Another fiction market down the tubes

Sigh. Cat Tales, a small but fun print pub from Wildside Press, just folded. I had a story in serious consideration there. Since October.

Argh. Doesn't anybody read anymore? 'Zines and print rags come and go like shooting stars these days. Thank heaven for electronic submissions, because otherwise it would be a horrendous waste of postage even subbing stuff for consideration.

Honorable Mentions in contests

Does anyone know whether Honorable Mentions are worth spit to agents or editors? I now have an Honorable Mention from Writers of the Future (see the pretty certificate?) and an Honorable Mention in the 16th Annual Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling. So far as I can tell, these are consolation prizes awarded to anyone who actually got a story accepted by a recognized mag or subbed to a contest. True? Not true? Anyone know?

Don't get me wrong. Even an honorable mention is better than a kick in the head, but I would like to know if it actually means something. This, to me, is a bit like having a novel advance from the slush pile. Now that it has been proven better than the run-of-the-mill slush and survived outright rejection, it has progressed to that grand state called Limbo. This means an editor can now sit on it forever without ever answering a query as to its status. Tor did this to me for 2 years before claiming they had lost the manuscript (which they had requested!!) and inviting me to start over. Now the lovely and harried editor-in-chief at Baen has stopped answering my queries after 2 years of the same MS being in her review pile. I get it that everyone is busy. I don't get why the "better" manuscripts end up getting treated worse, actually, than the outright rejects, which are at least free to try their luck somewhere else.

Score with this MS so far: sent to 2 publishers, both advanced it past the slush. Working on 6 years, no definitive yes or no. AAAAGH!