“The Summoning” is the second story I wrote after taking a break from writing, and has my longest submission history to date. The story began after I lost a bet, and had to follow a prompt: write a story about a ghost haunting an apartment. Easy enough. I wrote the first draft in 2021, but struggled with perspective and flow. It took a year and a half to figure out I needed two perspectives, the landlord and the tenant, to make this story work. Once I was happy with the result, I started sending out “The Summoning” to publishers in May 2022.
During those first two years of submissions, I submitted the story to 20 journals and magazines. Most returned with form rejections, but here is the personal feedback:
“You write well, and I thought overall the story’s idea was charming.”
“I like the story in general–it’s nicely told for the most part, the characters are well-developed, and I like the situation. I just feel like it resolves a little too easily or too quickly…”
“I enjoyed this light-hearted ghost story a lot. Tiniest of quibbles – Emmanuel keeps getting shut down for long, runon sentences, but the sentences don’t seem all that long to me, particularly when used in conversation.”
“There’s a good story in here, but it’s a bit buried.”
After this round of submissions, I did make tweaks to make the ending more believable, while adding in more humor.
During the next year and a half, I sent out “The Summoning” to an additional 19 publications, bringing the grand total to 39. During this time, I received a hold request from Allegory Zine, and while the story was not accepted for publication, as a runner-up it did earn an Honorable Mention.
Looking back, I’m surprised this was the only bit of positive feedback during that final stretch of submissions. Unlike other submissions, where I thought about giving up only to be motivated to continue after seeing promising feedback, only 6 out of my 38 total rejections were positive. Why did I keep sending it out? Was that Honorable Mention alone enough to keep me going?
Honestly, the answer might simply be inertia. I was submitting other stories, and this one was short, with many possible markets. I also really liked and believed in “The Summoning.” So, rejection after rejection, I kept sending it back out there, because why not? If there is a lesson here, it is to keep following good submission habits, even when you’re not so hopeful.
And then, in April of 2026, I received an offer from Amazing Stories to publish “The Summoning.” It is set to appear first for their members-only Patreon on August 3rd, and free for everyone to read on August 10th. I am thrilled my silly little story about a ghost haunting an apartment finally found a home after all these years, and hope you enjoy it.
Daniel Kason 
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