Mary Soon Lee's 1995 Mailbox Blues

This page contains Mary Soon Lee's 1995 mailbox mutterings. For more recent news see the latest Mailbox Blues.

21 December 95: AAAAAARRGGHH!!!

I've had no mail in a week, and I am about to be parted from my mailbox for over two weeks. Much as I am looking forward to spending time with friends and family in England, I wish my mail could come with me.

14 December 95: Tales of the Unanticipated rejection

A 69-day rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated, saying that my story made the final 31 out of 255 submissions received this reading period.

7 December 95: Double rejection

Alas, two rejections in one day, one from Pirate Writings and one from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. The latter was that dreaded beast, the "I really liked this, but it seemed like the start of a novel" rejection. Especially as I agree with the comment in this case, but the thought of all the effort needed to write a novel is horrendous!

5 December 95: Interzone payment

Today I received payment for "The Tinkerbell Theory" in the December 95 Interzone :-) It's been over two weeks since my last rejection, and I anticipate bad news any day now....

30 November 95: Intermix publication

Today I received payment and a printed copy of the electronic magazine Intermix, containing a reprint of my story "Marna-Li," first published in Random Realities.

28 November 95: Interzone publication

Happiness. Today I received the December 95 Interzone, containing my story "The Tinkerbell Theory." This is the second time I've been published in Interzone, and I am very pleased :-)

20 November 95: Writers of the Future

In today's mail, I found a "you got nowhere" reply from my latest entry to the Writers of the Future contest. In principle this contest always sounds like a good idea -- no entry fee, significant prize money, publication in a well-distributed anthology. In practice I always end up being rejected :-(

21-22 November 95: Two rejections

Two short personal rejections, one from Writer's Block Magazine after 77 days, and one from the Ellen Datlow/Terri Windling fairy tale anthology after just 9 days.

20 November 95: Journeyman responds

In May 94 I submitted a short story to a small press magazine called Journeyman, and received an encouraging rejection in just 15 days. In June 94 I sent them a second story, and waited for a reply. And waited. And waited. After two query letters and two withdrawal notes, today, 17 months after I submitted the story, I received an acknowledgement of its withdrawal. The editor had scrawled a two line note saying they had gone bankrupt. My commiserations to the editor, but other small press magazines that have folded have done a much better job of informing the authors.

18 November 95: Dream Forge payment

In the mail today, a twenty dollar check for "Afternoon Story," which was reprinted in the October issue of Dream Forge, an electronic magazine. This is more than I was paid for the story's first publication. (Alas, writing short stories is a terrible way to try to get rich.)

17 November 95: Glimmer Train rejection

Form rejection from Glimmer Train.

15 November 95: Pirate Writings acceptance

This has been a Pirate Writings month for me: first they published and paid for a story of mine, and today they accepted another story. Happiness.

9 November 95: Honorable Mention

In September I submitted two stories to Rose Secrest's Writing Contest. Today I heard that "Ebb Tide" got an honorable mention, for which I received a ten dollar check :-)

8 November 95: Pirate Writings payment

Today I received the check for the story of mine that Pirate Writings just published. That pacified my mail-needs for the day, but I am getting agitated about the lack of story responses. In the past two and a bit weeks I have had only one rejection, despite having over twenty stories out. Another couple of weeks of this and I shall be camping out by the blue box on the street where the mail gets stored before the postman delivers it (what is that box called?)

3 November 95: Pirate Writings publication

Today I received my contributor's copy of Pirate Writings #8, containing my story "The Dragonfly." I was particularly pleased with Darren Cerone's illustrations for the story.... I also had some more depressing mail: a 102-day rejection from On Spec.

28 October 95: Tales of the Unanticipated response

After 21 days I received my second Tales of the Unanticipated rejection of this reading window; this magazine opens to submissions for just one month in every eight, but allows authors to send in up to three submissions at a time.

21 October 95: A long-awaited response

Back in June 94 I submitted a story to Galaxy. Now, sixteen months and three withdrawal notes later, I finally have the story back.

17 October 95: Lynx Eye rejection

An encouraging 95 day-rejection from Lynx Eye.

15 October 95: Home to two rejections

Returning from a few days out of town for a friend's wedding, I discovered two speedy rejections, both with short handwritten notes, one from Tales of the Unanticipated and one from SF Age.

