Writing (& Publishing) 101: A Conversation Between J.A. Konrath & Barry Eisler

March was a busy month for writing and publishing links and resources, which is why I split up my March Links & Things blog post (April 5), devoting one post on April 4 to "Writing 101: Don't Respond to Negative Reviews" and this post to a second set of links.

In my March Links & Things, I noted that best-selling author Barry Eisler had turned down a two-book, one-half-million-dollar deal with St. Martin's Press in order to self-publish his future books himself. And I linked to an interview in The Daily Beast in which Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) asks Barry Eisler (@barryeisler) why he decided to self-publish.

But there is more to this Eisler/self-publishing, a lot more....

Barry Eisler is not your typical author: He graduated from Cornell Law School, joined the CIA in a covert operations position, and then left the CIA after a few years to work as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan. He began writing full-time in 2002, and is the author of two best-selling series, both thrillers: one features anti-hero John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American former soldier turned freelance assassin, and the second features black ops soldier Ben Treven.

I checked out Barry Eisler's website and I was totally knocked out. Obviously, I expected the website to be in English; what I didn't expect was to find his website available in 8 other languages. Now that is impressive! And an incredible means to reach a global audience.

But I can't talk about Eisler's move to self-publishing without mentioning his friend and fellow author, J. A. Konrath (@jakonrath). After nearly 500 rejections and 9 unpublished novels, Joe Konrath finally scored with his tenth novel, Whiskey Sour, the first in his continuing series featuring Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department. Joe has stated that he discovered the Amazon Kindle in 2009, and since has self-published his novels in eBook format. And, in fact, on December 20, 2010, he published a blog post entitled "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing" in which he begins his post with "You Should Self-Publish." In this post, Joe Konrath tells why he felt, for many years, that traditional publishing was the only way to go. But once he discovered the Kindle, and is now selling 1,000 eBooks a day, he is reversing this one long-held belief about writing and publishing.

Anyhow, my purpose with this blog post is to bring to your attention a recent conversation between Konrath and Eisler on the subject of eBooks and self-publishing. The conversation itself was originally done as a live Google Docs discussion, and then later was edited and posted on Barry Eisler's blog. What's even more significant is that the authors made the conversation available in downloadable, mobile platforms: "doc, pdf, epub, and mobi formats, so it can be uploaded to Kindles, Nooks, Sony Readers, Kobos, and pretty much any other device." In the third paragraph of the conversation you'll find a link to a zip file that contains all of these formats. Be aware that this is not a light conversation, nor a short one either; it clocks in at about 13,000 words and is 35 pages on my Sony eReader.

But if you are an author and/or publisher, if you are considering eBooks and self-publishing, then you need to read this conversation, which "examines the history and mechanics of the publishing industry as it exists today, analyzes the way the digital revolution reflects recent events in Egypt and the Maghreb," and more.

Here's some samples from just the first few pages of the conversation:

Barry: ...my general point was that digital was going to become more and more attractive relative to paper. First, because the price of digital readers would continue to drop while the functionality would continue to increase; second, because more and more titles would become available for digital download at the same time more brick and mortar stores were closing. In other words, everything about paper represented a static defense, while everything about digital represented a dynamic offense. Not hard to predict how a battle like that is going to end....

Barry: ...Lots of people, and I'm one of them, love the way a book feels. I used to like the way books smelled, too, before publishers started using cheap paper. And you can see books on your shelf, etc... those are real advantages, but they're only niche advantages. Think candles vs electric lights. There are still people making a living today selling candles, and that's because there's nothing like candlelight -- but what matters is that the advent of the electric light changed the candle business into a niche. Originally, candlemakers were in the lighting business; today, they're in the candlelight business. The latter is tiny by comparison to the former....

Joe: I also love print books. I have 5000 of them. But print is just a delivery system. It gets a story from the writer to the reader. For centuries, publishers controlled this system, because they did the printing, and they were plugged into distribution. But with retailers like Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, the story can get to the reader in a faster, cheaper way. And publishers aren't needed. Do you think publishers are aware of that?

Barry: I think they're extremely aware of it, but they don't understand what it really means.

Joe: I believe they've gotten their business model mixed-up. They should be connecting readers with the written word. Instead, they're insisting on selling paper.

Joe: ...The agency model is an attempt to slow the transition from paper to digital. Windowing titles is another one. So are insanely high ebook prices....

Barry: Well, again, I think they're taking it into account, but they're drawing the wrong conclusions. The wrong conclusion is: I'm in the paper business, paper keeps me essential, therefore I must do all I can to retard the transition from paper to digital. The right conclusion would be: digital offers huge cost, time-to-market, and other advantages over paper. How can I leverage those advantages to make my business even stronger?

Joe: We figured out that the 25% royalty on ebooks they offer is actually 14.9% to the writer after everyone gets their cut. 14.9% on a price the publisher sets.

Barry: Gracious of you to say "we." You're the first one to point out that a 25% royalty on the net revenue produced by an ebook equals 17.5% of the retail price after Amazon takes its 30% cut, and 14.9% after the agent takes 15% of the 17.5%.

Like I said, you really need to read this conversation. And there's no excuse, because you can download it in a variety of formats, for print, mobile devices, or even read it online.

Addendum: I neglected to mention that at the end of the conversation, there are more than 425 comments, so you've definitely got your reading cut out for you. Note, though, that the comments are only available on the blog post; they are not included in the downloadable files.

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March Links & Things

This is my monthly wrap-up of March's Links & Things; you can receive these links in real time by following me on Twitter: @martyhalpern. Note, however, that not all of my tweeted links make it into these month-end posts. Hopefully, you will find some value in what follows; and if you are new to my blog, you may want to catch up on my previous month-end posts: just look for the "Links and Things" tag in the right column of this blog; there are 28 previous blog posts.

• I've blogged previously (here, here, and here) about Liz Williams's fifth, and most recent, Detective Inspector Chen novel, The Iron Khan. But this is the first time I've come upon a review of a Chen book in which the reviewer so succinctly sums up what is so special about these novels. The reviewer's name is "Paul," the review is on Goodreads.com, and this is merely one of Paul's 836 (as of this writing) reviewed books. Paul writes: "As is usual for the Chen books, the narrative not only focuses on Chen, Zhu Irzh and their friends and allies, but new characters, whose goals, desires and needs bloom like a flower quickly coming into full season. Both the titular antagonist, the Iron Khan, other antagonists, and those who oppose their efforts, such as the Japanese warrior Omi, have their narrative threads intersect with our main characters. They have pasts, presents and futures of their own, and never serve to act for the benefit of the main characters. If anything, these characters draw our main characters and their talents into their stories, for ill or will." [Note: I edited all 5 volumes, so far, of the Detective Inspector Chen series; the first 4 titles for Night Shade Books, the most recent title for Morrigan Books UK.]

