Daniel Kason

During January 2026, I submitted ten stories to publications, including Mystic Mind Magazine (2^nd sub, 1 withdrawn), two to Parsec Short Story Contest (2^nd sub, 1 withdrawn), Three-Lobed Burning Eye (4^th sub), Permanent Flux (1^st sub), Trollbreath Magazine (2^nd sub), foorafaw (2^nd sub), Strange Horizons (3^rd sub), Escape Pod (4 subs, all positive rejections), and Uncharted (8 subs, 3 positive rejections).

This month saw the highest number of submissions since July 2025. Why the uptick? Part of this has to do with my withdrawing a few stories and resubmitting new ones (the reason for that is below). The other part is that I started submitting a short story as a reprint; specifically, “Never and Always,” originally published by readshortfiction.com in 2015. “Never and Always” is no longer available online, and is perhaps my strongest story from that original batch of publications from 2011-2015 (before I got back into writing and started this blog). So, why not? I’m also toying with sending out “Dark Creation,” my very first fiction publication (Indigo Rising Magazine, 2011), since it is similarly no longer available in print or online.  

I also received five rejections this month, including The Daily Tomorrow (2^nd rejection), Permanent Flux (1st rejection), BAM Magazine (1^st rejection, 1 positive), ShortStory Substack (2^nd rejection), and Trollbreath Magazine (2^nd rejection)

One publication said of my rejected story, “This story joined 56 others – out of 300 total submissions – in the second round of reads as I planned the magazine table of contents. But with only 5 or 6 slots available yours didn’t really fit the flow of this issue.” Sounds like I got close!

Finally, some fantastic news. This month I received two story acceptances. Penumbric Speculative Fiction (5 subs, 1 acceptance) agreed to publish my story, “Pest,” in an upcoming issue. This is the 5^th story I’ve submitted to Penumbric. I’ve always admired how they provide detailed feedback upon request, and I am thrilled to have finally landed a spot in one of their upcoming issues. Second, Ink Alchemy Books will be publishing my story, “The Lifecycle of Star Stuff,” in an anthology called Xeno, about non-human perspectives. Expect dedicated blog posts on both these stories in the future. Which reminds me – I still need to write one up on “Something Sensational.”

With three additional stories set for publication this year, things are looking up! Only three unpublished stories remain before they’ve all found a home.