Quite a break. A decent amount of news.

Exams in a week or so; naturally productivity falls. "Escapism" came back from Strange Horizons with a negative, so bumping that one down to The Leading Edge most probably. The rest are still pending (and more hopeful, since SH was a very hopeful throw).

"One of a Kind" has successfully been completed and edited, and it's the longest short story I've written to date, clocking in at 14,500 words or so. Tough one to find for the magazines, but it just had to be that long to fit the skeleton well. I'm quite proud of it's structure, engineered in three main parts with plenty of allegory and reference to Greek mythology. I often end up looking at these stories and thinking of all the stuff you get tought in high school english, and I begin to fear I'm becoming a little too literary. But I think that when a writer gains real satisfaction from a reference or double-meaning, then it's worth leaving it in.

Next in line is "Candle Wax". A variation of style in this one, narrated in the format of a series of letters. All in all, I'd define it as a dark-ish, sober fantasy. Should be interesting. The tale is already fully outlined and shouldn't stretch nearly as close in length to the above mentioned. But then that's what I always think, and somehow end up at 10,000 words on a supposed 4,000 word story with the ending yet to come. Argh! I wonder how I'll ever cope with an editor who asks me to chop chop the fat from the manuscript.

Anyway, my professor is getting this story, and he loves the chopping, so we'll see.

Meanwhile, study and back to work!