Over at "It's Always Saturday In Suburbia", we have part 3 of The Muse Is Thy Master. Not sure where I'm going with this story, but at least it's keeping me occupied and keeping me out of trouble while I'm writing it.
Not sure if I'd mentioned this last week, but I posted another 4 star review, this time for Gary Peterson's "The Millpond Murder Case". Feel free to check it out and possibly purchase a copy today. You won't be disappointed.
I posted this previously on Facebook over the weekend, and since I don't cross paths with most of you over there (yet), I thought I would post it over here.
In early September, I submitted a quirky horror story to The Cynic Magazine, called "A Day At The Office" for a special Halloween edition that they were putting together. This past Saturday (9/29), I got this very interesting rejection from the editor.
I just got through reading "A Day at the Office" and I thought it was pretty original. In fact, I enjoyed it. However, I don't think it's a good fit for our magazine. Give it a few years, and I think the public may just be ready for this one.Now how interesting is that? I've gotten flat out rejection letters and I've even gotten a rejection that invited me to resubmit once I had fixed a few issues with the rejected story, but I've never gotten one where the editor liked it, thought it was very original, but rejected because it wasn't a good fit for their magazine.
I've solicited a few suggestions/opinions on Facebook about this, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts/ideas/opinions about this and what direction I should go in with this.
Sounds to me like it was a great story and might be suited to a different magazine. Wonder what the public isn't ready for yet in your telling of the tale?
ReplyDeleteG.A.: I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteThe story itself is just a slight twist on a "Night Gallery" type of episode.
The humor is a bit black, ala "Zombieland", so I don't really know for sure.
I'm with GA on this one. I still think he was saying you were ahead of your time. (So was Dr. Seuss...he was rejected by 39 publishers before getting a book published.) Can I read it?
ReplyDeleteThat's the story about a guy who's eating a co-worker's finger at the end, right?
ReplyDeleteWell, it might give office workers ideas they don't have yet, I think!
Maybe the no-fit issue has to do with the cannibalistic R-rating or they don't wanna scare folks that much!
"Give it a few years" ??? What does that mean - do they thing their readership will change?
ReplyDeleteM: Unfortunately, being ahead of one's time doesn't necessarily get you published...unless you do it yourself. Sure, I'll be happy to forward it to you.
ReplyDeleteSnaggle: Yes, that's the one.
Cannabalism is not necessarily a bad thing in fiction, or the movies (think "Zombieland"), if done in a good way.
Either way, this story has gained two very positive rejections, which in and of itself, is very strange for me.
Lynn: You know, I still haven't quite figured out that particular sentence. Maybe their readership is of the type where my previously published short "Red Stripe" is S.O.P. and not light cannabilism.