Rejectomancy

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…
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44-day rejection from Bloodstones. It's a story I really like, so I'm sure I'll find a home for it eventually.

Sorry to hear it. At least yours hung in there longer than mine.
 

Marzioli

Could be worse!
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(Don't worry - your prize will be getting an acceptance letter from him someday :))
You're too kind! At least for now I feel like the only letter of acceptance I'll get from him is if I marry his cousin and invite him to the wedding. And even then, if I choose an unfavored cousin, I still might get a form R written by his wedding slushies.
 

O'Dandelo

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You're too kind! At least for now I feel like the only letter of acceptance I'll get from him is if I marry his cousin and invite him to the wedding. And even then, if I choose an unfavored cousin, I still might get a form R written by his wedding slushies.

That gets a rare lol from me.
 

Eliza C

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You're too kind! At least for now I feel like the only letter of acceptance I'll get from him is if I marry his cousin and invite him to the wedding. And even then, if I choose an unfavored cousin, I still might get a form R written by his wedding slushies.

Well, that's an interesting plan B. :)
Hopefully, sending him more subs will be the quicker method.
 

Marzioli

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9-day Apex. Time to light this one on fire and see what survives the roast.
 

sarahthegrey

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26-day R from Shock Totem on a 141-word microfiction I wrote on a whim. I love this little story, but I'll probably trunk it. It's heavy on symbolism and imagery, which seems to be a dealbreaker for micro and flash, so I can't see it selling in any of the very limited markets that consider stuff that short.

Sigh...I'm just not a short-short writer.
 

Marzioli

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26-day R from Shock Totem on a 141-word microfiction I wrote on a whim
Sorry to hear it!

Strangely, I'm out 44 days on a longer piece that they haven't even cracked open yet. I suppose the slushies didn't have time for a 4K story today.
 

defcon6000

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118-day form R from The Bad Version. At least now it's open to send it off to Penumbra, although it'll be a long shot.
 

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think
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118-day form R from The Bad Version. At least now it's open to send it off to Penumbra, although it'll be a long shot.

Is Penumbra taking regular ole spec-fic now? I looked at their guidelines a few weeks ago and was confused as to whether or not they were still taking only themed stories.
 

Marzioli

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Is Penumbra taking regular ole spec-fic now? I looked at their guidelines a few weeks ago and was confused as to whether or not they were still taking only themed stories.
Still themed: Poe, Exploration, and Utopia.
 

alexshvartsman

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Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.
 

defcon6000

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Is Penumbra taking regular ole spec-fic now? I looked at their guidelines a few weeks ago and was confused as to whether or not they were still taking only themed stories.
No, I'm going to sub it to their Poe issue since it's kinda sorta mysterious in a Poe way. Eh, I have nothing to lose.

Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.
Nadda on my end, which is surprising. They used to have great response time. I'm taking a guess that they've lost some slush readers or an editor.
 

sammyjwebb

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Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.

Mine's only been there 30 days. Looking at the stats I'm not expecting to hear until mid July. Yours should have come in by now - hopeful sign?
 

Polenth

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Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.

I had a reply to a query in May (for a story that'd hit nine months). My impression from my experiences, and what others have said, is A&A doesn't usually tell authors if a story passes the first read. Once it goes to the main editor, reply times are much longer, but you won't know it's being held until you query.
 

alexshvartsman

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I had a reply to a query in May (for a story that'd hit nine months). My impression from my experiences, and what others have said, is A&A doesn't usually tell authors if a story passes the first read. Once it goes to the main editor, reply times are much longer, but you won't know it's being held until you query.

Thanks, but being the fly on the wall of Duotrope, I'm not even sure whether the story was passed up or not read in slush at this point. They may be THAT far behind. Which is strange, since they're closed to subs at the moment.

Of course, it's the 50-day story at Apex (not the Abyss one) that I'm freaking out about more at the moment. :)
 

defcon6000

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I had a reply to a query in May (for a story that'd hit nine months). My impression from my experiences, and what others have said, is A&A doesn't usually tell authors if a story passes the first read. Once it goes to the main editor, reply times are much longer, but you won't know it's being held until you query.
Hmm, perhaps I'm the outlier since I've had a flash story accepted by them in 9 days. This time around, I assume they're backlogged.

And form R's from DSF and One Buck Horror. Gotta love it when they come in two's. :rolleyes:
 

sarahthegrey

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60-day R from Penumbra for the Native American Folklore issue. Made it through the final round before being tossed.

This one was a punch in the gut--I wrote it just for that theme issue, I had high hopes for it, and I hadn't expected a response for another week or two, based on their response pattern. Hate it when an R sneaks up on me like that.

No idea where to send it next, since it was so narrowly drafted. Blah.
 

O'Dandelo

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60-day R from Penumbra for the Native American Folklore issue. Made it through the final round before being tossed.

This one was a punch in the gut--I wrote it just for that theme issue, I had high hopes for it, and I hadn't expected a response for another week or two, based on their response pattern. Hate it when an R sneaks up on me like that.

No idea where to send it next, since it was so narrowly drafted. Blah.

Really sorry to hear about this one. It's like a triple-pronged R.

Commiserations for all the other Rs, too, everyone.
 

Working Title

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Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.

Nadda on my end, which is surprising. They used to have great response time. I'm taking a guess that they've lost some slush readers or an editor.

Oh no. I came here worried about crickets on my 40+ day story at Abyss & Apex and ended up finding out I'm not alone! Which is comforting, in a way. That said, there's probably quite a few of us out there, and we're not out of the woods yet. Eep!

Get to work! And make sure it's an ice cream cake. :D

The experimental freezer module for the ice cream just exploded. *Sigh* Off to make another one... :)
 

Sai

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102-day personal R from On Spec. And the R's come marching home...

Sorry about the R. I love On Spec but hate the wait times.

Received a 0-day, personal rejection from UFO. I SHALL HAVE MY VENEGNCE! Just kidding, it was a very nice, detailed R :).
 

alexshvartsman

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Received a 0-day, personal rejection from UFO. I SHALL HAVE MY VENEGNCE! Just kidding, it was a very nice, detailed R :).

I'm sorry, we're all fresh out of VENEGNCE. Can I interest you in a few servings of spell check instead? :evil

Seriously though, it was a good story, just not the right fit.
 

SmallThing

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Has anybody heard from Abyss & Apex recently? Duotrope isn't showing any responses in the last 10 days or so... I have a story at 42 days there, which is the longest I've ever made it with them, and no idea as to its fate.

My stats are from earlier in the year, but I think I didn't get any word until a note from that it had been sent up to editor at around 80-something days, and then an acceptance at 178 days. I think the initial passes are fast, but the rest takes a while. They may be moving at a different speed now that they aren't backlogged.