Captain Quasar vs. the Editors

Once upon a time, in a galaxy full of space crap, I offered the editors of Flash Me Magazine the opportunity to board the Effervescent Magnitude, led by the intrepid Captain Bartholomew Quasar and his faithful sidekick, Hank the very hairy, four-armed biped. Here’s what they had to say:

EDITOR 1: This was fresh and amusing, and I liked the subtle jabs at Star Trek. There are a few typos and the last bit of dialog might need to be reworked into modern speech, but other than that, it kept my interest and made me chuckle.

EDITOR 2: There are various technical errors: the "rhetorical" question that the captain asks is not actually a rhetorical question; and the word "potable" is unnecessary.

EDITOR 3: The idea that the captain would lose nearly all his crew and do nothing about it made me lose any sympathy for him; I didn't believe that he wanted the elixir that badly (or that quickly).

EDITOR 4: The captain took everything much too lightly for me to have any sort of compassion. He didn't come off as having any regrets.

Alas, they did not wish to publish Captain Quasar’s tale of misguided woe. After another revision, keeping in mind the Flash Me editors’ critiques, I submitted the story to Every Day Fiction:

EDITOR 1: Amusing, well-written story. Not sure about the title but perhaps it does fit as the story is reminiscent of 1950s Science Fiction.

EDITOR 2: Enjoyed the campy elements of this story. I'd love to have a couple of drops of that elixir.

EDITOR 3: No surprises here, but fun and well-written with entertaining interaction between the characters.

And so, "Captain Quasar and the ‘If Only’ Elixir of Opsanus Tau Prime" will be published August 4th @ Every Day Fiction. Yahoo!