Seiler@MIT-XX@sri-unix.UUCP (09/02/83)
From: Larry Seiler <Seiler@MIT-XX> This will be a frustrating message. The story I'm thinking of was printed in Fantasy&Science Fiction in the early 70's, but I have no idea of author or title. I'm sending it to you because I think it's a neat variation on the theme. In the editor's introduction to the story, F&SF says that they rejected a story from this author on the grounds that they weren't going to print another "pact with the devil" story. So he sent them this story, told in the form of a series of letters passing between an author and an editor of F&SF (plus a few internal F&SF memos), about an author who is trying to sell them a pact-with-the-devil story: ANY pact-with-the-devil story. He tries variations, like "Packed with the Devilfish", about the untimely death of a seafood worker. The editor finally begins to suspect that the author really has made a pact with the devil requiring him to sell a pact-with- the-devil story... any more would be a spoiler. This story also belongs on the list of self-referential stories. Enjoy, Larry Seiler -------