|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Well, I want to welcome you all
to what is surely going to be a very fun chat.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen,
CrystalWizard, author, artist, and small press publisher, is editor of
'Flashing Swords' ezine, and publisher of 'The Return of the Sword' an
anthology of stories from 'Flashing Swords'.
|
|
I met Crystal through a student
of mine when he told me she would be publishing his book.
|
|
I immediately did a 'scam
search' being the protective mother hen that I am....
|
|
and she came up quite clean and
quite intriguing.
|
|
Kelly (Don't tell anybody, but
that's her real name...) is not only an artist, and a writer, but a
publisher.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
*grins*
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And she's quite the artist.
I'll be putting up the rather lovely virtual office she created for me on
my website and I'll put a link in the newsletter so you can all admire it.
|
|
So Crystal, let's start from
the first page here...how did you get started in the world of arts and
letters?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
h boy. That's quite a loaded
question
|
|
I started writing in high
school.
|
|
No one was publishing the sort
of books I liked to read, so I decided I'd have to write them myself!
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
( Which is how
we all start )
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
That got side tracked while I
had kids
|
|
then started back up when a
friend of mine, out of the clear blue sky, asked if I'd written anything
for a while,
|
|
which I hadn't. For more than
15 years.
|
|
But I had this image of a dark
street, with a street lamp.... and fog drifting under it
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
so I sat down to describe it
and fell back into the world of writing.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Very cool! So...
|
|
how did this lead to Flashing
Swords, your magazine?
|
|
Flashing Swords
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
That was a very long,
convoluted route.
|
|
Part way through the 3rd book
in the series I started with that foggy street, I decided I wanted to
publish them but I didn't want to give up control
|
|
so I went down the
self-publishing path. In the course of trying to find people to market to,
I discovered SFReader.com
|
|
the largest spec-fiction site
on the net
|
|
and the forums
|
|
which are full of writers and
small press publishers. It's a great incubator.
|
|
I hung around there for a
while, a couple of years actually,
|
|
and one day, the previous
publisher of Flashing Swords posted a notice. He was going to give the
magazine away and wanted people to pm him.
|
|
I did.
|
|
He gave it to me.
|
|
And I suddenly had a magazine
on my hands
|
|
and no staff.
|
|
Fortunately we've got good
people on SFReader and my assistant editor, Jason Waltz, was more than
willing to become part of my team.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That's about three full time
jobs right there.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes.
|
|
.
|
At least.
|
|
I would be very lost without
both Jason and Mike Turner, the other editor on our team.
|
|
Jason's also the editor of
Return of the Sword
|
|
the anthology that Flashing
Swords press is releasing on March 15
|
|
so he's only slightly busy ;)
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
http://cyberwizardproductions.googlepages.com/returnofthesword
|
|
That's the link to the
anthology.
|
|
So how long have you published
Flashing Swords now?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I took it over last August and
our first issue was November. That was FS #8. We just put out issue 9 on
the first of Feb.
|
|
So around 6 months or so.
|
|
writeaway
|
Hi Kelly. As a small press
publisher, what type stories do you publish? What are your pet peeves?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Flashing Swords has very
specific guidelines. FS publishes Sword and Sorcery, Swashbuckling
adventure, Heroic Fantasy, Sword and Planet and epic fantasy
|
|
Cyberwizard Productions, which
is my publishing company, has several imprints
|
|
so I'm open to most types of
writing. My biggest pet peeve is writers who talk negatively about
themselves, and give up when it gets tough.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
What are your imprints,
Crystal? What do you enjoy publishing?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Ancient Tomes is the fantasy
imprint.
|
|
Dimenundo Press is the poetry
imprint.
|
|
Flashing Swords Press is the
imprint for the books being put out in conjunction with the magazine.
|
|
Fireside Mysteries Press is
the Cozy imprint.
|
|
What do I enjoy publishing....
|
|
that depends on my mood.
|
|
charie'
|
What do you mean by
"imprint"?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Think of it like a folder on
your computer :)
|
|
The main company, Cyberwizards
Productions, funds all the books
|
|
but to organize stuff
|
|
there's a sub group for
mysteries, one for poetry, one for fantasy.
|
|
Makes it easier for me to
categorize things
|
|
and for the readers to do so
as well.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
How many books have you
published, so far, Crystal? This is all pretty new, right?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
It's fairly new. I have 4
books in print, the 5th coming out march 15, and several more that are contracts
in authors hands but still being revised manuscripts.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Good for you! Nice start.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Thanks :)
|
|
rae
|
Do all your book gets printed
online only, or do you have hard copies of the books?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
We put out both print and e
versions of the books.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So how are you distributing?