6 October 95: F&SF rejection

A 64-day personal rejection from F&SF; I'm a little more despondent than usual about this rejection as it was for one of my favorite stories.

5 October 95: Radius replies

After repeated attempts to contact Ewan Grantham of Radius, today he sent me friendly e-mail acknowledging the withdrawal of the story I first sent him a full year ago. Getting this story free for submission again was almost as good as getting an acceptance.

3 October 95: Mail deluge

I returned from a few days away to find a small mail flood. First the good news: an e-mail acceptance from Dream Forge, plus payment for a story published earlier this summer in the new British magazine Beyond, plus contracts for upcoming stories in Interzone and Distant Journeys (I already knew these two had been accepted).... And the bad news: rejections from Absolute Magnitude and F&SF (the latter would consider a significantly rewritten version of the story).

28 September 95: Two speedy rejections

In today's mail: personal rejection from SF Age after six days; I don't know of any other editor who can match Scott Edelman's consistently fast response times. But yesterday's rejection (Crank!, thirteen days) came from one of the second-place contenders in the speedy editor stakes.

24 September 95: Interzone acceptance

Mailwise this has been a splendid weekend. After yesterday's check from F&SF, this morning I received email from Interzone to say they are accepting a second story from me :-) :-) :-) See the 5 August 95 entry for news of my first Interzone publication.

23 September 95: F&SF payment, Aberrations rejection

Today I received a very encouraging personal rejection from Aberrations, and a contract plus $320 check from F&SF for the story they accepted earlier this month :-) :-) :-)

16 September 95: Omni rejection

Personal rejection from Omni in nineteen days.

14 September 95: The Leading Edge rejection

After 205 days, I received a rejection from The Leading Edge, including two brief critiques of my story. The Leading Edge is a small press magazine with slow response times, partly because it sends each submission to two or three people who each provide some feedback.

12 September 95: Mail-lessness

It's been a full week since I last had any story-related mail. Today I was so over-eager that I collected the post before it had all landed on the doormat. But despite gathering a sheaf of junk-mail and an issue of Spaceflight, there were no story responses.

I have either sixteen or nineteen stories out at the moment, depending on how you count pieces in the process of being withdrawn from consideration: in the past few days I have sent withdrawal notices on three stories that have each been out over two hundred days. Filled with paranoia that an acceptance letter is heading toward me at the same time that my withdrawal note is heading toward the editor, I suppose I shall allow at least a couple of weeks before submitting the stories again. In each case I had sent an earlier query letter, but received no response.

5 September 95: Tomorrow rejection

An eight-day rejection from Tomorrow, but it hasn't managed to deflate my bubble of happiness from the weekend :-)

2 September 95: F&SF Acceptance

If anyone has been reading these mailbox mutterings since June, they might remember that Kristine Kathryn Rusch of F&SF (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) requested a rewrite of one of my stories. Today I got an acceptance letter for the revised story :-) I am very, very happy :-)

30 August 95: Century rejection

Century promptly responded to my email query to say they are rejecting the story I submitted there some 230 days ago. Also Edge Detector returned my snail-mail query to say they would like to continue holding my story for the moment.

29 August 95: MZB's Rejection

A very speedy eight-day rejection from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. She enclosed a copy of their latest guidelines, and the upper limit on story lengths has been lowered significantly from 7500 to 5500 words.

26 August 95: Worlds of Fantasy & Horror

Another day, another rejection, this time a personal letter from Worlds of Fantasy & Horror in a speedy eleven days.

25 August 95: Analog rejection

A second-tier rejection from Analog after 25 days.

22 August 95: Intermix acceptance

An email acceptance of reprint rights to "Marna-Li" from Intermix, an electronic magazine; "Marna-Li" was first published in Random Realities #3, June 1993.

19 August 95: Writers of the Future rejection

After a year of abstaining from this contest, I submitted a story in June. Result: one more rejection to add to my files. Sigh.

17 August 95: $25

Today I received $25 from Dream Forge, slightly belated but welcome payment for a story they published back in April. This is my one and only sale to an electronic market. The editors were very friendly and encouraging, but it still seems a little odd not to have a physical copy of the published story that I can clutch in my grubby fingers.

