they giveth, and they taketh away

What an appalling offense to archaic grammar. But that doesn’t stop me from titling the entry thusly.

I have on my desk a letter from Delia Sherman that would have me bouncing in happiness if it didn’t happen to reject “La Molejera” for Interfictions along the way. She and Dora Goss seem to have put a lot of effort into writing the rejection letters, which is above and beyond the call of duty for editors. So yay, but at the same time boo.

The reason given for the rejection, incidentally, was that it was too identifiably a genre story to fit the anthology. This confirms my suspicion that, provided they do manage to put out a second Interfictions antho, and provided I have not sold it by then, “The Deaths of Christopher Marlowe” may be my best prospect with them. (Of course, this also requires the provision that I get off my ass and do something with that first draft. It won’t sell to anybody sitting on my hard drive.)

0 Responses to “they giveth, and they taketh away”

  1. kniedzw

    Odd that they thought it was too genre. Delia and Dora are both cool, however. Nice that they put effort into the rejection letter.

  2. bakkhos

    Sorry to hear about the rejection. Does that mean Interfictions is just accepting historical fic?

    • Marie Brennan

      No, it’s accepting things that don’t match handy genre labels, and depending on the lens with which one approaches “Deaths,” it could be read that way.

      Or it could be straight historical fic. In which case I’m totally wrong about it and Interfictions. But I still think it’s the most suitable thing I’ve got, for the reason that it’s either perfect or COMPLETELY off-target — which might not be a bad way to select one’s submissions to such an antho.

  3. d_c_m

    Sorry honey. Rejection sucks. Sigh. And hey, I can’t wait for “Warrior and Witch”!!!! Me want to read NOW!!!!

  4. ombriel

    “The Beacon” was rejected for the same reason. Alas.

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