| Author | Message | ||
     Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Just wondering whether any publisher would like to publish the novella 'Weirdtongue' (by DF Lewis). I've not submitted it anywhere, although various versions have been stored by myself on the internet. If nobody is interested, I shall probably publish it myself through Lulu. Please pass this message on. I shall probably be taking the Lulu option around August 2010 time, if I hear nothing. ============================== Just to confirm 'Weirdmonger' (Prime Books 2003) has now been permanently out of print for some weeks - and I think only expensive editions are now available for purchasing, and not many of those. I have a few I'm giving away over the next few months. The first here: http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=2338.msg15521#msg1552 1 I have about six of them. And that, then, will be it! :| | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.189 |
Me ! Me! Er, has the chance to be published in your latest antho gone, Des? I missed it while I was away, I think...  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
OK, Tony. I'll be pleased if you are able to publish 'Weirdtongue'. If you mean NULL IMMORTALIS (the last Nemonymous) in your second line above, then submissions to it are still being read by me up to 30 April. THE LAST BALCONY (my own massive new collection of my own work) is still on the Ex Occidente Press website as a future book they intend to publish in 2010. It does *not* contain WEIRDTONGUE, but it does contain two shorter novellas called THE APOCRYFAN and YESTERFANG. Next year I intend to get my full scale double novel THE HAWLER / KLAXON CITY published by hook or by crook (i.e. by an independent publisher or by me through Lulu). | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.189 |
Ulf! I meant I'd love you to send me the free book!  I despair over getting published. My stuff fits nowhere. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Tony, your story 'Pebbles' fitted into CERN ZOO.  Thanks, for additional clarification. 'Weirdtongue' now back on market after ten minutes off it. As to free Weirdmonger - you have to follow my links for these as and when they appear (like the one above on this thread) and follow instructions as and when they happen. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I'm sure Des (and everyone else) is fed up of me popping up on his threads saying how much I enjoy his work ... but off I go again, sorry! I'd *love* to see Weirdtongue in print. I must confess, I've read quite a bit of it (about half?) online, but I had to stop. I just can't read anything longer than a very short story online - my eyes hurt.  So, I'll be the first to buy it when it gets into print, so that I can finish it off - whether that's via a publisher or via Lulu. Slight spoilers here but I was really getting into Weirdtongue before my eyes gave up on me. In it, we travel backwards and forwards in time and place in order to meet, and better understand, some of Des' best-loved characters from his short stories - Chelly Mildeyes, Feemy Fitzworth, etc. But it doesn't matter if you haven't read those stories (most of them in Weirdmonger, I think) as Weirdtongue stands alone very nicely indeed. Anyway, please some publisher out there, take a chance with this one - you'll have at least one customer for sure! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Thanks, Caroline! This is my suggested cover for 'Weirdtongue' for any publisher wanting to publish it:  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
That should have been:  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Here's another suggested cover. Of course, any publisher will probably have his own cover designed for it. If anyone wants to consider the text, let me know. And that's me out of here.  | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
The problem is, it's already online for free, and has been for a while, so there isn't much pent-up demand. I'd happily consider brand new material for Theaker's Paperback Library, though, once it's got going. I've just put one of my old novels, Professor Challenger in Space, up on Feedbooks for free, and it's approaching a hundred downloads after only a couple of days. If there's a book that you're happy to give away for free, Feedbooks provides a superb distribution system for it. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
I'm revising it for the book. And taking off any versions of it on-line. It's the new Catcher In The Rye. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Des, I think this shows that blogging your work is a bad move if you want to get any of the same work published. Also, I'm not clear why you're inviting publishers in general to make you an offer. Every publisher is massively overloaded with acceptable submissions and has to prioritise. Why should they prioritise a writer who hasn't approached them with a submission? Publishers may approach writers with enquiries, but they will still have to consider any book a writer offers them as a submission. Those decisions are not easy. If they had to make decisions about books not even submitted to them, they'd go mad. (Actually, that could explain a lot. How long have you been doing this?) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
We all make mistakes. It'll be a Lulu book in August. (I haven't submitted anything to publishers off my own bat since 1999). | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
