Guess what? Dagstine’s not in it, despite his claim that he is. However, Kaolin’s story got a mention on the cover. How many other fake credits does Larry the Lummox claim? Inquiring minds want to know.
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I wonder if anyone’s contacted the editor and mentioned Dagstine’s transgression.
If not, they ought to.
By the way, since this is the second one that he has lied about, I am forced to wonder if nearly everything about him is both a hallucination and a lie.
This is from the blog of one of the two guys behind Escape Velocity:
His blog entry omits Kaolin, but otherwise jibes with the information in the TOC. If the owner of that blog checks the WordPress tag for his magazine, this entry will show up on the list, along with his and Larry’s entries on the topic.
*edit*
Dagstine was in Issue 1. I’ll give him credit for that, but he’s not in this issue.
No, I was accepted in January. It appears that I’m not in this particular issue (I too am confused about this; I still have the acceptance email); I will contact the editor about this though.
Rusty, I’ve reported you to Support because of what Arcane Archiver did and how many laws have been broken. You are in A LOT of trouble.
Lawrence Dagstine
Ah, so now you’re admitting it. Lovely.
Larry:
There were no laws broken. It’s not illegal to post an IP address. If it was, then Usenet, email, all peer to peer programs, and every other program and service on the Internet that shows the IP address in full plain view would be illegal.
On top of that, Rusty didn’t give me the IP address. I saw it in Nicky’s post on his blog and Rusty confirmed that it was you.
However, it is illegal to email someone and threaten them like you did, even if it is Nick Pacione. I also have a civil case against you, since you made a point of trying to blame me for it when it was actually you.
You might want to think about all of that before I get cranky and offer to help Nicky contact *YOUR* ISP.
Also, did you send any emails to Nicky from your place of work?
Think carefully, if you’re capable of doing so. Barring that, go fuck yourself, psycho.
Be careful, Rusty. He’s one bad mamma jamma, this guy.
Maybe he needs another sale to Asimov’s.
Oh, wait. He didn’t sell a story to Asimov’s.
First, I have just emailed the editor of Escape Velocity Magazine concerning this post. I am as much surprised as anyone, because I was asked to edit the story that should have been (or was supposedly) accepted.
Next, moving on:
Arcane, you broke an even bigger law (this goes beyond the whole IP thing). Are you that blind? You committed a cyber crime worse than emails for laughs. This goes beyond cyber-bullying. You really don’t know what YOU did, did you? And I said the words “hunch” and “don’t quote me on that” to call you out jokingly — I NEVER outright accused you. I said it jokingly on Shocklines and those other places.
I had even said, JOKINGLY, “I could be wrong” — there was no blame.
Now, YOU are publicly threatening me concerning Nick Pacione in the post above, and I feel threatened, and I do not like to feel threatened, Arcane. I do not like to be investigated by little insignifcant trolls with empty lives like you. You have no civil case. Print screen your balls off. And print screen this, too, while you’re at.
So, while on the subject, I could go and get my friend, who is a computer expert, and publish YOUR address, YOUR private info, YOUR zip code, and look you up? Make it public? And whatever else I forgot to mention. Point is, Rusty has to clean up this mess… otherwise WordPress support will.
Dude, you are PSYCHOTIC, you have passed average trolldom and entered the world of Internet Addiction — even Odark knows it. IP traps and duping? Uncool, man. Practical jokes are one thing, shit like you pulled Arcane… will only widen the mess.
You’ll be back to leave your final word.
People like you always do.
This is better than going to the movies.
*eats popcorn*
And as a side note, Nicky already knows… and he laughed it off. And he ain’t too happy with you either.
If I had a dime for every time one of these chowderheads got all butthurt and threatened to get my blog shut down, I could retire.
This time it’s Lunkhead Larry, for something I didn’t even do.
Larry, take your ball and go home.
Hey, all I know is you, Lawrence, have made more than one claim about being in something and you weren’t. So you might want to clean up your act there. And last I checked posting an IP is hardly a legal offense.
