The downside to submitting stories to potential markets electronically is that you can get rejected pretty damn fast. The upside to submitting electronically is that you can get rejected fast, so you’re not sitting for three months, wondering.
Neo-Opsis didn’t want “Outside, Looking In”. Apparently the story was too sneaky and underhanded:
[It] seems to be done in an artsy style that keeps the reader guessing about what is really happening. This style can make it difficult for some readers to get into a story. Often readers need some thread to hold onto, something they can understand and relate to, that will take them through the unusual.
Well, that’s kind of my style. I like to play my cards close to my vest, as they say.
Oh well. On to the next one.
Later—Submitted to Son & Foe. Hopefully it goes well…
Haven’t heard of Son & Foe.
Personally, I’m delighted when I get that sort of detailed feedback. Beats hell out of Strange Horizons, who sent me (4 months late) their standard ‘sorry, not for us’ letter, along with a lecture as to how I should have queried them after 60 days, etc., etc.
I heard about them here; apparently they’re still in pre-production for their first issue. I haven’t heard anything yet…
As far as Strange Horizons, I haven’t had problems with them yet. They’ve always been fairly prompt. Too prompt, in one case (the one where they found my story in the Google cache of a Writers’ BBS page…)