And for me, a 64 personal R from M. David Blake for the December special edition of Stupefying Stories. Some good feedback and an invitation to try him with something else if I want to.
Thanks! I'm not sure what they think of humor. I sent them a light humor sci-fi before and it ended up taking a semi-finalist slot. So he's definitely not against it.Congrats on the HM, Marzioli - I know it's not a win, but to me that still means its a decent story, and there's also the matter of fit, even for WoTF. Do they go for light humour?
16-day R from DSF, again with a PS - "A tough decision." Arrg - hope I crack this market someday.
Having read countless pages of agent blogs, I can say there's a chance the agent DID consider your query in 10 seconds. They have only to scan your cover letter and if it doesn't jump out at them, *click/paste/send*. Most agents don't read sample chapters unless they really like the query, and they're trained to work fast.I am pretty sure one agent, who shall remain nameless, has his e-mail auto reply set to send a form rejection. That's not a bruised ego, it literally came in within 10 seconds of my hitting send (despite claiming to have "carefully reviewed" my query). I mean, if you're closed to queries, fine. But don't say you are carefully reviewing them and have an auto response reject.
Ironically, I queried one agent in the same batch who has announced she is not taking unsolicited submissions and she said "but I have to admit, yours is tempting me" and requested a full.
77-day form R from Apex for the shortlisted story. [Insert dirge here] Had the 'hope to see more from you line' from the new editor.
12 day higher tier from Clarkesworld and 52 day regular rejection (I presume) from Upgraded. Got two Rs from Neil within 24 hours!