Afterword for “Exit”
As promised, a new afterword from the Long Eyes collection this Friday! 
This “short short” is the first piece of writing for which I was ever paid. The second was a spaceships-and-dopplegängers story called “Fellow Travelers” that I didn’t include in this collection because, reading it now, it makes me wince.
“Travelers” had a good, spooky idea, but at the time I hadn’t learned enough craft to execute a larger story. “Exit” avoids that pitfall by holding itself to three characters, three scenes, and one simple if frightening concept.
“Exit” was also among the last entries in a tradition perpetrated by the Moscow Moffia, a writers’ group centered around Moscow, Idaho, where I lived for a year and a half after leaving college. They ran writing challenges and published anthologies of “Rat Tales” — short stories whose conceit was that each story must start with the same sly, opening line, “There were rats in the soufflé again.” After that, you were on your own.
In its heyday, the Moffia and other writers included in the “Rat Tales” anthologies included such giants as Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Katheryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, and John Brunner. Most of them had moved to higher circles by the time I arrived on-scene, but one of the prime movers behind the group was writer, editor, and superfan Jon Gustafson.
Jon died several years ago, but he was among my first friends in sci fi. I’d never heard of science fiction conventions. Jon worked as one of the prime movers behind MosCon, which drew people from all over the Northwest for twenty-two years in a row.
I fell in with Jon and his crazy friends not long after settling in town, entered that year’s writing challenge, won first place, and was paid $5 to have “Exit” included in the MosCon XVI program guide book. I was also awarded a free membership to the con.
Next year, he paid me $60 for “Fellow Travelers” and ran it in the guide book, too.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like much to call home about, but MosCon’s guests of honor that year and the next included legends like Roger Zelazny, Gregory Benford, and Phil Folgio. Even better, in a small twist of fate, “Exit” ran alongside a reprint of a story by Doc E.E. Smith, and “Fellow Travelers” appeared with an exclusive, advance excerpt of a novel called The Tides of Tiber written by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes. The publisher, Tor, granted Jon the right to run this excerpt purely based on his reputation in the field. I was included in the same pages. That was heady stuff for a young, would-be writer, and I’ve always been grateful to Jon for his encouragement.
Since then, “Exit” has been translated into five languages worldwide, reprinted twice in English (not including this collection), and appeared twice as podcasts.
Not bad for five hundred words and a tasty breakfast.
