I continue to be impressed with Beneath Ceaseless Skies as a magazine. This time as a writer receiving rejections from them.
Sometimes writers focus on a particular market like Ahab wanted that whale.
I have submitted three stories to them in the last couple of months.
The first rejections were within two weeks and came complete with a professional mini-critique from Editorial Assistant Kate Marshall and an invitation to submit again.
The third rejection came from Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Scott H. Andrews and was very professional and enthusiastic. His love of fiction is clear and is contagious. It was a good booster shot to keep a writer's spirit in the game.
This is not to say that BCS doesn't give sold criticism. It was amongst the best I've gotten this year and I think it really improved my writing.
The only professional magazine with a record as fast in my experience is Science Fiction and Fantasy, but they lack the personal touch that Beneath Ceaseless Skies has.