Despicable Me

Ok, so after moving over the long weekend and being offline, I am still struggling to catch up on everything.  I actually used Google Wave tonight in connection with the Aether Age project.  HHHMMMM.  Interesting.  I'm sure I will have more thoughts about it before we finish.

Yeah, so, more chock-full-o-goodness posts to come, but in the mean time I'm just gonna toss some shameless self promotion at ya...

• Go check out the great deal for supporting the Aether Age project and getting a subscription to M-Brane SF in the process.  If ya already have a sub, then now you'll have a gift to give someone for Xmass.  Word.
• M-Brane #11 is out!  This includes a lot of great fiction including a certain wintry tale of my own.
• And... check out this guest post over at Lynn Flewellin's blog by Chris Fletcher regarding the Things We Are Not anthology.

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Genre Soup Sunday

Image via Wikipedia

So here's my collection of stuff that I've thought "I need to post about that" but didn't get around to doing.  I've stopped apologizing for Shameless Self-Promotion(tm).  If you don't do it, who will?  So feel free to reply in kind with whatever you've noted over the past few weeks that deserves more attention.

• Bart Lieb and K.T. Holt's Crossed Genres needs your help.  Help them.  And be rewarded by the good work they are doing.
• Chameleon Chamber Group is doing  the soundtrack for Aether Age. 
• How have I missed out on the goodness that is Sofanauts?  Check out the episode with Peter Watts from a few weeks back.  I still need to read Blindsight.
• Drollerie Press has a new anthology out with work from fellow Outer Alliance member Angela Korra'ti, Defiance.
• And speaking of the Outer Alliance, check out the spotlight on Chris Fletcher of M-Brane SF.
• Go buy an issue of GUD for what you think it is worth: this is another operation worth and needing your support.  And don't be a douche: give 'em at least a fiver per copy.  A one time twenty spot is even better. (and, yes, I'm putting my money where my mouth is: I've committed to subscribing to three mags before year end and GUD is one of 'em.)
• Ok, and just to round out a nice 7 bullet points, have you read this cozy little zombie tale over at Nossa Morte?  Well why not!?
  

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Economic Downturn Kills Arkham Tales

Nathan Shumate, editor and publisher of Arkham Tales and proprietor of Cold Fusion Video Reviews, announced today the release of Arkham Tales issue #5 and that it would be the final issue.

This is sad news. Shumate did a great job with the zine and it represented another venture doing something interesting in defining what form an online magazine might take.

Back on August 29th Shumate did a post examining the possibility of charging per issues. While I'm sure the comments were all sincere, It's frustrating to see right at the top someone questioning what the zine's overhead was.

I hope Shumate finds a forum to share his views on what he did right, what he would do differently, and any thoughts he has apropos the survival of genre zines.

One of the comments on that same post suggested getting a dedicated iPod app similar to Steampunk Tales. I think this is a great idea. Better yet, one on iPod, WebOS, and Android. Outside of Steampunk Tales, there is no competition in that space. Well, there is the Kindle app, but the zines can have Kindle versions as well.

Take care. And take this news as impetus to buy someone you love a genre zine subscription or a small press book/anthology for Christmas and for birthdays. Consider making it a habit depending on your personal budget to buy such once a month or once a quarter for some unsuspecting SF/horror/fantasy fan-to-be in your life.

"Online" is just a mechanism. Like the man said, the interweb is just a bunch of tubes. Content is king. All these things we are doing now are intermediary: from SF&F's print only, to online freezines, subscription zines, pdf zines, and so forth.

I believe a print version is *always going to be, at base, an available option of successful endeavors. Finding ways of adding value to those print editions is critical. Interior art is good. Unfortunately many such projects don't have the funds to pay for the interior art. My hope is that some talented artist will see an opportunity here. And why not be gimmicky? Get the communities behind your project. make a big deal about a special 'give a little love to the artists' issue of a zine, where the stories get paid exposure and the artists get paid for their work.

But aside from print versions, a lot of our reading will very soon be done on devices like Kindle and Nook, Apple and MS's coming tablets, and other mobile devices. Being first on what is out there now: might be worthwhile.

Beyond the delivery of content, and more important, is the business model. And at that point I'm just yakking. Not a clue as to the answer. It may be that we're in the interim between people balking at paying for content that they believe has become free, and the day when the writer world's equivalent to the music world's Rock Band/Guitar Hero comes along. That could be over-thinking it, though. Reading is just reading. We can align things like the physicality of a handsome book and artwork, even have musical soundtracks or audio versions. But in the end, people will either read for pleasure or they won't.

For the people that do read, and are genre readers... maybe the real quandary is one of marketing. Eyeballs. Or lack thereof. Volume cures all ills, the regional director of a company I once worked for told me. If only 10% of the eyeballs you capture ever fork over the funds, then how many eyeballs do you need be in front of? And what do you do to compel buy-in?

Yeah, there's some useful questions.

Please check out issue #5 of Arkham Tales and consider hitting that donate button.  You never know if yours might be the click that changes a mind.

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M-Brane SF #11 Cover!

