My usual rejection time from the slush reader at the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is 8 days, and today made 8 days since I submitted the Lincoln story. So I was a little surprised not to spot a SASE in my mailbox when I got my mail tonight.
But then as I sorted through my letters, I found a SASE hiding behind another envelope. So I was no longer surprised.
But then I opened the SASE, and I was surprised to see Analog letterhead. My fastest response from Analog in the past was 39 days, and “Upgrade” (nee “The Nuclear Option”) had only been out 26.
Here’s what Stan Schmidt, the editor, had to say:
UPGRADE may well work as a PZ [Probability Zero] when a slot opens up, but I don’t have an opening right now. If you don’t mind, I’ll hold onto the MS and ask you to let me know if you sell it elsewhere before I find a slot.
So, it’s not quite an acceptance, but it’s not a rejection. I am, of course, pleased as punch, because I love Probability Zero. (PZ is their label for gag-based short-short stories.) I can remember when I first read about PZ in The Early Asimov over 20 years ago, so one of my goals has been to write a PZ story.