Out of the blue a few weeks ago I received an email whose subject line left me perplexed. Re: THE SHOE TREE. Strange, as I’d sold that story a little over a year ago. (see Sam’s Dot Publishing.) Upon reading I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Michael Bailey, editor at Written Backwards, had remembered my story from when I’d submitted it to his previous anthology (Pelucid Lunacy) and wanted to know if it was available for a new charity anthology he’s putting together as he thought the story would be a perfect fit. He wanted it even if it was as a reprint. To be honest I couldn’t even recall when I subbed The Shoe Tree to him. When I check my email history I saw that it was over two years ago! Plus he’d sent back a form rejection!  Just goes to show that you shouldn’t be discouraged by rejection letters. When an editor says Sorry, I’m going to pass on this one . . .  it doesn’t mean that the story necessarily sucks, but that its not what he/she’s looking for for that specific project.

As a novice writer I was thrilled to hear that someone liked my story so much they marked it off in their email history as something to keep in mind for the future.

Well, I told him I’d be honored to have my story in Chiral Mad.

And here’s why. (Although I won’t be getting any monetary compensation. You see, I have this rule: Get paid for what you write, even if its only a few bucks.)

1. It’s a charity anthology. All profits go to Downs Syndrome charities.

2. Mr. Bailey liked my story enough to seek me out years after I submitted to him.

3. The anthology has a killer cover. (Did I tell you the Michael Bailey does great artwork besides writing?)

4. This will be my first reprint sale . . .  and I technically didn’t have a hard-and-fast rule concerning reprints and compensation.

5. The authors who I’ll be sharing a TOC (table of contents) with have quite a few Bram Stoker awards/nomination among them (as well as other awards and multiple sales within the horror field). Here are a few from the official list:

Gary Braunbeck
Gord Rollo
Erik T. Johnson
Gene O’Neill
Jack Ketchum (Stephen King said this about Mr. Ketchum: Who’s the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum.)
Michael Bailey

Can you tell that I’m excited?!