I got an email this morning that let me know that Issue 15 of The Black Gate was released several weeks ago. I've been terrible at keeping up on this sort of thing what with everything else going on. But my story, The River People, is in this issue, which is devoted to the theme of women warriors. My story definitely fits in there.
To give a little background, The Black Gate is a fantasy magazine, and one of the big ones. I know a lot of people who've tried and failed to get in; fantasy is a hot field at the moment (and has been for a while). A lot of people want to break into sword and sorcery or adventure fantasy.
Me, I'm not desperate to become a fantasist, but I do write the odd fantasy short story now and then (play on words intended). I wrote The River People in a day, submitted to The Black Gate because they're one of the best, and then promptly forgot about it. The stack of submissions is for this magazine so enormous that it took a year before I got an email from John O'Niell, the editor, saying he liked the story but wanted some rewrites. I was shocked, and dug the old thing up to see if I could salvage it. A request for a rewrite is an opportunity, not a guaranteed sale. Often the author and editor fail to have the necessary meeting of the minds that results in a sale. I got lucky and John and I did. I was actually the first person I knew to crack this market.
What's even more amazing, is that I've cracked it twice. Another story of mine, Disciple, is in the pipeline, waiting for its issue. I've been bad about submitting more to John because, like I said, I really don't write much fantasy. I should see if I can muster some more...
Oh, yay! Congratulations! I like how you indicated that a sale of a story isn't just because the story is good, but because there's a meeting of minds between author and editor. I'll have to remember that. But sounds like you've met a kindred mind there, and maybe you should write more fantasy! :-)
ReplyDeleteI *so* envy authors who can write to order. John's been great - though I've never really had a negative experience with any of the short story markets I've sold to. Lots of good people out there working to get your fiction into print.
ReplyDelete