Got this email today about a short fiction of mine that had been accepted a while back:

“Please note that the term “gypsy” has been changed to “Romani” for publication since the original word appears on lists of ethnic slurs. We’re sorry no one noticed the issue before the story went live to ask you about the alteration, but we can easily change it to traveler or old woman or something else if you prefer; just let us know.”

Can’t say I’m all that concerned, but had I been told prior to publication, I would have said take it as is or leave it out. An unpaid acceptance of my work for an online “magazine” is not really worth the compromise to me. As Harlan Ellison once said, my soul is for sale … but not that cheap. At least I know that somewhere, sometime, I made a millennial cringe with moral indignation — and that’s what life is all about, right?