Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

I did some more work with Joey Manfre on the Heritage Tale logo. It’s not quite there yet, but I’m liking the direction that it’s moving.  I especially like the new font for “Heritage Tale” that he made — I think it has a distinct fantasy genre feel to it.

Heritage Tale logo - Take 3

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

Once upon a time, I had a nice blog. Then the blog demon came along and ate up everything that was good about the blog. I then had to beseech the aid of the fabulous Web Wizard from www.winlum.com, who waved his magic wand and vanquished the evil blog demon. Now all is right again in the world of my blog. The End.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

This will be my last post about World Fantasy.

This was a panel of particular interest to me. It was moderated by Alan Beatts, owner of Borderland Books in San Francisco. Also on the panel were Justin (didn’t catch his last name and it’s not on the website) of Slow Glass Booksin Australia, and Greg Ketter of Dreamhaven Books. Beats has been in the business for 12 years; Justin, 21 years, and Ketter, 33 years. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this panel of pros.

I wasn’t able to get great quotes in my notes, so instead I will paraphrase the juciest tidbits and give credit to their source. If I had accidentally mis-quoted someone, please let me know so I can make a correction right away. I try to be precise when I take notes, but I get writing pretty fast and so sometimes make mistakes.

Anyone can publish a book, but not anyone can get into a bookstore. On average, 2-3 new publishers make contact to try and get a bookseller to take their books. There was a time when it was possible to carry every SF/F book in print. SF/F now has a lot of small presses representing the genre. It’s impossible to carry them all. There’s also a huge reprint market. — Greg Ketter.

With Lightnins Source (a POD printer), book prices are going up, but the number of big publishers is going down. — Alan Beatts.

Walmart and Target are both trying to get into the bookselling game. — Greg Ketter.

Amazon sells eBooks as a loss. — Alan Beatts.

Amazon doesn’t make money selling books; it makes money selling data. — Greg Ketter.

In Australia, a mass market costs about $20; a tradeback about $34; and a hardback about $50. — Justin

Book prices currently don’t keep up with inflation. Publishers only make money on 1 of 2 hardback sold, and 1 in 3 of mass market books. Big chains order lots and return lots, which increases the overall price. — Alan Beatts.

Return rate of indy book stores is much lower than that of big chains. Dreamhaven only returns about 1% of books. — Greg Ketter.

Indy stores are more expensive, but employees have better knowledge. Chain stores are cheaper and more convenient, but more difficult to get help in. Amazin is negating the convenience of chain stores. — Alan Beatts.

Espresso Machine costs about $100,000. It costs about $21,000 to set up a bookstore. — Alan Beatts.

Barnes & Noble and Borders are the 2 main national chains in the US. Borders took a lot of loans, and that money is due in April 2010.  If Borders goes down, it will have a massive effect on the whole business. — Alan Beatts.

Beatts asked the panel to make 1 prediction for the world of bookselling in 10 years: Greg Ketter predicts he will retire. Justin predicts libraries will be in bigger demand, and also be a bigger resource center. Alan Beatts predict national chain book stores will not exist as physical storefronts.

Half Price books (a chain) specialized in buying remainders. Half Price might beep growing, though they are dependent on the big stores like Borders and B&N generating those big remainders. — Greg Ketter.

Consumers vote with their dollar. — Alan Beatts.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

Once upon a time, I had a nice Word Press blog, complete with nifty banner to match my website. Then one say, Word Press suggested that I update to the latest version. Wanting to be a good Word Press user, I updated. Lo and behold, my banner disappeared. Now I can’t figure out how to get it back. Sigh.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

Is violence over-used in speculative fiction?

This was the question faced by panelists of “the Last Resort.” It was moderated by Mark L. Van Name, who had an amazing amount of knowledge and sensitivity in regards to the subject of violence. Also on the panel were Sue Bolich, Peter V. Brett, Alan DeNiro, and Joan Spicci Saberhagen.

