the next couple of weeks.
6 October 2003: Mythic Delirium 🙂
I received my contributor copy (and payment!) of Mythic Delirium #9, containing my science fiction poem “Flame War.” So far in October, I have also received poetry rejections from 5AM and The Greensboro Review.
30 September 2003: The Funny Paper 🙂
Today I received prompt payment from The Funny Paper for the poem they published a week ago. Yesterday I received poetry rejections from Black Warrior Review and The Threepenny Review.
24 September 2003: Uncle Andy’s Digest 🙂
A same-day email reply from Uncle Andy’s Digest accepting three mainstream poems 🙂 To balance this out, I also received snail-mail rejections from LIGHT and West Branch, and yesterday I received a very nice rejection from Whiskey Island.
22 September 2003: The Funny Paper 🙂
I received an acceptance and contributor’s copy of The Funny Paper #70, containing my mainstream poem “Our Mother” 🙂 The Funny Paper is another paying market, albeit only a small sum ($15) 🙂 In the past week, I’ve also received mainstream poetry rejections from Lake Effect, OnEarth, and The Sun.
15 September 2003: St. Anthony Messenger 🙂
Swift payment from St. Anthony Messenger of the poem they accepted four days ago 🙂
12 September 2003: Zoetrope
A 133-day science fiction short story rejection from Zoetrope.
11 September 2003: St. Anthony Messenger 🙂
St. Anthony Messenger, a Catholic magazine, accepted my poem “On Leaving” 🙂 🙂 This is only the second paying market to which I have sold a mainstream poem (the other being the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). I also received poetry rejections from Mid-American Review and Paper Street…. On the non-writing front, I had a mammogram that I had been worrying about for some weeks, and the results were declared normal. Hip, hip, hooray!
10 September 2003: Buffalo News + FIELD
On Tuesday I had two good pieces of mail; today I have a pair of poetry rejections, one from Buffalo News in 42 days, and the other from FIELD in 20 days….
8 September 2003: Ship of Fools + Red Owl 🙂
A happy mail-day: Ship of Fools accepted my poem “On Lying” and Red Owl sent me my contributor’s copy of issue #17, Autumn 2003, containing my poem “Sustenance” 🙂 🙂 On the negative side, I received a 1-day email poetry rejection from Hidden Oak.
6 September 2003: Pavement Saw + William
A 15-day poetry rejection came from Pavement Saw. On the home front, William has had his first four mornings in the Pre-Kindergarten class at St. Edmund’s Academy. He is now happy in his main classroom and in the school playground, but anxious about the daily special activities (computers, art, library, music, and gym). Hopefully he will soon be comfortable with those as well….
30 August 2003: On Spec
After a quiet mail-week, today I received a 260-day short story rejection from On Spec, plus a 9-day poetry rejection from Beloit Poetry Journal. Both came with nice notes, but, unsurprisingly, I preferred the 9-day response time to the 260-day one….
29 August 2003: Mars 🙂
After several attempts thwarted by clouds, we finally all got to see Mars last night, and William declared that it did look reddish 🙂
20 August 2003: Mail catch-up
I’m catching up on the mail received while we were away on a (most enjoyable) vacation on Prince Edward Island. I received a slew of poetry rejections, ranging from New Criterion at a blindingly-fast 6 days, to LIGHT at a rather less blinding 147 days. More happily, another of my short stories, “Clever People,” is now up at Fictionwise.
7 August 2003: Fictionwise 🙂
I received quarterlies royalties from Fictionwise today, a small check, but larger than last quarter’s 🙂 I also received a poetry rejection from Edgz.
2 August 2003: Two rejections
Two rejections today, one for a short story sent to Analog, and one for poems sent to The Yale Review.
31 July 2003: Cricket
A 34-day rejection of a poem by Cricket, my first time trying this market.
