1998 News

December 5, 1998

• We see Xerox has introduced a new printer called the Xerox 900. This printer takes paper from a roll (like a web or an offset press) and produces 900 duplex pages per minute letter size. It also cuts and trims. X is obviously making a play for the offset press market and more power to them. POD takes a step forward with this release, too.
• Albert Dalia sent us some short stories from a collection. About the collection, he says, "My fiction is based on my academic background of a Ph.D. and two M.A.'s in medieval Chinese history and religion and my three decades of living experience in China and the Pacific Rim.
  

  Through my studies I became familiar with and attracted to a T'ang dynasty (7th -10th century) form of literature called ch'uan-ch'i (tales of the marvelous). The medieval Chinese were fascinated with strange or occult occurrences. During the T'ang, this fascination motivated Chinese writers to develop a genre of literature devoted to telling "tales of the marvelous" in the most creative ways possible. The T'ang writers lived in a magical world in which all of nature was alive and could, and did, interact with humankind. I have adapted many of the icons of this medieval genre to bring a vision of this ancient world into contemporary literature."

November, 1998

• We have finished negotiation with William Sanders for his book Journey to Fusang. The contract is in the mail, and we'll be working on the cover soon. Mr. Sanders says, "What we need is a scene of Arabs on camels fighting Indians on horseback, with a redheaded woman with big knockers somewhere in there..." from which you may deduce his book is an alternate history novel. In it, the Mongol horde did not recede for an extra 200 years, giving the Mesoamericans time to consolidate their empire as the Chinese and the Muslims expanded their holdings in the New World.
• We hear from Eric Heideman that Gore Vidal, one of the interviewees of Somehow It Fits, is dissatisfied with the his interview as printed in Eric's magazine, Tales of the Unanticipated. We'll contact Mr. Vidal soon for his complaints.
• We are desparately in search of artists for covers. Please read our art submission guides and let us know if you want to play.

October 29, 1998

• Is email great, or what? Ciaran Benson is in Britain working for the Pharaoe, and he emailed us this wonderful vignette of a trip to the beach during a hurricane.

October 24, 1998

• Contacted by Wayne Edwards. Mr. Edwards has been the anthologist of a series of fiction (horror fiction, dark fantasy, etc.) anthologies called Palace Corbie for several years (www.para-net.com/~palace_corbie). We are talking about his anthology-anthology, Best of Palace Corbie.

October 23, 1998

• Finished reading the sample of Journey to Fusang sent by William Sanders. It was great! He's offered us the "Director's Cut" of the book, and negotiations have begun.

October 22, 1998

• Finally weaseled the first 25 pages of a novel out of Ciaran Benson, and we're pretty impressed. Ci writes about a universe he calls "Rikon," and he has several million years of history to choose from. He hasn't finished the book yet; after this sample, we're breathing down his neck. Here's a a couple paragraphs of the book to whet your appetite.

October 19, 1998

• William Sanders contacted us about reprinting his alternate history book, Journey to Fusang. He says, "Journey to Fusang is an alternate-history satire that got enough attention to get me a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award, and subsequently seems to have acquired a kind of cult following; every convention I go to, at least one person comes at me with a yellowing, crumbling, dogeared copy and wants me to sign it; and, usually, quotes his or her favorite passage to me verbatim. (Sometimes they mention things I don't even remember!) And the people who sell used SF paperbacks tell me they can't keep copies on hand; and the last I heard, Amazon was getting $18 a copy." Yow! He also says ebooks are available at Alexandria Digital Literature. He sent us the first 75 pages to read, and we're very eager.
• He also says, "These days I write primarily SF and fantasy; I have also written mysteries and adventure novels. This year one of my stories was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Sturgeon Awards, and won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History; I have also been nominated for other awards in the past." Criminy! Three nominations and an award for a single story in one year!
• Mr. Sanders's complete bibliography is available at his web site.

October 9, 1998

• Ardath Mayhar has agreed to let us publish her new book, The Snowlost, about which she says, "Of the unpublished stuff, my favorite (is) The Snowlost. A group of colonists is dumped unexpectedly onto a planet that was not their destination when super-light communication recalls their mother ship because war threatens destruction of the home system. The ship cannot return with all aboard because the colonists were supposed to be left on their target world and there aren't enough supplies. The colonists find themselves on a world covered deeply in snow for most of the year. Its intelligent inhabitants live in the caverns of volcanic mountain chains, and use the steams and lava flows for warmth and for cultivation of the fungus that is their staple diet. These huge, hairy people do not waste life because their own existence is highly precarious and take in those human beings willing to come. Some, of course, are not willing and cause conflict and death to their own and their hosts."
• She has also agreed to let us reprint her book Exhile to Vlahil. Quote: "Exile concerns a young woman exiled for insurrection by "the Instrumentality" via a sophisticated sort of "beam me up Scotty" system to a world inhabited by a fascinating array of alien beings and a pair of lost human youngsters nobody knows are there. It is First Contact with bells on!" Exhile to Vlahil was originally printed in the late 70s.
• Manuscript delivery for both books is set for November 1, 1998.
• Ms. Mayhar has been kind enough to forward our materials to Andre Norton. We hope to hear from Ms. Norton soon.
• We received the list of stories for Martha Hood's collection Inside a Bear and Other Dark Places. It includes stories originally published in Tales of the Unanticipated, Interzone, Pulphouse, Pandora, and Beyond; and one previously unpublished story entitled, "A Domestic Arrangement."
• We are looking hard now for cover artists and interior illustrators. Please see our art submission guides if you'd like a crack at it.

October 7, 1998

• Negotiations with Martha A. Hood are all over except for the shouting. She will deliver a manuscript of her short story anthology, Inside a Bear and Other Dark Places by March 1, 1999.
• Eric Heideman, editor of Tales of the Unanticipated, has delivered an outline and a word count for a collection of interviews taken from 20 issues ofTOTU. Eric says, "...it occurs to me that a number of the people interviewed talk about how they don't like to be fenced in, write all over the map, yada yada yada, & this reminds me that Damon Knight once wrote about all the things "SF" stands for: science fiction, speculative fiction, science fantasy, yada, & wound up the list by saying it stands for 'Somehow it Fits.'" Thus, the book's tentative title is Somehow It Fits: The Tales of the Unanticipated Interviews.

October 5, 1998

• We have offered to publish Ardath Mayhar's unpublished work Snowlost.
• We have also offered to reprint her book Exile to Vlahil.
• Sorry to say we lost her book The World Ends in Hickory Hollow to Cascade Mountain Publishing, where it will be available in ebook and in paperback.
• Ms. Mayhar also has ebooks available through Xlibris and Alexandria Digital Literature.

October 2, 1998

• Ardath Mayhar contacted us about reprinting her work and about printing some previously unpublished work.

September 26, 1998

• Talked to Joe Lansdale at ARCANA about a new horror anthology and abour reprinting some of his western-horror work, such as Dead in the West.
• Talked to Robert Subiaga, Jr., at ARCANA about printing his novel Eyes as a series of comic books followed by a graphic novel compendium.
• Kicked around the idea of printing a Cliff Notes version of The Necronomicon.

September 15, 1998

• More negotiations about Eleanor Arnason's books.

July 26, 1998

• Talked to Robert Subiaga, Jr., at DIVERSICON about reprinting his novel Eyes in paperback.
• Talked to Martha A. Hood at DIVERSICON about collecting her short stories.

June 16, 1998

• Offered to publish Eleanor Arnason'sRing of Swords #2 and reprint Ring of Swords.