Mary Soon Lee's Mailbox Blues for 1998

This page contains Mary Soon Lee's 1998 mailbox mutterings. For more recent news see the latest Mailbox Blues.

26 December 98: Czech publication :-)

Petr Sladek very kindly sent me a copy of the 5/1998 issue of the Czech edition of F&SF, containing the translation of my story "Universal Grammar." It's always strange to see my stories in another language. Also today, a rejection from F&SF.... I hope everyone had a great time over the holidays.

23 December 98: Asimov's rejections

Two rejections from Asimov's, one after 68 days and the other after 30 days. Methinks they are going through their slush pile before the New Year.

21 December 98: Altair acceptance :-)

Happiness! Today I received an acceptance of my solicited rewrite from Altair. In further good news, Robert Stephenson's son Joshua was born today! (Robert is the editor of Altair.)

16 December 98: Double rejection

Two rejections today, one from the Avon anthology and one from Realms of Fantasy.

15 December 98: Altair rewrite request

A very prompt and friendly rewrite request from Altair.

14 December 98: Dark Regions copies :-)

Today I received my contributor's copies of Dark Regions #10, containing my story "To Have and to Hold." This was one of my oldest unpublished stories, accepted back in 1995, written in 1992, and I am happy to see it finally in print :-)

12 December 98: Analog rejection

A 33-day rejection from Analog.

10 December 98: Czech translation :-)

Today I learned that my story "Universal Grammar" (F&SF, April 1997) was published in the 5/1998 issue of the Czech edition of F&SF under the title "Univerzalni gramatika." I would love to get a copy of the issue.

7 December 98: Double payment :-)

A very good mail day: I received two checks, one from Amazing Stories for the story they accepted in November, and one from Dark Regions for a story they accepted in 1995.

5 December 98: Cemetery Sonata rejection

A very encouraging rejection from Cemetery Sonata.

4 December 98: Redbook rejection

And a 46-day rejection from Redbook.

2 December 98: Alfred Hitchcock rejection

A 41-day rejection from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

27 November 98: Amazing Stories contract

Today I received back my signed copy of the Amazing Stories contract, together with a friendly letter saying that payment should arrive by mid-December.

23 November 98: Tales of the Unanticipated rejection

A 52-day rejection from Tales of the Unanticipated.

21 November 98: XOddity acceptance :-)

A 207-day acceptance from XOddity for my story "Emily, Gerald, and the Dragon," provisionally scheduled for their January 2000 issue :-)

20 November 98: Talebones rejection

Very friendly 18-day rejection from Talebones.

18 November 98: Amazing Stories contract :-)

Today the contracts arrived for my recent acceptance from Amazing Stories :-)

12 November 98: Two rejections

Alas, two rejections today, one from F&SF and one from Altair.

11 November 98: Amazing Stories acceptance :-)

Good news! Tonight I had an email message from Kim Mohan of Amazing Stories, saying he would like to buy my story "Luna Incognita." Hurray! In the last few days, I have also received three rejections -- from Asimov's Science Fiction, Amelia, and Best of the Rest.

5 November 98: Expecting :-)

In non-story-related news, I am very happy to report that I am now three and a bit months pregnant! This morning we had an ultrasound, and the baby looks well, and earlier in the week we had a favorable result from the multiple marker blood test. Fingers crossed that everything continues to go well.

2 November 98: Dragon rejection

A 115-day rejection from Dragon Magazine.

30 October 98: Pirate Writings rejection

A rejection from Pirate Writings.

28 October 98: Interzone payment

Today I received payment (and contracts) for my story "Cause and Consequence" in the October issue of Interzone :-) Also in the mail, a 177-day rejection from Best of the Rest 2.

24 October 98: Talebones rejection

A friendly rejection from Talebones.

21 October 98: Royalty check

Today I received my first ever royalty check, for my story "The Hollow Dancer," published two years ago in Sword and Sorceress 14. It's a strange -- but very pleasant feeling -- to be paid more than once for the same publication.... Also in the mail, a rejection from Glimmer Train.

18 October 98: Crank! rejection

A 16-day rejection from Crank!

