REJECTION SLIPS
I have had a lot more. I wonder where they are?
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Look! The famous Stanley Schmidt wrote me a note. He didn't take the story, though.



Acceptance Letter for Christmas Time Out West Song Randall Paul.jpg


Riverhawk Fake Acceptance Letter.jpg


THIS ONE MUST BE ABOUT 1965/66??
I still have the story: falling%20star.html


Burrough's rejection slip.jpg
EVEN EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
GOT REJECTION SLIPS
Unfortunately, that ALL I get.



Justin Wilde Final Rejection of Christmas Time Out West.jpg

Mom's Poems for Class and Publishing 09.jpg
Mom's Rejection Slip




Shared with Your frien
Posted in FB Oct 19, 2013
Shared with Your frie
Dear Tom,
Thank you for submitting Weissman Fencing to Bartleby Snopes. We appreciate the chance to read your work. Unfortunately, this piece is not for us. The writing is good, but we wanted to see more in the way of character development. The ending also felt a bit flat.
Good luck with this one elsewhere. Please try us again in the future, but please wait at least a week before submitting again.
Sincerely,
Nathaniel Tower
Managing Editor, Bartleby Snopes
THE ENDING A BIT FLAT? ARE YOU MAD? IT WAS THE MOST ROUNDED THING I EVER WROTE!





This next one might as well be a rejection slip. Wish someone "thought the world of me and my opinions." Christ.

Planet Busters Letter Holt.jpg

From my Journal May 2, 1983:
Monday Planet Busters was returned by Ace.

36 YEARS LATER:

Planet Busters Final Cover.jpg


REJECTION SLIPS FOR "THE SLUGGARDS"
Read the Sluggards here.
HEY, C.C. Finlay of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction gave me what looks a bit like an actual personal comment on the story, but Isaac Asimov Magazine rejected it in FOUR DAYS! Clarkesworld tossed it out of the slush pile in under 24 hours!


I'm not giving up! It's a great story .
Curses! Rejected again! Doesn't work for him, does it?
Dig this cat's name. JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS? THAT'S what doesn't work here.
He can't decide if he is a disciple, the messiah's dad, or a founding father!
LIGHTSPEED REJECTED IT.


GODDAMN IT! THESE BASTARDS HAVE REJECTED IT TOO!



AND YET ANOTHER PUBLISHER REJECTS THE SLUGGARDS ON OCT 3, 2015:
Dear Tom Cole,

Thank you for submitting "The Sluggards" to Strange Horizons, but we've decided not to accept it for publication.

We appreciate your interest in our magazine.

--Lila

An Owomoyela, Catherine Krahe, and Lila Garrott
Fiction Editors, Strange Horizons
fiction@strangehorizons.com

ANOTHER REJECTION OF THE SLUGGARDS. DOGGONE IT!
JANUARY 2, 2015  It took them just six days!!!
Dear Tom,

Many thanks for sending "The Sluggards", but I'm sorry to say that we don't think it's quite right for Interzone. We wish you luck placing it elsewhere, and hope that you'll send us something new soon.

Best wishes,
Andy
Interzone
TTA Press

DOGGONE IT! JUNE 16, 2016. Apex rejects it! I shall never give up!!!!

THAT'S SIX (7) REJECTIONS FOR THE SLUGGARDS. I shall NEVER give up!
Not One of Us

This is eight REJECTIONS FOR THE SLUGGARDS. I shall NEVER give up!


This is 9 REJECTIONS FOR THE SLUGGARDS. I shall NEVER give up!

TENTH REJECTION:
February 4, 2017 Email
Dear Tom Cole,

Thank you for sending us "The Sluggards". We appreciate the opportunity to read it. Unfortunately, the piece as it is, is not for us.

Tom, I would be happy to reassess this piece, but I think your background information in the first 14 pages is a little too much like info-dump. If you rework and send it back to us, send to the resubmissions section.

Please record this response in Duotrope.com if you used their tracking facilities.

Thanks again. Best of luck with your future writing.

Sincerely,
Sophie Yorkston
Editor, SQ Mag

HOLY COW--SHE ASKED FOR A REVISION AND I DID NOTHING. AND NOW THE MAGAZINE ISN'T OPEN!
now they've gone bust...

THE ELEVENTH REJECTION
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show REJECTS THE SLUGGARDS. THE CRAZY FOOLS



THE SLUGGARDS:  OCTOBER 31, 2018 SUBMISSION TO AMAZING STORIES
Your responses were successfully submitted. Thank you! You can view the status of your story at
https://submission.amazingstoriesmag.com/stories/
NOV 18 I GOT REJECTED FOR NOT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
RESUBMITTED THE SAME DAY.
I DON'T READ SO GOOD:
NO NAME ALLOWED ON THE MANUSCRIPT.

