Stephen Kozeniewski's Blog, page 55

On Working for Exposure

Meet The Don't Work for Exposure Fairy!I'm going to ruffle some feathers here.  Actually, I'm probably not because nobody reads this blog, but in theory if there were feathers here to ruffle I would be about to ruffle them.  That's because I'm about to question inherited wisdom, and if there's one thing that pisses people off, it's questioning inherited wisdom.
So, Wil Wheaton wrote an article that sort of seized the authorial blogosphere by storm last week.  You should go check it out, of course, as I recommend everyone does check all the footnotes when trying to be well-educated on any subject, but as I also always do, I will simply sum it up for you here for the tl;dr crowd.

Basically, Wheaton wrote a blogpost (much like this one) and someone from the Huffington Post approached him and asked if they could share it on their site.  Wheaton asked to be paid and they declined, and everyone was pretty much respectful to each other and that's the end of the story portion of the article.

Then, in the time-honored tradition of people rich enough to whom it doesn't matter whether they turn down good opportunities or not, Wil took to task the very concept of writing for exposure.  As I said, you can read the article for the non-misrepresented-by-me story, but this argument boils down to a couple of bullet points:

- writers should be paid for every word they write
- other professionals like doctors and plumbers get paid when they doct and/or plumb
- exposure is not measurable in pounds sterling and therefore doesn't count as anything

Still tl;dr?  Check out this cartoon from The Oatmeal, then.  It basically sums up the concept.

Actually, before I get into this, let's look at some more background information.  First of all, Wil Wheaton is a famous actor.  He got famous in the '80s from Star Trek, where his character was much disliked.  He then got re-famous in the '00s for being an internet personality and trying to explain how character ≠ actor.

Huffington Post (which we'll just call HuffPo for brevity's sake, not that I've been particular brev up until now) is a news aggregator site.  They don't produce content, they collect the best content from around the web and put it in one spot.  This is all very fishy/dicey and could be the subject of a whole other blogpost or perhaps book.  But that being said, HuffPo according to its own presumably biased sources, has a reach of 84 million hits a week.

Okay, is the stage set and dressed?  Have I been more or less fair to all of the players? 

Now, here's my question.  If Wheaton thought his original blogpost was good enough that he ought to be paid for it...why did he post it for free on his blog?  So that leads us into tackling our first bullet point:

- writers should be paid for every word they write

Okay, so, I'm just going to put this out there: this is a stupid concept.  This is a really fucking stupid concept.  Look, even when you write words for a living there are words that you get paid for (novels, short stories, poems) and there are words you don't get paid for (texts, FB posts, tweets) and the fact that I even have to explicate that is kind of making me feel dumber.

And let's just be 100% clear here: blogposts are not something you should get paid for.  I don't expect somebody to pay me to write this.  You want to know why I'm writing this?  In all honesty?  100%?

Exposure.

Yes, I maintain a blog so that even when they're not reading my novels and shorts and the stuff I do get paid for, my readers, fans, and, yeah, total randos who happen to stumble across me (and then maybe become readers and fans...?) are enjoying getting to know me.  This is part of the deal, even for professionals, kids.  You have to be "available" to a reasonable extent to your fanbase and in the age of social media if you can't keep up with every tweet and FB post, sometimes it comes through having a blog.  Maybe you put out a blogpost and say, "Golly, jeepers I've been super busy, sorry I haven't been getting to all your tweets and FB posts."  Whatever.

But, okay, let's say we were talking about words you're supposed to be paid for instead of words you write for free.  I don't see how you can really make that argument about a blogpost, but okay, let's say we were.  Let's say we treated the blogpost as an article for an online news source, which is something that you should get paid for.  It's a stretch, but okay.

What Wheaton did was he posted his "article" on his blog already.  He already published it (yes, clicking the "publish" button on Blogger or Wordpress or whatever counts as publication for professional purposes.)  So what he's really trying to do is sell second publishing rights. 

I've published multiple trunked novels on this blog, for instance.  If I went and tried to sell those (already published) novels to an agent or a press, I'd be selling second publishing rights.  I won't say this never happens - for instance, FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY sold second publishing rights because it was self-pubbed first, and JOHN DIES AT THE END sold second publishing rights because it was serialized online first, and those both went on to popular, Big 5 success.  But it's pretty rare that it happens, and typically second publishing rights are not as valuable as first publishing rights. 

Okay, so to reiterate this point, Wheaton posted something on his blog - in other words, he wrote some shit for free - then someone came along and said, "Say, if I share this content of yours, you'll get somewhere between 0 and 84 million more eyes on your words."  And Wheaton turned that down.

Okay, fair enough.  That's his decision and he made it.

But then he turns around and writes a blogpost - again, for free - about how he turned this opportunity down.  And what does Wil Wheaton get out of writing this second blogpost?

Exposure.  Which is the same thing he said he was turning down out of principle.

Let me tell you something about Wil Wheaton.  I don't know Wil Wheaton from Adam.  From what I know, he sounds like a very nice guy.  But Wil Wheaton was on "Star Trek."  Wil Wheaton will never want for exposure in his life.  He has been world famous since he was a child.

If Wil Wheaton decides to write a book, I can guarantee you that agents will fight over it, it will be picked up by a Big 5 House, he'll get at least a 6-figure advance, and it will be a bestseller.

And you know what?  If Wil Wheaton decides never to write another book in his life, he has a backup source of income in the convention circuit.  There is not a convention in the United States, possibly the world, that would not at a minimum pay for his travel, lodging, and expenses (and quite likely an appearance fee) to show up.  And that's before the lines out the door of people willing to pay $50 for his autograph.  I say $50 very conservatively, because I've seen SyFy movie of the week actors get paid that.  A "Star Trek: The Next Generation" star?  He could probably get away with $200 an autograph.  I'm just guessing here.

I've also done the convention circuit.  I had to pay all my expenses.  I had to pay for travel, lodging, and food.  I had to pay for a table and pay for a ticket, and if I wanted to appear in the program, I had to pay for that, too.  And that was all for maybe the chance that someone might want to buy one of my books.

In other words...I was paying for exposure.

Wil Wheaton (and, just to be clear, I love him, I am a fan) will never have any concept what it's like to require publicity.  He's been famous since he was a child.  Wil Wheaton probably turns down more opportunities a month than I have ever had.

But here's the thing: nobody calls me a dummy for paying for advertising.  The same people who make a big stink about not doing for-the-love (FTL) or for-the-exposure work will also say that I am very wise to advertise myself in every way I can.  No one has ever told me to spend less on advertising, in fact, they have quite often told me I'm not advertising enough, not pimping myself enough.

But, gentle reader, I have to ask, at its core, what is advertising?

It's paying for exposure.

So out of one end of their mouths, a choir tells me to pay for exposure, and out of the other end this same choir insists that I not give my work away for exposure because it may have a technical value.  I don't know what to say to that.  Which leads us to our next bullet point:

- other professionals like doctors and plumbers get paid when they doct and/or plumb

So, this is true.  Professionals get paid to do what they are good at.  And we all know the story of Picasso, after being asked to draw a circle and asking for 1000 pesos for it saying, "Yes, it only took me thirty seconds to draw it, but it took me thirty years to learn how to draw it."

Yes, we pay a doctor exorbitant amounts of money to hand us a bottle of aspirin because he went to medical school to learn how to hand us a bottle of aspirin.  And, yes, in theory, you should pay a writer because he spent 10,000 hours (or one million words) to become a master of his craft.

But this argument only holds so much water with me.  Because you know what?

Professionals give shit away for free, too.

Have you ever been to the supermarket on a Sunday?  Taken a bite of that free cookie?  Did it ever occur to you that a professional baker baked that?  That maybe you should've paid for that baker's time instead of taking a bite of their damn cookie for free, you dirty, stinking thief?

No!

Of course you've never thought that.  Because the baker understands that by giving away little cookie slices, he gets the customer interested in buying his cookies.  It's why there are coupons in your newspaper for plumbers to swing by your house for a free plumbing inspection.  It's why there are masseuses and masseurs who set up stands at the county fair and give away free five minute massages.  Because if you like your free massage or cookie or plumbing inspection or goddamn blogpost, maybe the customer will buy something from you.


Again, this is all part and parcel of advertising.  Getting your name out there.  I understand that famous people don't have to do this anymore.  We all want to be famous so that people will beg for our time.  But as long as we're in the trenches, trying to become famous, you're telling me I shouldn't be selling myself?
Let me tell you about the trenches.  I'm 33 damn years old.  I've been published for two years.  I have fought and slaved and screamed and rended my garments for every single sale I have ever made.  I have given out thousands of free copies of my books to reviewers on the slim hope that they might review it and grant me a modicum of exposure.  (That's solicited, by the way, not unsolicited.)

Every fan I have I have sweated for.  Every review I have I have jumped through my ass for.  Wil Wheaton will never have to jump through his ass to win a fan.  Taylor Swift will never have to sweat to win a fan.  Taylor Swift has been world famous since she was 16 goddamn years old, and Wil Wheaton even longer.  So when I hear stories about how Wil Wheaton boldly turned down HuffPo, or Taylor Swift sang truth to power to Spotify, there's only so excited I can get about that.  There's only so much I can relate to that.

And you know why?  Because for me, the battle is not between a good and a bad reputation.  The battle is not between making a little money and compromising my principles.  For me, the battle is between exposure and complete and utter obscurity.

Which leads us to our final point:

- exposure is not measurable in pounds sterling and therefore doesn't count as anything

Exposure has value.  Look, people, Coca-Cola is quite possibly the most ubiquitous brand on the planet.  And they still advertise.  McDonald's is bigger than Jesus.  And they advertise the fuck out of their brand.
The United States fucking Army advertises.  The United States fucking Postal Service advertises.
You know why?
Because exposure has value.
I know, I know, I'm not going to win any friends for saying this.  I'm probably supposed to shut up and toe the party line and say, "Yeah, writers deserve to be paid!"  Well, sure, writers deserve to be paid.  Obviously.  But a writer needs to prove himself first.  A writer needs to develop a platform first.
Look at the way the writing world has changed since the '90s.  You know what is the ubiquitous, inescapable watchword of the 21st century?  Platform.  Writers don't get to come at this brave new world without a platform.  They need Twitter, Facebook, a blog, a website, Tumblr, Instagram, God all knows what else.  
YouTube stars are getting book deals.  I personally know people who have gotten book deals from having popular blogs.  I have also personally been turned down by agents for not having a big enough platform.  Someone like The Oatmeal, who has a platform of millions of followers, confuses me when he weighs in on a subject like this.  Didn't he spend years doing hard work and giving it away for free to develop a platform big enough that he's now in a position to make money off of his books and merchandise?  I know I've read dozens of Oatmeal comics, and I've never paid a dime for one of them, because he gives them away for free on his blog for...(wait for it)...exposure!  And then chastises other writers not to work for exposure!  What the fuck am I not understanding here?
Here's a question.  Why do you think someone like John Kasich or Rick Perry or Lincoln Chafee runs for president?  I'm being 100% serious here.  John Kasich will not be president in 2016.  That's a guarantee.  (You read it here first!  Manuscripts Burn scoop!)  I know that.  You know that.  John fucking Kasich knows that.  So why run?  Why waste everybody's time?  Does he secretly think he's going to dark horse it in somehow?
Hell no.  The reason half the people who run for political office do so is to raise their public profile.  They take on the humiliation of a cruel media and an indifferent populace because it will get them on TV.  As Gore Vidal said, "Never turn down a chance to have sex or be on television."  It will not only get them on television, in the newspapers, on the internet in places like HuffPo (hmmm...), it will even get them mentioned in the same company as the person who really will be in president in 2016, and all of his (well, actually her, obviously) serious contenders.
Running for office - running for president, in particular - is a great way to get your name out there.  And then what do half these people do?  They leverage their new fame for either a cushy lobbying job, maybe a second crack at the office next election cycle when they're better known, or a fucking book deal.
Being famous sells books.  It sells TV ratings.  It sells internet ad copy.  In the 1980s or whenever, it sold newspapers.  Being famous is a commodity.  
So when Wil Wheaton or Taylor Swift or The Oatmeal, who are each more famous than I will likely ever be, tell me to fight the good fight and not trade a few hours of my time as a professional author producing a work for the chance at some exposure, you'll forgive me if I take it with a grain of salt.
And here endeth the feather-ruffling.  Please do let me know how wrong I am in the comments below.

