04.01.2008
Rejection number forty-one is here, people. It came courtesy of the little magazine down under named Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.
Oh, the salad days, when were they? March 15th or so? Geez, it doesn't seem like a scant seventeen days have passed since then but somehow they did and here we are, holding Ayla Athena in our hands wondering why, oh god why, have they rejected us again. What I would give for that hopeful time, far in the past when I thought I actually had a bat-shit's chance in hell of getting published one day...
Ah, whatever...
The truth is, I have no idea what is publishable and what isn't. 9/10ths of the crap I've been reading is... well... crap but for some reason editors see something in those pieces that mine are apparently missing.
I've been reading a lot of interviews in which they say writers must have a cat. Firstly, I hate fucking cats. Well... not actually the cat, per se, but the god damned litter boxes. And secondly, this is passing for journalism these days, asking a writer how many cats they have? Unless the writer writes stories about cats and the cute things they do, does anyone really give a shit?
But, who knows? That may be my problem. Not enough cats in my life. Jesus H Christ on a totem pole...
Anyway, this is the first time in four that ASIM didn't include any reader comments on my story. Again, I don't know why. But I'd like to. Ayla Athena is, I think, a pretty compelling story. I mean, if someone forced into broadcasting propaganda for the invading side isn't interesting, then what the fuck is?
Note that I'm not demoralized here. I just wonder what the key ingredient is that I seem to be missing.
And if anyone suggests a writing group to me, so help me god, I will gun you down where you stand. Do I seem like the kind that plays well with others?
Anyway, I won't bother to quote the letter. It doesn't say anything important.
So... this marks the sixth rejection for old Ayla putting it right up there with Drug Enforcement for my most rejected piece. The latter story is still out at Asimov's though, so we're expecting it to take the lead once again in a few short days.
I'm going to have to start looking for some new places to send this sucker as I'm down to four left on the list, all of which I am certain are going to reject it. And, when they do, what the fuck am I going to do with it then?
Maybe I'll post it for you all to see. Then you can tell me why it got no love and what I'm missing so I can add a dash of that shit to my other stories so they don't meet the same fate.
On another note, I queried the fine, fine editor at Clarkesworld Magazine today because their submission page says they respond within fifty days and it's been eighty-one. I just heard back and he assured me that it was in the queue. It is, of course, my fear that he'll just speed up the rejection to accommodate me but... as already asked several times, what the fuck do I know?
Now, I don't normally do this, but for those interested, the editor, Nick Mamatas - a fine man I had the pleasure of seeing read and who also autographed a copy of his book for me - wrote an excellent little novel named Under My Roof. It is an exceptional book and when I say "little" it is because it is tiny. (I read it in about five hours.) But, it may just be one of the finest books I've read. For those interested, click the link above to be taken to Amazon. They tell me there are only three books left, so... order soon!
And for those who think that I've lost my nut and have begun bribing editors to get an advantage, think again, dipshits. Dollars to donuts say he honestly couldn't give a crap about my link to Amazon and the two clicks it will drive. It's just a book you should fucking read already.
Okay then...
On one final note, I've found that I'm sort of blocked when it comes to writing any more stories in the series I've been working on. It's not that I don't believe in the world anymore, because I do, and it's not that all the stories have been told, because they haven't, but I think it's because I may have taken too long of a break from developing its back story.
There is a lot of back story that I need to work out to get the world out of its Age of Colonization period. The next is the Age of War and I'm only about forty years into developing that angle. Given that it's one hundred and thirty-five years long, that means that I'm really going to need to get cracking.
So there may be no new stories for a while. I might just work on the history book for that age and flesh out my spreadsheet some more. To be honest, I really enjoy that part. I don't know if I enjoy it more than writing the individual stories but since its written for an audience of one, me, it's easier, quicker, and, frankly, more in line with my general interests.
Blah... yet again, I don't know. It's tough to tell what will happen. I can't usually go that long without writing something where at least one person doesn't bite it. So we'll see.
In the meantime, kids. This is Colin. Out.