Literary Voice: Developing it…and defining it.

June 24, 2013Leave a comment

A story’s “voice” is sometimes hard to define or talk about. You’ll hear people in the industry praising a certain writer’s voice, or asking for a certain kind of voice in their submissions—quirky, lyrical, etc. I’ve had people ask me how to practice developing one’s own voice, or improve it.

But what exactly is voice?

Wikipedia (that college professor’s bane…) provides the following:

The writer’s voice is the individual writing style of an author, a combination of idiotypical usage of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can be thought of in terms of the uniqueness of a vocal voice machine. As a trumpet has a different voice than a tuba or a violin has a different voice than a cello, so the words of one author have a different sound than the words of another. One author may have a voice that is light and fast paced while another may have a dark voice.

News|Small publishers, big opportunities|feature|195774|artsHub Australia

June 24, 2013Leave a comment

Many authors dream of signing an huge multi-book deal with a large publisher. But big is not always the best option.

While using a small publisher is often seen as a consolation prize, it can be a tailored experience that allows you to publish what you want for whom you want.

The exact extent of the Australian independent publishing market is hard to estimate. Mary Masters, General Manager of The Small Press Network (SPUNC), a representative group for small and independent Australian publishers says, ‘We currently have 130 core members who come in all shapes and sizes and we also have some NZ members. While our current membership is representative of the breadth of publishing that our sector has to offer, it is by no means comprehensive of the publishers that exist.’

Many small independent publishers cover niche topics such as crime, erotica or poetry. While this specialisation of content allows for unique publications, it can limit sales.

BRAM STOKER AWARDS 2012 CEREMONY (2013)

June 16, 2013June 16, 2013Leave a comment

Bram Stoker Awards Ceremony

The livestream began, showing the HWA logo, slightly askew

Jeff Strand, the MC, introduced Rocky Wood, HWA president, and Lisa Morton, HWA vice-president. Lisa announced eleven categories, Lifetime Achievement award, the Specialty Press and the Silver Hammer Award, thanked the chairs, panels and webteam, and acknowledged platinum sponsors (Samhain publishing).

Lisa then thanked the convention sponsors: Let the Dead Sleep by Heather Graham, Journalstone Press and Dark Regions Press.

The announcement of the next Bram Stoker Award banquet at WHC next May in Portland Oregon.

Now, on to the winners

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Superior Achievement in Poetry:

Linda Addison and Stephen M. Wilson – Dark Duet (NECON eBooks)

Bruce Boston and Gary William Crawford – Notes from the Shadow City (Dark Regions Press)

Michael Collings – A Verse to Horrors (Amazon Digital Services)

WINNER: Marge Simon – Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls (Elektrik Milk Bath Press)

Mary A. Turzillo – Lovers & Killers (Dark Regions)

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Stoker Award for Non-Fiction:

Michael Collings – Writing Darkness (CreateSpace)

Leslie S. Klinger – The Annotated Sandman, Volume 1 (Vertigo)

WINNER: Lisa Morton – Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween (Reaktion Books)

Kim Paffenroth and John W. Morehead – The Undead and Theology (Pickwick Publications)

Kendall R. Phillips – Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film (Southern Illinois University Press)

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Silver Hammer Award

Award to HWA volunteer: instituted in 1996 and decided by Board of Trustees.

TO: Charles Day of Evil Jester Press

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Anthology

WINNER: Mort Castle and Sam Weller – Shadow Show (HarperCollins)

Eric J. Guignard – Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations (Dark Moon Books)

Eric Miller – Hell Comes to Hollywood (Big Time Books)

Mark C. Scioneaux, R.J. Cavender, and Robert S. Wilson – Horror for Good: A Charitable Anthology (Cutting Block Press)

Stan Swanson – Slices of Flesh (Dark Moon Books)

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Collection

Jonathan Carroll – Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories (Subterranean Press)

