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Business Time – Impatience, Rapid Release, and Saturation

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This has been a busy week in publishing news. A lot of people are talking about authorearnings.com and/or the Digital Book World response to same. Lots of people are talking about that report, but since I’m not a statistician and I don’t have access to Amazon’s actual sales numbers, I’m going to talk about something I *do* know about, and that’s rapid release schedules in genre publishing. Prompted by this New York Times article, I wanted to talk about my observations about reader impatience, quick-to-market releases, and market saturation. Rapid release has been going on in genre publishing for quite some time. The romance category has numerous authors who write incredibly quickly, keeping their names fresh. In SF/F, we have our prolific authors as well. Seanan McGuire, Chuck Wendig, and more.  Angry Robot and several other small/medium publishers have shorter production windows, meaning that the time from acquiring the book to releasing it is less, sometimes much less, than the 12-15 months you might see at other times.

Blog Posts

My Superpower: Christian Baines

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Christian Baines to talk about how his power of recognizing non-humans relates to The Beast Without. —————————— My name’s Christian Baines, and I’m one of a handful of people blessed, cursed, enriched, soundly spanked or however you want to see it with the ability to immediately spot creatures that look human, but aren’t. You know the list. Vampires, werewolves, demons, Kardashians. Kidding. I really wouldn’t know a Kardashian if I fell over one.

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My Superpower: Kyle Burnett

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Kyle Burnett to talk about how the power of Cinematic Superimposition relates to Big Driver. ————————————————– Origin stories for most superheroes involve tragedy of one type or another. My story is no different. My super power is called Cinematic Superimposition. What this does is allow me to see and hear everything in terms of cinematic production value. Growing up, I experienced trauma of both the emotional and physical variety. When I was four years old, I watched my three year old brother fall into a river and drown in front of me. I helplessly watched my father deteriorate from Huntington’s Chorea before finally passing when I was seventeen. In a single year, I cremated my step father, my sister, and another of my little brothers. It happened to be the same year my grandfather passed, but I wasn’t involved in his cremation.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

194. Adam Christopher (a.k.a. the Cosmic Terror): Hang Wire (2013)(An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode194InterviewWAdamChristopher/SandF%20–%20Episode%20194%20–%20Interview%20w%20Adam%20Christopher.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSerial killers, cosmic horrors, and immortals, oh my!  Adam Christopher joins Paul and Shaun to discuss his new novel, Hang Wire.  We discuss the nature of horror in his work, gods and immortals, how real life is stranger than fiction, and so much more. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 194 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Adam’s Website Adam’s Twitter Adam’s Books You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible.  Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Blog Posts

Book Review: CROWN JEWELS by Walter Jon Williams

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Drake Majistral is a minor aristocrat, traveling the area of human space that once was conquered by the alien Khosali but now is independent. He is not particularly well off, even given his rank of nobility, and so he makes his living as a professional “Allowed Burglar.” The rules are relatively simple for Allowed Burglars. Keep what you steal for 24 hours without getting caught; there’s no crime, and you can sell the item free and clear.

Announcements and Errata

The World SF Tour: Fantastic February Dates!

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Here’s what’s on the tour docket for February: Holdovers from January (already dropped):  Torture Cinema review of Transformers 2:  Revenge of the Fallen and an interview w/ Myke Cole (published 2/1 and 2/2, respectively). 2/7 (already dropped):  discussion w/ Tansy Rayner Roberts and Marienne de Pierres on Australian Speculative Fiction 2/11:  discussion w/ Helen Lowe, Norman Cates, & Stephen Minchin on New Zealander Speculative Fiction 2/14:  WISB discussion of Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson) 2/17:  an interview w/ Adam Christopher about Hangwire, out from Angry Robot Books 2/21:  WISB discussion of Babylon 5 (season one; disc three) 3/2 or 3/3 (technically not a Feb. date, though it’s supposed to be):  Torture Cinema review of Sons of Steel So, there you go 🙂

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