03 June 2020

Time Share


I have a story in the June issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine, and for that I must thank Barb Goffman, who was my inspiration.  Sort of.

I came up with the idea and the title for the story decades ago but I couldn't see a market for it so I never bothered to write it.  Then, last year, Barb announced that she was going to edit an anthology called Crime Travel, featuring crime-related tales of time travel.

And I realized my old idea fit. Sort of. It was about a physicist who hoped to invent time travel, only to discover that that is impossible - however, it turned out that he could travel through an apparently infinite number of universes.

I asked Barb if that concept might fit in her book, and she said it might.  So I wrote the story.  And Barb rejected it, as she had every right to do.

But heck, I had my story now.  Might as well look for a market.  Mystery Weekly Magazine had published one of my stories last year, a tale with a science fiction bent.  So I sent it to them and voila.  Decades after it was first dreamed up, "In Praise of my Assassin" is available now for your reading pleasure.

It's about time.

13 comments:

  1. Congratulations on placing your story, Rob! Some things just take longer to find a home, but I'm glad this one did.

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  2. Congratulations! I've always thought longevity was one of the keys to success in the arts and persistence does seem to pay off in writing.

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  3. Congratulations, Rob! Some stories just take a little longer to place - my record is, quite literally, 20 years with "Zoo Story", which finally found a home at AHMM back in the 90's.

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  4. Happy to help! And congrats on the publication. It was a good story, so I'm sure Mystery Weekly readers will enjoy it.

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  5. Rob, congrats. It's like the old Indian said in the movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales, "Endeavor to persevere."

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  6. Glad to hear I'm in good company with a time travel story that got rejected by Barb. LOL.

    Like yours, mine is also about to find a different market.

    Looking forward to reading your story!

    bobbi c.

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  7. Glad your story found a home, Rob ... and Mystery Weekly is a good one!

    Josh

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  8. Rob, I hadn't encountered that magazine until now. (Damn, I miss Borders.) Congratulations!

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  9. Congratulations, Rob. I love stories like this. May you have many more such successes! I'm sure you will because you are persistent.

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  10. Thanks, all. I always say another term for persistance is being too stupid to know when to quit. Fortunately, I qualify.

    A few days ago I was reminded of a great line attributed to Robert Benchley: "It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous."

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  11. Sounds like a great story, Rob. I love cross-genre mysteries with a scifi bent. Will get the mag soon. Stay safe. Best, Bill

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  12. Congratulations. The magazine is in my inbox, and yours will be the first story I read. BTW - Barb rejected mine, too, and this encourages me to send it out again. Thank you.
    Pat

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  13. Rob, good work! Thanks for the espresso jolt of inspiration + suspense.

    This looks like a killer issue of Mystery Weekly -- & with libraries closed, we'll each have to buy one.

    CJ

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