Yr. Obt. Svt. once swore a most solemn and fearful oath that he would see published every story he ever wrote, even if he had to rewrite it with different characters and a different plot. He is now one step closer to that goal, given that one previously unpublished story has now at last seen print. This story was considered by and passed on by several SF magazines, but in no case on the quality of the writing. Perceptive readers will see why ANALOG chose not to use it; and why Gardner Dozois declared it a perfect story for Twilight Zone magazine. This latter would have been more heartening had Twilight Zone been still in publication.
The story is entitled "The Sisters of the Sacred Heart" and has now appeared in the magazine Dappled Things. This is a non-SF venue. It exists in print version (where you get the whole thing) and the web (where you get a taste).
www.dappledthings.org/easter10/fiction03.p
There is now only one remaining unpublished story. (I do not count stories written in my youth - although one of these was an early version of The January Dancer - and I do not count chapters of novels that were judged insufficiently stand-alone.) This remaining story may be harder to place since it sucks. But at some point I may get a brainstorm on how to repackage it.
Excellent!
ReplyDeleteHey--you and I have now been published in the same magazine!
:)