A short story accepted for the The Best Asian Speculative Fiction Anthology by Kitaab, and why I’m chuffed.
I had written a few spooky stories which I’d sent out a long while ago. It all rubberballed right back to me, with kind words of rejection from some of the leading publishing houses in India. A noted literary magazine in India first mailed back saying they loved this one I’d sent them on being requested to send them a story and would be carrying it and then went all ghostly silence on me. It made me wonder, was it really that terrible a story? But the story haunted me, compelled me to keep thinking about where I could send it.
When I saw the call for submissions for the proposed anthology, The Best Asian Speculative Fiction by Singapore based Kitaab.org, I sent this story out on a whim and a prayer.
Yesterday morning I received a lovely email from the editor of the anthology, Rajat Chaudhari, informing me that he would like to include this story in the anthology, and I quote from the mail, “Your language is powerful and evocative and the horror leaves one shaken….”
Rajat Chaudhari, for those who might not be familiar with his work, is the author of three works of fiction – Hotel Calcutta, Amber Dusk and a collection of stories in Bengali titled Calculus. He has been a Charles Wallace Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Chichester, United Kingdom, a Hawthornden Castle Fellow, Scotland, a Korean Arts Council-InKo Fellow resident at Toji Cultural Centre, South Korea and a Sangam House India resident writer. This year, he was a judge for the short story segment of Asian English Olympics organised by BINUS university, Indonesia.
Kitaab.org was founded in 2005 by journalist and writer Zafar Anjum in Singapore as a space to celebrate and critique Asian writing in English. Headquartered in Singapore, Kitaab provides a writing and publishing platform to emerging and seasoned writers from the region to express themselves creatively.
The reason for this long post? You might have setbacks, but believe in your work and your writing. Keep sending it out into the universe. If you’ve written from the heart, the world will make space for it on its bookshelves.
The anthology should be out next year.
