Deanna Hoak

Doug Cohen at Realms of Fantasy sent me a nice note today, saying that he was passing a story of mine along to Shawna. He said he figured out the ending halfway through, which was not good, but then added:

But the writing and characterizations are so solid, and you do an excellent job in capturing a rather creepy mood while still keeping the tale drenched in sexuality. The way you went about reaching this ending is also rather different than the usual cliched approaches. So given all these factors I’ve decided to pass this piece along to Shawna for further consideration.

Then later he reassured me that the ending wasn’t hugely obvious and added:

Of all the stories I’ve encountered so far during my run with the magazine you write the best sex scenes by far….You obviously have a gift for this sort of writing. Have you ever considered writing straight erotica? It’s a booming market these days.

So that was wonderful to hear–especially considering it’s my first time to sub to ROF–even if nothing further ever comes of it. :-)

And I do have an erotic fantasy/historical bumping around in my brain. I need to see if I can get it out on paper. :-)

(And as a writing aside, I did intend to sub to the F&SF slush bomb. I started too late and couldn’t have a story shipshape in time, though; it would have defeated the whole purpose to sub something substandard, so I didn’t sub at all. I have some great hard-science bones for one, though, and I can always send it when it’s ready.)