Anomalous Thoughts

Just A Quick Note

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:02:00 +0000

Daverana Enterprises has released the 9th installment of Janrae Franks Dark Brothers of Light series, Blood Lies. It and the rest of her works are currently available as e-books via Smashwords and can be purchased here. I really enjoyed working on this book and am pretty chuffed to see it released.

A Gentle Rebuttal

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:34:00 +0000

As I was sipping my cup of brew this morning it was brought to my attention that a certain individual had launched an attack on the company I work for via Yahoo’s Associated Content service. This individual, Mr. Nickolaus Pacione, is a well known trouble-maker on the web however he has levelled some pretty serious accusations at Daverana Enterprises within this* article and as acting Editor in Chief I would like to take a moment to set the record straight.

Mr. Pacione’s opening line is sheer fantasy. Since I took over Daverana’s small editorial department in early 2010 we have had little to no interaction with GUD magazine. This isn’t because we don’t like Kaolin’s work or feel that GUD is a bad publication on the contrary, GUD has beaten the odds as a small operator and I have to take my hat off to them. I honestly wish that Flashing Swords Magazine had weathered the economic crunch as well as Kaolin’s ‘zine has. We aren’t associated with GUD at the moment due to the fact that we have been busy revamping our website as well as preparing new titles for release in various formats. That is not to say we haven’t associated with GUD in the past. My boss and the owner of Daverana Enterprises, Janrae Frank, has sold Kaolin a piece of flash fiction called The Tale That Launched a Thousand Ships and did participate in a banner exchange with GUD on it’s previous website. I fail to see how any of this can be construed in such a way as to link either venture in such a ridiculous conspiracy.

Mr. Pacione's second accusation, that Daverana ‘rips people off’ is also load of bull. We have always taken great pains to make sure authors are appropriately compensated and to our knowledge, there are no payments outstanding for either the press itself or Flashing Swords at this time. He also seems convinced that Davarana has never actually published a ‘print title’. A quick product search over on Lulu seems to tell a very different story as we have plenty of titles available in several formats at the moment and our brand new website will certainly be showcasing these along with our upcoming releases.

I am aware that a couple of Daverana’s authors have reviewed Mr. Pacione’s writing in the past. However none of them have actively plagiarized his work and openly asserting that our authors and limited staff would waste their very valuable time vandalizing his listings or websites smacks of pure childishness. To put it simply we are a very small company and as such are just too busy trying to get books out the door on time to invest that much time in harassing this guy.

In the end, I can only speak for myself. As Editor in Chief of Daverana Enterprises, I have never, ever ‘leaked’ a submission to another publication or editor. I have never withheld payment from any author associated with Daverana projects. I have never plagiarized Mr. Pacione.

A quick Google search was extremely educational and it seems that this is pretty much par for the course with Mr. Pacione. Normally I would ignore such ludicrous accusations but it is clear to me that once Mr. Pacione become fixated on an idea he worries at it endlessly, building even more elaborate fantasies about people he believes have slighted him in some fashion. I feel passionately enough about the company I work for that I cannot sit by silently when someone has the gall to insinuate that I am helping to run a less than professional operation based on pure conjecture rather than solid facts.

*Update 11/4/2011 20:40 GMT Associated Content have removed the offensive article and apparently terminated Mr. Pacione's account.

I won't buy that for a dollar

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Today one of my really lovely twitter followers tweeted about seeing certain types of books on offer at a dollar store.

MsM: Found myself in the book aisle of a $1.00 store today. All they had were Bibles & inspirational books = poor folks don’t like info. or lit.

To which I replied with: I’d be more inclined to think the buyers feel that the poor only deserve those selections considering content and dom(inant) culture.