17 October 98: Zoetrope rejection

A 158-day rejection from Zoetrope.

15 October 98: Two rejections

Alas, two rejections today, one from SF Age and the other from ByLine.

10 October 98: Interzone publication

Received in the mail today, my contributor's copies of Interzone #136, October 1998, containing my story "Cause and Consequence," a story with Jane Austen as one of the characters. This is my fourth story to appear in Interzone.

9 October 98: Analog rejection

A 30-day rejection from Analog.

3 October 98: Realms of Fantasy rejection

A 29-day rejection from Realms of Fantasy. Also today, I mailed out a long overdue withdrawal note to Artemis. I should have done this months and months ago, but I kept hoping they would at least answer my query letters.

1-2 October 98: And again...

Another busy couple of days at the mailbox, with rejections from Talebones (an almost-made-it-but-not-quite), Altair, and F&SF.

26-27 September 98: More rejections

Eeek! The rejections continue, with four more arriving over the weekend: one from Tenebres (a French magazine) by email, one from Altair by email, and lengthy personal rejections from Amazing Stories and Weird Tales.

25 September 98: Double rejection

Ouch! Too many rejections in too few days! Today I received two more, both from Asimov's (one after 56 days, the other after 17 days).

24 September 98: Bending the Landscape rejection

A friendly 77-day rejection from Bending the Landscape.

23 September 98: SF Age rejection

After a week of mail-silence, a 26-day rejection from SF Age.

16 September 98: F&SF rejection

A friendly 34-day rejection from F&SF.

12 September 98: Adventures of Sword & Sorcery rejection

A friendly rejection from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery.

8 September 98: Double rejection

Alas, a double rejection day, with rejections from Asimov's and Cicada.

5 September 98: Space & Time rejection

A friendly rejection from Space and Time.

4 September 98 (later): Terra Incognita acceptance

Yay! Terra Incognita accepted my short story "Rewind" :-) :-)

4 September 98: Altair rejection

After ten days of mail-silence, a friendly rejection from Altair.

24 August 98: Maelstrom rejection

A friendly and thoughtful rejection from Maelstrom.

17 August 98: Contributor's copies

A good mail-day: I received my contributor's copy of "Between the Darkness and the Fire" (the SFF Net anthology) and of Visionair #1 (the first issue of a new Dutch magazine). Coincidentally, both publications contain reprints of my story "Ebb Tide" from F&SF, May 1995, although the SFF Net anthology contains a somewhat revised version of the story.

15 August 98: Aurealis rejection

An encouraging rejection from Aurealis.

14 August 98: Maelstrom rejection

A friendly rejection from Maelstrom.

10 August 98: Glimmer Train rejection

A 10-day rejection from Glimmer Train.

9 August 98: Interzone acceptance

Happiness! Interzone accepted my story "Cause and Consequence." I am always delighted to sell to Interzone, but this story is a particular favorite of mine, and so I am especially pleased.

7 August 98: Between the Darkness and the Fire publication

Whilst wandering through the Dealers' Room at Worldcon, I found that the first SFF Net anthology, "Between the Darkness and the Fire," has been published. The anthology -- which looks beautiful -- contains a revised version of my story "Ebb Tide," first printed in the May 1995 F&SF.... I also received an e-mail rejection from the Best New Horror #9.

4 August 98: Black and White Fiction Series

Alas, the Australian market Black and White Fiction Series is folding....

31 July 98: CONduit 8 contributor's copies

Today I received (a little late, but very welcome) my contributor's copies of the CONduit 8 program book, containing my story "Monstrosity" (first published in F&SF, August 97). Also in the mail today: rejections from Adventures of Sword & Sorcery and from Slip Into Something Uncomfortable.

30 July 98: Talebones publication :-)

Returning from a week at a (non-science fiction) conference, I was reunited with my mail. Ah, the pangs of separation! Amongst the sad little pile of rejections, I found my contributor's copies of Talebones #12, containing my story "The Three Kingdoms," beautifully illustrated by Chris Whitlow.

