Wiki Wiki Wiki

So I've been working on some wikis lately. One for Electric Velocipede and one for my small press, Spilt Milk Press. You can find them at:

http://electricvelocipede.pbwiki.com

http://spiltmilkpress.pbwiki.com

I will keep the current Electric Velocipede website, but I think the wiki for Spilt Milk Press makes a good website for the press on its own. I need to add some contact information and other stuff, but I think it works nicely as an informational tool. Obviously, both are works in process (yes, I mean process not progress) and look a little rough in places.

Let me know what you think about them.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, wiki, Spilt Milk Press

July Books

Hey, let me know if you think these posts are boring or stupid or worthless. For some reason I feel compelled to post images of the most recent books I've acquired. For example, this photo shows:

PARAGAEA by Chris Roberson, IN THE FOREST OF FORGETTING by Theodora Goss, SKINNYDIPPING IN THE LAKE OF THE DEAD by Alan DeNiro, PRADOR MOON by Neal Asher, DARK MONDAYS by Kage Baker, THE CHAINS THAT YOU REFUSE by Elizabeth Bear, MAUL by Tricia Sullivan, and LAST WEEK'S APOCALYPSE by Douglas Lain.

There's some other books I've gotten recently--like this really cool HP Lovecraft movie book from Night Shade and several volumes of the manga BLEACH--but I don't have pictures of them.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Submission Reminder

Two things:

1) I am closed to submission until Oct 1, 2006. I've tried to mention this everywhere I can, but I am still seeing submissions now and again. This isn't a big problem since I can write back and let people know that I am closed. And I've had a few people who apologized and 'withdrew' their submissions after they submitted when they realized I was closed. That's cool.

2) On second thought, it's one thing really:

I don't know how to get this point across, but I'll try.

WHEN YOU SEND IN A SUBMISSION, INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION IN THE SUBMISSION. E.G., WHEN SENDING IN THE BODY OF AN E-MAIL, TYPE YOUR NAME AND E-MAIL ABOVE THE STORY; WHEN SENDING AS AN ATTACHMENT, TYPE YOUR NAME AND E-MAIL BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF YOUR STORY.

Why am I still seeing stories that do not have contact information for the author as part of the submission?

I'll be checking submissions when they come in. If your submission does not have at least your name and e-mail before your story text, it will be rejected. It will not be sent back to you so you can add your name and e-mail. IT WILL BE REJECTED.

I'm not asking for much. If I like your story, you'd like for me to have a way to contact you, right? So what that I have the e-mail that sent the story to me in the first place. What if my computer crashes? What if my computer gets stolen?

Leaving your name and e-mail off your submission just shows you up as an amateur and as someone who isn't serious about writing.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

My So-Called TV Life

OK, here's one of those...things. Let's see how much time I've wasted watching teleivision. The list is long, but there you go. From Gwenda:

Bold the ones you've seen at least three episodes of, add italics for those you've seen every episode of

24

7th Heaven

Adam-12

Aeon Flux

ALF

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Alias

American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.

America's Next Top Model

Angel

Arrested Development

Babylon 5

Babylon 5: Crusade

Battlestar Galactica (the old one)

Battlestar Galactica (the new one)

Baywatch

Beavis & Butthead

Beverly Hills 90210

Bewitched

Bonanza

Bones

Bosom Buddies

Boston Legal

Boy Meets World

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Bug Juice

Chappelle's Show

Charlie's Angels

Charmed

Cheers

Columbo

Commander in Chief

Coupling (the UK version and the dreadful US version)

Cowboy Bebop

Crossing Jordan

CSI

CSI: Miami

CSI: NY

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dancing with the Stars

Danny Phantom

Dark Angel

Dark Skies

Davinci's Inquest

Dawson's Creek

Dead Like Me

Deadliest Catch

Deadwood

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Designing Women

Desperate Housewives

Dharma & Greg

Different Strokes

Doctor Who (only the old one so far)

Dragnet

Due South

Earth 2

Emergency!

