Oh man, that sucks...

I found out this morning that Sci Fiction is going away. There's a little bit of discussion going on at Ellen's thread on the Night Shade Books board, but it's mostly condolences and well wishing.

It's frustrating to see the best market (for both authors and readers) in the field go away. It's more than frustrating, it's maddening. It's irritating. You can write to Sci Fi at feedback@scifi.com and express your feelings about this if you want, but as people point out, it probably won't help anyway. Perhaps Sci Fi doesn't care about the science fiction community--well, it seems pretty obvious that it doesn't care for them--never mind the fact that it's the science fiction commuity that made a Sci Fi Channel and website possible in the first place.

It would appear that good will does not come cheap or free. I'm not surprised. People would rather turn as much profit as possible rather than make sure they make a good product to make life time customers or something that people can tell their friends about.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden makes a good point that telling Sci Fi that you will never visit their site again sends the message that you aren't a good customer for them anyway--and that even if Sci Fiction came back it doesn't mean that you'd visit other parts of the website--but maybe a business needs to hear the truth now and again. How will make itself better if it doesn't hear from its customer what works and what doesn't work?

Sci Fiction worked, most of the rest of the content doesn't. Come on, Mansquito? What kind of crap is that? Do even twelve-year-olds like that garbage?

Unfortunately, this is not about making good product, that's hardly the American way. This is about making money. As much as possible, as quickly as possible, for as long as possible. There's so much out there to compete for people's attention, it's amazing how much of it Sci Fiction was able to capture. You would think that would mean something.

But maybe, as a satellite radio listener, small press reader, cable television (think Food Network and BBC America, not Sci Fi) viewer, I'm not the person they want. I'm the person who adopts to new things quickly and doesn't want the same garbage over and over again. I'll make them work for my attention; I won't blindly follow whatever they do.

When does the time come when people realize you can't keep making crap and shoving it down our throats?

I suppose that time comes when the rest of the world stops swallowing.

Best wishes Ellen. You're too good for the field to not have you.

John Klima
Editor
Electric Velocipede

Issue #9 Reprint

After going to the World Fantasy Convention recently, I've decided to reprint issue #9. There is enough interest in the issue that I think I do a disservice to my readers, potential readers, and authors if I let this issue disappear without more copies being made. I hope to have them made before the end of the year.

I'll post more information about it soon as I decide exactly what I'm doing.

John Klima
Editor
Electric Velocipede

World Fantasy in Four Parts: Part 1

(WARNING: Prodigous name dropping ahead, buckle up)

Thursday, Nov 3

The first day of the convention. Only one problem, I'm at home. I'm unable to get out of class and work obligations, so I'll be heading out tomorrow morning. Zines have been sent to Gavin and are already on sale at the con.

Nonetheless, this is the day that I pack and prepare my materials for the convention. The clothes are easy. I'm there for two days, so there isn't much to pack. A small decision making process on whether to bring dressier clothers for the banquet, and I decide against anything too formal, opting for jeans and a nice shirt.

Oh, and a last-minute decision to leave the laptop at home. It's rather heavy, and I'm not sure that I would really every fire it up and get anything done. Leaves more room for books. I pack PEEPS by Scott Westerfeld, THE SHADOW AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD by Thomas Ligotti, and GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER by Lee Martinez, but I tell myself I won't have time for the books since I have homework to do.

Yeah, right.