28 July 2003: Confluence
I had a good time at Confluence – the annual Pittsburgh science fiction convention – this weekend. I particularly enjoyed the conversations I had with lots of different people, and I also got to spend more than I ought to have on books in the dealer’s room. For the first time, I moderated a panel; happily my co-panelists were of the friendly and informative persuasion so all went well (thank you Sarah Zettel, Karl Schroeder, and Bobby Nansel!) In another milestone, for the first time an editor bought me a meal – for which I am very grateful to David Hartwell…. Returning home, I found a nice rejection letter from Argosy.
21 July 2003: Sword and Sorceress 20 🙂
Returning from a most enjoyable vacation in Michigan, I found a bunch of rejections but also my contributor’s copy of Sword and Sorceress XX, containing my story “Shen’s Daughter” 🙂 I also learned that Mothering Magazine is holding two more of my poems for possible publication (they were already holding three others).
9 July 2003: Paper Street
A friendly, encouraging 69-day poetry rejection from Paper Street.
5 July 2003: Iodine Poetry Journal + Main Street Rag 🙂
I just had two poems accepted by Iodine Poetry Journal (one for the journal itself plus another for their broadside, Open Cut) and two other poems accepted by Main Street Rag 🙂 🙂 Both magazines anticipate publishing the poems sometime in 2004. I am very happy indeed! Bringing me back down to earth, I also received a poetry rejection from Barrow Street and a short story rejection from MarsDust.
3 July 2003: Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine 🙂
Four of my science fiction poems will be appearing in Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine 🙂 This is the most poems I have had accepted at one time, and also marks my 200th acceptance (a figure that includes both second rights sales and markets that folded before publishing my work). A happy day!
2 July 2003: Honorable Mention 🙂
My story “New World,” published last year in Interzone received an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois’s latest Year’s Best Science Fiction 🙂
1 July 2003: Crab Creek + Mad Poet’s
Two 91-day mainstream poetry rejections, one from Crab Creek Review and one from Mad Poet’s Review.
28 June 2003: F&SF
A fast and friendly 5-day poetry rejection from F&SF.
26 June 2003: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂
Today I received payment ($50) for my poem “Insignificant Others,” reprinted earlier this month in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂 I also received a 47-day mainstream poetry rejection from 5AM.
24 June 2003: Strange Horizons
A 46-day email rejection of an SF story by Strange Horizons.
20 June 2003: Blind Man’s Rainbow 🙂
Blind Man’s Rainbow today accepted two poems of mine for their Fall 2003 issue 🙂 The poems are titled “A Child’s Seasons” and “Three.”
19 June 2003: Scifi.com
A 52-day short story rejection from Scifi.com.
13 June 2003: Fantastic 🙂
My poem “If They Come” just appeared in the Summer 2003 issue of Fantastic 🙂 Less happily, I also received a story rejection from Asimov’s after 99 days, and a poetry rejection from On Spec after 97 days.
12 June 2003: Pittsburgh Worldwrights
After a farewell party yesterday evening, I have officially left the Pittsburgh Worldwrights, the workshop that I began nearly ten years ago. Hopefully the group will go on for another ten years!
11 June 2003: Aurealis
A 97-day short story rejection from Aurealis.
10 June 2003: Kaleidoscope Review
Alas, I received a reply from Kaleidoscope Review today saying that they are no longer in operation. Another market bites the dust.
9 June 2003: Antioch Review
A mainstream poetry rejection from The Antioch Review.
7 June 2003: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 🙂
To my surprise, my poem “Insignificant Others” was reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today 🙂 This poem first appeared in 2001: A Science Fiction Poetry Anthology. (I had submitted the poem to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in November, but they hadn’t replied and so I assumed it had been rejected, as their previous two acceptances came in under three weeks.)
4 June 2003 (later): Axe Factory Review 🙂
Happiness! Axe Factory Review accepted two of my mainstream poems: “The Last Time” and “Imperial History” 🙂 🙂
4 June 2003: Best of Soft SF
Returning from a brief vacation in England, I learned that my story “New World” received an Honorable Mention in the Best of Soft SF contest for 2002. I also received a bunch of poetry rejections, plus a story rejection from The Third Alternative.