25 July 98: Pirate Writings re-publication :-)

Ed McFadden of Pirate Writings e-mailed me to say that they would reprint the whole of my story in the next issue of Pirate Writings :-) I am very grateful to him for his quick response, and for the chance to have the story reprinted in its entirety.

22 July 98: Pirate Writings semi-publication

The good news is that this morning I received my contributor's copies of Pirate Writings #16. The bad news is that the issue only contains the first half of my story, presumably due to some printing or layout error. ARGH!

15 July 98: Interzone publication :-)

Today I received my contributor's copies of Interzone #133, July 98, containing my short story "The Day Before They Came." To keep me from being too elated, I also received a rejection from Weird Tales

13 July 98: Logo!

Many thanks to David Jackson for sending me a logo for this web-page! Less happily, I received two rejections today, one from Tenebres and one from Crank!

10 July 98: Double rejection day

Twin rejections today, one from Rosebud and another from Realms of Fantasy.

9 July 98: Mail catch-up

Returning from a most enjoyable holiday in Hatteras, North Carolina, I found two rejections waiting, one from F&SF and one from Playboy.

26 June 98: Altair rejection

A prompt and friendly rejection from Altair.

25 June 98: TransVersions acceptance

Good news! Today I received contracts from TransVersions for my story "Courtly Love" :-) The story is scheduled for TransVersions #10.

24 June 98: Interzone payment

Today the contracts and payment came for my story "The Day Before They Came," due to appear shortly in Interzone :-) :-) :-)

22 June 98: Realms of Fantasy rejection

A rejection from Realms of Fantasy.

20 June 98: ByLine rejection

A friendly and very fast rejection from ByLine.

18 June 98: Amazing Stories rejection

My first rejection from the revived Amazing Stories, with detailed and thoughtful comments.

15 June 98: Altair rejection

A quick and friendly rejection from Altair.

11 June 98: "Between the Darkness and the Fire" proofs

Today I received the page proofs for "Ebb Tide," due to be reprinted (in a revised version) by SFF Net in the anthology "Between the Darkness and the Fire." Also in the mail, a rejection from Glimmer Train.

10 June 98: Transversions publication

Today I received my contributor's copies and payment for my story "Heron," published in Transversions #8/9, a beautifully produced double issue :-) Less happily, I also received rejections from Weird Tales and The Atlantic.

6 June 98: Asimov's rejection

A 33-day personal rejection from Asimov's.

5 June 98: SF Age rejection

A 10-day rejection from Science Fiction Age, still my nominee for the fastest professional market.

4 June 98: Sturgeon finalist

Dave Truesdale emailed me to say that my story "Universal Grammar" (F&SF, April 97) is one of the twelve finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the Best Short SF. I am thrilled :-)

3 June 98: Black and White rejection

A friendly rejection from Black and White Fiction Series.

1 June 98: Mail catch-up

Returning from a very enjoyable five-day holiday in England, I found -- alas! -- rejections from F&SF, Adventures of Sword & Sorcery, and Space & Time.

26 May 98: Interzone rejection

A very friendly rejection from Interzone. And speaking of Interzone, I believe my story "The Day Before They Came" has been scheduled for the July issue :-)

22 May 98: Dragon rejection

A 3-week rejection from Dragon Magazine.

19 May 98: Two checks

Definitely a good mail day: I received payment from Talebones for my story "The Three Kingdoms," and from CONduit 8 for reprinting my story "Monstrosity" :-)

13 May 98: Realms of Fantasy rejection

Despite the fact that I received a rejection from Realms of Fantasy, this was actually a very good day, because two of my e-mail friends -- Lisa Silverthorne and Vera Nazarian -- sold stories to Sword and Sorceress XVI :-) :-) :-)

11 May 98: double rejection

Ouch! Rejections from both Zoetrope: All Story and Sword and Sorceress.

9 May 98: SFF Net payment

The SFF Net anthology contract and check arrived today :-)

5 May 98: CONduit 8 contract

Today I received the contracts for the CONduit 8 progam book reprinting of "Monstrosity" (F&SF, August 1997) :-)

4 May 98: Sword and Sorceress rejection

And another Sword and Sorceress rejection :-(

2 May 98: Sword and Sorceress rejection

An 11-day rejection from Sword and Sorceress, my second for this reading window.

