SASR redux

I was tempting fate yesterday by talking about thin SASEs containing rejections. I got home from work to find one sitting there waiting for me, and this time it was a rejection from F&SF. The amazing thing, though, was the timeframe. Remember, this was a postal submission and postal response. I sent the story out on August 9th and got the rejection letter on the 17th. Eight days turnaround. What’s more, it wasn’t a form rejection. It was a very thoughtful explanation of why Mr. Van Gelder didn’t think the specific idea for this story was fresh, with reference to an essay he’d written on the subject a while back. I was impressed. Disappointed, of course—F&SF is one of those markets I’m dying to crack someday—but impressed all the same.

Started work on my next Cemetery Dance column. Issue 52 is appearing now and issue 53 is being laid out at present, so this is for issue 54. My deadline is mid-September, though the magazine probably won’t appear until late this year. I’m also doing two book reviews for the issue. I took my 65-page Word document full of information and edited it down to 10 pages. Now I need to go searching for all the other information I’ve set aside for the column. News from the Dead Zone is a process. The column swells and shrinks, ebbs and flows like the tides. It’s fun!