Perhaps my fears of the submission deluge scared some of you off from submitting. Perhaps not. Regardless, the latest round of submissions has been received and organized. In total, there are some 214 submissions, which falls right in my preferred range of 200-250. The submissions themselves run from 5/8/09-11/18/09. Almost fifty of these submissions were sent to us while the magazine was closed to submissions. However, the P.O. Box was still active, so we still received the manuscripts. These stories will be considered for RoF, but it seems to me the fairest thing to do is consider them last. Everyone else submitted in good faith. So whether these other folks were hoping to make a sneaky cut in line or simply didn't do their homework regarding this market, it is to the back of the line they go. We officially reopened to submissions on 10/16, so when I start slushing, I'm going to start from this date. When I'm done with these, I'll take care of everything that was sent to us from 5/8/09-10/15/09. Considering how much was sent to us after we reopened to submissions--160+ submissions--and that we received it in the space of a month, I'd say this looks like a pretty standard batch ...IIRC, anyway.

So while the slush department was caught up, we're now obviously behind again because of those stories submitted before 10/16. But after I get through this batch, I expect the slush to be 100% caught up again. I'll probably start slushing on Monday. Anyway, good luck to everyone this time around.

Hi Folks,

I'm afraid we're still not open to fiction submissions and won't be for a while.  But I wanted to provide the following update for those of you who had submissions stuck in limbo after Sovereign Media pulled the plug on RoF.  The limbo batch has been received and organized.  There are 103 submissions, which represents the smallest complete batch I've ever had to deal with.  Concerning the international crowd, unless you provide enough IRCs for the return of your manuscripts, this should be the last batch that I honor your IRCs.  Going forward, I'm just going to respond via email.  All right, I think that's everything.  I should start slushing tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone this time around, and to everyone from the last batch moving on to the next round. 

Hi Guys,

No, we're not open to submissions yet.  And no, I don't when we will be yet.  But I thought you'd be interested to know that while I was slushing today, I realized that despite my month-and-a-half break from the magazine, the response times for the slush are still under 90 days.  We're not up to my usual standards, and I know that after the next slush transfer I'll have some additional catching up to do.  Also, if I know writers (which I do), I'm anticipating a sizable wave of submissions once the fiction department declares we're open again for business.

Even so, I'm fairly confident that once I receive that next batch of slush it shouldn't take me too long to get us back to our old timetables.  It certainly won't take as long to catch up as it did when I first joined the RoF team 3+ years ago, when I found myself confronted with 400+ accumulated manuscripts, with more coming in daily.

Also, a quick note: while we are under new ownership, the editorial team on the fiction side of things is exactly the same.  Please don't send us anything we've already rejected.  This is a new beginning, yes, but our tastes remain quite unchanged.   

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total there 205 submissions, ranging from 9/29/08-11/19/08.  I didn't bother to count the international submissions this time, but there seems to be quite the bundle.  As I've noted before I won't be reading Halloween submissions at the end of the slush anymore.  Instead, I'll read them in order with everything else.  That's pretty much everything.  Good luck to everyone this time around, and to those moving on to the next round.

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total, there are 202 submissions ranging from 8/09/08-10/03/08, along with a couple of stragglers from July mixed in.

Other tidbits of interest:

1) Last time I had a final count of 4 Halloween submissions.  This time around there is an initial count of 3.

2) Ever since we implemented our experimental policy change regarding international submissions, the international submission total has been climbing.  The last international submission total before the policy change was 21.  The next total increased to 30.  After that, 35.  Now we're back to 21.  Of course, these 202 submissions also represent the smallest total of the four batches in question.  The second smallest batch was the first one (i.e. the pre-policy change batch), at 217.  Make of these numbers what you will. 

