Rejection #3

Dear Mr. Azar:

Thank you for your interest in publication with Drollerie Press. Unfortunately, LIQUID MARBLE is not quite right for us at this time. We wish you every success in finding a home for it. That said, I really enjoyed certain aspects of your voice and hope you will submit to us again.

Sincerely,

***** ******

Senior Editor,

Vice President of Communications

Liquid Marble is the first story I wrote for a series of paranormal detective stories about a character I have. I'm very happy with the development of the series, and plan on putting together anywhere between 12-15 stories about this one character into a single book. This series has been my focus for the past bit, and while I'm disappointed that it was rejected, but am glad of the encouraging words. I currently have another of the detective stories submitted to the same publisher, lets hope that it doesn't join this list of rejections.

Teen Moms

I've only recently stumbled upon this show, so for those of you who don't know it "Teen Moms" is an MTV 'reality' show that follows several teenage mother.

The notion of glamorizing teenage pregnancy and parenthood is appalling.  Some might make the argument that the point of the show is to display the struggles these girls are going through or some such crap, but it's telling girls that its OK to spread your legs when you don't know any better, MTV will put you TV.  The show is called a documentary, but its watched for entertainment purposes.  I see people posting about it on Facebook, gossiping about it like its a daytime soap opera, doesn't seem like the point of a 'documentary'.

Everyone keeps saying they feel bad for the moms, but they put themselves in the situation they're in.  Feel bad for the kids people.  We always hear about the tragic lives of child actors, just imagine how much worse it's going to be for these kids, literally being born on MTV.  What kind of lives are they destined to have?

Ask yourselves this, will this show help the teen pregnancy rate? And if not why is this show on the air?

Heartbroken MP3 Player

Apparently, my MP3 player either just went through a bad break up that I don't know about, or it likes to rub in the fact that i'm single.  The following are the last ten songs it played in order.

The Police - Bed's Too Big Without You
Portishead - Sour Times
Case - I'm Missing You
Bobby Darin - Lover Come Back to Me
Mary J Blige - Ain't Really Love
Al Green - Tired of Being Alone
Solomon Burke - Let Somebody Love Me
Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing
Eisley - I Wasn't Prepared
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up

Oddly enough I felt better once the Prodigy song played... not that I'd ever condone that.

Rejection Letter #2

The first letter I posted was the first rejection I received, but moving forward, I'll be posting them in no particular order. Frankly, I can't recall what order they came in.


Alex Azar,

Thank you for your giving us the opportunity to read No Lights. Sadly, we regret to inform you that we are declining acceptance at this time. The idea was very interesting and we could see the inspiration from the Slaves on Dope song, but overall we felt the story itself wasn’t quite the right fit for Rock is Dead. Thank you again and we wish you the best of luck placing this story in another market. We do our best to reply in a timely manner so please report our response time at Duotrope’s Digest http://www.duotrope.com.
****** & ******


This story was doomed to be rejected for this particular anthology from the moment I submitted it.  The anthology was calling for dark/horror stories that were inspired by music.  And while I still feel the story fits the theme of the anthology, it was not inspired by any song in particular.  I had to google random themes from the story and find a song that could fit.  I found a song called Kafka Bug by Slaves on Dope, a song I never heard of before, and not really the type of song I like, but again it fit.  I don't know if the editors were able to tell that I put that together last minute, or if they actually felt that the story wasn't quite right.


In any case, I still like the story and currently have it out for a different submission.  If it doesn't make it, I'll post it here.

Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks

I'm not sure when society forgot the original meanings of these words, but they've been devolved into a synonymous equivalent for loser.  These three terms are vastly different, and not necessary tied together.  Allow me to explain;

Nerds are those that are naturally book smart, usually to an annoying degree.  Nothing inherently 'uncool' about them.

Geeks are people fanatical about a certain subject; i.e. Star Wars, comic books, or the like.  While typically viewed in a negative light, some forms of 'geekness' are socially acceptable.  These accepted geeks normally have the approved qualifier attached to their title, such as a music geek, or movie geek.

Dorks are individuals with little or no social skills, and are closest to the aforementioned loser.

While anyone can be one, all, or any combination of these three, people are not mutually all or none.  I, for one, am a nerd (as this post painfully demonstrates) and a geek, however I am not socially awkward, not a dork.

So next time you decide to call someone a geek, make sure you don't mean dork.

This public service announcement is brought to you by Azar Rising.