Friday Acceptance for Catskinner Sweet, Contract Signed and Returned

Wow!  Even if it’s Friday the 13th, as this is being written, this afternoon’s email from Editor Rachael Clarke has to ne one of the _nicest_ I’ve received in a long time:  _Congratulations! I enjoyed reading your story, as it had such a wonderfully western feel to it. The creativity of bringing in cats to take care of the mice issue was humorous, and the ending was both fitting and satisfying.  I’d like to officially offer it a place within our FORGETTING SOMETHING? anthology as a reprint._

But then the call was (shall we say) enthusiastic as well:  ­Wow us with your funniest alien stories. Seriously, we want our cheeks to hurt from giggling. Examples of comical circumstances include first contact stories, abductions, interactions or curiosities, love, bumbling or blundering aliens, secret missions, capers, attacks (whether successful or foiled), and any other inter-alien or inter-species situations. Yep, humans can be in your story, too. . .

Stories can be set on Earth, other planets, a ship, or elsewhere in space. Be as creative as you like. We’re looking for all things lighthearted, rollicking, action-filled, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek, quirky, cute, unique, twisty, romantic, oddball, unexpected, and just plain fun.

And, well, I had something that could do, a reprint (reprints were okay, as long as not most recently published within the last two years) originally appearing in NUKETOWN in March 2001, a tall tale set in Ye Olde West about a cow town aspiring to become a respectable city, but suddenly struck by  a plague of green mice. . . .

So enter a mule skinner, William Sweet,  who’s sweet himself on the town matriarch’s daughter . . . well, something’s just got to be done, don’t you think?  But then why say what here?  To quote again from the acceptance email:  ­The planned publication date for this anthology is February 28, 2025.