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Prism
Jun 15, 2010 13:31:43 GMT
Post by dem bones on Jun 15, 2010 13:31:43 GMT
David A. Riley [ed] - Prism (British Fantasy Society, March, June 2010) Dave Carson Not having seen a copy of Prism before David Riley began his second stint as editor, i can only give an outsider viewpoint (i've never been a BFS member) and approach this as a new publication, even though it has a track record going back .... how many years? i was surprised how review heavy it is, and that's the first comparison with the editor's previous labour of love, Beyond. Beyond covered less titles but devoted plenty of column inches to each, whereas Prism favours bite-size appraisals of every book/ magazine/ DVD/ comic the genre can throw at us. The editor made it clear from the off that he felt the horror side of things was being neglected by the BFS and promised to set that right. There's not that much to show for it in the March issue, but it's certainly evident in the very entertaining June effort where the 'Members News' section is devoted entirely to forthcoming macabre items and the two interviewees are Shaun Jeffrey and, for the second time in as many issues, Johnny Mains, in Mark 'of fear' Morris's delightful celebration of The Pan Book Of Horror Stories. John Llewellyn Probert contributes a terrifying new column, Profundo Probert which will have you seeking out a copy of The Hunchback Of The Morgue as though your life depended on it, and Ramsey Campbell devotes his regular rant to crucifying Michael Cox for alleged dumbing down of classic supernatural tales in his Top Ten Ghost Stories and Top Ten Horror Stories. What's missing? i think Prism could use a letters department. i'm guessing regular Paperback Fanatic readers would agree that Fanatical Thoughts is as indispensable to that magazine as the articles and cover galleries and there's every sign that, had it survived, into The Beyond would likewise have been essential to Mr. Riley's previous publication. Howard Molloy
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Prism
Jun 15, 2010 13:36:46 GMT
Post by noose on Jun 15, 2010 13:36:46 GMT
and the two interviewees are Shaun Jeffrey and, for the second time in as many issues, Johnny Mains, in Mark 'of fear' Morris's delightful celebration of The Pan Book Of Horror StoriesA nice surprise to be in the second PRISM - the blank cheque sent to Mr Riley has certainly worked... As to the magazine itself, like you Dem, not a member and had never seen a copy of Prism before Mr Riley took it over. The second issue is much better, sleeker and gives you more bang for your buck - Dave has said he's learned some lessons in the gap between the two publications - but you can see where PRISM is going to get better and better. Enjoyed the interview with Shaun - one author I hope whose career goes stratospheric. And I hope the film made from his book is honourable!
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Prism
Aug 18, 2010 19:58:41 GMT
Post by David A. Riley on Aug 18, 2010 19:58:41 GMT
The next issue of Prism will be out early September, complete with a Bryan Talbot cover. It's off at the printers now. If anyone would like to do a piece about Wordsworth Books and their magnificent ghost story collections in time for the Christmas issue, I'd be delighted to hear from you. I can't think of a more appropriate issue for a bit about ghosts.
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Prism
Aug 18, 2010 20:40:46 GMT
Post by marksamuels on Aug 18, 2010 20:40:46 GMT
Wow! What a brilliant cover. Well done, David, for making it happen. I could do a piece and mention how truly gutted I was last year when Wordsworth's supernatural editor-in-chief DSD slowly shot me down in flames over the course of several months, after I'd proposed that they do a dirt-cheap omnibus of my stuff (on whatever terms they'd like to offer, simply to get into the mainstream), but I'm not sure it'd be productive or worthwhile. I genuinely think they produce fantastic value-for-money books and I've got more than a dozen on my shelves. More power to them, anyway. I sincerely hope that they go from strength to strength. Mark S.
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Prism
Aug 18, 2010 20:57:14 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 18, 2010 20:57:14 GMT
damn! i'm so sorry David. had a lot of real-life distraction recently and didn't think about the deadline for the Sept issue. at least you and, if you were feeling particularly sadistic, your readers and three unfortunate authors have been spared. will try and come up with something about Wordsworth editions for Christmas. Love the Brian Talbot artwork - man, but that is one mighty elongated sword! - that's three striking covers on the spin.
Sincere commiserations, Mark. A Wordsworth Omnibus of your work would have been lovely. It's a shame there's not an equivalent outlet for contemporary supernatural fiction.