I found the discussions and comments thoughtful, insightful, and illuminating. It helped me reflect on my own writing. There were so many interesting things being said during the panel that I couldn’t get it all down. I’ve tried only to put in quotes those sentences that I feel I was able to capture completely as I listened. In areas where I felt I may have missed something, I’ve summarized. Again, if I’ve accidentally mis-quoted someone and you would like me to pull it off the post, please let me know. My goal of this post is to share the content of what I felt was the best panel at the convention.

Some quotes jotted down during the panel:

“Violence needs to fit with the needs of the story.” — Peter V. Brett

“Society creates a class of people [soldiers, policemen, firemen] to deal with things that no one else wants to deal with.” — Mark L. Van Name

“Violence done out of profession is different than violence done out of weakness of character.” — Mark L. Van Name

“Culture and personality effect the level of violence.” — Sue Bolich.

“Violence is hard-wired into all of us.” — Peter V. Brett

“Culture decides what’s violent and what’s not. Society decides when violence is justified.” — Joan Spicci Saberhagen

Question from Mark L. Van Name to the panelists: “How does your personal background effect your approach to violence?”

Answer #1: Sue Bolich served in the army, though she never went to combat. Her characters are not the aggressors. Violence is a reaction to a scene or setting. This is a reflection of her own reaction to violence.

Answer #2: Joan Spicci Saberhagen is from a big Italian family. She says they were always one step away from real violence, though there was never really follow through.

Answer #3:  “The party with the fewest rules will win the violent fight.” — Mark L. Van Name. In his fiction, Mark likes the explore the following question: Given the same situation to live over, would the character do the same thing? He says that as a society, we should not judge so harshly those who do things in certain situations.

Question from Mark L. Van Name to the panelists: “What’s the moment in fiction where you feel it’s okay to resort to violence?”

Answer #1: “That moment of tension that needs resolution.” — Peter V. Brett

Answer #2: “Depends on the character.  Your reason needs to be true based on an individual character. It needs to arise naturally.” — Sue Bolich

Answer #3: “Violence could be a function of world building.” — Alan DeNiro

Answer #4: “You don’t have stories unless you have obstacles.” — Joan Spicci Saberhagen. She explained that violence takes different forms in different stories. For example, in a Jane Austen story, a person stalking out of a room would be considered violent. The setting determines what is and what is not violent.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

This was a fascinating panel at World Fantasy.  I’ve never heard of The Library of America. I actually never got a clear definition of it, although after attending the panel, I suspect the might be responsible for several of the large anthologies I had to lug around as an English student. Their tag line is “America’s Best and Most Significant Writing in Durable and Authoritative Editions.” Apparently, when they produce a volume, the writings and/or author become recognized as being part of canonized literature. To be in a Library of America book is to have legitimacy in the eyes of academics.

Anyway, the panel discussion was led by Peter Straub. Also on the panel were Brain Evenson, S.T. Joshi, Tim Powers, and Gary K. Wolfe.

*Note:  This post is based on the notes I took during the panel. I am paraphrasing. If I mis-state of mis-quote someone, please know it is not intentional. If you let me know, I’ll fix the mistake. My opinion are in parentheses.*

Peter Straub had the honor of putting together a two volume collection of “American Fantastic Tales.” He recounted many of his adventures in putting together this collection, which took about 2 years. It was fascinating to listen to him.

First off, he was told: no science fiction, no fantasy. (In a collection called American Fantastic Tales. Go figure. I suppose us sf/f writers are the elephant in the room certain intelluctuals don’t want to acknowledge.) So basically, the stories in the collection fall into the horror category.

He did run into some challenges with authors and publishers. Some authors wanted too much money for their stories, and some publishers just plain refused to sell reprint rights. Sometimes he couldn’t get his hands on the original publications, because some owners of old magazines weren’t willing to share.

Straub would have liked the collection to be twice as long, but he was limited to 800 pages in each volune. He also had to undergo intense negotiations with the Library of America board. If they decided they didn’t like a story, there wasn’t much he could to keep them from discluding it. Although he did say the meetings often resembled “horse trades,” where Straub really had to fight for those stories and writers he felt were so important to the genre.

