by Bruce BethkeNo column again this week, as I am up to my eyebrows in all the last-nanosecond work required to get STUPEFYING STORIES #1: "IT CAME FROM THE SLUSHPILE" off to the printers on-schedule. But I do want to take this opportunity right now to publicly thank Henry Vogel and Kersley Fitzgerald, for their absolutely indispensable assistance in getting all this together—without Henry's insight and Kersley's remarkable organizing skills, this would still be only a fuzzy vision, and not something that's rapidly approaching a concrete reality; my wife, Karen Bethke, for extra proofreading assistance, for taking care of all the mundane things around the house that have needed doing while I've been barricaded inside my office working on this, and for patience above and beyond the call of spousal duty; and an especially loud "THANK YOU!" to Vidad MaGoodn, for creating lots of really terrific artwork on very short notice and with at-times really poor direction.
And of course, a heartfelt "Thank you" to the people who really made all this possible, namely, the dozen authors who wrote the terrific stories that make up this book. You are what this is all about, folks; bringing well-deserved attention to some of the remarkable talents that I have seen emerge over the course of the five-plus years that I've been running this thing. Without you, and your willingness to take risks and develop your skills—and without all the other people who participate in this site, reading, commenting, sometimes trying a challenge, and sometimes only reading and commenting privately—this site would not only not exist, it would have no reason for existing.
So one more time: let's have a big round of applause for Kersley, Henry, Vidad, Karen, the authors, and everyone else who has contributed to making the first FRIDAY CHALLENGE anthology, "IT CAME FROM THE SLUSHPILE," a reality.
And now I've got to get back to work and finish this thing.
Thanks,
~brb
P.S. Huh. Whadaya know. I guess I did have a column in me this morning after all.
Posts
