Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that the next issue of Membra Disjecta is going up on the 15th, and the theme is "New Beginnings" or "Pirates vs. Ninjas"... strangely, I've had no pirate/ninja submissions. But I digress.

If any of you have some flash fiction (under 500 words for us) or a story, poem, or essay about either of those things (prefer under 5k but willing to be flexible) and would like to submit, send it over to me at my profile addy, wouldja? I like to represent my peeps.

Wolfram, insent.

Amy, thanks again for your comments! As for the rest of you beta-ers...

clears throat

Seriously, if you guys get a chance let me know what you think, even if it's just a thumb up or down. Thanks again.

Wolfram, I'm dying to read it. Timing is bad though, because I'm distracted and my attention isn't good right now. You've got good people to critique, though. I hope I see it in print!

Thanks Bev, you and me both. If it ever does happen, this site and particularly this thread would be significantly responsible.

Did you not send it out yet, Wolfram?

No, we were looking for feedback by now so we could use this week for final edits and submit this Friday. (Not that we have to send it out then either, but my writing partner is very deadline-conscious, even for the self-imposed kind. I'm just the opposite, and would push and push the deadline until I'd agonized over each word and phrase 100 times.)

Right now he's rewriting my last rewrite (which will include some changes based on your comments, Amy), and I expect we'll be volleying back and forth until the end. Our collaboration has gone way better than I expected, though we're having a little trouble consensing on the ending. (Spoilerfonted not to ruin it for the betas): I want it to end on a down tempo with the protagonist in despair, and he's pushing to end it more upbeat with the protagonist reflecting a sense of hope.

I'm pretty psyched about the work in general and comments from other people we've shown have been uniformly positive so that's good.

Well, for what it's worth, I absolutely see it ending as you envision it, Wolfram.

I think Tim has ruined story-telling for me, because I'm finding the pain far more interesting than the happy.

I apologize for taking so long, Wolfram. I wanted to print the story out for reading and note taking, but my printer's been acting like a prima donna lately. I've had to send the story off to my dad, so he could print it out. Is tommorow too late to get back to you?