• The Jacqueline Howett meltdown may have been the major controversy this past month, but there were no shortages of others. Mediabistro.com's @ebooknewser reported that publisher HarperCollins plans to limit the number of checkouts to 26 that their eBooks may have at the public library. This means that after 26 checkouts the library is required to purchase another copy of the eBook. The Pioneer Library System, Norman, Oklahoma, responded with a video showing various HarperCollins print books, their condition, and the number of times each has been checked out; had there been a limit on these print copies, hundreds of readers would never have read these books because the library simply cannot afford to replace a book unless it is both in demand and severely damaged. The HarperCollins decision has led to numerous libraries throughout the country boycotting HarperCollins eBooks. So if you cannot find a HarperCollins eBook at your library, don't blame the messenger (your public library), blame HC. In fact, feel free to send HC some feedback right now!

• Two Very Big Names in publishing were in the news this past month: Barry Eisler and Amanda Hocking. NYT bestselling author Barry Eisler turned down a two-book, one-half-million-dollar deal with St. Martin's Press in order to self-publish his future books himself. On the other hand, bestselling self-published author Amanda Hocking has gone New York, signing a four-book, two-million-plus deal, after a very heated bidding war, with St. Martin's for her next series of books.
  
  Via The Daily Beast, Jason Pinter (@jasonpinter) interviews Barry Eisler to find out just why the author decided to self-publish. In the interview Eisler explains the numbers and reasons behind his decision. Here's a taste: "What happens whenever I hit that point [the earn out point] is that I'll have 'beaten' the contract, and then I'll go on beating it for the rest of my life. If I don't earn out the legacy contract, the only money I'll ever see from it is $142,000 per year for three years. Even if I do earn out, I'll only see 14.9% of each digital sale thereafter. But once I beat the contract in digital, even if it takes longer than three years, I go on earning 70% of each digital sale forever thereafter. And, as my friend Joe Konrath likes to point out, forever is a long time."
  
  As to Amanda Hocking, the St. Martin's deal was announced in the New York Times, which stated that Ms. Hocking explained herself to her readers, via her blog, thusly: "I want to be a writer," she said. "I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full-time corporation." (via mediabistro.com)

• Self-Publishing Review (@selfpubreview), whom I have linked to on numerous occasions, has a follow-up piece on Amanda Hocking, noting that though she has garnered all the attention recently as a self-published author -- and she may indeed be one of the wealthiest – she certainly isn’t a self-pub pioneer. But who are said pioneers you may ask? Boyd Morrison, Lisa Genova, Zoe Winters, and Dean Wesley Smith. You can read their stories on the Self-Pub Review link.

Writing 101: Don't Respond to Negative Reviews

I had just begun my month-end Links & Things wrap-up when I realized that the following item would take quite a few more words and space than a single paragraph, so I'm going to post this one point, and then follow with the monthly Links & Things blog post.

The major editing/publishing controversy this past month surrounded author Jacqueline Howett. The controversy began innocently enough when BigAl's Books and Pals website reviewed Howett's self-published novel The Greek Seaman. The entire review, including the title and author of the book, and the fact that it received two stars, only came to a total of 355 words... But those 355 words generated almost as many comments -- 309 before the blog owner cut off comments. The reviewer stated that readers would "find the story compelling and interesting"; it was the caveat that upset the author so much: "the spelling and grammar errors, which come so quickly that, especially in the first several chapters, it’s difficult to get into the book without being jarred back to reality as you attempt unraveling what the author meant."

The author posted multiple comments to the review, accusing the reviewer of not downloading the correct/current version of her eBook. She accused him of not responding to her personal emails. She accused him of not understanding her writing because she is, and writes, British English. She even went so far as to post other, positive reviews of her book in the comments section, I assume to prove her point and to counteract his review. The reviewer, in turn, posted a couple of the author's more egregiously written sentences as examples -- you judge for yourself:

"She carried her stocky build carefully back down the stairs."

"Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

And then the ultimate sin: when other readers began commenting as well, in support of the review, which was, as I said, positive except for the negative grammar aspects, the author, Jacqueline Howett, told everyone to "Fuck off!" Not the best way to make friends and influence readers to purchase your book. After that, the blog went viral, and the comment section became little more than an author pile-on. After seeing a photo of the author on her blog, and reading about her worldly travels, one would think that her life experience would have yielded more maturity than what she displayed in the comments section.

The lack of quality in her writing unfortunately supports the generalized notion that most self-published books are crap -- and a lot of them are, so we have to rely on reviews like those from BigAl's and other review sites to sift the wheat from the chaff. There are also a lot of lessons to be learned here: It is not the reviewer's responsibility to find/track down the current/correct copy of the book to be reviewed. The book that the reviewer is sent, or the one the reviewer buys off the shelf, or online, is the book that gets reviewed. If you, as the author, do not want a lesser quality book to be reviewed, then don't put it out there! And, as an author, you must learn to accept the good reviews with the bad; you don't necessarily have to like it, but you absolutely must learn to accept it, or shine it on as one bad reviewer's personal opinion, or whatever it takes to get past that negative review. Enjoy the positive reviews when you can, and try to learn and improve your writing and/or the quality of your book from the negative ones.

The link above to BigAl's will allow you to read the review and comment section at your leisure. I doubt that most will read more than the first 50 or so comments; after that, it really does become tiresome. But you'll get the point: Writing 101 -- Don't respond to negative reviews. Simply grin and bear it (and try to learn from the review if you can).


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March Status

I had been fairly consistent here for a while, updating this blog at least twice a week, if not more often. Alas, that all came to a grinding halt about three weeks ago. I attended Potlatch 20 the first weekend in March, and then the first FOGcon the following weekend; and last weekend was devoted to taxes (more on that in a bit); taxes can be a definite downer after two con weekends in a row! I typically use my weekends to get caught up: on my own projects (this blog), on watching movies, on household chores (laundry, mowing the lawn, hedging, etc.) -- but none of that gets done when I'm attending a convention, and then the weekend work carries over into the following week, or the catch-up work simply doesn't get done at all, which was the case with this blog. Of course, with this March rain -- like 21 days of rain out of the past 27 -- not a lot of yardwork was going to get done regardless, weekdays or weekends.

But I have been doing my part, helping to pay the bills -- honest.

The Monday after Potlatch, I began work (copyediting) on the June issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine. The June issue marks the 100th issue, and the third issue under new publisher Damnation Books. In addition to the 100 pages of content for this "centennial" issue, the publisher has some special goodies planned as well, but I'm sworn to secrecy. (Well, at least my bribe price hasn't been met yet!) So you'll have to wait until the June issue ships (or offer me more money, whichever comes first); better yet, why not subscribe to the magazine. In addition to those extra goodies, Damnation Books has some (if you'll pardon the expression) damn fine stories in issue #100 as well.

In the middle of working on the copyedits for the June issue, I was sent the PDF layout file of the April issue for my review, which I did, as did magazine editor Douglas Cohen. Quite a few hours were invested in this review. April is the "Dark Fantasy" special issue, and the cover art is pictured here. The issue has already gone to print -- so look for it in the mail if you are a subscriber, or online or at bookstores or wherever you purchase your magazines. But back to the June issue: I can tell you that I copyedited 7 fiction files, 11 nonfiction files, and 4 of those "special" files. And I'm serious; I was really knocked out by the fiction in this issue. In fact, I want to bring the June issue to the attention of all the year's best anthologists; they just might find a worthy story (or two) for consideration in this particular issue.

Regardless of my personal involvement with RoF, I was pleased to see the magazine achieve some recognition recently. On February 22, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2010 Nebula Awards. The link will take you to the official SFWA press release. I just wanted to bring to your attention the two stories from RoF that were nominated for this award: "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison® (February 2010 issue) in the short story category; and "The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara" by Christopher Kastensmidt (April 2010 issue) in the novelette category.

To continue... My next project was to finalize our taxes. I had completed all the input, but wanted to let the forms and data set for a bit, before I did my final review, after which I would file the Federal taxes electronically, and then print out and mail the State taxes. I made a couple minor changes that didn't affect the bottom-line numbers on Saturday, March 19. When I opened the tax file the next day for my final review, the file wouldn't open. I tried at least 3 times but all to no avail. I thought that possibly it was the TurboTax application itself, so I uninstalled and reinstalled the program, but the file would still not load. Thank gawd I had a backup on an external drive from the previous week; I did not want to be entering my tax data from the beginning, yet again. I made another copy of the backup before continuing; I then redid the 2 minor changes from the previous day, completed my review, printed out, I think it was, four replacement pages, filed the Feds electronically, and all was well with the world. I made the trip to the copy center and post office the following day, so by Monday (March 21) my 2010 tax year was complete. (I have spoken on previous occasions about my redundant backups, so I won't bore you with details other than to say that I automatically back up to an external drive my working files daily, my entire hard drive weekly; and these in turn are backed up to a second external drive.)

But speaking of TurboTax: I always have some kind of problem with the application every single year, and I've been using TT for 10+ years. I always write in my numbers on copies of the forms, do some of the basic calculations, and double-check TT's results every step of the way. I do not inherently trust any of the program's numbers; I've found too many calculation errors in past years. I know, I know, yet I still keep using the bloody program. So, who has a better alternative?

Once I got our taxes out of the way I was able to move on to the next project: the Future Media anthology, edited by Rick Wilber for Tachyon Publications. I had responsibility for copyediting the front matter, all the fiction, as well as the mini introductions to each of the fiction and nonfiction pieces. The project wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming as I had to double-check the text of each manuscript against the "official" published version of the story (or excerpt, in the case of novels by Ray Bradbury, Aldous Huxley, and Norman Spinrad). Some of the authors included in Future Media were quite prescient in their ability to predict the impact of technology on media, as well as the overwhelming impact of media technology on our lives. After reading the min intros to the nonfiction articles, I'm looking forward to some fine reading when the book is published in July.

In between all of the above, I have been dutifully working on finalizing the contents for my Alien Contact anthology forthcoming in November from Night Shade Books. But that's for another blog post...soon.

I also want to write a blog post about a panel/interview/talk that renowned editor Alan Rinzler did at Potlatch 20, but I need to put some thought and time into this first. Rinzler may have edited some exceptional books in years past -- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, to name only three -- but his current thinking and opinions on the state of publishing do not always mesh with mine. I think he skirted some issues during the talk, specifically avoiding answering my question in particular with some sleight-of-hand comments. More later....

[Update: 29 March: I've reviewed my sparse notes regarding the Rinzler event at Potlatch 20 and, unfortunately, I realize that too much time has passed -- and I've been involved in other projects since that event, read too many stories, and articles, and tweets, and Facebook posts, etc. -- to write a cogent discussion. So I'll simply move on to something else. I'm sure that Alan Rinzler doesn't care, one way or the other.]

Do You Know This Story?

My friend, author Andy Duncan, published an interesting query the other day on his Facebook page.

Andy has a colleague who asked for his assistance in tracking down a story that she read when she was much younger. Here is her description of the story:

A lost woman stumbles onto a house party. While trying to find the host, she finds people unmasking in various horrible ways, some of them alien. She eventually flees the house and is found in a ditch trying or having tried to pull off her face. This is something I read as a kid, so it would have been published before 1975.

By the way, the colleague can't recall if she read the story in a book or magazine. So, can any of the readers of this blog help with this one? I actually have an interest in learning the title and author of this story as well, particularly in light of my interest in "alien contact" stories.

The Comment section is now open....

Kazuo Ishiguro on Science Fiction (Oops... Sci-Fi)

Less than 3 hours after publishing my previous blog post on Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction? -- Christopher Barzak¹ posted a quote on his Facebook page from Booker Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. The quote specifically mentioned the ghettoization of science fiction, which I had touched upon in the Kemp piece. I was so taken with the quote that I queried Christopher on the source, and he pointed me to a February 4 article in Scotland's Herald online, entitled "When 21st-century sci-fi meets human emotion."²

For those unfamiliar with Kazuo Ishiguro: According to Wikipedia, he "is one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received four Man Booker Prize nominations, including winning the 1989 prize for his novel The Remains of the Day." By chance does that 1993 film title ring a bell?

Ishiguro is also the author of the 2005 novel Never Let Me Go. The film adaptation was released in the UK on February 11, which explains why he was in the news -- and being interviewed for this Herald article -- a week earlier. Last year I had read Never Let Me Go (courtesy of my local San Jose library system) after learning that the novel was being adapted into a movie.

Here's the quote:

It's almost like they've given us older writers licence to use it [science fiction]. Before, it was ghettoised and stigmatised. For years there has been a prejudice towards sci-fi writing, which I think has been to the loss of the literary world, and not vice versa. But with things like graphic novels now, people are taking it seriously.

—Kazuo Ishiguro

Though the quote speaks positively about SF, I would suggest that were you to ask authors Alex Garland and David Mitchell, whose work is specifically acknowledged in this article as examples of this "science fiction in lit" trend, both would vehemently deny that their stories have anything to do with "sci-fi." Rather, they would argue that their stories are about people, and real emotions, and the human condition in a setting that is different from our own reality. Heaven forbid these authors -- and their publishers -- should be associated with science fiction.

My point is made two paragraphs later when Ishiguro goes on to dis SF readers and moviegoers. The article reads: "In truth, the sci-fi label is misleading, says Ishiguro. 'I'm just wary like everybody else that it'll bring in the wrong audience with the wrong expectations.'"

I guess Ishiguro is worried the theatre attendees will be nothing but freaks and geeks -- Spock-eared, light-sabre-wielding, loin-cloth attired -- expecting onscreen space ships and/or dinosaurs.

