Mary Soon Lee's Mailbox Blues for 2000

This page contains Mary Soon Lee's 2000 mailbox mutterings. For more recent news see the latest Mailbox Blues.

9 December 2000: Dark Regions + Kinships :-) :-)

I received the contract and advance for my forthcoming fantasy collection, "Winter Shadows & Other Tales," from Dark Regions Press :-) I also sold my short story "Birthdays" to Kinships :-)

5 December 2000: TOTU :-)

Quick mail update: I sold a short-short (very short!) to Tales of the Unanticipated for issue #22, and received $50 payment for my recent poem in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette :-) I also had a poetry rejection from Asimov's.

27 November 2000: Talebones and Spectrum SF :-) :-)

Since my last mail update, I have sold a poem titled "Silicon Bird" to Talebones and received payment from Spectrum SF for my story "PauseTime" :-) I've also had one rejection (from Analog).

11 November 2000: Dark Regions and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette :-) :-)

Tomorrow will be the one-month anniversary of our move and house-purchase, so the time has come to bring this page up to date. Since I last posted a detailed report, Dark Regions have confirmed that they would indeed like to publish a collection of my fantasy stories, and have selected the stories to include :-) I sold my poem "Every Other Day of the Year" to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and it was published in today's edition -- this is my first poem to see print and my first appearance in a newspaper :-) I also received payment from Electric Wine for my forthcoming story there.... On the rejection front, I had friendly rejections from DNA, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, and Tales of the Unanticipated, and I heard back from Redbook who are no longer accepting unsolicited fiction, and also heard back from the Avon anthology, which will not be published after all.

27 October 2000: Still here

... but only getting occasional access to email, etc. (We moved a couple of weeks ago, and don't yet have a good Internet connection from our house.) I will update this page properly when I get a chance...

10 October 2000: TransVersions rejection

A 299-day rejection from TransVersions....

5 October 2000: Spectrum SF acceptance :-)

An e-mail acceptance of my short story "PauseTime" from the British publication Spectrum SF :-) :-)

2 October 2000: Asimov's rejections

Two rejections from Asimov's today (one for a short story, one for poetry).

30 September 2000: Terra Incognita publication :-)

Today I received contributor's copies of Terra Incognita #5, containing my short story "Rewind," as well as work by two friends, Timons Esaias and Paul Melko :-) :-)

29 September 2000: Sci-fi.com rejection

A 53-day rejection from Sci-fi.com.

28 September 2000: TTA rejection

My first (and very friendly) rejection from The Third Alternative.

25 September 2000: On Spec payment :-)

I received payment today from On Spec for my forthcoming story, "To the Maxi-Blender 3000, Serial Number 1-498-86" :-)

23 September 2000: Age of Wonders publication :-)

I received my contributor's copy of The Age of Wonders (the third SFF Net anthology, edited by Jeffry Dwight) containing my story "Murder Absolute" :-)

22 September 2000: Analog rejection

A 45-day rejection from Analog.

20 September 2000: Dark Regions collection :-) :-) :-)

Dark Regions would like to publish a collection of my fantasy stories, probably appearing in about a year's time as a trade paperback :-) :-) :-) I am exceedingly happy about this!

7 September 2000: On Spec acceptance :-)

I am very happy to report that my story "To the Maxi-Blender 3000, Serial Number 1-498-86" sold to On Spec :-) :-) This is my third short sale to On Spec.

5 September 2000: Star*Line rejection

My first-ever rejection from Star*Line.

2 September 2000: Fictionwise #10 :-)

My story "Monstrosity" is currently #10 in the highest rated stories list at Fictionwise :-)

30 August 2000: Returning...

After two weeks in England, I returned to find two rejections (from Playboy and Talebones), and that my story "Vigil" is currently #14 in the highest-rated stories list at Fictionwise.

13 August 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

An e-mail rejection from Spectrum SF.

7 August 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

And one today from Spectrum SF.

5 August 2000: Asimov's rejections

Two rejections today from Asimov's.

3 August 2000: Space and Time payment

In today's mail: a check from Space & Time :-) plus a rejection from DNA.

31 July 2000: Two rejections

... from The Urbanite and Darkling Plain...

