Just When You Least Expect It

The finished zine and chapbook were mailed back to me on Thursday of last week. Come Friday, UPS brings this to my door:

Mystery Boxes

I wonder what could be inside them? Well, in the biggest box, I find this:


Mass quantities of Electric Velocipede #11; cover copyright Thom Davidsohn

And in the other two boxes:


the Ezra Pines chapbook (it's so green!) Cover artwork copyright Mark Rich

So I'll have them at World Fantasy and start shipping out copies early November. If you don't have yours, you can buy them today.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Many People Heart EV

The great and wonderful Andy Wheeler (Science Fiction Book Club editor, World Fantasy award judge, and all-around purveyor of good taste) posted a list of his favorite fantasy short fiction of 2005, and a story from Electric Velocipede #8 made the cut! Here's what Andy had to say:

"A Cheap and Frugal Fashion," Heather Martin (Electric Velocipede 8) -- My wife has had tightwad tendencies, off-and-on, so this story really spoke to me, and I particularly loved the everyday-ness of it."

The story is rather gruesome, and I went back and forth about acquiring it. In the end, I decided since it stuck with me so well, that I had to publish it.

Also, the ever-lovely Endicott Studio (Terri Windling, Midori Snyder, Helen Pilinovsky, Elizabeth Genco, and Jamie Bluth) gave a shout-out for the most recent issue (#11 which is at the printer). To quote:

"There are just too many good authors in this issue to ignore, and you'll be kicking yourself when it's sold out and you didn't get one."

Very cool! Endicott Studio does some truly amazing and cool stuff and I'm honored to have them recognize what I'm working on.

And of course, the authors from issue #11 give some love too:

Tobias Buckell
Matthew Cheney
Jeffrey Ford
Nicole Kimberling
Jennifer Pelland
Sonya Taaffe
Edd Vick
Marly Youmans

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Pre-World Fantasy Survey

So here's a series of 10 questions for those of you who are preparing for World Fantasy in two short weeks. My answers appear after the questions.

1. On a scale from 1 to 10, how excited are you for the convention? (1 being low, as in you'd rather be audited than go to the convention, and 10 being high, as in you're looking forward to the convention more than getting laid)

2. Did you buy anything special to bring to the convention?

3. How's the hair?

4. Are there any books you're hoping to find at the convention?

5. Are there any authors/editors/artists/etc. that you're hoping to meet at the convention?

6. Are you scared about going to Texas?

6a. If Yes, is it because everything's bigger in Texas?

6b. If No, is it because you're going to Austin?

7. Are you trying to figure out why World Fantasy is in Saratoga next year?

8. On a scale from 1 to 10, how much are you planning on drinking at the convention? (1 being no drinks at all and 10 being slightly more than Nick Cage drinks in Leaving Las Vegas)

9. What panel(s) are you most excited about seeing at the convention? (panels include any programming at the convention)

10. Are there any nominees that you really want to see win? (for current judges, are there any people you want to makehave judge future World Fantasy Awards?)

My answers:

1. I'd say about a 7; I'm excited to go, but now that I have a family, it's tough to spend time apart. At least my mother-in-law is coming to visit so that they're not so alone.

2. Not really buying, but I did make several hundred copies of issue #11 of Electric Velocipede and a similar amount of the Ezra Pines chapbook, The Sense of Falling.

3. Sloppy at the moment. But it'll be cut and spiky by the convention.

4. The Ephemera by Neil Williamson

5. I'm hoping to meet Neal Barrett, Jr.. We've talked online a fair amount over the years, but we've never met face to face. I'd like to meet Joe Hill and I'm hoping to run into China Mieville because I owe him a coffee.

6. No, I've been to Texas before, and it's a great place. Plus, some of my favorite people are from Texas.

7. Yes. Although I always say that's what people were thinking about Madison last year before they went, so I wait with expectation.

8. Hopefully about an 8. :)

9. I always like readings, and Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, and Robert Freeman Wexler are all reading and all fun to listen to. In fact, Hal and Jeff are back to back on Friday at 5, so that'll be a fun hour of listening. They should read together. I haven't had much of a chance to look at the other panels yet.