3) Here's something I decided to wait to reveal until I'd passed my last batch of manuscripts along to Shawna: the last batch of slush I sorted marks the first batch where I ended up taking nothing.  In other words, everything I passed along to Shawna was an automatic pass.  No slush survivors.  Technically, this happened once before.  In the first batch I ever sorted, I didn't take anything.  The difference is that this wasn't a full batch.  Of the 400+ manuscripts that had accumulated, Shawna gave me about 100 to sort through (97 to be exact), enough to see if I was fast enough and knew what I was doing.  But since I was just slushing a chunk as opposed to the whole, I don't count this one.  I was actually kind of down that I'd failed to find anything to pass along (there is a buried hint about that here).  Even if Shawna didn't buy anything from the slush, I wanted to pass something along.  When I mentioned this to Shawna, she said it was probably a sign that I was improving as an editor.  That same day she bought eight slush survivors, a personal record.  Validation is always nice. :)

Guess that's everything.  Now, normally I'd say that I'll start slushing tomorrow, but tomorrow is a holy day: Football Sunday.  Perhaps you've heard of it.  So no promises.  But if I don't get around to it tomorrow I'll start Monday.  Good luck to those moving along to the next round.       

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total there are 250 submissions, ranging from 6/16/08-8/14/08.  There are also a few older submissions going all the way back to April.  These authors made the silly mistake of sending their submissions down to our VA office.  The publishers don't send them along to us until a few of them have accrued.

Other tidbits people may find of interest:

1) Last time there was a final count of 2 Halloween submissions.  The intial count this time around drops this number down to 1.

2) Our number of international submissions continue to increase following our experimental policy change.  In the last batch before we announced this change, I counted 21 international submissions.  In the first batch following this announcment, the number increased to 30.  In this latest batch, the number has increased to 36 35.  The overall submission count for this latest batch is also somewhat smaller than the last one, meaning the % of international submissions has also increased. 
 
Guess that's everything.  Good luck to everyone from the last batch moving on to the next round, and good luck to everyone else this time around ...   

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total there are 257 manuscripts, ranging from 4/22/08-6/19/08.  I'll probably start slushing tonight, and a little faster than usual, since I'll be out of town a lot in July and plan to account for those missed days to keep things on schedule.

Some stuff people might be interested in knowing:

1) I've spied our first Halloween submissions ...all two of them!

2) Our policy change regarding international submissions has caused a spike in international subs, resulting in 9 more compared than last time.

3) Shawna feels we have a lot in inventory and has instructed me to be very picky.  In other words, slush stories must particularly impress me, because I will be more heartless than usual.

Good luck to everyone this time around, and to those moving on to the next round. 

 Hey Folks,

The latest batch has been received and organized. In total there are 255 submissions, ranging from 1/09/08-3/05/08.  Good luck to everyone from the previous batch moving on to the next round.

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total there are 121 submissions (my smallest batch ever), with submission dates ranging from 10/04/07-11/15/07.  Good luck to everyone this time around, and to those from the last batch going on to the next round.

Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total, there are 228 manuscripts, ranging from 8/27/07-10/16/07.  Good luck to everyone, and to those from the last batch moving on to the next round ...

Also, another sale to report for the magazine: "The Luckiest Street in Georgia"  by Vylar Kaftan.  Congrats to Vylar ...and congrats to me on snagging another slush survivor. :)

 Hey Folks,

The latest batch of slush has been received and organized.  In total there are 189 submissions, which is my smallest complete batch ever and makes for some leisurely work. :)  Submission dates range from 7/03/07-8/28/07.  Really though, it's from 7/16/07-8/28/07, because aside of  one submission from 7/03, the subs start on 7/16.  Clearly the post office lost one for a little while.  Anyway, I should start slushing tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone this time around, and to those from the previous batch moving on to the next round.

In other news, if this transfer took place a little later, I would've inflicted another of my own stories upon Shawna.  Yesterday I finished the first draft to a shorter work called "Songs of Dreaming Stars" (not so short at 10,600 words).  The temptation was to pass it along to Shawna today, but I'm happy to say discipline won out.  I'm very happy with the way first draft came out, but I also know this one isn't quite ready.  Needs some polish,  I'd like to trim it down to 10,000 words, and  whether I'm happy with this first draft or not it could certainly do with a few critiques. 

