We had a thread a few months ago about the length of time it takes AHMM to respond to story submissions. I submitted back in July. When I received no word by the end of September, I sent a polite e-mail, asking if it got there. I was told that they were running behind.
Well, by Christmas it will be 5 months, and still no answer. I've published with AHMM from the beginning, have always given them exclusives, and have never had a story turned down after the first one. In 2000 I won a Shamus with a story in AHMM. So I'm upset.
Since this isn't fair to a writer (we don't give publishers exclusives on a ms. for more than a month), I have just withdrawn my submission. And believe me, that was hard to do, since I got my start there and have always felt very grateful.
The story is important to me. It's one of my best, I think. Not sure what to do next.