I am very sorry that we have, in Michael Cisco’s eyes, failed him. And he makes one point that I will concede: we want to improve our ongoing communications with our authors. I hope Michael will allow us to do so in his case.
What I must dispute is that Michael has been cheated. He has not. Our royalty statements are accurate and truthful and easily verified. He has now seen his statement and knows that his royalty payment is accurate. It would be unprofessional for us to share these figures in public and I am sure Michael would agree.
Yes, we have occasionally fallen behind schedule — and then we have always caught up again. (This is hardly a unique condition in small press publishing. Our goal, of course, is to remain on schedule.)
We believed in his book enough to publish it and distributed promotional copies to various places. As Michael points out, it received some very positive reviews, including from Publishers Weekly and Realms of Fantasy. And we continue to believe in his book and look forward to selling many more copies in the future.
We are always striving to be a better company, and I’d like to invite all of our authors to contact us directly with feedback and suggestions about what, in their view, we might be doing better for them. We are listening.
—Sean Wallace, Executive Editor
I know the feeling. I got into spec fic because I read Andre Norton when I was a child, and while some of her books hold up pretty well over time, re-reading them doesn't transport me the way it used to do.
But sometimes it isn't so much that the reader is older, it's that the times themselves have changed, leaving the story, behind, in whole or in part. Case in point—The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
Bester was a pioneer of spec fic and yet somehow I never read his stuff, even though I was reading spec fic as early as (gulp) 1962. So, when I began to write seriously and I heard this work lauded as groundbreaking, I thought I should read it. So several years ago, I did. I hated it.
I don't think the problem was that I was older, I think the problem was it wasn't 1956 anymore. William Gibson says all books are about their own time, and I think that's true in this case. When the protagonist of this book gets angry at the universe because he has been brutalized, he decides to take revenge, and this revenge includes raping a woman who never hurt him. The reader gets to hear his thought process as he consciously decides to do this. It totally and completely turned me against the protagonist and even against the story.
This was not just Bester being a pig. If you read mystery and spy novels from the 50's and 60's, rape was treated very differently than it is today—almost casually, in fact. There were plenty of romance novels where the woman protagonist fell in love with a man who raped her!
But I can't go back, so for me, reading the story for the first time at the cusp between the 21st and 22nd centuries, the stars were definitely not my destination.
- 10:53 is thankful that today is a half-day at school. #
- 20:31 is relieved that the first batch of Surreal Botany copies is now in the mail to the US, and should be available by the middle of next week. #
In case you don’t read Fantasy every day (and why not?!) I want to draw your attention to an announcement we just put up. We’re going to start podcasting radio plays (or, more properly: audio dramas :as the plays won’t necessarily be on the radio) next year and so we’re accepting script submissions starting September 1. I know at least one person who’ll be excited about this. We’re looking for original scripts OR stuff adapted from existing stories.
I suspect a lot of writers will want to do adaptations but might wonder and worry if an author would mind having their story turned into a play. They have to get permission, of course. So I thought it would be a good idea to gather in one place a list of authors who would like to see their stories adapted. If you are such an author, please comment. Put the URL to your website in the URL field (which will be the click through on your name), a link to your bibliography, and a link to where folks can contact you.
Keep in mind that comments below are NOT the same as permission to adapt a story. It’s merely an indication that the author is interested. Any script writers who want to adapt a story should contact the author directly.
I should also note that the rights and permissions for audio plays are not the same as audio rights. Thus, if you allow someone to adapt your story into a radio drama, it should not affect your ability to sell the audio/podcast rights.
Comments | PermalinkThe most telling sign as to how bad the lack of moisture has been came last night, when I was watering the plants on the front porch. Roses, luffah squash, passion flowers, pineapples, and lots of the Czarina's herbs. I had just started spraying the roses with water when this big skittering blob rushed from behind a panel on the house and ran straight toward the overspray. At first, I thought it was a bug of some sort, and then I realized that it was a Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus), and one of the largest I've ever seen. What was strange enough was that it ran across the porch with its tail held over its back, as if it were impersonating a scorpion, and I'd never seen nor heard of that sort of behavior before. Stranger was that it ran to the water, cocked its head to see if I was going to do anything, and then frantically started lapping up water. This little lizard was willing to risk sudden violent death for a drink of water.
Suffice to say, I soaked down the immediate area quite well, and then sprayed the back porch area as well. I've worked hard to build up colonies of both house geckos and Carolina anoles around the house, and they're not dying of thirst on my watch.
Now I have to fix this story.
And the first thing I have to do is find a first line that would not get it rejected by every self-respecting magazine editor in North America.
groggyMy only Worldcon experience was last year - the crazy one day trip to Japan (those reports are here, here and here). The whole thing was so rushed and it was only when I got back that I realized how many people were there that I knew but didn't see. Of course, you can't exactly call that experience typical.
I would actually like to connect with people this time, so please let me know if you'll be there! I'm arriving on the 6th and leaving on the 10th. Drop a line here or write me at lasirenadolce at earthlink dot net.
Estimated time required: 10 hours per month (Initially more, but workload would vary seasonally.)
