Raymond K Rugg's Blog, page 8

Frederik Pohl passes

Sci-fi great Frederk Pohl passed away on Monday, at the age of 93. 
While none of the sales lessons in The Handbook were derived directly from Pohl's work, he is mentioned in Lesson #20, which discusses the cover art of Darrell K. Sweet and Boris Vallejo, among others.  I noted that these artists had work that appeared on the covers of a number of science fiction books, and Pohl appears in the list of works for both Sweet and Vallejo. 

Given that I'm reading my sci-fi and fantasy these days with sales lessons in mind, I guess I should go back and read Pohl's The Space Merchants, his 1953 book written with Cyril Kornbluth.  But I'm afraid that biggest lesson there might be a reminder that to many people, sales folk are nothing more than evil and manipulative.  I'll post when I do re-read it (it's been a looong time), but if anyone reads or has recently read it and has a different lesson that they get from it, please comment or e-mail me about it.

Here's the link to the NY Times obit on Pohl.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/books/frederik-pohl-worldly-wise-master-of-science-fiction-dies-at-93.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Some, some, summertime

Yes, long time, no post.  I know.  My only excuse is that the "sales"  part of "sales and science fiction" has kept me fairly well tied up over the past month.  I'm not complaining, because without sales , there is no " sales and science fiction ".  But it has resulted in a backlog of post-worthy news and info that I still need to get to.  And 
hopefully, the three-day weekend will provide that opportunity.

The first item to acknowledge is a congratulations to the winners of the book giveaway over on Goodreads.

There were a surprisingly (to me, at least) large number of international entries for the chance to win one of the ten copies of The Handbook.  As a result, there are five copies going out to Great Britain and Australia, and I am being introduced to the intricacies of International Mail.... 
hello, USPS Customs Declaration - CN 22! 
But I think I'm getting a handle on it, and both the international and domestic-bound books should be safely on their way within a day or two. 
(And about time, too, yes, yes, I know!)



So, congratulations to:  Belinda and Mary in Australia; 
Graham, Roman, and Sophie in Great Britain; 
Kat in Tennessee; 
Mirana in Washington; 
Carissa in Pennsylvania; 
and Alyndra and Tammi in California... 
look for your copies of The Handbook soon! 

And thanks to everyone who tossed their names in the hat for the giveaway;  there were 397 entries, a number that just tickles me pink.

Speaking of the LoneStarCon 3...

...as we did a few days ago, one of the guests of honor at the 71st annual World Science Fiction Convention is Darrel K. Sweet.  Sweet passed away in December of 2011, just four months after being selected for the honor.

Sweet, along with Michael Whelan and Boris Vallejo, provides the framework for Lesson 20 in the Handbook, the lesson being:  First impressions count, because a person who is about to spend money does and will judge a book by its cover.

When someone is being asked (by you!) to spend money on a product or service, they need some indication that they are going to be happy with their purchase.  The appearance, the packaging, the cover, is the most visible and immediate representation of the quality that they can expect.  The cover is the first chance that your offering has to shine, and it may be the tipping point for the decision maker to take the plunge and to buy from you... or not. When I was younger, and it came to choosing a new science fiction or fantasy book, it was often a case of "So many books, so little money."  So my brothers and I used the Judge a Book by its Cover method of picking new books, and the cover art of Sweet and some others was one way to do so.  Books by some of our favorite authors had cover art by these artists, so when we looked for new reading material, if it had cover art by the same people, it helped us decide to try a new writer out, to give them a chance. 

As noted in the Handbook, Vallejo's Tarzan covers helped me find Zelazny's Amber books.  Whelan's art
took me from Barsoom to Pern.  And Sweet's work, on both sides of the fence (Fantasy AND Sci Fi) for authors such as Robert Heinlein and Piers Anthony, encouraged me to sample the writings of other writers such as Lawrence Watt-Evans, Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan.

LoneStarCon 3 quotes TOR books art director Irene Gallo, "His paintings evoked the classic storytelling narration of the Golden Age illustrators. A Sweet cover promised an adventure to be had."  Nicely put.

More about Darrell K. Sweet at the  Worldcon site.

And don't forget to register for your chance to win a free copy of the Handbook at Goodreads!

Win a free copy of the Handbook on Goodreads

Well, the title about sums it up-  Over on the Goodreads website, there is a chance to win your free copy of the Handbook!  Click on to Goodreads to enter to win, but hurry, the contest ends on July 3!

While you are there, mark the Handbook on your To-Read list, add me as a friend or drop me a note.  Good luck!

Speaking of James Gunn...

...as we did a few days ago, it's also nice to note that the Grand Master is also a guest of honor at this year's World Science Fiction Convention, the 71st Worldcon, LoneStarCon 3, taking place in San Antonio August 29 through September 2.

Also on the list of confirmed program participants for the Con are some other folk whose work inspired lessons in the Handbook, including Lois McMaster Bujold, Kaja and Phil Foglio, Tanya Huff, Alastair Reynolds and Robert Silverberg.

If you're planning to attend the 71st Worldcon, but you haven't yet purchased your membership, now is the time to quit thinking and start doing; registration prices increase in August.  All the info you need is at the official website.

Doctorow announced as 2013 Prometheus winner

The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the Prometheus Awards winners for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame), to be presented Friday Aug. 30, 2013 at LoneStarCon3, the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

 Cory Doctorow won the award for Best Novel for Pirate Cinema (TOR Books). Doctorow also won the Best Novel award in 2009 for Little Brother.  Doctorow explores themes of
artistic freedom, Internet freedom and peaceful social change while shedding light on issues of copyright and government surveillance in Pirate Cinema, an optimistic young-adult novel about a young pirate filmmaker whose Internet activity threatens his family with government reprisals and who learns to fight back against outdated forms of control.
 
At its award ceremony to be held at 1pm on Friday, August 30th at the WorldCon in San Antonio, the Libertarian Futurist Society will present a plaque and one-ounce gold coin to Cory Doctorow.

A new novel from Grand Master Gunn

Grand Master of Science Fiction James Gunn has a new novel coming out in August.  Kirkus says Transcendental is "Gunn’s best in years - quite possibly his best ever."

The book's Goodreads page says "This long-awaited novel is a grand space adventure of exploration, intrigue, redemption, and the universal spirit that unites all beings.  This is a real departure for Gunn, a novel of grand scope and high concept, a capstone to the career of this Grand Master of science fiction."

Gunn had a large influence on Rugg's Handbook of Sales and Science Fiction, and his words to me as I was writing the book provides one of my favorite quotes ever.

"One ought to go where one's talents and commitments lead, and do the best one can, and accept the consequences."

Thanks for that, Jim.  And thanks for putting out a new book!

Summertime at SF Site

To paraphrase a well-known quote, a book is known by the company it keeps, and the Handbook finds itself in some very fine company indeed!  On the SF Site New Arrivals page for mid-July, we find ourselves alongside a number of other great new and upcoming entries in the field of speculative fiction, including offerings from Terry Brooks, Stan Lee, Harry Turtledove and Catherynne M. Valente, among others.

http://www.sfsite.com/books/new396.htm

SF Site is a Hugo- and World Fantasy-Award nominated site based out of Ottawa, Ontario, dedicated to the best in science fiction and fantasy, in print, audio and other media, on the Web and off, with reviews, news, indexed links to the best SF sites on the Web, interviews with SF writers and artists, and more.

Neil, himself. New novel.

Neil Gaiman has a new book coming out.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane will be released on June 18.  While Gaiman is NOT the source material for anything in Rugg's Handbook of Sales and Science Fiction, he DID write a couple of Doctor Who episodes recently, and has also voiced his thoughts about what he's looking for in the 12th incarnation of the Doctor, so that's enough of a connection for me!

Huff amongst DAW June releases

The Facebook page for DAW Books, Inc., today shows images for five June book releases.  While the spotlight seems to be on Mercedes Lackey (with two books on the list, and DAW's new cover photo featuring art from one of her books), it's great to note that one of the releases is by Tanya Huff, a DAW Trade paperback edition of her Blood Price, the first of her Victoria Nelson Blood Books, first published in 1991.

I make note of this because Tanya Huff also provided the source material for Sales and Science Fiction Lesson #16.  Her Valor's Choice, of the Valor Confederation books, isn't the only military sci-fi inspiration in the Handbook, nor is it the only female-written military sci-fi inspiration in the book.  (Not that the author's sex/gender matters to me, but I make note of it in order to deliver a big raspberry to those who hold to the belief that some specific subject matter remains the sole province of authors of a single sex or gender...)

Huff's Vicki Nelson novels don't fit my criteria for Sales and Science Fiction-- The Valor Confederation has space Marines, the Blood Books have vampires-- but who knows, maybe Huff will show up in Rugg's Handbook of Sales and Fantasy later this year.