27 May 2003: Mothering Magazine maybe
Mothering Magazine is holding another of my poems for possible publication (they have been holding two others since January), and I received a poetry rejection from Crab Orchard Review.
23 May 2003: Worldcons
Good news and bad news about Worldcons. First the good news: today I received a refund check from the Millennium Philcon (the 2001 Worldcon) for the cost of my membership — they try to refund the memberships of program participants. Next the bad news: I won’t be able to attend Torcon, this year’s Worldcon, after all.
22 May 2003: MarsDust 🙂
In the mail today, payment from MarsDust for my short-short “Growing Pains,” published in April 🙂
19 May 2003: rejections
Mainstream poetry rejections today from American Poetry Review and Hidden Oak. At least they both replied quickly; I had another rejection recently from The Gettysburg Review that took over six months.
17 May 2003: Red Owl 🙂
The mainstream small press magazine Red Owl accepted my poem “Sustenance,” and it should appear this September 🙂
14 May 2003: Fictionwise 🙂
I received a royalty check from Fictionwise — a small sum, but still welcome 🙂
8 May 2003: Absolute Magnitude
A 104-day rejection of a solicited rewrite from Absolute Magnitude. Other recent mail includes a rejection from Star*Line, plus I mailed a withdrawal letter to Atlantic Monthly who have had a couple of my poems for nine months and haven’t replied to a query letter….
30 April 2003: Polyphony
Alas, a 119-day short story rejection from Polyphony.
28 April 2003: multiple rejections
After a couple of weeks with just one rejection, today I received several, one from Alchemy for a fantasy story, one from Dreams and Nightmares for SF poetry, and ones from Crab Orchard Review and Mothering Magazine for mainstream poetry. Not a good mail day!
25 April 2003: S&S royalties 🙂
I received more royalties from my story in Sword & Sorceress 18; it’s a small sum of money, but still welcome 🙂
23 April 2003: MSP 🙂
A very nice letter came from the Magazine of Speculative Poetry accepting my poems “By the Numbers” and “Drawback of Life Extension” 🙂 These are my 6th and 7th acceptances from this publication, with three poems published and four now in their inventory.
20 April 2003: Black Gate
A friendly, encouraging, but very slow rejection from Black Gate after 326 days!
15 April 2003: Lake Effect
After ten days with no story responses (though one publication), today I received a mainstream poetry rejection from Lake Effect.
10 April 2003: MarsDust 🙂
My short story Growing Pains is now online at MarsDust 🙂
5 April 2003: Asimov’s
An 85-day rejection of two poems from Asimov’s.
2 April 2003: Mixed news
Some mixed news over the past few days. On the plus side, a small publication called Caravan will be reprinting two of my poems (“To the Whales” and “Experiment Eighty-Two.”) On the minus side, 3SF has folded alas, due to the publisher’s insolvency, and I received mainstream poetry rejections from Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, and Threepenny Review.
27 March 2003: Axe Factory + Two Rivers
In the past couple of days, I have received mainstream poetry rejections from Axe Factory Review and Two Rivers Review.
21 March 2003: US citizenship 🙂 🙂 🙂
Andrew and I are now naturalized U.S. citizens 🙂 🙂 I am very happy indeed about this! On a much lesser note, I received $100 payment for the story extract of mine that is to be reprinted in a school textbook (a sale from February 2002).
18 March 2003: Trispec and others
I received a very nice email rejection note from Trispec for a poem I submitted last year. Various market sources have reported Trispec’s non-responsiveness, and it turns out to have been due to the editor suffering a serious accident. Happily he is now doing okay, and hopefully Trispec will likewise recover. I’ve also had two other rejections in the past week, one from 5AM and one from Zoetrope.
12 March 2003: Space and Time 🙂
My poem “To the Whales” has been published in Space and Time #97, Spring 2003 🙂 This is my third appearance in this long-running small press magazine, following stories in two earlier issues.
