Signs of life

I was despairing of my alternate history story "Dispatches from the Troubles" ever seeing the light of day. I had signed a contract with GUD last year, but after the mag put our Issue No. 5 and mentioned that Issue No. 6 - which is supposed to contain "Dispatches" - was supposedly being edited, news went blank for over a half year, and I haven't received any replies to queries.

It was puzzling because stuff was being posted on the web site, and there was talk of reading for issue 7 and 8, but I never read anything about issue 6. I find it hard to believe I missed it.

On Tuesday, they posted this update on their web site:

"We're doing our best to get to everything (slush, editor's inbox re: slush, and issues 6 and 7), but there have been a few life changes, extended illnesses, and the like—all this when we were already struggling to catch up.

"We're closing slush for two months in order to do our best by those who have already submitted, and by our readers and subscribers. We eclipsed 1250 submissions pending reply a week ago, for the first time ever. We know that this is not acceptable, especially as they're pretty much a continuous line since the end of January. We've managed to make at-the-time-significant swaths through sections of these (leaving the most promising items for more discussion), but then there's the chunk of submissions we haven't really managed a first look at, which for the most part goes back to mid-march.

"This isn't meant to be an excuse, just an explanation. We want you to understand where things are and what our goals are. We aim to have cleared our slush by September 1, except for a very small number of pieces that will likely be shortlisted. Issue 6 will have been released, and Issue 7 will be in edits. Ideally Issue 8 will be mostly sorted out as well, but that's where the short-listed will lie.

"Wish us luck? And anything you could do to help spread the word of GUD would, of course, be appreciated. Thanks to all for continuing to send GUD your best."

So that's the latest. I suppose the story is still in line to be published, which would be good, I think it's a snappy story, and something different for me - it's written completely as a series of magazine or newspaper articles and excerpts. It's also the longest thing I've ever written, except for books, of course, it's over 11,000 words long.