Every sale makes me happy, but some sales really tickle me. This is one is a very happy thing.
My first three sales were to The First Line so I have a very soft spot for them. The magazine has a simple premise. The first line of a story is so important, but if you asked Mark Twain to write a story starting with, “Call me Ishmael,” you would not get Moby Dick. Every story in an issue of the First Line has the same opening line and the stories differ wildly.
So, when the editors contacted me and said that they’d like to use my story, “The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland,” in their anthology The Best of the First Line I was thrilled. My contributor copy just arrived in the mail. It’s a handsome thing. I’ve just started reading the stories and so far they are good across a wide spectrum of styles.
Tags: fiction, Journal, short story, The First Line, The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland, Writing
It’s an honor to share a TOC with you!
I’m delighted as well!