Never Let Me Go, the film, stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and The Social Network's Andrew Garfield. The film was adapted by Alex Garland, an old friend of Ishiguro's, and directed by Mark Romanek. It opened last year in the US.

If you did, in fact, see this film last year, I do hope you dressed appropriately, and viewed the film with the proper respect, sophistication, and expectations.

As to my take on the novel itself. This blog is not a "reviews" blog, per se, but I will say that, though I enjoyed the novel (it was indeed well written), it left a lot of questionable holes, sort of what I would expect from a writer, writing SF, but with no experience in the genre.

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Footnotes:

1. Christopher Barzak wrote the foreword to M. Rickert's first collection (and first book) Map of Dreams, which won the World Fantasy Award for best collection. I acquired and edited this collection for Golden Gryphon Press.

2. Gawd, I absolutely detest the use of the word "sci-fi" -- one can always tell when an outsider (read: mainstream) attempts to discuss "science fiction." Am I a snob? Well, yes, I guess I am. So be it. A snob proud of my involvement in the genre.


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Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction?

Paul Di Filippo, in a recent column in Barnes and Noble Review, recapped the state of science fiction and its various subgenres through the first decade of the twenty-first century. I'll leave the details of Paul's reviews and commentary for you to indulge in at your leisure, but Paul does mention that some continue to proclaim the demise of science fiction. Paul writes:

Of course, as we all now realize, the twenty-first century is proving both more and less science-fictional than the literature imagined, in strange and perhaps essentially unpredictable ways. This condition bedevils SF to some extent, as both its continuing credibility and utility come under question. Some authors and critics have recently even gone so far as to pronounce the mode deceased. Such statements regarding the death of SF are eternal. In 1960, for instance, a famous seminar was conducted under the heading "Who Killed Science Fiction?"

So for more than 50 years now, we've been hearing about the death of SF, especially with regards to genre magazines. I even freelance for one such magazine -- Realms of Fantasy -- that has seen three different owners/publishers in as many years, and yet the magazine's 100th issue will be published in June!

I was intrigued by the "Who Killed Science Fiction?" seminar -- actually, it was a survey rather than a seminar -- to which Paul referred, so I followed the link he provided to a fanzine -- eI29, December 2006; this particular volume is entitled The Compleat and Unexpurgated Who Killed Science Fiction? by Earl Kemp¹. eI29 includes the original 1960 edition of WKSF? plus the updates Kemp wrote in 1980 and again in 2006, all with new introductions.

In mid-1960, Kemp put together a questionnaire on the state of SF magazines (keep in mind that by 1960 the earlier, prolific pulp magazines had all ceased to exist) that he sent to 108 individuals, a virtual Who's Who in Science Fiction at the time: Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Alfred Bester, James Blish, Robert Bloch, artist Hannes Bok, Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley -- and that's just a few of the names and only from the first two letters of the alphabet!

February Links & Things

This is my monthly wrap-up of February's Links & Things; you can receive these links in real time by following me on Twitter: @martyhalpern. Note, however, that not all of my tweeted links make it into these month-end posts. Hopefully, you will find some value in what follows; and if you are new to my blog, you may want to catch up on my previous month-end posts: just look for the "Links and Things" tag in the right column of this blog.

• I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the passing of author Melissa Mia Hall on January 28. I never met Melissa personally, but knew her from her stories in such acclaimed anthologies as Razored Saddles (Lansdale & LoBrutto), A Whisper of Blood (Datlow), and Post Mortem (Olson & Silva), to name just three. Melissa might very well be alive today had she been able to afford health insurance; sadly this is the situation for many new, midlist, and freelance writers, and editors. I've written about this previously and don't wish to dwell on it. But isn't it ironic that Melissa's tax dollars contributed to the government-sponsored healthcare for those very same individuals who are now attempting to dismantle the new healthcare law. Ironic, indeed. If you didn't know, or know of, Melissa Mia Hall, you can read PW editor Peter Cannon's heartfelt eulogy; if you have a need to know more about Missy's health and health insurance issues, please read Sarah Strohmeyer's "The Least Among Us" on The Lipstick Chronicles blog.

• If you haven't done so, please read my previous blog post on the Writer's Knowledge Base. This search engine was designed specifically for writers (and editors) and should be bookmarked immediately.

• The Ooh Tray blog describes itself as "a digest of film and literary culture -- independent, investigative and satirical.... written for those [who] want more from their criticism [with] less hyperbole." The Ooh Tray has been reviewing books that it terms "Modern Classics," which includes the recently reviewed The Empire of Ice Cream, a collection of stories by Jeffrey Ford. The reviewer, Richard McCarthy, writes: "Ford has looked at the nature of story-telling and understood that its power can lie not just in evoking, informing and sharing but also in reshaping that which we consider to be already known." [Note: I acquired and edited The Empire of Ice Cream for Golden Gryphon Press. The stories contained therein have won numerous awards: "Botch Town," original to the collection, won the 2007 World Fantasy Award for best novella; title story "The Empire of Ice Cream" won the 2003 Nebula Award for best novelette (and was a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial awards); "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" won the Speculative Literature Foundation's 2005 Fountain Award; and the collection itself was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year.]

• On K. M. Weiland's (@KMWeiland) WordPlay blog, guest blogger Victoria Mixon (@VictoriaMixon) writes about "The 4 Most Common Mistakes Fiction Editors See." Victoria writes: "Before you rush your beloved manuscript off to an editor, here are the four most common mistakes fiction editors see:" 1) Unfocused structure; 2) Misplaced backstory; 3) Underdeveloped character; and 4) Unpolished prose. For the details behind these points, and to read the more than 50 comments, do click on the link to WordPlay.

• Thanks to Robert J. Sawyer's Facebook post for this: Canada's Globe and Mail online asks: "Where have all the book editors gone?" And the answer? "With the publishing industry in turmoil, beset by competitive challenges unknown a decade ago, the long-lunching gentlefolk who once managed the mysterious process of literary midwifery are being replaced by fast-paced production workers, paid by the paragraph and often operating from home. If Jackie O were still in the game, she would likely be outsourced.... Authors, finding today’s downsized publishers increasingly unwilling to invest their own resources in the often laborious process of polishing rough diamonds into marketable gems, are now often forced to hire their own editors -- before even submitting their manuscripts for publication." Though the article focuses on specific Canadian publishers, the comments and analysis pertain to the industry as a whole. [Note: As previously noted, I am a book editor; I am available to work with authors on their manuscripts.]

Locus 2010 Year in Review - Anthologies

In a previous blog post, I wrote that my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, Daw Books, June 2010) had made the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List (RRL).

I observed after the RRL was posted, that there was mixed feelings from those whose work appeared on the list. Many, like myself, were pleased/excited/grateful/overwhelmed (select appropriate word depending on the individual's emotional level at the time) whereas others couldn't have cared less.