Entourage

ER (I've seen about 90% of them)

Everwood

Everybody Loves Raymond

Facts of Life

Family Guy

Family Ties

Farscape

Fawlty Towers

Felicity

Firefly

Frasier

Friends

Futurama

Get Smart

Gilligan's Island

Gilmore Girls

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Green Wing

Grey's Anatomy

Growing Pains

Gunsmoke

Hannah Montana

Happy Days

Hogan's Heroes

Home Improvement

Homicide: Life on the Street

House

I Dream of Jeannie

I Love Lucy

Invader Zim

Invasion

Hell's Kitchen

JAG

Jackass

Joey

John Doe

LA Law

Laverne and Shirley

Little House on the Prairie

Lizzie McGuire

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Lost

Lost in Space

Love, American Style

MASH

MacGyver

Malcolm in the Middle

Married... With Children

Melrose Place

Miami Vice

Mission: Impossible

Monk

Moonlighting

Mork & Mindy

Murphy Brown

My Life as a Dog

My Three Sons

My Two Dads

NCIS

Nip/Tuck

Northern Exposure

Numb3rs

One Tree Hill

Oz

Perry Mason

Picket Fences

Pokemon

Power Rangers

Prison Break

Profiler

Project Runway

Psyche

Quantum Leap

Queer As Folk (US)

Queer as Folk (British)

ReGenesis

Remington Steele

Rescue Me

Road Rules

ROME

Roseanne

Roswell

Saved by the Bell

Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

Scrubs

Seinfeld

Sex and the City

Six Feet Under

Slings and Arrows

Smallville

So Weird

South Park

Spaced

Spongebob Squarepants

Sports Night

Star Trek

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Enterprise

Stargate Atlantis

Stargate SG-1

Superman

Supernatural

Surface

Survivor

Taxi

Teen Titans

That 70's Show

That's So Raven

The 4400

The Addams Family

The Andy Griffith Show

The A-Team

The Avengers

The Beverly Hillbillies

The Brady Bunch

The Cosby Show

The Daily Show

The Dead Zone

The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Flintstones

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The Golden Girls

The Honeymooners

The Jeffersons

The Jetsons

The L Word

The Love Boat

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

The Mighty Boosh

The Monkees

The Munsters

The Mythbusters

The O.C.

The Office (UK)

The Office (US) [this is perhaps my favorite TV show ever, certainly my favorite at the moment]

The Pretender

The Real World

The Shield

The Simpsons

The Six Million Dollar Man

The Sopranos

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

The Twilight Zone

The Waltons

The West Wing

The Wonder Years

The X-Files (I've seen exactly three episodes)

Third Watch

Three's Company

Top Gear

Twin Peaks (one of my favorites ever)

Twitch City

Veronica Mars

Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)

Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)

Will and Grace

Man, I've seen a lot of TV.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Someone Please Buy Me This Book

The new biography on James Tiptree, Jr. is coming out (is already out?) soon, and I want it want it want it.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

John Picacio, Superstar

John Picacio and MonkeyBrain Books have published a coffee-table book of John's work. John does beautiful work, so correspondingly, the book itself is beautiful. For example, here's the cover:



In the introduction, John offers up that one of his early influences were the woodcuts of Gustave Dore. Strangely enough, I have a copy of the 1885 Gustave Dore illustrated Paradise Lost sitting on my shelf. So, I thought I would flip through it and see if I could see any influences. How about this:



Or this one:



Not perfect, but this was just a quick flip through. I'm sure if I had an art background I could pick out salient points of comparison between the two. I can't. The Picacio book is fantastic--Chris and John have outdone themselves in designing and laying out this book--and you should buy one now.

In semi-related news, John Picacio has a blog.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, John Picacio

Talebones

I've been seeing a few blogs here and there post an alarming message. It reads:

Dear Family, Friends, Peers, Acquaintances:

Talebones has been a part of our lives for almost 11 years now. We have enjoyed every minute of putting all 33 issues together for our readers. It has truly been a labor of love. Most of the time that labor has cost us money, and now, because the amount of money we can put into the magazine has dwindled and, for whatever reason, subscriptions and renewals have not been as strong as we had hoped over the past year, we figure we may have to close down the magazine.

A couple of days ago, it was actually a final decision. “That’s it, there’s no way can we keep going.” There were tears. A few VIPs we mentioned it to asked us to reconsider. So we took a step back and decided: We will issue renewal notices as usual, but put an extra strong plea in there about this. And then we will send a more detailed email to everyone in our email address book who might have an interest. Based on what renewals come in over the next month, based on the response to this email, we will see if Talebones can continue on past 2006. Issue #33 is already in its final preparation stage. With our decision to make this final stab at keeping things going came the decision to at least have an issue #34, to be published in November of December. We will make a determination then if it is to be the last or not.