15 August 95: Post-holiday rejections

Returning from a thoroughly enjoyable holiday on the Outer Banks, North Carolina, I found two rejections: one from Starlight after about 70 days, and a nice letter from Pulphouse after about 120 days.

5 August 95: Interzone publication

Yay! I received my contributor's copies of the August 95 issue of Interzone, a British magazine, together with a check for 120 pounds. The issue contains my story "Assembly Line," as well as several other stories -- including a very good tale by Geoffrey Landis. See the 3 June 95 entry for the story of my first ever submission to Interzone.

3 August 95: Worlds of Fantasy & Horror rejection

An encouraging rejection letter from Worlds of Fantasy & Horror after 27 days, with a very kind P.S. added to say that they loved my story "Ebb Tide" (published in the May 95 F&SF).

31 July 95: The Blind Spot publication

Today I received a $10 check and six contributor's copies of a small magazine called The Blind Spot, containing my story "Unity." I believe the issue was published in April, so this was a little overdue, but no less welcome.

28 July 95: Asimov's rejection

A second-tier rejection from Asimov's after 71 days.... Some of the bigger magazines have tiered rejections. Most of the slush is sent back with an anonymous form rejection. But if your stories improve, you eventually earn a much more encouraging form letter (in Asimov's case they type your name at the top as well). I appreciate every such "Dear Mary" rejection from Asimov's, and yearn for the day when I will receive a truly personal rejection.

22 July 95: Fan mail :-)

I've received a few email messages from people who've liked my stories, and they were very much appreciated, and today for the first time I received an old-fashioned snail-mail letter with some very kind comments on my stories. Were it not for the sad fact that I also received a rejection letter (Glimmer Train, three weeks) I would be hideously smug.

13 July 95: Midnight Journeys

Today I received a contributor's copy of "Midnight Journeys" containing my story "Shelter," my one and only foray into the nuclear holocaust subgenre. This has been my most fruitful two months in terms of publication, with four of my stories appearing. Happiness.

11 July 95: Darkside rejection

Friendly rejection from Darkside after just twelve days.

8 July 95: And Canada makes three

Today I received contributor's copies of my story "Memory's Child" in the Canadian magazine "On Spec," and so now I have been published in British, Canadian, and US markets. I guess it's time to start submitting to Australia.

Also in the mail, a 64 day rejection from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine.

5 July 95: Sirius Visions

Friendly and encouraging rejection from Sirius Visions after 83 days.

29 June 95: F&SF rewrite request

Today I received a rewrite request from Kristine Kathryn Rusch of F&SF for one of my favorite stories. STRESS! I'd very much like to sell this story to F&SF, and so I have spent many hours poring over the manuscript, trying to nudge it in the recommended direction. I know I prefer the new draft, but will Kristine Kathryn Rusch?

Also today, a 6 day rejection from SF Age (encouraging handwritten note).

28 June 95: Writer's Block Magazine rejection

After eleven rejection-free days, I had my first rejection from Writer's Block Magazine. Sniff. But since they pay respectably (5 Canadian cents per word) and they replied promptly, I certainly intend to try them again.

26 June 95: Ten dollars

Only three weeks after the acceptance letter, today I received a ten dollar check from Plot Magazine. This is my smallest payment check to date, but receiving it within a month of the acceptance is an agreeable change from the usual small press policy of paying on publication.

16 June 95: Lynx Eye rejection

After a long postal silence, today I had a rejection letter from a small magazine called Lynx Eye.

11 June 95: Slow markets

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all went by without any story responses coming in the mail. I have sixteen stories out, of which four have been out for over two hundred days:

ARGH! I've always hated waiting a long time for story responses, but I never thought they could slow down to over a year. Doubtless I'll feel more kindly about these magazines if they ultimately accept my stories. Indeed I am much less impatient with Galaxy than with Journeyman, since Galaxy bought an earlier story of mine, and even paid on acceptance.

5 June 95: Plot Magazine acceptance

One of my older stories, a veteran of some fourteen rejections plus one acceptance by a magazine that then promptly folded, was accepted today by Plot Magazine, a new small press magazine that pays a flat ten dollars per story. Not exactly enough to pay the rent, but I am pleased.