This tiny exchange has pricked a bubble of venom I’ve probably been sitting on for quite sometime. I may say things in this post that cause folks to take umbrage. In some ways that can be a very good thing however I’d like to lay out some personal facts very quickly to head off any spurious arguments or accusations. First: I, personally, have shopped in American style Dollar stores within the last year. As a matter of fact, I’ve shopped in those types of stores my entire life because I have never made a wage or been part of a household that made a wage over the US federal poverty line. Second: While I hold a degree in a relevant field and am currently pursuing a career in publishing I am neither attacking nor defending ‘the industry’. Third, please don’t assume I’m trolling anybody or any organization deliberately as I am more than aware dollar stores are pretty much a necessity for many families in today’s hellacious economic climate. I’m also aware that any fool can print a book these days (vanity presses) and if they can swindle an even bigger fool, get a distribution deal. I feel that the types of books MsM noticed and that I, myself, have seen on the shelves of various dollar stores reflect a certain type of attitude towards poverty and a stereotype that needs to be constantly challenged; that of the ‘deserving’ poor.

There are so many issues surrounding the state poverty in America that desperately need to be addressed. Especially now that more and more of us are feeling that nip at the end of the month, the swamp hot breath of debt on the back of our necks as we juggle credit cards to pay off ridiculously toxic student loans or mortgages or cars. This however is the issue that speaks to me the loudest. I honestly feel that it isn’t a matter of poor folks being interested in finer literature or books featuring primarily facts and information, it is firmly a matter of availability. That lack of availability is directly tied to assumptions about what it means to be poor.

Let me take a moment to clarify some of these common assumptions. If you’re poor in America you are: stupid or lacking education, lazy, lacking in morals, self-discipline, confidence or a commitment to just work that much harder to get ahead. It’s almost always considered a personal failure on the part of an individual rather than a symptom of bigger issues and that, in my eyes, is where the lie of the ‘deserving’ poor is born.

Historically there has always been a class of people that no matter how hard they worked, how often they went to church or how honestly they lived, cannot seem to rise above being impoverished and these are the people those bibles and inspirational books are aimed at. Since everybody knows that being poor is such a miserable state of existence surely the deserving need some sort or comfort and IF someone not so upright purchases such a book surely it can only improve them.

I’m fully willing to entertain the idea that I’m reading too much into such a simple thing. Maybe my own experiences are tainting an innocent practice and I’m bitterly talking out of my ass. What do you think?

On the Bookstore**

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:46:00 +0000

So Andy took me to Fort Kinnaird on Sunday to visit the ‘big’ HMV/Waterstone’s outlet. It was an exercise in heartbreak and frustration although in the end I walked out with some good things. First off books only make up about a third of the floor space in a very roomy unit but considering that particular location is not solely dedicated as a book store that is pardonable. I headed straight for the SF/F section which was shamefully TINY. Four wall mounted units of SF/F titles, one wall unit of Paranormal Romance, one wall unit of ‘Dark’ Fantasy/Romance (aka twilight-esque train-wrecks) and one side of a free-standing floor unit of Horror titles. It was smaller than the SF/F Section in Waterstone’s Dundee, I was flabbergasted even though I should not have been.

I started looking for some of the newer titles that I felt should be easily available like Sam Sykes’s Tome of the Undergates or Black Halo. No copies. I found a single softback copy of City of Ruins by Mark Charan Newton but no copy of Nights of Villjamur. A lone hardback of The Wiseman’s Fear lingered on a bottom shelf but I already had that at home. I started to get irritable.

I flagged down a staff member to make an inquiry, just to see if I was maybe missing titles or a special display. No joy, neither that outlet nor the one at Ocean Terminal had copies of Nights of Villjamur but one of the branches on Princes’ Street did*, they had twenty copies (!) or they could order it in and the title might get there in seven to ten days. I grabbed the fraying ends of my temper tight and thanked the staff members politely, telling myself things like ‘It is not their fault, they aren’t in charge of ordering’ and ‘You know SF/F is a niche market and sometimes you can’t get what you want, when you want it’.

As I stood in that sliver of floor space and strained to find something I really wanted to read, thankfully, a copy of Horns by Joe Hill jumped out at me. Then, three more titles made themselves known in little flashes of interest as I remember bits from a couple of blogs I follow.

