ASIM pre-slushing workshop

alexshvartsman · Jan 20, 2011

Found this today and thought it might be of interest to some of the folks here. Andromeda Spaceways is offering a workshop for your SF/F short fiction (or at least the first 300 words of it), to take place in early March. Their editors will read the first page of your story (and in some cases the while story) and offer feedback/critique.

Here are the details:

http://pattyjansen.wordpress.com/20...ways-inflight-magazine-pre-slushing-workshop/

AnnieColleen · Jan 20, 2011

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.

icenine · Mar 4, 2011

Asim has a rotten slush process. Many of their readers are semi-literate. I've had several rejections from Asim and whilst I'm not one of those writers who complains about rejection (it's a fact of life and you deal with it) I take exception to Asim's slush readers. On both occassions of rejection from Asim, the note from the reader was poorly spelled/written. When you get a rejection like that you just know you are dealing with unprofessionals unfit to judge your work. May I suggest instead of a fiction workshop from Asim, an English workshop for their slush readers.

alexshvartsman · Mar 4, 2011

While everyone's experiences may differ, I think that ASIM's track record for publishing quality fiction speaks for itself.

Upon reading your comment I pulled up my own two first-round rejections from ASIM. Both were very brief, but to the point, and helpful in explaining why they passed on those subs. They are definitely a market I will keep submitting to.

AlwaysJuly · Mar 5, 2011

This looks neat - I'm definitely going to sub something that week.

Dragonquester · Mar 7, 2011

Hi. Thanks for the news. It looks like a good opportunity

GreenRoom · Mar 23, 2011

Looks like this is a go as of a few days ago.

http://pattyjansen.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/the-asim-pre-slush-workshop-now-open/

Nathaniel Katz · Mar 23, 2011

I just sent in the first 300 words of my latest story. Looking forward to the comments.

Rufus Leeking · Mar 23, 2011

Nathaniel Katz said:
I just sent in the first 300 words of my latest story. Looking forward to the comments.

please calm my paranoia. You posted the work as a comment? It asks for a reply, but I didn't see how to do that.

AnnieColleen · Mar 23, 2011

You post it as a comment on a different blog, linked in the instructions. (Where it says "Post a new comment.")

Rufus Leeking · Mar 23, 2011

AnnieColleen said:
You post it as a comment on a different blog, linked in the instructions. (Where it says "Post a new comment.")

thanks. that is what i did, but the instructions say "reply" not "comment" so I was have paranoia about whether there isn't some other way to post it.

Nathaniel Katz · Mar 23, 2011

Don't worry Rufus, I was worrying about that exact thing for fifteen minutes. I reread both articles three or four times, paranoid that I was going to do something wrong and somehow lose all rights to the story or whatever.

Damian_Rucci · Mar 23, 2011

Thanks for the link, I'm going to sub the first part of my new fantasy story

entropic island · Mar 23, 2011

I can't decide whether or not to - it's a great idea, but I'm not sure my 300 words are ready.

Nathaniel Katz · Mar 23, 2011

Does anyone here regularly read ASIM? I feel like I should check them out after this, and I have heard them mentioned a lot, but an overseas subscription is punishingly expensive.

zanzjan · Mar 23, 2011

FWIW, although it's been several years since I've sent them anything, what rejections I got from them were polite, reasonably articulate, and contained useful feedback.

-Suzanne

alexshvartsman · Mar 23, 2011

Nathaniel Katz said:
Does anyone here regularly read ASIM? I feel like I should check them out after this, and I have heard them mentioned a lot, but an overseas subscription is punishingly expensive.

You can buy a PDF from their web site instead. I've been meaning to do just that. Unless they are super-mean to my 300 words, that is

Nathaniel Katz · Mar 23, 2011

True, I'm just not the biggest fan of computer reading. And, when skimming back over my 300, I noticed I left in a redundant sentence.

Rufus Leeking · Mar 24, 2011

anyone know when/where we check back for the comments?

MJNL · Mar 24, 2011

The blog that's in the original post.

A couple are already up.

AnnieColleen · Mar 24, 2011

#3 is mine.

AlwaysJuly · Mar 25, 2011

i had a story in before they closed the workshop, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to say. I've had 3 form rejections on the story I posted, so hopefully this will give me an idea what I need to do!

Nathaniel Katz · Mar 25, 2011

AnnieColleen said:
#3 is mine.

Good work, I was definitely curious to read on after the snippet (and I promise I was thinking this before I knew who the author was).

alexshvartsman · Mar 25, 2011

Patty Jansen was kind enough to mention Absolute Write on her blog as a significant source of traffic to her blog, which is hosting the pre-slushing workshop.

If you haven't yet, I would encourage those of you enjoying the updates to post a quick Thank You in the comments over there:

http://pattyjansen.wordpress.com/

Izz · Mar 25, 2011

I've popped over and left a long, rambling comment extolling AWs virtues (as well as thanking her for the workshop).

ASIM pre-slushing workshop

Invisible Writer

slugging through

brain in a vat

The Evil Hat

Invisible Writer

The Evil Hat

.

The Evil Hat

killin' all teh werds

The Evil Hat

A Little Lost

Invisible Writer

slugging through

The Evil Hat

Doing the Space Operatic