A dream market acceptance gets an update
In which I push back on a less-than-ideal contract.
I’d like to begin this month’s newsletter with an update on one of my 2025 short story acceptances. When I receive an acceptance, my policy is not to make a big public announcement until the contract is signed. The reason for this is that sometimes, for various reasons, an acceptance may not turn into a sale. With that in mind, I received an acceptance in early March of this year from a market I’d been trying to crack for nearly a decade. That market being, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, a legacy magazine that’s been around for close to a century—and as such, a dream market for many science fiction writers, including me. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.
That said, you may have noticed I’ve said very little about this dream acceptance and there’s been no public announcement as of yet. The reason being, that I haven’t signed the contract.
Those in the writing community may have heard about the contracts that have been sent out by Must Read Magazines, new publisher of Analog, and four other legacy magazines in the SFF and Mystery genres. Contracts with terms so unfavorable for authors that this ultimately resulted in Analog and a couple of the other magazines being de-listed from The Submission Grinder. I was one of the authors who received one of these contracts shortly after MRM bought the magazines.
Now, contracts aren’t always perfect right off the bat. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m no stranger to having to ask for changes on a clause or two. I’ve also walked away from a sale previously, because I didn’t see a way to change a contract enough to suit my needs. So when I saw the boilerplate MRM had sent, I did what I usually do. I asked questions and requested changes. I did my homework and learned what it meant to waive your moral rights, etc. I even succeeded in getting them to make a few changes to the contract—such as removing the moral rights wording. Ultimately, however, I still wasn’t satisfied with the contract they were proposing, and felt I’d reached a stage in my negotiations where I was unlikely to see a contract I liked in the near future, so I sent MRM a formal withdrawal notice. Not an easy thing to do, I might add, when it’s your first sale to a dream market.
They wrote back asking me to hold off and help them further modify the contract, assuring me that their intention was to work with authors through this rough patch as new owners. With this in mind, (and having already given them over four months of my time trying to explain the issues with the contract) I recommended they reach out to SFWA’s contracts committee, as well as The Submission Grinder, to consult with these entities on how they might draft a new boilerplate more in line with industry standards. They initially thought I was asking for SFWA to negotiate a contract on my behalf (something SFWA can’t legally do) but I clarified that what I wanted was a new contract for all authors going forward, not just for myself. To their credit, they agreed to try working with SFWA (and with input from The Grinder’s David Steffen) to see what changes might be made.
SFWA put out an announcement late last month letting authors know they had provided MRM with some notes and sample contract language they might use. As of this writing, I have in my possession a new version of their contract. I can confirm that some positive changes have been made. That said, there are still things about the contract that I’m not happy with. I’m currently consulting with SFWA about my concerns and will be letting MRM know what changes I would still like to see before I can sign. Whether they will further change their boilerplate, or only change things for me alone (assuming they agree to change anything at all), remains to be seen. As always, I advise my fellow authors to read all their contracts carefully and make certain they understand exactly what they’re signing before they sign. And never be afraid to ask for better contract terms. If they want your story or poem, then they have to be willing to negotiate.
WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO
I just finished the editing stage for my book, Shoeshine Boy & Cigarette Girl. That means my job is mostly done (for now) and next, my publisher will be assembling everything into an actual book. That means formatting it all to look nice, and adding in a few extras I don’t want to spoil at this stage. I’m so excited for this book to come out (February 2026)! Stars and Sabers have really gone the extra mile to make it into something special that I can’t wait to share with you all.
As mentioned in previous newsletters, the past few months in my everyday life have been rather hectic, so I haven’t had a chance to write as much as I normally would. Luckily, a good portion of that is now behind me, so I’ve been getting back into the swing of things.
Part of that means participating in another Codex flash fiction contest, as a way to work out that creative muscle that hasn’t been getting as much exercise lately.
I talk a lot here about the Weekend Warrior contest, but this time it’s Flash Savior of the Universe. This one’s a little different in that the word limit it slightly higher, at 1000 words, and there’s a bit more time to write, as well as to offer feedback to other participants. I’ve been participating in this contest since 2019 and so far I’ve only missed 2021. It’s been slightly less successful for me in terms of fiction sales than Weekend Warrior, but I’ve still managed to sell 7 stories that got their start during this contest. To be fair, the lower success rate is largely due to the fact that Weekend Warrior has you writing up to 6 stories each time, whereas FSoTU is only half that.
