Just got hold of a copy of The 3rd Alternative with my story The Western Front in it.

I love it! It looks so great. The illustrations are awesome, the layout wonderful. Even the typeface is perfect. The 3rd Alternative is really the best looking spec fic magazine out there.

Now, I have a terribly embarrassing thing to admit. I screwed up. When I emailed the editor, Andy Cox, the version for inclusion, I think I sent him a slightly older version of the story than the one I'd meant to. The story itself hasn't changed, it's just that it's a pre-final-research version. I hadn't actually done the research on military ranks and army structure for that draft. Thus, my character in the story is described as a Captain, whereas in fact he should have been a Lieutenant. The group that he "leads" was described as a "unit" (hello placeholder!) when in fact it should have been a platoon.

Yeah, yeah, I know absolutely no one is going to care about any of that except me. And I know it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to the story. But for some reason I feel the need to make this appalling public confession. (And there are a couple of parentheses left in that I'd meant to take out).

Sigh.

Go buy the magazine anyway!