Submissions

Don't forget, Electric Velocipede will be closed to submissions from January 1 to March 31. If you've sent a submission to me since October, I am getting through them and you should hear from me by the end of January. I was planning on reading over my vacation this past week, but the copyedited manuscript for Logorrhea came in and that took up all my time.

Please note I will be moving from NJ to IA in January as well. Please bear with me if it takes me a little longer to get things. There will be a lot on my mind and on my plate to get done; submissions being a part of that.

John Klima
Editor
Electric Velocipede

ACQUIRING: Jay Caselberg & Catherynne M. Valente

We opened presents today so that Christmas Eve we can spend the day packing etc. and making sure we don't forget anything. We fly to AZ on Christmas Day and won't be back until New Year's Day. Posting will be sporadic (i.e., non-existent) and e-mail will have slow responses.

Very excited to add these two books to my collection. The last Jack Stein novel had some crazy stuff happen at the end of it, so I'm interested to see what Jay did with the characters. And I love Catherynne's writing, so I'm sure I'm love this book, too.

Happy holidays everyone! May all the books you want show up on your doorstep!

Collecting: Shane Stevens

I suspect many of you see the title of this entry and it leaves you a little cold. Meaning, you have no idea what, or more precisely who, the title refers to. Some of you, Stephen King fans no doubt, may recognize the name. A few of you (prove me wrong) may have actually read something by the man.

You see, Shane Stevens is one of my most favorite writers. You know, one of the people you consider in the desert island question. I became aware of him through Stephen King's The Dark Half, where King wrote about Stevens in the afterword of his book. At the time, everything of Stevens' was out of print. After The Dark Half, a few books came back into print: By Reason of Insanity, Dead City, and The Anvil Chorus. There were three more Stevens novels (and two as J. W. Rider: Jersey Tomatoes and Hot Tickets) that remained out of print. Strangely enough, the ones that remained out of print were his earliest books: Go Down Dead, Rat Pack, and Way Uptown in Another World.

I say strangely enough because it was these three books that gave Stevens any sort of mark on the literary map early in his career. To be fair, King only mentions By Reason of Insanity and Dead City in the afterword of The Dark Half, so those are most likely the books people asked for. Also, the first books are very different from his subsequent books. Dead City was a gangster novel and By Reason of Insanity was a serial killer book (published before The Silence of the Lambs). Another novel, The Anvil Chorus, is about Nazis.

In stark contrast to those ideas, Stevens' first novel, Go Down Dead, was published in 1966 and it tells the story of King, a teenage gang leader from Harlem. The book is written in King's vernacular and it always reminded me of A Clockwork Orange as the accent/vocabulary of the narrator was at least as important as the events that unfold in the pages. The world King lived in was the world of the people who lived below Central Park; it was not the world of people outside of the city; it was not the world of West Side Story. There's little pretty about King's world. Life is fast, you take what you can get, and you give harder so that there's no one left behind you. It seemed like the book only someone who knew could write. This wasn't the book that someone from the outside could write.

Chester Himes called Stevens the 'Greatest black novelist in Harlem.' The only problem is that Stevens is white. People were startled that a white man could capture the voice of black youth so accurately, that a white man could know--at least so it seemed--the indignant rage of African Americans in 1960s America so intimately. It made the book even more powerful since it was apparent that it wasn't just black people writing about race issues; other people had noticed and had a problem with it, too. This book should have been the beginning of a conflagration of literary prowess that would captivate a world undergoing severe political and social change. Stevens' book carries all the burning rage of its time and it should have exploded with the Civil Rights movement. I think the subsequent books, and their lack of narrative strength, prevented that from happening.

Stevens' second book, Rat Pack was published in the early 1970s, and it was not about Sinatra and his cronies. Stevens again dove back into race inequality for his literary foil and spun a tale of four young black men who go on a night of rape and destruction in New York city. This book is not nearly as powerful as his first. It moves away from the literary chances he took in writing in the vernacular of the black youth and tries to move into more directly speaking about the inequality between races.

I first found By Reason of Insanity and Dead City in the Carroll & Graf reprints in a mall bookstore. I then went searching for other books. This was before the Internet, so searching consisted of checking Books in Print and reading the front matter in books hoping for a list of published works. The best way to find books by an author pre-Internet, however, was to go to used bookstores and scan the shelves. This was how I found Go Down Dead. This book is truly powerful and worth checking out. It's fairly easy to find. It was published originally in hardcover and had two subsequent paperback editions. I own all three. It was in the first paperback edition that I became aware of Rat Pack.