If you’ve subscribed to our magazine before, if you’ve never subscribed, but maybe sent us stories (or had stories published by us), or have wished us well with our little venture, we hope you’ll consider helping out. (We didn’t go through our files to know which of you are current subscribers and pull you off this email list, so forgive us if you’re already subscribers in good standing. If nothing else, we wanted you to know what was up.) At this point, even a single issue copy of our upcoming issue #33 will help. (We’ve put the order form/info up on our website early.) We have Paypal ready to go if you’d like to go that route. Or you can send money order or check payable to Talebones to our physical address at 5203 Quincy Ave SE; Auburn, WA 98092. Or you can ignore this, delete this, or, do whatever you like. It won’t change the way we feel about ANY of you. We just thought we’d do something we’ve never done in over a decade of publishing the magazine: beg!

That’s our sermon. Thanks for your support. Regardless of what happens to the magazine, never fear: Talebones and Fairwood Press will continue to have a presence in the SF world.

Patrick & Honna Swenson
--
Talebones Magazine
Fairwood Press, Inc
http://www.talebones.com
http://www.fairwoodpress.com

I've subscribed to Talebones in the past, and I've just resubscribed. This is a great magazine. I'd hate to see it disappear while I sit here and feel like I'm part of a small-press revolution. I suppose revolutions are supposed to have casualities, but not this time.

Patrick and Honna have put out a consistency great magazine time and time again. On top of that, they're really great people. Go to their website and see the kinds of writers they've published. If you read this blog, and you like Electric Velocipede, know that Talebones is the type of publication that inspired me when I started.

Don't let it disappear.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Art Department

Look, lots of people are going to be talking about this in a day or two. Irene Gallo, the insanely talented art director for Tor Books (if you like any cover from Tor, it's because Irene put it together; if you don't like a cover from Tor, it's because it doesn't fit your tastes), has a blog now.

One of her first posts is for aspiring artists. If you're thinking of doing art, go read it. Beyond the gems of advice that Irene gives like:

Remember that the day you graduate, artists like Donato Giancola, Todd Lockwood, Jon Foster are your competition.

and:

There are only a few artists who are willing to include more than one or two figures in a painting. If you can handle a crowd scene, it can go a long way to separating you from your competition.

you also need to keep in mind that Tor publishes several hundred books a year. More science fiction and fantasy books than anyone else. Than the next three or four biggest put together. Irene decides who does the artwork for those covers. If you don't listen to her, you've just made your market that much smaller.

She's been at Tor for at least 12 years (I think I met Irene in New Orleans shortly after she started working for Tor) and therefore has a lot of experience. If you think she's all wet with her advice, stop painting.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, Irene Gallo

Readercon Report

In which I drop names like [insert your own clever metaphor here]

I was at Readercon this last weekend. I love Readercon, love its focus on books, writing, and reading. That's opposed to focusing on movies, television, and other media outlets. (you see, I'm just not that big a fan of science fiction media stuff) There's always a lot of great authors there, a phenomenal dealer's room, and interesting panels.

Plus China Mieville was the guest of honor. What more could you want?

Quick sum up: I worked the Small Beer Press table for the two days I was there. That was fun, actually. I was able to sell lots of Electric Velocipedes while there. I was in the bar (Bill Shunn and I were trying to work our way south through Scotland--started with Glenmorangie, then wanted to go to Oban but they were out, so we went to Macallen, and other things--but then I had a Gravedigger--Jack Daniel's & Jaegermeister--and things went awry from there). That's what I did.

It was nice to meet: some people for the first time: China Mieville, John Scalzi, Jim Munroe, Paul Tremblay, Sonya Taaffe, Tempest Bradford, Helen Pilinovsky, Hanna Bowen, John Kressel, and I'm sure many others; people I haven't spent nearly enough time with: Sean Wallace, Sandra MacDonald, Kristen Livdahl, Alan DeNiro, Christopher Barzak, Deanna Hoak (happy birthday officially), Mary Turzillo, Paul Levinson, Neil Clarke, and, again, I'm sure many others; and lots of people who I see fairly often, but still not enough: Rick Bowes, Gavin Grant, Kelly Link, Jeffrey Ford, Bill Shunn, Nick Mamatas, Ernest Lilley, Ian Randall Strock, Shane Tourtellotte, Michael Cisco, Gordon Van Gelder, and many, many more.

If I missed your name, drop me a comment and I'll update this entry with all the missed people.



UPDATE: I'm stealing this photo from Deanna Hoak (that's her in the white pants--who celebrated her 40th birthday at Readercon. 40th? She looks fantastic! I'm 'towering' over John Scalzi).

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Non Electric Velocipede Projects

I'm proud to announce the start of a series of chapbooks. The first one will be published this year, and will feature the short fiction of Ezra Pines. Ezra has appeared in a number of issues of Electric Velocipede.

