| Author | Message | ||
     Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.240.155.122 |
Apologies if this has already been posted -- I scanned the threads list and didn't see it: http://lcrw.net/wordpress/?p=768 Gavin Grant announces there will be no Year's Best Fantasy & Horror this year. It isn't stated outright that there will be no more, period, but it certainly reads that way if you ask me. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 94.194.134.45 |
Damn. I did not expect that. So that means Stephen Jones' potentially precarious Mammoth Book of Best New Horror will be the only annual anthology covering the field (I'm assuming the short-lived Prime volume is no more, seeing as the '07 and '08 volumes never appeared). | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.205.80 |
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Another great series goes to the wall. Buy some books while you still can – another few months and everyone will be pretending books never existed. The infrastructure is crumbling so fast, if you stop to clean your teeth you'll miss the announcement of a bookshop, publisher, book line or publishing project shutting down. We're losing it all very, very fast indeed. And it won't come back. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
Shit, this feels like everything is crumbling around us. Things are getting worse and worse. I suspected BNH was dying, but I though YBF&H was a steady bet. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 94.194.134.45 |
However: http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/ | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
That's much better news. Although I enjoyed the fantasy part of YBF&H, my real love was the horror stories. And it looks like the Night Shade books will be roughly the same, in terms of content. We all need to try to purchase, to extend that 2 year contract. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 99.225.111.224 |
Damn that McMahon, slipping in under the wire! This is really terrible news, but I'm glad Ellen can keep her side going. As Steve suggests, we all ought to buy those NightShade books to keep her in the green | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.254.89 |
Well, it's a shift from mass-market publication to the more stable, smaller-scale world of the specialist press. Without which there wouldn't be a weird fiction genre any more. Let's hope the new series does well and helps to gain Night Shade Books better distribution in the UK. Some positive news then, making me glad I gave up trying to sleep and came back to my computer (intending to lament further). It shows the goodwill and commitment that exists within the genre that the one event followed the other so fast. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
Yeah, the way Ellen's blog was posted - the fact that she says it's not yet set in stone - it looks like it was to quell the clamour of protests and tears. Good luck to her. For us horror readers, it might be a good move in the long run... | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 94.194.134.45 |
Yeah, it's great news about the Nightshade deal, but I for one am going to miss the horror/fantasy mix of the YBF&Hs. I bought the books every year primarily for Datlow's horror selections, but I'd read everything else, too, and discovered some truly wonderful stories and writers I likely wouldn't have come across otherwise. And those discoveries lead to others, and so on, and so on ... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.219.31 |
Good point, Alan. Nothing can stop this being a sad start to the publishing year. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
This is shite news. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.127.253 |
It certainly isn't great. I'll make sure that I get the Night Shade books. Like Joel said - keep supporting the small presses. I bought some as Christmas presents and will do so again for birthday presents this year. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.185.235 |
I agree, Ally and Joel - when I buy a small press book, I usually buy a copy for myself and another one or two for friends, especially the anthologies (more chance of there being something they'll like). I can't buy as much as I used to these days, but I try... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
A mass market YBF&H at least allowed us to pretend that lots of people were reading it. With a small press version, we'll know that only a couple of hundred people bought the thing...  | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
NightShade though isn't a small press like many of them. They print in high numbers. I'd call them a "medium press" | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Yes, but it'll now be twice the price of the old YBF&H (which was easily available in the UK in a sensibly priced paperback edition). | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Sheet. That's bad news. I liked the fantasy content a lot; probably more so than the horror, if I'm honest, because it's so hard to find the good fantasy stuff. It's that Zed's fault, antho-killer, he is.  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
>>NightShade though isn't a small press like many of them. They print in high numbers. I'd call them a "medium press" I think they're technically Indie press, aren't they? very tricky to judge. Small Press, Indie Press . . . | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
I only ever read the horror stuff in YBF&H...  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Tony's just got his first Honourable Mention as well. we can blame him too. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Aye: that sodding antho killer!  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Question: Why do I cringe when I see the YBF bit? Answer: Because my mind reads it as You've Been Framed. Now that's {horror} for you. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
