Eliza’s long road to publication seems finally to have reached an end. Here and Now #7 is apparently shipping at the moment.
I started writing Eliza in the 1980s, inspired by “artificial intelligence” found in a BASIC program that ran on Radio Shack TRS-80 computers. I never got very far with it then, but rediscovered the handwritten pages in 1999. Recasting it into the internet era with then-modern computer technology gave me a lot more to play with. I submitted it to the upstart Australian magazine Winedark Sea and received my first ever acceptance, for issue 2.
Grand plans were announced for issue 2; however, it never appeared and the editor stopped responding to my e-mail messages. An assistant editor admitted that she’d lost touch with him, too. Their web site remained up for years, but the magazine—and apparently the editor—disappeared into the ether. Sank into the eponymous sea, one might suggest. Never got paid, and the story was never published.
Eventually I started submitting it again. It’s a little on the long side, so the possible markets were limited, but the British magazine Here and Now accepted it in April 2003. Nearly three years later, it’s about to see the light of day. Had I the chance to revise it again, I would update it to address the WiFi and DVD technology that’s emerged since then, but I’m fond of the story and look forward to reading it again in its new home and hope some of y’all will check it out, too!