The chapbook will feature illustrations by Mark Rich, an introduction by Hal Duncan, and possibly an afterword by Ezra himself.

Here is the story line-up (final order to be determined):

"The Better Life"
Say...Why are we crying?

"Drawn Straws"
Freezer Burn #9

"Djang"
Xizquil #16

"Mr. Brain and the voting booth from outer space" (w/Rick Bowes)
Tales of the Unanticipated #25

"Mr. Brain and the carpet of snow"
Electric Velocipede #1

"Mr. Brain and the island of lost socks" (w/Rick Bowes)
Electric Velocipede #2

"Mr. Brain and the mystery of the passionate tree" (online only)
Electric Velocipede

"Maxwell's Letter"
Electric Velocipede #4

"Antevellum"
Previously Unpublished

UPDATE:

"Of Light and Snow"
Previously Unpublished

And there's also word of a started Pines/Bowes collaboration that may make the chapbook, too. However, this is not definite.

END UPDATE

If you've never read Pines before, here are what others have said: Paul Di Filippo called "Mr. Brain and the Island of Lost Socks" the 'undisputed winner' or issue #2; Matthew Cheney called "The Better Life" 'a story that defies summary. Most of the paragraphs could live as little stories on their own, but they do contribute to an overall narrative line, and though I was seldom clear where that narrative line was going or had gone, it created a joyful sense of discombobulation, not a frustrating one.'; Tangent Online was inspired by "Maxwell's Letter" to write 'Mr. Pines has a strong sense for detail as perceived through the eye of his his character.'

This collection is set to be published in the Fall of this year.

John Klima

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, Ezra Pines, Mark Rich, Hal Duncan

Various and Sundry Things

Here are some quick thoughts on some things that have been in my aggregator form numerous people that I felt compelled to add to:

Recently, science fiction witness the sad event of the passing of Jim Baen. Notices from the Science Fiction Book Club and David Drake. I never met Jim, so I have almost no personal asides I can add. I know little about his work, only that he once worked at Tor as an editor, and then spun off to his own company with Tom Doherty's help. Jim seemed to do a lot of interesting things--both in the work that he published and in how he published it--but all the same it was material outside my realm of interest. The little I know about him was always tainted with the personal dissatisfaction with Jim Baen of those telling the tale to me. Whether you liked him or not, Jim did a lot of good work. And like Andy Wheeler, I don't think we need to honor Jim with the best editor Hugo next year. Jim worked for DECADES in which people could have nominated and voted for him for best editor.

Oh I forgot, almost no one that goes to Worldcon nominates or votes for the Hugos; so Jim's had no chance for decades. Never mind that a book editor only one once.

Like Andy Duncan, I'm slightly befuddled by the pronouncements of Gwenda and Jeff VanderMeer about a secret that was not a secret. Apparently, the wildly talented (in my opinion) Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King.

Huh.

My first reaction (after the 'worst kept secret?, well I didn't know' reaction [and I admit, if I was told the secret and then repeatedly admonished not to tell the secret, it would get on my nerves]) is, who cares? What difference does it make who his father is?

But, then I think again. I'll have to make a confession here. Despite everything, Stephen King is probably one of my favorite writers. I'll give most anything he publishes a chance. I'd be beyond thrilled if I ever got the chance to work with him. So, maybe it makes sense that Joe is also a good writer. And maybe it doesn't. More likely, it doesn't. Surely Joe's life (with a father and mother who wrote and published) was filled with the tropes of publishing and filled with ramblings/rantings on what does and does not make good fiction, so who knows?

Then again again, if I saw a book with the blurb 'the son of Stephen King' splashed across the front, I would probably avoid it. Instead, I was able to judge Joe merely on his own merits, and I found that I really liked it. One of my favorite finds last year. Would knowing he was the son of Stephen King tainted my experience? Yeah. I wouldn't have had the experience in the first place. So, in the end, I would have cared had I known before I read Joe, but now that I know, I don't care.

From a LONG post by Hal Duncan (gets you prepped for reading the novel), a post from Critical Mass, and a post from Emerald City, the concept of reviewers being 'paid' for writing good reviews is discussed (specifically that you can't trust the impartiality of reviews with Amazon links since we all make so MUCH money from our Amazon Associates accounts; because you know, people actually click on those links on websites, which is why I'm goldplating my laptop with my AdSense money...).

The two posts also talk about book's pre-pub hype and how very often books don't live up to their hype. Well how could they? How often have friends raved to you about how great a movie is? They go on and on to such a degree that you expect to come out of the film a changed person. Then, when the film is just 'good' (or worse, when it sucks) you hate your friends and their worthless opinions. It's no different with books. They get hyped. This is how publishers sell copies of books. This is how publishers make money. So they can keep publishing books.

