Sword’s Edge Publishing’s great Kickstarter experiment – Centurion: Legionaries of Rome – has completed. I’m still waiting for the final tally on actual money raised (I’ll get to the discrepancy between promises and cold hard cash later), and while I count it a success, only slightly so. That’s not Kickstarter’s fault. Totally mine.

The biggest problem I faced was one of planning. I did a fair amount of it, and my Kickstarter page was ready to launch eight days before my deadline. I verified Amazon payments two weeks before the campaign was to launch, and then could get the approval from Kickstarter more than a week before my drop-dead date. That was due to planning, and the fear of delays pushing my launch date back.

If you’re out there building interest in your campaign, you’re likely giving people a date when they can expect the Kickstarter to – sorry for this – kick off (heh heh). Now, one way of avoiding screwing yourself with delays is not to have a hard launch date. I could have said something like “first week in March” or “early in March,” and that could have given me a good buffer of time. I mean, if people were excited, they would likely have seen the multiple messages I sent through comms in the month of the campaign.

Here’s the thing: I needed to do a lot more publicity than I did. I hit all the social media I regularly used – and even went to Facebook, which I really only use to share photos with friends, so really don’t have a business presence there – and did a few podcasts. Not enough.

Compare the success of Centurion with the success of Spark. The difference? Jason Pitre has spent four years not only perfecting his game (puts my year to shame . . . head hanging over here) but also being heavily involved in the RPG community. That pays off when it comes time to release. He knows lots of people, and those people know his game, and they will proselytize for him. Now, I doubt Jason was only involved in the RPG community with the expectation of drawing on the community to help pimp his game, and I further doubt that his community ties were the only differences between our campaigns – Spark is a very different game than Centurion – but it helped to get the word out to people to whom his game would interest.

While my publicity may have been lacking, I honestly believed my preparation was sufficient. I made lots spreadsheets. I tried to protect myself from getting screwed. There was no way I could lose money on this Kickstarter – which, sorry, is a possibility if you don’t set your reward levels high enough. The problem was, my math skills are woefully lacking, and while I could not lose money on the campaign, I could easily not hit my actual budget (which, including my own work, was ,800, ,800 if I didn’t get paid for my own work). After we crested the target (,500), I realized that I still did not have the required ,800, and I started making plans – what was the absolute least amount I needed to deliver what I was promising. That would be ,400. When I hit that amount, I considered the campaign a success. I would deliver what I promised.

Right now, it looks like I’ll likely receive ,000 after all the costs from Kickstarter, rewards, printing, and shipping are covered. That means I have an extra 0 for me. Also, I intend to sell this through the usual SEP storefronts after all the backers get all their rewards, so there is hope that the long tail will allow me to get paid the ,000 I was hoping. That’ll be less than 3 cents per word, once it’s all done . . . wait, this is a success, right?

Yeah, it is, because I hit my target, I’m going to be able to pay some good people for some good work, and I’ve learned a lot about Kickstarter. I’m almost certain I’ll try it again, though I’m not sure with which project. I’m also waiting to see what the final tally is for the funds pledged, and how well fulfillment works. There will almost certainly be more lessons and hopefully some nice surprises.

Black Gate

Last weekend I went to Toronto to attend the Ad Astra science fiction and fantasy convention. It was the third convention I’ve been to in my life. I learned a fair bit.

To start with, I learned a bit about the thriving Toronto sf scene. Toronto’s a huge city, both geographically and in terms of population; over six million people live in the Greater Toronto Area, and over eight and a half in the ‘golden horseshoe’ region around the western shore of Lake Ontario. That’s the population base the sf community there draws from. There are writers of all levels of experience in and around the city, and a friend of mine told me there are at least three critique groups of published writers. Publishers are based in the city, notably ChiZine Publications. And, in tough days for retail booksellers, there’s still a dedicated sf bookstore, Bakka Phoenix. As well as three separate annual conventions, that I know of.

Ad Astra was first held in 1980, and focusses on written fantastika. Guests of honour this year were author Harry Turtledove, writer/actress Lesley Livingston, artist Joe Jusko, editor Shelly Shapiro, and fan organizer/scholar Peter Halasz. The 2012 convention was technically north of the city of Toronto proper, in the neighbouring municipality of Markham.

