Headline news: I have a new story published! The Failed appears in the second issue of the Interstellar Literary Review.

The Failed is a story I thought would probably never be published. Although I was very proud of it, even I had to admit that it was on the quirky side, and that its subject matter would make it a pretty hard sell in most markets.

Then I saw a tweet from Interstellar, which linked to a “submissions wishlist”. Most magazines will give you a broad brush outline of what they want - or occasionally a very narrow definition of what they accept - and suggest you read previous issues to form your own ideas.

Although Interstellar also publish conventional guidelines, this wishlist was different. Multiple people from their masthead had jotted down what they, personally would like to see - covering tone, sub-genre, setting, and a few super-specific details. In itself, the list was a great source of ideas. Bit more importantly, one person wanted something that sounded, to me, like The Failed.

As a side note, the experience of working with Interstellar as been lovely. They mailed me to tell me that they would like to publish my story (which obviously disposed me well towards them!) but also sent detailed feedback from a couple of their readers, should I wish to act on it. The feedback was actually very useful and constructive - when I replied with my updated draft, I asked the Editor to pass on my thanks to one reader in particular for their comments.

It turned out to be the person whose wishes I had been deliberately aiming for :-)

There is always a home for every story. Finding it, however, can be a huge challenge. I’d love it if more magazines published wishlists!