Thursday, June 9, 2016

Short story: Of Turnips and Maidens


It's been too long, hasn't it?

The awesome guys over at Farstrider Magazine have published Of Turnips and Maidens, a sort of sequel to Turnip Farmers Are Heroes Too from On Spec--the style and voice are different, but both star a turnip-whispering farmer and his unruly turnips. This time our protagonist, Turner, helps a nymph while deflecting advances made by a not-so-shiny knight.

And because submitting short stories is itself a story... Originally, Of Turnips and Maidens was rejected by Farstrider Magazine for their first issue, but oh man, was the rejection sincere:


This was a particularly tough call for me. I genuinely enjoyed it, and if I
had a bigger budget I would be proud to feature your story. I truly hope
that you keep in touch as you continue to write and hope that you will
submit again in the future.


Time goes on, submit the story to a few other places--no one else wants it. So when I see Farstrider is open to submissions for their second issue, and since this was the closest place to accepting Of Turnips and Maidens, I queried asking if I could resubmit. I know conventional wisdom says not to resubmit a rejected story, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. The important thing is to ask. Lo and behold it resulted in an acceptance.

So now you can read Of Turnips and Maidens for free online! Cheers!