It was the con’s first year in a new hotel, and there seemed to be some glitches, notably to do with whether and when an interior stairway was publicly accessible (when it wasn’t, the line-up for the elevators swiftly became ridiculous). That said, overall I thought the physical layout of the convention was effective. Nothing was too far from anywhere else, and the rooms were mostly a good size for the events they held. The dealers’ room proper was small, meaning that several vendors, notably self-publishers and micropresses, were scattered through several nearby halls and rooms. I don’t know how they felt about it, but as an attendee I enjoyed wandering around and seeing the variety of tables.

There did seem to be problem with overall co-ordination. Photocopies of the schedules weren’t available for Friday night, no printed list that I could find was ever made public of which panelists would be on which panels, and there seemed to be scheduling conflicts among the panelists. That being said, I found the staff helpful and professional in answering my questions. One panel I attended (on ancient books) involved a power-point presentation, and at first the equipment wasn’t working; con staff turned up quickly, and soon had the machinery functional. For me, as an attendee who was not sitting on panels or involved in any behind-the-scenes matters, the organisation worked well enough to provide a fine convention experience.

It all started for me on the Friday evening with a panel about steampunk writing, featuring author-publisher Rob St. Martin and writer Ed Greenwood as panelists. As it turned out, the audience consisted of only one person beside myself, meaning it became a free-flowing conversation about steampunk, empire, and history. It was a good start, not least because the chance to participate so much in the discusssion really helped draw me into the event.

After wandering around the convention for a bit, I dropped in for the second half of a panel on What Scares Us?, featuring David Nickle and Michael Kelly. It was an interesting chat, again with only a few more audience members than panelists. From there I went to a panel on The Intersection Between the Academic and the Creative, where writers including Leah Bobet, J.M. Frey, and Gregory A. Wilson discussed the way academic experience can help to shape one’s fiction.

I called it a night at that point, as I had a long trip to make on the Toronto transit system to get back to where I was staying, but made it back early the next morning for a discussion about villains and what makes them work. Panelists included Wilson, St. Martin, Greenwood, and editor Gabrielle Harbowy. The latter two have co-edited a short story collection called When the Hero Comes Home (look for a review around these parts soon), with a companion volume, When the Villain Comes Home, scheduled to follow this year. The discussion was thoughtful and wide-ranging, going from Batman to Paradise Lost to, inevitably, Star Wars.

After that, poet and Managing Editor of ChiZine Publications Helen Marshall presented a fascinating look at medieval books — what they looked like, what they were made from, how they developed. Then it was off to a talk about Twin Peaks, which somehow turned into a discussion of TV generally; appropriately, after a quick lunch, I went to a panel about fantasy on TV. It was, all told, a diverse morning.

The next two panels I attended had especially strong turnouts. The first dealt with creating cultures in fantasy worlds, the second with creating languages. They were interesting chats, though occasionally seemed a bit at variance with their given descriptions — the talk on creating cultures turned into a discussion of how to use existing cultures, for example. At any rate, I followed them by attending a great panel on historical costuming, then went on to a presentation by Robert Godwin of digital panoramas he’d made of the moon’s surface by stitching together photographs and video footage taken by the Apollo astronauts. I ended things by going to a panel on adapting books into movies. All told, it was a varied and surprising day. Not all the panels cut as deeply as I would have liked, or dealt with the exact aspects of their subjects that I was interested in, but overall what I did learn made the day worthwhile.

I spent some time on the Saturday night at the parties. I was able to meet and speak with author Craig Davidson, whose excellent set of linked short stories Sarah Court I’d raved about for the Rover Arts web site. As it happened, later on I was able to properly introduce myself to Ed Greenwood, who graciously chatted for a good half-hour or more, an energetic wide-ranging talk about food in history, the Depression, the development of Toronto, and any number of other topics. It was a nice wrap-up to the day.

Sunday was briefer, but more intense. I showed up at 10 for a panel on ghost stories from around the world, which I had to leave halfway through in search of coffee. Luckily, I found some, provided in the room across from the con suite by the folks at AE magazine. An online Canadian SF magazine, named for seminal Canadian author A.E. Van Vogt, AE has also had the great good taste to publish “Unwinding Road,” a piece by my girlfriend, Grace Seybold, which they also reprinted (along with several other short tales) as handouts for the con.