ON NOVEMBER 18, 2018 I got this:
I resubmitted immediately and on Nov 21, 2018 I saw that it was under editorial review which means they say that it has been sent to an editor for a second look after being reviewed—or perhaps it means I screwed up and an official has to see if it should even be queued. We'll see. Hope it's the former though I should have thought I'd have been put at the end of the line after goofing up.
WELL, THAT'S DONE:
JANUARY 7, 2019 THE TWELFTH REJECTION:
Dear 
Thank you for submitting your story "The Sluggards" to Amazing Stories. Unfortunately, it is not what we are looking for at this time.
Best of luck with your future writing.
Ira Nayman
Managing Editor
Amazing Stories Magazine
 ****************


WHO GETS IT NEXT? WHO GETS A CRACK AT REJECTING THIS??
WE'LL SEE...
It's....
13.  editor@giganotosaurus.org
Sent on February 10, 2019
My name is Tom Cole and my story is “The Sluggards,” which is about 6,600 words long.
I have three grammar textbooks published by Prentice Hall Regents and the University of Michigan Press.
I have no published fiction.
WELL, LET'S SEE.
I made a few minor changes to improve it a little.
I THINK THEIR WEBSITE SAYS IF YOU DON'T HEAR FOR A CERTAIN TIME TO CHECK WITH THEM
WELL IT'S SIX MONTHS NOW AND A FEW MONTHS AGO I TOLD THEM I'D BE RESUBMITING TO OTHER MAGS.
THIRTEENTH REJECTION

14.  Thank you for your submission to Andromeda Spaceways Magazine
August 19, 2019
REJECTED:

Thank you for submitting to Andromeda Spaceways.

Sadly, we find that we can't use your submission at this stage. If you wish to know whether there are any comments on your submission, please visit https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.andromedaspaceways.com_submissions_index.php&d=DwIBAg&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=8p6tCTU3t8mWJWBKZOG9HEwKIssubXWDz3LfnFlxEp8&m=eUpJB3Jpm1-BPDppBxjLwzkYEKvAkeY9DNhZBTQ3N6g&s=wFaOYQNZn_MltaoWAC2hHzu7KZlrR3QPw2g23QQgFpY&e=  to log in.

OKAY, LET'S GIVE THE NEW YORKER A CRACK AT THIS.
SENT DEC 11, 2020. IT HASN'T BEEN OUT IN AGES.
OH, I KNOW IT'S A LONGSHOT, BUT NO ONE ELSE IS ACCEPTING MANUSCRIPTS AND I JUST EMAIL THEM A PDF!
EASY
Fiction submissions: Please send your submissions (as PDF attachments) to fiction@newyorker.com, or by mail to Fiction Editor, The New Yorker, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. We read all submissions within ninety days, and will contact you if we’re interested in publishing your material. We regret that, owing to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to call or e-mail unless a story is accepted for publication. If you have not heard from us within ninety days, please assume that we will not be able to publish your manuscript. Submissions sent by regular mail will not be returned, so please do not send original copies of your work.
fiction@newyorker.com

Thank you for your submission. Please note that all manuscripts are 
read and considered for publication, but, due to the volume of 
submissions we receive, we are unable to provide a personal response 
to each one. If your manuscript is right for the The New Yorker, you 
will hear from us within ninety days. If you do not hear from us in 
that time, please assume that we were unable to find a place for it. 

Thank you for being in touch, and best of luck with your writing. 

The Editors


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AUDIE MURPHY
Just Joking, folks.

Audie Murphy was famous for mowing down something like 50 Germans with his machine gun. Got the nickname Audie because he used an Automatic gun to massacre those poor slobs and because afterwards everyone noticed that the sound of the gunfire damaged his hearing and nothing much was AUDIble to him. Thus AUDIE. Get it?

Besides being an expert in slaughtering Krauts, he also wrote songs and liked to knit. I made up the knitting part.


His songs include:

1. I Shot You, Babe
2. Killing Me Softly with .50-Caliber Ammo
3. I Shot the Jerries, but I Did Not Shoot the Deputy Down
4. Audie's Got a Gun
5. Happiness Is a Warm Gun and a Dead Kraut
6. Hey Audie, Where're Ya Going with That Machine Gun in Your hand?
7. Bang Bang I Shot My Germans Down
8. Down by the River I Shot My Liebling Jungen
9. Just Like Tommy Gun's Blues
10. Johnny B. Good and Dead
11. Kraut Dust
12. Kill Your Krauts on Route 66
Audie also apparently wrote songs with this cat Mr. Scott Turner. They were pals.
Scott Turner sent me a tape that talked to me for a few seconds and then he said he had to switch microphones whereupon the pre-recorded pitch for seminar attendance at a price started. A little like this so-called acceptance letter from people who want to charge for recording the song.

Click to view these two:

Scott Turner and Audy Murphy2.jpg

Scott Turner and Audy Murphy.jpg



MORE SONG REJECTIONS


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