You really need a new schtick. You’ve used that “back to leave your final word” thing a few times already. Like I said the last time, you’re projector seems to be running, ’cause you’re projecting all over the place.
Short version: You’re extremely butthurt and embarrassed.
Long version: Larry, are you really *THAT* stupid? There’s nothing illegal with saying “You might want to think about all of that before I get cranky and offer to help Nicky contact *YOUR* ISP”.
It is, however, illegal to threaten and harrass people by email, and you got caught.
And yes, if I wanted to, I would have a civil case against you for accusing me of sending threatening email to Nicky when it turns out that you’re the one who actually sent the email.
As for that OHMYGOD! I COULD GET MY COMPUTER EXPERT FRIEND TO HAX0R YOU!!!!ELVENTY crap? You sound like some 12 year old kid on AOL threatening his WOW buddies.
DUMBASS.
No one will ever accuse Dagstine of being intelligent. Clever, yes. But never intelligent.
Fuck off, Dagstine.
Putting his money where his mouth is has never been his strong point.
As many ISPs still assign “dynamic IP addresses”, even to those using broadband, your IP address is not _your_ IP address. In terms of privacy, it is equivalent to a public telephone booth. Of course, if you have a static address, you can stop the rest of the internet from ever getting it. This has the natural consequence of you not being on the internet, Dagstine, which would be for the benefit of all.
Public stating an intent to commit, or have someone else commit, cyber crime is another matter. Try not to look too surprised when the FBI seizes your computer.
Dagstine has yet to make good on any of his threats. He’s your normal, everyday, garden variety internet bully who is so narcissistic that he eats his own shit.
If Nicky laughed it off, then it does sound as if it were all prearranged between the two of them. Notice how Dagstine didn’t go off screaming at Nicky for posting it, threatening to get his Blogspot removed, or get him in trouble with the Blogger folks. What a maroon.
He also seems like the garden variety bully in that if you show any sign of strength he’ll slink away with his tail between his legs.
You know what though? I only have one wish for Mr. Dagstine: that he loves his child with all his heart, and that such love gets returned unconditionally. That his child grows up to be a well-adjusted person. That he becomes the good parent, and through his child, a better person.
Amen, Mike.
I have nothing to add to this conversation, except to say if Nickolaus Pacione does nothing more with his life than to draw together all these bright, nice, fiendishly witty and frighteningly clever people, it will have been a life well-spent. Don’t bogart that popcorn, Ward.
Mike, some people do become better people because of their children. Having Sovay made me a much stronger person, bringing out a core of strength that I never realized that I possessed.
However, I have noticed how on his various blogs, both his child and its mother are treated like trophies, excuses, justifications, and rampant rationalizations to cower behind whenever anyone questions him about anything.
I am not at all hopeful that having a child will make a better man of him.
I can only agree, cussedness.
Okay….
This is Robert M Blevins from Adventure Books of Seattle, and boy am I angry about all the junk being said about Mr Dagstine!
You can all stop this foolishness right now, as I explain WHY Mr Dagstine’s story did NOT appear in EV #2!
First, Dagstine’s story ‘Human Transfer’ appeared in Issue One. Then, he submitted ‘Gene Pool Assassins’ for Issue Two. I accepted the story, but I sent it back to him to change it from two spaces after a period to one. By the time he got it back to me, we were already late on releasing Issue Two…So, I made a decision to kick ‘Gene Pool Assassins’ over to Issue Three!!!
This, by the way, was a VERY GOOD thing for Dagstine. Issue Three only has five stories from outside authors, because half the mag is already dedicated to covering Norwescon 31 in Seattle this year. (Northwest Science Fiction Convention)
His story will actually get much more exposure, because EV staff are passing out more than 2,000 brochures at the convention pointing to EV-3 as the main source for pictures and stories and interviews about the event…which includes our interviews with author Dan Simmons and artist Cireulo.
Last year, about 17,000 people attended Norwescon.
You could have all saved yourself a lot of trouble by asking about this situation from the magazine, or from me personally, instead of calling Mr Dagstine a liar. Below is the TOC from Issue One, where Mr Dagstine’s story ‘Human Transfer’ (one of the best in the issue) appears.
