Meredith Mansfield, Author

And they came in the same e-mail. 

Actually, the bad news came first.  The familiar “Thank you, but we’ll pass” rejection letter.  Almost as an afterthought down at the bottom was the notation that the story had made it to the second round.

That’s actually very good news.  It got beyond the slush pile.  It just couldn’t quite make it that last step to publication.  At least, not this time.

The story in question is the short story version of “Mage Storm”. Now I’m in a bit of a quandary with this one.  The next two markets I’d planned for this story, if necessary, are unavailable.  One because the new editor has already rejected an earlier version of the story, the other is temporarily closed to submissions.  I may just decide to sit on this one and use it as a teaser when the novel version gets published (thinking positively).

On the brighter side, I’m starting to fall into a rhythm with the four full-novel critiques of MAGE STORM.  The first two chapters were pretty hard work, but I’m starting to hit my stride, now.