So I thought I would take this opportunity to share some thoughts as to why I was pleased upon learning that IAOT? was on the list.

Since I no longer subscribe to Locus magazine¹, Felicity Shoulders, one of the contributors to the anthology, graciously provided me with all the relevant information in the February 2011 issue.

Here is Locus's introduction to the Anthologies category for the 2010 year in review:

We're recommending a total of 19 anthologies, down from last year's 26. We received 121, up from last year's 101. [FULL DISCLOSURE: People on our reviewing panel have edited some of these anthologies. They were not allowed to vote for their own books and received no special treatment.]

We split the anthologies in the way we list them, though not in the voting, between original, reprint, and Year's Best categories.

Original anthologies are the most important in that they are a major source of new short fiction. This year's 9 is a significant drop from last year's 13.

— Francesca Myman & Amelia Beamer

Nineteen recommended anthologies out of 121 received: that's less than 16% of the total -- and that total represents 20 more anthologies than were considered last year. So more anthologies were received this year than last, and yet only 9 original anthologies have been recommended over last year's 13 recommended titles. I realize I'm simply reiterating what Locus stated above, but I'm trying to emphasize my point here: Is Anybody Out There? is one of these 9 original anthologies -- the only mass market paperback -- and is listed among such heavyweights as The Way of the Wizard (John Joseph Adams), The Beastly Bride (Datlow & Windling), Black Winds (S. T. Joshi), Warriors (George R. R. Martin), Godlike Machines (Jonathan Strahan), and Swords & Dark Magic (Strahan & Lou Anders), among others -- and this is just the original category and doesn't include the year's best volumes and other reprint anthologies.

So, yes, I'm pleased that IAOT? was recognized by the powers that be at Locus, such that the anthology was included in the RRL. My hope is that more readers will learn about the anthology through Locus -- and Locus online -- and consider reading the stories contained therein.

Of course, in the "year in review" columns, each reviewer chooses his/her own way of recognizing any particular title. Sometimes the book garners a complete sentence, more often a phrase within a sentence, and occasionally the book is listed as merely one of a number of titles that the reviewer acknowledges. With that in mind, here is what each individual reviewer had to say about my co-edited anthology:

Francesca Myman & Amelia Beamer: "The search for intelligent alien life is examined in Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern (DAW): from Paul McAuley's introduction: 'the truth is likely to be far stranger than anything we can imagine and that's why it's important to imagine everything we can.'"

Gary K. Wolfe: "Other anthologies, usually theme-based, seemed designed to see what writers could do with some of the field's most time-tested conventions:...first contact (Is Anybody Out There?, Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern)...."

Gardner Dozois: "Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern, featured good work by Pat Cadigan, Jay Lake, Alex Irvine, Matthew Hughes, and others."

Jonathan Strahan: "These were not the only worthwhile anthologies of 2010, though. I also happily recommend...Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern's Is Anybody Out There?..."

Rich Horton: "DAW cut its schedule of original anthologies quite a bit in 2010 -- of those that appeared, the clear winner is Is Anybody Out There?, edited by Nick Gevers & Marty Halpern, an anthology of Fermi Paradox stories."

This last entry is from Locus online, Lois Tilton's 2010 Short Fiction Reviews in Review:

The "Fermi Paradox" anthology Is Anybody Out There? had David Langford's neat "Graffiti in the Library of Babel."

So there you have it. The Locus 2010 Year in Review as it pertains to anthologies, and specifically IAOT?

If you are new to this blog:
Right below the More Red Ink header logo at the top of the blog, you'll find a tab entitled "Is Anybody Out There?" that leads directly to a dedicated page. This page links to and summarizes all my blog posts on the anthology. Amongst these blog posts you will find the complete text to six of the stories included in the anthology -- the stories by Michael Arsenault, Pat Cadigan, Sheila Finch, Jay Lake, David Langford, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. If you haven't already done so, I hope you'll take the time to read these stories, either now or later. But if you've gotten this far and wish to check out the stories now, here's the page link. Enjoy!

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Footnote

¹ I subscribed to Locus for more than 20 years, but increasing philosophical differences with the magazine's content and disagreement with how the Locus Awards were managed compelled me to allow my subscription to expire a few years ago; nevertheless, this in no way detracts from my appreciation of and respect for the magazine's (and staff's) dedication and contributions to the sf/f/h communities. When I have requested information and photographs from Locus, over the years, for use on dust jackets and in this blog, the staff has always been forthcoming, for which I am grateful.

The Writer's Knowledge Base

You may have noticed the Writer's Knowledge Base badge in the right frame of my blog... in between the Google Search field and my Facebook icon; it's been there for a few weeks now.

The Writer's Knowledge Base (WKB) is a joint project between a mystery writer and a software engineer: Elizabeth Spann Craig and Mike Fleming, respectively.

Elizabeth states, in a blog post dated January 25, that when she did a Google search for "POV," the "top sites returned are for a video that PBS made (which isn't on writing POV), a couple definitions by Wikipedia (several of which have to do with automobiles), a racy YouTube video, and some freeware." So she asked herself, What does an author do when Google isn't enough?

Elizabeth goes on to explain how this "Search Engine for Writers" came about and where she gets her sources for the links and information. She (@elizabethscraig) first started tweeting the information and links that she found, but unfortunately not all writers are on Twitter. Then she started sharing the links weekly on her blog, but the links weren't easily searchable. Until, that is, Mike worked with the links that Elizabeth provided him -- links from over 1,500 blogs, and counting -- and created the Writer's Knowledge Base: a free resource "enabling writers to access information that would help them write better books and articles."

Elizabeth quotes Mike Fleming in her blog post, and I'm going to do likewise; even if you choose not to read her blog, you should read this brief quote from Mike to understand how the WKB works:

The search is done instantly over thousands of writing-related articles ranging from character development to author promotion on social media. Unlike Google, all of the results are relevant to you as a writer. They may not all interest you, of course, but at least searching for "plot" will bring back articles on how to plot your story and not news articles on terrorist plots.

And in a follow-up blog post, Elizabeth answers a few questions about the search engine, like the types of content she includes: "I’m usually looking for craft-related, industry-related, social media, promo-related, or writing inspiration posts. I love posts that are easily skimmed (as opposed to a block of text--most writers are working with short amounts of time), have great content, and can be helpful to many writers."

So I decided to give the Writer's Knowledge Base search engine a test run. Recently I wrote a blog post in December on "style sheets," a subject near and dear to me as a book editor. I entered "style sheet" in the WKB search field, which provided 124 results. [Note: This test was done a week or so ago; I've just run the test again and was provided 127 results. That's a good sign, as it means new resources/links/information has since been added to the WKB.] The first result is (still) "Writing a series? Why you should use a style sheet." My blog post on style sheets is listed as the sixth entry. [Note: This has since changed; my post is now the ninth entry. The key reason is, though I used "style sheet" in the body of the blog post, it's not part of the title, which is: "Writing with Style (Sheets, That Is)." You know me, always one to have to write with a flair!]

