A View From Corona #15

March 1st 2004 at 1:05 pm

Okay… For this Installment of A View From Corona I will present a get rich quick scheme for everyone still smarting from the stock market scandals and the “dot-bomb” debacle. Where can the middle class safely invest its money and get a reasonable rate of return?

A View From Corona #14

January 19th 2004 at 1:02 pm

I returned home from vacation and was confronted with the terrible news that Jack Cady had died. Jack was one of the most talented, and at the same time, one of the most down to earth and enthusiastic people I have had the pleasure of publishing. This news was especially painful for me because I hadn’t spoken to Jack for several months. I had been planning on dropping him a letter ever since Night Shade was awarded a World Fantasy award in November. Weeks and months slipped by, and between the rush of the production schedule, and bustle of every day life, I never actually got around to telling Jack how much his collection, Ghosts of Yesterday meant to Night Shade, and to me personally.

A View From Corona #13

November 24th 2003 at 12:57 pm

Given the subject matter of the last few Corona columns, a regular reader might think that this forum is only for complaining about things. Well, it IS for complaining, but it is also for celebrating the good things. In this column… lucky 13, I certainly have something to celebrate.

A View From Corona #12

July 26th 2003 at 12:52 pm

Time for some semi-random free association observations about the industry that I love to hate to love – Books and Publishing. The industry as a whole dodged a MAJOR bullet recently when debt-ridden mega-media-corp AOL-Time Warner decided to NOT sell off their publishing division. There are currently 6 major publishing houses that publish the majority of books sold in this country, and it was looking like this Big 6 might become the Big 5. The Other corporate media giants in the publishing world were leery of paying the $400 million asking price, because of fears that top tier authors and editors (and top tier distribution clients like DC comics) would leave the Time-Warner Publishing ship like rats leaving a sinking ship.

A View From Corona #11 - Feedback

January 30th 2003 at 12:37 pm

I received a very interesting email in response to A View From Corona #11. Mr. Paul Herman, a noted Robert E. Howard scholar and editor took the time to share some of his knowledge about the Conan texts, and Robert E. Howard’s work in general. I thought his letter would be of interest to the readers of Corona, and asked him for permission reprint it. Mr. Herman graciously agreed.

A View From Corona #11

November 11th 2002 at 12:26 pm

It has been a long time since I’ve been to Corona Heights. Too long. Since I last typed words for this column, I’ve been to several conventions, and my company has released a few books. Last week, I got an email from a friend who has read this column faithfully. He did not ask me to write a new column. He DEMANDED it! My fingers have been away from the keyboard for too long! A View From Corona #11 exists because of this prodding, and because of an infuriating little fact that was pointed out to me by this demanding friend several months ago. I’m dedicating this one to you, Norm. Thanks for all the encouragement.

A View From Corona #10

September 27th 2002 at 12:13 pm

When did the world I live in become a dystopian SF novel from my youth? I’m not sure, but I’m scared as hell.

A View From Corona #9

July 28th 2002 at 11:48 am

Working in a genre specialty bookstore in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission district gives me a very unique perspective. The store gets a lot of foot traffic. A lot of “straight” people who don’t read the genre, and/or don’t read fiction in general sometimes mistakenly stumble through the doors. When they do, I try to be as accommodating as possible, and more often than not, I can get them to leave with a book that is just right for them. My favorite example of this is when a gentleman came in looking for travel books, specifically books about Bed & Breakfasts, because he needed a gift for a friend who was opening a B&B in Memphis, TN. He ended up leaving with “the perfect gift”, a contemporary horror anthology, More Monsters From Memphis. A similar, but rather depressing thing happened this weekend. A gentleman came in and asked for automobile books. I apologized, and told him what the store specialized in, and he pondered that… “Horror… I like Horror. I love Tales from the Crypt”. I told him we had some graphic novels, but didn’t really have any movie or media tie in stuff. Instead, we mainly had novels and short stories. “Books without pictures?” he asked. Yeah. Books without pictures.

A View From Corona #8

July 2nd 2002 at 12:10 pm

Whenever I think about how “bad” the state of horror fiction is, all I have to do to cheer myself up is consider how much worse cinematic horror is. Have you BEEN to the theater lately? Have you seen how bad most of the horror movies are that Hollywood is jamming down our throats? The state of horror fiction looks positively rosy compared to its cinematic cousin.

A View From Corona #7

May 16th 2002 at 11:36 am

“Just because someone can read does not mean that he necessarily can read SF…” – David G. Hartwell

SF (including its sibling genres fantasy and horror) has a rich and varied history which infects, permeates, and informs most contemporary forms of the genre. This is at once a Good Thing(tm) as well as a Bad Thing(tm). It is a Good Thing because it means the even the most “low brow”, reader friendly space opera/fantasy/horror epic will by its very nature have a depth and complexity to it… simply because the author will be (usually intimately) familiar with the tropes and traditions of the genre, and there will be (at the very least, subconsciously in the authors mind) a dialog with what has gone before. Contemporary genre fiction is littered with winking allusions to previous genre works, both landmark and obscure. And a good percentage of the readers of genre fiction expect and like these allusions. They allow a reader to observe and participate in an ongoing dialog between multiple generations of writers who have all read the same things. This is one of the big pleasures of reading genre fiction of any stripe, be it SF/fantasy/horror, or Mystery/Crime, or Western or Romance.