You might be scratching you head at this point or think that maybe I’m overdramatizing this experience but let me clarify one very salient point, I am dirt fucking poor right now. Buying books, even just 24£ of books, is a huge deal as that money could be put to better use in the petrol tank or putting cheap food on the table. Andy was trying to do something really nice for me and I NEEDED to make this work out as a positive so that he understood how grateful I am; not just for that day’s purchase but that he tolerates my addiction and at least tries to understand the world I live in most of the time.

When he circled back out of DVDs to check on my progress, I was still pretty frustrated but ready to go. I remember telling him how frustrated I was that everything I consider entertaining tends to be labelled as ‘trashy’, ‘ghetto’ or ‘a waste of time and resources’. He is well aware of how I feel about the publishing industry’s saturation with widely accepted, mass marketed Lit-Fic; shit that I’ve been encouraged to lap up, gestate and re-birth/ reproduce especially since I have a Lit degree that is somehow magically supposed to impart good taste and the ability to excrete the high brow equivelent of literary gold at a whim. It might be frustrating and much more discouraging than the usual course of things in publishing but I’d rather keep slumming, thanks.

*Due to the Edinburgh Trams project (which is a whole different flavour of government fuck up) getting to shops on Princes Street is a right laugh, especially on the weekend. It would probably be safer and more productive to book a cruise that ends in R'lyeh.

**This was originally posted to my tumblr on the 30th of May.

On Zombies

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Otherness is a key component of genre Horror and is most frequently expressed or personified through monsters taken from folklore, myths and legends. Today I’m thinking about otherness in regards to Zombies and why they are still gaining in popularity as pivotal antagonists in modern literature rather than quietly rotting away in the safe corner of cult fandom. Whether they are the shuffling through the darkened and deserted streets of small town America or darting after harried survivors in hive-like cityscapes, Zombies have emerged to take centre-stage.

I am not the first person to turn an analytical eye towards this subject nor am I an expert in zombiology, literary study or psychology. This post came about from catching a tweet Saturday from a follower of mine participating in the chat on urban fantasy. She and I share a love for monsters drawn from folklore and urban as well as rural legends in general and both of us have an interest in seeing them used more frequently in fiction. However the undisputed heavy hitters in Horror at the moment are Vampires, Lycanthropes and Zombies as well as other human beings. I feel that the popularity of Zombies is tied into what they can represent as ‘others’ and that to an extent they are functioning as an expression of our collective unconscious.

Zombies are amazingly flexible antagonists, able to reflect the shared fears of society and have evolved far beyond their historical roots. Originally, Zombies were portrayed as people enslaved after death due to a type of spiritual debt through arcane ritual and curses. Completely lacking free will, emotion and morals, the animated body could only follow the direction of their controller.

Glossing over the obvious factors involving humanity’s instinctive fear of death, a lack of free will is definitely a major fear point as generally people do not seek to be or enjoy feeling powerless. Yet on a daily basis we often find ourselves trapped by circumstances where we must bow to authority on some level, whether that is by acting as a law-abiding individuals or fulfilling the requirements of a job that keeps food on the table. We are constantly frittering away our freedoms as individuals and thus we fear that those we give our power to might abuse it. And yes, those people in authority do abuse it as everyone finds themselves taken advantage of from time to time; by the government right down to those that should be closest to us.

Over time the Zombie has changed to reflect this, most notably embodied in Romero’s interpretation of them however something new emerged at the same time. The controller became non-existent and spiritual debts became much less important. The Zombie was emancipated into spontaneous generation, rising up as a creature of gnawing and ceaseless hunger. Nearly mindless, this type of Zombie functions more as a force of nature, a fact which has been touched upon in multiple interviews and previous attempts at analysis. Through multiple incarnations in film zombies began to take on more signs of intelligence although it remained low more akin to predatory, animalistic cunning. Zombies became a symbol of uncontrolled chaos and consumerism.

The literary Zombie however is a much different creature and reflecting new fears as well as circumstances. The origin of Romero’s Zombies was never clearly explained* although they multiplied through their bite. Even though no one knows where the first Zombie in his universe came from, the spread of zombification followed the same transmission process as other infectious diseases. If one is unfortunate enough to survive the initial contact of a Zombie attack they face a period of incubation and illness as the body fights back only to succumb to death and reanimation as the very object of their terror.

