Interview + Review

I've got my first interview (regarding some of the material in 4:Play) scheduled, and a review also -- now to send out a few more emails/stuff, to get the word out about 4:Play, heh.

P.S. Had an interesting note from a reader -- #8 under "Yay's" on the Feedback page.

A contemporary cocktail of erotic short stories...

I've ordered the proof copy for 4:Play. This is the CS page for 4:Play.

I'll be fiddling around with the sidebar here, making sure everything is "not too much of a mess"...I've one more trailer to go. I'm tired (work-tired, not the sick-of-it type of "tired")...so I hope I can still put something together for one trailer that covers 4:Play, as a whole collection.

Personally, I prefer launching a book, and then getting (unsolicited -- it's more genuine) reviews for it. Maybe it's just me, but the concept of ARCs (and much of the traditional publishing model) seems pretty archaic to me.

Update 04/August/09 -- Sat down last night and completed the trailer at 11pm, bwahaha.

I wanted an electronica beat/music style for this one. There was another reggae fusion music track I was considering, but it was a little bit "relaxing" and laidback for what I had in mind.



Kindle & eBook editions should be available soon. With EyeLeash, I got the print copies set up first, before the digital formats. I'm doing it the other way around this time, which I think works better.

Literary Snobs

They said that of themselves (rather, the editor of a literary sex magazine I was in contact with). I'd sent in a couple of excerpts from Ed & Julie (I've since changed the title to Wicked Lovely -- it's the second story in 4:Play), in early 2009.

I'm not posting this to "vent" any frustration -- I just enjoy whacking high-and-mighty sorts.

Here's the correspondence, for your amusement + entertainment:

* Note: Text highlighted in this color provide the gist ;)

Alright. I don't think you quite understood my criticisms. We do not like the voice of Ed Drake. This next chapter is just the same. He speaks like a child -- and there are parts that are just nonsensical like: "...I’d pay the bozos inside if I had cash to spare so that I could loan the restroom for a half hour or so." Honestly, I've got to ask: have you ever edited this thing? If we didn't like chapter one, which at least introduces the characters and the plot, why on Earth would we want to publish chapter two, which only makes sense because I've read chapter one. Well, y'know what: we are literary snobs. XXXXXX is a literary, sex & arts magazine. It isn't a print version of literotica. It isn't a print version of literotica. I don't think one of us has read Twilight and I don't think any of us every will, but like Date Movie and Epic Movie and Superhero Movie, we can usually smell crap from across the room. Rule of thumb for something like Twilight; if it's a book that has it's biggest audience among people who never read anything, it's not good, it's grade nine book report pulp.

I wrote that the first bit of Drake you sent us didn't pick up steam and that it was repetative. Rather than take the time to consider these comments, you just sent the next chunk of your story, as much as you could wedge within our word-count guidelines, as soon as possible. And I said we didn't consider your haiku as the sort of haiku we'd publish, and then you just sent us another ten of the same thing. I've got to ask: have you actually read an issue of our magazine? You say you're trying to get as many excerpts published as possible before looking for an agent. To me, that means your just dumping old pieces which have never been edited on as many laps as possible.

I didn't want to be mean, but when you replied almost instantaneously to my letter of last night (note: I wasn't aware at all -- truly) it struck me that you aren't taking us seriously, not our publication or our time. Please do not submit again.

Sincerely,

Mr. "I-am-a-Literary-Snob"

Here's my reply -- wasn't expecting to get a reply (my instincts were right):

Dear (Mr. X),

Most of the time, I know what I'd like a character to sound like, and I have my reasons for it. Not everyone will see eye-to-eye with me on it, and that's no biggie.

Regarding one of my poems, perhaps I should have omitted the word 'haiku' from the title itself, and reverted the title back to its original version (which, with the omission of the word 'haiku', would read "txt-msgs [from one guy 2 another]), so that a certain level of objectivity could be better maintained while reviewing the piece. In your previous mail, you said that I sent "another ten of the same thing". That might be true, but technically, that isn't necessarily true either, because that poem brings together 14 stanzas to form one stand-alone piece. Now whether each individual 5-7-5-syllabled stanza IS a haiku, or not, needn't be an issue, when the poem is taken in its entirety.

As to whether I edited Ed Drake, indeed, I did! As carefully and meticulously as I do with all my other material. A horny teenager isn't going to sound like Shakespeare, and if that's going to ruffle up a few feathers here and there, I am fine with that.

PS: I'm sure William Faulkner edited The Sound and the Fury. As did Bret Easton Ellis, James Joyce, E. E. Cummings, and Emily Dickinson et al., with their respective works.

Jess.

P.S. Got an email from the magazine in June 2009, calling for new submissions.

P.P.S. More feedback on 4:Play on this post.

Erotic Short Stories

I'm currently getting started on one trailer, for 4:Play -- A contemporary cocktail of erotic short stories. The title's pretty long, but that's what it's all about.

I learned more quickly with this book (than with my first book), that the mainstream fiction genres are highly "commercially categorized". 4:Play is GLBT/trans*/alternative-friendly (which means it's "Queer Fiction") -- there's sex/ual encounters between straight people (which means it's "General Erotica") -- I take some "structural risks" as put by one editor (which means it's not Mainstreamy enough) -- there's an incubus and succubus (which means there are Urban Fantasy elements) and basically, this erotic collection doesn't fit neatly into any category (as with my debut blog novel, lol).

I deliberately wanted to cross multiple genres. I don't believe that a book should be *only* about gay fiction, or *only* about urban fantasy, etc. I'm all for diversity and open-mindedness (however one wishes to define that!).

I queried about 30-35 literary agents at the time I sent this out (April/May 2009).

Here's one reply I received from a publisher of erotic fiction (Cleis Press):

Hello,

Thanks so much for submitting to us. We have not yet published any single author's collection of short stories. While what your are writing sounds very fun indeed, we must decline as it falls outside of what we publish. I wish you all the best!

Here's one reply I received from an agency (International Transactions). They were very nice:

After careful consideration, we are going to pass on 4-Play. As a writer, you will certainly go places. As an agency, we are not quite the right match to represent you, as much as I enjoyed your work. Your scope and style are fresh and interesting. Keep writing. You are sure to find the right niche with the right editor.

Here's one reply I got about Tongue-Tied, which involves a lesbian succubus. I'd sent in a condensed version of it for inclusion in an anthology:

...Here's something you might try. End the story after about page 9 (the first encounter, when the succubus goes away and thinks about it) and send it out. Rework the ending to be more mysterious. For one thing, it's a bit long as is, and I think it is a complete story in the first 9 pages.

The section after page 9, I thought, was what made the story different. There was that soul-searching element -- I'll let readers decide whether or not that part should have been removed ^^.

An indie author is what I am for the moment, I guess :P

I don't bother with the "stigma" of self-publishing, which still exists among the literary community to some degree (though it's changing). I'd rather focus on writing something good and getting it out on the market. That's all.