Alan Beard's site

Story: Old Men Complaining

Mag: Los Angeles Review

Editorial comment:

Dear Alan,

Thank you for submitting Old Men Complaining to The Los Angeles Review. While we have read your work with interest, it does not meet our editorial needs at this time. We appreciate your efforts, and wish you all the best in placing this work elsewhere.

All the best,

Yi Shun Lai

Editor

The Los Angeles Review

My comment: nowt.

Story: Thought He was God

Mag: Dogzplot

Editorial Comment:

thanks very much for the submission, but im gonna pass. take care.

- barry

DOGZPLOT

Jesse Eagle

Emperor / Flash Fiction Editor

http://www.dogzplot.blogspot.com/

My comment: You too, Barry.

Story: Profile (flash)

Mag: Fractured West

Editorial comment:

Dear Alan,

Thank you for sending us your work. Unfortunately we will not be publishing this piece in Fractured West; although we enjoyed it, it's not the right fit for us. We wish you luck placing the story elsewhere.

All the best,

Kirsty & Helen, Editors

Fractured West

http://www.fracturedwest.com

My comment: Thanks FW.

Story: No Beatles Song (flash)

Mag: Smokelong Quarterly

Editorial comment:

Thank you for your submission of "No Beatles' Song" to SmokeLong Quarterly. We gave the story careful consideration, and though we are not accepting it for publication, we hope you find a better fit for it elsewhere.

Thanks again for trusting us with your work. 

Best,

Editors

SmokeLong Quarterly

http://smokelong.com

My comment: Pretty fast, within a week. Thanks SLQ.

Story: One Sunday at the Beginning (flash)

Mag: Corium

Editorial comment:

Dear Alan:

Thank you for letting me read "One Sunday at the Beginning." It doesn't quite work for us, but I wish you much success in placing it. Thanks for thinking of Corium.

Best regards,

Ravi Mangla

Guest Editor

Corium Magazine

My comment: very fast reply - the next day. Thank you, Corium. Update: have since had it accepted by Oblong - see News page.

Story: Castaway (flash)

Mag: Fish Flash Ficiton Competition

Editorial comment: none

My comment: not even on the (very long) longlist...

Story: The Heebie Jeebies

Mag: The William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen Award

Comment: None

My comment: The short list has been announced and I'm not on it. Ah well, try again maybe, maybe not.

My new publisher 'Profile Books' who have taken over Tindal Street Press recently sent me a royalties statement from my book 'You Don't Have to Say'. I earned the fantastic sum of £3.42. Apparently that's 12 books sold... The money won't be sent until it accumulates to £10. I'll look forward to that.

Stories: Castaway; Ice Cream; Old men Complaining

Mag: Fiction Magazine Flash Fiction competition

Editorial comment: none

My comment: found out today who won - congratulations to Tania Hershman (who I know and have met - she runs the brilliant Short review).

Story: The Brilliant Wife (chapbook)

Mag: Rose Metal Press Chapbook competition

Editorial comment: As is the case with many small presses, we wish we could have selected more than one manuscript out of the many that were deserving of publication. While we understand that receiving this letter must be disappointing, please know that your submission reaffirmed Rose Metal Press's commitment to helping inventive, original work such as yours find a home.

My comment: why thank you very much, Rose Metal Press. Actually quite a few of your publications look very intriguing.

Story: Two Parties

Mag: Sunday Times Short Story competition

Editorial comment: none

My comment: I was shocked, stunned and flabbergasted not to be on the longlist. Instead they had people like Junot Diaz, Ali Smith, Graham Swift, Sarah Hall and Helen Dunmore. Who I hear you asking?

Story: Ice Cream

Mag: Flash 500 competition

Editorial comment: none

My comment: Their loss. ... well, actually mine, as I paid, what was it, five quid to enter.

My PLR for 2012 was £16.49. 'You Don't Have to Say' was taken out 246 times, and 'Going the Distance' the book I edited (for which i get 20% of the PLR rate of 6pence) was taken out 103 times. Going down from last year but still pleased YDHTS is being taken out. No one borrowed 'Taking Dorenn out of The Sky' though, perhaps because there aren;t many copies left. It was published in 1997 (with a 1999 edition from Picador) and has been out of print for at least ten years.

I read these books this year: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/698826-alan?format=html&shelf=read-in-2012

And these are my top ten:

I read less books in 2012, 48 rather than my usual 50 plus. Maybe that's because I finished off the Kjaerstad trilogy, two books each with over 600 pages (as opposed to my usual slim story collections). Also, apart from two or three books, I found it harder to select titles for the remaining 7 or so places, as they didn't stand out as much as say Volt or Daddy's did for me last year. Of course they are mainly story collections.

One that did stand out was Kyle Minor's In the Devil's Territory

I have to include the two novels of the Kjaerstad trilogy:

The Conqueror

and The Discoverer

Another novel that makes it is from a friend of mine, so bias cannot be dismissed. However it's a cleverly ficitonalised and brilliantly handled account of the Charles Dodson-Alice relationship: After Such Kindness

Story collections I really enjoyed this year:

Dark Lies the Island (Kevin Barry)

The Beautiful Indifference (Sarah Hall)

Twilight of the Super Heroes (Deborah Eisenberg)

This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You (Jon McGregor)

and especially Toddler Hunting (Kono Taeko) Thanks Jessica for that.

Ever, a novel has also crept up into the top 10 by dint of not leaving me alone..

Well that's how I feel this afternoon (Jan 3rd 2013) but maybe I would do a different top ten next week or next month.

Stories: Later on in the Pub; All Light; In League

Magazine: Fish Flash Fiction competition 2012

Editorial Comment: None

My comment: Yay! Rejections again. Been a while. Since the book (Oct 2010) I haven't had one. Mainly because I haven't had anything to send. I knew these flashes would fail because I sent them on impulse and meant to work on them a lot more, but suddenly the deadline was there. Anyway I'm back on the trail. Obviously I'd rather have acceptances, but this time round i'm strangely satisfied to be rejected.