In October of 2007, I finished a short story called “Black Babe.” I sent it to a couple of places, and it got rejected.  I sent it to some more places.

Two and a half years went by. I racked up 65 rejections.

A new record - every other story I’ve ever written, it’s either gotten accepted or I’ve given up on it within a year or so. But I really love this story, and I kept on going. At times I wondered if maybe the story was cursed, or there was a conspiracy around it, or its subject matter scared people off. Ploughshares even told me “Several of us enjoyed the story and its daring premise” (stay tuned in the coming months for more details about that premise).

So I had a bit of a dizzy-headed/edge-of-tears/kvelling moment this Friday when I came out of the subway running late for a meeting and there’s a little green flashing light on my Android phone, and sure enough - there’s an email from the editor of Slice Magazine, accepting “Black Babe” for their next issue.

Slice is a new-ish journal, and they’re amazing. Six issues in and they’ve already had some of the best writers working - folks like Salman Rushdie, Andrew Sean Greer, Junot Diaz, C.K. Williams, Paul Auster, and Aleksandor Hemon.

“Black Babe” is one of the best things I’ve ever written, and for a long time I felt like it would never find a decent home. To have it end up with Slice just feels perfect.

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