TWO WEEKS TO GO! PIRATES!

All right, there're two weeks to go, basically, until we end our open reading period for the pirate anthology. (Guidelines in the link to the right.) If you're going to send something, please do send it in.

We did have one query re length. Yes, we will look at stories under 3,000 words at this point, just because we are getting a lot of long stories. We do have enough room for long stories, but it's nice to have some diversity of length in addition to type.

One note I have to make, and it's not aimed at anyone in particular. No one during this submission process has ticked either me or Ann off with anything involved with their submission or a query. However, if you send me a story at 10:40 a.m. and I reject it by 12:40 p.m., be thankful. You received a quick response. It only takes a half hour to read and evaluate a short story. At that point, as an editor you either know it's not for you, it's a possible (for re-read), or you love it (and must re-read). I think the speed of this is psychologically unnerving, but I'm not interested in sitting on something for two weeks just to preserve your nerves. We all need to adapt to the new paradigm.

Also, we have officially taken marvelous stories from Kage Baker and Howard Waldrop. We hope to make some more official acceptances in the next week. So, if you've got a story on hold, thanks again for your patience.

Jeff