Hi Honey, I'm Home...

I told you I was going away on vacation; vacation means no computers. I went on a friend's computer once to check some baseball scores, but that was it. No blog, no web-site, no e-mails. The only "work" I did was a bit of reading - which I always do while we drive around - so that doesn't really count. (It's read, or talk to my wife and kids - you do the math.)

I read 26 stories while we were on the road, clearing out everything that has been passed on to me by the assistant editor, Sara Ellis. Last I heard she had read everything submitted through early May, so once I send out this last batch of rejection (or not) e-mails to these 26 authors, I will have done at least one reading of everything submitted through the web-site and passed on by the assistant editor. There's still a smaller pile submitted directly to OSC by people who have been invited to do so (mainly Boot Camp grads and a handful of other, established authors), but that is a smaller pile and shouldn't take more than another week or two at the most.

Issue three has been filled already (I'm pretty sure I mentioned that recently) and I've bought the first few for issue four, too. Right now I'm thinking that I will buy no more than enough stories to fill through issue five and then after that cut everything else loose. That will book IGMS through next spring's issue and frankly I don't want to hold anyone's story for any longer than that. I don't think it's fair to authors to make them wait a year or more to see their work published, so for better or for worse, that's the plan.