It was not easy to find Rat Pack. There was a biography of Sinatra et al that made Internet searching difficult. Thankfully ABE Books exists so I could create a Want and have ABE search for me. I eventually was able to buy a copy for about $20. For a 75 cent paperback, that's quite the mark-up. I know there are more expensive paperbacks, but this was the most I had ever spent on a used paperback. I was very excited to read the book. This was it. This was the end of Shane Stevens books and then I had read them all. Except that the front of Rat Pack mentioned another book: Way Uptown in Another World. My heart sank. I had never heard of this book and it made my skin crawl thinking of the search that would follow.

When I went to ABE, my worst fears were confirmed. There were copies, but the cheapest was more than $150. Now, this was for a hardcover. Rat Pack hadn't inspired me with enough literary verve to feel that putting down a couple hundred dollars on a book I knew nothing about was worth it. (a side note: spending a couple hundred on a signed Stephen King book I've never read is not the same thing) So I waited and hoped. Years passed and there was nothing but these $200 and $300 editions of the book. Then a few weeks ago I saw a copy for $25. I didn't even think about it, I just ordered it:

 
Way Uptown in Another World (a book I spent more than 10 years searching for an affordable copy) is also about black inequality. The reviews I've read are not good. It seems to lack a story, which is too bad since Stevens can certainly write an entertaining yarn when he wants to. I'm still looking forward to reading it, if for no other reason than I'll have read all of his books.

It was 1989 when I first found out about Shane Stevens. And now, almost twenty years later I've finally got copies of all his books. I'd love to see the first three come back into print, even if after Go Down Dead they're not the strongest books out there. You can see Stevens' narrative power in By Reason of Insanity, a literary precursor to The Silence of the Lambs, The Bone Collector, and American Psycho. I don't know if people feel the verbiage of the first book would scare people away. I do know that if A Clockwork Orange (and yes, I am comparing a book you've never read to one of the literary masterpieces of this last century as equals) can sell tons of copies, Go Down Dead can too. Maybe it just needs to be made into a movie first.

I've heard that Stevens is a pseudonym, but no one seems to know if that's true. I've tried contacting Carroll & Graf, but I never back from them. These are the types of books that I would publish if I could find a way to contact the author. Any ideas?

Some New Ongoing Content

You should start to see three new types of ongoing entries here at the EV Zine Blog. The three columns will be COLLECTING, READING, and ACQUIRING and how those words relate to books.

For example, the COLLECTING entry will talk about an author or a book that I have a special affinity for that drive me to find a particular edition of a book. Or it could be a difficult to find book. Or a book with many many editions that for some reason I was driven to get all its editions.

READING should focus on something I've read lately and my reaction to it. I intend to have this be more a critical analysis of the book rather than just a book report. I've been getting a lot pre-publication things lately, so I may end up writing about things that haven't come out yet.

And finally ACQUIRING will be mentions of books that I've added to my collections. They should primarily be new books (as COLLECTING will focus on older, out-of-print books). I'll try to talk about why I acquired the book and what lead me to put down money for it. Quite frankly, I have the means to obtain a lot of my books gratis so there has to be some reason why I've bought something as opposed to sending out feelers into my publishing contacts. (to be clear, I really appreciate that I know people in publishing who can/are willing to provide me with free books; it's one of the BEST side effects of being in the industry)

I have a few things lined up for the next few days/weeks (I'll be in AZ for the end of the year and may not blog much), but I'd like for this to be something more than just me. It could either be people who are added to the blog to post on their own, or they can send in entries to me and I'll post them. It really depends on the interest.

Also, I've converted to the newer Blogger and I now have labels/tags for my posts. w00t! I'm adding labels to older posts, but it will take some time to catch up.

John Klima
Editor
Electric Velocipede

Our State Fair is Great State Fair

A few weeks ago I blogged about going to IA. Now is the time to discuss that trip in more detail. I was in Davenport IA to interview with Palmer College of Chiropractic for a job in their library. I had interviewed with them in February of this year and at that time they went with another candidate. That candidate left (he lived more than an hour away and was able to find work in his hometown instead) and Palmer recontacted me to see if I was still interested. I was. They flew me out to Davenport for a second time and I went through another round of interviews.