From there I went to a panel on guerilla marketing for self-publishing, then to another steampunk panel, with St. Martin, Greenwood, Frey, and author Adrienne Kress. A lot of great issues about steampunk were raised, but by this point of the convention I was frankly exhausted. I suspect many others were as well, which may explain why the panel at one point burst into a rendition of a song from The Pirates of Penzance. Somehow, it seemed relevant at the time.

I then managed to catch half of a panel on Northern Gothic, featuring David Nickle and Peter Halasz; it was an intense investigation of the meaning of gothic, and how it works when translated to a northern sensibility — is it inherently rural, and if so how does it relate to landscape; or is an urban northern gothic imaginable? It was a fascinating talk, which led nicely into the panel I’d been looking forward to all weekend, a discussion about what were the 10 most influential books in fantasy. There were some interesting names thrown out; nobody had quite the same definition of ‘fantasy,’ or for that matter of ‘influence,’ making for a diverse group of texts. Does one choose the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer, Ovid, Mallory … or should we look at the influence on the current marketplace, and select Brooks and Jordan?

(If you’re interested, according to my scribbled notes, over the course of the panel Peter Halasz mentioned Gilgamesh, the New Testament, the Koran, Homer, Ovid, Mallory, The Arabian Nights, Perrault’s Mother Goose, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, The Lord of the Rings, and Jorge Luis Borges. Writer Matthew Johnson put forward Macbeth, Lin Carter’s Conan of the Isles — the first franchise novel — The Left Hand of Darkness, Charles de Lint’s Jack the Giant-Killer — the first urban fantasy novel, Johnson suggested, and a direct ancestor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Brooks’ Sword of Shannara, Moorcock’s Elric books, and Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. Writer/publisher Elizabeth Hirst suggested Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein, Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn, A Wizard of Earthsea, Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno, The Mists of Avalon, the Harry Potter books, Interview With the Vampire, The Colour of Magic, H. Rider Haggard’s She and related works, and Lewis’ Narnia books. Rebecca Simkin, one of the organisers of the Sunburst Award, suggested A Wrinkle in Time, The Odyssey, Neuromancer, A Wizard of Earthsea, Beowulf, Elric, and The Once and Future King. Writer Ian Keeling mentioned The Lord of the Rings, the Potter books, The Wheel of Time, Mallory, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin, A Princess of Mars, the Thomas Covenant books, and the Narnia books. Suggestions from the audience included Alice in Wonderland, Patricia McKillip’s early work — which the commenter suggested revised myths in a significant way — and the work of Pauline Baynes, who drew the map for The Lord of the Rings.)

(Meanwhile, I’d come up with a list of my own; I decided “10 most influential books in fantasy” meant the books within the fantasy genre that shaped the genre the most in terms of narrative structure — if a genre’s a set of narrative conventions, which books most defined those conventions? So I excluded children’s books, for the most part, and magic realism, and came up with the following list: Sara Coleridge’s Phantasmion, William Morris’ romances, Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros, Howard’s Hour of the Dragon, The Lord of the Rings, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books, Le Guin’s Earthsea, Moorcock’s Stormbringer, Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and Jaqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart — but Hirst’s mention of Mists of Avalon convinced me to drop that one in favour of Bradley’s book. I wish I’d been able to find room for Dunsany, MacDonald, China Miéville, John Crowley, Hope Mirrlees … any number of other writers, really. But that’s the challenge of the exercise.)

All in all, the weekend’s panels had a good range of subject matter, and on the whole worked fairly well. It seemed to me that they were more conversational than at the other conventions I’d been to; that the audience was often able to enter into a real dialogue with the panelists. It was engaging, unpredictable, and informal in the most effective way possible.

Overall, I enjoyed Ad Astra. I don’t honestly know if I’d go back, just because the location makes it inconvenient to get to unless you’re staying at the convention hotel or somewhere else nearby. But the people were friendly, and it’s large enough that there’s always something going on that’s worth looking at, whether a panel, or an anime showing, or a group of lego enthusiasts. And, overall, although there are events to do with other media, the focus was mainly on the written word; that in itself was nice to see. As I said, I don’t have a wide experience with conventions, but Ad Astra was pleasant and involving. I was able to pick up review copies of a number of books, as well, which I’ll be discussing over the following weeks. So a positive experience, on my end; just about what I was hoping for.

