Across the Terminator in Clarkesworld

Since I started submitting short fiction, many, many moons ago, there have been a handful of markets I never really dared imagine I'd make it into.  Over the years, as the rejections from those markets piled up, that doubt hardened into a certainty, and eventually I even began to accept it.  Some things just aren't meant to be.  I'd never break that absolutely top rung of professional markets, in the same way that I'd never climb Everest or play professional ice hockey or box with Uwe Boll.  It's okay to have realistic aspirations and to know your limits.  I kept sending - because you have to, don't you? - but the thoughtfully worded rejections kind of stopped registering after a while.

Then last week I sold a story to Clarkesworld.

So, colour me surprised.  And also very, very pleased.  And still a little shocked and stupefied.

Especially since the story in question is getting quite long in the tooth now, and especially since this isn't even the first time I've sold it to a professional market.  It was scheduled to be in Digital Science Fiction, a promising 'zine that I was really sad to see stop publishing just before Across the Terminator was due to come out.  So I guess the fact that I've sold it to two pro markets in a row means it must be one of my best short stories; it's certainly one of my favourites ... but then then I always say that, don't I?  It's about love and politics and it's set on the moon, one of those subjects I seem to keep coming back to, and unlike a lot of my science fiction it contains some actual real science that I did actual research to try and make sound plausible.

You can read Across the Terminator here, or follow the links from the Clarkesworld home page to pick up this issue in any electronic format you can realistically think of.