Category: Short Stories

Random Rejection: Weird Tales, “The Short Route”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

It’s been a while since I reached into my giant stack of rejection (and a few acceptance) letters, so I figured it was time to totter off to random.org and ask them what letter I should choose. They told me “V”, but I already did the only V in my pile, so I asked them for a different letter and they told me “W”. As it turns out, nearly all my “W” rejections are from Weird Tales, or, as indicated in the scan below, “Worlds of Fantasy and Horror”, which is, uh, not quite as catchy a title as Weird Tales. (The astute reader will not be surprised to learn that this temporary title change involved the legal system.)

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Teaser Tuesday 6/13/2017: “Husk”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

This week I’m reading Husk, by D.P. Prior, in which a bounty hunter “Maresman” arrives in the Old West alien town of Portis on the trail of an outlaw “husk”, or demon, who is apparently responsible for the deaths of at least five people. Hilarity does not ensue.

husk
It’s right behind me, isn’t it?

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Random Rejection: Zoetrope Magazine, “Silkscreen”

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It’s been a while since I reached into my giant stack of rejection (and a few acceptance) letters, so I decided it was about time to visit random.org and have it pick me a character to represent the name of the agent, magazine, or publisher who had rejected (or maybe accepted) a submission. When it came back with a Z, I pretty much knew that it was going to have to be a rejection from Francis Ford Coppola’s magazine Zoetrope, as I couldn’t think of any other venue starting with that letter to which I had ever submitted. Although I did find a letter in the “Z” section from one of my cousins, who had read my story “The Short Route” and sent me back a note that it should be expanded into a novel, a movie, or both. (Maybe someday, Susan!) But of course I couldn’t use a letter from a cousin for a Random Rejection, and so, Zoetrope it is!

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Random Rejection: Science Fiction Age Magazine, “The Fold”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

So seeing as it’s been quite a while since I reached into my vast pile of rejection (and occasional acceptance) letters, and we haven’t had many amusing movie-related interactions* here lately, I thought it might be time to dredge up an ancient rejection letter.  Random.org said I should choose this one, from Science Fiction Age:

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Random Acceptance: “Blue Murder” Magazine

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So every once in a while when I reach into my giant stack of correspondence to find a Random Rejection, I pull a Random Acceptance instead. This is one of those times.

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Two Rejections And A Funeral. I Mean An Acceptance**.

~ James Viscosi ~ 2 Comments

So it’s been a while since I reached into my huge stack of rejection letters to pull out one of my old “You Suck” letters, and since I’m partway through my third “meh” BookBub book in a row and don’t really feel like giving it the Teaser Tuesday treatment, and we haven’t really seen any interesting movies lately (read: Movies that caused my wife to say humorous things about them), I thought it was time to dust the old feature off. So herewith is our first Random Rejection in quite some time: From Eternal Twilight, for my short story “Customs”:

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Teaser Tuesday 7/7/2015: “Suicide Forest”

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So this week I’m reading Suicide Forest, a horror novel (possibly involving ghosts) by Jeremy Bates, in which a group of hikers, whose plan to scale Mount Fuji has been thwarted by weather, decide to go camp in Japan’s Aokigahara forest.

SuicideForest
We’re gonna have us a campin’ trip, followed by a first-class hangin’.

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Random Contract: Vampire Dan’s Story Emporium, “The Short Route”

~ James Viscosi ~ 6 Comments

So this week I reached into my big folder full of rejections (and the occasional acceptance) and pulled out something new: A contract! Arriving as it did in November of 1997, this was, if I remember correctly, my first-ever contract, for a story called “The Short Route” (AKA “My Cousin Susan’s Favorite Story Of Mine Ever”), in which a tenderfoot from Back East discovers that there’s more than just cattle on his first cattle drive. The story appeared in “Vampire Dan’s Story Emporium” a tiny regional magazine published in Syracuse that ran from 1997 to 2001.

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Random Acceptance: Mindmares, “Rush Hour”

~ James Viscosi ~ 1 Comment

Well it’s been a while since I reached into my vast trove of ancient publisher response letters, so I figured it was about time to do so again. And what did I find this time? An acceptance letter from the old ‘zine “Mindmares”, for my old story “Rush Hour”. (See, it’s not ALL rejection letters in there.) Nothing to do with Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker, this is the story of a man who is stuck in traffic, reading the paper, and failing to notice that there’s a Very Bad Thing heading his way. Whoops.

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Random Rejection: Pirate Writings, “Graveyard Apples after Midnight”

~ James Viscosi ~ 2 Comments

This week instead of Teaser Tuesday, I decided to reach into the big pile of ancient rejection letters and see what I would find. What I came up with this old slip, from a magazine called Pirate Writings, from none other than Tom Piccirilli, author of such atmospheric horror novels as A Choir of Ill Children and the on-my-Kindle, not-yet-read The Last Kind Words, currently on sale for $0.99 for the Kindle edition. (Marked down from $15. Really, Random House? $15 for an eBook?)

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