The italics didn't work, perhaps proving it's not horror. You need italics to write HORROR. Some would say. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
I would imagine the book will be a trade paperback, so the price might not be too steep. They won't do a limited, or anything hc that would increase the price. I imagine they'll aim for volume sales, over anything else. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.194.114 |
Yeah, I remember that "reading" craze of the 20th century. And tamagotchi. And variety stage acts. Still, there's good stuff coming along, newer artforms. 3D films are the next big thing. Sonic sculpture. Street art. It's good, it's evolution. The only thing that's wrong with any of the big changes happening in the world is their pace. Chuck the books, lads. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.209.9 |
Remind me to kill you, Proto. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
 Joel - my oldest lad (22 - my wifes, really, rather than mine) says he prefers books to metallic gizmos, if it means anything. He says they just feel right. Today my youngest was off school. Been sitting round the house listening to the radio, radio 7. He reallly enjoyed it, even the old stuff, and especially Ricky Tomlinsons lovely, warm memoirs of his childhood. Caught my son laughing aloud at one point. It stuck in my mind that this was DAB radio passing on a book written by a guy who was once a kid like my son but years and years ago. It suddenly all felt like some beautiful loop wherein all that mattered was this story being conveyed. Communication, I realised suddenly, is the thing, not the vessel it travels through. I do, however, agree with you and Proto both. Utterly. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.225.195 |
Nah, books ain't going nowhere - don't worry Joel. This is more about the constant passing of all temporal things: all things in the specific fade, though in the general they persist. Someday, there will be many, many more books than there are at this moment, but no Joel around to read them anyway... and so it goes.... | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 89.19.80.141 |
Kill me, Joel. I hope you can hear me using your ear trumpet. Oops, you dropped your snuff box. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Craig - I agree, mate. It's worrying, but I think books are here to stay. Chaps - I don't know why some of you don't pool brain power and resources and start your own anthology, or even your own publishing house. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.136.36 |
Well, Gary already has both. And Zed has edited an anthology. The rest of us value our sanity too much to start that kind of thing. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Joel - morning skipper. Shame. There's a lot of talent on this board. I say skipper on account of how quick your punning wit is this time of the morning. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
Joel - do you know how nicely you come across? You could really have flipped over Protos post like so many would. You can snap sometimes but you never seem to harbour grudges, or seem inflexible or fixed in your views. I really admire you for it, you know. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
Thing is, if we all lived in the same town I think we would get publishing and stuff. It'd be lovely. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
Night Shade is a serious deal -- they've moved into mass market paperbacks and their Living Dead antho has sold in the tens of thousands of copies. So this won't be a question of producing a few hundred books. Judging from NS's product line, I suspect their year's best horror price point will be on par with what St Martin's charged. I'm bummed to lose the Link/Grant content, but this won't harm Datlow's yearly horror selections a whit -- and may even be a healthy change over the long run. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Laird- certainly hope you're right. I couldn't believe the news when I first heard. But it's good that the horror section, at least, has been taken up, and Night Shade's output has always been impressive. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Thanks for that info, Laird - very reassuring. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
Zed & Simon -- glad to help. I was sick about the news until I saw Ellen had landed a deal with NS. I quieted down as if someone had handed me a pacifier soaked in whiskey. They have a great passion for horror as I can personally attest. The fact Ellen was given a two year contract out of the gate (vs her year to year deal with SM) is an excellent sign. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Love the image of a whisky-soaked pacifier, Laird- Jack D, Bushmills or Scottish single malt? The two year contract's a good sign as well- I can see why you say it could even work out for the best. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
Maker's Mark, JD. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.199.201 |
"Joel - do you know how nicely you come across?" Nice post, Tony. Joel's got a good heart. "You could really have flipped over Protos post like so many would." Really? I'm just saying what Joel's been saying for ages, but putting a positive spin on it. I don't think Joel really wants to believe that the situation is as bad as he says. Books won't go away. They'll survive, much like home-brewing. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
