Daniel Kason

During January 2025, I submitted five stories to publications, including Penumbric (2 submissions total), the Noncorporeal III: Nightfall anthology (1^st submission to anthology series), Fantasy Magazine (1^st submission to this resurrected zine), Murderfish Anthology (1^st submission), and Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest (1^st submission).

This month, I received five rejections from publications, including Sally Port Magazine (1^st rejection), Electric Spec (1^st rejection, although I do have a story published there in 2014), The Paris Review (1^st rejection in many years), Augur (1^st rejection), and Uncharted (7 rejections total; 4 positive). I think The Paris Review is the first publication I ever sent a story, way back in high school with encouragement from my creative writing teacher. We won’t discuss the merit of the story I submitted.

That wraps up January. Another relatively quiet month. I’m noticing a pattern, however: I average about 5 submissions and rejections each month. Maybe this number will rise as I continue to write more stories. I also noticed that other than Uncharted, and to a lesser extent Penumbric, these are all new submission destinations for me. Is this a sign I’ve exhausted the usual suspects, or am I branching out? Probably both, I think?

Next up: February! (I know, what a surprise)