Not a Bad Month

1. “Captain Quasar and the ‘If Only’ Elixir of Opsanus Tau Prime” won an award for “Longest Short Story Title for No Apparent Reason.” No, not really. But it premiered in Every Day Fiction on August 4th and has gotten pretty good ratings and reviews since . A few of my favorites:

That was a great deal of fun, and I normally have no use for sci-fi of any kind!

I love sci-fi. And I thought this was great. Reminds me of Douglas Adams.

I think I met Hank the hairy bi-ped once—in a bar in Amsterdam.

2. “Old Cigs” made an appearance in Six Sentences on August 21, as did “Mimecry” in Flashshot on August 23. The readers’ feedback on both pieces has been positive, and I had a blast putting together the picture for my “Nobody Likes a Mime” post. Thank you, Google images, for that wide selection of bullet hole graphics to choose from.

3. Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, Beyond Centauri, and Cezanne’s Carrot rejected five of my submissions in as many days—and I can honestly say it didn’t bother me. Now each of those stories is in its best shape yet, and I’ve resubmitted all five elsewhere.

4. The story that Apex rejected was short-listed by Dark Recesses four days later. How’s that for a quick turnaround?

5. I sent my first submission to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine yesterday. Hard copy. Snail-mailed with a SASE. It always seems like a big deal when I offer a story to a “real” print magazine.