3 June 95: Yes! Interzone acceptance

On my fourth attempt, and after a wait of 123 days, I sold a story to Interzone, the best known of the British science fiction magazines. I am disproportionately happy; if the truth be known, this was my fifth submission to Interzone.... Back when I was in high school in London I sent them a single-spaced manuscript, with narrow margins on small paper. They were kind enough to merely send a polite form rejection, rather than any sarcastic remarks. It was over a decade before I made any other fiction submissions.

Also in the mail today, contributor's copies of Random Realities #7, containing my story "Dry Water." This didn't officially count as a sale, since it was only for contributor's copies. But Random Realities previously bought - and published - two of my stories at the grand rate of 1/2 cent per word, and the editor, Jeff Dennis, has been singularly encouraging.

A happy mail-day :-)

31 May 95: Contributor's copy, "Beyond #2"

Today I received a contributor's copy of Beyond #2. This was a happy event: my first publication in a British magazine. As an added bonus, the issue also contains stories by two authors I greatly admire, John Brunner and Brian Stableford.

25-26 May 95: Double rejection

Returning from a brief trip to Washington D.C. and Delaware (where I saw wild dolphins for the first time), I found two rejections: one from F&SF after 108 days, and one from Worlds of Fantasy & Horror after 92 days; both were short personal notes.

22 May 95: Space & Time acceptance

In today's mail, one acceptance letter from Tom Piccirilli of Space & Time. Yay! Space & Time is a small press magazine that was established in 1966.

18 May 95: Form rejection

Form rejection from Starlight after 146 days. I'm glad they finally replied--now I have a mere nine stories that have been out for over 100 days.

17 May 95: Grumble, grumble, grumble

As of today I have ten stories that have been out for 100+ days, at markets ranging from Galaxy at an incredible eleven months, to F&SF at 100 days. In the past five weeks I have had only one new story response, despite having twenty-one stories out. Any day now there will be a loud thud, and my doormat will sink into the floor under the weight of a dozen large envelopes stuffed with rejected stories.

8 May 95: After long silence

After almost four weeks without any story responses, I finally got a rejection today. My story reached the final ten before being rejected by Tales of the Unanticipated; the editor said that he would like to consider a rewrite of the story for the next issue.

4 May 95: Canadian money

No mail yesterday, and no story responses today. But I did get a check for $108 Canadian dollars from On Spec for "Memory's Child." After a remarkably baroque ceremony at the bank, they deposited seventy-seven US dollars into my account.

2 May 95: Galley proofs

Today I received a copy of the galleys for "Memory's Child," due to appear in On Spec later this year. Apart from one accidental merging of two paragraphs, the galleys look good. But still no reply on any of the twenty stories that I have out at the moment. Mutter, mutter....

1 May 95: Minor good news

Still no responses on the twenty stories that are out. But I did receive a check for $32 from Midnight Journeys for a story that was accepted a while back.

30 April 95: Where did all the mail go?

I have twenty stories out at various markets, but I haven't had any responses since April 12th. This is my longest period without responses in ages. And I hate it: I have reached the point at which even a rejection would be welcome.

The worst offender: Journeyman....

I have had a story at Journeyman since June 1994. In December 1994 I sent them a query letter, but there was no reply. In March 95, I sent a second query letter, stating that I would be withdrawing the story if I hadn't heard back by May 1st. Surprise, surprise: they haven't replied. Now I have to decide whether to submit the story elsewhere.

Other slow markets....

I have had stories at each of the following since sometime in 1994: Galaxy, Radius, Genre Sampler, Starlight. The only one I've queried so far is Radius, and to give Ewan Grantham credit he politely answered my query--but he still hasn't made up his mind about the story.

The fastest markets

To switch to a positive note, the following markets have performed in an exemplary fashion.

The above list only includes markets with at least four responses in the Pittsburgh Worldwrights database, and a maximum response time of forty days or less.

Other Mailbox Blues

The most recent Mailbox Blues
1996 Mailbox Blues
1997 Mailbox Blues
1998 Mailbox Blues
1999 Mailbox Blues
2000 Mailbox Blues
2001-2002 Mailbox Blues
2003-2004 Mailbox Blues