1 May 98: Altair rejection

A prompt and friendly rejection from Altair.

30 April 98: Talebones contract

Today I received the contract from Talebones for the story they accepted at the start of the month :-)

29 April 98: double rejection

This has been a hectic few days for mail, and unfortunately today was not one of the better days: rejections came from Weird Tales and Science Fiction Age.

28 April 98: SFF Net acceptance

Yow! In a super-fast one-day turnaround, I sold reprint rights to "Ebb Tide" to the SFF Net anthology edited by Jeffry Dwight. ("Ebb Tide" first appeared in F&SF, May 1995.) The speed of this response is even more startling given that Jeffry Dwight made some very good suggestions for revisions, and I duly made the revisions, and he approved them, all within thirty hours of my first e-mailing him the story.

27 April 98: double rejection

Another double rejection day :-( Both rejections were very speedy, the first from Sword and Sorceress in 10 days and the second from Malestrom in a super-swift 5 days.

26 April 98: SFF Net anthology rejection

A friendly 9-day rejection from the SFF Net anthology.

25 April 98: double rejection

Alas, two rejections in one day, the first from Aurealis and the second from Asimov's.

22 April 98: CONduit 8 acceptance

Today I sold reprint rights to "Monstrosity" (F&SF, August 1997) to appear in the CONduit 8 Program Book in May 1998. Yay!

21 April 98: Altair rejection

Alas, today I learned that my latest submission to Altair has been rejected (but I'll try again: I like the magazine and its editors).

16 April 98: Paper accepted + Kenyon Review rejection

It's not science fiction or fantasy, but today I was very pleased to learn that a paper I wrote with Andrew Moore, Jeff Schenider, and Justin Boyan has been accepted for this year's Machine Learning conference. The paper has the magnificently compelling title: "Q2: memory-based active learning for optimizing noisy continuous functions." Also today, I received my first rejection from a literary market called The Kenyon Review.

13 April 98: Preliminary Nebula ballot + SF Age rejection

After a quiet couple of weeks, today I learned that my story "Monstrosity" from the August 1997 issue of F&SF has qualified for next year's preliminary Nebula ballot, and I also received an 11-day rejection from SF Age.

Later on 1 April 98: Talebones acceptance

Yay! I received an e-mail acceptance from Talebones :-) :-) :-)

1 April 98: Maelstrom rejection

Resisting the urge to try an April Fool, I shall simply report today's rejection: Maelstrom Speculative Fiction, 14 days.

31 March 98: Altair rejection

A friendly e-mail rejection from Altair after 11 days.

25 March 98: AlphaDrive rejection

A 111-day rejection from AlphaDrive, who seem to be returning all their submissions while they are reorganizing (they expect to resume reading manuscripts in September).

20 March 98: Double rejection

Swings and roundabouts: yesterday I had two reasons to be happy about the mail, today I have two reasons to be glum. Rejections came from Asimov's and Realms of Fantasy.

19 March 98: F&SF publication

Today I received contributor copies of the May 1998 F&SF, containing my story "Ex Terra, Ex Astris." This story is a sequel to "Universal Grammar" (the one recently accepted for the Year's Best anthology). Happiness :-) :-)

I also received payment from Pirate Writings for my last two stories there. Definitely a good day for my mail!

18 March 98: F&SF rejection

A prompt and friendly rejection from F&SF.

14 March 98: Playboy rejection

A 58-day rejection from Playboy. This was my first ever submission to Playboy.

13 March 98: Year's Best Science Fiction acceptance

Weirdly and wonderfully, this afternoon I received a contract asking for reprint rights to "Universal Grammar" to appear in the anthology Year's Best Science Fiction 1997, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Martin Greenberg, to be published by Hambleton-Hill Publishers. This is neither the long-running Year's Best series edited by Gardner Dozois, nor the new Year's Best series edited by David Hartwell. But I'm delighted!

Less happily, I received a rejection from Writer's Block Magazine.