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Prism
Aug 18, 2010 23:33:42 GMT
Post by marksamuels on Aug 18, 2010 23:33:42 GMT
Sincere commiserations, Mark. A Wordsworth Omnibus of your work would have been lovely. It's a shame there's not an equivalent outlet for contemporary supernatural fiction. Thanks Dem. Alas, if you're not already a big name novelist (or an out-of-copyright corpse), single author short story collections just aren't considered now for publication anywhere in the mainstream. But I'm being grumpy/maudlin again. Apropos of nothing (save cheering myself up) can I recommend The Invasion of the Bee Girls? Public Domain, I believe. Unbelievably super saucy & Vaultish for a "PG" certificate... ooer Mark S.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 5:36:20 GMT
Post by David A. Riley on Aug 19, 2010 5:36:20 GMT
Sorry about that Mark. A collection of your stories from Wordsworth would have been a great breakthrough, and not just for you. I am sure other writers would also be prepared to accept very, very favourable terms for Wordsworth in order to have their stories brought out by them. After all, most of us these days are used to getting next to nothing (if not nothing itself usually) for our stories in the small press. I was tempted to approach them myself, except I suspected what the answer would be beforehand.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 5:50:22 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2010 5:50:22 GMT
Thanks Dem. Alas, if you're not already a big name novelist (or an out-of-copyright corpse), single author short story collections just aren't considered now for publication anywhere in the mainstream. It's a sorry situation, no doubt about it , but Wordsworth are at the very least delivering many international treasures from the jaws of pricey specialist press limbo. This, from the sage Hugh Lamb - twenty-two years ago when even the "out-of-copyright corpses" weren't getting a look in. "The strange Catch 22 of modern publishing obviously never operated then. Now, publishers will tell you that they can never sell books of short stories because nobody buys them. Therefore they won't publish them. But if they never publish them, nobody will be able to buy them, so they prove their own argument. So, as nobody buys them, nobody publishes them, and as nobody publishes them, nobody buys them. Escher would love that one!"Victorian Terror in Steve Jones & Jo Fletcher's Gaslight & Ghouls (Robinson, 1988).
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 6:32:29 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2010 6:32:29 GMT
Sorry about that Mark. A collection of your stories from Wordsworth would have been a great breakthrough, and not just for you. I am sure other writers would also be prepared to accept very, very favourable terms for Wordsworth in order to have their stories brought out by them. After all, most of us these days are used to getting next to nothing (if not nothing itself usually) for our stories in the small press. I was tempted to approach them myself, except I suspected what the answer would be beforehand. So maybe the best way is to try for a multiple author anthology as a stepping stone? If it sells well enough, surely they'd be more inclined to let you have a crack at your own collections. Take a look at the Mark Valentine model. His two Wordsworth anthologies to date, The Black Veil And Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths and The Werewolf Pack, broke the taboo (if you like) in that they featured vintage and contemporary fiction - The Black Veil even takes its title from A. F. Kidd's contribution. Steve Duffy, Rosemary Pardoe, Ron Weighell, ( Black Book contributors) Rosalie Parker and R. B. Russell to name but a few were not out of copyright corpses the last time I looked. David, you've certainly had experience selecting and proof reading stories for Beyond and i doubt you'd have any trouble recruiting contributors from the massed ranks of BFS - i can think of a few authors from our crowd who've been vociferous in their support for the Wordsworth 'Mystery & Supernatural' range from its inception. And if you come up with a loose theme, we uncreatives could suggest some public domain titles? Might at least be worth asking Derek at Wordsworth what he reckons?