10. I'd love to see Hal win. I'd also love to see Nova Scotia win. I expect to see Joe Hill win at least one award.

How about the rest of you?

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

To Do List Before World Fantasy

UPDATE: I got everything done on time, so I modified the date on this post to be Oct 22 so that it would stop appearing at the top of the blog. Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope that I receive material back from the printer in time. I still need to 'assemble' the eight-page, one-sheet-of-paper zines, but that won't take long and I have almost two weeks to get that done. See you in Austin!

N.B.: The date on this post is set ahead to just before World Fantasy so that it's at the top until the convention starts.

As promised, here is my to-do list before World Fantasy (Nov 2 - 5). Let's see if I can get everything done. And of course, please let me know if you think there's something I've overlooked (I have a convention membership, plane tickets, and hotel reservations, and time off from work, so that stuff's taken care of).

• Incorporate author edits into Ezra Pines chapbook
• proofread Pines chapbook
• Add chapbook and issue #11 to website for pre-ordering
• Let people know about pre-orders: Blog, Myspace, Night Shade Discussion Board, other places?
• For issue #11: contributing authors, others?
• For chapbook: Hal Duncan (introduction), Mark Rich (illustrations), Ezra, others?
• Prep issue #10 to be moved to Back Issues section of website
• Prep issue #11 to be current issue on website:
• Table of Contents
• Fiction
• Poetry
• Redo home page to reflect pre-ordering and note about World Fantasy schedule
• Get edits (from authors who've responded) into issue #11
• Check in with authors whose edits are still missing for issue #11
• Get all author edits into issue #11
• Flow new ads into issue #11
• Proofread issue #11
• Scan Mark Rich illustrations from originals
• Flow Mark Rich illustrations in to Pines chapbook
• Create final issue #11 document in InDesign
• Create final chapbook document in InDesign
• Make one-sheet zine for issue #11 with order form
• Make one-sheet zine for chapbook with order form
• Update EV wiki with new info about issue #11
• Update Spilt Milk Press wiki with new info about chapbook
• Create other giveaways for issue #11/chapbook to be used at World Fantasy? (Scrapped because I'm not insane)
• Send bookletized issue #11 and chapbook to printer

Good luck to me!

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Soundtrack to My Life

From Bill Shunn and Tim Pratt.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...


I don't have a lot of digital files (ok, almost 400, that's more than I thought) but it's a weird mix. It's a bunch of albums I've borrowed from the library that I don't own, so this list will be made up of music that is not in my CD rack (of a couple hundred CDs). And I have no mp3 player, so this is through Windows Media Player.


Opening Credits
"Unchained" by Johnny Cash

Waking Up
"Days Like This" by Van Morrison

First Day at School
"Moose the Mooche" by Charlie Parker

Falling in Love
"Stormy Weather" by Art Tatum

Fight Song
"Greystone Chapel" by Johnny Cash

Breaking Up
"The Show Must Go On" by Queen

Prom
"Bleeders" by The Wallflowers

Life Is Good
"Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) [Take D]" by Art Tatum

Mental Breakdown
"Til Death Do Us Part" by Skylar Blue (I don't know this song, I'm not sure why it's in my library...)

Driving
"Muddy Water Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton

Flashback
"We Are the Champions" by Queen

Getting Back Together
"Dear Mr. President" by Pink

Wedding
"You Are Too Beautiful" by Thelonious Monk

Paying the Dues
"White Light" by Gorillaz

Scenes in the Country The Night Before the War
"Thirteen" by Johnny Cash (song written by Glen Danzig)

Final Battle
"Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" by Thelonious Monk (weird to get a repeat on the song, but by a different artist)

Moment of Triumph
"Long Way to Happy" by Pink

Death Scene
"Stupendous" by Charlie Parker

Funeral Song
"Caldonia" by Louis Jorden ('what makes your big head so hard?' LOL)

End Credits
"The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World (if my life was a teen comedy this would be perfect)

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Crass Commercialism

So here's a link to CafePress so you can buy products with the cover of issue #11 on them:

http://www.cafepress.com/evzine11

This is another way-cool Thom Davidsohn cover (see below for image) and some cool products!



Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Gotta Love the Internet

From Toby Buckell: The Family Circus Nietzche mash-up generator! What fun!