Sure, the uber-slick VELLUM ARC was way cool. And created crazy buzz for the book. And caused issue #9 of Electric Velocipede to sell out because Hal hadn't published many places at the time. The good news for Hal (and everyone who bought VELLUM and EV#9 to read [damn collectors!]) is that he backs up the hype. For me (and here I am, being that friend who you'll hate down the road when you don't love the thing in the same way and volume that your friend did), Hal's book was the most exciting and groundbreaking debut I'd read since Clive Barker. There was a lot of hype, but the book fucking rocked.

But, that's pretty rare, I suspect. And I also suspect there are those who read (or tried) Hal's book, and hated it. Or maybe merely didn't like it. It's bound to happen. If we all had the same tastes, we'd only need one author.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, Hal Duncan, Joe Hill, Jeff VanderMeer, Gwenda Bond, Jim Baen

Because I Follow Everyone Else Like Sheep

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
No

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
I don't ride roller coasters (the one time I did, I closed my eyes); I just don't like them. I feel like I'm about to pop out of the seat mechanism like a piece of squeezed ice and shoot across the park.

3. When's the last time you've been sledding?
Had to have been college (so at least 12 years ago) where we used lunch trays to sled down a hill on campus.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
Someone else.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?
Maybe

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
No. I think I can take existing things and do something interesting with them, but I can't come up with an original concept to save my life.

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
If he didn't, no one tried looking for who did do it.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
Both? Jolie if I have to pick.

9. Do you stay friends with your ex's?
It's sad to say, I have one ex. I don't know where she is, but that's probably more apathy than animosity (remember, I moved 1000 miles away from where I grew up and my wife and celebrated our 10th anniversary last month and will celebrate 14 years together this fall)

10. Do you know how to play poker?
Sort of. I know what the cards do and what beats what. I have skill at bluffing and betting.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
Yes.

12. What's your favorite commercial?
I absolutely LOVE commercials. They are my favorite part of television. Hard to pick a favorite when I love so many...right now I'm enjoying the series of Wachovia commercials with all the old bankers who disagree with the 'progressive' ideas of Wachovia.

13. What are you allergic to?
Lots of stuff. Cats, birds, dogs, rabbits, trees, grass, ragweed, and on and on.

14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?
No. Something that a lot of people probably don't know about me is that I am a stickler for rules. I will follow them to my detriment. For example, when we moved recently, I spent half the move only walking ont he sidewalk--which lengthened the walk I was taking with heavy boxes--because it didn't occur ot my rule-oriented brain to walk on the grass.

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
No.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Neither. Baseball is a pox on sports. I am glad that Boston won the World Series so they can stop belly aching.

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
Yes. Last time was after an evening of fondue. I'm really bad. I almost ran over a six-year-old, but he skated out of my way.

18. How often do you remember your dreams?
Rarely. It's for the best.

19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
It happens a couple of times a year. I can't remember exactly what the last one was caused by.

20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?
The better question is, are there five songs by the Beatles I can't name?
Yellow Submarine
Rocky Raccoon
Help!
Can't Buy Me Love
Helter Skelter

21. What's the one thing on your mind now?
Peanuts.

22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass barbie is?
Nope

23. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Yes

24. What cell service do you use?
Sprint. It's all right.

25. Do you like Sushi?
Yes

26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?
Probably. If I've avoided it, how would I know?

27. What do you wear to bed?
Shorts and a t-shirt. (part of me wants to write 'nothing' but who wants to visualize that?)

28. Been caught stealing?
Nope

29. what shoe size do you have?
13

30. Do you truly hate anyone?
Other than Paris Hilton?

31. Classic Rock or Rap?
Depends on the mood. Music has to match the atmosphere. Truth be told, a lot of my favorite bands from my teen years are now classic rock, so thanks for making me feel old.

32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
Nicole Kidman

33. Favorite Song?
These are the type of questions I can almost never answer. Favorite song would be so transient for me; it would be my favorite track on whatever I was listening to, but if you're going to force me to pick, here's two: "Sex Machine" or "Sex Bomb" you pick.

34. Have you sung in front of the mirror?
Yes

35. What food do you find disgusting?
Goat. Yes, I've eaten goat.

36. Do you sing in the shower?
No

37. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours"?
No

38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
All the time. And to their faces.

39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
Yes

40. Have you ever been punched in the face?
Not intentionally.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede