MIFFLIN COUNTY COKE BLUES

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This week I have been chatting to Isa K, author of Mifflin County Coke Blues, a short story featured in the Other Sides anthology. Many of you will know her from Split Self, her popular webserial, and you may have wondered why the links to Split Self have been suspended.


Me:  So Isa, what is going on with Split Self?

Isa:  After running it on fluffy-seme I had a lot of great feedback about what worked and what didn't. When I start writing I have just a sliver of an idea that develops as it goes. That's what makes web fiction so much fun, the audience helps me develop, gives me ideas, helps me identify the bits that are interesting to people other than myself. But the reality is that I don't always know where I want the story to go when I'm writing it, so I find that, when read as a whole instead of in instalments, my webserials can drag on or come off sloppy and uneven.

For that reason I really didn't have any plans for Split-Self after it was done. Some authors release ebook compilations or POD editions, I really couldn't see myself doing that here. But then I came across a pretty successful romance/erotica publisher by the name of Loose Id. All through the serialization of Split-Self readers made it pretty clear they want more of the romance, but since the central relationship was m/m/f I wasn't 100% sure they were really looking for the story I wanted to tell. And here I am on Loose Id's website reading basically a request for m/m/f stories. Then I looked at their list and realized I had read some of their books before ... suddenly I'm thinking to myself "this is the perfect publisher for Split-Self...."

Happily they agreed, so now I have the opportunity to use all the data collected during the webserial run and really polish the story. Unfortunately, that meant taking the old story down, the timing of which was not ideal for Other Sides.

People who read Split-Self the webserial can expect a tighter, more consistent and sexier book. Loose Id does very professional ebook releases and our tentative release date is early March. Then, depending on sales, a print release may come out.

Me:  You are also known for running fluffy-seme, a publishing platform bringing the work of other webfiction authors to readers. When will the changes be complete and the site ready for relaunch?

Isa:  It's funny because every entrepreneur says the same thing: it will take you longer than you think it will. And... wow ... oh God, yeah. It really does.

When I started fluffy-seme I built it on a very naive concept: give authors a platform with which to build a community around their work. Along the way I realized that this would never work because readers really really hate commenting and will not take amongst themselves in a place where they think the author might see them. So as time went on I began to see things differently: writers didn't want or need a community. Writers want feedback, as much and as detailed as possible, but none of the existing publishing platforms can deliver that.

Really what takes so much time is not doing it, it's doing it right. You look at the websites that survive (the Facebooks -vs- the Friendsters if you will) and it's all about scaling. It's all about how those first few decisions-- from what language to program in to how the database is structured-- played out once the site grew from 100 users to 1,000,000. I've been spending a lot of time talking with programmers, database experts, system architects, trying to flesh out the fundamentals before going forward, but now I feel like things are slowly coming together and hope to have something running again in the spring.

Me:  Readers of Split Self will know Jake. Is Mifflin County Coke Blues a little teaser? Does it give us a taste of Jake’s history?

Isa:  In Split-Self, Jake is a character with a secret, but even once you learn what that secret is he's still a little 'off'. He sees the world in a very unique way that's connected to his background, but every detail about his background you learn makes his motives more mysterious rather than less.

Even though Jake's grandmother never appears in Split-Self, she becomes extremely important in the plot. Mifflin County Coke Blues was an opportunity to explore some of the tensions running through Split-Self from a different angle. Also as a writer I like the juxtaposition of odd topics in the same story and I think MCCB serves as a good introduction to my style in that regard. Coked up Mennonite teenagers and witchcraft, it's not exactly an intuitive combination.

Me:  Other Sides is proving very popular. How did you feel about the opportunity to contribute? Are there authors among your fellow contributors whose work you really love?

Isa:  I'm really happy with Other Sides because of what it represents for webfiction. We're a small community and although we all get along, in the past we have not been very good about organizing. Jan Oda does such incredible work handling all of our big egos on a regular basis she's basically a super hero to me now.

And of course looking at the names on the cover of the finished product, it was really an honor to be asked to contribute (I know that sounds corny). I had my reservations because-- to be honest-- I don't like Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Split-Self always gets labelled as 'urban fantasy' and I try not to be argumentative about this because ultimately it's a silly issue ... but really it's not. To me it's Magical Realism like the work of Haruki Murakami or Gabriel Garcia Marquez: weird stuff happening in the a story otherwise rooted firmly in reality. My other webserials are even LESS Sci-Fi/Fantasy ... to the point where I think most webfic people don't even know they exist. For that reason whenever I'm asked to participate in things like this I'm usually a little reluctant, I've had negative experiences with putting non Sci-Fi/Fantasy works in front of readers clearly expecting Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but Anna Harte, MCM and Jan did such an amazing job curating the anthology that everything flows together nicely. There's variety without being jarring and-- not to be cliché here-- there's really something for everyone.

Personally I thought MeiLin Miranda's Dalston Junction was an absolute gem of a story. I also really liked M. Jones's Junk Drawer ... which is one of those stories that if I had to explain it, I don't know if I could hit on what was so compelling, but as soon as I picked it up it drew me in and I couldn't stop reading it.

Me:  Snap! Two of my favourites, too.

Isa K is a writer and entrepreneur currently residing in New York. Her first traditionally published work Split-Self will be hitting the Kindles and Nooks of perverts worldwide in March. She still manages to scrape together the occasional ridiculous fanfic in between working on her hockey serial Season in the Red and her publishing venture fluffy-seme, which she hopes will rid the world of comment begging forever.

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If you haven't read your own copy yet, it's time you did. Go to Other Sides at ErgoFiction eBooks.

And follow up on the other authors and reviews at:

Oct 14    Guest post Zoe E. Whitten on The Monster Blog.

Oct 15    Review From Chris of  The Pirate’s Bounty.

Oct 17    Guest post Zoe E. Whitten on Louise Bohmer.

Oct 18    Guest post Zoe E. Whitten on Jerrod Balzer’s blog.

Oct 19    Review From Lyda of Day in the Life of an Idiot.

Oct 21    Review From A Fanatic’s Book Blog.

With thanks to:  The Darkest of Lore;  Gabriel Gadfly;   Fuck Yeah Ebooks
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OTHER SIDES

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Ergofiction is proud to announce its first-ever anthology, showcasing the work of several independent, experimental webfiction authors.

Other Sides

Genre: Speculative fiction
Length: 30,000 words / 12 short stories
Release Date: October 14, 2010

[Join the facebook event]

Blurb: The advent of digital publishing has seen the rise of a new breed of writers: independent, experimental and unfettered by convention. This brand new anthology features a small sampling of these very writers, in a speculative fiction collection that will capture the imagination and dazzle the senses. The storytelling genius in this collection is most evidenced by its memorable characters: a young woman haunted by her ex-boyfriend’s sweater, time travelers with a suspicious interest in babies, a gender-changing alien desperate to heal a loved one… In these stories, fourteen independent authors display the imagination, insight and wonderful originality that characterize the unique world of online fiction.

Find it online: Goodreads


Featuring: An introduction by Jan Oda, Editor in Chief, Ergofiction Magazine.

Zoe E. Whitten, Is a self-published writer, who writes a lot of dark or weird stories. Instead of storing them on her hard drive, she posts them online. She has self-published four print books and web-published nine serial fiction stories, four short stories and one direct-to-e-book novel.

G.L. Drummond, Is a gun-toting alien with a fetish for fur and four-legged creatures who writes fiction & tweets. Bonus! She has a katana. Indie author/self-publisher.

MeiLin Miranda, "MeiLin" means "plum jade," which is a pretty mauve-colored jade, but it can also mean "beautiful mugwort." She has been writing non-fiction for thirty-plus years, and fiction since October 25, 2007, when she published her first Doctor Who/Torchwood fanfiction. She is best known now for her serials, An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom and Scryer’s Gulch.

MCM, Madman at Large, wears many hats—often at the same time. He’s a writer, programmer, illustrator, and the creator of the animated TV series “RollBots.” His books are the foundation of 1889 Labs. MCM has a long history in technology and is active in the Free Culture movement.

Lyn Thorne-Alder & Chris Childs, Lyn is author of Addergoole, a contemporary fantasy story with erotic and dark-fantasy elements, a modern-day fairy tale of sorts, without the soft-glow filters to soften the harsh edges, without the safety of "happily ever after" or even the security of knowing that the Prince on his white horse is the good guy. Chris Childs studied engineering, but now runs a retail store, and spends his spare time writing. When not working on Addergoole with Lyn, he enjoys roleplaying.

Isa K. Writer and Owner of fluffy-seme.net

M. Jones, Has been published both online and in print, wrote a script for a radio play, The Withered Leaves of Autumn, and has run a couple of ezines. Webfiction offerings include 314 Crescent Manor and Black Wreath.

Erica Bercegeay & Charissa Cotrill, Irk and Char are members of a studio/brain trust called Infernal Shenanigans, which is the place they find their third brain sometimes. They call that third brain Jess. They co-write the awesome webfiction, The Peacock King.

T.L. Whiteman Began writing at five, with "The Adventures of Okty the Oktopus", in which a nine-legged octopus embarks on a journey to find treasure. The writing is completely illegible (except for the title), but I'm sure it was epic, as is  The Antithesis which has topped out the Top Web Fiction lists for the past several thousand years.

M.C.A. Hogarth, Have you ever wanted to study anthropology... on another world? Learn languages never spoken on Earth? Dreamed of paging through a National Geographic devoted to cultures from other planets? Do you wonder what it's like to be neuter? To shift your shape? To have eggs instead of babies? To have four ears, six fingers... wings? Welcome to the world of M. C. A. Hogarth, author, artist... historian to aliens. Who says xeno-studies are hundreds of years away?

Nancy Brauer, A geologist turned web programmer turned writer and graphic artist, Nancy Brauer has yet to decide what she wants to be when she grows up. She’s been writing, drawing, and cracking open rocks for as long as she can remember. Nancy divides her time between freelance web and graphic design, writing assorted web serials, and helping steer 1889 Labs. Her latest works are the sci-fi/action serial Strandline, the sci-fi/romance Strange Little Band and the paranormal thriller Tori’s Row.

And,

A.M. Harte, Loves chocolate. She is an author with many aspirations, amongst which sampling chocolate from every country in the world and getting published. She is fascinated by the untapped potential of digital content, particularly when it comes to indie publishing and the online fiction community. Anna loves chocolate, and is an editor for Web Fiction Guide and for Ergofiction, runs her own online publishing project, qazyfiction, and a review blog, quillsandzebras. Chocolate.

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ON FREEDOM...

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This week I’ve been reading novels at obooko. There are some fine, fine books on offer there.

It intrigues me, though, that something can niggle away in the back of your mind; you notice it a few times and even grumble about it. Still, it doesn’t quite assume a clear definition until you tell someone else what you’ve seen. They can say then, from the brilliant perspective of the third party, just exactly what it is that is bothering you.

Some, if not all, novels that appear online have proven unsalable.

That does not mean for a single moment that they are bad; the three books I am particularly thinking about are well written. The authors have an ease with words and a fluid style. There is nothing to fault in their ability to write.

However, the publishing industry only deals with two kinds of books: those that speak a universal or important truth in beautifully crafted language, and those that tell a story that readers will enjoy.

The first category is contentious. The second is genre. Publishers publish work within the bounds of certain genres, even to formula, because readers can then easily identify the kind of story they enjoy and assume the reward they are likely to get from reading. They might choose the informative detail of history, or thrill-a-minute action, or the emotional resonances of romance.

What I am finding, over and over in web novels, are works that do not follow genre guidelines. Top hole, I hear you say. Good! About time. Freedom. No artificial restrictions on a damn fine story. I agree.

But what I am seeing is not work with the freedom to range beyond and become sublime; simply work that is not focussed on any goal and fails to become anything in particular. Not all, but some.

If you tell me a story about a couple who rode their bikes, it had better be less than one thousand words – or Literature. I don’t have hours to devote to their progress. I don’t care about their journey.

So you tell me about an historical couple who escape on their horses instead, and I’m interested. How did the stone of the windowsill feel under their fingers? Why was this keep built in stone and not wood? Where would the building have been positioned, that he might leap from a window to clear the pickets of the castle wall?

But we’ve rushed the story past those details now and they have escaped - a couple riding off into danger together. They’ve given each other the eye, perhaps they are a love match. How does she feel, raised as an illegitimate daughter? What are her hopes and fears? How does she feel when she sees him? What emotions are stirred; does she hope, does adrenaline rush, does she fear his dark strength, does he value her courage and beauty?

Well, yes to all of those we are told in summary, but we’ve rushed past those details now, because he has some nonspecific magical powers and they’re caught up in some skirmishes. Every bit as inconsequential as the first pair on their treadlies, and it should not be. The author uses words with skill, so why am I skimming and looking for the story?

Some set off to be one thing, a romance perhaps, and with that resolved and dissolved mid-book they become something else altogether. Some trudge along as a history without any apparent conflict and resolution – just some historical characters going from A to B. Why?

When I first began reading webfiction I asked the community if the removal of editorial dictates would mean the freedom to expand and develop new forms of expression, or if we would simply descend into the blah grey morass of melting pot gruel where the lowest common denominator was the only standard. Opinion then was sharply divided.

I’ve seen both. I’ve been astonished by clear original brilliance and petulant because no one else has done the footwork for me and filed things in the neat boxes I’m used to complaining about.

In the end I suppose that freedom is the freedom to choose what I want to read and to write. Perhaps the dissolution of editorial boundaries will result in a whole new system for defining written work.

However it happens, something will happen. Human beings do not do well when inundated with choices. We are easily overwhelmed. Ad agencies make millions finding new ways to hold their products up front and centre.

If we treasure this new freedom to express words as Art and to walk freely into the marketplace without having to show our resume at the gate, we need to develop an inclusive system which can still assist readers in making an informed choice.

Definition without discrimination. Ha! Has that ever been done in human history?
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