12 March 98: Visionair SF payment

Today I received payment for reprint rights to "Ebb Tide" from the Dutch magazine Visionair SF.

11 March 98: F&SF rejection

A friendly 34-day rejection from F&SF.

10 March 98: Interzone acceptance

After the disappointment of the rejection from Starlight earlier today, I just had much better news. David Pringle of Interzone e-mailed me to say they would like to publish my story "The Day Before They Came." Yippee! I am delighted to sell another story to Interzone, who published two of my stories back in 1995.

10 March 98: Starlight rejection

A 14-month rejection from Starlight (e-mail reply to a query about the story's status).

7 March 98: Asimov's rejection

A friendly rejection from Asimov's after two months....

5 March 98: Double rejection

Two rejections in one day, the first from Omni, the second from F&SF.

2 March 98: Altair contributor's copy

Today I received my contributor's copy of Altair #1, containing my story "Interior Landscape." Altair is a new Australian magazine, and the first issue looks beautiful.

27 Feb 98: Transversions rejection

A friendly 46-day rejection from Transversions.

25 Feb 98: Crank! rejection

A 67-day rejection from Crank!.

19 Feb 98: Flesh and Blood payment

Happier news: I received payment from Flesh and Blood for reprint rights to my story "The Hollow Dancer."

18 Feb 98: Story rejection

A 26-day rejection from Story. I think it may be time to slow down my submissions to literary magazines, as so far I haven't had any success with those markets.

17 Feb 98: Atlantic Monthly rejection

A 40-day rejection from the Atlantic Monthly.

13 Feb 98: CONduit rejection

A friendly 55-day rejection from the CONduit 8 program book.

10 Feb 98: Visionair contract

Today I received the contract from Visionair, the Dutch magazine who will be reprinting "Ebb Tide." I'm impressed by their speed, especially given the overseas postal delay.

5 Feb 98: Triple rejection

Ack! A triple rejection day, courtesy of F&SF (prompt and friendly), Gotta Write Network (not-so-prompt but friendly), and Adventures of Sword & Sorcery (not prompt at all, but still friendly).

2 Feb 98: Visionair acceptance

Fun :-) Visionair, a Dutch magazine, accepted reprint rights to my story "Ebb Tide." This will be the third language in which the story gets printed (after English and German) :-)

31 Jan 98: Brutarian rejection

An 8-day rejection from Brutarian; I had never tried this market before, but their prompt reply will definitely encourage me to try them again.

26 Jan 98: Story to appear in May 98 F&SF

Today I was delighted to receive e-mail saying my story "Ex Terra, Ex Astris" is scheduled for the May 1998 issue of F&SF. This story is a sequel to "Universal Grammar," F&SF, April 97.... Less happily, I also received a rejection from Realms of Fantasy.

22 Jan 98: Double rejection

Alas, two rejections on the same day, one from F&SF, and the other from Glimmer Train.

17 Jan 98: "Ebb Tide" in German :-)

Today I received a copy of the German anthology "Die Halle der neuen Gesichter," containing my story "Ebb Tide" ("Ebbe" in German). I've never seen any of my stories translated before, so this was a great day :-)

14 Jan 98: Asimov's rejection

A 37-day rejection from Asimov's Science Fiction.

10 January 98: Troll Magazine rejection

A 21-day rejection from Troll Magazine.

8 January 98: Preliminary Nebula ballot

Yippee! I am delighted to report that my short story "Universal Grammar" is on this year's preliminary Nebula ballot. "Universal Grammar" was published in F&SF in April 1997.

6 January 98: Pirate Writings contributor's copy

Toady I received my contributor's copy of Pirate Writings #15, containing my short-short story "Roadside Stop" :-)

5 January 98: Mail catch-up

Returning from holiday, I found half-a-dozen rejections (alas!), and my contributor's copy of Odyssey #1.

Other Mailbox Blues

The most recent Mailbox Blues
1995 Mailbox Blues
1996 Mailbox Blues
1997 Mailbox Blues
1999 Mailbox Blues
2000 Mailbox Blues
2001-2002 Mailbox Blues
2003-2004 Mailbox Blues