I just received another blurb for Chasing the Dragon from an author whose work I admire so much. Check it:
"Chasing the Dragon moves like a bullet. As blood-soaked and thunderous as a Sergio Leone western, and grimly referential to classic pulp horror, Kaufmann turns the screws and steadily escalates the tension. A gory, thoroughly rollicking thriller--not to be missed." -- Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence and Other Stories and Occultation
For those of you who ordered the sold-out limited edition hardcover, copies should be shipping soon. And of course, for those of you on tighter budgets, Chasing the Dragon will be available as a trade paperback in March 2010 at your local bookstore (provided said bookstore is in Canada, the U.S. or the U.K.; anywhere else and I'm afraid you'll have to purchase online). If it's not on the shelf, I'm sure they'll be happy to order it for you.
Chasing the Dragon will also be released as an ebook for those of you who enjoy reading on your Amazon Kindle, iPhone Stanza, Sony eReader, Barnes & Noble Nook, or leftover Rocket eBook Reader from 1999!
"Chasing the Dragon moves like a bullet. As blood-soaked and thunderous as a Sergio Leone western, and grimly referential to classic pulp horror, Kaufmann turns the screws and steadily escalates the tension. A gory, thoroughly rollicking thriller--not to be missed." -- Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence and Other Stories and Occultation
For those of you who ordered the sold-out limited edition hardcover, copies should be shipping soon. And of course, for those of you on tighter budgets, Chasing the Dragon will be available as a trade paperback in March 2010 at your local bookstore (provided said bookstore is in Canada, the U.S. or the U.K.; anywhere else and I'm afraid you'll have to purchase online). If it's not on the shelf, I'm sure they'll be happy to order it for you.
Chasing the Dragon will also be released as an ebook for those of you who enjoy reading on your Amazon Kindle, iPhone Stanza, Sony eReader, Barnes & Noble Nook, or leftover Rocket eBook Reader from 1999!
My game caught this bizarre driveby snark on RPGnet:
When it comes to vampires; sure, I can argue that "vampires are not like that", but I have never bothered to play vampire games. It is too gay for me, really. I think the vampire thing is a lesbian thing. It's like an exchange of bodily fluids without involving any male body parts, so to speak. Colours are usually black and red = feminine colours.
The belief in vampires is indeed ancient, by the way, from Antiquity, and we can actually find remains of bodies in Northern Europe that are nailed to the ground in their graves with wooden poles. Not to kill the vampires, but to prevent the dead from rising from the graves (if possessed by trolls =evil spirits) to drink the blood of the living. The modern vampire myth on the other hand is... just a lesbian fantasy, I guess.
The belief in vampires is indeed ancient, by the way, from Antiquity, and we can actually find remains of bodies in Northern Europe that are nailed to the ground in their graves with wooden poles. Not to kill the vampires, but to prevent the dead from rising from the graves (if possessed by trolls =evil spirits) to drink the blood of the living. The modern vampire myth on the other hand is... just a lesbian fantasy, I guess.
There is something very wrong with a grown man who describes his 10-13 year old male characters (the only kind he plays, to my knowledge) like he was writing Harlequin romance novels.
( Here, have some skeevy examples )
[EDIT]
Epic wank in comments below. Creepy descriptions are creepy, regardless of whether player is actually a perv or not. Edited for rewording.
( Here, have some skeevy examples )
[EDIT]
Epic wank in comments below. Creepy descriptions are creepy, regardless of whether player is actually a perv or not. Edited for rewording.
Francie stared at the oldest man. She played her favorite game, figuring out about people. His thin tangled hair was the same dirty gray as the stubble standing on his sunken cheeks. Dried spittle caked the corners of his mouth. He yawned. He had no teeth. She watched, fascinated and revolted, as he closed his mouth, drew his lips inward until there was no mouth, and made his chin come up to almost meet his nose. She studied his old coat with the padding hanging out of the torn sleeve seam. His legs were sprawled wide in helpless relaxation and one of the buttons was missing from his grease-caked pants openeing. She saw that his shoes were battered and broken open at the toes. One shoe was laced with a much-knotted shoe string, and the other with a bit of dirty twine. She saw two thin dirty toes with creased gray toenails. Her thoughts ran...