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Matthew David Surridge is the author of “The Word of Azrael,” from Black Gate 14. His ongoing web serial is The Fell Gard Codices. You can find him on facebook, or follow his Twitter account, Fell_Gard.

Black Gate

Magazine editor under fire
By Bao Daozu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-23 07:50
BEIJING – Editors with the nation’s most
popular science fiction magazine have issued an open letter asking
for the editor-in-chief to be fired, accusing him of being corrupt
and dictatorial.
The letter was published on the popular
website douban.com on Sunday evening, entitled, “A public letter to
the nation’s science fiction fans from the Science Fiction World.
We’re ready for the storm! “
Liu Zhuang, a staffer from the
magazine’s editorial office, confirmed with China Daily on Monday
that the letter was sent jointly by all the editors.
He declined to disclose further details
about the event, which is considered rare in China’s media
circles.
The alleged wrongdoings of the
editor-in-chief, Li Chang, who has held the position since the end
of 2008, was listed in the letter.
“He (Li Chang) doesn’t know either
science fiction or publication or editing. He doesn’t respect the
readers or the writers. He is of bad morality and is unqualified
for the job, “the letter said.
“However such a person managed to climb
his way up to the editor-in-chief of a magazine that has enjoyed a
high reputation nationwide. Now people in the science fiction
circle are in anxiety. The entire editing group of the magazine is
ready to resign at anytime. The last flag in China’s science
fiction world is about to vanish, “it said.
The note said Li has insisted on using
photographs of some local campuses on the magazine covers to make
profits, and has replaced professional writers with editors.
Li’s other alleged deeds of misconduct
include illegally selling book license numbers and granting
privileges to his friends’ companies to publish ads in the
magazine.
The post has collected 1,086 comments
and has been recommended to fellow readers 4,216 times by netizens
as of Monday evening.
Founded in 1979, at it highest point the
monthly magazine had a monthly circulation of about 300,000,
according to the magazine’s website.
Li could not be reached on Monday for
comments, with his colleagues saying he was on vacation in
Taiwan.
Wu Yan, an education professor with
Beijing Normal University who was closely involved with the
magazine, said he is angry over the situation.
“I watched over the magazine as it grew
during the past years. As the only place that offers a master’s
degree in science fiction research and study, we had long
maintained a tight cooperation with the magazine. But everything
ended after Li took the position, “Wu told China Daily on
Monday.
Li suspended all the spending on writing
and editing improvements, and also canceled the annual meeting for
their science fiction pen association, Wu said.
“He said it was not necessary to
maintain relationships with us, “Wu said.
Wu said the magazine had been successful
before Li took office, because it has hired lots of science fiction
fans to work as editors during the past 10 years.
“They’re pretty dedicated to their
careers. Perhaps that’s why they raised the issue in such a
high-profile manner, “he said.
Tan Kai, one of the earliest co-founders
of the magazine and its former editor-in-chief, told China Daily he
was disappointed at Li’s work.
Tan said since Li took over the
magazine’s management, its circulation had seen a sharp drop. Li
also canceled some staff benefits, such as annual health
check-ups.
One major reason for Li’s being
appointed to his current position is because he had good personal
relationships with some leaders from the Sichuan Association for
Science and Technology (SAST). The association appoints some
high-level staffers for the magazine, Tan said, adding that he has
known Li personally for more than 10 years.
Tan said he text-messaged some
complaints to SAST people when Li was appointed to the post. One of
his texts read: “Handing the magazine over to him is like sending
my own daughter to the brothel. “But his comments were ignored, he
said.
Wu Kai, the Party secretary of SAST,
could not be reached for comment on Monday as his mobile phone was
turned off.
Some readers also said they are
disappointed at a decline in the quality of the magazine.
“I used to be a loyal fan of the Science
Fiction World when I was in college. An article called Santi (The
Three-body Problem) got me started reading science fiction. Since
then I bought the magazine every now and then, “said Liang Liang, a
25-year-old female planner with an advertising company in
Beijing.
She said she stopped buying it early
last year, “because the articles became very similar, without
anything outstanding “.

(China Daily 03/23/2010
page6)
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-03/23/content_9625795.htm

Science fiction Literature,Science fiction stories,living in a mystic world.