Got my first rejection from The New Yorker today for my story "Camp Zombie," which, consequently, is not about zombies at all, but rather a camp for people with sleep disorders. I’ll be sending it to The Atlantic tomorrow.

This marks my fourth rejection in one week, adding more weight to my theory that although one might send out stories at various times of the year, rejections always arrive together, like a lynch mob.

On the plus side, I got a lot of writing done this week.

Deadstock

4,564 / 10,000 (46.0%)

"Dr. Fall"

824 / 1,250 (66.0%)

The latter is a story I’m writing for the Trent University Literary Short Fiction Writing Contest. I don’t enter a lot of contests, but I think I’m going to start, as the credit looks pretty nice on the ol’ writing resume and the money doesn’t hurt, either. In this instance, the prize is paid tuition to a writing workshop rather than cash, but it’s just as good. I don’t think I’d pay to take such a course myself, but I’m more than happy to write a winning story and let them foot the bill.

It’s still disgustingly hot out here in the ‘borough, so we’ll be out at the farm enjoying the a/c for most of the weekend. Have a good one.

• Currently reading: The Black Ice, by Michael Connelly

The new story is done!

"The Rifts Between Us"

4,881 / 4,881 (100.0%)

I sent it off to Fantasy & Science Fiction, which makes it the thirteenth story I’ve sent to them. Maybe this will be the lucky one. I just received a rejection for "The Candle" yesterday (form letter) and sent that story off to Shimmer, a new market for me. I also sent "The Kid Pool" to Prairie Fire since they are one of the few college/university literary mags that accept submissions over the summer.

I realized today that I’ve been living in Peterborough for two months now, and in that time I’ve written four short stories, one novella, and received three acceptances. It seems that small town life is agreeing with me very well.

In other news, I expect to get answers regarding The Dark and the Young and "The Last of the B’s" within the next few days. The crew at ESP said all submissions to Horrors Beyond 2 would receive replies by July 31st, and that day is fast approaching.

Next up: finishing my horror-western novella Deadstock. Yeehaw!

• Currently reading: "The Loon's Cry," by Cees Baas

Getting closer to finishing the new short story.

"The Rifts Between Us"

4,749 / 5,000 (95.0%)

I also received a rejection today from The Antigonish Review. They had this to say about my story, "Twillingate":

I really like the apparition business – lord knows there are many ghosts, many kinds in Newfoundland – but the story needs more thematic development. Why is the encounter with the past important? And how does it change the characters?

Some very encouraging feedback. The story is now winging its way west to The Malahat Review.

I also got my new issue of Storyteller today, so I’m a happy boy.

• Currently reading: Nightmare in Pink, by John D. MacDonald

SFReader.com recently posted a review of Dark Wisdom #9. Here’s what they had to say about my story in particular:

"The Tattletail" by Ian Rogers was a funny piece about a boy who summons a demon for elementary school show-and-tell. This, in itself, is not strange at all, for the boy solicits advice from his father as if he were doing no more than making a greenhouse to grow bean sprouts in styrofoam cups. Yet when we learn the demon takes on the form of whatever it eats, the story gets interesting, with a strong ending rounding everything out. This is a close second to "Acceptable Losses" and only loses out because of its humor element, oddly-placed for a magazine featuring dark fiction.

Sweeet. He’s basically saying that my story was the best one in the issue, but because it didn’t fit in with the more serious-minded stories, he had to bump it down to second place. I’ll take it!

And my story aside, I couldn’t agree more with the reviewer’s comments regarding "Acceptable Losses" — it’s truly an excellent story and has made me want to seek out more of Wood’s work.

A very gratifying and encouraging review.

• Currently reading: The Deep Blue Good-By, by John D. MacDonald

I didn’t get much writing done this weekend, although I did start reading my very first Travis McGee novel, The Deep Blue Good-By. Yes, I know it’s sacrilege that I haven’t started reading them sooner, but I’ve been familiarizing myself with MacDonald’s other work, especially his short stories which are simply incredible. I guess you could say I’ve been saving them. Now it’s time to start munching them up.

So how did I spend this super hot weekend (which according to the weather forecast is going to extend into a super hot week)? Well, we went over to the farm for most of Saturday, hung around with the cats and the new kittens, took some pictures, enjoyed the a/c, and watched a bunch of Smallville episodes on DVD. And yesterday we zipped up to Eels Lakes and went swimming. We just got back and I’m happy to report that my diving skills are still fairly well intact. I know you were all concerned. I included a pic of myself post-dive, doing my sea otter impersonation.

Yeah, I’m a laff riot.

• Currently reading: The Deep Blue Good-by, by John D. MacDonald

First of all, big thanks to Jake, my American stamp connection, for hooking me up the other day.

Secondly, Poppy Z. Brite posted an interesting entry in her blog (scroll down to the July 14th entry) about the writer’s duty to the reader. I think most writers (and most readers) would agree with her, with the except of the hacks who only write for the markets anyway.

Any writer of worth produces fiction on their own terms, and consideration to the reader should only go so far as hoping they will enjoying it, not changing it to suit their wants. Dean Koontz said it, too, in some quote or another when he said the one thing a writer should never do is write for a specific market simply because it’s popular. You have to write what you want and damn the torpedoes, damn them all to hell!

• Currently reading: "The Ghost of a Model T," by Clifford D. Simak

I did a stupid thing today.

I’m pretty good when it comes to recycling my paper and plastics, but today I wasted about five hundred words on some fellow that I’ve never met and will probably never meet.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I don’t post on message boards, but I don’t think if I ever gave a reason. Here it is.

It wasn’t so much the fact that a glossary at the back of an anthology is just a really dumb idea — if only because I never heard of a book that needed one — as much as it was the way I was compelled to post a reply. It was my fault; I blame no one but myself. I stopped posting on message boards a long time ago because I felt it was taking too much time away from my writing. The forum at Elder Signs Press is the only one I even read these days, and even then it’s mostly to get the skinny on upcoming submission calls.

This is not about the people on the boards. Most of them are fine, upstanding citizens. It’s about personal discipline and the way I couldn’t stop myself from opening my gob (my virtual gob, granted). I never do this. Maybe it was because I had read this person’s post while I was sleepy, more likely it was because he was referring to anthology to which I have submitted not one but two stories, and I sure as hell don’t need a glossary of terms for people to enjoy either one. Ultimately, though, there’s no excuse.

I’m not dissing this guy or his opinion, but this provides a perfect text-book example of why I just can’t be bothered to post on message boards anymore.

This coming from the guy who blows an hour of every week watching Canada’s Next Top Model…

• Currently reading: "The Golden Horseshoe," by Dashiell Hammett

One of my writer peeps posted a very insightful journal entry recently about magazine circulation figures (something a few of us talked about in the comments section here a couple of months ago).

The numbers are not terribly surprising, but they go a long way toward proving what I said in my previous article on the subject. Despite the hype generated by certain markets which may technically qualify as "professional," there is still a world of difference between such disparate mags as, say, Asimov’s and The New Yorker.

That aside, I’d love to have a story in either one. Or both. I’m not picky.

• Currently reading: "Not After Midnight," by Daphne du Maurier