If you need verification on this message, just go to either the Adventure Books site or the Escape Velocity site and use one of our email links posted there on the Submissions pages and I will be happy to answer you personally. And you’d better be nicer to me than you were to Mr Dagstine. That’s a request.
To Mr Dagstine: I’m sorry we couldn’t get your story into Issue Two in time. You’ll be better off in Issue Three with ‘Gene Pool Assassins’. Trust me on this one. After EV made the official announcement about the co-op between the convention and the magazine, we started receiving pre-orders the next day…
Sincerely,
Robert M Blevins
Managing Editor
Adventure Books of Seattle
The Escape Velocity Magazine
TOC Issue One:
Page 5 About the Magazine
Page 7 Dear Father by A.W. Gifford
Page 9 Dangerous Observations by Alex S. Weinle
Page 13 Science Article: The Next Generation Space Telescope
Page 17 Ubiquitous by Geoff Nelder
Page 21 Science Article: A Home for the Future
Page 25 Emoti-con-doms by Yvonne Eve Walus
Page 33 First Class by Barbara Krasnoff
Page 41 Retrofreak by Gideon Kane Cross
Page 43 Sentient by Michael Anderson
Page 45 Photo Feature: Mars in Black and White
Page 55 Bright Future by Vincent F.A. Golphin
Page 63 Dive to Destruction by Paul A. Freeman
Page 65 Heaven as Iron – Earth as Brass by Richard J. Goldstein
Page 75 Science: Eight Likely and Unlikely Ways Life on Earth Could End
Page 77 Home in Time for Breakfast by Clyde Andrews
Page 89 Human Transfer by Lawrence R. Dagstine
Page 101 Losing the Clichés in Science Fiction – a report on the Jon Courtenay Grimwood mini-course by EV staff editor Geoff Nelder
Page 107 One Way Trip by Rick Novy
Page 113 Shooting Star by Eddie French
Page 115 Scream Quietly by Sheila Crosby
Page 123 Science: Ten Things Someone Should Invent by 2020
Page 125 Tenth Orbit by Gustavo Bondoni
Page 131 Test of Wills by Matthew Spence
Page 135 The Prettiest Star by Jaine Fenn
Page 139 Suicide Mission by T.J. McIntyre
Page 141 Photo Feature: Apollo 11 Pictures You Probably Haven’t Seen
Page 153 Mother Tongue by Carmelo Rafala
Page 161 Poetry: Galactic Collision by Magdalena Ball
Page 163 Film Review: ‘Robinson Crusoe on Mars’ – Restored DVD version
Page 165 The Last Word
Additional Note: EV staff have decided to post an apology to Mr Dagstine about this situation on our homepage, and it will remain in place until after Issue Three is released. You can see it there within a few minutes after this post.
The Escape Velocity Magazine
Thank you,
Robert M Blevins
Take a deep breath, Mr. Blevins. You just confirmed that Dagstine is not in Issue 2. He’ll be in issue 3. Fine. I specifically pointed out that he was in Issue 1.
However, nothing you wrote negates the fact that he’s been spreading his own special brand of dung around here, on and off, for months.
I don’t know about dung. I only know that 15-20 authors, on average sub to EV for every spot we have, and that his story for Issue One was accepted right away. I just can’t figure out why no one asked US about the situation.
Some EV staff felt Issue One was a bit too long, being over 160 pages. So, we decided to cut future issues to 100 pages max and lower the price. I dressed down Andrew T (staffer) for not informing Dagstine his story was being moved to Issue 3.
The notice on the EV homepage will remain in place for now until Issue Three is released, or unless Dagstine asks us to take it down.
Robert
I won’t hold it against Adventure Books. However, i have been in the publishing industry for over thirty years and I have never in my life seen behavior to match that of Mr. Dagstine.
His unprofessional behavior both here and elsewhere has earned him what he has received.
I do believe that having an author with Dagstine’s pattern of behavior reflects badly on your publications.
