Well, that still doesn't make them interesting.

With all due respect to Dan Wickett, who is a friend of Brand New Insects, I don't read the fiction in any of those magazines either--especially Glimmer Train. Except maybe in Playboy when Vonnegut used to regularly appear there. Just a matter of personal taste. And just because someone is widely published doesn't mean everything they turn out is of equal merit--or merit at all.



I've personally rejected all kinds of "famous" and "well-published" authors. When the personality of the press and the style of the author don't jive, there's no help for it.



UPDATE: Maud Newton has another related post here.



Zoo's not really fledgling--they published Ross Martin and Jeff Tweedy and plenty of other books, and this model has worked fine for them in the past, for poetry. So again, with all due respect to the estimable Maud Newton, I have to disagree that Neil acted in bad faith. He was just as surprised, seemingly, as the entrants that the contest didn't pan out. And all contests screen with readers before passing submissions on to the final judge--and in this case, Neil did it himself, which is probably pretty rare. Usually the first readers are students, interns, and volunteers.



I just plain believe Neil when he says he didn't feel any of the entries were worthy. I've been in that same spot, both with magazine and press submissions. It's a terrible and severely disheartening realization--all this work, all this talent, all this reading--and nothing is grabbing you, nothing is making you burn with the desire to introduce it to the world, to take a chance on a little book among hundreds of thousands. It's the worst day any editor can face. Worse than an being sued, worse than a glaring typo on the front cover, worse than being misquoted in an interview. It sucks. Editors LIKE writers, LOVE writers, and in fact many ARE writers. Editors and publishers--particularly those who work for independent presses--are in the business for no other reason. Unless they're completely batshit.