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 7:39:28 GMT
Post by David A. Riley on Aug 19, 2010 7:39:28 GMT
So maybe the best way is to try for a multiple author anthology as a stepping stone? If it sells well enough, surely they'd be more inclined to let you have a crack at your own collections. Take a look at the Mark Valentine model. His two Wordsworth anthologies to date, The Black Veil And Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths and The Werewolf Pack, broke the taboo (if you like) in that they featured vintage and contemporary fiction - The Black Veil even takes its title from A. F. Kidd's contribution. Steve Duffy, Rosemary Pardoe, Ron Weighell, ( Black Book contributors) Rosalie Parker and R. B. Russell to name but a few were not out of copyright corpses the last time I looked. David, you've certainly had experience selecting and proof reading stories for Beyond and i doubt you'd have any trouble recruiting contributors from the massed ranks of BFS and i can think of a few authors from our crowd who've been vociferous in their support for the Wordsworth 'Mystery & Supernatural' range from its inception. And if you come up with a loose theme, we uncreatives could suggest some public domain titles? Might at least be worth asking Derek at Wordsworth what he reckons? It would be nice if you were right, dem, but I get the impression that Mark Valentine is in quite close with the people who run Wordsworth Books. I don't think he's quite an outsider to them. And of course it could be that their experience with the two books that Mark Valentine edited have dissuaded them from going down that road again. Hence their attitude to Mark Samuels' proposal. Having said that, Wordsworth are an interesting publisher in many ways. Although they only have a small team, they still manage to put out a brilliant range of books - and must print quite large numbers of them to be able to sell them at such cheap rates. They make the small presses more closely associated with horror look shoddy by comparison when, even though they barely pay their writers much, still have to charge quite high prices even for their paperbacks - which are always trade paperback in size - unlike Wordsworth, whose books are traditionally sized and dirt cheap. Even allowing for a very small amount in royalties or a one off payment most writers in our field would be prepared to accept, a publisher modelled on Wordsworth could afford to put out collections from people like Mark Samuels for a very reasonable cover price. If only a company like that could be set up! Or if Wordsworth were prepared to look into it.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 9:21:15 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2010 9:21:15 GMT
i take your point, David, but i'd be interesting to hear from Wordsworth how well Mark's collections performed in terms of sales against their other anthologies. i've not started The Black Veil yet, but The Werewolf Pack was one of my selections for the best of 2009 thread. Not that that's any recommendation, you understand, but if nothing else it shows someone thought it was a splendid collection.
From my understanding - and this was certainly the case last year - the staff comprises all of three people, and they deal with not only the Mystery & Supernatural line but the Classics, Specials & Co. Add another branch - which would require their dealing with contemporary authors among whom, dare i say, may be one or two prima donna's - and you have THE workload from Hell.
again, as i understand it, the 'Classics' - £1.99 a shot - shift in large quantities to students, and the profits fund the 'Mystery & Supernatural' range which maybe isn't such a money-spinner but has done well enough to survive four years. More often than not they've pulled off real crackers - the forthcoming Crowley, for example, is all but guaranteed to fly off the shelves. Nobody's expecting every publisher to knock their books out at £3 a time but certain small press imprints haven't a hope of attracting the (for want of a better term) general public with their exorbitant prices. but i don't supposed they want to.
What it's going to take is for the BFS, someone, anyone, to be adopted by a rich sugar daddy on the back of a huge lottery win who wants to follow the Wordsworth model but with the bias on contemporary authors. A big ask, for sure, but the genre has come back from slumps in the past, and that sure wasn't down to people giving up the ghost.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 9:49:23 GMT
Post by jamesdoig on Aug 19, 2010 9:49:23 GMT
With Aus Ghost Stories I contacted Derek via the Vault. Derek went with the idea to David Stewart Davies and convinced him that it was worth pursuing (hopefully he hasn't lost his job as a result ) I think it fitted in with the series of ghost story volumes they were publishing - Scottish, Irish, Victorian and Edwardian etc. The original title was Australian Weird Tales, but they changed it to Ghost Stories, though there are only a few ghost stories in it - that was fine with me. I think Derek mentioned that 5,000 copies of M&S titles are printed, of which a certain number is sent overseas.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 10:14:58 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2010 10:14:58 GMT
Thanks for that James, very enlightening. 5, 000 copies? seriously, i can think of people who'd kill to have their books published in such quantities!
i'd approach Derek before David Stuart Davies, quite simply because he's the one i've had contact with and have always found him very open to suggestions from the board, even when they've maybe been a little bizarre at first glance.
BTW I can see why they opted for the more traditional ...Ghosts, but Australian Weird Tales makes far more sense as a title!
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 10:38:41 GMT
Post by David A. Riley on Aug 19, 2010 10:38:41 GMT
The ability Wordsworth have, which sets them head and shoulders above any of our small press publishers, is their ability to get their books out to shops. With print runs of 5000 and a plain and simple book design, it's no wonder they can charge the realistic prices they do.
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Prism
Aug 19, 2010 10:53:30 GMT
Post by dem bones on Aug 19, 2010 10:53:30 GMT
... and a number of their titles are now available as ebooks via Tesco's online. Getting the books into shops is, of course, an advantage but i'm sure Derek mentioned on here that, like the small presses, they do the bulk of their trade via Amazon?
idea.
Along with the aforementioned Scottish, Irish, Australian, Victorian and Edwardian ghosts stories, etc., we've had collections devoted to vampires, werewolves, supernatural sleuths, but, correct me if i'm wrong, there's not yet been a Wordsworth compilation of that popular favourite Witchcraft & Black Magic stories? Public domain and contemporary, a 50/50 split. i wonder if they'd be interested .... ?
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