On Monday evening, I came back from a spell of writing at a local coffeeshop, and found that the mail had arrived. It was the usual assortment: a couple of bills, some junk mail, and a SASE.

"Oh, look," I said to myself, picking up the SASE. "It's my rejection letter from Paradox." It was an awfully thick envelope for a rejection letter, but, you know, some editors like to send their guidelines or something along with a rejection letter.

Then, I opened it, and read:

"Thank you for submitting "Grail Knight." I am pleased to inform you that I have accepted your story for publication in Issue One of Paradox, which will be published in April 2003."

Wheee! So there it is: my first fiction sale. I'm quite excited. Paradox looks like a great new magazine, and I'm thrilled that one of my stories is going to help launch it.