Dear Contributor:

Thank you very much for letting us see the enclosed submission. Unfortunately, it does not suit the needs of the magazine at this time.

Your submissionn has been read by an editor, but the press of time and manuscripts (about 850 per month) does not permit personal replies or criticism. For your general information, though, most stories are rejected because they lack a new idea or theme. A great many of the ideas that may seem innovative to an SF newcomer are in fact overfamiliar to readers more experienced in the field. The odds greatly favor this being the cause of this rejection.

Another common cause (all too common, we're afraid) of rejection is the obvious lack of basic English compositional skills on the part of the author. By this we mean that the writer has misspelled or misused everyday words, and/or mispunctuated same. Stories are rejected on this basis because a writer must be familiar with the tools of his or her trade, just as an electrician or carpenter must.

Finally, your story may have been rejected, not because it lacked a new idea or was misspelled or mispuncuated, or because the writing was not "professional" enough, but simply because it failed to rise above the other 849 seen that month.

Sincerely,

Gardner Dozois
Editor