Look What I Got This Week!

 Look what I found! 

It was on my book case in the living room and I needed a print book to take to Sydney, in case they don’t let me read on my iPad on the plane. I had totally forgotten I had it. 

I think I must have bought it from the wonderful Collected Works bookshop in the CBD, before it closed down. I’m not sure how they had it, as it was printed by a micro press in Melbourne, only 300 copies. Maybe the author brought it in to one shop likely to sell it. Anyway, here it is. I have started reading it and am enjoying. I’m guessing the author must have read all the History of Middle-Earth books, plus LOTR and The Hobbit. The first chapter is about books in the different regions of Middle-Earth. Fascinating stuff! According to the cover, Hobbits play football… I haven’t read that yet.

Something else I received was the last several ebook issues of Andromeda Spaceways, from #79 to #88. They are giving these to slush readers to say thank you for their work. I used to be a member of the co-op itself, but for the last several years I have been just reading slush, to keep me connected. Only one story a week, but I appreciate the goodies they have given me, and am looking forward to a binge read. Here is the cover of the issue I’ve just started reading. They have certainly chosen their cover artists well. 

If you like reading ebooks, ASM might be worth considering. You can buy an individual copy or subscribe, and it’s not very expensive.

I admit I rarely put a story through to the next round. I wish I could do it every week, but the truth is, we tend to receive stories that have clearly been rejected elsewhere, usually the US. With good reason… And I absolutely understand why these authors probably started with Asimov’s or Fantasy And SF, but just because ASM is a semiprozine which pays authors and artists but not the people who produce it doesn’t mean it’s an easier sell than the prozines. If you make it through the first and second rounds to the Slushpool, you still only have a small chance of selling your story. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with it if it got that fae,  just that there are only so many stories that can be fitted into an issue and every editor has different tastes. 

I remember once browsing in a bookshop and overhearing someone complaining about us because we had rejected his story. “They aren’t writers!” he declared. His friend had got as far as the slushpool, the list of stories for editors of future issues to choose from.

I turned and said, “Excuse me, but actually, we’re ALL writers. But I read as a reader, asking myself if I’d be happy to buy a magazine with that story in it.” I told his friend that if he had made it to the slushpool and not sold to us, he would certainly sell it elsewhere. And that’s true, I have seen stories I read in slush published elsewhere. Once, I was chuffed to see the author had taken the advice I gave in my comments. 

I always make comments, whether I put the story through to the next round or not. Only once have I been remotely rude. It was an item that had the politically correct tyrants executing anyone who didn’t follow the PC rules, including a twelve year old boy. I just said it wasn’t a story, it was a political tract. Usually, I will just say what didn’t work for me and why. Sometimes I’ll say, truthfully, that I missed the point. 

Anyway, now I can read a pile of stories that did make it, in bed during my visit to Sydney!