 M-Brane SF #11 cover has been been revealed.  Strangely Christmasy.  And there's a phrase to drive your English teacher crazy.  This issue contains my story, Broken Vessels, and is also the last issue in the 'old' mbrane format.  Beginning with issue 12 (if I recall correctly, and that's not a total guarantee) the magazine will come in a trade paperback format.

Broken Vessels is among my more accessible stories, and I think a neat one for the holiday season.  Keep an .... ear... out for a listen at it soon.  ;)

B

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Updated Aether Age Anthology site

There is more content to come over at the anthology site, but in the mean time, go check out the site and leave a comment, become a fan, join the facebook group, or hook up with the official mbrane twitter feed.

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Thing We Are Not: read a sample at Amazon!

I realized I posted this on Facebook, but not here.  If you go to the Amazon Things We Are Not page, you can read the first few pages of my story by clicking on the 'search inside' link just below the image of the cover along the left side of the page.  check it out!

Also, if you've read and enjoyed the book, post about them on Amazon or B&N.  Those reader reviews really help.  And definitely don't be shy because you just read a portion: your experience with those stories remains telling for the potential reader.

Anyway, I'm wrapping up so ms. 8yo and I can go out for father-daughter time before her soccer game this afternoon, and meeting up with the momma this evening for the party at Zac's Ridge.  Glad it is the weekend.  :)

B

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"Just You Against Your Tattered Libido..."

Image by Untitled blue via Flickr

But, hey, it's #followfriday ... so it's all good in the neighborhood...

This one is long overdue!  Thanks for being such great friends with the #ffs that I've been so slow to repay.

• Marilyn and Neil, fellow dreamers-extraordinaire.
• The Mercury Men, for bringing sexy back.  I mean scifi. :)
• Cesar, lover of magpies, writer of weird, and fellow OA member.
• Samuel and TC... because ya'll might have business to discuss.   ;)
• Aishwarya and Jaym, writers who also have some things to say ABOUT the genre.  And thanks for the kinds words too.
• Eric and Chris, the guys to watch in 2010.
• Abby and the Brain Harvest peep1 and peep2... we need to keep an eye on those stories: they keep showing up beside each other in zines and such.  hhmmmm.  If ya'll have something in M-Brane 11, it'll be time to pull out the 'dramatic stare' guinee pig clip. :)
• Paula, when ya gotta getcha Lovecraft on.  By the way, IFP is looking great.  I can almost hear the ocean when I'm at the site.  Oh, and the gelatinous masses bulging from the waters crying tekeli-li.  Or something.
  
• Craig, great friend, even when I fail to live up to the whole 'positive circle of influence' and call you lady friend 'Red Sonja' all night after proclaiming 'Name Association!' to remember the pretty simple name... Sonja.  Craig: friend, fellow writer, webmaster of Major writer's website, singer of songs, lover of teletubbies.  I bow my head to you.
• Kaolinfire, whose name I mentally say as though singing the song from Van Halen one,  "I'm on Fi-yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa".  Sorry, David Lee Roth moment.  I still want to get that Pre magazine platform going... of course by that I mean... I want you to get...  lol
• and last, for now... Dan... I felt bad while you were offline that I didn't know how to check and see if you were doing ok.  Glad to see you are back online.  Let me know if I can pimp 8 minutes in any way.
  

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Hearing Voices

I want to offer an initial --because there is more to come-- promo shout for someone I find totally amazing.  But I need to generalize a bit before I get there.

People are astounding.  Yeah, there are moments when it would be easy to loose faith, but just as it seems that frothing-at-the-mouth Fox News junkies have reached their apotheosis, another person stumbles into my life who shows me some new facet of beauty and truth.  Facets that I had stopped seeing.

You just never know what gifts you bring into the world when you arrive on the scene with authentic YOU.  So, as a friend tells me from time to time, "Shy goes hungry"... don't hold back.  My world has been enriched by so many writers, artists, and other creative weirdos (Clifford!)... Don't think that because we are 'little people' that it doesn't matter.  These niche sci fi rags and horror zines, the lurid pictures, the variable jazz tink-tink-tink of goings on amongst us: this is where it's at.  The Real Thing.

Love it, I guess is my suggestion, because it's worth loving.  Give me the passion of --as @kaolinfire put it-- the budding novice.  Any day.

Passion is what matters.

And on that note I will segue into this one amazing person I want to send your eyes, clicks, minds, and creative aspirations toward.  She is anything but a novice.  TC Parmelee is a professional voice over artist.  Over the coming months you will get a chance to listen to her work here and on related projects.  In the mean time, check out her blog and listen to the sample toward the bottom of her FAQ post.  I'm getting no kickback to promote TC, and will in fact be paying her to record various items (can't give too much away!)... I'm simply this impressed by her talent.

Magazine editors, if you've not picked up on the podcasts such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Podcastle/Escapepod, etc. have, then here is your opportunity to out-do the competition.

Take care,

Brandon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehsank/

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Space Cowboy

Total and absolute greatness.  I haven't watched Castle, but this clip has single-handedly changed my mind.

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