I never thought I’d be rooting for the Catholic Church in 2026, but here I am.

….and "Letter from Under Your Bed", WC = 986. A monster living under the bed of a teenager discovers that his host is planning to hurt people, and reaches out to persuade him not to.

… “Review of the Instant Pickler", WC = 995. SF about a deep space astronaut giving a review for a handy device and its deeper meaning to his journey and family on Earth…

“Protocol” is literary SF about a reality-jumping woman telling her daughter how to survive in case she (her mother) dies, a little over 1000 words…

MG/YA portal fantasy!

I fear I’ve burned through the other markets who might have taken it. I revised the novella every few rejections—it’s much stronger now than when I sent it out at the beginning. But I can’t resend it.
What presses might take a weird/speculative novella with a positive message?

My first and last jobs at my Alma mater were asking alumni for money. First, working in a call center. I was the poor undergrad who reminded you of your youth. Then in the alumni center doing research on wealthy alumni, estimating the value of their houses, salaries, spousal salaries, etc.

On average, the stories I accept have amassed 6 rejections before they're submitted to FF. (A surprising (to me) number of these were sent to FF as their first or second stop, which I appreciate, but chase that big money, folks!)

Lines up pretty close to the average in the Grinder's thread!
2/

This is good! The ending got me.

But you don’t have to feel good! You can be angry, you can be sad, you can (I’d argue you will) be anxious. Just go! Duties have to be done no matter how you feel about them. Show up to your council meetings, vote in every election you can, and go protest!

—I was BEING fake, bc I thought I didn’t care enough or in the right way.
Eventually I realized that it’s better to be there in body rather than in spirit. Bc you see with your own eyes that people give a damn, and there are a lot of them! I leave protests feeling good about doing good.

The biggest reasons I didn’t go to protests before was bc I didn’t know how to find one. Then, bc I was afraid of violence. Then bc have anyone to go with. Then bc I thought that the protest would be a trap and I’d be arrested. I was worried —