Fantasy and I don’t get along well. I’ve had some success with science fiction, particularly the dark stuff, to the point that you could almost say I’m two-timing behind science fiction’s back with horror. Horror’s been good to me, too.
But Fantasy, she’s used that “I have to wash my hair” excuse more times than I can count.
What I refer to is the uphill struggle to garner any of my fantasy pieces a place in a like-minded publication. Sure, the feedback in those rejections is sometimes great — I’ve got one tale in particular that has been given pretty solid feedback just about everywhere it’s gone — but it always seems like my fantasy pieces are just shy of making it into some genre mag’s pages. I swear I’ve heard just about everything imaginable to explain why a fantasy piece of mine an editor otherwise apparently loved (based on what they’re telling me) didn’t make the cut. I’ve even one in the trunk right now that was shortlisted before being turned down.
In all these years being a serious genre fiction writer, I’ve exactly one fantasy work published, “One Night at Ollie’s Stump”, still waiting for you to listen over at Sniplits.com.
Well, the drought is over. I have planted seed in the bitter soil of the fantasy magazine markets and I’ll be damned if I’m not looking at a green sprout coming up. I can’t tell you yet what’s coming — it’s a surprise — but I’ll give you a hint: never in a billion years would you have guessed the combination of characters you’ll see in this piece.
Stay tuned.