or two.
In fact they're popping up everywhere.
Being the cynic that I am, I am inclined to think that the slide into the traditional has begun here among the avant-garde. Without constant heat everything slips toward comfortable warmth and the absence of fire here in anything more than isolated flare-ups and brilliant bursts means that change, inevitable change, will bring with it comfort rather than revolution.
That’s okay. I hoped for more, but I have been wrong before and will be again.
Nothing wrong with the known. Nothing at all.
Publishers and editors mean that the cashed up punter can have some confidence that the product they buy is of a high standard. Just to know someone other than Nanna said, “You know, this is all right!” means a lot to most. Readers, for the last 300 years, have expected good covers, good grammar, good stories, good punctuation and a reasonable standard of literacy and shit like that, innit?
Hopefully, there is a fabulous middle ground for independent authors: access to programs which allow them to bring their own work to their readership in a number of formats; and also, access to publishers who do not impose external formulae, but do still bring the raw work into a form which meets the wider readership’s expectations. And when it comes to publishing independent books – what books they are!!
1889 Labs has really begun to hit its straps with a number of titles appearing in recent weeks, all of them worth your time and money.
Intern With a Vampire. Book one in the Vampire General series by Kit Iwasaki;
Bears, Recycling and Confusing Time Paradoxes. A guide to moral living in examples, from Greg X Graves;
The Archivists by MCM - livewritten;
Sendai Calling, short story by MCM;
Hungry For You Collection of shorts by AMHarte;
Kidney Disease Gave Me Brain Damage, Typhoon, and
The Vector.
Jennifer Armstrong, owner of Free Online Novels directory has just released her newest YA novel,
Death Among the Dinosaurs. If you ever wondered what it is your Christian friends believe about creation and evolution, here is an eminently readable novel that discusses just that.
Bibliotastic continues to draw in more brilliant titles from around the globe in a wide genre selection.
Other Sides remains listed among the ‘Editors’ Favourites’ and is proving popular with readers. And Letitia’s
Petra is still holding its own in the ‘Most Downloaded’ list. Thank you to all the readers who were kind enough to comment and star-click. I am so glad you enjoyed the story. You’ll find more on the sidebar just over yonder.
And don’t forget
Dreamers of Dreams 2011, an anthology of web serials from Alexander Hollins at
Dream Fantastic. If you snuck a peek and were disconcerted by the lack of cover art and small print, go back for a second look. All has been remedied, and the selection of work represented is brilliant. Check
Cold Ghost by Eva Shandor. It’s one of my favourites.
I have been poetting on
flashing by. You know, the trouble with poetry is, hmmmm:
Writing prose – essays, text, stories, novels -- is an art form, no doubt. If someone has a grain of talent, the skills can be learned to turn that grain into a sizable rock. There are accepted means of making a collection of words work together on a page to bring enjoyment to a reader. And, as we have learned from some of the most popular print novels and again in the most popular digital fiction – near enough is often good enough. A writer of prose does not have to be any better than his audience. He just has to tell a story they want to hear in a way they can understand.
But poetry is Art. ART. Poetry is right up there next to creation as the finest expression of genius in humanity. [This is why a lot of poets are complete tosspots] But, when you read words, often very few words, that are able to move you profoundly; when they are able to present the world you know through a completely different lens…. That is just soooooooo Art.
I know now what I knew a long while ago. I have fun playing with words and sounds, but I am not a poet.
As always, for poetry that will lift the top of your head right off, or bring you to tears, check
Year Zero Writers. Also,
flowers of sulfur , also,
Gabriel Gadfly, and my new favourite, who can make me laugh – which is always good,
Peter Greene.
There you go, goode folke. Read away. FREE! Most of it is free, so fill yourself up on words. They are the bread of life. Eat drink and be merry. [Find a stash of Cab Merlot, or a G&T, or some serious Hungarian white spirit]
Cheers,
Lxxx
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