The deadline is this October. So you have some time but not loads.

And I agree that there is a distinct and important difference between D and M&M. Differences I have been mulling for a while now. And while I have no doubt I could pull a story off for this antho, I agree that the editor experience betters any story and I refuse to give it up. With this collection everyone who is accepted will get notes from both William and myself (probably; this is not a contract). If I do include myself, I will want to duplicate that experience for myself.

And William, I’m glad to hear that you’d like to see M&M combine the talents of genre writers and literary writers. Personally, I love the supernatural in stories, the monstrous, ghostly, creepy crawly supernatural. I’ve messed with the genre in children’s fiction, but not in fiction for grown-ups. I read about this project and, at the gut level, I thought how fun. I’d love to give it a whirl, but I’ve got other projects to finish. Remind us all of the deadline.

I also think the editor’s experience and name enter into the equation. For a big-name author, sure you generally expect the author to include his story in the anthology.

But if the author has little or no experience and doesn’t have a name that will attract readers, I’m suspicious when I see their own work in an anthology. I’m less likely to purchase it if I think the editor has put his own story into the anthology to complete the book or fan his own ego.

Let me be clear: my M&M co-editor gave Dispensation a good review, and it’s on the top my list to buy (well, maybe second to Rift). I also hope some day to edit a more literary-fiction oriented project somewhat similar to Dispensation.

Let me be doubly clear: We’re hoping that writers of all stripes and definitions and levels of experience and reputation will participate in M&M. I have a personal interest in the meeting of literary and genre so I would be very happy if any of the writers included in Dispensation and any of the writers published in Irreantum over the past few years were to try their hand at the challenge we’ve presented.

And speaking of that challenge/task/lark/holy mission: as hypocritical as it may be, I don’t know yet if I personally as a writer of literary and genre fiction am up to the challenge. We’ll see. And I’m sure I’ll spill all when it comes time for me to take it up.

As editor, project manager and marketer though, I’m quite sure that I’m capable. This is not an expression of anxiety. I just want to be triply clear that the editor/critic is totally gung ho and armed to the teeth for this expedition. The literary/genre writer is still sitting at the bar fidgeting a coaster.

Good points. Taking it a step further, there are two different “editorial” functions that we’re talking about here: selection, and guiding the author in making revisions. For both roles, I think it’s probably a good idea to involve someone besides just the author of the work — but for the latter function, I agree that it’s critical.

I also think Dispensation was a different beast in yet a different way, in that its publication included an (implicit or explicit) claim to be a selection from among the best of a given literary field. M&M is a rather different thing: an offering of stories within a particular niche. I suspect there’s a lot more stringent standard regarding self-inclusion in something of the Dispensation type, and rightly so.

Angela, however, did not edit her own story; she included it. Its was edited by the both the good folks at _Dialogue_ and then Beth at Parables. (I don’t really know which came first.) But the writer of “Thanksgiving” was certainly not self-editing.

I think any editor will be taking a huge risk if he/she edits his/her own work. If its edited by someone other than yourself, your dear friend or your mother–a pro, really, is what I’m saying–and there is a concensus among respected voices that the editor’s story deserves a place in the collection more than this other guy over here, put it in.