I'm running through queries right now, and three of them from the past several days relate to rejections that I sent on 10/15/09. I'm resending all critical emails from that day (about 25 of them) because that's a bit too much of a coincidence for me. I apologize for whatever glitch caused the problem.

My computer had to be completely reinstalled. I have all of my data, but as a result of the rebuild I'm going to take a few extra days to publish the magazine for September.

Ripley Patton's "Traveling By Petroglyph", originally published in our October 2008 issue, has been picked up as a reprint in Flash Me magazine. Congratulations, Rip!

Here's the editorial calendar for the next few months. This doesn't include Bruce Holland Rogers' contributions or the Classic Flashes. I publish on the first Tuesday or Thursday of the month, whichever comes first.

August: Going live on 8/4
* There Are No Great Truths Here -- Danielle Friedman
* Purpose -- R.W. Ware
* A Taste For Life -- Patrick Freivald

September: Going live on 9/1
* Suddenly Speaking -- Ray Vukcevich
* Doofus -- Mark Patrick Morehead
* How High the Moon -- Patrick Lundrigan

October: Going live on 10/1
* Eating It Too -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch
* Death Babies -- S. Craig Renfroe, Jr.
* The Door -- Damon Shaw

November: Going live on 11/3
* My Superpower -- Leslie A. Dow
* A Delivery of Cheesesteaks -- Alan Grayce
* Irma Splinkbottom's Recipe for Cold Fusion -- Janene Reichert Murphy

I just responded to an email that I thought I'd reprint here:

> Do you publish authors who have not yet been published?

Yes, often. The competition is fierce, though.

> How do I copyright my story?

By current US law, you own copyright the moment you write your piece. When I publish it, I do so with a copyright statement at the end. I don't actually "register" the copyright, but I'm obliged to take all reasonable steps in the event of a copyright violation.

> How many stories can I submit at one time?

I don't have a formal limit, but you don't do yourself any favors by submitting more than three at once.

> How long does a story you publish stay online?

Indefinitely. My contract also says that I get First Electronic Rights (i.e., this is not a reprint, and I'll be the first to publish it) AND a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the story in an anthology. "Non-exclusive" means that you can submit your story to other markets as a reprint *after* I publish it, and you can have it in other anthologies if they'll accept it, as long as everyone knows that I can publish it in my anthology as well. I will pay my authors royalties based on their word-count contribution to the overall word count of the anthology.

This latter information is all on our submissions page.

It took longer than I expected, but we're reopened to submissions.

As a reminder, if you have a query, please send it to query at flashfictiononline dot com.