Side Quest Goal Achieved: Placing an Alien Claim

This is a post that has me quite ecstatic. It's funny, I thought it was going to be one of my usual, "Hey, I achieved another one of my goals and checked it off" type deals. And it sort of is. But it sort of isn't. And it's also one of my greatest writing accomplishments of late.

In my last post about my accomplishments, I talked about how I had been accepted by a publication and was awaiting the publishing date. In that time that I was waiting, another publication-- Spadina Literary Review-- accepted another story, and then subsequently published it before the first one did. And that one wound up notching my goal of getting published in 3 publications for the year.

Obviously, I'm not like, "I only want to be published in 3 publications this year... AND NO MORE." I'd like to be published in as many as I can. But as I make my writing goals list, I try to include many different goals. For instance, finishing drafts of scripts and stories, moving on in competitions, and then, I'd love to be able to get published. So, I make three goals: Get Published in 1, Get Published in 2, Get Published in 3. Again, I'd love to get published in more. But the other boxes aren't there to be checked after number 3.

That publication that I heard from and was waiting on, that was Sci Phi Journal. Spadina accepted a different story and published it right away. So, it technically took the "Get Published in 3 Publications" check box. And then shortly after, Sci Phi Journal came-a-knocking* and said, "Greetings, we'd like to let you know that your story has been published in our latest issue. It is live now. Go tell all your adoring** fans."

* = emailing ** = mildly enthused

So, without further adieu, here is where you can go to read my story "Placing an Alien Claim" for free!

I hope you enjoy it. Now, you might be wondering, why so excited about this particular one, Steve? Stephen? Steve-A-Roo? First off, no one has called me Steve-A-Roo since third grade, and that ended badly. For me. Swung at him and lost my balance, fell down, scraped my chin. Anyway, let's get to, well, the real FIRST thing I am excited for. Sci Phi Journal is a magazine that pays semi-pro rates. I've never been accepted by a semi-pro rate magazine before, so that felt like a step up for me.

But secondly, this is a notable magazine! At the 2022 EuroCon, Sci Phi Journal won the European SF Award for Best Magazine. In years past, they've been nominated for the Locus Award and the Hugo Award. This is quite the impressive magazine, and to get published in it, well, that feels pretty special for ol' Steve-A-Roo here.

Third, this being a notable magazine, there is obviously a lot of competition. And limited spots. They also mentioned, as you can see below, that this time around they had received their largest volume of short fiction submissions to date. So, there was A LOT of competition. As a writer submitting a lot, I'm sure others are aware, you're often on the other end of that stick. Falling to the other competition. Finding out I had submitted when they received their most ever submissions, and making it through, it feels great.

Look, I wouldn't want to rub it in anyone's face, but again, you lose out so many times as a writer... to win one of these... oh, it feels nice. And really, in the end, I want to write quality fiction. To be able to get published when submitting with so many others, it makes me feel like my writing really is improving every day... and now improving to levels I'm quite happy with.

And to be a part of an issue from this stellar journal, just fantastic.

Not to mention reading their editorial piece on the issue itself, and reading their descriptions of what's included... and seeing them give a little extra detail for my story.

The way I had come up with this idea actually came when I was looking through their site and seeing what types of stuff they liked. They mentioned fictional non-fiction and I wasn't entirely certain I knew what that was. They gave some examples and I realized, "Oh! I know what that is! I've actually written a few stories in that style. I just didn't know what the name for it was."

And so, my fictional non-fiction piece showing the exchange of emails back and forth between insurance employees and a customer, all while an alien invasion is happening, was born.

I was proud of it, but shocked it got accepted right away! And by Sci Phi Journal! It's a pretty satisfying feeling, and though there is no check box to check off in this particular case, we'll view this as a side quest. One that was accomplished. Because this is something I am absolutely happy to have achieved.

Also, one last thing, super weird. I honestly just noticed while adding the link here. This was published on March 26th. I have a part in the story where the customer mentions having placed the claim on March 26th. I double checked my story to make sure that wasn't something they altered for the sake of some humor. It wasn't! I actually chose the random date of March 26th when I wrote this last year, and this story got published on March 26th! Coincidence? Did they do that on purpose? I'm going to have to ask them. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story and every other piece included in the issue!