"He was a baby once. He must have been sweet and clean and his mother kissed his little pink toes. Maybe when it thundered at night she came to his crib and fixed his blanket better and whispered that he mustn't be afraid, that his mother was there. Then she picked him up and put her cheek on his head and said that he was her own sweet baby...Then he was a young man, strong and happy. When he walked down the street, the girls smiled and turned to watch him. He smiled back and maybe he winked at the prettiest one. I guess he must have married and had children and they thought he was the most wonderful papa in the world the way he worked hard and bought them toys for Christmas. Now his children are getting old too, like him, and they have children and nobody wants the old man anymore and they are waiting for him to die. But he don't want to die. He wants to keep on living even though he's so old and there's nothing to be happy about anymore."
"He was a baby once. He must have been sweet and clean and his mother kissed his little pink toes. Maybe when it thundered at night she came to his crib and fixed his blanket better and whispered that he mustn't be afraid, that his mother was there. Then she picked him up and put her cheek on his head and said that he was her own sweet baby...Then he was a young man, strong and happy. When he walked down the street, the girls smiled and turned to watch him. He smiled back and maybe he winked at the prettiest one. I guess he must have married and had children and they thought he was the most wonderful papa in the world the way he worked hard and bought them toys for Christmas. Now his children are getting old too, like him, and they have children and nobody wants the old man anymore and they are waiting for him to die. But he don't want to die. He wants to keep on living even though he's so old and there's nothing to be happy about anymore."
The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has stepped up as the first to put its money where its mouth is over the Harlequin Horizons/DellArte Press debacle with the following announcement. It's interesting to note that MWA's actions, quite appropriately, offer protection from consequence to Harlequin authors who signed contracts before this nonsense began.
MWA Delists Harlequin
The Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove Harlequin and all of its imprints from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately. We did not take this action lightly. We did it because Harlequin remains in violation of our rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.
What does this mean for current and future MWA members?
Any author who signs with Harlequin or any of its imprints from this date onward may not use their Harlequin books as the basis for active status membership nor will such books be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration. However books published by Harlequin under contracts signed before December 2, 2009 may still be the basis for Active Status membership and will still be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration.
Although Harlequin no longer offers its eHarlequin Critique Service and has changed the name of its pay-to-publish service, Harlequin still remains in violation of MWA rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.
MWA does not object to Harlequin operating a pay-to-publish program or other for-pay services. The problem is HOW those pay-to-publish programs and other for-pay services are integrated into Harlequin’s traditional publishing business. MWA’s rules for publishers state:
"The publisher, within the past five years, may not have charged a fee to consider, read, submit, or comment on manuscripts; nor may the publisher, or any of the executives or editors under its employ, have offered authors self-publishing services, literary representation, paid editorial services, or paid promotional services.
If the publisher is affiliated with an entity that provides self-publishing, for-pay editorial services, or for-pay promotional services, the entities must be wholly separate and isolated from the publishing entity. They must not share employees, manuscripts, or authors or interact in any way. For example, the publishing entity must not refer authors to any of the for-pay entities nor give preferential treatment to manuscripts submitted that were edited, published, or promoted by the for-pay entity.
To avoid misleading authors, mentions and/or advertisements for the for-pay entities shall not be included with information on manuscript submission to the publishing company. Advertising by the publisher’s for-pay editorial, self-publishing or promotional services, whether affiliated with the publisher or not, must include a disclaimer that it is advertising and that use of those services offered by an affiliate of the publisher will not affect consideration of manuscripts submitted for publication."
Harlequin’s Publisher and CEO Donna Hayes responded to our November 9 letter, and a follow up that we sent on November 30. In her response, which we have posted on the MWA website, Ms. Hayes states that Harlequin intends as standard practice to steer the authors that it rejects from its traditional publishing imprints to DellArte and its other affiliated, for-pay services. In addition, Harlequin mentions on the DellArte site that editors from its traditional publishing imprints will be monitoring DellArte titles for possible acquisition. It is this sort of integration that violates MWA rules.