This is an interesting development and plays a rather large part within the cannon of the modern Zombie. A fear of disease is pretty basic and closely tied into our fear of death. Over the last two decades as disease has become a component tool of terrorists the majority of literary Zombies are generated through engineered plagues either accidentally or deliberately released on an un-expecting and woefully unprepared population. This incarnation of the Zombie covers a boat-load of fears; distrust of authority, of our fellow men, the seemingly limitless power of medical science, incurable disease and an end to civilization as we know it through absolute anarchy.

The Zombie is and will remain popular due to the fact it is a view through a mirror darkened, of a collection of the very worst of our human flaws running unchecked. Its flexibility allows for the development and exploration of both the worst and best humanity has to offer through narratives of devastation as well as hope. It is a safe expression of primal as well as modern fears ... so long as it stays firmly on celluloid and on pages.

*Although it is theorized by one scientist in the film, Night of the Living Dead, to have been caused by radioactive contamination from an exploding space probe, the actual cause of the zombie outbreak remains ambiguous. Thanks to the ever-lovely @ruiner85 for checking my facts =)

And the Saga continues

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 12:53:00 +0000

As most of you know, I’ve been staying in the UK on a Student Visa. There was a lot of drama involved in getting that visa, securing a place at the University of Dundee and then keeping my studies funded yet I managed, with the help of a fantastic group of supportive people, to push through and graduate last June with my Masters in English. Graduation of course meant that there was a change in my immigration status but Andy and I had already decided which Visa I’d be trying to transition to and we relocated to Glasgow, intending to fill out the forms once we had everything sorted after moving.

Earlier this week I started filling the forms in. While Andy was cruising the UK Border Agency website looking for some answers, he found that as of October 1st 2010 the rules applying to Student Visas had changed. Suddenly it looked like I had unintentionally become an illegal alien under the new regulations.

It is difficult to describe just how scary that thought is especially when as we searched for specific answers we found less and less information publicly available. We decided that the best course of action was to start planning my immediate departure, in an effort to show instant compliance with the law as it now stands and that I visit Citizens Advice to figure out exactly what had happened and what I should be doing. If it turned out I had violated my Student Visa, even by accident, there could be serious complications with getting my new Visa issued. Overstaying, even through innocent ignorance, is seriously frowned upon.

Thankfully Citizens Advice came through in spades by providing special information and reassurance. While it isn’t clear whether I’m currently an illegal alien or about to become one, the course of action remains the same. I’m leaving Scotland on Friday the 19th of November and will be applying for my new Visa state-side as the process can take upwards of three months at the minimum. There are several reasons besides legality that this is best course of action. My Mum’s health has been declining in fits and starts since the autumn of 2008 so I’ll have plenty of time to get her sorted out properly. It also means I’ll be able to spend the holidays at home, that if the worst comes to pass and the Visa is denied I’ll be in the right place to just get on with things.

To say the situation sucks is a gross understatement. No wants to leave their partner, pet and home for three months while a faceless entity decides the ‘best’ course of action. Even if the Visa is denied, Andy and I have already agreed that we aren’t going to throw away the last few years. We will figure things out as they happen, as we have always done. There are other options, it’s just they aren’t ideal but then that is nothing new either. It will be business as usual, just in a different time zone. If you’d like to see me before I leave Scotland OR you would like to make plans to catch up once I’m stateside, either text my mobile or Facebook me.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everybody that helped this crazy situation come to fruition and are supporting its continuation. While I may never fully understand why so many of you are willing to step into the breach for Andy and I, whether it’s financially or just through good will, it is deeply appreciated. I will do my damnedest to make sure that your belief and faith in us, as individuals, are repaid in kind.

Thank you,
C

* you can read past episodes of the saga on my Live Journal here

A Pair of Shining Examples of What Not to Do

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:59:00 +0000

Yesterday as I was cycling through my list of interesting blogs, I came across John Scalzi’s post regarding Judith Griggs, the editor of Cooks Source magazine. You can read that here.

