With steady hand but trembling mind, I call Ace and ask for Jim Baen. I explain
the situation: I have six stories in hand (yes, I finally finished mine) and two
more on the way … a little late … maybe. He informs roe that with just six
stories the book will be too short. He wants at least one more story and an
essay from me about how much fun it was to edit the anthology. To calm my
hysterics, he suggests I commission a back-up story in case the two en route
don’t arrive in time. I point out that there are only two weeks remaining before
the deadline. He concedes that with such a limited time-frame, I probably won’t
be able to get a story from a ‘name’ author. He’ll let me work with an
‘unknown’, but the story had better be good!
Christine DeWees is a kindly, white-haired grandmother who rides a Harley and
wants to be a writer. Lynn and I have been criticizing her efforts for some time
and have repeatedly encouraged her to submit something to an editor. So far, she
has resisted our proddings, insisting that she would be embarrassed to show her
work to a professional editor. I decide to kill two birds with one stone.
In my most disarming ‘nothing can go wrong’ tones, I give my spiel to Christine
and pass her a Thieves’ World package. Three hours later, my phone rings.
Christine loves the character ofMyrtis, the madam of the Aphrodisia House and is
ready to do a story centring around her. I stammer politely and point out that
Myrtis is one of Marion’s characters and that she might object to someone else