I've got Jack!

Atomjack, that is. Yes, good tidings I bring, as Atomjack has accepted 'Level Two: Time Trial' for its next issue, due late March/early April. It's an online 'zine with token payment only (US$5) but I'm extremely happy about this one because the story is among my personal faves. I could never understand why people didn't like it, and most of the rejections I received suggested the readers took it seriously (???). This acceptance is gratifying to say the least.

On the less effusive side, I received another postcard from Allen & Unwin yesterday. Now, it could have been a rejection, which would have really sucked, but it provided deflation rather than devastation. This epistle informed me that my MS, which has been under consideration for about 14 weeks, will be under consideration for another 10 to 12 weeks. Were I naive, I might interpret this as a good thing and believe the A&U reader had passed it on to an editor. But I'm not naive, so I think this is the publisher's rather impersonal way of telling me they are running WAAAAY behind on unsolicited submissions. Anyhow, it's not all bad - it means I will be back from LA well before I can expect to hear from them and I don't have to stress about missing that all important call. It also means I should be able to get all my editing and changes done on Loaded in the event they do want to see the whole MS - I'm up to page 119 at the moment.