Reading: Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Music: John Hartford's "Steam-Powered Aeroplane"
TV/Movie: The Big Dig (PBS special)
Link o' the Day: Phil Stephensen-Payne's Galactic Central

So the juvenile market is going to be the death of me. I have a very good juvie SF storie that's about 7,000 words in length. Every market save one limits the length to 2,000 words. Many less than 1,000 words. The one market that took longer works is from the Cricket Group, and I don't care for their turnaround time and the fact that they keep _all_ rights. I could see using this character again for other stories, so I'd like to be able to retain the rights. But first I have to sell the story. The story recently came back from Boy's Life which had a 2,000-word limit. I knew my story was too long, but I took a stab anyway. I remember reading Boy's Life stories back when I was a scout and the wheel hadn't yet been invented. The stories seemed longer, to my memory.

At Boskone, I talked to Jane Yolen and Josepha Sherman about the short fiction market for SF juvies. The response was far from encouraging. Most juvie markets seem to lean toward fantasy more than SF, and the short fiction market is practically non-existent. Both suggested I try the adult SF markets such as Asimov's or Analog. I don't think this story is quite right for either market. Still, I may have found a non-juvie market that has possibilities. (I rarely say who... not out of any sense of secrecy, but because I'm superstitious enough to think I'll jinx myself if I say "I'm sending "Such and Such" to A Magazine.)

So wish me luck.

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The Paul Frees book is off to the printers, and I'm now working on a chapbook about the third member of the Bob and Ray comedy team, Ted Koch (pronounced cook). Apparently the timeless duo of Bob & Ray had a writer, and this man wrote many of the classic skits and scenes they performed. He also did some time at MAD Magazine. It's an interesting little book.

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For anyone who is interested, I've made small PDF files of the ToC and indexes to The Pulp Western and Private Eyes In the Comics for those who might be interested. Just send me an e-mail address and I'll send them along. I also have PDF files of the cover spreads as well. (I'm particularly pleased with how the western book came out.)

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Today's link is for Pulp lovers: Phil Stephensen-Payne's Galactic Central. This is a great index site for old pulp magazines, and has some great full-color cover scans as well. Even if you're not a big pulp fiction fan, it's fun to just browse through the site looking at artwork.

Enjoy!