Rejections 4/27 to 4/29/2026

[Items for the next few days will be from my abandoned WordPress Blog]

Monday brought my first rejection of my novel One Dead Blonde. This was the rejection letter from American Buffalo Books:

One of the best parts so far of 2026 has been reading and discussing the novels submitted to the Buffalo Books Fiction Prize. I'm sorry to report that your manuscript was not selected as a finalist for the award, but we are grateful that you shared your work with us, and we read your book with interest and enthusiasm. One of our readers said:

“The small-town political drama was handled well, but other aspects need some work. Focusing more on the small-town politics, a-la Fargo or True Detective, would make this piece much stronger. Too many characters are introduced too early, to the point the audience is lost, especially because of the lack of characterization throughout the work.”

Thank you,

Southern Indiana Review continues to reject my stuff. This it is “Pieces About A Small Indiana Factory Town, 1976 - 1984”. 

Thank you for your submission for an upcoming issue of the Southern Indiana Review. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept your work for publication at this time.

Sincerely,

SIR

I submitted “No Ordinary Word” to ellipsis on 8/25/2025; it was the first entry on my spreadsheet of submissions.

Thank you for sending your work to ellipsis, and sorry about the delayed response. 

Though it was not a right fit for the journal this time, we appreciate the chance to read it. We hope you will consider submitting again. 

Best wishes to you.

Sincerely,

The Editors

SCH 4/29