Space and Time, and my first submission

I got another magazine in the mail today; Time and Space, Issue #112. The content of this magazine is much different from Leading Edge. Not worse, they just seem to be a lot more lax about things like sex and language. There's none of that in the stuff I write, but I don't think that'll automatically disqualify me.

This is their Halloween issue, so most of the content tends towards the dark and the supernatural. Still, there wa some stuff that didn't, and I still think I got a pretty good grasp of what they accept. But it wouldn't hurt to pick up another issue, especially as they're not accepting submissions right now anyway.

On another note, I sent "Long and Short" to Leading Edge earlier this week. Unfortunately, I didn't include a self-addressed stamped envelope so they could get back to me. I mailed them another letter, this one with the SASE. I just hope they don't toss the story on that account. I guess if they do, and I don't hear from them in a couple months, I can just submit it again. Still, I'm kicking myself for making such a silly mistake. I'll have to be more careful in the future.

In the meantime, I'm going to wait until Time and Space is accepting submissions again, and while I'm at it I'll pick up a copy of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This one I saw at the bookstore, though at the time I thought it was an anthology from the magazine rather than the magazine itself. That's one I should definitely pick up.

Also, I have another magazine to check out, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. This one is on-line only, and it looks like I don't have the option to buy individual issues. I like Orson Scott Card, and I'd like to get in his magazine. I'll have to look over the samples on his site before I decided if I want to subscribe.

Other than that, I'm still working on my stories. I'm revising "The Mind's Retreat," and I'm started on my second draft of "Blank Check." Got ideas for several other stories, but nothing fleshed out enough yet that I'm ready to work on them yet. Maybe part of the issue is that I'm trying to work on them as 10,000 word stories. I was able to write "Blank Check" with ease once I realized it could be done well in a couple thousand words. Maybe I should start looking harder in that direction. Something to think about.

--E. Maxfield Moen