The collection has stories published up through 2007 — the most current of any stories to be found in LOA collections.

Here are some of the fascinating quotes I was able to jot down during the panel:

“Defining a canon is not the same as choosing canonical stories.” — Gary K. Wolfe.

“Seriousness need not be negated by introduction of the fantastic [to literature]” — Peter Straub.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

I had the great fortune of being able to attend this year’s World Fantasy Convention in San Jose. I sat in on a lot of fascinating panels, listened to some great stories, and met some great people. I’ll be posting about it over the next week or so (I took lots of notes). But first I thought I’d get the photos up. I wish I’d taken more, but I was so preoccupied with everything going on around me that I didn’t think about my camera very much. I’m such a dork that I forgot to get a pic with my buddy who attended the con with me, Stephen Gold. Here’s a look at the few pics I did get:

Patrick Swenson of Fairwood Press, who was kind enough to have a few drinks with me and share some of his experiences in the publishing world.

Artist John Picacio, who gave a fantastic presention about his artistic process. I was lucky enough to get a book autographed by him.

Author Michael Shea, who I discovered lives in the same town as I do!

 

Author Jay Lake, who always gives a fun, lively reading. I was able to get him to autograph a few books for my daughter.

Author Jeffrey Ford. I've read some of his stuff (good stories!). It was neat to put the face with the writing.

Author Jeff Vandemeer, reading from his book about sentient mushrooms and noir detectives.

My friend Ann Wilkes, reading from her novel, The Awesome Lavratt, with the gals from Broad Universe.

Author and Guest of Honor Michael Swanwick, preparing to read to his audience.

And that’s all the pictures I got (besides a handful of crappy panel pictures — rooms were too big and the panelists are all dark and hard to see).

Now I’ve just got to figure out which con to go to next…

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

On Sunday, October 18th, I spoke on a “Writing for Children” panel, an event sponsored by Cotati’s Sitting Room library.

The event began with a lovely tea party under the redwoods. Each table was set with lovely china tea cups, cloth napkins, tablecloths, and miniature pumpkins. There was hot tea for all to enjoy, along with homemade bread, homemade cookies, homemade sandwiches, and local melon. Guests brought their favorite childhood book, which served as a nice conversation starter.

Three types of finger sandwiches were available: cucumber, chicken salad, and egg salad

One of the many lovely tea pots at the event

Homemade cookies - yum!

Guests enjoying tea and snacks under the redwoods

After the tea party, we all moved inside. A small podium and microphone were set up. Each of the authors spoke on several topics: favorite childhood book, what inspires stories, etc. I had an opportunity to talk about my childhood love of speculative fiction, and how I seek to promote speculative fiction in the classroom with free Raggedy Chan curricula.

Camille Picott, author of Raggedy Chan, discussing the importance of speculative fiction in learning environments

Lisa Shulman, author of The Moon Might be Milk, offers classes on 'writing for children' at the Sitting Room

Tina Stolberg, author of Little Shrew Caboose, discusses her favorite childhood book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with the audience

After the presentation from the authors, we had a special treat: Lynette Hunter, performing solo as Laura Ingalls Wilder. Completely in character and costume, Lynette gave us an insight into the life and stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Lynette Hunter in character as Laura Ingalls Wilder

And finally, this wonderful event was all made possible by the wonderful J.J. Wilson, one of the founders of the Sitting Room.

The amazing J.J. Wilson, host of the event and one of the fouders of the Sitting Room library

For those of you not familiar with the Sitting Room, it’s a privately funded non-profit library located in Cotati, California. It has a collection of over 7,000 books. The Sitting Room also hosts writing workshops, book groups, and other events related with literature and writing.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

I was invited to participate in Litquake’s “Off the Richter Scale” reading at the Koret auditorium in San Francisco’s Main Public Library. This was my first visit to the library. It was incredible — one of those types of places you could happily lose yourself in for a week. It was so cool to see so many books in one place.

