The Doldrums

Today I got back from a week in New York , and waiting patiently in my inbox were two rejection letters for a story I had sent out this fall. Par for the course, I suppose, though that doesn't make them any more pleasant. However, there was something different about one of them, which is that it rained praise down on my story, quite strongly, whilst still passing on it. Here were some of the things it said:

• 'The writer is a knockout with prose'
• '...orgasmic on the page (much to the reader's pleasure)'
• 'Astounding language. Truly.'

I swear I'm not putting these up to toot my own horn. I'm mostly confused, and a little proud. I know they don't just shoot these unnecessarily laudatory emails out to just anyone, because I sent them a story last summer, and it was rejected outright, with no frills. How strange!

Anyway, there's not much of a conclusion to draw here; I just wanted to share this oddity with the cyber world. It is nice to get some positive feedback from an unbiased source, even if it's coated in rejection. I also feel slightly validated, as it's a fairly respectable magazine, though I wish they were a little clearer about what could be improved about the story. I guess it's good to know there are humans out there reading
my submissions.

P.S. The following poster, from Psychadelic Adventure's blog, is a possible visual representation of the story that was so cruelly rejected: