OG’s Speculative Fiction will cease publication after its next issue.  I realize that small press publications regularly come and go, but I point this one out because OG’s published two of my stories.  “Memories of Childhood” was the second story I ever sold, and the sale came at a time when I really needed something positive to happen.  When I got the acceptance email from editor Seth Crossman, it made my day.  Mr. Crossman later bought the “Fine Art of Surfacing,” a story that I had had difficulty placing because it was a speculative fiction piece more interested in the inter-relationship of the characters than the speculative element itself.  Mr. Crossman said he wanted the story because of the characters.  This meant a great deal to me.  When I had started submitting stories for publication, I had been told my characters were flat and uninteresting.  I invested a lot of time into character development; so it was gratifying when Mr. Crossman bought my story on the strength of its characters.  So thank you, Seth, not only for purchasing two of my stories, but for bolstering my confidence.

I now have five stories published at places no longer in business.  I don’t know how much longer my two stories in OG’s will be readily available, so I guess this is additional motivation to get a collection out so readers can to continue to find them.