Through the website and amazon.com? Other ways? You have a VERY nice
contract by the way. That's partly why I looked you up.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
The printer I'm using is Lightningsource.
By going through them I have an automatic relationship with Baker &
Taylor, Gardner's books, Bertram's books, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and
Ingram.
|
|
Or people can buy them from me
direct.
|
|
Thanks for the compliment on
the contract :)
|
|
I can't compete with the large
advances from people like Tor, so I figured I could offer better benefits
to the authors.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Lightning Source seems to be
the best option with the small press people I’ve talked to. And
that's the big balancer between NY and small press.
|
|
Among other things.
|
|
Benefits, I mean.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
LSI is an exceptional printer.
They do both digital and offset printing.
|
|
They have excellent quality
control and
|
|
they are actually cheaper than
offset for smaller print runs.
|
|
writeaway
|
plus I don't have to warehouse
unless I want to.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
even the big houses are
starting to use LSI
|
|
|
|
|
|
rae
|
Are the print books on demand
only, or do you keep a stock for the authors?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I can do either. the
bookstores can order as many copies as they want straight from any of the
distributors
|
|
so there's no real reason to
warehouse.
|
|
The only reason for that,
really, is to get the price break
|
|
but then you have to deal with
keeping the books safe as well as moving them.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And then you run into tax
issues. Which is why the NY midlist is gone.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
So mostly, we leave it to the
bookstores to order the number that they want. that way, they don't wind up
with more on their shelves than they feel they can sell
|
|
and you get far fewer returns
|
|
dianne
|
How long does it take from
signed contract to book on the bookshelves?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
A minimum of 6 months. and
that's if you have everything polished and ready to go.
|
|
I've got one author who was
looking at 2009, but is probably not going to have everything ready till
2010 at the rate she's moving.
|
|
rae
|
So your printer could make books
in large type for low vision readers?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Any printer can do that.
That's dealt with when the book is typeset.
|
|
You can do that with the
printer attached to your computer at home.
|
|
Just use a large font.
|
|
sailor
|
Can you elaborate on the
benefits you offer?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Mary, you've seen the contract
|
|
why don't you point out what
you liked the most about it?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
It's the standard SFWA
contract. Decent royalty for the authors, percentage of cover price, not
net price...
|
|
I don't recall your precise
numbers, but they were neither unrealistic nor mercenary.
|
|
And it was fair.
|
|
rae
|
In reference to the large print
books. I was referring to your books that are ordered. Not the ezine
copies.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Something that I offer, that I
don't believe anyone else does, is the ability for the author to buy copies
of their book for just the cost of printing it and shipping it to them.
|
|
And it's spelled out in the
contract that if they sell those copies, they keep 100% of the profits.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Have you thought about doing
large print for the vision impaired readers.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I haven't had any requests for
large print books, actually. I wouldn't be adverse to it, if there was a
need.
|
|
If it was just one person that
wanted a large print book, though, I'd probably set up a single job with
someone other than LSI
|
|
and customize it for them.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Hard to say. I’ve had a
number of fan requests from the blind community for either large type or
audio books.
|
|
I'm not sure how large the
market is.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
In regard to rae's question:
|
|
I'd have to set up a different
job with the printer specifically for large print. they couldn't take one
job and print it several different ways.
|
|
cajunguy
|
How many books do you anticipate
publishing in 2008?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
4 to 6 if everything goes
well. along with 3 more issues of the magazine.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You like a busy life do you?
