Month: August 2007

Jane Espenson writes:

By the way, we need a new joking way to refer to the internet, as both “internets” and “interweb” have gone clammy on us. Or perhaps the joke — that some oldsters still struggle with the concept — is simply outdated. Too bad; those were heady days.

Has “series of tubes” passed its sell-by date? I mean, we’re living in a culture where even “jump the shark” has jumped the shark, so it’s hard to keep track.

From the Sci-Fi Wire:

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and Josh Olson are preparing Oz, a revisionist take on the L. Frank Baum books that hatched The Wizard of Oz, Variety reported. Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow Pictures are teaming up for the movie.

Seriously, how many more revisionist takes on The Wizard of Oz do we really need?

(This was crossposted to the Kaleidotrope weblog)

Someone recently asked me if Kaleidotrope had won any awards, or if any of the stories that I’ve printed have gone on to be anthologized elsewhere. To the best of my knowledge, this hasn’t happened just yet. The first issue received a couple of genuinely nice reviews, and I’ve received some great feedback from contributors and subscribers alike on both issues, but awards and greater glories thus far elude me.

Then again, Kaleidotrope is only a little more than a year (and two issues) old. It existed nowhere but in my own head before April of 2006, when I sent out my first call for submissions. And the quality of those submissions — not just from award winners like Bruce Boston and Bruce Holland Rogers (whose presence1 alone is enough to surprise me sometimes), but from everyone — continues to amaze me. It’s why I keep doing this. Sure, I’d love to see the stories and poems I’ve printed go on to win awards and earn the sort of recognition I think they deserve, but the reason I print them is simple: I think they’re really cool and I want to share them with others. And, if any greater glories do await Kaleidotrope as a whole, better they be for that than for anything else, right?

Still, there are things I’d like to see happen and other things I’m considering:

  • I’d like to see my subscriber base grow, and see Kaleidotrope made available in more locations. Right now, the distribution is limited, with the zine available only through the main website and, in the real world, at Quimby’s in Chicago2. A subscription discount might help. Only a fool goes into zine publishing hoping to turn a tidy profit, but a few extra dollars wouldn’t hurt. And a few more readers would be phenomenal.
  • I’d like to expand the focus of Kaleidotrope somewhat, seeing a wider range of stories and genres, while at the same time emphasizing the things that I think make this zine unique.
  • I’d like to take a more pro-active approach to marketing Kaleidotrope and getting the word of its existence out there. To that end, I sometimes feel like maybe I should start thinking about attending some conferences — even if it’s not in anything like an “official” capacity, with a table in the dealers room and a stack of copies ready to sell. I toyed very briefly with the idea of attending last year’s World Fantasy convention in Austin. (A work-related conference I ultimately did not attend would have had me in town the week before.) This year’s convention is closer to home, in New York, but I don’t think that’s going to happen either. Maybe next year in Calgary? Honestly, I’m a complete neophyte when it comes to conventions (and probably not the most outgoing of sorts), so I really don’t know where to begin.
  • I’d like to reach out to past contributors and receive more feedback on past issues — what’s worked, what hasn’t.
  • I’d like to sell at least one t-shirts. C’mon, they’re really neat!

But the chief thing, I think, is to continue publishing quality writing and artwork, and working to continually make Kaleidotrope a better zine.

1 In the October 2006 and October 2007 issues, respectively.

2 Issue #2 is available through their website, at any rate.

Via Betty, I learn the shocking news that

One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday.

Not a single book. I’m no stranger to the fact that people are reading less and that book sales are not exactly booming. But seriously? Not one book in a whole year? You could read just one page a day, and you’d still be able to get through at least one book.

Twenty-seven percent of Americans… That’s roughly the same percentage who still approve of President Bush. Coincidence?

I just finished Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (this is why I’m not asleep), and I think it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. I only hope that I can put some of what he writes about into practice in my own life and eating habits:

But imagine for a moment if we once again knew, strictly as a matter of course, these few unremarkable things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what, in a true accounting, it really cost. We could then then talk about some other things at dinner. For we would no longer need any reminding that however we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we’re eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world.