JJA left F&SF a little while back and now heads up two premier z-lines, Lightspeed and Fantasy.

My question is, what does his one line rejections mean again?

I believe ...didn't carry my interest means he dumped out quick and ...didn't work for me means he read a good deal of it before stopping.

I’ve read before that he has three levels and I think you’re right on the 1st two levels.

I’ve received a rejection letter for an anthology of his that reads: “Thanks for submitting this story, but I'm going to pass on it. It's nicely written and I enjoyed reading it, but overall it didn't quite win me over, I'm afraid”…I believe (or I choose to believe) that this is the final level. This means he read it all the way through but it didn’t make the final cut.

Hmmm, I never knew he had different levels of rejections. The most of mine from him say, "This tale didn't grab me". Some have said "It didn't quite work for me".

I've never seen that third one...not even the one story he made a personal comment on, three years ago, said that.

But I have noticed that all of the editors at F&SF say the same thing they just sign their names to a form letter. Even now with Lisa Rogers the rejections say exactly the same thing. And JJA seems to have taken that phrase with him.

Speaking of JJA, I would almost like to meet him, by far he has read more of my stories than any other editor. And one of these days, if I ever remember, I will be sending him a story, maybe two.