Well, here we are with the second issue, and I can't believe the response. We are getting submissions from all over the place, and some from semi-pro writers who should have better sense. I'm not exactly sure of the value of a million word story generated by a computer which/who doesn't have a clue where to put a period. But if there is a place for such a thing, certainly it belongs in Bewildering Stories.

Our compatriots at Analog/Asimov, who were here at our maculate conception (If you are going to steal, steal from the best, I say) have been supportive, and even friendly. This makes me feel paranoid. I think one of the stranger things is that some of this poetry is GOOD! Isn't that against the rules?

Eric Flint writing as "Prime Palaver" on the Baen website www.baen.com pointed out something that I wasn't really aware of:

Or, to put in more modern parlance, the real "bandwidth problem" is that there is far -- FAR -- more junk being produced in the way of fiction than there is stuff worth reading. I know that statement, coming from an established author, inevitably sounds arrogant. But...

Sorry, it's just a fact. And if you don't believe me, you are welcome to set up your own online publishing house and solicit manuscripts. You will shortly be amazed at the stuff that pours in.

Mind you, not all of it will be bad. A fair amount of it will be decent, and some of it will be quite good. You might even stumble across something which is very good. But --

Heh. You won't believe (until you try it) how much work you'll do sorting through it all. And it is work, just like any other kind of work.

And we, The Editorial Triumvirate, are finding this to be true. So here we are, to make this formerly unpublishable fiction publishable, even if it is only to an elite group...