Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Still Alive

Having barely survived Evilus (06/06/06), I can now return to having a life - exercising, studying, and especially writing. I'm on the verge of sending out The Path, my personal favorite out of the 30+ short stories I've written, for it's fifth rejection. I'm hoping to have it published in the Rejected Quarterly, a magazine that features stories that have been repeatedly rejected (at least five times), but I'm one rejection shy since Weird Tales never responded. Many of the stories I've read in TRQ deserved to be rejected and I kind of hate having to fall back on that magazine to get my best work published, but then again you gotta love the irony. Besides, it's a difficult story to place because one of the themes deals with child abuse, albeit in a non-graphic manner, and most adult fiction magazines (especially Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror) treat that topic as completely verboten. If anybody wants to read it without paying for it, send me an e-mail and I'll send you the story in MS-Word format (or another format if your heathen computer can't handle Microsoft stuff).

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

i actually hope you get it published soon.Some of the best stories and authors deal with Forbidden material so to speak.One of my fav authors is Shaun Hutson who does like to go places others avoid.Also i'd love to read your story.I enjoyed the others you wrote very much.

Monogram Queen said...

I wish you much luck in getting your story published and NOT in the rejected magazine! Keep plugging away, Grant it'll happen for you. You are too unusual not to leave your mark on this world

JohnB said...

I was going to say it was positively hellish yesterday...perhaps it is an omen that your story will finally be accepted for publishing.

I think all of your readers want to see it...maybe you could post a snippet if not the whole thing.

Grant said...

hellbunny - I hope it gets published soon too, because I'm sick of looking at it.

patti_cake - thanks. I'll try to leave my mark with my writing instead of that suicide pact I had planned.

johnb - the reason I offer to e-mail it instead of posting the story is because a lot of editors consider a story published if its somewhere on the web, even on a personal web site. Magazines that want new material usually won't touch them.

xwy said...

Maybe the 5th time's the charm? If your stories are anything like your posts, they'd certainly be entertaining.

BTW, did you go see The Omen remake yet???? The original was one of my favs...really hoping they didn't butcher it.

Mel said...

You have my email, please send it to me, I happen to like reading your stuff - looking forward to it.

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

Hey, some of THE BEST authors have said they could've wallpapered their living rooms with the rejection slips they received before they finally got published, know what I mean? It's just gotta hit the right person at the right time.

:)

Leesa said...

I am so impressed with you, grant. I mean I just write crap on a blog and dream of being published, and you actually are getting rejection letters (and getting published as well).

JohnB said...

Did not know that! In that case I'd like to take a peek.

Enemy of the Republic said...

Send it on: Sadness2joy22@aol.com

My computer is no heathen, thank you very much, but it is a piece of s@#$.

PBS said...

I'd like to read it, I like your writing. Free is good, too.

Heather said...

oh oh! - send it to me please!

(jumping up and down with an excited hand in the air)

Anonymous said...

Yo! I wanna read it!

kerrbear@metalfly.com

Anonymous said...

Take to heart the advice of Robert A. Heinlein: once you have finished the story, put it on the market and keep it on the market until it sells.

Not that I'm any good at keeping to that rule myself, mind.

What's the address of that rejected stories magazine...?

Grant said...

angie - I think it's the usual irony in that my worst work has already been published, but I can't move my best stuff.

pq - true, Stephen King said he sent out stories for two years before he got his first personalized rejection, and I was personally rejected within a year. :p

leesa - true, I am living the nightmare.

misterniceguy1960 - it's The Rejected Quarterly, Black Plankton Press, PO Box 1351, Cobb CA 95426. Sample copies are available for $6.

Weary Hag said...

Do you really have to ask if I'd like you to send me yet another sampling of your writing? (tapping foot and waiting patiently with arms folded)

I thought for a moment "The Rejected Quarterly" was
a match-up magazine for formerly rejected spouses.
Then again, I suppose every dating site/mag/organization is exactly that anyway.

kimber said...

Try The Drill Press. They published my incest-and-cannibalism story, so obviously they like high literature. :D