"Not all those who wander are lost," as Tolkien famously said. Sometimes they're just taking the scenic route.

Here are 20 great science fiction and fantasy stories that took the long way to success. Each of these stories met with initial rejection before finding a home here. Publishing is a weird alchemy of mood, taste, and happenstance, and it takes tenacity to find just the right combination to let a story shine as it should. These are stories by authors who refused to give up on their work, and wisely so! Here you'll find not only good stories, but author notes about each piece's circuitous route to publication. Enjoy these fine stories that almost didn't make it!

Contents

• After the Moon - J. H. Siegal
• Amberblight - Robert Luke Wilkins
• Falling Jupiter - Jeff Reynolds
• Acquired Tastes - Liz Levin
• Take Another Little Piece of My Heart - Michael Haynes
• Lost Souls - David Whitmarsh
• The Schoolteacher's Baby - Susan Taitel
• The Ways of Plants and Spells - Daniel Ausema
• Suicide Grove - Steven Mathes
• Dog Days - Cara Masten DiGirolamo
• A Breath of Salt - Benjamin C. Kinney
• Crossing - Greg Clumpner
• Had We Eyes, We Would Have Wept - Suzanne J. Willis
• A Moth Emergent - Colleen Anderson
• The Grand Seeming - S. L. Harris
• Worlds Bloom Through Cracks - Jo Miles
• The Transformation of Tabitha Magee - Pete Lead
• Fatherhood - B. Morris Allen
• Distillation Made Stronger - Rebecca Bennet
• Please Come Again - Pamela Weis