right to reply

A funny thing happened on Monday when I went to post my story to a prospective market. Everything was printed, even though my printer started to go funny towards the end. Luckily, I had one single copy of the manuscript printed for sending. The only thing I needed were International Reply Coupons (IRCs) to cover postage for the editor’s reply.

At the post office a very pleasant, and earnest, teller informed me that he could not sell me IRCs because An Post no longer sold them. He told me that initially he’d thought that An Post were behind it, but he’d later been informed that IRCs were no longer being sold world-wide. I was flabbergasted.

Later that day I sent an email to the Universal Postal Union to ask them about the cancellation of the IRC, as I could not believe that they had been discontinued. Today I got the answer: they are still in production, but they are not being sold by An Post.

I’ll have to request friends of mine in the USA or the UK to buy some and send them to me. Or buy them in London when I’m there at the end of August for the horror film festival, Frightfest.

This meant I could not post the story on Monday, as I had to re-write the cover letter, and send the editor a dollar to cover postage. Luckily I had a couple of singles from my last trip to New York.

Perhaps my story of IRC woe will lend my submission a certain strange interest. I’ll find out within the next two months…