MWA has a long-standing regard for the Harlequin publishing house and hopes that our continuing conversations will result in a change in their policies and the reinstatement of the Harlequin imprints to our approved list of publishers.
Frankie Y. Bailey,
Executive Vice President, MWA
It's a ballsy move, taking the delisting of Harlequin from threat to reality, and I applaud MWA for it. However, it remains to be seen whether Harlequin cares as much about MWA's actions as it does about what the Romance Writers of America (RWA) will do. If RWA follows in MWA's footsteps and delists Harlequin too, that may swing a much heavier hammer.
Frankly, I'm a little surprised that Harlequin hasn't shut the whole thing down already. But then again, it's not the higher-ups, the ones who actually made this boneheaded decision, who have to field the calls and emails from angry Harlequin authors--it's the editors, the ones who had nothing to do with it. Corporate remains blissfully out of touch with the reality on the ground, while the people who don't even like this program have to take the bullets. If that doesn't end soon, corporate may have a full-fledged mutiny on its hands.
MWA Delists Harlequin
The Board of Mystery Writers of America voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove Harlequin and all of its imprints from our list of Approved Publishers, effective immediately. We did not take this action lightly. We did it because Harlequin remains in violation of our rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.
What does this mean for current and future MWA members?
Any author who signs with Harlequin or any of its imprints from this date onward may not use their Harlequin books as the basis for active status membership nor will such books be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration. However books published by Harlequin under contracts signed before December 2, 2009 may still be the basis for Active Status membership and will still be eligible for Edgar® Award consideration.
Although Harlequin no longer offers its eHarlequin Critique Service and has changed the name of its pay-to-publish service, Harlequin still remains in violation of MWA rules regarding the relationship between a traditional publisher and its various for-pay services.
MWA does not object to Harlequin operating a pay-to-publish program or other for-pay services. The problem is HOW those pay-to-publish programs and other for-pay services are integrated into Harlequin’s traditional publishing business. MWA’s rules for publishers state:
"The publisher, within the past five years, may not have charged a fee to consider, read, submit, or comment on manuscripts; nor may the publisher, or any of the executives or editors under its employ, have offered authors self-publishing services, literary representation, paid editorial services, or paid promotional services.
If the publisher is affiliated with an entity that provides self-publishing, for-pay editorial services, or for-pay promotional services, the entities must be wholly separate and isolated from the publishing entity. They must not share employees, manuscripts, or authors or interact in any way. For example, the publishing entity must not refer authors to any of the for-pay entities nor give preferential treatment to manuscripts submitted that were edited, published, or promoted by the for-pay entity.
To avoid misleading authors, mentions and/or advertisements for the for-pay entities shall not be included with information on manuscript submission to the publishing company. Advertising by the publisher’s for-pay editorial, self-publishing or promotional services, whether affiliated with the publisher or not, must include a disclaimer that it is advertising and that use of those services offered by an affiliate of the publisher will not affect consideration of manuscripts submitted for publication."
Harlequin’s Publisher and CEO Donna Hayes responded to our November 9 letter, and a follow up that we sent on November 30. In her response, which we have posted on the MWA website, Ms. Hayes states that Harlequin intends as standard practice to steer the authors that it rejects from its traditional publishing imprints to DellArte and its other affiliated, for-pay services. In addition, Harlequin mentions on the DellArte site that editors from its traditional publishing imprints will be monitoring DellArte titles for possible acquisition. It is this sort of integration that violates MWA rules.
MWA has a long-standing regard for the Harlequin publishing house and hopes that our continuing conversations will result in a change in their policies and the reinstatement of the Harlequin imprints to our approved list of publishers.
Frankie Y. Bailey,
Executive Vice President, MWA
It's a ballsy move, taking the delisting of Harlequin from threat to reality, and I applaud MWA for it. However, it remains to be seen whether Harlequin cares as much about MWA's actions as it does about what the Romance Writers of America (RWA) will do. If RWA follows in MWA's footsteps and delists Harlequin too, that may swing a much heavier hammer.