Cover Reveal: EVERY KINGDOM DIVIDED

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or even on my group blog Across the Board (and why wouldn't you be following me all those places and more?) you've already seen the cover to my upcoming novel.  So to everyone who treats Manuscripts Burn as their indispensable first stop for all Kozeniewski news, I apologize.  October turned out to be so jam-packed with seasonal posts and special guests that I never had a chance to post it, and I figured November will be a better time anyway as I'm NaNoing and could use some non-labor intensive blogposts.

 Quite the beaut, eh?  If you didn't check out the evolution of a book cover blogpost on ATB, you really should.  It's a fun time. You know what?  I was about to write a brief synopsis, but you know what I think would be more interesting?  Why don't you tell me in the comments what you think the plot is, based on the cover alone?  (No fair cheating if I've already told you what it's about.)  I'd be interested to see if it conveys as much of the plot as I think it does.  Should be a fun experiment anyway.  So fire away!

NaNoed!

Hey there, cats and kittens!  It's November, and you know what that means alllll across the writing community:

NANOWRIMO!

For those of you who don't know, every November is Na(tional) No(vel) Wri(ting) Mo(nth.)  The rules are simple:

30 days.

50,000 words.

Now, a lot of people, including some professional writers, like to pooh-pooh NaNo.  "Every month is novel writing month for me," they'll sometimes say or, "50,000 words isn't really a novel," or "writing isn't a competition."  It's all well and good if you can't or don't wish to participate.  Hey, people have shit to do, and not everyone can wrap up all of their business on October 31 and dive into a month of writing.  Hell, I spent the last two weekends in a mega-marathon of editing to try to knock some semblance of order into a novel I'm contracted to release in December.  (More on that later this week.)

For the most part, though, I think of this attitude as akin to saying, "Why watch the Olympics?  I can watch athletic competitions any time at the local Y."  Yeah, man, I get it.  Not everyone is into this stuff.  But for those of us who are, NaNo is an event.  It's about the camaraderie.  It's about the commiseration.  It's about sharing what is otherwise a lonely, often bitter calling and/or profession with a world full of comrades.

Yes, a lot of them are n00bs.  So, what, are you fucking Obi-Wan Kenobi?  Then go help them out!  Be a fountain, not a drain.  Obi-Wan didn't say, "Oh, Luke, you are such a fucking loser for still being excited about Force pulls and shit." 

I don't even mind dealing with the n00bs.  You know why?  Because their attitude is so positive, they are so not yet ground down by the publishing industry, that they remind me of the spark of why I started doing this in the first place.

Oh, yeah, and all three of my published novels were NaNo babies.  Now, that being said, I sure as shit didn't boot the 120,000 word GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO out the door the day after NaNo.  But still, NaNo has been good to me, and NaNo has been good for me, and if nothing else, at least for one month out of the year I have no excuses to just watch a little more TV instead of writing because writing is hard.

Anyway, perhaps the lady is protesting too much.  So let's just say if you're participating this year, I'd be just tickled pink if you'd add me as a buddy.  Personally, I love having buddies to compete with  My insanely competitive nature really drives my word count into the stratosphere.

