Ante Mortem – before death.

Life moves on, and in this day and age it moves on very quickly. We, as writers, move on quickly – if we get a rejection, we’ve almost always got another market to submit the story out again; if we see a contract die without notice from the publisher or editor of note, we move on.

Inspired by Joel Sutherland and Colleen Morris (expectant parents and editors of Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths) and an idea bandied out by Greg Hall and Doc Pus on the Funky Werepig with David Dunwoody last week – I took the initiative and formulated Ante Mortem, an anthology of stories that have been accepted elsewhere but never produced. Lemonade from the lemons we’d been handed from the publishers. I do not know if this project will come to light through Belfire Press or elsewhere, but I’ll be querying around the small presses that I know and trust.

I contacted the writers of a recently failed anthology I was to have a piece in and several other writers I thought might be interested. I’ve had quite the response so far, everything from apologies because they have already turned their stories around and placed them elsewhere (big huge congratulations to those folks, I’m so pleased and do let me know where, okay?) to one person who hasn’t actually had the experience of an acceptance never being published.

(Oh I know, I was all like, WTF? Really? But then, this girl can WRITE. I mean, omg. And yes I am all fngrrl squee over her stuff. Your point?)

I’ve got quite the nest of submissions for Ante Mortem already, and I’m eagerly awaiting more. I’m fascinated by the differing stories given by the publisher(s), from release dates to cover art to all sorts of excuses blame laying. I have to agree with Zoe Whitten’s recent Twitter rant on how publishers need to start focusing on the changing world and treating writers and readers (without whom they wouldn’t have their company) with some respect.

In that light, I have to say – Courting Morpheus is still delayed, and that is my fault. I’ve been having a major time letting go of this, passing it on to my copy editor and getting it formatted for print. Why? Because this one is my baby, I don’t want her to stumble and fall over a misplaced comma or formatting error. Today though, it goes to the copy editor – for real, for sure. Three times in the last month I’ve said that, but today is the day.

And as for Ante Mortem – a quote I found in the spam filter this morning:

Life is a series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have been, but what we yearn to be. ~ Jose Ortega y Gasset