Just to let you all know that my story ‘Skyball’ – which was submitted just a couple of weeks after I last saw you all, and accepted in early June 2008 – has now been published in Bewildering Stories #324.
I’m well chuffed with the whole Bewildering Stories experience – and it just goes to show how much difference an interesting and engaged editor can make. If only this were a paying market, I’d be over the Jovian moons (instead of just over the local one.)
Very interesting, Graeme. A layered, tense piece, rich with social implications, as all good sci fi should be. Your concepts are twisted and beautiful.
The only drawback, in my opinion, is the ending. It’s a bit of a moot point, since Bewildered Stories obviously recognise your worth and the worth of the story, but I think it’s the dialogue that got me – I was expecting a reference to God or Heaven, not the world ‘bastard’. Or possibly Dr Lyles getting a reply as he slips off to heaven…
You’re really finding your niche with the short story market, Graeme, well done. That’s a way into publishing, I hear.