Do check out both of Elizabeth's posts on the WKB for more details, and how to potentially include your blog posts in the search engine. If you are a writer and/or editor, be sure to bookmark the WKB, and take advantage of all the time and energy that Elizabeth and Mike have put into creating and refining this tool.


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Picasso on Art via Pablo Cortez

Another story that I've recently read, which I am seriously considering for my Alien Contact anthology (forthcoming from Night Shade Books in November), is "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song," by Ernest Hogan. See my previous blog post, "We Have Alien Contact," for background on this anthology, including a complete listing of the stories (so far) that have been submitted and/or recommended to me, in addition to stories that I myself have added to the list.

When I contacted Ernesto about a possible contribution to the anthology, here's what he had to say about "Guerrilla Mural...": "It's about a Chicano muralist/graffitist who turns out to be the person who breaks through to communicate (sort of) with telepathic microbes that live in Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Later I expanded it into my first novel Cortez on Jupiter."¹ Sound intriguing? Indeed. "Guerrilla Mural..." involves art, and a Zulu, and Aztecs, and alien contact, and is written from the POV of a Chicano -- and is pure zany Ernest Hogan. The only other author with whom I can compare Hogan's writing would be Paul Di Filippo.

"Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song" was originally published in issue four of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine (Summer 1989), edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch; this particular issue was devoted to "Science Fiction," as noted on the cover above. The graphic is a bit difficult to see/read because all the Pulphouse magazine covers were stamped using an iridescent ink, thus reflecting the light. (According to former Pulphouse publisher Dean Wesley Smith, the process is called "foil stamping.") Each issue of the magazine was published in an edition of 1,000 numbered trade hardcover copies and 250 signed (by all contributors) and numbered leatherbound copies. I bought a copy of the first issue (#19 of 1,000), liked what I read, and then subscribed; so all of my later editions have matching numbers: #71 of 1,000. The last volume, number twelve, was published in Fall 1993. Pulphouse Publishing just may have been the first press to self-publish at that time.

But back to "Guerrilla Mural..." Here's the protagonist in the middle of one of his rants:

Me, Pablo Cortez, infamous guerrilla muralist from the wild, crumbling concrete and stucco overgrowth of L.A. -- who refused to be absorbed into the decaying society I satirized in my work long after my fellow wall-defacers were caught, arrested and offered a chance to become honest artists who paint on neat, clean canvases that are displayed in sterile galleries, and bought by the affluent to show everybody how sensitive they are by what they choose to decorate their expensive, prestigious apartments with. I, who tattooed the Picasso quote, "PAINTING IS NOT DONE TO DECORATE APARTMENTS. IT IS AN INSTRUMENT OF WAR FOR ATTACK AND DEFENSE AGAINST THE ENEMY" on my own left arm with a felt-tip pen and a safety-pin. The guy who really meant it when he helped paint -- fast, so we could get it done and get the hell out of there before getting our heads busted -- Quetzalcoatl choking on smog, Uncle Sam holding up the heart of a draftee for the "disturbance" in South Africa (soon to be Zululand -- again) to the gaping jaws of a Biomechanoid War God, mutilated/spacesuited corpses and countless mass portraits of the ever-growing throngs of the homeless to decorate the featureless, empty walls of the blank architecture where Mr. and Ms. Los Angeles could see as they did the freeway boogie to work. Siquerios and Orozco and every spray-can wielding vato would’ve been proud!

Personally, I'm not much of an art aficionado; when I read the Picasso quote I immediately searched for it on the web -- and was shocked to learn that it was, indeed, a legitimate quote. Picasso dissing apartment art! Who woulda thought....

Ernest Hogan, the author of this story, and I go back a ways; he contributed an original story, "Coyote Goes Hollywood," to my co-edited Witpunk anthology, which was published by Four Walls Eight Windows in 2003. So when I was looking for a previously published, over-the-top "alien contact" story that involved another culture (Earth culture as opposed to alien culture), I immediately thought of Ernesto.

One final comment on Pulphouse Publishing:

My most prized set of books from them is The Collected Short Fiction of Robert Sheckley -- five slipcased volumes, signed by the author as well as the introducer of each volume. My set is #282 of 300. I haven't really thought about this set of books until now, so I did a web search just to see if there were any sets available "out there": I found a few hardcover sets like mine (the set was also published in trade paperback), ranging in price from $600.00 to a high of $1,240.00. Whew.

I bring up Robert Sheckley because if there ever was a witpunk, Sheckley is (was) it. And I have to believe that Sheckley's sardonic writing had a direct influence on both Ernest Hogan and Paul Di Filippo.

---------------
Footnote:

¹ Unfortunately, Cortez on Jupiter has been out of print for quite some time; it was originally published as a mass market paperback by Tor Books in 1990. This is another example in which a midlist author's books have gone out print long before their time. I would suggest to Ernest Hogan that he consider releasing the book in a variety of eBook formats as well as print on demand (POD). There are a myriad of cost-effective resources now available to authors for eBook and POD publishing.

Sony Daily Edition eReader Goes High Calibre

[Updated August 15, 2012: See Comments below]

I "received" a Sony PRS-950 Daily Edition eReader for the holidays (it was on sale at the time at Best Buy). After much research, I found that the Daily Edition handles PDF files better than any other eReader, with the capability to split columns, and even display a two-page mode when in landscape. The eReader has Adobe Reader Mobile installed. Since I receive a lot of electronic submissions from authors, either as Word docs or as PDFs -- and I can convert any Word doc to a PDF¹ -- the Daily Edition seemed the best fit. If viewing a PDF is important to you, and you're in the market for an eReader, then this video, which lasts a bit over 8 minutes, showcases the PDF capabilities of the Sony PRS-950. One caveat, however, regarding the contents of the video: the person demonstrating the device states that when you increase the font size of the PDF, the eReader will reflow the text. This is technically correct. However, the reflow will essentially split the line where necessary, regardless of word spacing; so the majority of lines will have a word cut, with the remainder of the word on the next line. This has been one of the most frustrating aspects of reading PDFs on the eReader. If I don't increase the font size, then the print is too small to read. If I increase the font size, then words are split at the end of nearly every line. My alternative is to read the PDF in landscape, which for some reason automatically increases the size of the font without splitting words. The caveat with this, though, is that it takes three landscape screens to view an actual page of text. Flicking your finger across the screen after only a few lines in order to move the text becomes tiresome when reading a very long file.

This eReader also has an improved e-ink display and better touchscreen capabilities than the slightly older PRS-900 model. And more: I can, if needed, highlight text within a story, look up a word in the internal dictionary, and even scrawl a basic note on a page with the included stylus.