There are two reasons this situation regarding plagiarism caught my attention. First, I often bang on to friends about the intricate ethics involved in working as an editor. Quality aside, I see the work of many people on a regular basis and those people have taken a leap of faith by trusting me not to steal it. I also have very strong feelings about professionalism as well as commitment, to the authors that I work with. Ms. Griggs would appear to be severely lacking in either of those departments. Turning around to berate the author in an attempt to extract gratitude is extremely poor form especially when the majority of so called ‘edits’ were to correct deliberately included archaic spellings. Talk about disregarding the author’s intent, sheesh! The waving of credentials paired with supposed fatigue is also pretty shameful. Thirty odd years of experience should only lead to actual care and competency in the craft rather than a smug sense of entitlement. ‘My bad’ doesn’t even begin to cover the amount of fail in this situation. Public apologies and financial compensation are both just the tip of the remuneration iceberg in what has become a very public scandal.

The second reason this situation pushes my big red button is that the company I work for, Daverana, is involved in a confrontation with yet another plagiarist on the behalf of one of our authors. You can read the details of that here and here

David Boyer is pretty damned despicable in my eyes; he has not only tarnished the title of editor by cheating people out of money left and right but he went one step further by stealing their work and putting his name on it. He has also made a habit of threatening and bullying folks that try to call him on his bullshit. This side of him is being documented in detail over on The Rusty Nail as well as on Writer Beware. So not only is he murdering the trust implicit in author/ editor relationships by stealing work as well as violating agreements or contracts in regards to payment, he is a cowardly bully.

I admit that working with authors is difficult. Ego can be a huge factor on both sides of the relationship along with misconceptions about the industry and at times sheer bad luck or honest mistakes. However there is never a reason or situation in which full out plagiarism becomes or is an acceptable course of action. People like Griggs and Boyer place smaller publishers and publications in a really negative light. They generate horror stories that instil more fear in new authors which makes them even less likely to take a chance with a smaller press or a low paying market like Flashing Swords. There has also been quite a lot of talk about the profession of editing in general lately, most of it being pretty negative. I feel that morally and ethically corrupt individuals like Griggs and Boyer put more pressure on the rest of us to perform above and beyond the bar of what would normally be considered an acceptable standard.

I’m not only angry at Griggs and Boyer on a professional level; Jane Timm Baxter is well on her way to becoming a good friend of mine. It’s hard not to care about the person behind the project that you spend long periods of time, up to your elbows in the literary guts of, on a daily basis. Boyer’s actions and false accusations have caused her a lot of stress and grief which I resent. When an author does agree to work with me, I do my very best to treat them fairly not only because it is important to me on a personal level but that I want them to feel good about partnering with Daverana as a whole.

*edited at 17:10 BST to fix my link-spam!

Pettycoat Problems

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:46:00 +0000

James Brown’s version of ‘This is a man’s world’ has been stuck in my head off and on for the last couple days. It’s quite annoying and frankly I’m blaming the BBC news as they posted the article that triggered this particular loop. The article in question concerns Jane Austen and was titled ‘Jane Austen’s style might not be hers, academic claims’. It can be viewed in full here provided the BBC hasn’t moved it or taken it down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11610489

While I am not a tea swilling mistress of dry wit and scorn covered with a thin veneer of manners and false civility, I do happen to respect Jane Austen’s body of work from a literary and historical perspective. I’m not overly bothered by Professor Sutherland’s research or findings; if anything, her detailed analysis of original Austen manuscripts vindicates as well as celebrates Austen’s creative prowess. What has my knickers in a twist is twofold; first is the shocked yet denigrating tone of the article along with its accompanying analysis by Rebecca Jones and second is the interference of her editor being so noticeable as to compromise Austen’s innate style. Yes, I said compromise and I will explain that in a minute.

I’m still fairly new to editing at a professional level but I have developed my own system of ethics for working with the products of other people. I don’t expect anyone, beyond the author I’m working with, to agree with my ‘rules’. However when an editor is so heavy handed it actually alters the tone of an author’s work in a significant way, something is out of balance. When I undertake an edit on a manuscript the thought top most in my mind is ‘Does my suggestion or correction serve the narrative?’

