When I wrote up the submission guidelines for this anthology, I specifically forbade reprints.
I didn’t want any this time. This was a tough decision to make. If it’s been printed before, it’s frequently a really good story and might add something really nice to my anthology. However, I’ve found it a little uncomfortable to read reviews where the reviewer points out that they’ve read the stories before.
Writers who are new to the craft sometimes don’t understand plot as much as one would like. That is the only way to explain the prevalence of the plot which is not: “they meet, they fuck, the end.”
Real plots have two things that the example doesn’t have: complications and a resolution.
As many of you know, I’m reading for a new anthology. A few of the manuscripts for the anth were solicited; I talked to a couple of authors I know, and they sent me some manuscripts, and I accepted them. The slush pile used to be where editors stacked all the unsolicited manuscripts. Now the slush pile is notional, even virtual, but it is still a place that combines horror and wonder in equal measures.
As I said, I can’t read the submissions yet, but I did get them logged.
The submissions period for “Up to Grabs 2″ is about to close.
I have a huge deadline for June 15.
I don’t know if I’ll have time to write The King-Sized Bed.
So many rejections, so little time…
Dear Sir,
You appear to have sent me this story by mistake. I am only reading for one anthology right now, and your story does not resemble the call for submissions in any way.
I have an anthology where the reading period starts April 1. I set it that far out (originally) to maintain some sanity during a busy period in my life.
I don’t actually care much what length people send me, so I put in a standard length range and tell people to query me for longer or shorter. Mostly, I want to avoid reading 10,000 word submissions with not enough sex in them.
Because this is why you read my blog, right?
One of the toughest aspects of slushing is, for me, the requirement always to say something nice about a submission, no matter how awful it is. I have a problem with this.
Unfortunately, the story that landed in today’s slush pile will not be the one that answers that question. It was a poorly-written, poorly-proofread collection of run-on sentences pertaining to two men who had lost their previous partners in the Zombie Wars deciding that life was worth living after all and having sex. It is as if this author had never written science fiction before, and decided to give it a shot by writing 2500 words of uninspiring m/m sex and mentioning a sci-fi-ish topic that’s gotten a lot of attention recently.
Anyway. Ravenous Romance is reportedly polling its readers about their feelings towards zombie romance, so who knows? Zombie porn could be coming to an ebook distributor near you.
Just not this story.
I don’t like writing rejection letters.
In a perfect world, I wouldn’t need to reject anything. Ebooks don’t have the space limitations of print books. If I got so many stories that I couldn’t possibly fit them in one book, I’d put out two anthologies.
Kneel to Me
Mate: And More Stories from the Erotic Edge of SF/Fantasy
Up for Grabs
Wired Hard 4
Wishbone