Naughty Contract Received, Set for Sun. March 3

Another fun little “femme fatale,” or sometimes things do move fast (see, e.g., February 24). In this case the call was exactly one week back, February 22: Our editors are looking for previously published flash fiction and short stories that fall into the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Flash fiction should be up to 1,200 words, . . . Brownie points if your work can make us chuckle.

The magazine was METASTELLAR and reprint flash doesn’t pay, but [a]ll reprints are eligible for inclusion in our “best of the year” anthologies and are considered for our You Tube story time channel, and you will be contacted if your story is selected. Well, no results on the latter possibilities quite yet (the story, however, takes place on Christmas so there’s still plenty of time), but this word came today: Your short story “Naughty or Nice?” is scheduled to be published on Mar. 3, 202. [I’m assuming that final number is meant to be “2024.”] A link which will be live then was included along with a very nice illustration for my approval (which it got, and is reprinted here), plus bio information and links — again all done quite well — and a contract, that last signed and sent back this afternoon.

The story itself is one I’m fond of, the second (I think) that I’d sold to a then very respected ezine, DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, and published December 21 2011. The story title is “Naughty or Nice” and the femme, noted above, a lady who calls herself Mignonette, an immigrant to Paris from a land farther east who is just getting used to Western customs — in this case that of sending a wish list for Christmas to Saint Nick. (But the setting out of milk and cookies too? . . . so many details!)

And in three days the link I was sent will go live, so stay tuned to be able to read it yourself this Sunday!