This one is tough for me to place because there are no identifying marks on it at all. But given that Night Cry magazine only lasted for a couple of years in the mid-eighties, I would have to have been 14/15 or so at the time of this rejection. And since Night Cry was a horror mag, I’m assuming that the story I submitted was the same lame-ass haunted house story that earned me last week’s rejection from Amazing Stories.
I think my favorite bit in this letter is the parenthetical comment “as you’ve no doubt read many times before on many similar slips,” assuming that the submitter in question has racked up a big Stack O’ Failure already. I can’t bring myself to get too upset about it because — let’s face it — it’s pretty much true. But it just seems like a weirdly confident thing to say in a form letter.
Oh, and one thing I want to be sure to mention: I richly deserved these rejection letters, people. I was writing some crap. I had barely begun my million words at this point, after all. Trust me — when we get to rejection letters I think are idiotic, I’ll be sure to tell you!