You can be angry all you wish. It does not affect either myself or the others who post comments here.
Lies and half-truths have been such a large portion of Dagstine’s behavior, that we had a right to doubt him.
Now, I’m an old hand. Most of my journalism creds are from when I was younger and not physically disabled.
However, nothing you can throw at me can match or better my sales to the Washington Post when I was young. Or the fact that Jessica Amanda Salmonson has called me a ‘genius’ and published my work in Amazons, the anthology that won the world fantasy award in 1980.
Yes, I’m old and I’ve been around.
At the present time you are small press and I am in ebooks, but that only puts us on the same footing with an equal stance. I have 20 novels out in ebook, and a collection in print.
So I think that you should not come here flashing your status, your creds, and your alleged credibility because there are people here who can match or exceed them.
Rusty gave Dagstine the benefit of the doubt in one of his comments.
I am not at all impressed by you.
No one here owes Dagstine anything except disapprobation for bad behavior that damages his credibility, and by extension your own.
I think that you need to be far more careful about who you publish than you have been up to this point.
Blevins,
You need to do a background check on some of your authors before you go shooting to their defence. If you knew the shit Dagstine has been dishing out–including threats and out and out lies and bullying–you might reconsider your stance.
Well, I have peeked inside your issue of EV. While your covers look good, I can firmly say that the standard of work is mediocre at best.
I said in another post that there are two categories of small press: one, the small press with high standards and, two, the small press which lacks a proper editorial screen.
Without flinching I can say you are almost in the second category. Almost.
It is not our job to do background checks on EV authors. Their personal life is their own business. We only look at the work submitted and make decisions based on that. As Shakespeare once said: ‘Writers are a mercurial lot…’
Everyone has their own opinion, and if you say EV is lousy, then you have a right to that. However, all Adventure Book publications come with a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and have for years…yet no one has ever asked for their money back.
RobertM
Well, Belvins, the people you publish do inevitably reflect back upon you. Simple fact.
If you want links and such as proof of Dagstine’s ‘adventures’ in harassing people and generally stupidity, I’m sure everyone here can provide you with ample.
I just noticed this by Cussedness:
“So I think that you should not come here flashing your status, your creds, and your alleged credibility because there are people here who can match or exceed them.”
What status? What credits? I only talked about Norwescon, not any of my own work. And yes, I am sure there are LOTS of people who could exceed any of my own modest efforts.
Mr. Blevins, you came here flashing your editorial status and ordering us to cease and desist from our discussion of Dagstine.
Your attitude and presentation was that of a high and mighty editor come to rescue his poor besieged author.
The very serious implications of your actions suggests that we should be intimidated because you are an editor.
Sorry, but that does not cut it with me. I worked as an editor for Donning/Starblaze, Newcastle, and J. P. Tarcher Inc. when I was young.
None of our editors would have behaved as you have.
While it does not strain credibility for you to have not checked on the background of your authors, it does to come posting here.
You are earning yourself a black eye by defending Dagstine.
That’s the plain and simple honest truth.
Mr. Blevins, please calm down. You said Dagstine will be in Issue 3. Fair enough.
The reason he’s catching so much shit is that he went on the Shocklines forum and claimed to have been accepted by Asimov’s, then when called on it, claimed he was getting his acceptances mixed up, and it was Analog instead. He was accepted to neither magazine. When called on it, he backpedaled and claimed he was just joking.
What do you expect us to think when he put up a blog entry displaying the cover of Issue 2 of Escape Velocity and claimed he was in it, but did not show up in the TOC?
Frankly, I don’t question your credibility. I don’t care one way or another. I do, however, question Dagstine’s credibility. I have good reason to do so.
Cussedness says, in part:
“Mr. Blevins, you came here flashing your editorial status and ordering us to cease and desist from our discussion of Dagstine.”
‘Flashing my editorial status’? I only mentioned I was one of the editors, which was necessary to ID myself. It was MY fault completely that Dagstine was not informed about the bump over to Issue Three, so I felt I had to say something.