28 July 2000: F&SF rejection

A rejection from F&SF, but my story "Interior Landscape" is now the 12th highest rated story at Fictionwise -- at least for this minute!

23 July 2000: Fictionwise story #14

Well, it probably won't last more than a few hours, but as I type this my story "Interior Landscape" is the 14th highest-rated story at the Fictionwise site :-)

21 July 2000: Playboy rejection

After a quiet week, a rejection from Playboy, my fifth from them.

13 July 2000: Age of Wonders proofs

I received my page proofs for The Age of Wonders anthology, and there were only three tiny glitches. The anthology is due out in September :-)

12 July 2000: Visionair publication :-)

Another good mail-day: I received payment plus my contributor's copy of Visionair #4, containing the Dutch translation of my story "Universal Grammar" :-) Also in the mail, a rejection from F&SF.

11 July 2000: Magazine of Speculative Poetry acceptance :-)

Today is a good mail-day -- I received my first ever poetry acceptance from The Magazine of Speculative Poetry for a poem called "Fall Clearance." I only recently started writing speculative fiction poetry, and this was the second batch of poems I'd submitted :-) (I sent three poems each time, so two were rejected today.)

8 July 2000: Three rejections

Three more rejections in the past couple of days from Spectrum SF, Black Gate, and Pulp Audience.

6 July 2000: Talebones rejection

A 26-day rejection from Talebones....

5 July 2000: Mail catch-up

We were away in San Francisco for a week, and I expected to find several responses when I came home, but there was just one: a rejection from Glimmer Train. The form letter notes that they now receive about 30,000 submissions a year!

24 June 2000: S&S royalties :-)

Today I received royalties for my short story "The Hollow Dancer" from Sword & Sorceress XIV -- this story has now earned more from royalties than it did from the original advance.... I also received my first ever poetry rejection (from Asimov's).

14 June 2000: Double rejection

Two rejections today, one from Analog and one from Scifi.com.

9 June 2000: Talebones rejection

A friendly 118-day rejection from Talebones.

8 June 2000: F&SF rejection

A fast and friendly rejection from F&SF.

7 June 2000: Year's Best SF #5 :-)

David Hartwell's "Year's Best SF #5" is now out, containing my story "Lifework," first published in Interzone #144, June 1999 :-) :-)

5 June 2000: Adventures of S&S payment

In the mail today, a check from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery for May's sale, plus, alas, a rejection from Pulp Audience.

2 June 2000: Fictionwise - 17 sales :-) :-) :-)

This has been in the works for some time, but I can now announce that I have sold reprint rights to 17 of my stories to Fictionwise. The Fictionwise site includes stories by such writers as Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Robert Silverberg, and Damon Knight. The editor has been uniformly friendly and professional throughout, and it has been a pleasure to do business with them :-) :-) :-)

Less happily, I also received a rejection from Best New Horror.

30 May 2000: Adhoc rejection

In today's email, a rejection from Adhoc.

24 May 2000: Dark Regions payment

Today I received payment from Dark Regions for my story "Dragonslayer" in issue #14 :-)

21 May 2000: Electric Wine acceptance :-)

Electric Wine accepted reprint rights to my story "Assembly Line" (first published in Interzone) :-)

12 May 2000: F&SF rejection

And a 6-day rejection from F&SF...

11 May 2000: F&SF rejection

A 59-day rejection from F&SF.

5 May 2000: Triple rejection :-(

Ouch! Three rejections in one day:-

1) In response to a query, I received a friendly note from Invisible Cities saying that they enjoyed my story, but are not currently accepting any submissions.

2) A 6-day rejection from F&SF.

3) A 62-day rejection from DNA.

4 May 2000: Year's Best payment, Adventures of S&S acceptance :-) :-)

An excellent mail-day! I received payment and signed contracts for my story "Lifework," forthcoming in the Year's Best SF #5 (edited by David Hartwell) -- this story first appeared in Interzone. And I also received a letter and contracts from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery accepting my story "Fairest."

