This & That

The full manuscript for my novel Into the Sunset is still in the hands of an agent. Hopefully she’ll want to represent it, and my search will be over (I’ll post news as soon as I get it). Meanwhile, I submitted a short story of mine entitled In Bloom to an exciting and relatively new zine called TQR - Total Quality Reading. The concept of the website is that you can follow the journey of your story from submission to either acceptance or rejection. There is a messageboard where the editors hash it out, argue the merits of the story, decide whether it is good enough to be sent up to the editor at the next level, eventual publication, and a $50 pay day.

In Bloom caused a bit of a controversy, with one editor (LaFloor) showing strong support, and another (Guevara) thinking it was somewhat lacking, and should not proceed up the ladder. The gauntlet was thrown down, with a game of chess between the two to determine the fate of my story. The result? From TQR’s news page: “LaFloor won Dec 16th chess match due to Guevara's disqualification, meaning Don Capone's venture In Bloom continues its Cinderella run through the vetting hierarchy of TQR.” I’ll keep you updated as to its progress.