JOINT WINNER: Mort Castle – New Moon on the Water (Dark Regions)

Elizabeth Hand – Errantry: Strange Stories (Small Beer Press)

Glen Hirshberg – The Janus Tree (Subterranean Press)

JOINT WINNER: Joyce Carol Oates – Black Dahlia and White Rose: Stories (Ecco)

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Richard Laymon Presidents Award – for service to the HWA

Jim Chambers

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Screenplay

Jane Goldman – The Woman in Black (Cross Creek Pictures)

Sang Kyu Kim – The Walking Dead, “Killer Within” (AMC TV)

Tim Minear – American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin”

Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray – The Hunger Games (Lionsgate, Color Force)

WINNER: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard – The Cabin in the Woods (Mutant Enemy Productions, Lionsgate)

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Specialty Press Award

Centipede Press – Jerad Walters

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Short Fiction

Bruce Boston – ‘Surrounded by the Mutant Rain Forest’ (Daily Science Fiction)

Joe McKinney – ‘Bury My Heart at Marvin Gardens’ (Best of Dark Moon Digest, Dark Moon Books)

Weston Ochse – ‘Righteous’ (Psychos, Black Dog and Leventhall Publication)

John Palisano – ‘Available Light’ (Lovecraft eZine, March 2012)

WINNER: Lucy Snyder – ‘Magdala Amygdala’ (Dark Faith: Invocations, Apex Book Company)

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Long Fiction

Kealan Patrick Burke – Thirty Miles South of Dry County (Delirium Books)

Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee – I’m Not Sam (Sinister Grin Press)

Joe McKinney and Michael McCarty – Lost Girl of the Lake (Bad Moon Books)

WINNER: Gene O’Neill – The Blue Heron (Dark Regions Press)

Norman Prentiss – The Fleshless Man (Delirium Books)

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Lifetime Achievement Award

Clive Barker and Robert R McCammon

Barker’s accepted by the vice president of his company

‘I’m not done yet. I have written, painted, and made movies for 30 years now, and I would like the same again. Thank you. I love you all’ – Clive Barker

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Graphic Novels

Cullen Bunn – The Sixth Gun Volume 3: Bound (Oni Press)

Terry Moore – Rachel Rising Vol. 1: The Shadow of Death (Abstract Studio)

Ravi Thornton – The Tale of Brin and Bent and Minno Marylebone (Jonathan Cape)

Peter J. Wacks and Guy Anthony De Marco – Behind These Eyes (Villainous Press)

WINNER: Rocky Wood, Lisa Morton and Greg Chapman – Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (McFarland)

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Young Adult Novel

Libba Bray – The Diviners (Little Brown)

Barry Lyga – I Hunt Killers (Little Brown)

WINNER: Jonathan Maberry – Flesh & Bone (Simon & Schuster)

Michael McCarty – I Kissed A Ghoul (Noble Romance Publishing)

Maggie Stiefvater – The Raven Boys (Scholastic Press)

Jeff Strand – A Bad Day for Voodoo (Sourcebooks)

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First Novel

Michael Boccacino – Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling (William Morrow)

Deborah Coates – Wide Open (Tor Books)

Charles Day – The Legend of the Pumpkin Thief (Noble YA Publishers LLC)

Peter Dudar – A Requiem for Dead Flies (Nightscape Press)

Richard Gropp – Bad Glass (Ballantine/Del Rey)

WINNER: L.L. Soares – Life Rage (Nightscape Press)

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Novel

Benjamin Kane Ethridge – Bottled Abyss (Redrum Horror)

John Everson – NightWhere (Samhain Publishing)

WINNER: Caitlín R. Kiernan- The Drowning Girl (Roc)

Bentley Little – The Haunted (Signet)

Joe McKinney – Inheritance (Evil Jester Press)

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All up, this was a wonderful ceremony, and I really wish I could have attended.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Midnight Echo Issue 9, Edited by Geoff Brown » This Is Horror

June 13, 2013June 13, 2013Leave a comment

Midnight Echo Issue 9, Edited by Geoff Brown (aka GN Braun)
eBook 150pp
Release Date: 31 May 2013

I edited this issue, and this review by UK site This is Horror is fantastic.

