A Temporary Reversal of Fortunes · 12:03am Nov 25th, 2018
Guess what's back on FiMFiction? It's your favorite story about sex, love, and suicidal robots!
Yeah, it got rejected for real-life publication. I can console myself that I didn't get a form letter. The editor of Asimov sent me a very nice personal letter saying he thought it was good, but it just wasn't the kind of story they were looking for this year.
So, a setback. But dammit, next year at Bronycon I will be running that panel on becoming a real author, so it looks like I need to get writing again. I shall submit so many short stories they will blot out the very sun!
If anyone has any interest in reading Familiar without little horses, the human version can be found here. And as bonus content, the ending has been upgraded to include an actual conclusion and emotional catharsis.
Hey, I see a qualifier in there. 'this' year.
Given that they liked it enough to give you a personal letter, it's only a matter of time. I don't doubt you'll bust through and make it big!
Now only if I could force myself to read anything...
Sorry it didn't work out. Glad the story is back.
If you blot out the sun, I guess we'll read in the shade
My brother got a story published in Asimov. His first published story.
He ordered a paper copy to be sent to our (very religious, very conservative, very uptight) parents.
This particular issue - which he hadn't seen the cover of before he placed the order - had quite an... interesting cover art.
It was a woman, holding two planets at... chest level, while a man in a skin tight suit stood with his hands on his hips and a rocket launching diagonally behind him, so that it looked like a giant flaming boner erupting from his crotch.
It was absolutely hilarious.
And yes, a personal rejection letter is good. Not the best but good.
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It'll grab you like an earth pony with a choke hold!
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So you're saying Familiar was rejected because it barely has 0.2 orgies per chapter.
I went too conservative.
That is a hilarious story. And yeah, thanks man. It's not ideal but I'll take what I can get!
*skims through non-pony version*
Excuse me?
Very cool - hopefully this will get published in a non-pony publication at some point.d
Get back up and keep trying to eat that horse!
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I could use that.
Make it get me off of opiates first, though. Then maybe I'll have the attention span to do things like bathe.
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This whole story is just GaP flirting with you, you know.
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derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/8/12/398158__safe_artist-colon-haetran_artist-colon-reiduran_octavia+melody_reaction+image_simple+background_solo_surprised_transparent+background_vector.png
This is edifying, because all my views and bookshelves and stuff are there. :B Good to know! Sorry it didn't work out.
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There's a dom/sub joke here, but I'm not going to make it. I am going to say I'm glad you enjoyed the story!
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What...
...where did that metaphor come from?
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Oh my.
Too bad it didn't make it into Asimov, but it's nice that you got the personalized letter. Plus, it's nice to have the original story back on FiMfiction.
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I screwed up the quote, but it's from the Dragonball Z Abridged season 3 finale. Goku's peptalk to Gohan during the final struggle. Should be:
Either way. Keep it up!
4972755 Yeah, that's a letter worthy of being framed so you can show it to the grandkids.
"Back in your old man's days, we had this stuff called paper, with words on it..."
Congrats on the personalized letter! I liked how you evoke the familiars personalities and kept them somewhat pony with their new names. I did notice a couple errors. At least I think the second one is a remnant?
I still really like this story but it's so weird when you expect ponies with ever sentence! I kind of preferred the old ending strangely enough. All the confusion and feeling of being lost that came with it. This ending is really nice and I appreciate the closure but I sort of regret getting that closure from it if that makes sense? Maybe it's not as neat and tidy as I feel it is considering I've already read the other stories so I know more or less all the details.
I'm really glad this exists though because now I can share with people and not have to answer certain questions! The whole time I kept thinking how strange it was that Slipstream was a giant moth that gets raped. I did find it interesting that you described Slipstream and Cogwheel but didn't say anything about Mishka.
Ah, sorry about the rejection. Sounds like maybe it'd get in another year, though?
"I shall submit so many short stories they will blot out the very sun!"
Turns out Nightmare Moon was just Luna getting really into NaNoWriMo, and the misunderstanding went downhill from there.
"And as bonus content, the ending has been upgraded to include an actual conclusion and emotional catharsis."
Heh. :)
Read and enjoyed it, the new ending. It might have been better to read the whole apeified version, but unfortunately I just got back from a trip a few hours ago and am tired and currently interested in minimizing the number of things between me and bed. Sorry. :)
Looks good, though, even if it felt weird that they weren't ponies in this version!
(Not sure which ending-version I prefer, though, if either; I asked my brain, and it just sort of glared and looked pointedly at the bed.
I'm also noticing that my current tiredness seems to be producing some interesting phrasing...)
Two things I noticed (typed out, since it wouldn't let me copy and paste):
"that the young wept to beheld it"
"that the young wept to behold it"?
"The titan return to its throne"
"The titan returned to its throne"?
Great
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Oh my god you're good.
I had that professionally copyedited and they didn't notice those.
I'm glad you enjoyed the new ending! And yes, reading the story with no ponies felt super weird. Weirder than writing it did.
Pony!?
Awwww
"h" and "k" appear to be swapped in name here and in a few places later. Or is it correct name and other variant is wrong?
Looks like it's new and it's evil on a "make Hitler cry" level (well, unless it's a spectacle that's a part of lesson). It's only true if designer is bad engineer and has only not very capable minds available (hello, natural selection). For strong enough AI avoiding damage arises as instrumental incentive from doing job properly and conserving resources. And if pain is so awesome then people would never want to get ri...
sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_main_large/public/images/2008122321.jpg?itok=Ca-Niaq1
... oh, right.
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Oh. Huh. Thanks! :D
Hm. Maybe because you have what you're actually writing firmly in mind when you're writing it, but when reading, memories of the non-deponified version compete in your head to predict what it should be like?