A very kind author and fellow contributor to
Bewildering Stories,
Tala Bar, has looked at the
Bli Panika forum for me to see what they thought of
Devotion.
It seems that the forum critiques generally wanted a larger story and
more of a surprise ending. Funnily enough I've had a couple of other comments that the story felt like it was part of something bigger; there probably is scope for more, but at nearly 5,000 words it's already getting quite big for a short story. As for the ending, it
isn't a great surprise, but it's the how and why that makes the story. One of the things that most English language magazines say in their guidelines is that they don't want totaly unexpected endings that come out of no-where.
The other thing worth mentioning is that
Devotion is one of my earliest stories, written 12 years ago. I only have one more of that vintage that I'm still trying to place.
So, over all it's been an interesting experience. My first translated story, and I guess to some extent the readers' opinions will be shaped by the translator. I'm just pleased to have had a story accepted by two different editors.