“The very serious implications of your actions suggests that we should be intimidated because you are an editor.”
There are LOTS of editors. It’s just a job. No one is trying to intimidate. Only to let you know the real (and rather mundane, really) situation that his story was bumped over to Issue Three.
“Sorry, but that does not cut it with me. I worked as an editor for Donning/Starblaze, Newcastle, and J. P. Tarcher Inc. when I was young.”
You don’t have to keep posting up your credits for me. If anything, it is YOU who are guilty of puffing himself up, not me. I’m just an ordinary guy out of Washington State who happens to edit on a modest sci-fi mag. We’re not Asimov’s, you know, just a little mag.
If you’d just step back, Blevins, you’d see that it was the way you defended Dagstine, and told everyone to back off him that irritates. If you had read all the posts here, you would have been better informed about him.
You could just have easily said, ‘Mr Blevins here. Sorry about the mix up. Mr Dagstine will appear in issue three’ and then you could have just left it at that. But you didn’t. And that says a lot.
Getting my popcorn out again.
*munch*
Please pass the bowl.
*pass*
Well, I just saw Rusty’s entry back there. Fair enough.
Look, all I can say is this. I don’t know about previous stuff regarding Dagstine. He’s in Issue One, and will be Issue Three, okay. I think EV set the record straight on this one, I hope.
I have to move on from this, but I will take down the direct link from our homepage back to this blog, in an effort to keep the peace.
Maybe Dagstine fudged a bit on the Asimov/Analog thing, I don’t know. I’ve often daydreamed they made me a featured author, but that never happened either. (laughs) But he was telling the truth about his EV appearances, and that’s all we really care about.
Mr. Blevins, i am merely establishing my credibility in engaging you.
If you consider that to be “puffing up,” then I am forced to wonder if you’re not just a bit intimidated by my creds.
I want you to understand that a person with my background carries more weight than you do in my opinions.
I want you to understand that I am not some itinerant wannabee out to make a name for myself by bad-mouthing your author.
I have nothing to gain by it. Neither you nor Dagstine will ever match me for creds.
Therefore, I am speaking to you as a professional to a wannabee, which is all that you really are.
You came in here and the first thing out of your mouth is an implied threat and an outrageous demand.
My guess is that your roots is in science fiction fandom, that you are a fanboy at heart, and that what you are publishing would have been called a fanzine when I first entered the field.
You could have coolly and calmly stated that he was in the third issue and that would have been that. We did not need your drama queen initial statements.
If you are finding yourself in a tenuous and defensive situation here, then you should consider how you presented yourself.
Wow, I spent a long time writing the previous comment, hit click and then saw that Blevins had surrendered. We must have been typing at the same time.
*passes Cuss the popcorn bowl*
I bet he still read it.
I like the ‘fanboy’ reference. Hits it right on the head, in my humble opinion.
Nice to know there is a real professional around here, cuss.
*waits for the popcorn*
*snatches it back from Cuss and hands the bowl to Johaha*
Well, that made for an interesting little read.
Cussedness says, in part:
“Therefore, I am speaking to you as a professional to a wannabee, which is all that you really are.
My guess is that your roots is in science fiction fandom, that you are a fanboy at heart, and that what you are publishing would have been called a fanzine when I first entered the field.”
Well, first…EV is NOT a fanzine. I had to say that. We only do original sci-fi stories. Again and again, you keep posting up your extensive credits, which shows a lack of self-confidence, IMHO.
Three times you have posted up about me, without knowing anything substantial about my past credits, but flogging me with your own, almost as if you are trying to find out what I’ve done. This is easily researched on Google.
Okay, fine. I would much rather talk about OTHER authors, but since you insist:
‘Say Goodbye To The Sun’
‘The 13th Day of Christmas’
‘The Corona Incident’
‘Dimensions’ (with British author Geoff Nelder)
Those are the sci-fi novels.
‘Revenge Story’ (crime novel)
‘Year of the Rat’ (upcoming novel)
‘Straight Talk’ (Column at MSNBC/Newsvine. I have more than 120 original and illustrated articles there.)
