#60 – Wow! F&SF Just Keeps Them Coming

01.21.2009

Wow.

Wow!

I am constantly amazed by how quickly the rejections come from Fantasy & Science Fiction. I’ve had six rejections from them and they’re averaging just five days per. Adding to that, rejection number seven just came in with an amazing four days response time.

Four days!

Last year, my average rejection took almost forty-four days. And, of course, it would have been higher had F&SF not been there to keep the score a little lower.

So this is rejection number sixty for this little project of mine. But only the second for The Legend Of Varad Ranjani, or, Those Short Sighted, Close Minded Bastards On Earth–without a doubt my longest and perhaps my favorite all of my story titles thus thought of. Oh Varad, you have so many more rejections to go before you can rest.

Take for instance Drug Enforcement: It has ten rejections spanning two years and a handful more to go before I finally give up on it. Or Ayla Athena with her eight. Sure, there a fewer markets left on her plate but she’s not down for the count just yet.

So Varad Ranjani still has a ways to go before he’s retired. Mostly because I’m a persistent bastard who won’t give up until everyone willing to pay has had a chance to say no. Or tell me to fuck off. Or… ‘No and fuck off.’ Frankly, I’m open to either. Because beyond being a persistent bastard, I’m also flexible.

In case you’ve forgotten what a F&SF form rejection looks like, here it is for your reading pleasure:

Thank you for submitting “The Legend Of Varad Ranjani,” but I’m going to pass on it. This tale didn’t grab my interest, I’m afraid. Good luck to you with this one, and thanks again for sending it our way.

But back to the original point. I find it astonishing that they’re able to turn around responses so quickly. They’re one of the major genre magazines and, thusly, must get something like three hundred or so submissions a month. That’s more of less ten stories a day they have to read and respond to.

Shit. I have a hard time reading ten pages a day of whatever book I’m reading. So ten whole stories… assuming they’re reading past the first page…

God, I hope so.

In other news, I’m working on a new story, titled for the moment Credit Check. It’s a little slow going right now but you never know.

So… my first rejection for the year is in. I still have three out and at least a couple that I’m going to email in the next day or so. So the year is off to a good start. And you know what? Maybe one of them might surprise me and accept a freak’n story for once.

How weird would that be?