6 March 2003: Citizenship 🙂 🙂
On March 21, Andrew and I will hopefully become US citizens 🙂 We received our appointment notices for the oath ceremony today, and I am very, very happy indeed!
Rejections recently received: F&SF, Lilliput Review, Journal, and Threepenny Review.
1 March 2003: Analog 🙂 🙂
My short story “Coming of Age” is in the current (April 2003) issue of Analog, my first appearance in this magazine 🙂 🙂 🙂
19 February 2003: 3rd Alternative
Today I received the contract, payment, and contributor’s copy for my recent publication in The 3rd Alternative 🙂
14 February 2003: Fictionwise
Today I received my 4th quarter 2002 royalties from Fictionwise, not a large sum, but still welcome! Also the number of Fictionwise readers for one of my stories (“The God on the Glass Cross”) has now passed the 500 mark….
13 February 2003: On Spec, Talebones
Another day, another set of poetry rejections, this time from Talebones, and, after 261 days, from On Spec.
12 February 2003: One thousand!
Today I received my one thousandth rejection! Quite a milestone. It came from Two Rivers Review. Writing poetry has helped increase my number of rejections substantially, as I can receive multiple rejections at a time from a market (today, for instance, Two Rivers Review rejected 4 poems). On a happier note, I’ve also received nearly 200 acceptances 🙂
4 February 2003: The Third Alternative 🙂
My short story “Immigrants” is in the latest issue of the UK magazine, The Third Alternative 🙂
1 February 2003: Space Shuttle Columbia
I am very sad to hear of the loss of the seven astronauts and the Space Shuttle Columbia.
28 January 2003: Magazine of Speculative Poetry 🙂
I received a copy of the latest issue of The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, containing my poems “Experiment Eighty-Two” and “The Travelers” 🙂 And I also received a mainstream poetry rejection from Beloit Poetry Journal.
23 January 2003: Mothering Magazine maybe
Catching up on some January responses that I haven’t mentioned yet: Mothering Magazine is holding two of my poems for possible publication (they will keep the poems for a year to see if they can find a match with upcoming articles), and I had mainstream poetry rejections from Axe Factory Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Threepenny Review.
It’s the afternoon of the same day as the above, and the mail has arrived, bringing with it a rewrite request from Absolute Magnitude. I have spent the past couple of hours revising the story, and it will be in tomorrow’s mail. Fingers crossed — I would love to sell a story to Absolute Magnitude.
17 January 2003: Tangent Review
“Ebb Tides and Other Tales” has been reviewed by Chris Markwyn for Tangent Online 🙂 A brief extract from the review: “Her prose is subtle and precise, and her ability to create rounded characters within the limits of the short story is impressive…. I can only hope that this book will serve to bring this talented writer a wider audience.”
9 January 2003: Mid-American Review
Rejection of mainstream poems.
6 January 2003: Magazine of Speculative Poetry 🙂
Happiness! The Magazine of Speculative Poetry accepted my poems “First Impact” and “Art Will Be Appreciated.” This brings me up to four poems waiting in their inventory, plus one poem already published by them 🙂
4 January 2003: Star*Line + Space & Time 🙂
I received a copy of Star*Line 25.6, containing my poem “Backwards,” and also received payment from Space & Time for my forthcoming poem To the Whales 🙂
2 January 2003: Review + 2002 statistics
Over the Christmas break (which I greatly enjoyed), I received a copy of the final issue of Scavenger’s Newsletter, in which Jim Lee favorably reviewed Ebb Tides and Other Tales 🙂
Today I received my first rejection of 2003, a 219-day reply from Poetry Magazine…. Looking back over 2002, I see that I accumulated some 170 rejections (including poetry and mainstream items). I also had 20 acceptances, including sales to Analog, Interzone, 3SF, Third Alternative, MarsDust, Star*Line, and Best of the Rest 3. And last, but not least, my second collection (“Ebb Tides and Other Tales”) was published by Dark Regions Press 🙂