I absolutely despise reading any content of length online/onscreen, so an eReader of one brand or another was at the top of my list of "wants." Whenever I want to read anything of length (say more than 3 pages or so), be it a short story, online magazine article, blog, whatever, I'm inclined to print out a hardcopy to read. Now, I have the eReader, which will hopefully allow me to be more mobile with my reading, and reduce a lot of the hardcopy.

My other reason for selecting the PRS-950 Daily Edition was its wireless access to a web browser, as well as apps like Gmail, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc. During my reading, I often come upon something in the content that I want to look up or share with others, and the wireless capability of the PRS-950 would allow me to do that, especially if I'm mobile.

But, alas, this is where the PRS-950 fails. Sorry, Sony, but that's the truth! I tried the wireless option in one environment (my home) with AT&T wireless and in another environment (my daughter's home) with Comcast wireless. In both instances the PRS-950 continually dropped the connection, couldn't retain the connection, and would inevitably lead to a "DNS server" error every time. Once the eReader displays that nasty DNS error, there is no other option but to return to the "Home" screen and then access the app again and try to reconnect. Over and over and over....

I contacted Sony's online chat eSupport. The support person had me "reset" the eReader (which I had previously done on my own), rekey the wifi encryption code (which I had previously done on my own, which didn't make sense even then because I had a connection, the eReader just wouldn't hold it), and other such stuff, all of which I knew would make no difference whatsoever, but I played along anyhow. After a 20+ minute chat, the support person provided me with a case number, an 800 telephone number, and recommended that I call that number and request "level 5" support. I did. I was on hold for more than 35 minutes before my call was taken. The entire telephone call lasted just over 73 minutes. During that call, the support person literally took over control of my PC (after requesting my permission, of course) to check my wireless modem settings, etc. But I told him that the eReader demonstrated the same problem under two separate wireless environments so it couldn't be my AT&T modem settings, it had to be a problem with the eReader. Bottom line: Sony replaced the eReader. I provided a credit card number for security and received a new eReader within the week; I was required to return my defective eReader within 14 days (a return FedEx label was provided so there was no cost to me), otherwise my credit card would be charged for the eReader. No problem. The replacement and return went smoothly.

No Beginning, No End...

I've been reading previously published stories for my Alien Contact anthology, to be published by Night Shade Books in November. This reading is an ongoing process amidst everything else I do, other deadlines that I have. See my previous blog post, "We Have Alien Contact," for background on this anthology, including a complete listing of the stories (so far) that have been submitted and/or recommended to me, in addition to stories that I myself have added to the list as well.

Currently I'm reading the novella-length story "Bradbury Weather" by Caitlín R. Kiernan, which was originally published in 2005 in Subterranean Magazine issue #2. The story is included in the author's science fiction collection, A Is for Alien, also published by Subterranean Press, in 2009. Caitlín recommended two stories to me that she felt would be appropriate for the anthology, and kindly provided me with a review copy of A Is for Alien in PDF format, which I am now able to read on my new Sony PRS-950 Daily Edition eReader. (I already have a blog post planned on the eReader and related issues.)

I don't recall ever quoting a fictional character in one of my blog posts, so this is probably a first. But I was so taken with a quote in the opening paragraph of "Bradbury Weather" that I had to post it here. The paragraph appears in a collection of proverbs written by an anonymous Gyuto monk; the book is in the possession of Dorry, the protagonist in the story:

No story has a beginning, and no story has an end. Beginnings and endings may be conceived to serve a purpose, to serve a momentary and transient intent, but they are, in their truer nature, arbitrary and exist solely as a construct of the mind of man." ― a Gyuto monk

So is the monk simply referring to the beginning and end of an actual story? Or is he referring to the story of one's life? Or am I just toying with some philosophical conundrum that really has no meaning whatsoever other than to occupy a few lines in the opening paragraph of a fictional story? Indeed, this is a quote from a fictional character in a work of fiction, but then again aren't these words, in some, albeit creative, way, spoken, or at least written, by the author herself?

By the way, the protagonist reads that one paragraph one last time, three pages before the end of "Bradbury Weather": "I open the book and read the words aloud again, the words underlined in red ink, that I might understand how not to lose my way in this tale which is almost all that remains of me."

Is Anybody Out there? and the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List

Since I'm obviously not in this business for the big bucks... (What, you ask? No big bucks? Sorry, no, but it's not that I wouldn't like big bucks!) ...I have to hope that my efforts at least -- and those of my contributing authors -- gain some recognition within the genre after the book is published. My anthology Is Anybody Out There? which I co-edited with Nick Gevers (Daw Books, 2010), has been selected as one of 9 original anthologies on the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List. The list has just been officially posted today on Locus online.

All 8 of the other anthologies were either published in hardcover or trade paperback; and there are indeed some fine original anthologies on that list. I'm in the company of editors Lou Anders, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Gardner Dozois & George R. R. Martin, and Jonathan Strahan, to name just six. Whew! There is a lot of anthology fire power behind just those names alone.

Is Anybody Out There? is the only mass market paperback on that list. I believe this is due, in part, to two reasons: first, few publishers publish mass market paperback anthologies; and of those who do, the stories typically tend to be less substantial, with IAOT? fortunately being the obvious exception to the rule. So I wish to thank both Gardner Dozois and Rich Horton for reviewing IAOT? in Locus magazine. I'm certain that their detailed, concientious reviews had an impact on the anthology -- and three of the anthology's stories (see below) -- being included on the 2010 Recommended Reading List (hereafter known simply as The List). The links on Gardner's and Rich's names will lead you (eventually) to their respective reviews.

In addition to the anthology as a whole, three of the stories are included in the short story category on The List. All three stories were previously posted in their entirety on More Red Ink; I don't know if posting those stories for free here helped influence their inclusion on The List, but it obviously didn't hurt. What is sad is that none of the other stories made The List...

That said, the three stories are "The Taste of Night" by Pat Cadigan, "Permanent Fatal Errors" by Jay Lake, and "Graffiti in the Library of Babel" by David Langford. The links on the story titles will jump you to the individual stories themselves for your reading pleasure (assuming, of course, that you haven't already read them). I have a blog page set up for Is Anybody Out There? that includes links to three additional stories -- by Michael Arsenault, Sheila Finch, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch -- plus more reviews and news.


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January Links & Things

This is my monthly wrap-up of January's Links & Things; you can receive these links in real time by following me on Twitter: @martyhalpern. Note, however, that not all of my tweeted links make it into these month-end posts. Hopefully, you find some value in what follows; and if you are new to my Links & Things blog entries, you may want to check out my previous posts: just look for the "Links and Things" tag in the right column of this blog. There are 26 previous blog posts.

