An Acceptance

I received a note from Lyn Perry at ResAliens informing me that "The Master and the Miller's Daughter" has been accepted. According to the editor, "ResAliens Press (short for Residential Aliens) is a publisher of spiritually infused speculative fiction. . . , engaging stories that are truthful to the human experience while offering the reader something of the eternal."  The story is tentatively scheduled to be online in September and October. I sent this story out last fall and received a couple rejections. One of the editors kindly provided some feedback, which I used in the rewrite. I guess I finally got it right.

Summary:
Asha, the Miller's daughter, lives with her widowed father in a village on the shore of a great river. A sparkling market town occupies the opposite bank but the river is treacherous. Dangerous currents and man-eating fish lurk beneath the calm surface. A clan known as the Ferrymen take goods back and forth. They guard their secrets and their master, Caiphas, drives hard bargains. After an ill-fated attempt to cross the river herself on a homemade raft, Asha concedes crossing the river to the Ferrymen, but then a stranger comes to town, known only as the Master, offering to build a bridge.