Job Description:
The person in this position would perform the following tasks:
1) Update the website 6 times a year to reflect the contents of the current print issue of the Bulletin. This involves editing the files for the home page, back issues page, current issue page, every issue and other pages, depending on staffing changes, contributor changes, etc. The pages are currently coded in css, so very little web programming knowledge is needed, but the work demands care and consistency.
2) Upload the Market Report as soon as it is received.
3) Upload miscellaneous files of content (e.g., featured articles).
4) Modify image files to match the needs of Bulletin web pages (e.g., resizing jpegs).
5) Upload SFWA and genre related news on a regular basis,schedule to be determined by the SFWA Website Content Editor.
6) Perform minor edits to Bulletin web pages, as needed or requested, by the SFWA Website Content Editor.
Requirements:Qualified candidates should have good organization and written communication skills, as well as an understanding of current web technology. Membership in SFWA is required.
Benefits: Resume worthy credit, close contact with established SF professionals, help shape the face of SFWA. Interested parties should contact me at secretary AT sfwa.org.
Brown is a mother now, the child conceived naturally.
Today is also going down in history as the death of Randy Pausch, the author of the best-selling book The Last Lecture. When I first heard of Pausch and his story, I bought a copy of his book and I read it. Often, books of this sort leave me cold; for example, Mitch Albom's books on how we should live our lives meaningfully really don't do anything for me.
But Pausch's book is different. Maybe it's because the guy is leaving behind his three little kids, or maybe it's because the way he delivered his message resonated with me better. But for whatever reason, I found his book inspirational, and I recommend it highly. For those of you who haven't read it, the book is an expansion on his lecture about how to live out your childhood dreams. I think Pausch hit on a lot of things that we tend to forget about when just trying to live our lives day by day.
As a wise man once said, "The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between. But there is still time to seize that one last fragile moment. To choose something better, to make a difference, as you say. And I intend to do just that."
That would explain why discussions of the same always end up with 100+ comments of canned arguments from people who are absolutely sure they aren't making canned arguments.
Mindy, posting like a posting fiend
Today's darling (so far) is a piece of dialogue: "While time reveals all truths, necessity determines their value."
True or False? The inner core of the Earth is hotter than the surface of the sun.
( Answer behind the cut.... )
There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war.Really???
You've really got to read the rest to see just how incredibly silly this opinion piece is.
LAG's Basic [and Updated] Rules for Going Freelance, specific to novelists:
1. Be under contract for at least two books in the next 18 months, for more than $10,000 a book. Twice that, if you have no other source of income (other freelancing skills, an income-producing partner, rental properties etc).
2. Have no continuing debt beyond your mortgage, and get that sucker as paid-down as possible (trebly true, these days).
3. Have four-six months of rent/utilities set aside at all times, so you don't have to panic about the day after tomorrow.
4. Maintain a year's worth of living expenses in your security/emergency account. And by that I mean money that is earmarked for NOTHING except all your contracts being canceled and your not being able to find another job for six months or more.
5. Be willing and able to cheerfully pick up another job on the side (my personal rule is, if my predicted monies fall below a specific yearly amount, it's time for a part-time job. End of discussion and start looking.)
6. Live reasonably. Note I don't say cheaply, but reasonably. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses -- pick and choose what is important to you, and let the rest go without bitterness -- nobody forced you into this life. For me, living out somewhere else would mean a larger place, and more disposable income. But emotionally and mentally I would suffer. So what's the money worth, then? Likewise, someone who needs sunshine and warmth should not go live somewhere with 8 months of winter, just to save a few thousand dollars a year. And if you NEED the latest tech gadgets, expensive cars, and Big Nights out? You're probably not going to be happy as a freelancer anywhere, unless you land the dream gig for life.
But most of all, really truly and seriously, you should not be a freelancer if you can't a) make and stick to a financial plan and b) be prepared for the plan to go pear-shaped.
Case in point to illustrate, and show why this is on my mind: I'd estimated $15,000 in contract money (as opposed to freelance money, which is tougher to pinpoint) for 2Q earnings. Only $3,000 of that actually ended up in my hands in a timely fashion, due to a series of events that were...frustrating, and totally beyond my ability to influence (aka "shite happens"). $3000, over a three month period.*
That's why, boys and girls and writers of all sizes, when the wise old voices tell you not to quit your day job, you should stare long and hard at the list above (or your own iteration of same) and think long and hard and then think long and hard again. Because unless you've got a) a fiscal safety cushion, b) a tolerance for uncertainty and c) the ability to put off or forgo indulgences...
And no, going into debt on your credit cards is *bzzzzt* not the answer, unless the question is "how to make the situation even worse."
Fortunately, the payments have come through, and 3Q is a kinder, more affluent quarter, so I can now pay back the monies I took out of the safety account. But it was a tight six weeks there that I did NOT enjoy.
Feel free to discuss, or add your own thoughts/experiences to this, in comments. It's about adding to the general knowledge, not hoarding it....
*thankfully, freelance came in to ease the pain a bit. But you can never count on that...
