My First Ever Rejection (From 1991)

Whilst unpacking boxes yesterday I came across my first ever rejection. It was for a story I submitted to Interzone when I was eighteen called “…Just a dream”.

Back then I considered myself a SF writer. I was a massive Star Wars fan (always have been, always will be) and thought that meant I had to be a SF writer. I was writing a SF book, that looking back now I realise was just fantasy set in space (like Star Wars) and finding it difficult to connect with a lot of SF literature. No wonder the...