An enveloping sense of achievement

Upon coming home from work last night – yes, I still have my day job – I found three identical envelopes in my mailbox, their only distinguishing feature the huge and colorful stamps. The postmark identified them as coming from Australia, so my natural assumption was that my new Writers of the Future friend, the fabulous Cat Sparks, had sent me something. With hindsight, it sort of insults her intelligence that I would think she’d send me three envelopes instead of one big one. But then again, that’s exactly what Andromeda Spaceways did…

Yes, my author copies of Issue 20 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine arrived yesterday! Beans and marbles, my silly science fiction story about two astronauts and their falling out over a cup of espresso, written at the 2004 Writers of the Future workshop, is really in there. God, I hope I never get jaded – so far, seeing my own work in print is a thrill every time.

And it’s worth mentioning here that my editors Stuart Barrow and Zara Baxter have been great, and the Andromeda Spaceways submission tracking method is the best I know. It’s a great market for beginning writers; if you’re a science fiction writer with a funny manuscript, send it to them!!

Cover art by Brian Smith courtesy of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.