Good Day

August 1

It's late! But I decided to write an entry, because really, this was just a hell of an awesome day.

First of all, go to Deep Outside and read my story "Bleeding West." It's got some of the same bizarre-Western sort of stuff that I'm going to do in Rangergirl, and it features a cross-dimensional cameo by my Genius of Deceit villain Cosmocrator. It's got Tecumseh's flayed skin, and scorpions, and badges, and disembodied arms... go read it! Do please leave some feedback, too... let the editors know if you liked the story. Or, I suppose, if you hated it.

Okay. The coolness of the day. I woke and went to a 9 a.m. job interview at A Certain Magazine up in the Oakland hills. It's a speculative-fiction-related magazine, a very cool one that I read regularly. I applied for an admin-gofer-general-helpmeet position with them last week.

About four minutes after I came in the door, the owner of the magazine said "You've got the job, by the way." Which took a lot of pressure off the interview, you know? I got a tour of the premises, which are remarkable. So many books. Incredibly impressive vast bookshelves that hold 20,000 volumes each (basically a complete set of all science fiction, I was told). Wonderful décor. I just stood around, trying not to let my mouth hang agape. I'm going to do scutwork for a while, filing and fetching and so on, but eventually will get to do layout, production, writing, and business stuff. This is so cool. This is blindingly cool. This is the best thing ever. I'm so incredibly happy.

Getting the job is contingent on my references checking out (which they will, my employers always love me) and on the potential kind words of one of my Clarion instructors who is close friends with the owner of this Certain Magazine. I'd be quite surprised if she said anything but nice things about me, too. Barring the unforeseen, I start Monday.

So I came home, cackling to myself on the (delightfully short and scenic) drive. I bounded into the house and woke Heather and talked and cooed and burbled and laughed in pure joy over my good fortune.

Then the phone rang.

I answered it, thinking it might be someone calling from the Certain Magazine with a question.

The person on the phone said. "I'm calling for Tim Pratt."

"This is he."

"This is [Big Name Agent], from [Big Name Agent] Literary Agency. I got your sample chapters and synopsis for Genius of Deceit.. I think it's really cool. I'd like to see the whole manuscript. Could I get a thirty-day exclusive to look it over?"

Of course I said yes, and we talked some more. I think I managed to sound relatively professional (if a bit dumb), even though I was dancing around the whole time I was talking to him.

This all happened to me before 10:15 a.m., yo. How cool is that?

*******

So, lessee. Other news. The rejection I got from Not One of Us today didn't sting a bit in the face of my good fortune. Late last night I got a longish note from the publisher of Black Gate regarding a story I sent way back in January. He loves the story, thinks it's unusual and wonderful, and has been holding on to it for some months in hopes of finding a place for it. He finally decided he wouldn't be able to do so in a reasonable time frame, since he's overstocked on contemporary fantasy. He said that in the "unlikely event" that I'm unable to find another market for the story, I should send it back to him in six months, and he might have a place for it then. Will do! Encouraging, neh? Not as good as an acceptance, but not bad.

*******

Astute readers will recall that I'm still typing my handwritten changes to Genius. Which makes sending a complete manuscript to the agent difficult. But I cranked through several chapters today, and will finish editing the rest of them tomorrow. So it'll go out, tomorrow or Friday. [Big Name Agent] will have it by Monday. Mmm. I dare not hope, but I can't help hoping...

Tor hasn't rejected the book yet, either, which is at least not a bad sign.

*******

Since I had two things to celebrate, I had two celebrations! Heather and I went to an awesome sandwich shop on Piedmont and had a nice lunch, followed by strawberryish juice. Then we came home and did our respective work for a while... we went to Ikea and got shelving and such... we got some reams of paper so I can print a great bloody lot of manuscript pages... we got in touch with Susan, and the three of us went out for the second celebration, goooood sushi at Ichi's (Heather treated me, because she's the best girlfriend ever)... we came home and bid Susan farewell and put together shelving and dealt with landlady stuff and (finally!) had a celebratory shag (it's much easier to talk about my sex life here now that I use the word "shag"-- dunno what I'll do when the Bridget Jones thing wears off)... then I worked some more.

And here I am. Tra la.

Whoo. Tra la indeed. What a day.