Video Games are Real

Category: Marketing & Promotion

  • The Camp moves into the Literary House

    The Camp moves into the Literary House

    The second annual issue of The Literary House Review has just been released. Why should you care? My story, “The Camp,” appears within. That’s why. Never mind that the publication contains 232 pages of genre and non-genre, commercial and literary fiction, along with poems enough to erect a mansion – albeit one inconveniently susceptible to moisture (guess what paper, you make a better art medium than a wall!). Never mind that The Review is available to buy here or here and is archived at New York Public Library, Rockefeller Library at Brown University, RI, and at the University of Wisconsin Madison Library (those are monocle-level smart houses, people). Buy it for “The Camp.”

    Now for the author notes:

    As so many stories begin, “The Camp” was a self-inflicted dare. The concept of “The Camp” is seeded in a desire to explore the horrid through a lens subjectively aimed toward beauty. I told myself that I should write about the hidden beauty in something ugly. How’s The Holocaust for ugly? But truthfully, The Holocaust could have been any tragedy as far as “The Camp” goes (though I would have had to change the title). I wasn’t looking to explore Nazi sympathy; I was simply after finding the pleasant within the unpleasant.

    Read “The Camp” here for free!

  • Snake Girl at 3:AM

    Snake Girl at 3:AM

    I’ve been clicking over to 3:AM Magazine for quite a while now. I can’t remember where I first heard about it (probably from Dogmatika, where I hear about most every great thing in the underground lit scene), so I can’t place praise with full accuracy. However, I can pass on the good word. And what better way to do so than via the news of my own story, “Snake Girl at Scab,” getting some page space.

    Some author notes on the story:

    During my first visit to Portland, Oregon (USA), some locals took us to an event called First Thursdays, a neighborhood art gallery orgy (artgy, if you will) with booths, food, music, and lives to be changed. Most cities have these types of events, but due to a strange encounter involving an emotionless girl carrying a snake, this artgy impacted more than normal.

    The snake girl depicted in this story is accurately described, with absolutely no fiction license taken. When she approached us at First Thursdays, pink lipstick, barefooted, snake in hand, and arm outstretched with requests for money, I was stunned. Granted this is isn’t the strangest thing to have ever happed to me, not by a long shot, but the combination of unfamiliar territory with such a displaced character stayed with me. I want to do more with the snake girl. I’m sure she will turn up in future projects.

    Also, “Snake Girl at Scab” is, in a way, my own sort of scab, patching over a weakness that had been slowly compromising my stories for a while. At the time I wrote this story I had been writing a lot of grotesque stories, forcing visceral imagery and dark situations where perhaps they didn’t belong. Luckily, I’ve aborted these stories so they will never see print. “Snake Girl at Scab” was my way of reconnecting with tried-and-true storytelling.

    Click the link above. Read the story. Then stick around for a bit and check out the rest of the site. I’m serious when I say that 3:AM is an asylum for some of the best underground writers around.

  • Colored Chalk: Issue Four – Big Brother in my Pocket

    Colored Chalk: Issue Four – Big Brother in my Pocket

    Issue Four of the Colored Chalk zine has hit the virtual bookshelves. I swear, this thing just keeps getting better. And I don’t say that as an ego stroke considering I am a co-editor. The proof: I had absolutely nothing to do with this issue.

    This issue contains some fantastic stories by Charles King, Richard Thomas, Jason Kane, Colin McKay Miller, Chris Deal, Michael A. Kechula, Gary Paul Libero, Gavin Pate, Michael Paul Gonzalez, and Tyson Estes.

    As always, the issue can be viewed online and can also be printed and stapled for local distribution. Call it permissible thievery.

    Issue Four theme: Big Brother in my Pocket:

    Surveillance used to be difficult.

    Tracking a person’s every move required a lot of legwork. Following, stalking, tracking, chasing. Exhausting.

    These days, you’ve got digital, got the capability to replicate every letter, every word, every sound, every pixel.

    Record.
    Upload.
    Share.
    Show everyone.
    Tout triumphs.
    Lament setbacks.
    Rant and complain.
    Brag about crimes.

    Monitoring you used to be a challenge, but something changed. Somebody must have promised you something for all your hard work. Promises make people so much more helpful.

    To all you writers out there check out the Colored Chalk homepage for guidelines and information on the issue 5 theme: Sins of the Father. This theme spawns from an essay of the same title by brilliant writer Will Christopher Baer.

  • Colored Chalk, the zine: Issue Three

    Colored Chalk, the zine: Issue Three

    The Colored Chalk zine once again has me at the helm, wearing the editor cap. The theme: Life After Fire

    Suffering an unbiased attack we are entirely reactionary. Some call this response the truest kernel of instinct and accept death with stoic certainty. Some call death the culminated answer to questions asked of gods over an entire lifetime.

    Yet some survive. Carrying for the rest of their lives the burden of informed choice.