I have just rewritten WEIRDTONGUE - The Glistenberry Romance - A Visit to the Narrative Hospital ready for book publication and taken it off the internet. It's absolutely amazing! If I say so myself. Full of all my old characters fleshed out. And with some prose images to die for. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Retrocausally, I've just been in touch with the future and discovered it becomes a cult classic and eventually sells millions. I can't see the small print though on who publishes it, me using Lulu or another publisher! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
And here's another possible cover;  | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Heavens, man. Get submitting. You know which publishers to try: you've real-time reviewed their stuff. Good luck! Lulu is the last, last resort. It's authorfail. I mean it. Take your time. Give yourself a year to sell the book. You will succeed. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
I disagree that Lulu is authorfail. As examples, these books are brilliant: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_exaggerated_man__by_terry_grimwood.htm http://stores.lulu.com/Tuerqui http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/mostly_monochrome_stories__by_john_travis.htm | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 62.30.117.235 |
For a book that's already been available online for free, that pretty much all your fans will already have sampled, I don't think Lulu's *such* an awful option. But Joel's right that it's well worth submitting it to a few publishers first. I downloaded it at lunchtime, and I'm really enjoying it - I just don't think I'd be able to sell it! But a publisher with a big stand at FantasyCon might well fancy their chances of shifting a bunch of copies. Eibonvale might be worth a try - tonally, it fits with their other books. Though I guess I kind of advised it, it's a shame that taking it down has left lots of dead links around the internet... | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Thanks, Stephen. That version I've taken down is one I've been rewriting over the last few days. I've just remembered, however, that the whole novella (in its original state) is read aloud by me here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/weirdtongue_read_aloud.htm It will one day be a cult classic and sell millions. But I'll be dead. PS: Now I've made this stand (foolishly, perhaps), I'm duty bound to stand by it, I feel. If nobody asks to publish it by August 2010, I'll publish it myself. With one of the three covers above. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
36,000 words plus, btw | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Just discovered that 4 of those links of the reading aloud (Chapters 3, 12, 13 and 15) don't now work. I've written to the File factory asking for them to be mended. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
They now seem to be working. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.131.109.189 |
Des - sent you the story! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Received it, Tony, thanks. I won't acknolwedge it separately now. Regarding the earlier matter, I've been sleeping on it. You know, I don't think 'Weirdtongue' having been on the Net matters much. When you see the text, I think you will understand what I mean. MY stuff needs percolating in various formats. And as well as reading aloud WEIRDTONGUE at link above, I've read aloud the whole of my other novellas, THE APOCRYFAN and YESTERFANG and the full-scale novels THE HAWLER and KLAXON CITY at link here (bottom of page): http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/summary_of_dfl_readings.htm I am sorry if this thread appears self-serving. I am the first to decry traditions changing as a result of the internet, and, at my age, my first love is hard-copy books, of course. But I don't think we can roll back to that situation. Please treat this thread as another of my experiments, like Nemonymous and Real-Time Reviewing etc., an experiment which may work or may not work. I've looked this morning - and my heart is still in the right place. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Stephen mentions 'my fans'. This made me smile. I'm not sure if any such exist, but there is a coterie of people who have *shown* more interest than others over the years. I recorded some comments by someone about my reading aloud of my novel THE HAWLER here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/alogos_on_the_hawler_reading.htm since reading aloud fiction has come out in this thread. I feel more writers should read aloud their work on the Internet - an inarguable positive use for the Internet? Sorry, for continuing to trail-blaze the dark comet that is DFL on this thread. I'll go back to my real-time reviewing now and reading Nemonymous submissions. NULL IMMORTALIS, by the look of it, is going to be one helluva book of writers' stories. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>Stephen mentions 'my fans'. This made me smile. I'm not sure if any such exist ..<< Well, there's me for a start.  I certainly consider myself to be a DFL fan! So, I'll throw my observations into the debate ... I guess it all depends on what a writer is writing *for*. If they're trying to make a living out of writing, or at least a few quid on the side, then making anything they believe to be saleable available on the internet, self-publishing or giving to non-paying zines probably isn't a good idea. But if the aim is simply writing for enjoyment and wanting to share with readers, regardless of the financial implications, then internet publication and so on is fine. And I echo the fact that publishing via Lulu doesn't mean an author has failed. I've raved here and elsewhere about a writer called Tim Jeffreys who does just that. His stories would be very difficult to place with a publisher as they're quite unique and off-the-wall (like Des' only different). Anyway, I do hope Weirdtongue turns up in paper form by some route. And I confess I haven't even tried Apocryfan or Yesterfang, so I'd love to see them in paper copy too. Which ever way you go with it, Des, don't forget to let me know! Yours sincerely, Your ever faithful fan. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