And my modest efforts at EV.
Well, from my elitist perspective, you are almost presentable.
*snatches back some popcorn.*
Well, almost.
I have the most fun at Newsvine.
Many times writing is its own reward.
In Mr. Blevins’s defense, I agree it is not incumbent upon an editor to check the background of the writers they publish for childish behaviors, antisocial attitudes or psychopathic lying online. The stories accepted for EV might, indeed, exceed our expectations of Larry’s talent or violate our sense of cosmic rightness by being of reasonably decent quality. Not having read them, I cannot speculate on why they were purchased or how good they are. And there is a natural impulse to defend someone we know against that person’s detractors whom we don’t know. It’s part and parcel of the innate tribalism we as a species inherited from our ancestors.
However, I find the general attitude of many folks in Mr. Blevins’ position that it is unnecessary to tread lightly into potential minefields online rather than blunder in all guns ablaze troubling. Some tact was called for in this instance, and would have been met less stridently. A simple correction of our misapprehension would have sufficed, and might have led to more congenial conversation. You run a business, Mr. Blevins, and one of the first rules of smart business practice is to not drive away customers. I fear you may have alienated a number of potential purchasers of at least one issue of your magazine. If that does not concern you, then I fear for the long-term solvency of your enterprise.
I, too, was impressed by your covers. For some reason, I kept being reminded of Satellite SF, one of the great SF mags of the 1950s. Based on that admittedly tenuous connection, I was considering giving one issue a try, but now I am not so inclined. I would be glad for you to make the attempt to change my mind back in your favor.
For the record, a fanzine is not limited to publishing versions of already existing scifi trademarks such as Star Wars or X Files, Blevins.
Fanzines can have original stories yet the quality is such that the author is merely a fan of the genre attempting their own hand.
To put it bluntly, people just having fun with writing scifi and not really skilled or talented in the tropes and techniques of writing.
Maybe that’s why they haven’t asked you to edit Asimov’s.
excellent point, Johaha. Back in the late 70s and early 80s when i was first getting started in fiction with a handful of sales, I read a number of fanzines that included fiction, reviews, articles, and such.
“You don’t have to keep posting up your credits for me. If anything, it is YOU who are guilty of puffing HIMSELF up, not me. I’m just an ordinary guy out of Washington State who happens to edit on a modest sci-fi mag. We’re not Asimov’s, you know, just a little mag.”
uhmn, mr. Blevins, I’m not a “himself” I am a “herself”
My opinion on whether ‘Escape Velocity’ is a good magazine or not is worth about as much as the change in your pocket. Even if I said it was good…wouldn’t you expect that coming from one of the staff?
I could drop a couple of names of folks in the sci-fi biz who think it’s good, but again…that would be just an editor blowing his own horn.
I think the only good reference I can offer is Northwest Science Fiction allowing us full access to the Guests of Honor and all activities at Norwescon 31, for use in Issue Three.
Of course, if we blow the assignment…they probably wouldn’t do it again.
Sorry about that, cussedness. Your username doesn’t really point to your gender one way or another.
Understood, though.
apology accepted. If you had clicked on my handle it would have taken you to my website and you would have known that I’m Janrae Frank.
wow I just came by to see if anything was up before eating and going back to cleaning my house so I don’t get kicked out and I noticed the explosion. IT was a hilarious read though. IF the popcorn is really buttery I”d like some.
*passes the foxgirl some popcorn*
*adds more butter and munches happily*
…a review of the newly restored DVD version of Robinson Crusoe on Mars?
Well, I’d look for a copy of the magazine just for that!
(I own the DVD.)
Go for the 99-cent download, Ben.
I loved that movie when I was a kid. I didn’t see it in the theater, but it was a network Movie of the Week a few months after it came out. My parents occasionally indulged my love of SF movies, and let me stay up late to see it all. They also took me to see 2001 when it came out, which still astonishes me. Not at all their kind of film.
No need to spend a buck to see the ‘Crusoe on Mars’ review. You can view it Here on our Newsvine column.