Oh, Simon B.: I read CREEPING & CRAWLING the other day. Black comedy gold. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.23.233.247 |
Proto - I was thinking of some of the old times here, when folk used to blow up a lot more with little prompting. I don't always agree with Joel, you understand, but I do admire him, definitely. | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
I momentarily resented Joel with a white hot passion for the psychic scarring I received from "Scratch." I hurled his book into a wall, then kicked it for good measure. That's a compliment. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.57.22 |
One of my favourite Joel stories is BEYOND THE RIVER from The Lost District. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.199.201 |
I'm great, too, by the way. But really. Home brewing. Writers will all be like that fellow from Reggie Perrin pushing his nettle wine on people. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
I had an idea for a story that was like a latter-day version of Misery in which a writer holds his number one fan captive (well, his only fan, actually) and cuts bits off him if he doesn't pay full attention to the author's reading each evening. Never more timely, eh? | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
We might need a peek in your cellar, Gary. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.198 |
Ask Zed who lives under my apartment. She's Norma Bates and no mistake. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Writers will all be like that fellow from Reggie Perrin pushing his nettle wine on people.  That's such a brilliant (and frighteningly realistic) image, proto. Made me chuckle. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
Oh, I see how it is now. I tell you all not to worry, that Night Shade produces a lot of books, and Ellen's yearly retrospective will be fine and in good hands and you all say I'm a fool. But then Mr Laird "Moneypants" Barron walks in and says the same thing and you're all like, "Ooo, look at 'im. 'E's a bloody marvel, 'e is!" Hurmph!!! See if I share my genius with you all again. Seriously, see! | ||
| Laird Barron (Laird) Username: Laird Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 71.212.78.3 |
Ahh, moneypants. In my youth I often wished for a million bucks taped to a supermodel. In my dotage, I'd settle for a c-note taped to Strantzas.... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
But which would you grab first? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Cheers, Tony. I'm quick-tempered at times but I usually calm down, and only hold grudges where I have actually been hurt. 'Nemo me impune lacessit' isn't just a Poe quote for me, it's a principle of survival. And Proto's comment triggered my irony alarms, which I admit aren't always switched on. The one guaranteed way to make me uncontrollably angry is to parody my voice, attitude, language and ideas in a camp or Gollum-like way. I once got beaten up because I lashed out at someone who was doing that, knowing that he could make chopped liver of me... as was pretty much the outcome. It wasn't courage, it was a conditioned reflex going back to childhood. Hence, for example, my reaction to Albie's 'Hello, I'm Joel Lane...' post. If anyone does that to my face I'll smash them. Unless they are physically weak and puny even by my standards. For the record, I'm sad about the Albie business and would appreciate his return. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.121.214.11 |
Excuse my ignorance but what does Nemo Me Impune Lacessit actually mean? and Decus Et Tutamen for that matter? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
Joel - I'm in touch with him. I'll try my best. I used to lash out at school - I used to go nuts when bullied and end up getting wrong. It felt so fucking unfair. Still happens to kids now. I always tell my kids to bray anyone picking on them; get a punch in before the buggers get their next word out. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.230.104 |
I was semi-serious, you know... I saw BROADCAST NEWS again recently and it gets better, more prescient, each time. We live in a world of William Hurts rather than Albert Brookseses. I gigured out why Herzog annoys me, too. He said once that the world desperately needs new images. I agree, only if those images are expressing new internal truths and ideas. Most of the time, with Herzog, Jodorowsky and even the stills of that new film THE FALL, they feel hollow. Cinema needs the word, the depth and subtlety of thinking that only writing and reading can evoke. But it's going to have to evolve with the visual arts if it's going to survive as popular entertainment. When Speilberg accepted the Irving Thalberg award in 1987 his speech urged us to renew our romance with the word. Few listened, it seemed, but that's the future of popular entertainment -- a marriage of writers and visual artists, female and male energies, thinkers and doers, the deep and the accessible. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
I know you were! I thought your point had um, a point. Funny, but Broadcast News - we need the hurts, don't we? We just thought we didn't need the other guy. Good movie. From writers we need structure and ideas as much as actual words. A film can have power and be silent. Nice thoughts there, btw. (Was just about to say I wished this place were a pub, but I'm not really sure. Would we come up with better stuff in person? Would we DO stuff?) | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 216.232.189.136 |
'No one provokes me with impunity'. You'll remember that when Fortunato asks Montresor what his family motto is, in 'A Cask of Amontillado', it turns out - fittingly - to be Nemo me impune lacessit.
Had to look this one up: it means 'an ornament and a safeguard'. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.235.186 |
lacessere can also mean 'to attack'; I suppose here it amounts to the same thing as 'provoke'. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.10 |
Barbara! Long time no see! Are things OK with you all? | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 216.232.189.136 |
Things are pretty good, Tony. Just back from our annual trip to New York for the Baker Street Irregulars birthday celebrations (the birthday of Holmes, not the BSI, although this was their 75th anniversary). Was able to make it into town in time for the launch of Ellen's antho Poe, in which I have a story; there was a talk about Poe, a reading of 'Cask of Amontillado', and readings by me, Delia Sherman, and John Langan. Also appeared on Jim Freund's 'Hour of the Wolf' radio broadcast on WBAI from 5.00 to 7.00 a.m. on Saturday 10 January, and apparently sounded lucid (despite the fact I'd had no sleep the night before) as I talked about Poe, detective stories, Holmes, ghost stories, Doctor Who, supernatural films, and all manner of other things; plus I read one of my stories. Jim says he'd like to have me back on the show next year if I'm in town, and would also like to arrange for me to take part in the New York Review of Science Fiction reading series he arranges. On the Wednesday night we had our traditional dinner with a few ghost story friends at the Pig and Whistle off Times Square: me, Christopher, Ellen, Stefan Dziemianowicz, Michael Dirda, Peter Straub, Gabriel Mesa, Jason Zerrillo, and Alice Turner. Afterwards all of us except Alice repaired to the Brandy Library for some exceptional single malts and the cheesy puffy things Peter likes so much. And at the BSI black tie dinner on the Friday night I was pleased to find myself sitting beside Michael D. and Neil Gaiman, who was investitured in the BSI (as 'The Devil's Foot') in the same year I was. Robert Downey Jr. was supposed to be there, but decided to go to the Golden Globes instead. Pah. Hollywood types. . . . Now it's back down to earth and back to work; got a lot of projects on the go, so it's going to be a very busy few months here in Ashcroft. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
Is it ever anything but? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.244.175 |
But for my nagging schadenfreude, I'm a perfect angel. And 2009 looks to be a bumper-crop for schadenfreude....  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 212.74.96.200 |
Seems a lot of bookstore chains are making redundancies. The dreaded e-book has been mentioned as the future again. I suppose it is, alas. The reader-machines are rubbish right now, but they'll grow in popularity, like i-pods. I'm hoping osme wise soul will realise they need to smell, , look, and feel like books whose pages you can turn . . . Then I might get one. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 79.187.206.46 |
Nagging schadenfraude is what makes you so loveable, Craig me emotionally charged ice-man cum Scrooge. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 160.6.1.47 |
Has it ever rained in a James Bond film? I don't think so. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.235.186 |
Only in the beginning of THUNDERBALL, when some hoodlums who follow Bond out of the castle to his Aston Martin find themselves caught in a shower emanating from that priceless car's exhaust. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.211.38 |
You see it would mess with his hair and clothes. Can't ever happen. I can see it happening with Daniel Craig, though. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 99.225.111.224 |
I'm pretty sure it rains in Tomorrow Never Dies. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.152.211.38 |
Oh I haven't seen that in years. Do you mean the fight on the submarine? Or does it happen as pathetic fallacy during the sad bit when one the Bond girl with the knobbly knees dies? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.216.241 |
Pathetic fallacies are what the Bond films are all about. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.17.14.1 |
... Craig me emotionally charged ice-man cum Scrooge.... Hey! I'm not an ice-man... I'm not an ice-man! I'M NOT AN ICE-MAN!!! I was screaming that over and over in the street the other day, but people and children and small dogs kept running away from me anyway.... | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.186.192 |
Tony, I often feel that this board is a bit like a cyberpub, with people wandering in at all different hours, sitting down for a drink or two and some discussion on books and films, and just chatting in general (with the occasional squabble thrown in, but no real punch-ups). It's nice knowing this board is here, especially when you're feeling down. (Where's the sentimental emoticon when you need it?) | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.97.15 |
Just been reading comments on another forum about Virgin's plans to ditch horror. If true RD house want to concentrate on non-fiction. Here we go again, celebrity cookbooks etc galore. Memoirs of a "star" who hasn't actually lived beyond 20 yet. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.198.187 |
I feel the same way, Ally. It's a sad state of affairs. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.97.15 |
And...and the stupid little putty man in the hockey mask didn't do them any marketing favours. http://www.virginbooks.com/books.php?rnd=iraKrM6VZpO3m9l8%2BBUo8D477oFgRVIMQorGd SQp4zXoJgMauSiEzKmtUFA8sJ63 | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Does this leave Ramsey, Conrad, Ligotti, Neville etc without a UK mass market publisher again? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.97.15 |
Just isn't right is it. And all the work that Adam put into it too. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 94.194.134.45 |
The Virgin horror line made a very promising start last year, at least in terms of the calibre of their titles. Sales may have been the deciding factor ... Campbell, Williams and Ligotti all have books forthcoming from Virgin. I really hope their '09 titles appear, at the very least. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.166.188.81 |
To quote the title of the forthcoming Ligotti Virgin: "My Work Is Not Yet Done." A communal 'my'. A communal sigh. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
I believe that all the titles they have commissioned and paid for are coming out. It's just that none are planned for 2010. | ||
| Alansjf (Alansjf) Username: Alansjf Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 94.194.134.45 |
"I believe that all the titles they have commissioned and paid for are coming out. It's just that none are planned for 2010." Well that's something, anyway. I don't even want to think about what state the field will be in come 2010 if this downturn continues. Shit, and I was in such a great mood when I woke up this morning ... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.208 |
Hmm... maybe if they gave a little putty man away free with the books, or gave the books 'Asda' covers. I've said before but horror has been absorbed into other areas, like drama and the like. It's almost -sadly - not needed in its proper/traditional form. It's been taken to bits and the bits stolen i.e No Country For Old Men, Spooks, Silent Witness, allsorts of places have horror now whereas they never used to. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.19.103.122 |
'Just been reading comments on another forum about Virgin's plans to ditch horror.' That was quick! And how very depressing that is. What are they looking at- the income from one financial quarter or two like it was mobile telephone sales!?. They need to understand that you have to make some long term investments and try and win a new audience. Christ. But one must commend the editors who I'm sure fought hard to make a push like this. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.161.253.208 |
Virgin's very flighty though. No integrity. Er, that really wasn't meant to be a joke. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.154 |
I think you're (almost) right, Tony. Horror has become an airborne spore. Ballard said something similar: "If science fiction has left the battlefield, it's because it has won." | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.166.188.81 |
Horror has also succeeded, because it has won - made everything a nothingness... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.88.98 |
I think it looks like we have to rethink what we write. Are our themes flexible? Can they be sold? Have we/I the literary skills to go in new directions that still carry elements of the things I love? I was watching Pollyanna the other day and there was a moment, and also a sense of horror all the way through it. Was that me detecting it? Maybe to watch an old world in a film is a sort of horror or even sci-fi because it's as alien a world as anything by Ballard. It seems to touch the same nerves for me. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Instead of agonsing over all this stuff, why not just sit down and write. Develop your art and your vision. See where it takes you. That's what I do. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.166.188.81 |
Right on, Zed! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.88.98 |
Really Zed? I thought you were really full-on horror! The stuff I'm writing now would be tricky to fit on a shelf, I think. It's just my gut always says 'horror', even though there's no horror in my last few pieces at all. Also I'm not agonising, either, really - just remarking on this thread. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.167.124.223 |
'Instead of agonsing over all this stuff, why not just sit down and write. Develop your art and your vision. See where it takes you. That's what I do.' Fine, but some of us are 'just' readers. While I am a fan of lots of the stuff I've read from the talent posting on this board, I find that what we need is 'more readers' not only more writers. We put down our hard earned money to read stuff and support the writers. What puzzles me is that book sales are dropping and dropping and agents are complaining that they are getting more slush submissions- so is everyone trying to write and not bothering to read or to buy books? There is something wrong with that picture. This was not directed at you Zed, but the comment made me think about this. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Really Zed? I thought you were really full-on horror! That's because you never read any of my stuff.  What is "full-on horror"? I write what I write what I write, and it fits into the horror niche. I write McMahon fiction. These days, that usually means ghost stories without ghosts. Or a kick-ass zombie novel that's actually a metaphor for an extra marital affair. Or a philosophical treatise on the nature of death disguised as a ghost novel. I'm currently working on all of these. And more. I just write. is everyone trying to write and not bothering to read or to buy books? It certainly seems that way, Karim. Depressing, isn't it? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a story about a group of people who transform into a house. Is that full-on horror? Labels suck; they don't fit. | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.167.124.223 |
So thats like transformers on lots of powerful acid? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.236.194 |
Zed, it may not be full-on horror, but it has its own subtle terrace. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.17.12.145 |
Zed, it may not be full-on horror, but it has its own subtle terrace. Egad.... Joel, this one, you could have gone AWOL. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.166.188.81 |
I live in a Bungalow House. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.170.88.98 |
Bought the BFS book today. Wow! Seeing your name opposite that of Stephen King just does everything for you, doesn't it? I've written twice as much as I normally would this week and twice as good, if I say so myself. Who said these mentions are useless? | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Steve Jones. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.3.151 |
I know how you feel, Tony... I had a story published in an anthology, that also had one by my nigh-upon-God-at-the-time Ramsey Campbell, and boy, it made me feel extremely proud.... ... and I'll never ever tell which book that was, because my story sucked ass ten times over.... | ||
| Michael_kelly (Michael_kelly) Username: Michael_kelly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 192.206.151.130 |
Of course, Craig, you know we'll have to try and find that book now. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.193.130 |
To the library - the search has begun! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.0.112.152 |
My first published tale was alongside an original from Ray Bradbury. It's been downhill since then: now I have share page-space with the likes of Strantzas. Talk about falling off a mountain and into a bog. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.53.160 |
Just read this on a BFS email. Ellen Datlow. "I am editing the new anthology series Best Horror of the Year (Night Shade Books) and am currently reading for the first volume, which will include all material published in 2009." If Ellen is doing two books does anyone know if she is doing anything with last years submissions? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Bought the BFS book today. Which book is that, Tony? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.53.160 |
S'okay I've found out. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
As far as I'm aware, last year's material will form Vol 1 and this year's will be read for Vol 2. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 99.225.111.224 |
My first published tale was alongside an original from Ray Bradbury. It's been downhill since then: now I have share page-space with the likes of Strantzas. Talk about falling off a mountain and into a bog. Yeah, you're certainly an anchor, weighing me down "has-been". | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.251.92 |
It was back when I was writing under a pseudonym - "S. King," in a little book no one read called DARK FORCES - a poopy little story called "The Mist".... | ||
| Karim Ghahwagi (Karim) Username: Karim Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.19.103.122 |
An article from Time - some pretty scary stuff on the future of publishing: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873122-1,00.html | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.157.92.146 |
It was back when I was writing under a pseudonym - "S. King," in a little book no one read called DARK FORCES - a poopy little story called "The Mist".... Hey Craig - what did you think of the film they made of your story? |