I just spent the past hour or so going through the “Schedule A” document from the submission page of Digital Science Fiction online magazine. Since I publicly commented on my objections a week or two ago, they have made some changes on their own. Paragraph 5 has new language inserted that clarifies their intention.
Paragraph 7, the statement that to me (and others) seems heavy-handed, was left unchanged. After email exchange with Michael Wills, I’m convinced that the language doesn’t align exactly with the intention.
I commented on many aspects of the document, though in most cases it was just a have you considered this type of comment. I offered alternative language for paragraph 7 that I believe more accurately reflects Digital SF‘s true intention for that paragraph.
As far as I am concerned, my role in this is finished. Michael Wills and the rest of the staff at Digital Science Fiction will make whatever changes, if any, they decide to make.
I no longer have any reason to believe that the issues I took exception to a few weeks ago were anything more than wording that did not reflect true intention. However, I think my submitting work in the near future would place something resembling a conflict of interest onto the staff of Digital SF, and I don’t want any sort of influence that is not story-driven to be involved with my work being or not being published in this market.
So, I will not submit any fiction to Digital Science Fiction through the end of 2011. I think that places enough time between the recent events involving submission guidelines and the evaluation of my work by the Digital Science Fiction editorial staff so that my work would not receive an unfair subconscious advantage or disadvantage.
