Every time I think I’ve accomplished a little in this industry, I see a bibliography like this. I then realize I have so much further to go.

It keeps things in perspective.

Variant Frequencies is taking another one of my tales for production. My personal thanks to the entire crew: Rick & Anne Stringer, and Matt Wallace. Feedback on “Spired” was terrific, and I’m hoping this latest effort might bring similar accolades. Some day, I’m going to find a way to thank these people back for honing my work into such a quality experience.

I won’t share which tale it is until it goes live. You’ll just have to wait and see.

In less exciting news, I’m currently editing tales two and three of the latest trifecta of stories I’m prepping for submission. This bundle has subjects ranging from pyromania to space colonization, if you’re curious.

Also, I got a rejection today from Nick Mamatas over at Clarkesworld. Once again, my ego takes a beating, but it’s needed. In my experience, when a writer thinks they have writing “figured out”, they stop growing. I endeavor to remain humble; I endeavor to listen.

So I love a rejection like this one, with its digital text bearing richly detailed feedback from a renowned pro editor. It’s bitter medicine to read as an editor takes my tale apart, of course, but its the surest long-term cure for my modest methods. Semi-pro and small press markets are great, but I’m always shooting to catch the eye of a pro publication, and I can’t do that without feedback from the same markets I’m trying to court. I don’t have the ivy-league education. Hell, I didn’t even major in English. All I have is determination, which reminds me to go over valuable feedback like this with the weight of purpose it deserves.

Well, it got bounced by Clonepod, who really enjoyed it but said it was indeed too raunchy for their intended audience. This didn’t surprise me — I warned them in the cover letter that might be the case. I appreciate their feedback, though. Always nice to hear a work induced the intended response.

I’ll shoot that podcast some more appropriate items in the future. I encourage my fellow writers to give this new market their due.

As for the tale itself, it seems this over-the-top comedy I’ve written may be too much for the fiction markets as a whole to take. I’m wondering who I’ll even send it too at this point. I need someone with a more adult audience, who has the guts to run a piece that is this far off the deep end.

Maybe you know someone?

In case you weren’t aware, take stock of these newer entries to podcasting (short fiction markets, specifically):

• Clonepod — This one is three months old, but has an editorial staff of three and has already turned out work.
• Drabblecast — I have found this podcast a very pleasant surprise, with good production values and great fiction. Even better, its desire for shorter stories makes it easy to cram a listen into your day.
• Podcastle — The upcoming sister podcast to both Pseudopod and Escape Pod.
• Well Told Tales — Not as new as the others, but a science fiction podcast well worth your attention anyway.

To my knowledge, all these came after Steve Eley’s experiment-cum-success with Escape Pod. Maybe in the future, they’ll call him the John W. Campbell of the short fiction podcast market (though I’m sure by that time, we’ll be downloading pod fiction directly to our parietal implants).