Hypnagogic State

My first rejection was fairly recent (early August) so I am adding it as the beginning of my 100 Rejections Project.

This one was very swiftly received from Clarkesworld. Form letter sent within a few days of submission. Choosing Clarkesworld for your first submission is akin to jumping into a whirlpool to learn to swim. You might succeed, but the chances aren’t in your favor.

The best speculative fiction stories I’ve read recently. Listed in no particular order. Format is Title/Author/Publication, with links to the story and the author’s personal site (when available).

1. “Father’s Kill”/Christopher Green/Beneath Ceaseless Skies

I’m usually “meh” on werewolf stories/books/movies because it is a category steeped in cliches. But this story was original and haunting. I’ve read it three times this week just to see what new impressions I could get from the additional reads.

2. “Non-Zero Probabilities”/N.K. Jemisin/Clarkesworld

The subversions of statistics and luck in this story are brilliant.

3. “Nira and I”/Shweta Narayan/Strange Horizons

Contrasts the unfortunately very real practice of honor killings with a murderous mist.

4. “If Wishes Were Horses”/Tiffani Angus-Bodie /Strange Horizons

I’m very interested in folklore and its sociological implications. This story presents a world where children’s warning stories are true.

5. “Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens”/Peter M. Ball/Apex Book Company

A Poe vibe crossed with Steampunk.

Christopher Green had the brilliant idea of aiming for 100 story rejections in a year:

When I started out, I was even more naïve than I am now.  Why, I can still remember the look on Dan’s face when I confided to him that my goal for 2007 was to get twelve stories published.  Well, he didn’t slap me, and a lesser man would have.  I now know how silly that was, on a few levels.  My thoughts at the time went something along the lines of “I’m confident, I’ve “proven” I can write a workable story in a week, there are tons of markets out there, so how hard could it be?”  Well, apparently it’s very hard, especially if you only send in one story that year.  J

So, I have chosen to set my sights on other goals.  Peter’s also well known, at least to me, for being happy with rejection (submission wise.  Okay, that sounds wrong too, but you know what I mean…)  Now, I respect the hell out of this guy.  He’s extremely generous with his time, brainy as sin, and his stories sell because they’re friggin’ awesome.  Rejections for him are really feather in the cap stuff.  Dan too.

All this made me see how dumb it was to shoot for a given number of acceptances.  After all, my job is to write and send my stories to the appropriate markets.  I can’t control whether or not they get accepted.

So, here’s the deal, and you’re welcome to join in with me if you like.  Tomorrow is the first day of March, which leaves 10 full months of 2009.  So, here’s my challenge.

In 2009, I will get rejected 100 times.

Green started his tally in March and is currently at Rejection #53.  He wants to hit #100 by the end of the year. Talented as I may be at attracting rejection, my late start date to this game makes that deadline unfeasible. My “100 Rejection” deadline will instead be September 11, 2010.

Saturation is my primary goal in this project. To amass 100 rejections, I will have to put a large number of stories  in consideration circulation. With a month being the average response time of short story markets- and many of these markets not accepting simultaneous submissions- the publication process is not a stealthy one.

I differ greatly from Green in the fact that I have yet to be published. So this blog could either document my beginnings as a published writer or my utter failure to launch.