Previous stories that have started during this contest:
Twelve Things that Will Occur Immediately Following Your Invention of Teleportation
Worlds Apart (coming soon to Lightspeed magazine)
This year I succeeded in writing a story for each round of the contest, which means I have three new flash pieces to send out on submission. I can’t tell you much about them because the contest requires anonymity, and while the writing portion of it has ended, the voting is still ongoing, so I don’t want to unmask myself just yet. But I’m really happy with what I have and hopeful you’ll be reading these stories soon.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
My science fiction story, “The Futility of Warning You,” came out in Factor Four this past month.
This one involves time travel which, as you know, is a favorite trope of mine. So far, I’m getting a lot of good comments about it. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
I also had another science fiction story published just yesterday. This one’s called, “And I Will Read to You About Butterflies.” This is my first publication in Heartlines Spec, and I’m thrilled people can now read this story about loss and the power of love. For now it’s only available to Heartlines Spec subscribers, but it will be free-to-read on their website on August 19.
FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS
So it seems that Factor Four really likes my style, because they also very recently accepted my story, “Falling Forever,” which makes this my fourth sale to them. They’ve been great to work with, so I’ll likely keep sending them stories.
MORE COOL NEWS
If you missed my social media announcement, I have something big coming up on the horizon. I’ve been invited to be a guest lecturer for the Odyssey Writing Workshop’s “Your Personal Odyssey” program.
This is not just an honor, but a real full circle moment for me. I attended the Odyssey workshop in New Hampshire back in 2002. I was so new to the field that I didn’t even know writing workshops were a thing before hearing about Odyssey. Nor did I have any idea that it’s tough to get into them. I might’ve been too intimidated to apply had I not been so ignorant, so I guess all’s well that ends well, because I did get in when I applied.
I have great memories from Odyssey. I learned a lot that summer. Made some good friends I still keep in touch with. And now I get to go back (albeit virtually) to pass on some of the things I’ve learned over the couple of decades since.
Now I just have to figure out if I’ve learned anything. (Ha ha)
So this will be happening on November 16. My lecture topic is: Writing Short Stories That Stand Out. I’m excited to discuss this topic with this year’s Your Personal Odyssey students. If you’re one of them, say hi in the comments.
FOR YOUR AWARDS CONSIDERATION
If you’re reading for awards and only have time to read one of my stories, the one I’d most like people to consider is, “Through the Machine,” which came out earlier this year in Lightspeed magazine and was featured by Gizmodo.
Here’s what the good folks at Gizmodo had to say about it:
“A movie star endures Hollywood’s dystopian embrace of AI in this near-future short story. ‘Through the Machine’ by P.A. Cornell evokes a ‘Black Mirror’ show-biz nightmare come to life.” - Gizmodo
This one’s already been getting some love on the Nebula Reading List, so if you’re a SFWA member who’s read and enjoyed it, feel free to give it an upvote.
You can also find my full eligibility post here.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: “Hard Times at the Four Pines Motel”
SPOILER WARNING! Be sure to read the story before reading on.
Because I’ve been participating in Flash Savior of the Universe, I thought I’d take a deeper dive into a story that got its start during that contest. “Hard Times at the Four Pines Motel” was one of two stories I wrote for the 2020 iteration of the contest, both of which were eventually sold (The other one was “Tabula Rasa”).
The idea came from an image prompt of a stretch of road. The picture made me think of roadside motels, but then I needed an actual plot for the story. So roads and road travel got me thinking about teleportation. Who hasn’t at one point wanted to be able to instantly travel to another destination without needing to deal with things like airports or long drives? How great would it be to step into a Star Trek-style transporter and just appear in the right spot? No need to pack or anything.
But then I started thinking about the downside of inventing something like that. How would this technology affect our world? There would be advantages, sure, but for some, this would cause some real problems. Mainly, people who make their living through various means of travel, or whose livelihoods are travel-adjacent.
So I set my story at this roadside motel, that has the unfortunate distinction of being smack dab in the middle of what until then has been a hub of well-traveled highways—only now, no one’s driving.
This story has a pretty light tone, and the conflict is one that’s unlikely to happen any time soon—at least I’m pretty sure we’re nowhere near transporter level tech just yet. But one thing we can relate to even now is the way technology has altered, and continues to alter, our lives. My kids, for instance, are at an age where they’re making choices for their future careers, and one thing they’ve had to consider is whether technology is going to render some fields obsolete in the near future. They’re very aware that in some cases they’ll be competing against robots, and have factored that sort of thing into their decision-making process.