Take the frequently cited ‘Eating’ argument in regards to proper grammar; ‘Let’s eat, Grandma’ is for all intents and purposes punctuated correctly. In truth the apostrophe actually fills in more than just the missing letter U from us while the comma shows to whom the comment is addressed. If I wanted to be a total jackass about it I could type out ‘Come, let us sit down and eat a meal, mother of my parent.’ Yeah, that just rolls of the tongue.

‘Let’s eat grandma’ is probably the most common variant of grammatical butchery for this phrase but is there ever a situation in which this tiny phrase could become grammatically correct? Sure, you could be writing about a post-Apocalyptic family that just lost Grandma and there’s no reason to let her go to waste. My point here is that as an editor I’m not only concerned with the established rules of grammar but the context in which those rules are either applied or discarded. I need to have a very firm grasp of the author’s intent and IF I am uncertain of that intent I need to ask questions rather than just making demands for compliance.

Perhaps I’m utterly mistaken about my purpose in the writing process but it seems to be the height of arrogance for me to start applying strictly correct grammar to an author's work regardless of its impact on the narrative and it appears that this is exactly what has happened to Ms. Austen’s work. Her obviously masculine publisher paid another man to ‘clean up’ Ms. Austen’s manuscripts to an acceptable level which in turn created an artificial fusion of style. And the BBC has the audacity to trumpet it about like it is perfectly acceptable, even preferable behavior? That perhaps Ms. Austen was not that good in first place when Professor Sutherland’s work would indicate that she was in fact superior when writing dialogue and conversations. To say I’m appalled doesn’t really cover it; I think I need a cup of tea. Maybe two lumps will make a man’s world go down a bit smoother.

*edited due to MS word playing nasty with Homophones. Austin is not Austen.

Editorial Advice

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Helming a magazine, either on-line or in print, is a mammoth undertaking. I’ve had the good fortune of being included in two different operations. I have been the Editor in Chief of Flashing Swords Magazine for over a year and have also functioned as an Assistant Editor for T. W. Anderson’s Marginal Boundaries. The situation with both magazines is complicated at the moment however I’m not typing this out to bitch about how ‘hard’ being an editor is. I’m not out to shame or insult anyone either but it recently came to my attention that a fledgling publication was suffering under the yoke of a contract with a distinctly unpleasant individual. Thankfully, this individual showed his true colours and now the maiden issue will move forward, hopefully successfully, without a known bigot and bully straight out of the Inquisition gaining a new platform from which to spread his hatred and filth.

It is never easy to admit that one has made a mistake. I made a whopper when I assumed control of Flashing Swords. While the magazine was in a state of entropic flux with a rather large back log due to frequent editorial staff changes, I happened to be in the middle of moving house which meant getting a new net connection set up as well. In an effort to help streamline productivity my partner offered to redirect the submissions for FSM to a gmail account, specifically so I could monitor new subs and queries while slogging through older stuff. There are few things more terrifying than your partner making a strangling noise, turning the colour of cottage cheese and asking ‘You love me, don’t you?’ during a tricksy bit of set up.

In less than a second several hundred emails blinked out of existence. After a frantic hour of trying to figure out what happened and if the deletion could be reversed, it became clear what I would have to do. I had to publicly admit on two forums and through various e-mails that I had lost a large amount of data when I had been on the job less than a month. Most of the contributors I’d been in contact with at that stage were already expressing a lot of frustration and bitterness as well as despair of ever seeing their work actually getting published through Flashing Swords.

I wrote out the entry carefully and took full responsibility, after all my partner had just been trying to do ME a favour. I was the one all these people depended on and were trying to trust with their creative children thus I owed them an honest accounting and sincerely respectful apology. I worried that the contributors would leave in droves, that my screw up would be the final straw in sinking Flashing Swords. It wasn’t. Thanks to my habit of keeping hand written lists, brutal honesty and the dedicated professionalism of the authors I was working with, I was able to continue addressing our paid back-list of contracts while sifting through freshly e-mailed copies of older submissions. It was still one of the hardest things I’ve had to do on behalf of Flashing Swords yet the way I handled the situation also led to later ventures.