Last week they offered my the position and I accepted. The money is essentially the same that I make here in NJ, but that money goes a lot further in IA than it does in NJ. I'm also only a few hours drive from family rather than a plane trip (my wife's parents are in AZ, so that's still a plane trip) which will be nice, too. I'll be starting in February of next year, almost a full year after I first talked to them.

So what does this mean? Hopefully it doesn't mean anything to those of you who interact with me through this medium. Hopefully it doesn't impact any of the publishing I do (I can't see how it will, I can't be as busy as I am now, especially since I won't be doing a job search any more; those things are time-consuming!). Hopefully it means that I'll actually have some extra time for doing publishing stuff.

I'm coming into NY for the KGB reading in January, so I hope I can meet with some of you then. For the rest of you, we can look for each other at conventions.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Issue #11 Reviews and More!

These reviews come from both professional places and individuals:

Velcro-City

SF Revu

Pam McNew

Tikitu

Brass Goggles

As Sam from SF Revu says: "If you like truly unique stories, than you should subscribe."

Here's the first comments I've seen about the Pines chapbook:

Tikitu again

And finally, the uber talented Electric Velocipede cover artist Thom Davidsohn has a blog. Here he mentions EV.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

John Con 2006

Lots of fun. Attended by the likes of Craig Engler, William Shunn, Laura Chavoen, Juliet Ulman, Jeremy Lassen, Jason Williams, and Jim Minz. Good fun. Except for cutting the tip of my finger off. And the massive, strike that, MASSIVE hangover I had this morning.

See, Scalzi thinks his finger/thumb looks rough; mine is worse (see below):

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

The Year That Was

Since I do everything that Andy Wheeler does, I have to do this.

January:
The Year That Was: 2005

February:
Six more weeks of winter my butt!

March:
Please Re-submit

April:
The Katrina Project

May:
New Review of Issue #9

June:
L-O-G-O-R-R-H-E-A

July:
Because I Follow Everyone Else Like Sheep

August:
Deanna Hoak Hearts Me

September:
A Break in Our Worldcon Posts

October:
If it's October 1

November:
World Fantasy 2006

December:
December 3 - 5

And now a sekrit message: K23, that thing I've been UP to has been delivered. Check with your mail people. hee hee hee

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Clarkesworld Books

The awesome online bookstore Clarkesworld Books is holding a sale right now to help Neil clear out some inventory and earn some good karma points with his wife.

Neil and Clarkesworld have been solid supporters of EV over the years (and are again with a big order of the recent issue and the Pines chapbook) and Neil's a great guy on top of it all. Service is impeccable and quick; you won't be disappointed ordering anything from Clarkesworld Books.

Plus, you might be able to take care of some of your holiday shopping (I know I wouldn't mind if someone got me a complete run of Postscripts magazine) while you're there.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

Feel the Love

Well it's nice to try an open thread and then realize that crickets can't type! Just kidding; it's not something I normally do and it probably wasn't clear that I was looking for people to fill up the comments on my last post. (I'll ignore the possibility that people don't love me, that's just too tragic for words)

Back from Iowa. It was a good trip, but still some time before I can talk about it. I got the Lemony Snicket, Jon Armstrong (more on this in its own post), and the Wexler read. When I tried to delete the Wexler novel off my Palm Pilot, I also deleted the Caselberg story collection, so that it made it difficult to read. I brought the wrong issue #12 folder, so I didn't get that done. And I barely scratched the surface on the Bill Shunn chapbook since I wasn't in Iowa just to read.

So what did everyone else do over the past few days?

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede

December 3 - 5

I will be unreachable for the next couple days. I apologzie if this causes any inconvenience to anyone. I'll be Iowa. More about that when I get back. For my trip, I'm taking the following to read:

THE END by Lemony Snicket
GREY by Jon Armstrong (I'm about 2/3 of the way through this)
THE PAINTING AND THE CITY by Robert Freeman Wexler (about 1/2 way through this)
ANGEL ON THE BEACH by Jay Caselberg (story collection)
Issue #12 Electric Velocipede
UPDATE: William Shunn chapbook

You'll note that fourfive of the things I'm taking to read on my trip are currently unpublished. Such is life.

If you want, play in the comments. Here's a starter:

If you could publish a story collection from anyone, who would it be? - alternately - What novellas/short novels are currently out of print that you would like to see in print?

Have fun!

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede