Archive for Publishing

| May 19, 2019
17 comments

Initial Version of Kickstarter Project, Changed Under Threat of Lawsuit from Ellison Estate

When I first put out word that I wanted to do a modern-day re-imagining of Harlan Ellison’s classic 1967 anthology of original science fiction, Dangerous Visions, a good and wise friend suggested that I keep a journal of my experiences, gently pointing out that I should expect “interesting times,” in the Chinese sense. Little did I know the “interesting times” would get so interesting, so fast!

My original notion for my Kickstarter project was a modern-day responsa to Dangerous Visions, a cultural milestone from the New Wave era of science fiction and a period of momentous change in American society. I thought the time was ripe, given the spread of call-out culture and de-platforming from the university/higher education sphere into popular culture — most definitely including science fiction and its conventional publishing imprints — to do The New Dangerous Visions, focusing on the taboos of today.

I wanted to be considerate of Susan Ellison’s, Harlan’s widow’s, feelings, so, in searching for a contact email, I reached out to her through a representative from one of the Ellison Estate’s organizations. I knew that titles do not fall under copyright, but I also knew the possibility existed that the Estate had trademarked “Dangerous Visions,” so I wanted to find that out, as well. Below is my exchange of messages with the Estate.
———————————————
Andrew Fox
Mon, Apr 22, 7:23 PM
to ellison.editor

Hello! I’m Andrew Fox, a sf, horror, and fantasy writer, good friend of Barry Malzberg’s, and a lifelong fan of Harlan’s. I’d like to reach Susan Ellison regarding an anthology I would like to edit in Harlan’s honor. Is this a good email address to use?

Best wishes,

Andrew Fox

———————————————
Harlan Ellison Book Preservation Project
Apr 22, 2019, 8:07 PM
to me

Andrew,

I’ll relay your proposal to Susan.

Be aware there’s already an Ellison tribute anthology available for pre-order from PS Publishing.

Director, Harlan Ellison Book Preservation Project

———————————————-
Andrew Fox
Apr 22, 2019, 8:54 PM
to Director, Harlan Ellison Book Preservation Project

Dear Director,

Thank you for reaching back to me, and thank you for letting me know that an official tribute volume to Harlan Ellison has been prepared; I’ll look forward to reading it. Actually, the anthology I have in mind is a bit different. Although it would serve, in part, as a tribute to Harlan’s irreplaceable work, it would be primarily a responsa to one of his most famous and enduring literary efforts. I’d like to do a modern-day version of DANGEROUS VISIONS, tentatively titled THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS. I’ve started gauging interest from possible contributors, including folks I know through my membership in SIGMA, the science fiction think tank. If I get at least half a dozen notable (or reasonably notable) folks to express interest in contributing, then I’ll raise funds to pay the contributors market rates through one of the crowd-funding platforms.

Here’s my precis…

“Fifty-two years ago, in 1967, writer and anthologist Harlan Ellison captured the attention of the science fiction community (as well as much of the larger literary community) with his publication of the largest original anthology of science fiction printed to that time, DANGEROUS VISIONS. Ellison solicited stories from both science fiction’s established roster of writers and from the most talented newcomers; several writers (including Samuel Delany) broke into the field with their submissions to DANGEROUS VISIONS and later attained lasting renown in the field. Ellison asked for submissions that couldn’t be printed in the science fiction magazines of the time, nor in other, conventional science fiction anthologies. He sought taboo-shattering stories, and he received them… stories that centered around incest, homosexuality, bisexuality, cross-species sex, women’s liberation, sadism, graphic violence, blasphemies against widely held religious beliefs, an all-pervasive welfare state, the moral limitations of capitalism, and the pervasiveness of bigotry. Five years later, in 1972, he followed up with an even larger, two-volume anthology of original works, AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS. Ellison promised his readers a third and final anthology, THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS, but, despite soliciting and receiving dozens of submissions from major writers, he was never able to finish writing the thousands of words of story introductions and after words, and, despite repeated promises to fans and interviewers over the years, THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS remained incomplete and became the most famous/infamous work of science fiction never to be published. DANGEROUS VISIONS and AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS have remained almost continuously in print over the succeeding decades and have come to be recognized not only as classic science fiction anthologies but as key cultural artifacts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, paradigmatic works of science fiction’s New Wave that reflected rapidly changing artistic, cultural, and social mores in the U.S. and the western world.

“In the decades since DANGEROUS VISIONS’s publication, what was originally taboo-breaking has become the common mental furniture of the science fiction field and much of the rest of the arts. Virtually none of the stories published five decades ago in either of these ground-breaking anthologies would be considered shocking or disturbing to most of the readership today. Yesterday’s transgressions are today’s cultural virtues and/or commonplaces. This poses a question: if DANGEROUS VISIONS were to be published today, with the same goal of seeking to present science fiction that cannot be published elsewhere, due to commercial and cultural barriers, what sorts of stories would it contain? What are TODAY’S taboos, and how do they relate to the taboos Harlan Ellison and his contributors confronted in 1968 and 1973? How can these modern-day taboos be illuminated and sharply delineated through fiction and productively extrapolated and explored using the unique tools of science fiction?

“THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS will seek to answer these questions and to play a similar role in the culture — the culture of science fiction as well as the overarching culture — that Harlan Ellison’s anthologies played five decades ago. Contributions will be sought from established science fiction writers, writers who have made their marks outside the science fiction field, and new writers — just as Ellison did with the original DANGEROUS VISIONS. The project will be initially funded through a crowd-sourcing platform, which will both raise money, establishing the financial viability of the project, and serve to publicize the project and help get the word out to potential contributors. Such contributors will be asked to submit, not merely their best work, but work which, due to its content, viewpoint, and subject matter, has little or no chance of being published elsewhere.”

I intend for this anthology to serve as a cultural snapshot in time, just as the original DANGEROUS VISIONS and its sequel volumes served. I think the culture can benefit from a new dose of DANGEROUS VISIONS every half-century or so, if only to provide signposts of where we’ve been and where we’re possibly heading as a society. One of the best ways to know a culture is to know what it fears, hates, and forbids.

In addition to being a longtime friend of Barry Malzberg’s, I was also a student and friend of George Alec Effinger’s in New Orleans. I learned many of my editing skills at George’s feet. I know that George and Harlan were close for many years before they drifted apart. I wanted to provide Susan the courtesy of making her aware of my plans before I sign up with a crowd-funding platform and she becomes aware of the anthology third-hand, so that she may offer her comments and input.

Thank you for passing this message along. I truly appreciate it.

Best wishes,

Andrew Fox

——————————————————

Weeks passed. I didn’t hear back from my correspondent from the Ellison Estate or any other representatives. So I went ahead and put up the following project description on Kickstarter.

——————————————————
THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS
An anthology of original science fiction. A re-imagining of the classic 1967 anthology. DANGEROUS VISIONS, exploring today’s taboos.

Promotional Video

Fifty-two years ago, in 1967, writer and anthologist Harlan Ellison captured the attention of the science fiction community (as well as much of the larger literary community) with his publication of the largest original anthology of science fiction printed to that time, DANGEROUS VISIONS.

Ellison sought submissions that couldn’t be printed in the science fiction magazines or anthologies of the day. He asked for taboo-shattering stories. And he got them! The 32 stories included tales that explored the ramifications of incest, homosexuality, bisexuality, cross-species sex, women’s liberation, sadism, graphic violence, blasphemies against widely held religious beliefs, an all-pervasive welfare state, the moral limitations of capitalism, and the pervasiveness of bigotry. Some of science fiction’s most illustrious writers submitted pieces, including Ray Bradbury, Damon Knight, Philip K. Dick, and Theodore Sturgeon. But Ellison was especially eager to purchase stories from talented newcomers. Several writers who were later to become stars in their own right, including Samuel Delany and Gene Wolfe, broke into the field with their submissions to DANGEROUS VISIONS or its even larger sequel, the two-volume anthology AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS, published in 1972.

DANGEROUS VISIONS and AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS have remained almost continuously in print since their original publication. Both have come to be recognized, not only as classic science fiction anthologies, but as key cultural artifacts of the late 1960s and early 1970s – paradigmatic works of science fiction’s New Wave that reflected rapidly changing artistic, cultural, and social mores in the U.S. and the Western world.

Five decades have passed since the emergence of that cultural milestone. It’s time to peer through that vertigo-inducing looking glass again. It’s time for THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS.

I believe one of the best ways to know a culture is to learn what it fears, hates, and forbids.

In the decades since DANGEROUS VISIONS’s publication, what was originally taboo-breaking has become the common mental furniture of the science fiction field and much of the rest of the arts. But this does not mean that new social prohibitions have not risen to take the place of old ones. What are TODAY’S taboos? What kinds of science fiction stories are verboten in today’s commercial publishing market? How can these modern-day taboos be illuminated and explored using the unique extrapolative tools of science fiction?

These are the questions THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS will seek to answer.

I’m Andrew Fox. I’m the author of the award-winning comic-horror novel, Fat White Vampire Blues (2003), and its sequel, Bride of the Fat White Vampire (2004). My third novel, The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501 (2009), was selected by Booklist Magazine as one of the Ten Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels of the Year. I’m also a member of SIGMA, the science fiction think tank. I learned how to edit a story from being a part of George Alec Effinger’s writing workshop for fourteen years. My day job involves managing acquisitions of information systems. One of my biggest personal accomplishments was organizing one of the most successful citizen-led anti-violence campaigns in New Orleans’s history. After my cousin Amy Silberman was killed by celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve in 1994, I co-founded the New Year Coalition Against Holiday Gunfire. Over the next six years, the New Year Coalition’s public safety education campaign helped reduce annual injuries from New Year’s Eve gunfire from a dozen casualties or more to zero.

Why do I want to get this anthology done? Am I, a little-known writer who seeks to step into Harlan Ellison’s gigantic shoes, a narcissist and an attention-grabber? Well, uh, sure, there’s a little of that going on (gotta be honest here). But the main impetus for my wanting to see THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS come to fruition is that I have been an ardent fan of science fiction since before I learned to read. I grew up on a steady diet of Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, Vonda McIntyre, Anne McCaffrey, Barry N. Malzberg, and Harlan Ellison. Our present-day drift towards censorship – not censorship by the government, but censorship of unpopular ideas by media companies, commercial publishing, and internet content/social media providers, and censorship through shaming mobs, and the self-censorship that comes from writers wanting to remain able to make a living in their chosen field – worries me greatly. Science fiction is often called “speculative fiction.” Speculation and extrapolation – asking what if? and why? or how? – is the life’s blood of science fiction. Science fiction writers can’t wrap themselves in yellow CAUTION tape. They need to be free to follow their what ifs? wherever those speculative rabbit-holes may lead… even if they lead to dark, dank, unpleasant places.

How many readers in Mary Shelley’s day wanted to read a tale in which Man abrogated the creative power of God? The existence of such a tale was a scandal in some quarters.

How many readers in H. G. Wells’s day wanted to read a tale in which the center of the world-spanning British Empire was itself colonized by invaders from another planet? The existence of such a tale was a scandal in some quarters.

How many readers in Philip Jose Farmer’s day wanted to read a collection of tales in which human beings engaged in sexual relations, not merely with persons of a different race or religion, but with members of bizarre alien species that had evolved light years distant from Earth? The existence of such tales was a scandal in some quarters.

How many readers during the glory days of the Apollo Program wanted to read a tale by Barry N. Malzberg that predicted bureaucratic dysfunction and its associated pathologies would cripple the U.S. manned space program (and drive astronauts insane)? The existence of such tales was a scandal in some quarters.

Yet each of these authors and their scandalous tales opened spaces for new viewpoints and fresh ways of thinking, pushing the great centuries-spanning conversation at the heart of science fiction forward.

I’ve lined up some contributors whose names are widely recognized in the science fiction field, including some who contributed to the original DANGEROUS VISIONS or AGAIN, DANGEROUS VISIONS or who pitched a story to one of those anthologies but didn’t manage to make the cut (but who went on to have noteworthy careers in science fiction or fantasy).

However, just as Harlan Ellison did, I’m primarily looking for talented beginners, those at the start of their writing careers or those whose work shows genuine literary skill but who have had a difficult time breaking into a contracting and commercially conservative publishing field. I’m also eager to feature strong work from those who have suffered “one-book-and-you’re-out” syndrome (those who’ve managed to get one book in print through a traditional publisher, but whose first-and-only book did not meet expectations, and therefore found themselves unable to follow up, since publishers no longer bother with gradually building up an author and his/her audience over time).

I intend to pay a professional rate, $.06 per word, for approximately 70,000 words of original fiction (not quite the size of the original DANGEROUS VISIONS, but hey, we all have to start somewhere!). To accommodate payments to contributors, book production costs (cover art, design, etc.), fees paid to Kickstarter, and the costs of premiums to be offered to donors, I aim to raise $7,000.00.

Should I exceed that amount, I will increase the maximum size of the collection accordingly, accepting more story submissions. Each additional $500.00 raised allows me to pay for an additional 8,000 words, which could be two 4,000-word stories added or an additional 6,000-word story and a 2,000-word short-short. Any funds raised beyond $8,500.00 will be put towards the publication of a second volume (which’ll be titled AGAIN, NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS – what else?). Raising at least $15,500.00 will guarantee the publication of both a first and a second volume.

Kickstarter does not charge contributors unless and until the minimum fund-raising goal is met. This means that if you pledge $25, but the pledged total at the end of the fund-raising period only totals $3,762.33, you aren’t out a dime. Also, I don’t see a dime myself. I only have funds turned over to me by Kickstarter if my efforts manage to raise at least $6,500.00. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board.

Assuming I hit my mark, I will issue a call for submissions; it’ll appear here on the Kickstarter site, on my personal blog site, on the MonstraCity Press site, and will be shared with the popular online compilations of open fiction markets. Here are my provisional guidelines:

Stories can be up to 7,000 words, maximum.
Stories cannot have been previously published (this is an ORIGINAL anthology).
No simultaneous submissions (I don’t want to get all hot-and-bothered about your wonderful story, only to learn it’s been sold to Clarkesworld Magazine).
I intend for this anthology to serve as a cultural snapshot in time, just as the original DANGEROUS VISIONS and its sequel volumes served. (I think the culture can benefit from a new dose of DANGEROUS VISIONS every half-century or so.) With this in mind, shoot for the stars – submit your very best work, work you are proud of.
I am looking for stories that, due to their content, viewpoint, and/or subject matter, have little or no chance of being published in the commercial market. That means no retreads of themes or taboo/transgressive subject matter from the original DANGEROUS VISIONS or its sequel (unless you do something new, interesting, and subversive with that material, looking at the subject matter in a way that likely renders your story unmarketable). Virtually none of the stories published five decades ago in either of Ellison’s ground-breaking anthologies would be considered shocking or disturbing to most of the readership today. Yesterday’s transgressions are today’s cultural virtues and/or commonplaces. What are TODAY’S taboos? What kinds of science fiction stories are verboten in today’s commercial publishing market? What just won’t fly, whether due to shared social beliefs and aversions common to editors, assumptions that editors make about their readerships’ beliefs and aversions, or the commercial pressures of the corporate publishing world? How can these modern-day taboos be illuminated and explored using the unique extrapolative tools of science fiction?
No troll submissions! I am looking for stories of high literary merit. No stories that merely (or primarily) seek to shock, insult, or provoke will be accepted. The subject matter may be outrageous by the standards of today’s marketplace. But keep in mind, the more outrageous or disturbing the material, the more incisively it needs to be explored using the cognitive tools of science fiction. Your story may be humorous or satirical; the subject matter may greatly benefit from that approach. But your goals should be to induce your readers to care about your characters, their conflicts, and their predicaments, to leave your readers with something memorable to think about, and, last but not least, to entertain.
Use of a pseudonym is acceptable. You have my word that I will not reveal your true identity if you do not wish it to be revealed, and I will be happy to disguise your PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in any story introductions.
Please be aware that making a financial contribution to my Kickstarter campaign will NOT factor into my story selection decisions, if you intend to contribute both money and a story submission. Each story will be considered on its own merits.

Pledge $5.00 to $9.99: You’ll receive

an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released.

Pledge $10.00 to $24.99: You’ll receive

an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released
and you’ll be listed as a Supporter in the book.

Pledge $25.00 to $39.99: You’ll receive

an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

Pledge $40.00 to $44.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

Pledge $45.00 to $49.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

Pledge $50.00 to $74.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

OR

Pledge $50.00 to $74.99: You’ll receive

an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released
an ebook of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

Pledge $75.00 to $99.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

OR

Pledge $75.00 to $99.99: You’ll receive

an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
and you’ll be listed as a Donor in the book.

Pledge $100.00 to $124.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
and you’ll be listed as a Patron in the book.

Pledge $125.00 to $149.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
and you’ll be listed as a Patron in the book.

Pledge $150.00 to $199.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
and you’ll be listed as a Patron in the book.

Pledge $200.00 to $249.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
and you’ll be listed as a Sponsor in the book.

Pledge $250.00 to $499.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Sponsor in the book
and a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice).

Pledge $500.00 to $999.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Sponsor in the book
a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice)
and you will be invited to join editor Andrew Fox at lunch or dinner in conjunction with a Mid-Atlantic-area science fiction convention.

Pledge $1,000.00 to $1,499.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Super-Patron in the book
a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice)
ü you will be invited to join editor Andrew Fox at lunch or dinner in conjunction with a Mid-Atlantic-area science fiction convention
and Andrew Fox will provide a professional editorial appraisal of a short story written by the donor (up to 10,000 words).

Pledge $1,500.00 to $1,999.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Super-Patron in the book
a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice)
you will be invited to join editor Andrew Fox at lunch or dinner in conjunction with a Mid-Atlantic-area science fiction convention
and Andrew Fox will provide a professional editorial appraisal of a novel-length manuscript written by the donor (up to 125,000 words).

Pledge $2,000.00 to $2,499.99: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Super-Patron in the book
a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice)
you will be invited to join editor Andrew Fox at lunch or dinner in conjunction with a Mid-Atlantic-area science fiction convention
Andrew Fox will provide your choice of a professional editorial appraisal of a short story written by the donor (up to 10,000 words) or a professional editorial appraisal of a novel-length manuscript written by the donor (up to 125,000 words)
and you’ll receive a SIGNED vintage MS-DOS laptop computer, used by Andrew Fox to write one of his novels, with multiple drafts of the author’s novels FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES and BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE on the hard drive.

Pledge $2,500.00 or more: You’ll receive

a trade paperback copy and an ebook copy of THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS when it’s released (slight additional shipping fee will be applied)
an ebook copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE OTAKU
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FIRE ON IRON
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, OR, CALORIE 3501
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE
a signed trade paperback copy of Andrew Fox’s novel FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES
you’ll be listed as a Super-Patron in the book
a character in one of the anthology’s stories will be given your name (or the name of your choice)
you will be invited to join editor Andrew Fox at lunch or dinner in conjunction with a Mid-Atlantic-area science fiction convention
Andrew Fox will provide your choice of a professional editorial appraisal of a short story written by the donor (up to 10,000 words) or a professional editorial appraisal of a novel-length manuscript written by the donor (up to 125,000 words)
you’ll receive a SIGNED vintage MS-DOS laptop computer, used by Andrew Fox to write one of his novels, with multiple drafts of the author’s novels FAT WHITE VAMPIRE BLUES and BRIDE OF THE FAT WHITE VAMPIRE on the hard drive
and THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS will be dedicated to you (or to a relative or friend of your choice).

I believe in this project. I think it is an important thing to do, important for science fiction, which I love, and important for the continued health of the free-speech culture we enjoy in the United States.

I believe in this project strongly enough that I’m willing to put my own money where my mouth (or touch typing) is. If I don’t get funded through Kickstarter, THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS will still be published through MonstraCity Press. I’ll have to reduce the word rate I can offer, unfortunately, and I’ll probably have to limit the amount of fiction I’ll be able to pay for. But I can promise that THE NEW DANGEROUS VISIONS will see the light of day, regardless. And any profit I’m fortunate enough to make from the first volume will then get dedicated to a second, larger volume (perhaps to be successfully funded through a new crowd-funding campaign).

Science fiction will always make room, make room (h/t: Harry Harrison) for contrarians, for heretics, for the unfashionable and unpopular, for the ugly, for outcasts, for stubborn failures who won’t say die, for dreamers at the fringe. Without them, the centuries-long conversation at the heart of science fiction – Idea A being built upon by Idea B being refuted by Idea C that is then modified by Idea D – becomes a sterile echo chamber. And should that happen, science fiction – written science fiction, the fecund seed from which all other modes of science fiction sprout – will ultimately suffer the sad fate of poetry, declining from a mass medium that once spoke to the minds and hearts of large audiences to a withered stump, of interest only to a shrunken circle of its writers and practitioners and a few academics, an inward-looking, incestuous community characterized by log-rolling, desperate status-seeking, ideological nepotism, obscurantism, and futility.

In this era of accelerating technological change and resultant social change, we need a healthy, vigorous, daring and courageous science fiction more than ever. To point out the possible perils up ahead. To point out future opportunities most of us may never otherwise have imagined. To get us to examine our thinking, to revisit our assumptions, to rearrange our mental furniture. To enable us to meet the onrushing future, not blindly, not with an anticipatory cringe or defensive cower, but with our eyes wide open… braced for the worst, but filled with reasoned hope for much, much better to come.

Risks and challenges
The primary risk is that if I don’t hit my funding target of $7,000, I won’t be able to pay a professional rate of $.06/word, and I probably won’t be able to buy 70,000 words of original fiction. However, I am personally committed to this project. If I miss my Kickstarter goal and receive no funding through Kickstarter, I will still solicit original stories, but at a sub-professional word rate, and I will most likely purchase less original fiction. In the latter case, I will be less able to attract submissions from veteran professional writers. However, I anticipate being able to make up this shortfall with submissions from talented newcomers.

—————————————————————————-
The day after I launched the Kickstarter project, I received the following email from my correspondent with the Ellison Estate:

—————————————————————————-

Director
May 17, 2019, 2:18 PM
to me

Mr. Fox,

While the press of urgent business has not allowed us to reply to your last message, silence does not imply consent.

Know that both “Harlan Ellison” and “Dangerous Visions” are registered trademarks of The Kilimanjaro Corporation. ANY unauthorized use of either constitutes trademark infringement under 15 U.S. Code §1114.

Revise your Kickstarter to remove ALL references to “Harlan Ellison” and “Dangerous Visions,” or The Kilimanjaro Corporation will take the necessary legal action.

XXXXX XXXXXXXX
Project Director, The Kilimanjaro Corporation

——————————————————————————

I’d guestimate that email took all of two minutes to write. Why the gentleman from The Kilimanjaro Corporation didn’t respond to my April 22 8:07 PM email with similar promptness as he responded to my April 22 7:23 PM email is anyone’s guess. All it would have taken is an even shorter note to the effect of, “Dangerous Visions is a registered trademark of The Kilimanjaro Corporation; we would appreciate it if you would select a different title for your project,” and I would have honored that request then and there.

A trademark’s a trademark. I get it. I’ll comply.

However, what I don’t get is trademarking the name “Harlan Ellison”. Harlan Ellison was a major figure in science fiction and in American literary, film, and TV culture for upwards of sixty years. Does the Estate plan to try to control, through legal action, all discussion of Ellison’s work and legacy, whether online or in print? I could understand the Estate wanting to put a halt to unauthorized marketing and sales of Harlan Ellison Corn Flakes, or, more on-point, Harlan Ellison Underwood Typewriter Replicas or Harlan Ellison Anti-Anger Herbal Remedy. But trying to squelch any mention of “Harlan Ellison” in conjunction with a planned anthology that will exist primarily as a responsa to Ellison’s most important work, a milestone in science fiction’s development?

That I don’t get. It is as if the Estate wants to see Harlan Ellison gradually fade into undeserved obscurity. Because if they keep up their heavy-handed efforts to control all discussion of and creative engagement with the legacy of the late author, in twenty years’ time, no one under the age of 70, with the exception of a few obsessive bibliophiles, will have ever heard of Harlan Ellison. And I think that will be a shame.

Category: Publishing, Science Fiction, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,
| March 19, 2017
Comments Off on New Story Published: “Youth Will Be Served”

New Story Published: “Youth Will Be Served”

Who knows what lurks beneath those waves, what awaits the swimmers?

Who knows what lurks beneath those waves, what awaits the swimmers?

I had a story published in the February issue of Nightmare Magazine, “Youth Will Be Served.” It is a dark fantasy set in the Miami Beach of the 1990s, when South Beach’s Art Deco District was on the cusp between decay and revitalization. Both text and audio versions are available online. Please have a look or a listen!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing |
| May 22, 2014
5 comments

Fat White Vampire Otaku Now Out for Kindle!

Fat White - High Resolution - 100 Percent JPEG

It’s here — the long awaited third installment in the Fat White Vampire series of humorous horror novels! Jules Duchon and his vampiric family suffer through the ravages of Hurricane Antonia and struggle to survive in a New Orleans which is almost entirely depopulated. Where will they get their blood? Salvation comes from the most unlikely source possible — a trio of Japanese superheroes called Bonsai Master, Anime Girl, and Cutie-Scary Man. Yet that salvation comes with a terrifying but laugh-inducing price… the blood which the three superheroes donate has unpredictable effects on Jules and his family. Chaos ensues as Jules is transformed into a seven-foot-tall white rabbit, his wife Maureen puts on three hundred pounds, and his mother Edna becomes a vicious human/vampire vacuum cleaner!

Buy it for the Kindle on Amazon for $5.99!

Coming soon in trade paperback!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags:
| May 8, 2014
4 comments

Cover for Hellfire and Damnation

Hellfire and Damnation - High Resolution

This is the cover for my upcoming book, Hellfire and Damnation: the August Micholson Chronicles, Book 2, coming out from MonstraCity Press in August, 2014. And here is the “teaser” for that book:

The second book in the thrilling Civil War steampunk supernatural suspense series begun with Fire on Iron. In this installment in the series, August Micholson must clear his name — he is accused of being a traitor to the Union and a sabateur and faces a court martial. He escapes his prison in an observation balloon, but then he is faced with monumental twin challenges — restoring the mental health of his “madness plague”-striken wife Elizabeth, and figuring out a way to halt General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania!
_____________________________________________________________________________

Here’s a gallery of the work that James of the Humble Nations: the Book Covers, Musings, & Fiction of ‘Cheap Literature’ Smith’ has done for me thus far:

James has hundreds and hundreds of pre-made covers available for writers to purchase for $35 apiece, and he often offers specials on them. If none of his pre-made covers work for you, he also does what he calls “Commission Rapide,” which is where you pick out a few images from ShutterStock and give him your title and instructions, and “Full Commission,” where you let him do all the work and he presents you with three different alternatives. He is very easy to work with and very friendly, and his prices are some of the best out there. As you can see from the gallery above, the quality of his work is quite high (the book covers are all “Commissions Rapide,” and the logo was a complete original that he put together for Dara and me for MonstraCity Press). He does ebook covers and for a small additional charge turns an ebook cover into a full, wrap-around cover for a CreateSpace or Lightning Source/IngramSpark trade paperback. I highly recommend him!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing, Science Fiction, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , ,
| April 15, 2014
4 comments

The New Immortality of Authors and Books

Headstone with flowers

I’d like to pose (and attempt to answer) four related questions. When is a relationship dead? When is a writer dead? When is an author dead? When is a book dead?

When is a relationship dead? When one of the two parties who formerly made up the relationship refuses to continue to relate. One party may continue to try. But with only one party making an effort, the relationship is dead.

I’m thinking about this very frequently nowadays. My relationships with my mother and my step-father are dead. They refuse to talk with me. When I was in the hospital for six days, they made no attempt to contact me, nor did they send a get-well card. They were not ignorant; my brother and sister filled them in regarding my distress and situation.

I recently received the news, through my sister, that my step-father is ailing. I asked my oldest son, Levi, if he would like to send his grandfather a get-well card, even though his grandfather no longer sends him letters, cards, or gifts. He said he wanted to send a get-well card, anyway, so I went out and bought one for him, put stamps on it, addressed it for him, and let him fill in the inside with a personal message. I also added a brief message of my own, very simple — “Dad, I hope you feel better soon. Love, Andy.”

By servicing the dead, one services the living. I was servicing the dead, and I was teaching my son to do the same. When we visit a gravestone and place flowers by it (or small pebbles from home, as is a common Jewish custom), we are servicing the dead, but in truth, we are servicing the living — ourselves. We are preserving a sense of connection with the departed and remembering the loving times we spent together. My step-father is dead to me. But by sending him a card with a brief message, I am recalling the years of love we shared, before he decided to cut off our relationship. I am also teaching my son that sometimes it is good and proper to take the effort to send someone something of yourself, even if you cannot expect any response in return.

A writer is no more than a person who writes. The only relationship necessary for writership is that between a writer and his or her work. When is a writer dead? A writer is dead when the person who writes dies.

An author is a writer who has an audience other than him or herself; the audience can be as small as one other person. Authorship is a type of relationship, a three-way relationship: the relationship between the author and his work; the relationship between the author and his reader(s); and the relationship between the author’s work and the reader(s). When is an author dead? An author is dead when all three of those relationships are severed, and they may be severed when only one party in the relationship is failing to maintain the relationship. In the relationship between the author and his work, the author can renounce his work and stop writing. In the relationship between the author and his reader(s), either party can stop sustaining a relationship which has been built. In the relationship between an author’s work and its audience, either the work can go out of print and be discarded from all lending libraries (the work severs the relationship), or the audience can stop reading the work.

When is a book dead? Either when the book is no longer available to persons who might otherwise be its audience, or its existing and potential audiences stop reading it.

The new hybrid forms of writer-publisher and author-publisher means that fewer writers, authors, and books will die. The assurance of publication means a writer will likely continue to write and continue to have a relationship with his work. The availability of social media, blogs, and websites means that an author’s direct relationship with readers need not cease until the author’s death. And the invention of ebooks, which need never go out of print, mean that very few books of lasting worth will ever die, for they will always be available to the readers who are willing to search them out.

I used to be an author; I was a writer with an audience. Now, having lost the majority of my audience, I am once again a writer. But by starting my own small press and publishing my books as both ebooks and physical books, I am taking steps to achieve life after death for me as an author and for my books.

Category: Miscellaneous Musings, Publishing |
| April 9, 2014
2 comments

New MonstraCity Press Website Debuts!

Monstracity Press Logo

I’m very proud to announce the debut of the new MonstraCity Press website! The website includes all of MonstraCity Press’ publishing plans through August of 2016, including the continuations of the Fat White Vampire series and the August Micholson Chronicles (the series that begins with Fire on Iron).

Here are the upcoming Fat White Vampire titles:
Fat White Vampire Otaku, (Jules Duchon #3), May, 2014
Hunt the Fat White Vampire, (Jules Duchon #4), February, 2015
Ghost of the Fat White Vampire, (Jules Duchon #5), November, 2015
Fat White Vampire Rehab, (Jules Duchon #6), May, 2016

Here’s a tie-in book that takes place in Jules Duchon’s New Orleans contemporaneously with the catastrophic events of Fat White Vampire Otaku and which explains the origin of Hurricane Antonia (the fictional counterpart of Hurricane Katrina):
The Bad Luck Spirits’ Social Aid and Pleasure Club, November, 2014

Here are the upcoming August Micholson Chronicles titles:
Hellfire and Damnation, (August Micholson #2), August, 2014
Fire on the Waters, (August Micholson #3), May, 2015
Home Fires, (August Micholson #4), February, 2016

Here are a pair of stand-alone novels:
No Direction Home, (near-future science fiction), August, 2015
The End of Daze, (satirical eschatological fantasy), August, 2016

Dara Fox, my lovely wife, is serving as Managing Editor and Co-Publisher, and I have granted myself the title of Co-Publisher, too.

Please visit the website of MonstraCity Press often!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
| April 3, 2014
2 comments

Update to Upcoming Projects Page

My update to my Upcoming Projects page can be found here. You may be surprised to see how many books I have in the pipeline, including several that will be published later this year by MonstraCity Press. See my Upcoming Projects page for brief descriptions of books 4-6 of the Fat White Vampire series and books 2-4 of the August Micholson Chronicles series, along with descriptions of several stand-alone science fiction novels which I have written and the first three books of the Mount MonstraCity series for middle grade readers (each of which has been written). I hope you’re as excited as I am!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing, Science Fiction |
| March 30, 2014
10 comments

Fat White Vampire Otaku Next Up

Fat White - High Resolution - 100 Percent JPEG

Coming next from MonstraCity Press is the third in the Fat White Vampire/Jules Duchon series, Fat White Vampire Otaku. Just what is an otaku, you might ask? Otaku is Japanese for “fan boy” or “fan girl.” Jules and his vampire friends get to sample the blood of a trio of Japanese superheroes after the devastating Hurricane Antonia rolls through New Orleans. The effects of that blood (at least some of it) on Jules and his friends cause them to become big-time otaku of their visiting pals, the Japanese superheroes… before chaos erupts! And you know chaos HAS to erupt, because this is a Fat White Vampire book!

My wife Dara, my partner in MonstraCity Press, has been working hard on proofing and formatting this third book in the Fat White Vampire series. We are aiming for a late April to mid-May roll out of the book. The ebook versions will arrive first, to be followed by a trade paperback version. Watch this space, as I’ll keep you all informed as of our progress!

(Reality check: Dara and I have had our hands full with Levi’s health problems recently, so it is possible that the publication date of Fat White Vampire Otaku may be pushed back a month or two. I’ll continue to keep you all updated.)

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags:
| February 10, 2014
Comments Off on Fire on Iron Now Available in Paperback!

Fire on Iron Now Available in Paperback!

Fire On Iron

For those of you who prefer to read your books in print, rather than in pixels, my newest book, Fire on Iron, is now available in trade paperback format for the price of $15.95.

And of course, Fire on Iron remains available in the following ebook formats for the bargain price of $2.99:

Smashwords

Nook

Apple iTunes

And if you are a diehard Kindle fan, the Kindle version is available for the price of $5.99.

I’m currently working on the last few chapters of the second book in my series which began with Fire on Iron, Midnight’s Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles. The new book will be called Hellfire and Damnation. Now’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of a brand-new, exciting Civil War steampunk suspense series!

One more time, here’s the back cover blurb:

“What price redemption? Is martial honor worth the cost of one’s soul?

“Lieutenant Commander August Micholson lost his first ship, the wooden frigate USS Northport, in reckless battle against the rebel ironclad ram CSS Virginia. However, Flag Officer Andrew Foote offers the disgraced young Micholson a chance to redeem himself: he can take the ironclad gunboat USS James B. Eads on an undercover mission to destroy a hidden rebel boat yard, where a fleet of powerful ironclads is being constructed which will allow the Confederate Navy to dominate the Mississippi.

“But dangers far more sinister than rebel ironclads await Micholson and his crew. On the dark waters of the Yazoo River, deep within rebel territory, they become entangled in a plot devised by a slave and his master to summon African fire spirits to annihilate the Federal armies. Micholson must battle devils both internal and external to save the lives of his crew, sink the Confederate fleet, and foil the arcane conspiracy. Ultimately, Micholson is faced with a terrible choice — he can risk the lives of every inhabitant of America, both Union and Confederate, or destroy himself by merging with a demon and forever melding his own soul with that of his greatest enemy.”

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags:
| January 31, 2014
2 comments

Introducing Ayo, MonstraCity Press’s Mascot!

Monstracity Press Logo

For those of you who haven’t seen him yet, I’d like to introduce Ayo, the official mascot of MonstraCity Press (and the star of our official logo)!

Ayo was the work of a very talented graphic artist, James, who can be reached at this email address (remove the asterisks from between the letters; trying to foul up spammers):

*h*u*m*b*l*e*n*a*t*i*o*n*s@*g*m*a*i*l.com

Fire On Iron

James has also been serving as our cover design artist. Many of you have seen the cover he did for Fire on Iron. He’s also created covers for two of our next three projects, Fat White Vampire Otaku and The Bad Luck Spirits’ Social Aid and Pleasure Club. Very soon, I’ll be having him start work on the cover for the second book in my new series, Midnight’s Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles, which started with Fire on Iron and which will continue with a second volume called Hellfire and Damnation (which I am typing busily away upon on a near-daily basis, to get it ready for August, 2014 distribution).

I hope everyone likes Ayo. Let Dara and me know what you think of him and of our MonstraCity Press logo.

Also, keep watching this space for more MonstraCity Press info, coming very soon!

Category: Publishing | Tags: ,
| November 2, 2013
4 comments

FREE .PDF Copy of Fire on Iron

Fire On Iron

Any one out there in InternetLand interested in a FREE .pdf copy of my newest book, Civil War steampunk supernatural suspense novel Fire on Iron?

If you are, just send me your email address, either by leaving a comment to this post or by using the Contact Me feature. I’ll have Dara send you a .pdf copy, along with instructions for how to access it on your smart phone, tablet, or laptop.

I ask but one favor in return — please post a review to Amazon after you’ve read the book. Hit me with your best shot; I want honest reviews. I’m confident in how much you’ll enjoy the book. Dara and I would like to do some advertising on sites which promote ebooks, but they generally have requirments that books which are advertised must have a minimum of twenty Amazon reviews. We’re trying to get there, and you can be a huge help (along with getting a free book to read, the first in a new series!).

Here’s the back cover copy, to whet your appetite:

In 1862, Lieutenant Commander August Micholson, captain of the Union ironclad U.S.S. James B. Eads, leads his crew on a hazardous undercover mission. Their task? To destroy a hidden Confederate boat yard, where a fleet of rebel ironclads is being constructed which will allow the Confederate Navy to dominate the Mississippi and bombard Northern river cities into submission.

This is Micholson’s last chance for redemption. Weeks earlier, he lost his frigate, his best friend, and over a hundred members of his crew during a disastrous battle against the Confederate ironclad ram C.S.S. Virginia. Flag Officer Foote, commander of the Western Flotilla, believes Micholson’s ordeal and his terrible memories of the power of a rebel ironclad will give him the psychological edge he needs to prevail. Micholson’s crew, however, only knowing their new captain from scuttlebutt and scathing newspaper reports, fear he will lead them all to their deaths.

Micholson leads his crew on a false flag operation, pretending to be a turncoat who has switched to the rebel cause following his censure in the North. On the dark, muddy backwaters of the Yazoo River, the Eads becomes entangled in a plot devised by a slave and his rebel master to summon African fire spirits to annihilate the Federal armies. Micholson must battle demons both internal and external to save the lives of his crew, sink the Confederate fleet, and foil the arcane conspiracy. The Union men manage to prevail again and again against overwhelming enemy forces. Yet the machinations of the African sorcerer M’Lundowi, who hates the people of the Union and the Confederacy equally, threaten to undo all of their victories.

Ultimately, Micholson is faced with a terrible choice — imperiling the lives of every inhabitant of North America, or taking a demon into his body and melding his soul with that of his greatest enemy.

*********************************************************************

If you’d prefer to read the novel on your Kindle, here’s a link to the Kindle version:

Buy Fire on Iron for the Kindle

More electronic formats and paperback version coming very soon!

Category: Book Love, Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags:
| October 1, 2013
4 comments

Fire on Iron Now Available for Kindle!

Fire On Iron

Kudos to my lovely (and hardworking) wife, Dara, on reaching her first milestone with MonstraCity Press: publishing my steampunk supernatural suspense novel, Fire on Iron, to the Kindle platform! Dara opted to go the “extra mile” with publishing to Kindle, not relying on one of the automatic conversion utilities to convert the book from a Word document to the Kindle format. Instead, she spent a couple of months learning HTML code so she could ensure a uniform reading experience for all Kindle customers, no matter their hardware. It was a steep learning curve, but she made it to the first plateau. Now, onwards and upwards to CreateSpace, Nook, and Smashwords!

Fire on Iron is Book One of Midnight’s Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles. This is a brand-new series, a steampunk supernatural suspense adventure set during the American Civil War. Here is the description:

“What price redemption? Is martial honor worth the cost of one’s soul?

“Lieutenant Commander August Micholson lost his first ship, the wooden frigate USS Northport, in reckless battle against the rebel ironclad ram CSS Virginia. However, Flag Officer Andrew Foote offers the disgraced young Micholson a chance to redeem himself: he can take the ironclad gunboat USS James B. Eads on an undercover mission to destroy a hidden rebel boat yard, where a fleet of powerful ironclads is being constructed which will allow the Confederate Navy to dominate the Mississippi.

“But dangers far more sinister than rebel ironclads await Micholson and his crew. On the dark waters of the Yazoo River, deep within rebel territory, they become entangled in a plot devised by a slave and his master to summon African fire spirits to annihilate the Federal armies. Micholson must battle devils both internal and external to save the lives of his crew, sink the Confederate fleet, and foil the arcane conspiracy. Ultimately, Micholson is faced with a terrible choice — he can risk the lives of every inhabitant of America, both Union and Confederate, or destroy himself by merging with a demon and forever melding his own soul with that of his greatest enemy.”

I have many intriguing twists and turns in store for my beleaguered protagonist, August Micholson – he begins his adventures as a Lieutenant Commander in the Union Navy, assigned to an extremely hazardous undercover mission behind Confederate lines. By the end of the first book, he is on his way to becoming a steampunk amalgam of Dr. Strange and the Human Torch, with the added hang-up of having to deal with sharing his skull with two very unwelcome “guests.”

Dara and I plan to make Fire on Iron available in all the popular e-formats within a few weeks, as well as available as a trade paperback. So please watch this space for more announcements.

I’m already at work on Book Two of Midnight’s Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles, which will be entitled Hellfire and Damnation. Look for that one in the summer of 2014!

Category: Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags:
| August 30, 2013
4 comments

Fire on Iron Coming in October!

I am very, VERY pleased to announce that the first book to be published by MonstraCity Press will be my steampunk supernatural suspense novel, Fire on Iron. It will be available in all the popular ebook formats and as a trade paperback this October. The first of many projects to come from MonstraCity Press!

Here is the back cover copy:

“What price redemption? Is martial honor worth the cost of one’s soul?

“Lieutenant Commander August Micholson lost his first ship, the wooden frigate USS Northport, in reckless battle against the rebel ironclad ram CSS Virginia. However, Flag Officer Andrew Foote offers the disgraced young Micholson a chance to redeem himself: he can take the ironclad gunboat USS James B. Eads on an undercover mission to destroy a hidden rebel boat yard, where a fleet of powerful ironclads is being constructed which will allow the Confederate Navy to dominate the Mississippi.

“But dangers far more sinister than rebel ironclads await Micholson and his crew. On the dark waters of the Yazoo River, deep within rebel territory, they become entangled in a plot devised by a slave and his master to summon African fire spirits to annihilate the Federal armies. Micholson must battle devils both internal and external to save the lives of his crew, sink the Confederate fleet, and foil the arcane conspiracy. Ultimately, Micholson is faced with a terrible choice — he can risk the lives of every inhabitant of America, both Union and Confederate, or destroy himself by merging with a demon and forever melding his own soul with that of his greatest enemy.

“Book 1 of Midnight’s Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles”

I believe my protagonist August Micholson will be rather unique – a steampunk amalgam of Dr. Strange and the Human Torch, with a great deal of multiple-personality complications mixed in. My next project will be the second book in the Midnight’s Inferno series.

More news to come, both regarding the Midnight’s Inferno books and other exciting projects from MonstraCity Press – so watch this space!

Category: Book Love, Horror and Fantasy, Publishing | Tags: ,
| August 30, 2013
3 comments

Snapshot of the Revolution in Book Retailing, Circa 1978

Upheaval in the bookselling trade is not a purely 21st century phenomenon. The introduction of cheap paperbacks during the decade following World War Two turned the bookselling trade upside down, pushing the locus of the trade away from small shops located in big city downtowns to newsstands and drugstores, with their ubiquitous spinner racks. Cheap paperbacks helped (along with the introduction of TV into nearly all households) to kill off the formerly lucrative niche of pulp fiction magazine publishing; many of the specialty pulps disappeared altogether (nurse pulps, airwar pulps, and western pulps, to name a few), and the science fiction and mystery pulps shrank back to a handful of titles, the survivors soon reducing their format to the smaller (and cheaper to manufacture and distribute) digest size.

More recently, in the middle to late 1970s, the bookselling trade was transformed yet again, this time by the rapid spread of shopping mall-based national and regional bookstore chains which concentrated on carrying large selections of paperbacks and discounted hardbacks, most of the latter being “remainders,” unsold books which had been returned by stores and then offered by their publishers for resale at steeply discounted prices.

I came across this Time Magazine article from 1978, entitled “Rambunctious Revival of Books,” which gives a sepia-toned portrait of the bookselling trade thirty-five years ago, before the rise of the superstores, when mall-based chains such as Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Booksellers were the Amazon.coms/800-pound gorillas of their day. (Note: This article is brought to you by the Internet Archive Way-Back Machine, so it may take an extra few seconds to load.)

“Once upon a time book retailing was about as exciting as watching haircuts. Hardcover books were often sold in musty downtown stores by fussy bibliophiles, and many readers turned to paperback racks in the more informal atmosphere of supermarkets or drugstores. Today the bookstore business is in the midst of a rambunctious revival. … Largely as a result of their merchandising razzle-dazzle, the chains are inducing people to buy more books than ever. … Helped by the chains’ expansion, stores are springing up, increasing from about 7,300 less than two years ago to almost 9,000 now.

“In the forefront of the merchandising blitz are such chains as Waldenbooks, the nation’s largest book retailer, owned by Carter Hawley Hale Stores. Begun in 1962, the Walden chain now has 498 shops dotted around the country, mostly in suburban shopping malls. In recent years it has been opening a store a week. B. Dalton, a subsidiary of Dayton Hudson Corp., the department store conglomerate, is the second largest bookseller. Dalton too has been growing at a feverish rate in recent years and has 339 stores in 40 states. Other chains include Doubleday stores, an affiliate of the publishing house, and Brentano’s, an affiliate of Macmillan. The chains account for up to half of all hardcover retail sales, and their share of the market grows every month.

“These big companies operate with a cold efficiency that astounds the oldtime booksellers, who often take a warm proprietary interest in their wares. Highly computerized Dalton, which carries about 30,000 titles in each shop, assigns every book a number; when the book is sold the number is entered through the cash register into a computer, which produces a weekly report on what every store in the chain has sold. Slow-moving titles are quickly culled. Most chains concentrate almost exclusively on bestsellers—novels, selfhelp, biographies and the like. …

“Kroch’s, which has a reputation as a quality bookseller with an interest in the literary field, continues to operate in the old tradition; its sales people, for instance, often phone customers to alert them to new books that they might like. Against this, Dalton offers a plethora of autograph parties featuring such guests as Charlton Heston and former Treasury Secretary William Simon, and some selective discounting. Like many independents, Carl Kroch, the chain’s president, insists there will always be a place for the old, full-price shop. Says he: ‘You can’t provide our kind of services on such a large scale. Besides, there’s room for everyone. The public is still underexposed to books.’”

The modern reader has to stifle a laugh at the article’s swooning description of “highly computerized Dalton … (which) assigns every book a number.” Wow! What a wonder of the modern world! But the words of Carl Kroch sound much less dated – because they echo virtually every press release sent out by Leonard Riggio, Barnes and Noble’s chairman, whose firm, the only surviving national superstore chain in America, now finds itself in precisely the same market position as Kroch’s Books was in back in 1978.

Still, this article inspired a lot of nostalgia for me. I was thirteen years old in 1978, what Isaac Asimov has called “the Golden Age of science fiction.” It certainly was for me. I had just discovered Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, and Ursula K. LeGuin. I began building my science fiction reference library at my local Waldenbooks, tucked away inside the 163rd Street Shopping Center in North Miami Beach, spending my weekly allowance and bar-mitzvah gift money on such tomes as The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and David Kyle’s wonderful pair of beautifully illustrated, large-format histories, A Pictorial History of Science Fiction and The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Ideas and Dreams (still own all three of them and have been sharing them with my oldest son). That particular Waldenbooks, by the way, was where I met the first, great (unrequited) love of my life, a cultured young lady seven years my senior who was working as a bookstore clerk to pay her way through college. The nearest B. Dalton Bookseller was downtown, at the Miami Omni Mall; due to their well-stocked history section, that was my go-to source for big, thick, photo-choked histories of warships and armored vehicles. Four years later, when I went to New Orleans to attend Loyola University, I discovered a Brentano’s Books at the Shops at Canal Place mall, located downtown near the Mississippi River; it was a charming spot at which to enjoy a cappuccino and page through an imported art book.

I imagine that come 2048, thirty-five years from now, some other commentator will come across an article in the Internet Archive Way-Back Machine (or its future equivalent) from Forbes or The Wall Street Journal or Wired, describing the disruptive impact of Amazon on the bookselling trade and the death-throes of the physical superstores. I wonder whether that middle-aged commentator will look back on his or her teen book-buying years and remember the experience of shopping on Amazon with the warm glow of nostalgia?

Category: Book Love, Publishing, Stuff I Like | Tags: ,
| July 5, 2013
15 comments

Will the Rise of Self-Publishing Change the Portrayal of Commerce in Science Fiction?

The devious, scheming, evil Ferengi — emblematic of businesspeople in science fiction?

The confluence this year of Independence Day, my wife and I starting our own small business (MonstraCity Press), and my coming across this article, called “Commerce and Art,” got me to thinking about my own field of the arts, science fiction, and how commerce, entrepreneurship, and business in general are portrayed. Also, knowing that authors often write what they know best, modeling their protagonists’ careers on their own day jobs, I began wondering whether the ongoing shift in the production of both physical books and ebooks from traditional, large publishing concerns to micro-firms controlled by the authors themselves would have any impact on the portrayal of merchants and commerce in science fiction.

First, I wanted to see what is out there currently. I turned to that crutch for the quick-and-dirty researcher, Google, and did some searches. It turns out that most portrayals of commerce and business in science fiction are of large corporations. And those portrayals, to put things bluntly, aren’t pretty. Near the top of the Google results, I came across lists of the Top Five Most Reprehensible Corporations in Science Fiction, the Ten Most Evil Corporations in Science Fiction, and Fifteen Evil Corporations in Science Fiction.

Noticing a theme? Here’s a revealing quote from the first of these lists which neatly sums up their content: “From an early age, we science fiction nerds have been taught that all corporate entities, regardless of size or field of interest, are inherently evil and seek only to make the lives of the little people more and more miserable.” An article called “Corporations in Science Fiction” makes this similar observation:

“Whether describing a society in which governments have been replaced by greedy megacorporations, or one in which each individual is required to be incorporated at birth, science fiction has overwhelmingly tended to cast business as the villain.”

Were there any corresponding lists of positive (or at least non-evil) portrayals of businesses, businesspeople, or entrepreneurs in science fiction? I couldn’t find any. So I decided to perform a little experiment with a relatively brief survey of the field I had at hand, 100 Must-Read Science Fiction Novels, a list compiled by Stephen E. Andrews and Nick Rennison published in Britain in 2006. This minute book was handy for my purposes because it gives plot summaries and overall reviews for a hundred prominent science fiction novels, dating from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus to almost the present day.

I went looking for examples of prominent SF novels whose protagonists were businesspeople or entrepreneurs, especially curious to see if any were shown in a positive light. I found four. Barrington J. Bayley’s The Garments of Caen (1976) features a hero who is a tailor and entrepreneur in a galaxy where couture influences the destinies of worlds. Michael Bishop’s Ancient of Days (1985) centers on sympathetic restaurant owner Paul Lloyd, who becomes involved in a menage a trois with a specimen of Homo Habilis. The alien protagonist of Walter Tevis’ The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963) acts as a benevolent inventor and business owner while trapped on Earth and attempting to send water back to his parched planet. Bob Shaw’s Other Days, Other Eyes (1972) offers up the most intriguing example of a scientific entrepreneur on this brief list: Alban Garrod, who inadvertently invents slow glass, patents it, and then watches as his invention and resulting products change the world. Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1952) does center on a protagonist who is the owner and CEO of a large corporation, Ben Reich, but Reich is a murderer and an antihero, so I can’t count this one as a positive portrayal.

I did a bit more digging and came up with a tiny handful of other positive portrayals of merchants or businesspeople in SF. A. E. van Vogt gave us the weapons makers and sellers of The Weapons Shops of Isher, who function as a counterbalance to that world’s government. Poul Anderson provided us with Nicholas van Rijn, a flamboyant Dutch capitalist adventurer who stars in Anderson’s series of Technic History novels. The hero of George Alec Effinger’s Budayeen trilogy, which is set in a future Islamic caliphate, is a fixer for a local gangster but also owns a club, where much of the novels’ action takes place. F. Paul Wilson’s popular Repairman Jack character can be seen as a sort of entrepreneurial small businessman, specializing in assisting customers with resolving problems of a supernatural or otherworldly sort (although the Repairman Jack books are more properly categorized as horror, rather than SF).

Very early, pre-Amazing Stories science fiction often focused on inventor-entrepreneurs as heroes. Thomas Edison himself is featured as the hero of Edison’s Conquest of Mars (1898) by Garrett P. Serviss. Young inventor Tom Swift, created by Edward Stratemeyer, was the hero of more than a hundred juvenile novels by ghostwriters writing under the pseudonym Victor Appleton, published beginning in 1910. But Big Science, by the 1930s (and the beginnings of science fiction’s Golden Age), had passed the stage of the individual inventor/science entrepreneur and moved on to the realm of large corporations, governmental bureaus, and universities. So the engineer heroes of the Campbellian Golden Age were usually portrayed as the employees of large concerns, rather than as individual economic actors.

Still, by the 1950s, the science fiction published in Galaxy and The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy had begun focusing on sociology, social psychology, and economics as types of scientific knowledge to be extrapolated. Commerce, the production of goods and the trading of those goods, is a basic human activity, present in one form or another in all human societies operating beyond a hunting and gathering stage. One might expect the number of stories and novels focusing on extrapolations of commerce would at least approximate the numbers of stories and novels featuring extrapolations of other basic societal and human functions, such as education, governance, diplomacy, reproduction, warfare, parenthood, and the arts. But aside from The Space Merchants and the almost entirely negative portrayals of large corporations alluded to above, there is surprisingly little in the SF canon.

Eric S. Raymond offers an explanation of why this is so is an article entitled “A Political History of SF.” He postulates that Campbellian Hard SF, the type of science fiction published in Astounding Stories and Analog from the late 1930s through John W. Campbell’s death in 1971, formed the ur-SF that all subsequent literary movements in science fiction (he lists these as the works of the Futurians, followed by New Wave in the 1960s, cyberpunk in the 1980s, and Radical Hard SF in the 1990s and beyond) have been reactions against. He describes the outlook of Campbellian SF as essentially Libertarian: “…ornery and insistent individualism, veneration of the competent man, instinctive distrust of coercive social engineering and a rock-ribbed objectivism that values knowing how things work and treats all political ideologizing with suspicion.” Accordingly, as this outlook tended to view commerce with an approving or at least neutral eye, the reactionary movements in SF (which have produced the bulk of what is generally considered the SF canon since the mid-1950s) have viewed commerce and capitalism with suspicion, if not hostility.

I would add another hypothesis: that a condemnatory attitude toward commerce and businesspeople among many SF writers stems in great part from larger trends affecting all writers in America since the mid twentieth century, not only the writers of speculative fiction. SF had its start as a brand of commercial fiction in an era during which the great bulk of fiction produced and sold was both commercial and disposable – the era of the pulp magazines. From the 1950s forward, however, many leading SF writers chose to raise their sights higher and aim for producing art literature, or at least fiction which could be enjoyed by a thoughtful, educated, literate reading public, highbrow or at a minimum midbrow. Horace Gold, editor of Galaxy in the 1950s, sought to publish a magazine which would be the equivalent of a New Yorker sold several centuries hence. The writers who formed the New Wave sought to incorporate the stylistic innovations of the Modernists into science fiction. Since the 1970s, science fiction has become an acceptable topic of discourse on college campuses, and more and more SF writers have as their day jobs teaching at post-secondary schools, just as a sizable percentage of literary/mainstream/non-genre authors have made their primary livings as university teachers since the beginnings of what has been called the Program Era in American fiction, the rise to dominance in American literary publishing of the graduates of creative writing programs.

So a goodly part of the herd of SF writers may be walking the same paths as the larger, or at least higher-status, herd of mainstream fiction writers. Stephen Miller, in his recent article “Commerce and Art,” states:

“Disdain for commerce is what might be called a topos—a recurrent theme in Western literature. … There are sympathetic portraits of businessmen in novels by Abraham Cahan, Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Sinclair Lewis; yet after World War II, most American literary writers painted the business world in dark colors. In 1978, John Gardner complained that most contemporary American writers preached ‘a whining hatred of American business.’ … Jonathan Franzen takes the usual literary view of commerce. He argues that Edith Wharton ‘anticipates two … hallmarks of American society, the obliteration of all social distinctions by money and the hedonic treadmill of materialism.’”

Literary critic D. G. Myers has bemoaned the absence of meaningful, sympathetic portrayals of work in recent American literature. Nicole of the blog Bibliographing follows up on Myers’ comments by postulating that much of this absence of “real work” in American literature is due to the distance most American authors have maintained from any sorts of work apart from a limited number of white-collar professions:

“I suspect … that the professionalization of writing (especially of novel-writing) has diluted the presence of work in fiction, and what’s more, has denuded it of its variety. To some extent, this is a variant on the old complaint about ‘program fiction.’ If writers are ‘writers’ (and yes, I know many struggle and need to have day jobs to actually support themselves), if they go from BA to MFA to novel-writing, and if this is the new normal, and their peers all do the same, how much variety of experience outside a few professions are we now drawing on in contemporary fiction?

“I say ‘contemporary fiction’; I admit that I am largely thinking of a current New York–based literary scene that does, however, seem to dominate American letters at the moment. Not every character in these books is a writer, though they are often noted for their writer-narrators. But there is a fairly small circle of professions that are ‘acceptable,’ for lack of a better term, in contemporary fiction: writers, designers, journalists, perhaps lawyers and doctors, maybe a chef or two, professors, professors, professors, writers, writers… a ‘creative class,’ if you will.”

I’d like to add another point; that would be the influence of gatekeepers, particularly editors at large publishing houses, over what appears on those houses’ SF lists. Since the 1990s, the consolidation of publishing firms into sprawling corporate concerns (a number of which contain publishing arms as very minor portions of their overall business plans) has produced a publishing environment in which editors have shrinking amounts of influence over the publishing process, as opposed to that exercised by the denizens of the Marketing and Profit-and-Loss departments. Acquiring editors must “push” the books they favor through onerous layers of bureaucracy. Might not their own baleful experiences in their places of work, which chip away at their self-worth and make mockery of their early ambitions to work in the publishing industry, be reflected in their choices of manuscripts? Might not the prevalence of the trope of the “evil corporation” on the lists of Tor Books, Del Rey, Victor Gollancz, Bantam Spectra, et. al., be a gesture of “Screw the Man!” from an editorial corps whose members view themselves as white-collar cogs in a grinding corporate machine? If true, this wouldn’t surprise me.

And now we come to the biggest, most disruptive change in the publishing of science fiction since the popularization of mass-market paperback books and the death of the pulp magazines – the emergence of ebooks, print-on-demand books, and an easily and widely accessed electronic infrastructure for the sales of such items. A major mode of production and distribution of written works is now in the hands of writers themselves. Many SF and fantasy writers who launched their careers publishing the traditional way will want to continue having their books put out by the big houses. But more and more will find themselves with no choice but to take up the reins of publishing, marketing, and distribution themselves, as the shrinking number of large houses purge their lists of mid-list authors and begin concentrating solely on that small stable of writers who can reliably produce bestsellers.

Writers have always been small businesspeople: contractors who produce novels, stories, and scripts for other businesspeople to distribute to the reading/viewing audience. But many writers have not seen themselves in this role, instead seeing themselves as employees of publishing houses (or even, as literary agents have taken over editorial responsibilities formerly exercised by editors at publishing houses, as employees of their own agents). Many writers I’ve known (and I count myself as formerly among this number) prefer a world in which they are only responsible for the creation of texts, wherein all the other responsibilities inherent in publishing – editing, cover design, production, finding and nurturing an audience – are the tasks of other people. But for more and more of us, that world is no longer an option.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Being forced to take up the reins of publishing means being forced out (kicking and screaming, possibly) into the broader world of commerce. This can be an eye-opening experience, one which challenges many previously held beliefs and assumptions. One story along these lines which I really appreciate is the story of former Minnesota Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern. After his retirement from the Senate, Senator McGovern decided to purchase an inn in rural Connecticut, the Stratford Inn. He wrote very honestly about his experiences as a business owner. The difficulties of complying with a tangle of federal, state, and local regulations drove him into bankruptcy and forced him to close his business. He writes:

“Calvin Coolidge was too simplistic when he observed that ‘the business of America is business.’ But like most sweeping political statements, even Coolidge’s contains some truth — enough, as I’ve learned, to make me wish I had known more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American businesspeople while I was a U.S. senator and later a presidential nominee. That knowledge would have made me a better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White House. … (L)egislators and government regulators must more carefully consider the economic and management burdens we have been imposing on U.S. business. … I’m for protecting the health and well-being of both workers and consumers. I’m for a clean environment and economic justice. But I’m convinced we can pursue those worthy goals and still cut down vastly on the incredible paperwork, the complicated tax forms, the number of minute regulations, and the seemingly endless reporting requirements that afflict American business. Many businesses, especially small independents such as the Stratford Inn, simply can’t pass such costs on to their customers and remain competitive or profitable. … I do know that if I were back in the U.S. Senate or in the White House, I would ask a lot of questions before I voted for any more burdens on the thousands of struggling businesses across the nation.”

Those are the word of a man whose experiences, late in his life, after he had already experienced a lifetime in politics at the highest levels (and as a tribune of the left wing of the Democratic Party), profoundly changed his thinking.

Just taking the first few steps in setting up a small business with my wife has exposed me to a whole world of activities with which I had no prior familiarity. Dara and I are both having to learn bucket loads of new skills, and learn them in a hurry. Many others have already walked this path ahead of us and have offered us the benefits of their experiences. Kristine Kathryn Rusch has written very eloquently about the emotional challenges a writer faces when he or she becomes his or her own boss. Sarah Hoyt is another interesting and independent-minded author who is currently straddling the worlds of traditional publishing (she has a good thing going with Baen Books and a history with several other major houses) and indie publishing (mostly short stories for now, but she is moving towards putting up more of her novels herself as ebooks and POD books). Others are pioneering news ways of building a career in speculative fiction. Cory Doctorow is an advocate for the liberalization of copyright laws and has published several of his books under Creative Commons license, as well as having some of his novels traditionally published by Tor Books. The husband and wife team of Jeff and Ann VanderMeer have operated their own small presses, Buzzcity Press and the Ministry of Whimsy Press, as well as packaged anthologies and coffee table books for other publishers, edited magazines, and published books with traditional large houses.

People learn by doing. Writers write what they have learned. Now that more and more science fiction writers are learning the skills required by small businesspeople, will at least some of the science fiction novels and stories of the future reflect a deeper insight into the psyches of merchants and the challenges posed by commerce? Twenty years from now, will it be just as easy to find online lists entitled “Ten Most Awesome Scientific Entrepreneurs in Science Fiction” or “Fifteen Heroic Businesspeople in SF” as it is to find “Top Five Most Reprehensible Corporations in Science Fiction”?

We shall see. We most definitely shall see.

Category: Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: ,
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