A friend recently wrote to congratulate me. I asked, What for? For the Pushcart thing, she said. What Pushcart thing? I said. The honorable mention, she said.
It was news to me.
Happy news!
And soon confirmed, also happily: a story called "Falling Through," originally published in the Spring/Summer 2007 issue of Alaska Quarterly Review, had gotten an Honorable Mention in the latest volume, XXXIII.
But I did wonder why the 'Cart hadn't gotten in touch directly.
The answer was obvious enough: that many more email addresses to track down, et cetera.
But still: it is a happiness-provoking thing, hearing that a story has been honored in some way, and happiness is rare enough already. Why wouldn't an editor--or anyone else--take the opportunity to cause a little more?
But then I thought, Okay, Kesey, back to work.
But then I thought...
And I went to check.
Amazon, search function.
And sure enough:
"Wait," first published in Volume 28, Issue 4 of the splendid Kenyon Review, received an Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007: 20th Annual Collection.
And "Asuncion," first published in McSweeney's Issue 15, had been HM'd the previous year, in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2006.
And I thought again:
Why didn't they let me know?
Were they afraid I was already too happy?
That the slightest bit more happiness would push me over the edge?
Or were they just too busy?
And so to all you anthologizers I say:
We know how hard you work, and for such little recompense in the idiom of mammon.
We know!
And we thank you for it.
We do!
But also:
No one is ever too happy.
January 31, 2009, 3:54 p.m.Categories: Litmags, Short Stories
will be in Chicago for the upcoming AWP conference, by all means track me down.
January 30, 2009, 11:03 a.m.Categories: Interviews, Litmags, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Travel