“Mythology is the theme for this issue of Midnight Echo, and it’s testament to the editors that the familiar and often overdone folklores are left out in favour of more obscure legends that will thrill, chill and enchant you.”

Facebook’s Witch Hunt: Horror, social media, and bullying. » This Is Horror

June 9, 2013June 9, 20131 Comment

Recent events played out on Facebook that have the potential to change the face of social media marketing for publishers and writers of horror. As they say on reality TV, this could change the game forever.

On Tuesday 28 May (US time), Facebook took an unprecedented action. They contacted AHWA member/HWA President Rocky Wood, HWA Vice-President Lisa Morton and HWA/AHWA member Greg Chapman about the Facebook promotional page for their book Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times.

“Yesterday I received a notice from Facebook about a page promoting our book Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times,” said Lisa Morton. “The notice stated that the page had been flagged for containing content that fell under ‘bullying’, and that it had been temporarily removed.”

How people read online: Why you won’t finish this article. – Slate Magazine

June 7, 2013Leave a comment

“I’m going to keep this brief, because you’re not going to stick around for long. I’ve already lost a bunch of you. For every 161 people who landed on this page, about 61 of you—38 percent—are already gone. You “bounced” in Web traffic jargon, meaning you spent no time “engaging” with this page at all.So now there are 100 of you left. Nice round number. But not for long! We’re at the point in the page where you have to scroll to see more. Of the 100 of you who didn’t bounce, five are never going to scroll. Bye!OK, fine, good riddance. So we’re 95 now. A friendly, intimate crowd, just the people who want to be here. Thanks for reading, folks! I was beginning to worry about your attention span, even your intellig … wait a second, where are you guys going? You’re tweeting a link to this article already? You haven’t even read it yet! What if I go on to advocate something truly awful, like a constitutional amendment requiring that we all type two spaces after a period?AdvertisementWait, hold on, now you guys are leaving too? You’re going off to comment? Come on! There’s nothing to say yet. I haven’t even gotten to the nut graph.”

Apple argues diverse book publisher contracts prove non-collusion in DOJ suit

June 6, 2013Leave a comment

A U.S. government lawyer opened a civil trial by portraying Apple as a corporate bully that swaggered into the market for electronic books in 2010, forcing an end to price competition and costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Justice Department attorney, Lawrence Buterman, said Monday a dramatic price increase in e-books was “no accident or unforeseen outcome” but the result of a deliberate plan by Apple and five book publishers to eliminate Seattle-based Amazon.com’s $9.99 bargain price for popular e-books.

He asked U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is overseeing a trial expected to last several weeks, to find that the computer company had violated anti-trust laws.

Via: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/06/04/apple-trial-ebook-prices-publishers/

Defending itself from U.S. Department of Justice allegations of e-book price fixing, Apple on Tuesday pointed to the diverse contract terms it made with five major publishing houses as evidence against purported conspiracy.

A follow-up report to yesterday’s proceedings from AllThingsD says Apple lawyer Orin Snyder brought up the negotiated terms multiple times during the bench trial now in front of U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote.

The composition of Apple’s agreements with five of the biggest book publishers in the world is central to the Justice Department’s antitrust argument, which holds that the companies worked hand-in-hand to falsely inflate e-book prices in the iBookstore. At the core of Apple’s pricing strategy was a so-called “most favored nations” clause that allows publishers to set e-book pricing, but precludes them from selling the same content to other retailers at a lower price.

via: Apple argues diverse book publisher contracts prove non-collusion in DOJ suit.

Here is the DoJ opening statement (June 3, 2013):

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/706511-doj-opening-powerpoint.html#document/p1