Just last quarter, I took this space to pat myself on the back for completing ten issues as the sole employee/volunteer here at Perseid Prophecies. One of the things I mentioned was how both viewership/readership, as well as submissions, have risen so much it’s been getting harder and harder to keep up.
Some of you, it seems, took that as a challenge.
Website visitors have more than doubled since Issue 10 came out, and the number of submissions…
Well, it quintupled.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, I am not complaining. In fact, I couldn’t be happier that more people are finding my little corner of the speculative fiction world, and more readers get to see the stories I have handpicked from the bushel. But, oh man, if I thought choosing just six stories was hard before, you all made it an incredible task this time around.
Which means, some things are going to have to change around here. Increasing the number of stories isn’t viable because I don’t want this magazine to get too long, and I’m honestly at my limit for editing with six. I’d also like to avoid shortening the submission window if I can get away with it (but shorten it I will, if it ultimately comes to it and I must). Which really only leaves me. I’ll need to start my reading period a little earlier for Issue 12 (coming out on January 1st, 2027!).
This is a promise I have made to myself before each of the last half-dozen issues, and yet here I am. So, wish me luck.
To all those who submitted for this issue and were rejected, just know you were part of an unprecedented swell of stories here at Perseid Prophecies, and I do hope you’ll consider sending another during this—or future—submission periods.
Lastly, a slight bit of bookkeeping: you’ll notice a pair of symbols below. While they have been around the page for a while, I am pleased to say they are now navigational buttons. Clicking the right symbol will take you to the next story, the left to the previous.
E.S. Raye