San Francisco Main Public Library

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Litquake, it’s a 2-week literary event in San Francisco. There are readings, panels, presentation, and even the famous Lit Crawl.

Litquake - Celebrating 10 Years of Literary Mayhem

“Off the Richter Scale” readings began at 11am and lasted until 5pm. Each hour specialized in a different theme. I participated in the hour entitled “Visualize This: Graphic & Illustrated Works.”

Koret Auditorium - SF Main Public Library

The Koret Auditorium is a beautiful room. This picture doesn’t quite do it justice, but you can see the huge screen hanging over the stage. Each presenter of “Visualize This: Graphic & Illustrated Works” had a slide show to accompany the reading. This was a great way for the audience to become acquainted with the artwork to be found inside the books.

Inside the Koret Auditorium

Also reading during the hour were Ben Fong-Torres, Annice Jacoby, Ivory Madison, and the Stanford Graphic Novel Project.

Litquake Readers: Annice Jacoby, Camille Picott, Ben Fong-Torres, and a student from the Stanford Graphic Novel Project

Camille Picott, reading from Raggedy Chan

One of the Raggedy Chan presentation slides, which tells listeners about the free teaching curricula offered with the book

This was really an amazing event. It’s so neat to see so many people excited about literature and reading.

Litquake is coordinated by a fleet of volunteers.  I have nothing but admiration for the folks who work for months and months to organize this every year. The organizer of the Koret Readings was Jeannine Klein. She had to organize 36 different writers over a 6 hour period. She worked with the Friends of the Library to make sure everyone had a chance to sell their books at the event. Thank you Jeannine, for putting together this wonderful event!

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

Heritage Tale Logo - Prototype

Here’s our second shot at a Heritage Tale logo. I really love this one. The globe and the book together really say “Heritage Tale” to me. I also love the way Joey (the artist) put the entire image on what looks like a famliy crest. To me, Heritage Tales is definitely about family. We still have some more tweaking to do, but I’m feeling like this logo is on the right track.

Heritage Tale books bring immigration stories to juvenile readers. Each fully-illustrated, full-color book helps children connect with their cultural roots through the use of myth, legend, and fairy tale.

We are currently accepting submissions for our Heritage Tale series. Please visit www.pixiupress.com for complete submission guidelines.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

Heritage Tale Logo - Prototype

Joey and I have been working on the design of the Heritage Tale logo. Here’s our first draft. The tree is supposed to bring to mind “family tree,” since many of the Heritage Tale stories will be family stories. The globe is supposed to bring the ideas of  ”multiculturalism” that we see in America. I love the artwork, but I’m not sure it captures the idea of Heritage Tales the way I envisioned it would.

Heritage Tale books bring immigration stories to juvenile readers. Each fully-illustrated, full-color book helps children connect with their cultural roots through the use of myth, legend, and fairy tale.

We are currently accepting submissions for our Heritage Tale series. Please visit www.pixiupress.com for complete guidelines.

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

I was thrilled to stumble upon this website today: http://ltue.org/LTUE2010.html. It is link to a conference called “Life, the Universe, and Everything 28: The Marion K. “Doc” Symposium on Science Fiction & Fantasy” (known as LTUE for short). Basically, it’s an academic symposium for speculative fiction.

One aspect of LTUE is the LTUE Educator’s Conference, which is specifically to help promote speculative fiction in the classroom. This is my particular area of interest; it is one of the reasons I’ve decided venture into the realm of publishing.

The conference is free. (That’s right — FREE!) It’s held at BYU in Provo, Utah (where one of my best friends just happens to live).  I’ll definitely be going. Drop me a note if you plan to go!

Originally published at Pixiu Press Blog. You can comment here or there.

San Francisco’s 10th Annual Litquake has created a beautiful “Literary Quilt.” Authors who chose to make a donation to Litquake (a non-profit organization) had the covers of their books displayed on this quilt. There are many beautiful covers on display. You can view it www.litquake.org. Type “Literary Quilt” into the search box and it will come up.  Scroll down about half way to see Raggedy Chan!