Entitled “Bronsky’s Dates With Death,” it’s the story of an elderly Jewish man who keeps talking so matter of factly about his impending demise that even Death doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.
I’ll give you an update once I know when it’s going to see print.
PAD
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Congrats!
LOL! That sounds great!
…so you wrote a novella about my grandfather? 🙂
Congrats, Peter!
Cool. I look forward to it. Is this your first story for them?
Second. The first was back in 1998 (I think) entitled “The Archetype.”
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PAD
Oooooh, sounds like something to work into one of Shabbat sermons for when I sub for our Rabbi.
Congratulations!
If Death were that easily fed up, I bet Death of a Salesman would have had a much more uplifting conclusion – or at least been quite a bit shorter.
I can already forsee the crossover fanfics popping up online.
Groovy! 🙂 Looking forward to the read.
Okay, this is appearing in a magazine?
Yes. F&SF refers to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
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PAD
Ahhh okay, I am familiar with the magazine as far as seeing it on the shelves. I guess I’ll be picking it up when your novella appears.
Hooray!
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I tried submitting a few stories to them years ago, but they were all rejected. I guess you’re a better writer than I am, but I already knew that.
And for a non-authorial opinion, I heard Peter read the story at Madcon a few months back and it’s quite good. Then again, if I’m recalling correctly, I was the one who suggested F&SF to submit it to when he queried the audience after the reading (well, there and Analog, but I was joking about that).
F&SF was the natural fit for it and was where I was initially planning. However, several people at that reading suggested “The New Yorker,” which I did try first. They came back eventually and said they absolutely loved it but it wasn’t right for them. Honestly, NYer never would have occurred to me if people there hadn’t suggested it.
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🙂
Sounds like fun; I don’t often pick up F&SF (not having time to read what I already subscribe to!), but will make a point of grabbing this ‘un.
Didn’t this blog post title say “Novella” initially? What’s the difference? Don’t both refer to short novels? Or do they technically have different page counts?
I actually double checked the word length and realized that it was a novelet rather than a novella, so I changed it.
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Anybody we both know?
Kind of.
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PAD
Congrats!!!
How regularly do you write short fiction? Or is it something that just happens when an idea pops in your head?
The latter. An idea occurs to me and I just know what the appropriate length would be.
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PAD