Next time.

*Pats self on shoulder for staying patient*

Greetings All,

I've just finished organized another batch of slush.  In total I have 245 submissions here, ranging from 5/28/07-7/19/07.  I'm always pleased when the slush comes in under 250.  Anyway, I should start reading tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone, and good luck to those from the last batch going on to the next round.

Hey Guys,

I picked up the latest batch of Realms of Fantasy slush today.  269 submissions in total, ranging from 3/28/07-5/31/07.  I should start slushing tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone!

First of all, it completely went unnoticed by me until after the fact, but April 3rd marked the one-year anniversary of my blog. Thanks to everyone who tunes in and makes me feel important. :)

Also, I picked up the latest batch of slush today for Realms of Fantasy. It was a bit hectic, because the place where Shawna & I usually do our slush transfers was closed off for a street fair ...and this was the one time Shawna didn't bring her cell phone. D'oh! So her husband back at their home ended up routing messages between the two of us, until we finally met in a new spot. I ended up parking in front of a fire hydrant, and given some of my previous adventures when driving into NYC to do a slush transfer, I'm relieved I got out of there without a ticket.


As to the batch itself, I've just finished sorting through it. 261 pieces in total, with postmarks ranging from 2/10/07-4/05/07, along with some older stuff dating back to December 06 that was mistakenly sent to our office down in VA. I'm going to start slushing this monster today, just to make sure I keep it under control. Good luck to anyone from the last batch moving on to the next round, and good luck to everyone else this time around ...

Hey All,

Just letting all interested parties know the latest batch of slush has been picked up and organized.  In total there are 240 pieces ranging from 1/3/07-2/16/07.  Good luck to everyone, and to those from the last batch going on the next round.

So it's 2007, and this marks my first blog entry this year.  It's rather fitting that my first blog entry should be about the Realms of Fantasy slush since most of this blog deals with this very thing.  And let's be honest, if I wasn't the assistant editor at Realms I probably wouldn't even be keeping a blog.  Anyway, let's get on with it.

I've just finished organizing the latest batch, and doing the million little things that go along with this.  All told, there are some 316 submissions ranging from 10/17/06-1/03/07.  This is the biggest batch I've had to deal with in a while, so it should keep me busy for the forseeable future.   To those of  you who have been waiting a long time for me to get to your story, and to those who have been waiting a long time for me to pass your story along to Shawna from the last batch (which I did today), I apologize for the wait.  Very unslushmasterlike.  But alas, the holiday season made it difficult for us editors to coordinate our schedules.  So here we are.

It was exhausting organzing this batch, but I didn't mind.  I got home in time to catch the opening day of the NFL playoffs, which I watched while organizing the slush.  No surprise about the Colts winning over the Chiefs, although I was VERY surprised about the way the Colts defense stepped up.  Just finished watching the Seahawks/Cowboys game at about the same time I finished with the slush, and that was a great game with a wild ending, made all the sweeter by the Cowboys choking at the end.  Now I must wait impatiently for tomorrow to root for my NY Giants to beat the dirty Eagles (I hate every team in the NFC East that isn't Big Blue).  I hate the Jets too, but it's pretty cool that both playoff games tomorrow feature a NY team.  Oh, and my official Superbowl prediction is the Chargers over the Bears.

Anyway, good luck to everyone in the slush this time around, and good luck to those going on to the next round.  And good luck to the Giants!

Hey Folks,

Just letting interested parties know that the latest batch of manuscripts has been picked up and organized.  In total there are 200 submissions, with postmarks ranging from 9/02-10/07.  If I'm feeling feisty later I'll start slushing today.  Otherwise tomorrow.  Good luck to all.