Unblinking, chill. And don't misunderstand what Anarkey is saying above.
Ann is not editor of PodCastle. She slushes, which is different.
I thought she was Associate Editor?
Yeah, I can see why this would be confusing. In this case, though, associate editor = slush reader. It also sometimes = other things, but the bottom line is that generally, Ann doesn't buy the stories. Rachel does.
(and I share this as a personal friend of Ann's, though it's not really your business)
If you have information that is none of my business, than why are you posting it on a public forum?
Because Anna (Edit: Anarkey) is also an associate editor. And she's Ann's friend. And she, like I, and I think, like you, would very much prefer to see Ann's stories here than not see them.
I would certainly hope that that wouldn't be the response from a lone person's comment, (one who generally liked the story, I might add). In any case, I'm not sure what purpose this comment is supposed to achieve, other than making me feel bad. Which it did. Thanks for that. It sounds like you believe that my comment will damage the magazine itself, in which case I encourage you (as the moderator) to delete the relevant comments.
...snip...
In any case, I think the time has come for me to shut my mouth. I'll still be listening, but I shall try to keep my comments to myself.
Well, as I think you know, I believe that'd be a shame. We truly do appreciate your posts here. And I won't be deleting any comments.
In this particular case, though, by bringing up "that maybe there's something weird about Podcastle running a story that an associate editor/slush reader submitted, but I don't care because the story's good" there's still that insinuation that maybe there's something weird. I know you haven't had a chance to listen to EP yet, but as Heradel pointed out, Steve's run two of his own stories. (I personally hope we hear more from him.) Rachel chose not to run any of her stories here at Podcastle at the beginning. We haven't heard any more of Al's stories at PP. Make of all that what you will. Personally, I plan on subbing like hell to PP and EP, but I won't be subbing any stories to PC anytime soon. Maybe there's an interesting discussion to be had about all of this, but I think you're right that it probably could've gone somewhere else, like Metachat.
I feel like I should also point out that, with the exception of the authors, these podcasts are very much a labor of love for everyone else invovled, including the editorial staff and the narrators and the hosts and the sound editors. Many, many, many hours are invested into these podcasts for just about nothing in a few cases, and for exactly nothing in other cases. We've lost narrators because commenters here have been harsh. We've lost editorial staff. I don't know of any authors - I wouldn't be surprised if there were some we lost (and by we, I'm talking about Escape Artists in general) - but hey, authors get paid.
And no, none of this is here to make you feel bad. And none of it is meant to suggest you stop posting. Knowing Anarkey, I'm sure that's not her intention. But like I said, I personally would be bummed if Ann Leckie didn't feel comfortable subbing here because of an offhand comment or two made questioning the ethics of it. I think you would too.
Hope to see more of your comments soon.
--Dave