BTW personally, I like the funfair cover best. | ||
| Alexicon (Alexicon) Username: Alexicon Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 88.106.29.15 |
Mr. L. - just a word from your greatest living fan: I,too,prefer the funfair cover; it fits appropriately with Labour's election slogan. 'A future fair for all'. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Me for the funfair cover too! The composition is perfect with that skull and the bright colours really standing out... love it. Haven't read any of Des's fiction but it sure sounds fun. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Stevie - read it, you'll love it! Have a play on the Weirdmonger's Wheel. It's lots of fun. Alex - you can't be his greatest living fan. I am! I'll fight you to the death over it!  Just realised, my comments above about *why* a writer is writing sounds like I'm having a go at anyone who writes for money. That wasn't what I meant at all - sorry. Of course, if you write for a living (or to earn a little, anyway) you'll also be enjoying your writing and want others to enjoy reading it. I didn't mean it to sound like I thought you were mercenaries just writing for the money! Oh heck, think I'd better go and lie down for a bit - I'm getting myself in a mess here. Hope you all know what I meant anyway.  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
You're right, Caroline. Horses for courses. And I've always made sure I've paid authors who get published in NEMONYMOUS. I'd love to be paid for what I write but I recognise that to get this rarified DFLish stuff out there I need to disseminate it in any way I can. And thanks, everyone, about the funfair cover. That was my least favourite of the three! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
BTW, I took all the photos above. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Then you have as artistic an eye as you have an imagination... I like your approach, Des. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
And I confess I haven't even tried Apocryfan or Yesterfang, so I'd love to see them in paper copy too. ======================= Caroline, I forgot to mention that the above two novellas - if the book's contents go as planned - will be in 'The Last Balcony' (Ex Occidente Press). | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Excellent! Any idea of publication date for The Last Balcony yet, Des? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
No, but the last indication was imminently. I've just deleted THE APOCRYFAN and YESTERFANG from the internet. Not sure anyone had read them! | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 62.254.173.34 |
Go for it, Des! I like all the covers above -- including the one without a name! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Thanks, Mark, and everyone else. Another novella of mine - AGRA ASKA - was actually published in Scorpion Press in 1998 and received rave reviews. This is also available for anyone to re-publish. Long out of print. Details of those reviews etc here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/agra_aska_scorpion_press_1998.htm | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
Emma Darwin has some interesting things to say about sales figures and publishing. Here's the link: | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
Mm. Darwin. Missing link. There's a gag in it somewhere. I've lost the link now. I am the weakest... | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
Anyway, some of the jist of it boiled down to outlets such as Lulu being not so much Joel's 'author failure' as 'profit-driven publisher failure'. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
You mean that its says that Lulu is a vent for a huge pent-up skill base because profit-driven publishers (Small Press or otherwise) are not capable of absorbing this surge of writing talent, especially where the fiction is experimental or needs percolating for whole lifetimes? Volcanic Ash and Major Airlines come to mind. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.72 |
Publishers who once would have carried writers who never broke even on the sales sheet, using the profits from big sellers, no longer seem to exist. I could be wrong. That's why e-publishing is beginning to take off. And of course, ultimately is why only Stephen King and JK Rowling will be able to make a living by writing books... Have you decided on a cover yet, Des? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Well, Mark, assuming no publisher takes up WEIRDTONGUE before August 2010, the Lulu publication is likely to have the 'funfair' cover above. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
I'm planning to dismantle the whole Weirdmonger Wheel in forthcoming weeks... | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
>>I'm planning to dismantle the whole Weirdmonger Wheel in forthcoming weeks...<< That will make me very sad, Des. But the positive aspect to it is that I guess this means you definitely *are* going to start sending your work out to publishers again. In which case, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work in print once again. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Sorry, Caroline. The process has already started. The Wheel has been built up over six years. It'll take less time to take it down! It's had its day, I feel. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.136 |
Des, good luck with finding a new publisher for your work. It saddens me to think of future readers missing out on them. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Ever get the feeling you've just missed out on something really special... | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Thanks, Stevie. I am retaining my collaborations with other writers here: http://www.knibbworld.com/campbell-cgi/discus/show.cgi?tpc=1&post=51421#POST5142 1 and my readings aloud: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/summary_of_dfl_readings.htm and of course my Real-Time Reviews: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/recent_reviews_of_books_by_dfl.htm | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Sorry, that link for 'collaborations' is wrong. It should be: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/dfl_collaborations.htm | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Steve B, thanks, too - 'The Last Balcony' is going to be a massive collection of DFLisms, if the contents go the way of the plan at the moment. So it's only a publisher for 'Weirdtongue' I'm looking for. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
And 'The Hawler' and 'Klaxon City'... | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.145.36.248 |
Thanks for this thread. It's cleared my mind. I have now crystallised all my decisions here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/in_the_cold_light_of_day.htm Hopefully my last word on this matter. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.172.184.103 |
It was hopefully my last word on the matter - but I wanted this thread to be the first to know that a publisher is indeed contracting me to publish WEIRDTONGUE. Watch out for more specific announcements shortly. I am very excited. NULL IMMORTALIS, THE LAST BALCONY, real-time reviewing etc ... turning out to be a good year. I now intend to embark on rewriting my two earlier internet novels THE HAWLER and KLAXON CITY as one novel entitled NEMONYMOUS NIGHT.... You heard it here first. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
That's great news! Congratulations, Des!! | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
That's fantastic news, Des. I'm very much looking forward to all of these - as you can probably guess! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.178.83.106 |
Good news, Des - well done. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.172.184.103 |
Thanks! Be the very first to see this: http://www.inkermenpress.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypa ge.tpl&product_id=27&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=4 As I say, very excited. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.111.142.82 |
Happy for you, Des. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.172.184.103 |
Thanks! Now written two blog posts about these events in the world of DFLery at top of the page here; http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/ | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
Nice one, Des! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.158.58.28 |
I discovered this morning that the yellow building on the cover of the forthcoming book 'Weirdtongue' (below) is being demolished and the 'skull-tongue' has already vanished! Ozymandias comes to mind. Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.  | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
In that case, I'm glad you captured it to preserve it for posterity on the cover of Weirdtongue. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.131.175.165 |
I've posted some photos of the Weirdtongue building (hot off the press - this afternoon). It's changed! http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/new_photos_of_weirdtongue_building.htm | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.141.208.154 |
Des - I think i preferred the former typeface (not the positioning, though) and the lack of 'clouds' before. It just felt more 'pure' somehow. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I agree, Tony, the natural sky background was much more effective. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.157.25.52 |
Tony and Steve, the cloud is also significant to my story 'SO' that is soon to appear in Gray Friars Press' 'Where The Heart Is'. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.157.25.52 |
btw, thanks, Tony and Steve. And, while I'm here, here is an astounding possible new cover (just received) for NEMONYMOUS NIGHT: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/a_new_possible_cover_for_nemonymous_night.htm | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I'm going to differ here. I reckon that strange sky effect is just right. It's a little menacing and very "otherworldly" - perfect for conveying the otherworldliness of the story itself. (have I just invented a word or does "otherworldly" actually exist?) | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I use it all the time, Caroline. I don't like the way the cloud effect avoids touching the skull, it looks kinda tacky to me. Sorry, Des. The things we anal retentives talk about... |