:-)
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
*grin* yeah. And that's in my
spare time ;)
|
|
charie'
|
How do you determine the retail
price for a book?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
The author of the book and I
discuss what sort of profit he/she would like to see and we set the retail
price based partly on that and partly on the market.
|
|
If it's my personal book, then
I try to set it pretty close to what others of it's type are selling for.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And there's the cost of
production. :-)
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes.
|
|
rae
|
What is a reasonable profit an
author could make?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Define reasonable.
|
|
rae
|
Perhaps between 2-20 cents or
1-2 dollars? I don't know, as I haven't sold anything yet.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Okay, let me use Return of the
Sword as an example then.
|
|
Jason and I wanted to make our
money back from the cost of putting it together and also fund the next
anthology out of it's sales.
|
|
It's going to cost about 7
dollars a book to print
|
|
so we set the retail price at
16.50
|
|
we give a 40% discount to
bookstores and distributors
|
|
so 16.50 – 7 = 8.50
|
|
is the profit. then 60% of
that is what we get if we don’t' sell the copies our selves (5.10)
|
|
then we divide that into three
chunks
|
|
so that's going to give us less
than 2 dollars a book each, and the rest to fund the next anthology
|
|
RotS is a thick book.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
100K words
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And that is about all
you'd get each on a NY royalty by the way.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
And that is why
|
|
we could have set the retail
price at 20.00
|
|
but then we're chasing away a
lot of customers.
|
|
They might want the book...
but they won't want to pay that much.
|
|
so better to sell a lot of
copies for a small amount of profit each
|
|
than a few copies for a large
amount each.
|
|
sailor
|
I assume we're talking paperback
and not hardback?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes. Paperback. But the principal
is the same. The production cost of a hardback is more expensive
|
|
so the base price is higher.
|
|
After that, though, your
concern is market. you don't want to price too high, even on a hardback or
your books will make nice decorations on the bookstore selves.
|
|
cajunguy
|
"Novice" question.
What is the difference between digital and offset printing? Not the
process, but the results.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
There's very little.
|
|
The color might be just
slightly different on the book cover.
|
|
Digital is less forgiving too.
|
|
johnw
|
What is the difference between a
trade paperback and hardcover as far as marketability?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
That depends heavily on your
subject matter.
|
|
People that want pulp fiction
want soft cover books that they can stuff in a bag
|
|
they aren't likely to be buying
many hard cover books.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I can tell you that library sales
account for a large share of hardcover sales.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes. Libraries want books
that'll hold up well.
|
|
Paperback books don't hold up
nearly as well as hardback.
|
|
charie'
|
What is your opinion of the new
tall, thin paperbacks?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
they fall off my bookshelf
about as easily as the fat ones do.
|
|
I personally don't have any preference
for sizes. But most people have bookshelves that are designed for certain
sizes of books. you put your book in a size that doesn't fit on their shelves
and they might not buy it.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
My apologies, I guess I posted
to the crowd and not directly to our host and guest: I commented back on
the pricing and said "the printing cost is just that - printing. We
also try to recover the cost of payouts to authors and artists, so there
really isn't any profit on the first 250 books sold."
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Mary, that would be Jason.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I sort of guessed. :-)
|
|
Hi, Jason.
|
|
Chip in whenever you wish.
|
|
dianne
|
What knocks your socks off in a
story?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
That really depends on the
story. Something that'll get my emotions engaged,
|
|
make me laugh, or cry, pull me
into the character.
|
|
gail
|
What are your basic criteria
when choosing which books to publish?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
First, it depends on the type
of book. If it's poetry, it needs to touch me some how.
|
|
If it's fiction, it has to be
a good story. It has to hold my attention all the way through.
|
|
If it's an article or essay,
it has to be informative and factual.
|
|
The fastest way to get me to
ask you for a revision of an article is to send me something you didn't
research
|
|
with facts that aren't
correct.
|
|
If you're going to write about
the mating habits of a mongoose, you can expect me to check your facts
|
|
so you best check them first.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
You're very forgiving honey...
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I am?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
That will get you a permanent
rejection from most NF editors!