You can also download (free) the original story by Daniel Defoe HERE
‘Robinson Crusoe – Special Redux Edition’ (evil laugh)
Defoe was a genius ahead of his time.
Crusoe on Mars has always been one of my favorites
I’ve never been disappointed in a Criterion film. They do yeoman labors in the field of film preservation and in the presentation of their movies. I keep hinting to She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed that their 50 Years of Janus Films would be an appropriate birthday gift, but she keeps balking at the $650 pricetag. Silly woman!
Those Criterion guys are dedicated to their work. On the RC on Mars DVD, they add a truckload of extra features. Stills from the film, audio commentary, audio interview, trailer, How We Made The Movie stuff, and behind-the-scenes shots. Lots more.
Get it from Amazon, though. It’s cheaper there.
Janrae Frank is a bitter has-been. She makes a living off E-books. Nuff said.
Woman probably lives in a boarding house or something.
She couldn’t get back into print if her life depended on it; couldn’t write her way out of a paper bag either.
If she is so talented, why does she not beg the bean counters to put out a print version to the Lycan series?
Lawrence IS the future of the small press.
I got mine from Borders, along with five other Criterions last November.
They’re expensive for sure, but they’re worth every cent.
Alright, ObservantLiterature Larry, that’s quite enough bullshit from you.
If you’re such hot shit, the future of publishing, etc., then picking fights with established writers would not be necessary. Your work would speak for itself.
As it is, you look churlish.
Dickstine dreams he is the future of literature.
Time to wake up, Lawrence.
Whoa, it’s crowded in here.
How about I take a seat in this here hamper? Should be nice and soft, what with all the sockpuppets and obfuscation-lint padding it.
Ah, yes, St. Larry who once bragged about how kind, compassionate, and wonderful he is toward the disabled, and yet acts as if my polio were not a disability.
Good going, Larry.
You do realize that Sony is going to be carrying my ebooks this spring?
Just because you’re bitter over your inability to sell to decent markets, don’t project that on me.
My ebooks average between 500 and a 1000 copies sold for each title. That’s more per title than anything you’ve sold to, Dagstine.
*Sings Frank Sinatra, “you can’t take that away from me.”
Ya know, Dungstain, you’re in your 30s, got a bit of gray in your temples.
You haven’t made your first big sale yet, just a few sales to the bottomfeeder ghetto.
Calling Jan a has-been must have seemed like taking a good solid shot at her.
But considering you’re a never-was and never will be, doesn’t exactly give you much credibility.
Nah, your ‘career’ is still in the shitter. Save your braggadocio for when you can equal what she had already done at your age.
Your career is entirely a matter of sniffing folks assholes and trying to be the turd that’s too big to go down the pipes and requires a plummer to dig the hamster out of your ass.
‘But considering you’re a never-was and never will be, doesn’t exactly give you much credibility.’
Hell, I almost crapped myself that was so funny.
I like the fact that Dagstine says that i make my living off ebooks. Well, at least I’m making a living off my writing.
In the end, it really doesn’t matter which form of publication you have if you’re making enough money to live off it.
I make enough money to get by nicely off my ebooks.
Dagstine, when did you start making a living wage off your writing?
I can’t recall where he said this, but Dagstine did brag about making ~$300 over the course of three years. That’ll cover the grocery bill for about a month.
“Lawrence IS the future of the small press.”
I’m afraid he’s right. I just did a runecast on that very subject, and strangely enough I ended up with the word ‘flaccid’.
I daren’t try extispicy unless the room’s well ventilated.
Does that mean Dagstine has literary erectile dysfunction?
Shelley knew of what he spoke
And all these fools ‘neath ego’s yoke
Are shattered on the desert sand
to be forgot before they stand
Little men of little worth
With empty words do they give birth
To fiction lacking in earnest heart.
trawlingfrogdog says, in part:
“You haven’t made your first big sale yet, (referring to Dagstine) just a few sales to the bottomfeeder ghetto.”