It would have been easy to blame the previous editors or my partner and even easier to tell Janrae to find someone else to run the magazine; someone with more experience, with better IT and PR skills as well as more talent. However I am tenacious, I love Fantasy with all my heart and IF my life has taught me anything thus far it is that fuck ups and mistakes happen but they don’t have to define you.

Being a good editor isn’t just about your level of education, of experience, your grasp of the written word and the fine art of punctuation. It also takes passion, courage, honour, patience and a hell of a lot of grace under fire.

Reflection on YA Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:25:00 +0000

I fell in love with monsters at the tender age of four. There was a lot going on in my life in 1981, I’d been attending pre-school and my parents were getting a divorce. That afternoon Showtime happened to be airing Clash of the Titans and I was fascinated. To a four year old girl it was as if this movie had everything. A handsome hero, beautiful princesses in distress, a sinister villain, some interesting sidekicks including Pegasus and some very intimidating monsters, it was as if bed-time fairy tales had been brought to life!

As I grew up I devoured all the information I could about monsters. It didn’t matter if it was about the fictional Bunnicula, an anthology of ghost stories or a non-fiction exploration of folk-lore and superstitious practices from around the world; if it went bump in the night, had been fuzzily photographed, could sling hexes, bestow immortality, change shape or came from another world, I could tell you all about it. I have always understood that monsters and myths are not 'real'. There is a serious lack of scientific documentation for many crypto zoological species or ‘lost’ cities/ civilizations while there is plenty of empirical evidence debunking supernatural or other-worldly phenomena; however that has never stopped me from wishing that they were. If monsters, in all their sublime glory, existed the 'real world' would have been a bit easier to reconcile.

This fascination with fairy-tales, myth and monsters is what formed the basis of my literary as well as researching habits. The majority of modern ‘literary fiction’ holds little interest for me because it is most often based on reflections and extrapolations of ‘real’ people dealing or attempting to cope with ‘real’ problems. Once my parents actually separated, back in 1981, I had more than enough real world drama. My primary parent, Mum, is manic depressive and the man she settled down with a couple years later had some serious issues. My Dad re-married a selfish and petty woman that didn't want kids.

I didn't need to read about the abject misery of others to feel better about my lot in life, I didn't need to be told how to learn, to think, to dress, to interact with my peers. I hated books like Sweet Valley High that were considered 'age appropriate' and TV shows like Dallas and Dynasty that glorified silly women acting so spoilt and petty. It is a bit scary to realise I was thinking about life like this at the age of 8 and 9 but I didn't really have a choice. My reality just wasn't the same as the kids I went to school or shared a neighborhood with.

What I needed was an inspirational escape, characters that not only reflected the positive and negative facets of people around me but that didn't collapse in emotional histrionics under pressure. I needed to learn how to be strong, level-headed and above all understanding as well as intelligent. I'm not going to go into vivid detail here but I did not have an overly pleasant time as an adolescent and teenager. The people beyond my mum, that should have nurtured me dropped the ball a lot but I obviously survived. One of the most important lessons I learned is: Better the monster you can see, than the monster that pretends to be a (hu)man. Over the years this phrase has crystallized into the concept behind the majority of my fictional work; this is how I live, breathe and create as well as understand myself.

This is why I think the YA literature market, especially in regards to Fantasy and SF, is really important. It is why I feel authors like Neil Gaiman, Darren Shann, Lili St.Crow, Kelly Armstrong, Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), Rick Riordan, Johnathan Stroud and Derek Landy; among so many, are operating well above their basic calling. Sadly there will always be a need for stories that allow for youthful escape, for characters that can lead by example when those closest fail and for books that provide comfort when the real world just hurts too much to engage with.

Thank you,
C

Introductions are always awkward

noreply@blogger.com (The Feral Editor) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:32:00 +0000

So I decided to take a very basic approach to opening this blog by attempting to answer the five W’s.

