Friday, October 19, 2018

And that’s a wrap



“...good luck placing it elsewhere.

“Kind regards,
“Bruce Bethke
“editor, Stupefying Stories

Hmm, hmm, re-read it one more time to avoid the ohnosecond*, looks okay, click Send, and...

We’re done! Okay folks, we have now responded to every short story submission sent to us in our 2018 reading period. With a few exceptions—and if you’re one of those exceptional people, you already know who you are—if you sent us a story this year, you should by now have either an acceptance or a rejection in-hand.

If you have NOT received either an acceptance or rejection from us, please send a query to submissions@rampantloonmedia.com, as it means something’s gone askew.

Now, on to contracts and copy-editing—which may take a little longer than planned, as Adobe unleashed yet another insufficiently tested “upgrade” on Adobe Sign users this week, crippling our e-contracts system and causing a mob of customers with torches and pitchforks to try to storm their office.

Well, I suppose we could always go back to paper contacts and US mail... 

Cheers,
Bruce

* ohnosecond: the period of time that elapses between the instant you click ‘Send’ and the instant you realize, “Oh no, did I really send that?”

5 comments:

Mark Keigley said...

Fie on Adobe...fie and I spitteth on itsome!

Judith said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Judith said...

At the risk of sounding like a toady, if that's how you end your rejections then good for you. Some of those I've had from others are the verbal equivalent of their holding their nose with one hand while clutching my story between the finger and thumb of the other, stretching out their arm and handing my darling, wriggling, back.

PS when's the next SS coming out?

~brb said...

That's usually how I end rejections. As a rule, I'm kindly disposed towards writers and want them to succeed. I understand that while I might not want to publish a particular story, that doesn't mean it might not be exactly the sort of story the next editor who sees it wants. Conversely, just because an author has sent me a story I find unacceptable, that doesn't mean the next story that author sends me might not be brilliant.

I do keep a few soul-crushing standard rejections in my quiver, but a writer really has to work at being offensive in order to earn one of those.

~brb said...

As for when Stupefying Stories #22 is coming out: well, that depends on how quickly certain writers sign off on their copy-edits, doesn't it?