I’d REALLY appreciate if you wouldn’t refer to Escape Velocity as the ‘bottomfeeder ghetto’. We’re new. We’re not bottomfeeders.
On a matter of point, author Dan Simmons, the main Guest of Honor at this year’s Norwescon 31, has agreed to let EV staff interview him privately and do a photo shoot. That alone removes us from the realm of bottomfeeders, folks. We also have this same agreement from another GOH, artist Cireulo (I think I spelled his name correctly. I hope.)
that sounds cool, Robert. Simmons is a very fine writer with some interesting opinions.
Dan Simmons is awesome. I loved “Summer of Night” and “A Winter Haunting”. The man switches genres like I switch… uhh…socks….
I loved both of those. I have also quoted from a couple of interviews with Simmons in some of my old articles on horror.
Dagstine isn’t even the future of Dagstine, let alone the “small press”.
Dagstine is a wannabe who never was.
Dagstine is lucky his wife has actual marketable skills, and can’t find someone more qualified to fill the roles of au pair, housemaid, and gigolo.
Hey who ate all the popcorn? There’s only these burny-kernys left in the bowl!
you came late to the party, Sabledrake. But it think there’s some nachos left.
No funnel cake for you, though.
Hey, Escape Velocity! You know, an interview with a famous writer does not lift a mag out of ghetto status alone.
It still takes publishing quality stories–and that is down to an editor who knows the market and knows the tropes and techniques of fine writing.
Now someone give me a chili dog!
With cheese!
/me gives Johaha a chili dog with cheese.
Johaha says, in part:
“Hey, Escape Velocity! You know, an interview with a famous writer does not lift a mag out of ghetto status alone.”
True enough, but for a reletively new mag, we’re pretty busy either filling orders or checking sales at our current printer. That tells me we’re on the right path. After only two measly issues, Norwescon gave us an open door, and that is also a good thing. Only time will tell. One thing I have already figured out about the magazine biz: There is always room for improvement.
One improvement we implemented: We’re moving over to Lightning Source in July with Issue Four. I highly recommend them.
Wildside uses Lightning Source. They brought out my collection of reprints from the 70s and 80s and I was very happy with the qualilty when I got my author copies.
Lightning Source’s New Release Newsletter reaches about 10,000 retail outlets per month.
Wasn’t going to mention this, but Adventure Books of Seattle (parent company of Escape Velocity) uses Lulu.com right now. I always say this about Lulu: Good place to create books. Lousy place to actually sell books. The main problem is a no-return policy, but more importantly, they don’t price wholesale, so you can’t reach bookstores.
For example: Our AB title ‘Dimensions’ is a six by nine inch paperback. OUR cost at Lulu: About 7 dollars and change per copy. Cost at Lightning Source: $3.16 per single copy, less for quantities. Actual price you can wholesale a six-by-nine to bookstores: between 4 and 5 dollars a copy, which they would retail for 8-10 dollars per copy.
Bookstore managers are often very cooperative with small presses, and will make modest orders just to see if your titles move out the door. But…they won’t do it unless you can get it to them wholesale, and offer a 90-day sale or return policy. LSI addresses both these issues effectively. Lulu does not. That’s why we finally had to make the choice to dump Lulu.
Lulu, however, has one good thing going for them. You can make changes to a manuscript for free. Many small presses use Lulu to check proof copies, selecting the option for that book as ‘Available only to me’. Then, they order a proof, make changes, order another proof and check THAT, then…they upload the corrected ms. file to Lightning Source for actual distribution. Then…they delete the book from Lulu.
LSI charges $475 to make changes to an uploaded manuscript, even if you just want to add a missing period to the end of a sentence. So make sure when you use LSI that your manuscript is absolutely letter perfect, and you’ll be fine.
I have used lulu to create my own ARCs since most reviewers do not like to review from a pdf and my current output is all ebook.
I use the “available only to me” setting. I also used Lulu to produce a small lexicon to go with the Daverana novels, which I made available at cost and as a free download.
However, I don’t want to become a self-publisher.
PoD technology has a lot going for it in terms of what it can do for the small publisher.