Who is the Feral Editor?
As you can see from the column to the right my name is Charolette however most people these days call me Char. I am somewhat of ‘Renaissance’ woman in that I am widely read, I write prose and poetry and I enjoy undertaking a healthy variety of Art and Crafts projects as well as a few sedate outdoor activities. I enjoy travel, good food and stimulating conversation however I am not a socialite; I prefer intimate gatherings and working with individuals, one on one. I am opinionated yet open-minded and flexible; I’m not afraid to be intellectually challenged but I will fact check just to be sure I’m either not talking a load of trash or engaging in becoming misinformed. Nothing pleases me more than the realization that I have actually learned something new or have treated a contested issue fairly and with respect.

What does the Feral Editor do?
Until very recently I was pursuing a degree in both English Literature and Philosophy. I’m currently in the no-man’s land between receiving my degree and getting a 9-5 type of job but that doesn’t mean I’m twiddling my thumbs, surfing the net obsessively or disappearing into the murky depths of the MMORPG lifestyle. I’ve been working as a free-lance editor on the side for the last year and while only one of my undertakings has actually made it to press so far, I still feel optimistically hopeful about working in the publishing industry in a more formal setting. I am currently working on three long term projects for Daverana Enterprises; a modest small press with a serious commitment to bring out quality titles.

When did the Feral Editor get into literature?
I grew up in a literary household and by that I mean books were often considered acceptable accessories at the dinner table. I started writing fiction when I was twelve, poetry at fourteen and produced reams of childish imitations in the styles of my favourite authors. I consider it extremely fortunate that the majority of my work from this period ended up nourishing a large colony of carpenter ants. Seriously.

I transitioned from casual reading to literary analysis when I went back to college in 2006. When the opportunity to study Literature abroad came up I grabbed it with both hands. While I believe writing fiction and poetry is an individual and deeply organic process, I’m fascinated by the way it affects people as well as what a work can reveal about the circumstances it was created in. I feel that thoughtful dialogues between readers, authors and individuals in various aspects of the publishing industry have the potential to enrich the literary world in ways we can’t even begin to predict at the moment.

Where is the Feral Editor based?
For the last three years I have been living abroad in Scotland while pursuing that English Literature degree. While I’m currently based in Dundee, I am preparing to re-locate to the Glasgow area. Although I was born at the heart of the Willamette Valley, in beautiful Eugene Oregon, I also spent several years living in rural Missouri. I often find myself wandering around Edinburgh; have spent a week exploring the Seattle Washington area and have sipped ambrosial Seafood bisque in the Chesapeake Bay area. There have been countless fishing and camping trips as well as both accidental and well planned road trips. Each of these locations, events and their related experiences has left a significant imprint on me.

Why has the Feral Editor decided to blog?
The reason I am doing this now is pretty mundane; I’m attempting to create an online presence that reflects my professional interests while demonstrating my technical abilities. While I have a Live Journal to post book reviews and snippets of my written endeavours on, it’s not exactly high traffic. As a pending graduate I have been told it is ‘very important’ to have an online network in your chosen field as well as some semi-unique examples of skill for your prospective employers to ogle. In such a tight market it is up to the individual to sell themselves, to promote their intrinsic value over other applicants and convince a business that they are worthy of consideration.

Normally I’d ignore this heavy handed advice and consider it just another example of a trendy hoop our educational system has decided to latch on to in an effort to hide how broken it is. It is my experiences in the publishing industry however limited, which have shown me otherwise. I twitter regularly and keep up with several of my favourite authors as well as agents and editors via their independent blogs. I watched the Amazon/Macmillan flap unfold in real time with equal parts of horror and wonder, I have seen newly contracted authors endure the publishing process emerging into well deserved triumph and have also seen well established authors self destruct over both vital industry or purely ego driven issues. It is pretty clear from a professional stand point I would be a right fool to ignore such a powerful tool as blogging.

So this blog will be concerned with anomalous thoughts on my interests, working as an editor, issues within the publishing industry that catch my attention and open dialogue amongst the various literary factions.