Less than one week to go before the deadline and the current tally of proposals stands at just over forty. Given that half of those arrived in the first week, there was a very noticeable reduction in frequency of pitches arriving in my mailbox after that, which is understandable.

There’s been a steady stream coming in though, and it’s been supplemented by some folks sending me an e-mail with the germ of an idea to see if it’s the kind of thing I’m looking for. I have no problem with this and am happy to help out, making some suggestions if I can, although there’s no guarantee the resulting proposal will be accepted. Only a couple of ideas really didn’t fit with what I was looking for, which is an astonishing hit-rate!

I’m expecting quite a few formal proposals from folks who queried. Add to them the people who have promised me personally they will be pitching, and the expected deadline-deluge that all anthology editors get buried in on the final day, and I think I’m going to be very pleased with the selection.

What I can tell you now is that the quality of proposals coming in has been fantastic. I am going to have my work cut out for me paring them down to fit into one volume. What’s really thrilling is that I can already see how some stories could fit together, and some proposals have triggered ideas in my head on the nature of the overall narrative. It’s going to be a complex jigsaw puzzle but a very exciting one.

It’s worth restating that I will not be making any final decisions until after August 31st. Don’t worry if you don’t hear back for a little while after that date, it will take some time to come up with a list I’m happy with. If your proposal is rejected, I’ll try to let you know why that’s the case. Most of these I suspect will be that the idea just didn’t fit as well into the collective whole, and that’s certainly not the fault of the pitcher.

Good luck and keep those proposals coming!