I just discovered a new artistic hero: John Kenn, who draws monsters and other creepy things on post-it notes.

Is that awesome or what? It reminds me so much of Edward Gorey’s style of illustration, including the macabre themes. I’d kill to snag a collection of note cards with these illustrations on them.

Another source of inspiration for me today is this bit regarding the upcoming San Francisco Zine Fest:

The Zine Fest serves as a vital annual showcase of the diversity, creativity, and ongoing exuberance of the small-press movement. This year the Zine Fest has sold out of exhibitor spaces over two months before the show, a clear sign of the growing interest for zines and small-press publishing. The exhibitors range from established small-press publishing houses including RE/Search Publications, Microcosm, AK Press, Sparkplug Comics, and Tugboat Press to first time self-publishers and creators. Read more

I love zines. And one of those “little pet projects” that I toy with every so often involves my putting together novella-length chapbooks to sell directly online. It’d be great, too, if those chapbooks were illustrated.

Of course, the process of putting together chapbooks is another matter entirely, and for the moment, I simply don’t have the time or energy to look more closely into it. But it’s certainly a fond dream that I have. :)

I found the following in my Google Reader:

The financial troubles at gay and lesbian house Alyson Books have been quietly bubbling up over the past few months as stories of unpaid advances and never published books circulated on blogs and in publishing circles. That quiet was officially broken Wednesday when Michael Musto published a piece in the Village Voice about his book being taken “hostage,” as he put it in his headline, by the publisher. Musto, whose scheduled February 2010 book has yet to be released, described how Alyson has been caught in a downward spiral, in part due to the woes of its struggling parent company, Here Media (formerly known as Regent Media), which owns other gay media properties like Out magazine and the Advocate. Read more

I knew that Regent’s been struggling for a while now, and I half-expected Alyson to fold after news hit a year or so ago about the company’s financial problems and the fact that The Advocate was going to be reduced to nothing more than an insert.

The article referenced in the PW report is over here:

For me, the most horrid situation has been the creative frustration involved with the book (a collection of columns with some original essays). I’d delivered the entire package in the summer of ’09, but I never received any communication about it in terms of editing or marketing except when I anxiously pushed for info. Occasionally, I’d email my editor, “Is the book still happening?” “Oh, yes,” he swore, maybe hoping against hope. “But will there be galleys as promised?” I wondered. “Oh, sure,” he’d say, optimistically. “Probably in two days. It shouldn’t take longer than that.” How was I to know that two days would morph into two weeks, two months, and eventually into the 12th of never? Read more

And judging from the comments posted there, a number of disgruntled insiders (authors and editors, I imagine) are also speaking out. The pressure’s now on the newer crop of small presses devoted to LGBT fiction of any sub-genre or niche (speculative & YA) to keep the LGBT literary world alive even while granddaddies of the market flounder and fade away.

Okay, so my perpetual search for a perfect blog theme (perfect? perfect? what dat be?) yielded the usual symphony of crickets. The good thing is that I finally realized that I could always commission a custom blog header. That way I can stick with a minimalist theme and not worry about clunky designs and page load issues.

In quickie publishing news, here’s another sign of the times with regard to digital publishing:

Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are “shipping” now. President John Prebich said after retail sales fell by 25% in 2009, the company knew that 2010 “would be a defining year,” but rather than show improvement, “sales have been worse.” While returns are down, the company has had a difficult time getting its titles into stores as shelf space for mass market has been reduced, Prebich explained. Read more

Traditional print runs, especially in this day and age, are wasteful and financially impractical. Which is why I don’t understand why so many editors and publishers (even small press pubs) sneer at the POD model. For niche writers like me, POD is a godsend, and in the current economy, it’s better for any publisher to stay afloat.

That said, what I’d love to see more of are POD printers using recycled paper for their books.

As the post header says. :) I’ve never experienced Bastille Day celebrations, being stuck here in California, but if you observe the day, have a great one!

Ah, yes…feed the bunny, please. I still haven’t lost sight of my 1848 student revolutions in Paris historical story idea. Heck, I even bought “Do You Hear the People Sing?” for my iPod as a constant reminder. Then again, I’ve always liked that song, anyway, so being reminded of the story through it works beautifully for me. Heh. But it’ll be written after my Beatlemania story because it’s another angst-ridden thing. I prefer to balance my state of mind by alternating uplifting and downer stories as I go.

In less savory news, I have a feeling that Curse of Arachnaman will end up flopping because I’ve been having the worst time finding people willing to review the book. Rainbow Reviews have blocked authors from submitting material for review, and I have to depend on my publisher to take care of that; hopefully they did. Another review site lost their YA reviewer and have no one to take on the book. Well, they have a prospect, but I’m not holding my breath.* A couple of other reviewers who took up my Masks series in the past seems to have shifted attention to LGBT YA published by mainstream presses, which irks me. Most of these authors already enjoy massive word-of-mouth and other promotional benefits, being published by one of the New York presses. We small press authors, as always, get the short end of the stick.

The only dependable promo blog I turn to is Lee Wind’s. I also managed to establish a relationship with Dreaming in Books and Naughty Book Kitties. And some word of mouth via my backlist. Oh, well.

* EDIT: The YA reviewer alternative is interested in taking up the book. Yay! Still batting zero everywhere else, though.

John from Dreaming in Books just posted his review of The Twilight Gods.

Historical characters are hard to pull off. Some writers use realistic accents that make reading harder. Some make their characters seem snooty or more refined because that’s how they picture the times past. Especially to a modern-day escapist reader, these things can seem annoying. The writer’s goal, if they are writing more for the fiction than the historical part, is to engage the reader, and thus they have to strike a balance between the feel and setting of a historical novel with the ideas and complexities of modern fiction. Hayden Thorne managed to do it well. Norris is an intelligent character with enough charisma and interest to satisfy the feeling of having a ‘modern’ hero, but has the wit and sensibility of someone in this time period in history. Read more

There’s a bit of a cautionary passage for small presses and how they design book covers at the end of the review, and judging from the responses generated by the post, some readers agree.

Oh, and John’s our romantic gay teen, who blogged about his experiences reading romance just recently.

Also just got word from my editor that Desmond and Garrick is scheduled for a winter release. I may be busy with a fresh new set of edits next month.