Having tried over the last few years to submit a story a day, and having both missed and overshot that target, 2023 is the year I managed the magic 365 submissions. And, yes, there were quite a few ill-thought out scattergun pitches to keep my average up, although I'm grateful for Augur's flexibility over multiple submission in order to land smack bang on target like a cartoon man in a chicken suit.
So, 365 stories went out, and 322 responses came back, 280 straight no's and 27 with something to say although ultimately adding up to 'no' - but 15 acceptances. At year end, 71 irons remain in the fire, though only two are formally held for further consideration and all but one date from the second half of the year, which suggests not many seeds may sprout in 2024.
But these are the ones that did in 2023:
In January, my maternal horror Wrapped was taken for the Ghost-inspired anthology Tales from the Crypt, which came out in July from October Nights Press.
February saw two acceptances. The first was for the Air and Nothingness Press' delicately beautiful Gargantua anthology, tales of precisely 1000 words on mega-engineering in space, Shellworlds, Alderson Disks, Dyson Spheres, and the like. My story, Terminal, which opens the collection, is essentially about an insect-o-cutor. No, I'm never good at sticking to instructions, am I? It was published in May.
The second, a weird fiction riff on whether being lucky can ever be an innate talent, was submitted for the The Alchemy Press Book of the Unknown which has subsequently morphed into an anthology called Shadowplays to be released by PS Publishing later this year.
Nothing in March, but three acceptances came in April. Firstly, the Canadian magazine of the fantastic On Spec took my weird fiction grail quest satire, Knights of the Spherical Table. They've been sending me copies of their quarterly publication ever since - I hope the free subscription lasts until it's published sometime this year.
Then, Eric Fomley, big cheese of Shacklebound and one of my semi-regular customers, took my flash The Interrogation of Corporal Ng for his second Dread Space anthology. Being fleet of foot, it came out in May.
At the end of April, Sunrunner, from Third Flatiron's 2022 collection After the Gold Rush, was selected as my fourth appearance in NewCon's Best of British Science Fiction. I don't know how widely read these are, or whether their held in high esteem by the industry, but I certainly feel a small glow of modestly British pride at having appeared in four of them over just seven years. It may even mean I'm doing something right. (I also had immense fun taking part in the online launch, which you can relive on YouTube).
In May, I had two sales in one day. Well, I say sales: Shacklebound took another story, Lacrymeter, for their Book of Drabbles, with just a free ebook as reward.
Wyldblood then took I Was Just Doing What You Asked for their Wyldflash line, which appeared free and online in June.
Then it was another two sales on the same day in August, but less coincidental this time as they were both reprints being taken for JayHenge anthologies. 2019's How Did They Get You? will appear in AI, Robot; and 2015's Farndale's Revelation will see the light of day again in The Kafka Protocol.
Something slightly different in September when the Delta Literary Arts Society, just south-east of Vancouver, took my flash The Ultimate Vegan Curry to perform. On stage. In front of paying punters. You can see how it went here.
Early October saw Androids and Dragons accept After Abercrombie, which has already been and gone from Page and Spine, published as pretty much their last hurrah in 2022. I haven't seen a contract for it as yet, so one for me to chase. But, as I say, it meets my very low bar for a sale.
An odd way to bookend the year, don't you think?
2084. The world remains at war.
In the Eurasian desert, twenty-year old Adnan emerges from a coma with memories of a strictly ordered city of steel and glass, and a woman he loved.
The city is the Dome, and the woman... is Adnan's secret to keep.
Adnan learns what the Dome is, and what his role really was within it. He learns why everybody fears the Sickness more than the troopers. And he learns why he is the only one who can stop the war.
Persuaded to re-enter the Dome to implant a virus that will bring the war machine to its knees, the resistance think that Adnan is returning to free the many - but really he wants to free the one.
24 0s & a 2
Twenty-four slipstream stories. Frequently absurd, often minimifidian, occasionally heroic.
