Dear Reader, Issue 8, Volume 1

Paid subscriptions, an exciting rejection and YA musings.

Dear Reader:

In the wee hours of the morning, with sweaty palms and a gleam in my eye, I launched a paid subscription option to Future Thief. Worry not, free subscribers. You will continue to receive weekly short stories and the bi-weekly Dear Reader. The paid option, which is $5/month or $50/annual, is called The Backstory, and is an additional perk.

The Backstory, a section of Future Thief, is a monthly behind the scenes look at two short stories posted the previous month. The inaugural October backstory, free to all subscribers, is an example of what you will get as a paid subscriber:

Magic in the Air / Aliens in the Office

When considering a paid option, the one word I kept coming back to was value. That’s right, I put it in italics and in bold. It’s that important. The value had to benefit all readers, whether or not they are writers. I’ve shared before that one of my primary goals is to connect with people that love to read and aren’t necessarily a part of the Substack writing or creative communities. I want to continue these efforts, especially with the paid option.

Writing about the craft of writing was therefore, off limits. There’s enough of that available as it is, and by well-known and established authors. I’m also not an editor, publisher or agent. Insider knowledge of the fiction market is out of my grasp, which leaves me with my stories. That’s a good thing. I know a lot about my stories.

This all piggybacks off the most popular question that writers get asked, by fans and other aspiring writers: Where do you get your ideas? That’s the value I provide. My ideas are mine alone, come from my personal experiences, interests, and passions and can only be shared by me. Whether or not you want to get into my head is another question. One that only you can answer. 

Intoxicating Rejections

I received my very first rejection with positive feedback from Joshua Fagan, the editor of Orion’s Belt. In summary, I reached the final round of review, he enjoyed the story and was surprised that I have yet to be published. Very cool! That puts more gas in the tank. It came down to not being the right fit in comparison to stories submitted by other authors around the same time.

Normally, I don’t resubmit to another outlet, but I decided to have my first go at Clarkesworld. After some feedback and a few slight changes, I submitted. Less than 48 hours later, I received a rejection! Their process is a well-oiled machine. You know your position in the reading queue, whether or not you make it to the second round (top 3%), and you can submit again within a week of being rejected.

I thought about submitting to Uncharted next. Instead, I’m going to post it here on Substack. The story has some humor to it, and is a fun, short read that I think you will all enjoy. I was also tempted to submit to Factor Four, but they are a flash fiction outlet, requiring the story to be under 1,000 words. If you’re looking for some fantastic speculative flash fiction, definitely check out the magazine. 

Young Adult (YA)

After posting my short stories The Backrooms and Born of the Abyss, I realized that many of my characters are children, or younger siblings. This is not a conscious decision on my part, but I wonder if that puts me in the YA camp. While I don’t mind the label of YA author, all of my subscribers that aren’t family are adults. Have similar thoughts crept into your mind while reading my stories?

There must be a system that classifies a work as adult or young adult, but I certainly don’t know what that is. My intention is to start filling the week’s stories with more adult characters, while thinking this through… or overthinking this through.

Happy Reading,

Brian Reindel