2 May 2000: Electric Wine publication :-)

My story "Conversation Pieces" has been reprinted by Electric Wine in their current issue (May/June 2000) :-)

1 May 2000: Pulp Eternity un-acceptance :-(

A sad letter from Steve Algieri of Pulp Eternity: he will not be publishing the cat issue after all, and so he is returning the rights to my story "Spell Night."

25 April 2000: Electric Wine payment :-)

Today I received a check from Electric Wine for my forthcoming story in their May/June issue :-)

20 April 2000: Sci-fi.com rejection

A 17-day rejection from Sci-fi.com.

19 April 2000: Dark Regions publication :-)

I received contributor copies of Dark Regions #14, containing my story "Dragonslayer" :-)

17 April 2000: Playboy rejection

A rejection from Playboy; this is only the fourth time I've submitted to this market.

7 April 2000: Space & Time acceptance :-)

My story "Insight" has been accepted for issue #93 of Space & Time :-) This will be my second story in this long-running magazine. Less happily, I had a 174-day rejection from Realities Escape, and a 36-day rejection from Analog.

4 April 2000: SFF Net payment :-)

More money :-) My check from SFF Net for my forthcoming story in "The Age of Wonders" anthology arrived today :-)

3 April 2000: Contracts, payment :-)

Today I received contracts (for earlier sales) from both Terra Incognita and Electric Wine, together with a check from Terra Incognita. I also forgot to report that I recently received the contracts from The Age of Wonders :-)

1 April 2000: Ah ha!

Just as I suspected, I challenged the Mail Gods and they responded: a 49-day rejection from Asimov's arrived today.

31 March 2000: quiet...

It's been very quiet on the mailbox front, but by posting this announcement, I am sure I am guaranteeing a busier April....

15 March 2000: On Spec contributor copies

Belated but welcome, I received my contributor copies of On Spec, Winter 1999, containing my story "No-Name in the Long Winter."

14 March 2000: Spectrum SF rejection

A friendly and speedy rejection from Spectrum SF.

3 March 2000: TOTU rejection

A 185-day rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated.

1 March 2000: Scifi.com rejection

A friendly 33-day rejection from Scifi.com.

29 February 2000: SFF Net acceptance :-)

A happy close to the leap-day: an e-mail acceptance from Jeffry Dwight; my story "Murder Absolute" will be in the third SFF Net anthology, The Age of Wonders :-) :-) This is a nice way to end nearly three weeks of mail silence.

Since my last update here, I have finished another story and two poems - and William is walking!!!

9 February 2000: Still here...

I still exist, and the mail still comes, but I have been using all my spare time to finish a story. (With William, there is much less spare time than there used to be!) I have had three rejections since my last entry, from Tales of the Unanticipated, Altair, and F&SF.... In non-writing news, William is just beginning to walk! :-)

21 January 2000: Double payment :-)

Things seem to be coming in twos at the moment, and today brought two checks for my recent sales to Sword & Sorceress :-) :-) Also in the mail, a postcard from The Fractal announcing that they have folded.

20 January 2000: Double rejection

Another two rejections today, one after 80 days from Asimov's, the other after 36 days from Weird Tales.

18 January 2000: Double rejection

Two friendly rejections today, one from Tales of the Unanticipated and one from The Age of Wonders.

10 January 2000: Double S&S acceptance :-)

Wading through the piles of mail that accumulated while I was on holiday, I discovered that my story "The Fall of the Kingdom" has been accepted for Sword & Sorceress 18 and my story "Shen's Daughter" has been accepted for Sword & Sorceress 20 - I am delighted, though Marion Zimmer Bradley's death renders these two sales bittersweet.... I also learned that my story "Ebb Tide" (F&SF, May 1995) has now been reprinted in the Spanish magazine Gigamesh #21, and I received a rejection from Asimov's.

1999 Summary

A quick summary of my story-submitting fate in 1999 (this includes the two S&S acceptances mentioned above, which I estimate arrived on 29 December 1999):- For comparison, my career statistics to date are:

Other Mailbox Blues

The most recent Mailbox Blues
1995 Mailbox Blues
1996 Mailbox Blues
1997 Mailbox Blues
1998 Mailbox Blues
1999 Mailbox Blues
2001-2002 Mailbox Blues
2003-2004 Mailbox Blues