    The following stories are those choices…

    This issue, I think, is out best yet. It features stories by Nik Korpon, Michael A. Kechula, Anthony David, Richard Thomas, Chris Deal, Charles King, Michael Paul Gonzalez, Joel Shoemaker, Sean P. Ferguson, Mark Grover, and Keith Haworth. Google all of them, read some of their other stories. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

    As always, the issue can be viewed online and can also be printed and stapled for local distribution. Onward, and fill all the empty tables at neighborhood coffee houses, bathrooms, and daycares.

    Don’t forget that Colored Chalk is always open to submissions. Check out the Colored Chalk homepage for guidelines and information on the issue 4 theme: Big Brother In My Pocket.

    Click here to see the issue is all its magnificent page-turning glory.

  • Colored Chalk, the zine: Issue Two

    Colored Chalk, the zine: Issue Two

    This issue’s theme spawns from the great mind of Kurt Vonnegut, via your issue two editor, Jason Heim.

    Vonnegut wrote:

    “Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.”

    And that’s just what we aimed to do with this issue of Colored Chalk.Colored Chalk Issue 2

    I have a piece in this issue, “Exhibit One: A Letter From Alex Fumar,” which I hesitate to mention simply because it’s impact is so reliant on context. Read outside the Colored Chalk zine my piece would make absolutely no sense, and could possibly put first time readers off of my work for good. My logic is that if I called attention to “Exhibit One,” then I might as well call attention to other printed pieces which would make no sense out of context. For instance, my letter to the editor in the June 2007 issue of Spirit, the Southwest Airlines magazine (yes, THE Southwest Airlines magazine).

    But, I’m a whore, so go on and read: “Exhibit One: A Letter From Alex Fumar.”

    And while your at it, here’s Spirit Magazine’s Letter of the Month from June 2007.

    Don’t forget, the Colored Chalk zine can be printed and distributed, hassle-free (and all other kinds of free) if you’re in the mood to spread the word. Just click here, print, staple, and force upon strangers.

    And if you are in the mood to not spread the word, pick up a copy at Kansas City’s own Prospero Books on 39th Street.

  • Book marketing in a market uninterested in books

    Marketing a book in an increasingly visually driven society is a tough role. Not to mention the ever decreasing number of people who actually read (books that is, not this stupid blog). According to statistics from sources that sound legit* 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year [2002]. I’m hoping this figure can be taken literally to mean that these families did not physically purchase the book as a single group, with each member holding an edge of the book and simultaneously placing it on the bookstore counter. I would have never thought any family to do such a thing, so really the 20% of families who do is pretty eye opening. Unfortunately, the literal interpretation is a ridiculous dream. The truth is, most people simply do not read books.

    But don’t fret my fellow 20%-ers. Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker** says that each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines. Why is this good? Because more and more authors are turning to just such TVs (or computer monitors; they’re both square and full of pixels) in order to push their wares.

    Here are a couple of my favorites:

    Douglas Coupland’s 3 spot campaign for his novel, Gum Thief (a YouTube page)

    Dennis Cass’s spot for his memoir, Head Case:

    [media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxschLOAr-s”]

    Oddly enough however, I don’t own either of the two advertised novels. The ads worked well for me aesthetically, but considering my current stack of 53 too-read books I’m just not in the market for more quite yet. So consider this post simple word-of-screen advertising.

    * Jenkins Group, inc; they have the word “group” in their name. Nothing more is needed to connote reputability.
    ** Why is an investment banker devoting time to these sort of statistics? I don’t care; they are associates! See above asterisk for the power of organizational tags.
    Here’s the for real page from which these statistics were pulled

  • Colored Chalk, the zine: Issue One

    Issue OneI’ve been a member of an online writing critique group for a few years, out of which I’ve not only gained a growing understand of craft, but perhaps more importantly, I’ve developed close associations with some fantastic writers. Each year around November we return for another year of ego-brutalizing kinship, which leaves us deflated and disoriented, but not without a mutual understanding that every single moment spent suffering is a moment we’re allowed to nurture precious scar tissue.

    But even with the necessary humility we gain, there comes a time when a writer wants to experience the role of an editor. Who are those eyes able to tell the reading public what constitutes publishable fiction? Why them? Out of this curiosity came the Colored Chalk zine.

    For each bi-monthly(ish) issue a single editor will nurture the zine from theme to content selection to layout and design. This approach promises to produce material both diverse and representative of the overall sensibilities of the close-knit writing group as a whole.

    And who had the honor of editing the very first issue? Some jerk named Caleb Ross.

    Click over to www.coloredchalk.com to read the online version of the zine. The Colored Chalk website has been around for a while (much longer than the print zine), so take some time to explore its many offerings.

    The Colored Chalk zine, Issue One can be picked up for free in the Kansas City area at Nighthawks coffe
    and Prospero’s books. Both of these shops are KC favorites of mine, Prospero’s being a KC independent bookstore staple, and Nighthawks quickly becoming one. Click on the photos to be taken to the respective homepages    		 Nighthawks’ CoffeeProspero’s Books
    Colored Chalk Colored Chalk the website is an online collaboration community for writers, poets, artists, animators, musicians, composers, and vocalists. You can also find a printable version of this issue, perfect for distributing amongst your local ruffianariams.