Publishing is strange
I have just had perhaps the weirdest publishing encounter of my life. I recently had a short story accepted for an anthology, at a publishing house where I have actually published more than one book. They need the contract back next week, but only sent the acceptance on Thursday; they emailed a pdf of the contract, saying to print it and fax it back to them.

I do not have a printer or fax here, but I am staying half a block from their offices, where I have been many times, but the person who was handling all this made me meet with him downstairs on the street, where I signed the contract, and handed it back to him, like some illicit transaction.

All completely bizarre, but whatever.

It left, alas, a very sour taste in my mouth, though, which only serves to make me less interested in working with them in future. It should not be this difficult to do a simple business transaction (with a company I have worked with many time sin the past, although admittedly, the editors I worked with are no longer there and the company has recently been bought... but still).