Fantasy & Science Fiction, personal rejection:
Dear Kalin,
Thank you for giving me a chance to read "The Last Story." This has exactly the quality I look for in translations: the language was vivid and evocative, and contained pleasant layers to it that reward rereading. One feels that the voice of the original author, and not just the plot, is reflected in the text. So that was great. I also have to admit that I very much liked the length of this -- I have a lot of inventory at novelet (7,501 words and longer) lengths right now, which means delays in getting things into publication, but I don't have enough stories in the 4500-7000 word range to help balance out the next few issues. So this hit a sweet spot for me there too.
At the same time, the story itself was mixed for me. I admired the historical and biographical elements of the story, and I liked the critical way that Poe was linked to the larger world (and not just the U.S.) tradition of speculative fiction. That was very readable. But I also felt that the speculative element in the story was slight, and functioned as an interlude or counterpoint -- it didn't feel to me that it arose out of either the beginning of the story or impacted the ending. In the end, I thought this was a very literary piece of fiction -- one that is about the genre's history much more than it is a genre story. Sometimes I buy those kinds of stories for F&SF, so I like to see them, but at the moment I'm looking for more stories with big ideas that fit solidly in the genre.
I'm going to pass on this story, but I wish you best of luck finding the right English language market for it. (You might try markets like Gamut, Shimmer, or other magazines with literary bents.) In the meantime, I feel that you and I are very close to connecting on something. The last couple stories that you've sent me have been very, very close. I hope that you will try me again with more work soon.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Charlie
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C.C. Finlay, Editor
Fantasy & Science Fiction
fandsf.com | @fandsf
(Charles Finlay may well be the nicest editor I've ever contacted. Just note his recommendations for other markets.

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