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Not me. I see no reason to
toss something out that needs work but is good
|
|
I just toss it back and say
fix it.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Good for you.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
And I usually go into detail
about what to fix too .
|
|
one of the jobs of Small Press
is to train authors. And to give them a start becoming published.
|
|
Guaranteed, if I put you in
print, you're going to work for it and earn it
|
|
and your writing is going to
shine,
|
|
but I'm not going to write it
for you. I do line edits.
|
|
I'll work with you
|
|
and when we’re done
it'll be tight and well written.
|
|
It might take you two years
(or more)
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
but if you don't give up, I
won't give up.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Crystal, can I let you do the
formal introduction?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
sure
|
|
This is Jason Waltz. He's the
assistant managing editor of Flashing Swords Magazine and Flashing Swords
press
|
|
he's also the editor who has
worked a real miracle putting together Return of the Sword
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
and my right hand.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Thanks for joining us, Jason!
|
|
writeaway
|
Hi Jason.
|
|
frightwrite07
|
Do you plan on giving the e-zine
away when you're ready?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The ezine is ongoing of course.
|
|
How do you fund it?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Right now, the funding comes
out of my pocket.
|
|
Flashing Swords isn't just an
e-zine. We publish a print version, an electronic version and we make it available
to read on our website.
|
|
We pay 1 cent a word to a cap
of 60$. This is Jason Waltz. He's the assistant managing editor
of Flashing Swords Magazine and Flashing Swords press.
|
|
He's also the editor who has
worked a real miracle putting together Return of the Sword
|
|
and my right hand.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
As far as the magazine goes, theme came with it when
Kelly took over - Flashing Swords was created to perpetuate heroic fiction,
specifically sword and sorcery.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
My task was to create an anthology that hopefully
attains multiple goals - not only directs attention to Flashing Swords the
ezine, but to Flashing Swords Press the publisher of heroic tales.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
The cover is great, too. http://cyberwizardproductions.googlepages.com/returnofthesword
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Johnny Perkins painted us that
cover
|
|
charie'
|
As an artist, do you create book
covers too?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I don't know how Jason found
him, but he's an incredible artist
|
|
yes. I do book covers.
|
|
You can see the covers I’ve
done by visiting my gallery on artwanted.com and clicking on the Covers for
others album.
|
|
http://artwanted.com/crystalwizard
|
|
I assembled the cover for RotS
but Jason designed it.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
Kelly was very very cool to - I'll be honest here - a
guy who'd never done an anthology before. She gave me free rein and I went
after it with gusto, claiming stories that appealed to me but that I
believe also summarize heroic fantasy - the one genre where readers can
still feel free - free to be an underdog with a chance to win, not just
survive, but actually win.
|
|
writeaway
|
Kelly's artwork is as good as
her writing :)
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
*smile* thanks.
|
|
sailor
|
How much input does the author
have on cover design?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
the author has as much input,
at least with my company, as they want.
|
|
I won't demand that an author
work with the cover artist if they don’t' want to
|
|
but in my experience from both
the author's side and the artist's side
|
|
if the author is involved, and
is happy with the cover the entire book is much better.
|
|
bdurham
|
I can vouch for that.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Bruce?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
One of your authors?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes.
|
|
Bruce Durham
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Cool...which title and when is
it out?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
he's our featured author in
the current issue of Flashing Swords
|
|
His story in FS #9 is Night of
the Meld
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Welcome, Bruce!.
|
|
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Bruce, would you send Mary a
list of your publication credits as a question, please.
|
|
bdurham
|
The Marsh God, The Catacombs of
Dharwataqan, Homecoming
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Nice, Bruce.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
All of those are in past
issues of FS and you can find them in our archives.
|
|
info
|
Do you do most all genres? Or
are there some that you don't print?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I won't print erotic.
|
|
I don't print horror above a
certain level.
|
|
I won't print slasher
|
|
there are plenty of other
places that put out that stuff.
|
|
I don't want to read it and I
have to read everything I edit
|
|
and I do line edits on every
single story that comes across my desk.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
Bruce is too modest - he won the
Preditors&Editors award for best short 2005 for The Marsh God, and
another one for a story I can't recall at the moment.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Good for you, Bruce!
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
He's an exceptional author.
|
|
bdurham
|
The Marsh God began as a
Longridge lesson a couple years ago.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Everyone really needs to visit
the FS home page and read Night of the Meld.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Wow, cool! Small world eh?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
A lot of the people on
SFReader are evidently former students of yours, Mary :)
|
|
and have nothing but high
praise for your classes.
|
|
bdurham
|
I'll say. The other winning
story was Homecoming
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Very cool about the win!
|
|
Nice going, Bruce.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
You can also find Bruce on the
Official Robert Howard forums.
|
|
snow
|
I don't know if either of you
have been ask this, But what is the goal of your magazine/ ezine
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Also, anyone that is serious
about writing genre fiction really should create an account and hang out on
the SFReader forums. even if you just lurk http://forum.sfreader.com/
|
|
Flashing Swords main goal is
to provide entertainment and
|
|
a secondary goal is to get
people reading again.
|
|
Too many people are not
reading these days.
|
|
And the third goal is to
provide a place for new authors to hone their skills and build publication
credits.
|
|
You won't get into the pages
with a sloppy story.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
And short form entertainment is a key market - both
digitally and in print.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
You'll get it back covered in
red ink with a request for a revision.
|
|
You can ask Bruce about my
line edits ;)
|
|
rae
|
There are many of us that must
do our reading on tapes. Would you consider reading for those who are
visually disabled? It is a great need.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
What about podcasting, Kelly?
Have you thought of that?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I'd love to. Audio books are
something I would like to do. And podcasting. Would someone like to
volunteer to teach me how?
|
|
I don't know what equipment to
get or software or how to go about it.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
And Kelly will definitely make you earn your way in -
while she is actually a very demanding editor, she is one of the most
accepting editors I know of
|
|
charie'
|
You only do revisions on stories
with potential, not the slush, right?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
All stories that come to my
desk are slush.
|
|
That's just a term that means
pile of stories I need to make a decision on
|
|
and
|
|
all stories have potential
|
|
as long as the plot is good.
|
|
Some might take more work to
polish some than others
|
|
but they all have potential,
just don't send me something that doesn't fit the theme of the magazine.
|
|
lavinia
|
What are your requirements for
poetry publications?
|
|
frightwrite07
|
*What is your cut-off point for
horror?* growls frightwrite.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Poetry in the magazine or
poetry books?
|
|
Horror: I don’t want to
see the blood dripping.
|
|
Scare me without grossing me
out.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Lavinia just let me know she
was wondering about books of poetry. What you look for in that....or do you
publish single poet collections?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
I've got one poetry book that
I've just started working on at the moment. It's two poets, husband and
wife, and a collection of poems that they wrote back and forth.
|
|
Single poet collection is
fine.
|
|
I want the poems to touch me
in some way.
|
|
If I read through a poem then
have to ask you to explain it, it didn’t' touch me.
|
|
snow
|
How about Vampires and ghosts?
So they have a little place?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Depends on if you are writing
Masquerade or traditional vamps
|
|
and what you're doing with the
ghosts.
|
|
There are lots and lots and
lots of Vampires and gothic books on the market.
|
|
If you're going to send me
something, make it unique
|
|
not yet one more of the 1000
clones that exist right now.
|
|
jitterbug
|
Do you do take any religious
pieces?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Probably not. we're not an
inspirational company but I guess it would depend on how intense the piece
was.
|
|
lottiemae
|
How can you tell if your plot is
good?
|
|
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
How can you tell if your plot
is good...
|
|
Have other people read it and
make comments. See if they got bored, understood what you wrote and see the
same images when reading that you saw when writing.
|
|
If they hand it back to you
and ask where the rest of it is... but you thought it was finished... you
have a problem.
|
|
If they refuse to give it
back, you've got a good story.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
I beg to differ, Kelly Christiansen! We are too an
inspirational company!
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
ROFL
|
|
Cute, Jason ;)
|
|
k c morlock
|
I cannot imagine 'not reading'
why is this happening, or not happening, in your opinions?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
First, people are busy.
Second, TV is easy. Third, computers are addictive and there's a black hole
in front of each one that sucks all the time away.
|
|
In order to sit down with a
book you have to have time, be undistracted and undisturbed.
|
|
It's harder and harder for a
lot of people to find that these days.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Or at least have time.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Yes.
|
|
rae
|
I am currently working on a
suspense story, but am finding that I am adding more sex scenes. Does this
turn off an editor/publisher?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
It would me. Are they
necessary? if they are necessary, is it also necessary to go into detail?
|
|
Think of old movies.
|
|
The couple would start to kiss
and... fade to fireworks in the sky.
|
|
You KNEW what was happening
|
|
you didn't have to see it.
|
|
Same thing with a book.
|
|
You don’t HAVE to read
the details
|
|
to know what they are doing.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Here's Jason's take on
non-readers:
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
Short term attention spans
inspired by/ initiated by/ created by flashing LIGHTS (not swords)
entertainment - movies, tv, video games, music videos. and don't take me
wrong either - I have nothing against those things, use them myself, but in
moderation and never in place of reading
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
What Jason said. I agree
completely.
|
|
We have a generation that has
grown up on instant entertainment
|
|
and a book isn't instant.
|
|
You can't fast forward it.
|
|
k c morlock
|
So you don't recommend writing
'down' to readers, just make it captivating?
|
|
By 'down' I mean they aren't
resisting reading because they can't read.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
No.
|
|
I do not recommend writing
'down' to readers any more than I recommend talking 'down' to kids.
|
|
People will learn only by
encountering things that stretch their abilities.
|
|
So they might not understand
it when they read it
|
|
they can go look it up.
|
|
They will LEARN
|
|
and they'll enjoy it more.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And Jason had an addendum to
the issue of non-readers and no time:
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
Which is why short form fiction should make a comeback -
|
|
if we can market it right, appeal to the right people,
at the right moment - location, location, location can be replaced by timing,
timing, target in publishing.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
And short fiction IS making a
comeback.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
It is
|
|
Thankfully.
|
|
I want to plug a new book for
the sci-fi people in the audience if I might?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Please do.
|
|
We're almost out of time.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Before I do, Mary, do you like
Ray Bradbury?
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I love him. :-)
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Then you'll like this book.
Colin P. Davies, who has been around for a very long time and published in Asimov’s
and other places
|
|
has just released a book
|
|
Tall
Tales on the Iron Horse
|
|
a collection of his short
stories.
|
|
I got to do the cover for it.
|
|
It's excellent
|
|
and Colin writes very similar
to Ray.
|
|
The publisher is Bewildering
Press
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
It's available on Amazon
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I haven't met Colin, I don't
think. I do know his work. Who put the collection out? And congrats on the
cover!
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Bewildering Press put it out.
|
|
Thanks :) I had a blast with
the cover
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
I like his stuff. I'll look for
it.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Colin's a great guy, an
exceptional author.
|
|
It's a wonderful book.
|
|
You can find more of his stuff
in the Bewildering Stories archives at http://bewilderingstories.com
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
So, Kelly, we're almost out of
time. You're more than welcome to join Jason in the auditorium after...you
have a very active audience!
|
|
'I'm going to edit transcripts
and get this posted.
|
|
Any closing words for folk
here?
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
Sit down and write :)
|
|
Don't just talk about wanting
to
|
|
Thanks for having us Mary.
|
|
writeaway
|
DO read Kelly's books. They are
a mixture of sci-fi, sword and sorcery; fast paced and visual.
|
|
ginas
|
Thanks Kelly, I really enjoyed
this and can't wait to check out your sites.
|
|
Kelly Christiansen
|
It's been a lot of fun. I'll
be happy to log back in as me and go into the auditorium.
|
|
Jason Waltz
|
Thanks for letting me join in! this was fun! Thanks for
the questions folks.
|
|
Mary Rosenblum
|
Thank you both for coming!
Jason I'm sorry we ran into bugs with the stage.
|
|
I'll invite you both back next
year and you can tell us how things are going, okay?
|
|
Thank you all for coming and
join us Sunday night for our casual chat.
|
|
It's a lot of fun.
|
|
Good night Kelly and Jason,
good night all!
|