The writing of Absolute Zero has been the longest and most difficult of any short story I've yet written. Originaly 3000 words, I decided it was just too dull; there was too much technical jargon and dialogue. I chopped 500 words out, which is unheard of for me. I usually only cut the odd word or sentence here and there. I received a rejection after its first submission saying it was still too dull for the same reasons, so I cut another 500 words. The second rejection said the same.
The story seemed fated to gather dust on an obscure section of the hard drive, and yet I still liked the basic concept. After talking it over I realised that it wasn't really my style of story. I'd tried to write a serious, hard SF tale and it just didn't work.
So, now I've gone through it again, this time adding 200 words to make it into a more light-hearted kind of story that hopefully some friendly editor will like.
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