Writing for Interzone

[Roy1]

I am the TTA rep on a magazines panel at Novacon. 4:30 Saturday (3rd Nov) along with Peter Weston, Mark Plummer, Andy Sawyer and Geoff Ryman.
Beyond that Geoff and I have a slot at 12:30 that day when I have a few Interzone submissions statistics to reveal and Geoff has a Mundane SF ‘crusade’ (my word, not his) to discuss.

[Roy1]

More news on the Mundane selection process at
Mundane-SF: Last day now

Note that process is now closed to new work.

[Meadowhawk]

I sent a writer your way for the Mundane issue, from state-side. I didn't mention the time difference across the water--hope she got it in in time. I told her end of day on the 31st.

[Roy1]

Don't know Meadowhawk. Jetse makes allowances for time differences for his e mail window but the Mundane team are completely separate from the IZ editors and have their own methods. If I remember I'll ask at the weekend.

Rejected stories can still be submitted to IZ or elsewhere.

[Roy1]

Sorry Meadowhawk I did forget.

Also rejections from Mundane Issue editors are now arriving in inboxes.

[Susannah]

Hi, all -- I've got a question about the Interzone Mundane edition, too; hope someone here can provide the answer.

I submitted a story to the Web site from here in the U.S., shortly before midnight on October 31st -- I hadn't been thinking about the time-zone difference. The form seemed to process, and I saw the response screen saying "Thanks for submitting! We'll get back to you in two months" (I paraphrase.)

I've heard not a thing, and now I'm starting to wonder whether the piece was actually processed after all. If the site was taken off-line at midnight British time, and if most of the rejections have already gone out... does this imply my piece may not have actually been submitted at all? I don't mind a rejection, but this particular kind of limbo bothers me.

So, does anyone know:

a.) Did submitters receive any kind of confirmation e-mail? (If so, the fact that I didn't might imply that the form didn't process after all.)

b.) Does anyone know what stage the editors are currently at in moving through the submissions pile and sending out the slips? (Er, virtual slips.) Is there some point after which, if I don't hear anything, I should assume my submission was lost?

Thanks much!

[Roy1]

Hi Susannah

Are you 'Meadowhawk's friend? He(?) posted here on this subject.

I know the 'normal' non mundane (in more ways than one) Iz editor editor - Jetse - does take time differences into account when he closes the e mail window so I don't think you need worry.

You have another month from the deadline yet so don't fret. I am sure they will get round to your story. It may well be good news, eg you might be on the long list in which case so you could expect a longer wait.

There was no e mail confirmation but as you posted onto a form there was no point.

Some rejections have gone out but Geoff Ryman said the overall quality was very high and they would have problems whittling the acceptances down to fit an issue of IZ.

Keep an eye on the website, plus the forum, enjoy Christmas and start biting the nails in the new year.
Best of luck
Roy

[Susannah]

Thanks so much, Roy; having more information (& context) makes me feel much better, i.e. it's allayed my concerns that my submission might have been lost in the ether, which means I can enjoy the pleasant suspense of waiting. (With a 99.5%-likelihood assumption that it'll be a rejection, of course, but it's always that little bit of possibility that makes the submission process exciting.)

I don't think it's likely my entry will make it very far in the consideration rounds -- especially because it's over the preferred length; that's always a bad problem for me! -- but nonetheless, I did put in time and effort, so it's nice to think it'll be read and considered.

I'm afraid I'm not Meadowhawk's friend, but on the other hand, if I was able to submit on U.S. time, presumably she would have been as well.

Thanks for the good wishes (I'm one of the many Americans who don't celebrate Christmas, but I'll take the seasonal cheer as offered and wish you some as well!) And thank you again for helping me with my questions.

[Roy1]

I'm one of the many Americans who don't celebrate Christmas.

Now I'm intrigued but I'm glad I helped.

Your story can always be submitted via one of the the standard Interzone processes, to Jetse or Andy, if it doesn't make it into the mundane selection. The two have completely different editorial teams.

Will I get away with greetings of the season as most US Americans do celebrate a new year soon?

[Susannah]

And speak of the devil, lo and behold! I've now received my rejection. (Since it was accompanied by kind and complimentary words from Geoff Ryman, though, I'm rather more pleased about it than otherwise.)

I'm going to run the story through another tighten-and-polish, and then start sending it out to regular venues. I think Interzone's one-month email-submissions window has closed, but I may pay the postage to send it across the water anyway.

As for the holiday-cheer thing, I didn't mean to be confusing. As I suppose must also be the case in Great Britain, it's just that lots of people aren't Christian and so don't actually celebrate Christmas -- and since hearing repeated Christmas greetings when you're Jewish (like me), or Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim (like many of my friends and neighbors), can get a little tiresome, that's why people prefer the generic "happy holidays," I think.

(There are Americans who get really pissy about that, but I think they're confused about the concept: the idea isn't that no one is supposed to have a merry Christmas; the idea is just that, despite the fact that the malls and radio and TV are inundated with a tidal wave of commercialized Christmas imagery, it still might be polite to bear in mind that one's neighbor possibly doesn't actually share one's religious beliefs. It's more about assumptions than anything else, I think.)

Anyway, we do all have time off work and school (though that's another thorny issue, come to think of it), and we also all have a holiday for New Year's Day, so I think "happy holidays" or "season's greetings" or "Happy New Year!" should work well for anyone. (Actually, I don't think there's anyone in this country who doesn't consider January 1st a new year, even if they also celebrate another cultural new year at another time. I mean we all are on the Gregorian calendar.)

[Roy1]

Commiserations Susannah and best of luck with it elsewhere.
It’s nice to see a few names other than my own in this section of Chronicles. Too bad I’m spoiling/re-establishing the pattern again but at least someone is reading my efforts.

And just about in time to wish you happy Hanukkah

[Roy1]

The stories for the "mundane" issue have all been selected now and that issue, 216, will be out in May.

[Roy1]

Interzone co-editor Jetse would like some optimistic SF.

[Roy1]

I thought this post on the IZ website might be of interest to the writers here. 1610

[argybargy]

A quick question for anyone on Interzone's editorial team - I snail-mailed a short story manuscript to IZ back in March from Canada, but haven't received e-mail confirmation of anyone receiving it. Not entirely uncommon, but would a query e-mail on my manuscript's status be advisable at this point? I know you are always quite busy, so I don't want to be a bother...

(Reposted as it appears that the entire board has undergone a retcon that wiped my existence from the face of the Earth!)