Frankly, I'm a little surprised that Harlequin hasn't shut the whole thing down already. But then again, it's not the higher-ups, the ones who actually made this boneheaded decision, who have to field the calls and emails from angry Harlequin authors--it's the editors, the ones who had nothing to do with it. Corporate remains blissfully out of touch with the reality on the ground, while the people who don't even like this program have to take the bullets. If that doesn't end soon, corporate may have a full-fledged mutiny on its hands.
A day's work nets me 1,500 new words on Bonnie #3 today, to go with the thousand-plus I've been racking up each day this week. I'm not setting houses afire, but I am building one, slow and steady [along with, y'know, the Other Daily Stuff. In case you thought I was slacking]
Once the framework's set, then I will go back and look over the edits on HARD MAGIC and the final draft of PACK OF LIES and make sure everything's tied up and tidy. I don't really enjoy being this far ahead of publication schedule WRT delivery dates, but the chance to stop and look at all three books as a whole is kinda nice. If nerve-wracking.
Tonight, I am going to kick back with some wine, and the outline for Vineart #3 (to see what has gone terribly off-track and needs to be reworked), and rest up for tomorrow's Big Gig. Will I see you there?
And if not, did you place your order with April? Last chance to get a signed copy of FLESH AND FIRE (or any other book of mine) for someone's holiday present!
[okay, maybe not. There may be Another Chance coming next week. Stay tuned.]
Once the framework's set, then I will go back and look over the edits on HARD MAGIC and the final draft of PACK OF LIES and make sure everything's tied up and tidy. I don't really enjoy being this far ahead of publication schedule WRT delivery dates, but the chance to stop and look at all three books as a whole is kinda nice. If nerve-wracking.
Tonight, I am going to kick back with some wine, and the outline for Vineart #3 (to see what has gone terribly off-track and needs to be reworked), and rest up for tomorrow's Big Gig. Will I see you there?
And if not, did you place your order with April? Last chance to get a signed copy of FLESH AND FIRE (or any other book of mine) for someone's holiday present!
[okay, maybe not. There may be Another Chance coming next week. Stay tuned.]
- Mood:
busy
Did you want a print copy of SHIVERING SANDS before Xmas?
Here’s Lulu’s shipping guide,which helpfully points out the dates you need to order by in order to receive a copy before that hated day.
There is still time.
And once you’ve done that, here’s the storefront for the book.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)This might just be my anger talking, as it usually does, but we'll see if I'm just making something out of nothing.
With recent weather changes I've been having yo-yo type of sinus issues (I mean, really, when we go from sixty degree weather and sunny one day to twenty degrees and snow/flurries and back to fifty with sun, it's bound to mess me up) and with those I haven't been feeling very well at the very least. Which means I don't really have the brain to RP at the moment, coherent sentences and such are far beyond my grasping. That coupled with work makes me just want to sleep or have nice conversation in the chat without having to worry about tags. Everyone else understands this, why don't you?
I tell you simply that I'll get around to tagging it later when I can form coherent sentences, at first you understand and back off. However, when you come back less than thirty minutes later pestering me for a tag, it makes me want to fucking smack you. I told you, I'm not feeling well and thus do not want to make a shitty little tag because of it. Really.
You back off again which thankfully lasts longer than thirty minutes, but less than an hour. And we're back to the same routine. Shit, just... please, just back off and let me feel better. I'm doing this so you have something better to tag to when my brain can form proper words and sentences.
With recent weather changes I've been having yo-yo type of sinus issues (I mean, really, when we go from sixty degree weather and sunny one day to twenty degrees and snow/flurries and back to fifty with sun, it's bound to mess me up) and with those I haven't been feeling very well at the very least. Which means I don't really have the brain to RP at the moment, coherent sentences and such are far beyond my grasping. That coupled with work makes me just want to sleep or have nice conversation in the chat without having to worry about tags. Everyone else understands this, why don't you?
I tell you simply that I'll get around to tagging it later when I can form coherent sentences, at first you understand and back off. However, when you come back less than thirty minutes later pestering me for a tag, it makes me want to fucking smack you. I told you, I'm not feeling well and thus do not want to make a shitty little tag because of it. Really.
