In 2005 I attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp and wrote this story, “Salt of the Earth.” I’d gone to the workshop wanting to come out knowing how to construct a plot. This story is the first one where I felt like I understood plot.
I sent it out and kept getting close. Editors would hold it for a long time and then not buy it. I’d reread it occasionally, tweaking it if I felt like I saw something new, but each time I still believed in the story. None of the changes were large enough that I could send it as a rewrite to a market that rejected it early. At the same time, I didn’t want to sell it just to sell it, you know? So I eventually tucked it into a drawer knowing that a new market would eventually open that would be a good match.
Behold! Redstone Science Fiction has picked it up for their September issue. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have placed “Salt of the Earth” with them.
Here’s a teaser.
Melia adjusted Dora’s salt-suit, feeling as if it were futile because the two-year old would have the sweatband off her head the instant Melia’s back was turned. She caught her daughter’s hand reaching for the soft, green mesh. “No. You have to leave that on.”
Dora twisted away from Melia and pulled the sweatband off. “No.” She threw it on the ground and reached for the high thin turtleneck that caught the sweat from her face.
Melia’s ex-husband, Theo, leaned against the doorway, waiting to take the children to his house. “Just let her leave it off.”
“Daddy!” Dora toddled to her father with her arms raised.
Theo scooped Dora up, ignoring Nikolas, who seemed oblivious as he rocked in place, staring at a sunbeam on the wall.
Yay, Mary! I adore that story, and I’m shocked it hasn’t been bought before now. Good on Redstone. And congrats!
Thanks! I did stop sending it out after I ran through the appropriate pro-rate markets.
Mike and I enjoyed the story immensely, and we’re proud to be publishing it.