Introduction to ORPHANS
by Steve Schlich

The Bad News: the stories in this collection are not my best work.

My best stories, presumably, got published, and they have appeared in magazines and anthologies since 1970. I've written many more stories that have never made it past the editor's desk. Some were so bad that I wish I'd never submitted them.

The Good News: you won't see any of those turkeys here.

A writer writes to be read by others. My stories are labors of love that are in a way my children. I write nearly every night, and although I do hope to sell my work, that's not why I write. That's only why I submit it to editors.

If I knew that I'd never sell another story, I'd still write them. It's not as serious as an obsession nor as mundane as a habit. It's simply what I do, and my day feels incomplete without having done it. I feel good when I'm working on a story, and a little lost when I've finished one but haven't started another. So it's not time wasted.

But it bothers me that few will read the rejects. I may be guilty of loving my work too much and lacking the objectivity to see the flaws. But I believe that the stories in this collection are worth reading.

The trouble is, I haven't yet found an editor who agrees with me. In some cases, I found quite a few who don't. So be it.

The stories in this collection are too imperfect to sell but good enough—I think—to be published. So I undertook the task myself. This is commonly known as “vanity publishing” and I freely admit my guilt.

You may do with this book as you wish, including using it to line your bird cage. I hope, of course, that you will enjoy at least one of the stories herein.

Steve Schlich

December 1994