Goldberg v. Gischler

So Tod Goldberg has stepped in to guest-blog over at the Elegant Variation, and he’s already demonstrated his ability to be as obsessively prolific as the rest of us (and his family, as well.) He’s also decided to interview “some folks who the more elegant Mr. TEV himself might not otherwise.” First up is Victor Gischler, author of two books that definitely deserve to be read by all, GUN MONKEYS and THE PISTOL POETS. He talks about switching from small publisher (Uglytown) to big publisher (Bantam Dell), why sitting through the Edgars made him a “nervous wreck” (as I was seated next to him, I’ll concur; never seen Victor so quiet since) and his worst rejection story:

I sent a story to a small university journal. They sent back one of those form rejections where they check the box that indicates why your story was

rejected. They might check something like “Not enough character development” or “too cliche” or something like that. The only thing they checked on mine was “always include a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply.” Here’s the punchline. They sent me this rejection in MY SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. Morons.

OK, that’s terrible, but I found it hilarious. Morons, indeed.