Missed my chance

In belatedly browsing through the April issue of Locus, I read an interview with Gordon Van Gelder, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which contains the following comment:

"After Kris Rusch left F&SF in 1996, Ed Ferman contacted me about the job. We had worked together on the 'Best of F&SF' anthologies, and that's how he knew me. Kris told me Ed believed the ideal age to become editor was about 30...."

Between that and a former co-worker's recent discussion of the fact that she edited the re-issue of a major series of young-adult novels in her twenties, it's pretty clear that I've missed whatever chance I might have once had for literary or editorial immortality. As luck would have it, this comes just as I start seriously reconsidering whether I should be in the library profession at all. (Five years of beating my head on various brick walls with no discernable results would tend to suggest that my talents lie elsewhere, if such talents can be said to exist at all.) I guess I'll go through the formality of applying for an associate-editorial position at this magazine, but not actually expect to receive any response other than the standard canned form letter. After all, I am Past My Prime and have No Relevant Experience.

Moving on from the depressing topic of (not) earning money to the vastly more entertaining topic of spending it, I looked through Locus's calendar of upcoming science fiction and fantasy conventions, and noticed that the Mythopoeic Society, students of J.R.R.Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, and Charles Williams, and publishers of Mythlore magazine, are holding their 35th annual MythCon just down the road this year. And guess who's coming to dinner?

At least he's older than me, and I can pretend my relative lack of achievement is due to being Too Young.