Welp, guess this thread's about dead, so...
Hey, y'all! Nathan here, author and whatnot. (And no, people who don't read the forums much, me being Assistant Editor at Escape Pod does not make me staff at Pseudopod, any more than working in one franchise Burger King lets me work in all Burger Kings.) I want to thank Pseudopod and Shawn particularly for running this story; as I've said in the past, Shawn's thoughtful and generous feedback was one of the things that kept me plugging away at writing back in the Dark Days of 2008, when I was just starting out with serious efforts at publication. This is now my fourth appearance on the 'cast, which I like to think makes me a regular contributor.
This story was written waaaaay back in 2009 for an anthology that was asking for "dark" stories set in Oz or using Oz characters. It got immediately form-rejected, and has since accumulated 17 rejection notes. (The most frustrating of which said that they'd have bought the story if they hadn't just run a flying monkey story the previous month, which just... gah. Of all the things.) I've always been rather fond of it, myself (and I'm talking relative among things I've written, not just among all stories, which obviously I'm fond of my own, yes.)
If anyone has any lingering questions, I am here to be your dancing monkey. Peace, y'all.