If you look back further into history, technological advancements have always had a positive effect in some ways, and a negative effect in others. In short, when the world changes, some of us adapt quickly and thrive in spite of this change—while those who fail to adapt in time, may be left behind with the dinosaurs.
So my characters are faced with this reality. They’re a young family who thought they had their future quite literally handed to them along with the keys to this motel, only to discover that it’s not so easy.
And yet…sometimes it’s precisely when the ground is torn out from under you that you find you know how to fly.
A few years back, just before my son was born, we had some things change in the life of our young family, and for a moment it looked like we might lose our home. This was devastating. We’d moved to a place we loved. This was our first home we’d owned, rather than rented. We’d made friends. It was the perfect community to raise our kids in. Things were going well. The last thing we wanted to have to do was to start over somewhere else that likely wouldn’t be as good.
It was that desperation that led me to consider something I’d thought about before, but had never seriously believed I’d do. I started a business—in this case a home daycare. Now, I’ve never been the kind of person who would say they love children. I don’t dislike children, per se—After all, I’ve made three of them—but I’m also not the person who’ll ooh and ah over your new baby (And no, I don’t want to hold them.) Even as a kid, babysitting was something I did for cash, not for fun.
I was already a mom of two, though, with another one on the way, so I knew I had the skills for it. I’m also a creative person who has absolutely no problem coming down to a child’s level and meeting them eye to eye with my own inner child. So it turned out I was actually perfectly-suited for this job. I came up with imaginative crafts for the kids to do. I taught them basic skills, and of course helped them with basic needs. I made them fun meals and snacks, and even had them assist on some of these. And often I acted like a complete fool in front of other adults just because it made the kids happy when I did.
Fun Fact: The name “Four Pines Motel” was inspired by the “Twin Pines Mall” from the movie Back to the Future—a favorite of mine as a kid, and possibly one of the reasons I write so many stories about technological mishaps.
I ran my daycare for a few years, but by then we were in a better situation and no longer in danger of losing our home. Around this time, the Canadian government also changed the laws around home daycares and made them less-attractive as a business. The daycare had helped us stay afloat for a while, but it was clear that time had come to an end. Also, all but one of my clients were moving on to kindergarten, so it seemed like everything was right for a change, and I made the decision to close my business the summer before they started school.
Recently, I watched a few of my former clients graduate middle school, along with my son. It was very surreal to see them all older and moving on to high school.
When I wrote “Hard Times at the Four Pines Motel,” I wasn’t consciously thinking about this time in my life but it was likely spinning around in my subconscious mind all the same. I knew what it was like to plan for a life, only to be faced with losing it and having to quickly adapt to changing circumstances to make it work. In the end, my family was okay, and we still live in the same house. And like us, my characters manage to make their situation work too, by changing the focus of their business.
For me, it’s not a stretch to say it was my kids who gave me the idea to open a daycare, and the confidence to know I could do it. And for my characters, it’s their son’s love of cars that leads to the solution to their problem.
The version I wrote for Flash Savior of the Universe was okay, but I didn’t love it. I made a few changes based on feedback I received from the contest, but even then, I felt like it was missing something. Nevertheless, I did send it out on submission to a few places, but got no nibbles, and since I wasn’t happy with it myself, I set it aside for a while, or “trunked” it, as we writers say.
Now and then I’d still think about it, and one day I took it out and gave it a more thorough revision. It was finally a lot closer to where I wanted it to be, so I sent it off to a market I hadn’t tried yet—Short Édition, a publication based in France, but with story dispensers around the world and an online magazine called Short Circuit. Several of my friends had made sales to this market and seemed pleased with it, so I decided to test the waters with this story.
The folks at Short Édition proved great to work with. They even gave me some further suggestions to help strengthen a segment of the story near the end, and with that, I finally had a version I was truly satisfied with. This is the kind of partnership you need sometimes when it comes to writing—and I say this as someone who has also been an editor. Some stories come very easily and might not need editing at all. But some need the benefit of a second (or more) set of eyes to see what’s missing. This was just such a case, and I’m glad I sent this story to this market that saw what it could be.
I’ve since had another story accepted by Short Édition, and I promise I’ll tell you about that one soon when I’m ready to make a more formal announcement (once the contract’s signed). I look forward to working with them again.
“Hard Times at the Four Pines Motel” was originally published in January 2025 in Short Circuit and through Short Édition fiction dispensers worldwide.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. As the song says, see you in September!
P.A. Cornell