Received the latest edition of PS Publishing's Postscripts magazine (which, to be fair, shouldn't really be considered a magazine since it's got an ISBN and is, well, a book but that's splitting hairs to the point of stupidity).
Anyway, #10 is just sublime - Crowther and Gevers have really done themselves proud, not to mention the interior artwork: a special hardcover edition, to coincide with Michael Marshall Smith and Peter Crowther's appearance at World Horror last April. I've only read a couple of the short stories within - Thomas Tessier's and MMS' tale about an obsessive-compulsive's obsession with feng-shui.
This post, though, has nothing to do with them but rather Stephen "Steve" Jones' editorial, which in many ways I agree with, but I have to bring to his attention the fact that he gives not one mention to a UK indie publisher (except PS) but goes onto name-check six American companies.
Yes, it sounds like xenophobia and sour grapes on my part, but to write an editorial about short fiction and not mention Elastic Press is like writing an article about romance and neglecting to mention, erm, Mills & Boon. Admittedly none of the UK indies have the same distribution as Nightshade or Subterreanean, et al, and Elastic doesn't necessarily publish horror per se, but it's still pretty much a kick in the teeth to see a UK editor pontificating upon short fiction and not mention a fellow countryman.
(Mind you, the less said about his mis-pronounciation of Rice Hughes during the World Horror raffle...)
I did say that I agreed with most of what Steve wrote, mainly that short fiction though still popular has some way to reach the heights it had in the '60s and '70s (not that I was old enough to read back then); that mainstream publisher's should be curtailing as fast as bloody possible their infatuation with "celebrity" biographies, that cost a fortune and yet sell fuck-all; and short fiction is quite possibly the perfect antidote to our hectic modern life-style, where "free-time" is already populated with a plethora of gadgets and entertainment devices to occupy.
Instead of browsing the 'net on your lunch-hour, buy an anthology and enjoy a story whilst you eat your sandwich. It is much more intellectually stimulating.
Anyway, if you haven't got your copy yet then for [insert your own deity]'s sake click on Postscript's link above and buy issue ten.
Go on, you know you want to. ;-)
(And if you like what you read, then I'm sure Pete will like you to buy a subscription...)
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4 comments:
Agreed - the short story fits in perfectly with lifestyles these days.
Also - some people just don't seem to make time for anything except being welded to the telly. The sooner the "reality" books and progs go the better. I want more drama, especially more old programmes like The Stone Tapes and Quatermass,(the original.)
Ally
I have to say as well that there is a dearth of outlets that supply short stories these days. I'm constantly amazed / disappointed that Forbidden Planet (London) stocks almost none of the genre short fiction magazines that you'd expect (if you're lucky you can find a Cemetery Dance or an Asimov's - but Talebones? Horror Express? Weird Tales? Realms Of Fantasy? Even PostScripts...) and the staff had absolutely no knowledge of these titles either.
Yet, in America, I can stroll into any Borders and pick up several titles with ease - surely it can't be that difficult to get them over here?
Short fiction anthologies are a little better, in FP and elsewhere, but I know from my time working in a bookshop that booksellers don't like short story collections, unless they are single author ones and then from an 'established' name (eg the Jeffrey Deaver collections currently out). Even then, they are lower sellers than their novel counterparts (John Connelly's 'Nocturnes' seemed to hir Remainder bins with indecent haste, despite a good pedigree and 'gimmicks' like limited edition signed copies). Collections like the delightful and much-lamented Pan books just don't cut it and even 'Year's Best' collections are hard to find.
I know that you and everyone reading this knows this already, but I just felt the need to vent. If it wasn't for publishers like Pendragon, Elastic, PS etc there wouldn't be a viable short(er) story market and that would be a great shame.
David J Thacker.
David, if my local FB is anything to go by then they're just not interested - unless you're Marvel.
I think our local Borders is a little different - you can pick up a copy of Interzone for instance.
Apparently, the Manchester Deansgate branch of W*terstones had an excellent small press section, which is hardly surprising since it was run by Ariel (who subsequently left when the chain become more interested in profit than books...)
I don't see why bookshops should hate anthologies so much - they're the same size as a novel, same price, yet it's almost as if the likes of W'stones have a wish-fulfillment that if they don't sell it, then people won't want to buy it, but spend their money on Chantelle's biography instead.
Ally, one day Big Brother will die... have you seen the original 1954 Nigel Kneale's adaptation of Orwell's 1984 on Youtube. Amazing stuff; primitive, but makes you realise just how shit today's TV is.
I'm from the science fiction side of things rather than horror, but it is a real problem. A lot of writers cut their teeth on short stories, and a lot of them are finding that the markets are dwindling into invisibility and I suspect that a lot of writers, finding no markets for short fiction, simply give up. SciFiction was a marvellous port in a storm, but that's gone, and as David Thacker mentions a lot of outlets don't like short story collections. I remember a time when things were different, when I could buy all kinds of short story collections from my local WH Smith and sample authors before I tried their novels. You can't do that now, and I honestly don't understand why.
Hi, by the way.
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