• The beauty of the internet... Where do people find these things? Lee Thomson has posted a PDF of Gene Roddenberry's "First Draft" dated March 11, 1964, of his original pitch for the Star Trek television series -- typos, warts, and all. Unless you are a very hardcore Trek freak, you probably didn't know that originally the captain was named Robert M. April, aboard the Yorktown; and "Mr. Spock" was to be the first lieutenant: with "a face so heavy-lidded and satanic you might almost expect him to have a forked tail. Probably half Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears." Many episodes are suggested, and if you are a fan of the show, you'll actually recognize a few of these. (via Robert Sawyer's Facebook post)

• My friend, the author Andrew Fox, whose work includes Fat White Vampire Blues, Bride of the Fat White Vampire, and, most recently, The Good Humor Man (which I edited for Tachyon Publications), was interviewed in The Green Man Review. When Andrew was asked the following series of questions: "Do you read reviews or comments of your work? Do negative comments bother you? How do you suggest handling unfair public criticism?" -- he responded in part: "One of the early reviews of my most recently published book, The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501, included some unfair (and I thought underhanded) criticisms, essentially tarring me with the 'R' word [Racism]....The more you protest, the deeper you end up rubbing the dirt into the carpet. As a satirist, I realize I’m going to come in for some holier-than-thou criticisms from readers who (a) don't get my sense of humor; (b) sense that I may lean in an opposite political direction from them; or (c) are looking for any excuse, no matter how small, to vent their righteous fury in print or pixels. So, rather than engage with that critic, I let it go...." Excellent interview.

• In a recent blog post I wrote about Sony Corp's recent exhibit featuring a flexible electronic paper (e-paper) device. Well, Crunch Gear recently announced that Samsung had acquired display technology (aka e-paper) firm Liquavista BV. The article provides the full Samsung press release. I suspect e-ink displays will be replaced by e-paper devices at some point in the near future. (via @crunchgear)

• Are you in the market for a new short story market? You may want to consider Realms of Fantasy magazine. On the Clarion Writers' Workshop blog, RoF editor Douglas Cohen provides some insights into getting published in the magazine. Granted, the magazine has had two new publishers in as many years, but no issues have been skipped since the previous owner's first issue, and the new owners, Damnation Books, have just sent their first issue (February 2011) to the printer. The April issue is on schedule; and the June issue will be 100 pages marking the magazine's 100th issue. (And yes, I am associated with RoF magazine.)

• Author John C. Wright provides readers his "Patented One Session Lesson in the Mechanics of Fiction," which may be one of the best writing manuals, accomplished in a single, albeit lengthy, blog post, that I have ever read. According to John's intro, he put this "lesson" together for a friend who is a nonfiction writer and is toying with the idea of writing fiction. This friend couldn't have had a better instructor. This really is an awesome post on writing. You don't get a teaser/excerpt here from John's blog post; go forth and read it yourself. And check out the 50 comments, too. (via @johnottinger) [Note: After reading John's blog post above, I feel that I no longer have to blurb any other "how to write" posts -- ever; so, that's it, at least for this Links & Things blog post. This is the only one you need to read.]

David Langford's Story Is Also One of the Best

I received an email from David Langford, informing me that his short story "Graffiti in the Library of Babel" will be included in the Year's Best SF 16 anthology, which is co-edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and forthcoming from HarperCollins/EOS in May. No cover art is available as yet, but the book can now be preordered.

"Graffiti in the Library of Babel" was originally published in Is Anybody Out There? -- an anthology of original stories on the Fermi Paradox -- which I co-edited with Nick Gevers, and was published by Daw Books in June 2010.

Six stories, including "Graffiti in the Library of Babel," have previously been posted on this blog in their entirety. If you are new to More Red Ink, the following link will take you to the main IAOT? page from which you can access all six stories, plus details on the book's genesis, reviews, and information pertaining to the Fermi Paradox and the SETI program. Or, if you just wish to read David Langford's story at this time, you can click here: "Graffiti in the Library of Babel."

And if you haven't read "Graffiti..." please do so; it's a wonderful story of alien contact via a library's database.

And now that the nominating has begun for the 2011 Hugo Awards, please do consider the stories included in Is Anybody Out There? In addition to David Langford's story being accepted for the Hartwell and Cramer Year's Best SF 16, Pat Cadigan's story, "The Taste of Night" -- also from Is Anybody Out There? -- was accepted for both Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection and Strahan's The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 -- which I also blogged about and you'll find links to these as well on the IAOT? page.


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Liz Williams's The Iron Khan -- First Review

If you are a fan of the Detective Inspector Chen series by UK author Liz Williams, and you've been eagerly awaiting the publication of book 5 in the series, The Iron Khan (print edition), then your wait is -- Finally! -- over, thanks to the amazing efforts of the folks at Morrigan Books.

The Iron Khan trade paperback edition is currently in stock at Amazon.com via CreateSpace, an Amazon company. Morrigan also has plans for a limited hardcover edition to be available through Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego. I have no additional information on the limited edition at this time, but I will post further details as soon as I have them.

The first review of The Iron Khan (at least the first review that I am aware of) has appeared. What's intriguing about this review can be summed up by a comment Liz Williams made in a recent post on her LiveJournal: "...reviewers often (as in this case) pick up on themes which were not intentional/subconscious, but which nonetheless seem to have emerged as dominant."

The review appears in Strange Horizons, and is penned by Kelly Jennings, who does double duty by reviewing the previous DI Chen title, The Shadow Pavilion, alongside The Iron Khan. Jennings writes:

In The Shadow Pavilion, Lord Lady Seijin, a dual-souled (one soul is male, the other female) immortal assassin, has been hired to assassinate Mhara, the new Emperor of Heaven. Having taken the throne, Mhara at once begins making changes. Some of Mhara's subjects welcome these changes. Others do not....

This theme -- both that change can be good, and that it will be resisted, often violently -- is the common thread running through both novels. With such a topic, the slide into cliché would be easy: simple villains opposing good, simple heroes charging the barricades. Williams resists that lure, writing situations to demonstrate that change in itself is neither good nor bad....

[In The Iron Khan] every plot movement from the opening pages turns on change. Indeed, we begin to see, reading this text, how throughout the series every relationship has turned on changes in social and spiritual attitudes, which have made possible bonds which were previously forbidden.... There is, further, the matter of Inari’s pregnancy -- her child, still unborn at the end of The Iron Khan...is the reincarnation of Lord Lady Seijin, who was the enemy of Heaven throughout the previous novel; the enemy, also, of Inari and Chen. Not only does this suggest a major change for Seijin -- that the villain can change -- but consider what it says about Chen and Inari: their enemy will be their child, whom they will raise up and love. Is this not the definition of true change?...

At the end of The Iron Khan, Inari’s child, forecast to bring some major change to Heaven and Earth and all the several Hells, is about to be born. Considering who the child was and what he/she has been up to, even before birth, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

I've you've not read the Detective Inspector Chen series, then hopefully this review will give you just a wee taste of what you've been missing -- a series that is in a class all by itself. Please do read the full review on Strange Horizons. And yes, I'm prejudiced about the DI Chen series: I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to work (as editor) with Liz Williams on all five titles.

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