Anne, Deena, I loves you both with intense muchliness. Answers tomorrow to comments very gratefully received - I'll be hipdeep in the rest of the Weaver edits, though.

I'm going to have to tone down the feng shui surprise (no one knew about it when the damned book was first written, back in 1992).

Good grief, Deb - how thoroughly hideous! You have my futile, but wholehearted, sympathy.

Um. I was wondering whether it would be appropriate to post my porn anthology piece here? I wrote it way the hell back, maybe a year ago now? When we first had the idea of a short story anthology, anyway. Since that does seem to have gone pear-shaped, it's gathering dust - and as it's the only piece of original fiction I've written, I wondered if it might be worth digging it back out and having a wee look at it. I don't know whether I could make use of it at all. Hmm.

Anyway, would that be an appropriate thing to put here? Or not? It's NC17, natch. As per the remit, it's gothic horror/erotica type stuff - we did have a loose Gay Vampire Snuff Porn theme. Pretentious as hell, needless to say - it's sort of based around Coleridge's poem Christobel, and around Little Red Riding Hood too. Some people have read it already.

Hey Fay, why not post it in the anthology project? I'm actually nervous of posting anything overtly sexual here (though, okay, I did, but it wasn't really overt, was it?)

Huh, could I use the story I just did for the anthology project, do you think?

And no, I realize, because it's not vampirish. Back to the drawing board.

I want to read whatever you wrote, wherever you post it.

I need to finish my anthology story. It never ended up porny, but it's a damned good story.

I focused on the porny and hit a roadblock. I'm going to start over and focus on story and if it gets porny, yay me! Knowing me, it probably will.

I need to finish my anthology story.

I fully intend to start one. Hum.

I'd really like to try and market the thing, too, but I'm not sure how one goes about that other than mailing it out to slush piles.

And no, I realize, because it's not vampirish. Back to the drawing board.

Well, you know, they weren't all vampish. It was a very loose remit. I loved your story to pieces, and it was erotic, and it was fantastical, albeit in a post-apocalyptical way rather than an overtly gothic way. I'd give it a big Hell Yes, fwiw.

oooh, thank you Fay!

I'm being "good mommy" today. We're about to build a playhouse out of cardboard!

I'd really like to try and market the thing, too, but I'm not sure how one goes about that other than mailing it out to slush piles.

Er... that's pretty much how one sells a story unless one has a big rep already. :-)

Your writing is already better than 95% of the stuff that a slush pile receives, maybe even 99%. That doesn't guarantee that a story by you will sell, but it will surely get read all the way to the end, and maybe get a personalized rejection, depending on how strapped for time the slush pile reader is/whether the actual name editor has time enough to read and reject the mss. passed on by the slush pile reader.