You back off again which thankfully lasts longer than thirty minutes, but less than an hour. And we're back to the same routine. Shit, just... please, just back off and let me feel better. I'm doing this so you have something better to tag to when my brain can form proper words and sentences.
anxious- Mattins: A micropodcast of daily readings | booktwo.org
MICROPODCASTING
(tags:podcasting audio net )
Because if I don’t list these, I’m clearly never going to get around to looking at them properly:
("an exploration into the free health clinics of Appalachia")
("For two years, Justina Villanueva has been confined to the dark, moldy basements of New York City’s metal scene. She lives for the stench of tour buses and the aural warfare of death metal festivals. No gig is too small and no band is too loud."
I have a MagCloud RSS feed of new releases going straight to FeedDemon. The above is a topslice of the more interesting-looking stuff I’ve seen pop up there. I will get round to buying most of these before Xmas, with a bit of luck, once I’ve used the Preview function (which is still flaking out in IE8 for me, but working like a dream in Chrome) to flick through them.
It won’t be hard, soon, to regularly curate a list of stuff worth visiting MagCloud for.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)Anyone in this community play Mage: the Awakening and have a copy of the ST screen?
I'd just like to know what stuff is summarized on it, and if it's worth buying for a game. Will it cut down on the book references during game enough?
I'd just like to know what stuff is summarized on it, and if it's worth buying for a game. Will it cut down on the book references during game enough?
I am in a big printing tizzy. This will show a little of how pricing can work, and I will throw it out to the floor for suggestions.
I've had two-colour, one-colour and full colour quotes for Armitage Files. Now, I'm going to be putting up the files themselves for download for purchasers as PDFs, and they will be in colour. The whole book will be about 120 pages. For 120 page book, I could charge between about $22 and $30. I get about 32.8% of the sale price through distribution, so that's between $7.21 and $9.84 margin to pay for printing and production, excluding shipping to Aldo.
Then I have to worry about how many copies I might sell. Stunning has reached 1250+, but it was the first supplement. Shadows has sold 750 so far, but is still going OK. Arkham and Rough are off to a slightly slower start - about 500 each in the first couple of months.
My difficulty is that I would really like to go for two colour (it would have to be 1250 off), but the sensible option would be one colour 1000 off. I could even go for the full bloody glory of Sarah's actual Armitage Files artwork and go for the Ennie-award seeking full colour option - 1250 off.
Quotes are (after a lot of back and forth)
1/1 (monochrome)
1000 units $3.81
1250 units $3.36
2/2 (two colour)
1000 4.93
1250 4.29
4/4 (four colour)
1000 5.63
1250 4.86
These prices, incidentally, aren't as good as I might get elsewhere even by POD, but it's very good quality.
So, what do you think?
I've had two-colour, one-colour and full colour quotes for Armitage Files. Now, I'm going to be putting up the files themselves for download for purchasers as PDFs, and they will be in colour. The whole book will be about 120 pages. For 120 page book, I could charge between about $22 and $30. I get about 32.8% of the sale price through distribution, so that's between $7.21 and $9.84 margin to pay for printing and production, excluding shipping to Aldo.
Then I have to worry about how many copies I might sell. Stunning has reached 1250+, but it was the first supplement. Shadows has sold 750 so far, but is still going OK. Arkham and Rough are off to a slightly slower start - about 500 each in the first couple of months.
My difficulty is that I would really like to go for two colour (it would have to be 1250 off), but the sensible option would be one colour 1000 off. I could even go for the full bloody glory of Sarah's actual Armitage Files artwork and go for the Ennie-award seeking full colour option - 1250 off.
Quotes are (after a lot of back and forth)
1/1 (monochrome)
1000 units $3.81
1250 units $3.36
2/2 (two colour)
1000 4.93
1250 4.29
4/4 (four colour)
1000 5.63
1250 4.86
These prices, incidentally, aren't as good as I might get elsewhere even by POD, but it's very good quality.
So, what do you think?
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