Thursday, January 16, 2014

Unlikely Acceptance

Quite literally, as the title says. Unlikely Story had hosted a theme issue for the "worst story" as an April Fool's joke, and I guess the joke's on me because I got in. I don't know what that says about me as an author--am I just terribly bad, or terribly good at pegging down badness in a story? But a sale is a sale, and dammit, after a string of rejections, it feels nice to brag ... even if it's in the name of badness.

By the way, best worstly bad acceptance letter:

Thank you for sending us [name withheld]. Although the competition was fierce, we
regret to inform you that yes, this was one of the worst stories we
received, and it will be appearing in the Journal of Unlikely Story
Acceptances on April 1st. We'll be posting the announcement shortly.

We'll get you contracts and such soon. In the spirit of doing things wrong,
there won't be any edits.

Posted by Unknown at 9:06 PM
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7 comments:

  1. Deborah WalkerJanuary 17, 2014 at 1:46 AM

    Ha! I'm in too. Under my pen name Kelda Crich. Yay?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2014 at 9:10 AM

    These are going to be hilarious -- can't wait to read 'em. Bad to the bone, Siobhan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Martin WilloughbyJanuary 19, 2014 at 11:25 AM

    Excellent. You have to be good to be bad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2014 at 2:57 PM

    Congratulations, I think.

    However, given the preciousness of our lives, hence the value of our time, I wonder who willfully squanders theirs by embracing something admittedly foul. "Unlikely" has never responded to my humor--to the extent I sent them an 1100 word dirty joke for spite--so I probably won't be able to wrap my mind around whatever their motivation, much less that of those who embrace it.

    Still, another line on your CV is another line on your CV, and one from a publisher with staying power stands out all the more.

    So, as I said before, congratulations, I think.

    Cheers,
    PB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJanuary 25, 2014 at 5:11 PM

      Well there is such a thing as "it's so bad it's good"--which maybe that was what they were going for. I'm sure these stories are bad in an entertaining way. Or the editors just felt like having some fun on April Fool's Day. Either way, I'm not gonna question it.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2014 at 5:10 PM

    Congrats on this! I'm really looking forward to reading these bad, bad stories - even the titles they listed on their website are hilarious. Though I'm a bit worried about the effect it might have on my own writing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJanuary 25, 2014 at 5:15 PM

      Thanks! My title is actually quite lame when compared to the others, but I was in a hurry to sub the story and honestly didn't give much thought to titles, which now I wish I had done. Oh well.

      Oh, and good to see blogger hasn't gobbled your comment, Fi. :D

      Delete

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