He who is punished is never he who performed the deed. He is always the scapegoat.
Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Issue #11 and Ezra Pines Chapbook Pre-order!

Both issue #11 and the Ezra Pines chapbook are available for pre-order on the shopping page! Woo-hoo! Cover art on both pieces will go up shortly. Issue #11 features stories and poems from Tobias Buckell, Scott William Carter, Matthew Cheney, Jeffrey Ford, Nikki Kimberling, Jennifer Pelland, John B. Rosenman, Christina Sng, Sonya Taaffe, Steve Rasnic Tem, Mary A. Turzillo, Catherynne M. Valente, Edd Vick, Liz Williams, and Marly Youmans. Whew!

The Ezra Pines chapbook, "The Sense of Falling," features 10 previously published stories, illustrations from Mark Rich, and one brand-new story, "Antevellum," a response to Hal Duncan's excellent novel, Vellum. Mr. Duncan himself provides an introduction to the chapbook.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Podcast

UPDATE: This relates to a previous post where I asked for help on creating a podcast.

In my other life, I do stuff like this. My first ever podcast. For now you can access it at:

http://www.slj.com/podcasts

I don't know how long the podcast will stay up there, but go listen to me blather on about Library Thing and how I'm using it at my library. You can also see this cheesy picture of me:




Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Meme Me!

UPDATED. See below for new text.

OK, so after a lack of posting, I do a meme. Sorry about that. Later I'll post the list of things I wish to accomplish before World Fantasy that has me running about in a tither. (did that even make sense?)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 37 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

There are 4,923,514 people in the U.S. with the first name John
2nd most popular first name.
100 percent of people with the first name John are male.

There are 2,250 people in the U.S. with the last name Klima.
3600th most popular last name. (tied with 274 other last names)

I think it's interesting to see how common my first name is and how uncommon my last name is. Many people will recognize my last name, as it's a word in many European languages (klima or clima = climate). My grandmother always told the story that our last name used to be Von Klimaczech, which is kind of cool since the 'von' usually indicates some type of royalty or nobility. My own take on this is that a relative misunderstood the question of 'What is your name?' as 'Where are you from?' and replied: 'Von klima Czech' which would translate to 'From the area named Czechoslovakia,' which is where my family is from. But who knows for sure?

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Grrrr

The ESC key on my laptop just broke. Well, the little plastic cover (I guess the key itself?) just popped off its underlying connection.

Is this something that can be repaired or does the whole keyboard need to be fixed? It's only been about six months since I bought this laptop, so I should be under some sort of warranty still; I just don't relish the thought of sending the laptop away somewhere for who knows how long.

It'll have to wait until after World Fantasy regardless, I have too much to do between now and then.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Manuscript Delivered

I've sent the manuscript for Logorrhea off to my editor in New York. Now it will be reviewed and I will hear whether it's accepted or not.

This may come as a surprise to people that the manuscript still needs to be reviewed. In any professional editorial relationship/transaction, even when the book is under contract, the editor still has the option whether to accept the manuscript. It's in your contract. Unless you're the first writer ever to get it stricken from your contract.

Most times, this step is not really a concern. The editor has some sense of the type of book that should be arriving, and this is a final check before the production process starts to make sure that the author hasn't delivered 400 pages of exclamation points.

In my case, even though my editor has a good idea of the writing styles of the authors in the anthology, until the manuscript is delivered, she has no idea what the stories are like. I think they're quite good, but I'm biased.

I'm hoping to hear back this week about the acceptibility of the manuscript. However, in the meantime I have issue #11 of the zine to finalize and an Ezra Pines chapbook to get finished and then both sent to the printer this week or shortly thereafter so I can have finished copies for World Fantasy. (nice long sentence)

I'm also getting a nice amount of submissions coming in since I re-opened. So there's those I need to keep up with, too.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, publishing

If it's October 1

Then I have a mansucript due to Bantam tomorrow. Sorry for the dearth of posts lately, I've been getting the Logorrhea anthology put together (due October 2), editing issue #11 of the zine (due October 9), and getting a chapbook put together (also due October 9); all of which is due tomorrow or shortly thereafter.

I hope to get back to more regular posting after this week.

Oh, and the zine re-opens to submission today.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede