Video Games are Real

Category: Marketing & Promotion

  • Nothing for Money OR How to Diminish a Prize’s Power

    Nothing for Money OR How to Diminish a Prize’s Power

    After Blake Butler, editor of the print lit journal NO COLONY, posted an aside about publishing and Pushcart-nominating anyone willing to pay $650, Shya Scanlon called his bluff, and quickly rallied 65 people, each willing to fork over $10, to put together a composite of 150 word prose chunks. That’s 9,750 words by 65 authors, each with claim to 1/65th of a Puschart nomination.

    The entire point of Butler’s original offer, I think, was to comment on how easy it is to manipulate these sorts of literary prizes. In truth, anyone with anything published can be nominated for a Pushcart. All it takes is an editor willing to write your name on a piece of paper. And in a world of zero-overhead POD printing, anyone can be an editor. I hope that those in charge of choosing the Pushcart winner know how to filter out stuff like this NO COLONY thing (unless, who knows, this collective piece ends up being the bee’s knees).

    Plus, I don’t know that anything of this scale, amid these terms, has ever been done. And more and more I am learning that firsts count for a lot when trying to sell yourself and your work. Look at Blake Butler, who recently sold destroyed (but still readable) copies of his book SCORCH ATLAS and has vowed to eat an entire copy of the book, one page at a time. What did these firsts help him achieve? A recent contract with Harper Perennial. (It helps too that his work is pretty damn excellent).

    Participating writers include:

    Me
    Ryan Call
    Shy Scanlon
    Richard Thomas
    Nathan Tyree
    J.A. Tyler
    Jackie Corley
    Nik Korpon
    Christopher J. Dwyer

    …among exactly 56 others.

  • Orange Alert! Caleb talks!

    Orange Alert! Caleb talks!

    Blogs have two major purposes: 1) to serve their ego-maniacal masters (hopefully not my site), and 2) to alert the somewhat socially inept to trends befitting their interests (am I’m closer to this one). A couple years ago, Tim Hall directed me to What to Wear During an Orange Alert, which has consistently fallen into the latter category (wow, two uses of the word “latter” in consecutive blog posts. Pompous, I may be). When it comes to music, art, and literature, Jason Behrend’s Orange Alert delivers beautifully.

    So, in a weird mix of the aforementioned purposes, I’m here to tell you that Orange Alert has posted a new interview with yours truly (***creepy picture warning***).

    Among topics discussed:

    • The Process for getting my work in front of faces (re: stalking)
    • What kinds of books should be reviewed (re: hocking)
    • Some of the music I’ve been listening to lately (re: rocking)

    Any opinions? The internet makes all opinions valid. Be sure to post comments here or at the Orange Alert post. I suggest subscribing to the Orange Alert RSS feed. I do. And all my ideas are pretty damn swell.

  • Fans of Sideshow Fables

    Fans of Sideshow Fables

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    When Sideshow Fables creator Paul Eckert approached a group of writers (to which Paul and I belong) about creating a magazine of circus themed tales, I said a silent thank you on the behalf of all readers. He’s got it right, I think. Going about fanbase-building and marketing in the way that independent record companies have been doing for years is a wise move when falling publisher profits has become too common a story.

    It was at last year’s AWP Conference in Chicago when I heard a panel of small press publishers (I can’t remember any of them, I apologize) where one of the editors made mention of the indie record label model. The publishing logic having always been, we will make readers fans of authors. But, said the editor, why not make readers fans of the publishers? It seems obvious. And to do that, readers have to be able to count on publishers to deliver SideshowFables1writing with a certain consistency among publications.  An example on the record label side: I know that anything Barsuk Records or ANTI Records puts out, I’ll love it. They have a fan in me. Some of the smaller book presses, like 6 Gallery Press and even larger Independents like MacAdam/Cage, have captured my money in the same way. If publishers put money toward their own brand and not the brand of the authors they represent, then how could they not come out on top? (Though, I do think putting some money toward crafting an author career is important – after all, publishers need material to support whatever reputation they are trying to cultivate).

    All this is to say that with Sideshow Fables, I know exactly what I am getting. But don’t confuse this with rehash; the individual author’s themselves will provide the fresh voices necessary to keep the rag from getting stale. The first issue alone has work from Steve Almond, Nik Korpon, Colin McKay Miller, Nicholas Merlin Karpuk, and Craig Wallwork – quite a variety of voices.

    I recommend you pick up a copy (full disclosure: I have a story in this first issue). You may like it. And if you do, you can count on liking all of the issues to come.

  • Charactered and Vain make for great reading

    Charactered and Vain make for great reading

    mask_vainMagVain Magazine could claim more ancestral lit zine origins than most. They have the staple bound VainCovercover of an indie mashup, the forward thinking mindset of an east coast glossy, the strong literary content of small press chap network, and the design sensibilities of art school college grad with trust fund comfort to keep his ideals high and his being higher.

    Writer, editor, designer, and 1000 more -ers, Richard Thomas, turned me on to Vain Magazine last year when his story, “Underground Wonderbound” graced its pages. I was impressed, not only with his story, but with the overall aesthetic appeal of the magazine. Too often, hand-stapled, small print magazines get the scoff. This one deserves some praise.

    Now, after all that build up, I’m here to let the ego shine. My story, “Charactered Pieces,” appears in the new issue, #7, right now. I wrote the original version of this story in college, and it has been sweating since. The Vain Magazine version is a much better, much more mature version, but still has all the underdeveloped Siamese twin left leg goodness of the original.

  • Colored Chalk #9 now live. Heaven or Hell? We’re taking a vote.

    Colored Chalk #9 now live. Heaven or Hell? We’re taking a vote.

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    Hard to believe we are already at issue #9. And the stories just keep getting better. This new issue is all about Heaven and Hell.

    From Richard Thomas, #9’s editor, and Colored Chalk staple:

    IS IT YOUR IDEAL HEAVEN OR UNBEARABLE HELL?

    One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor. One man’s trappings are another man’s freedom. What is heaven and hell to you? Is it brimstone and hooves opposing angels floating on ethereal clouds? Is it merely the eternal battle of dark vs. light, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong? Is it pushing a boulder up a hill day after day to no avail or having your liver eaten for eternity, each new dawn awakening to this horrible echo? Is it just a quiet moment of peace, that subtle bliss as you fall asleep or waking next to those you love?

    The writers in this issue of Colored Chalk all speak about their versions of heaven and hell, visions of horrible moments they hope will never happen to themselves, or the ultimate goal, the rapture and pinnacle of good and all that is right in the world and beyond. Or maybe it’s just a weekend stuck in a crummy hotel, a quick kiss before leaving for work, the commute that drains your life force, and the smiling face of a daughter or son eager to have you home.

    Now wait…where were we…heaven, or hell? You tell me. I hope you enjoy the work of these gifted writers as much as I do.

    Issue 9 contains fine work Zsa Zsa Wong, Vincent Louis Carella, Beth Mathison, Craig Wallwork, Karen Brown, Shaindel Beers, Christopher Dwyer, M. Kilbain Lazer, Paul Mallaghan, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Valerie Geary, Kara Kilgore, Gayle Towell, Gavin Pate, and Nik Korpon

    As always, we promote legal theft as a downloadable and distributable .pdf file. Go to the Issue 9 page for details, printing instructions, and visual over-stimulation.

  • “A Trench…” now available (again) in the new issue of Cause & Effect

    “A Trench…” now available (again) in the new issue of Cause & Effect

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    Last year I spit out a filthy little story called “A Trench is No Place for God,” reappropriated, for a good cause, from one of my novels-in-progress. The cause: the 2008 Nefarious Muse short fiction contest. And although this heavy little taste of that novel did not win, I am proud to say the good folks over at Cause & Effect recognized something redeeming and accepted it for their issue 12.

    Author’s note:

    This story fits snugly in a war-themed novel that I am working on, inspired by the Tom Waits song “Hoist that Rag.” During a 2007 writing intensive with the brilliant Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook, Dermaphoria, and upcoming-not-soon-enough, Saint Heretic) I reached back into this novel for a chuck I could modify as a stand-alone story. “A Trench…” was that chunk.

    The best part, Clevenger had some positive things to say (“I love the exchange, a “priest” out of his depth in a very real sense, and a war victim who’s much more in control than Million would have expected… his trivial wounds in the heat of battle, his audacity to seek help in the midst of so many other more seriously wounded soldiers… I like it”), sandwiched by some genuinely helpful direction. This Cause & Effect version represents that direction.

    Visit Cause & Effect, buy a copy of issue 12. Only $7.50. Consider it an investment; you can use your copy as toilet paper when the world’s supply inevitably runs out.

    Last, but perhaps most important, I will take a Dremel tool to your cochlea if you do not also read Nik Korpon’s “Glass Bubbles.”

  • New story up at Full of Crow

    New story up at Full of Crow

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    I have known Lynn Alexander and Aleathia Drehmer for a few months, just long enough to realize how much they truly care about art in all its forms. Both women have been past editors over at Outsider Writers Collective (where I met them), but have moved over to head the online lit zine, Full of Crow.

    My story, “Globe Valve,” is now live as part of their Summer 2009 flash fiction supplement, MiCrow (get it? Micro…). When Lynn approached me about submitting a story, I jumped at the chance. I have rarely worked with a more passionate editor.

    Author’s Note:

    I wrote this story specifically for Full of Crow, but intend to leverage it for an upcoming project (more on that in the coming months). On the surface, “Globe Valve,” seems a straightforward vignette involving two people who witness a jumper suicide from the balcony of a downtown condo. But a single surreal moment, when one of the characters touches the falling body, opens the story up to much more.

    Head over to Full of Crow to read it now. Leave some comments here, let me know what you think.