editorial by Camille Gooderham Campbell
From the Editors
Autumn is a time of change — leaves falling, weather cooling, nights drawing in now for the Northern Hemisphere. And of course, in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s spring — renewal, growth, brightening.
We’re also in a time of change at Every Day Fiction.
This past month, editor Rose Gardener has had to step down, and we are sorely missing her. I think this statement from Joseph Kaufman says it best:
“Rose started around the same time I did, working through the slush pile. I remember her because she liked a lot of pieces I didn’t, and vice versa. That’s the beauty of multiple people reading submissions and giving feedback. In any case, I automatically learned a great deal from Rose due to that contrast. It was a cauldron of enlightenment. Over the years (yes, years), my fondness for Rose (and her editorial prowess) has only grown. Voracious reading, in-depth critiques, fascinating insights — Rose has it all. And she has done that all with patience and grace that is too often far beyond my own muster. We’ll not be able to replace the irreplaceable.”
There’s not much anyone can add to that. All I can say is, “Thank you, Rose.”
Further, our long-time webmaster, Steven Smethurst, is also resigning. He has done amazing work for EDF for over eight years, which is really more than anyone can reasonably ask or expect, and we’re lucky to have enjoyed his expertise for as long as we did. EDF could never have been created or continued in existence for so long without him, and we owe him a permanent debt of gratitude for that. This means that we are now without a webmaster, and facing the slow process of a move to a new host and a new submissions system at some point in the next two months. We are doing our best to handle technical issues ourselves, but please be patient if we experience challenges over the next while. We are, of course, looking for a new volunteer webmaster — please help us spread the word.
For Readers
Canadian Thanksgiving is on the weekend of October 11th, with the holiday Monday being the 12th. For those two days, we have “A Tall Tale” by Jason Merryfield and “Bump in the Night” by Linda M. Scott. Neither is specifically a Thanksgiving story, but they suit the occasion all the same.
For the week leading up to Halloween, we’ll start off laughing with “Halloween O’Hungering” by Dustin Adams on October 26th and then get right into solid horror with Molly Flynn, J.C. Towler, Patrick Perkins, and David R. Gilbert, wrapping up on Halloween night with Paul A. Freeman‘s story “Sea Monkey Business – a Halloween Tale”.
For Writers
Thank you for your patience as we deal with many changes at this time. We are also saying goodbye to slush reader Andrew Cochrane whose academic commitments have to take priority, and since we’re unable to add or change database access at this time, we are not able to add new slush readers or promote editorial staff. We’re working with a stretched-thin team this month, and are doing our best to keep up, hopeful that we’ll be transferring to our new home at the beginning of November (at which point we will be doing a recruiting push for new slush readers, looking at editorial promotions, etc.). At the moment, we are still expecting to be able to import current submissions from the existing system, but we will keep you updated as we learn more.
October’s Table of Contents
Oct 1 | Benjamin A. Friedman | The Pear Core |
Oct 2 | Theo Taylor | Survey Corps |
Oct 3 | Mary E. Lowd | Small Smooth Pebble |
Oct 4 | Kelly Castillo | Ready or Not |
Oct 5 | C.I. Kemp | Dis-Orientation |
Oct 6 | Rachel E. Printy | Pink Pill Dreams |
Oct 7 | Janet Savage | The Queen’s Spade Or The Queen’s… |
Oct 8 | Sarada Gray | Mem Mat |
Oct 9 | D.J. Kozlowski | Should Have Found the Quiet Car |
Oct 10 | Mickey Hunt | Homesick |
Oct 11 | Jayson Merryfield | A Tall Tale |
Oct 12 | Linda M. Scott | Bump In The Night |
Oct 13 | Damien Krsteski | Junk Dreams |
Oct 14 | Rasmenia Massoud | Our Days of Cool |
Oct 15 | J. Chris Lawrence | Just Fireworks |
Oct 16 | G. L. Dearman | Fishing Lures |
Oct 17 | Jennifer Knopp Leeper | The Bench |
Oct 18 | Gerald Warfield | Looking for Nanna |
Oct 19 | Jemma Marie Beggs | Food for Thought |
Oct 20 | Kat Otis | An Old Warrior’s Final Countdown |
Oct 21 | Sheryl Normandeau | With Friends Like That |
Oct 22 | Mel Staten | An Episode Below |
Oct 23 | Scott A. Michel | The Climb |
Oct 24 | John S. Skinner, Jr. | Across The Street |
Oct 25 | E. M. Byrne | Ephemeron |
Oct 26 | Dustin Adams | Halloween O’Hungering |
Oct 27 | Molly Flynn | Daddy’s Glasses |
Oct 28 | J.C. Towler | The Wendigo of the Plains |
Oct 29 | Patrick Perkins | Me Want to Play |
Oct 30 | David R. Gilbert | Bitten |
Oct 31 | Paul A. Freeman | Sea Monkey Business – a Halloween Tale |