I'm not going to abandon the blog for the month.  I'm sure things will still grind my gears in November, so you'll probably get at least a few regular blogposts, and the Year of Interviewing Dangerously is far from over.  But for the most part expect some low-key, low priority posts, probably appraising you of my NaNo progress or thoughts on the whole matter.  That's where my effort is going to be directed for the next month.  Hope to see you there!

Artwork Reveal: Apocalypse Right Fucking Now, Man!

It's...

Crisp.  Cool.  Autumnal weather.

It's...

The day before Halloween.

It's...

THE GODDAMNED ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, MAN!

There was a nightmare that the heroes of THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO were trying to escape.  And artist Ashley Powers has captured it beautifully (by which I mean horrifically) below.  Enjoy.

OH!  And one more thing.  Make sure to pop by THe GaL iN THe BLue MaSK's site today to finally see what I've done with all this glorious artwork.  Thanks, everybody.  And Happy Halloween!

Top 15 Zombie-Killing Catchphrases (Guest Post from Cherokee Hall)

Blaaargh, zombophiles!  It's almost Halloweeeeeeeen and you know what that means:

I've got shit to do.  So here's a guest post.

15 Killer (Ha!) Zombie Extermination Catchphrases
 Zombie hunting and killing will be all the rage in the upcoming zombie apocalypse so you better be ready for it!  And by "ready for it" we mean you should have a list of catchphrases planned out ahead of time to say after you've sent those undead bastards back to wherever they came from.  It may mean the difference between coming off looking like a stone cold zombie slayer and a one shot wonder.

We've come up with a list of catchphrases to say after an awesome zombie kill that you can use.  If you use these in the right way at the right time it may result in you becoming the baddest zombie hunter in all the land and earning all the accolades that go with that.  It should at least be worth some extra water or food and most certainly some companionship of the opposite sex...or same sex if you prefer (we don't judge.)

15.  "Humans: 1, Flesh-eating, brain-sucking, mumbling, stumbling, rotting zombies: 0!"

You may want to use this one when there is only one zombie around.  Before you know it you could be surrounded by them while you are halfway through it and then you'll just look like a newb.

14.  "You aren't turning anyone into zombie shit ever again!"

It might be gross and we aren't actually even for sure that zombies have a digestive system or not.  But if they do then that's what is happening to everyone they eat.  (SK: check out my story in AT HELL'S GATES I for a definitive answer on this oft-pondered matter.)


13.  "I love the smell of necrosis in the morning!  Smells like...victory!"

Paraphrased from "Apocalypse Now," this one will fit right in after you and your group battle a horde of zombies and the bodies are piled up knee-high in the wake.

12.  "Got your nose!"

After you've offed the undead reach down and rip his nose off with your finger and thumb and show it to him...then show it to your group for a good laugh.  Or more of the weird looks that they always seem to be giving you.


11.  "Fuck you and the undead horse you rode in on!"

A take on a popular catchphrase that was obviously started by someone who didn't like horses...or maybe they really liked them and was...never mind.  Anyway we don't expect the undead to ride on undead horses so use this one sparingly.

10.  "Looks like you should have had a better HUMAN SURVIVAL GUIDE!"

With the popularity of Max Brook's ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE it would be only fitting for the zombies to have a version of their own.  Maybe Max will write the sequel?



9.  "Tell the devil I said 'send more zombies!'"

We may not be for sure if the zombies go anywhere on death but if they do we are  damn (I meant dang) sure it's not going to be heaven where all the puppy dogs go.  So in that moment before the undead life leaves their rotting corpse see if you can get a message to main man of hell himself.  Mr. Mephistopheles.   If it works though I'd stop asking him to send more.

8.  "Now you see me...now you don't!"

This is a one-in-a-million saying because like Babe Ruth you have to "call your shot".  You have to know before you swing that you are going to cut off their head or it will just come across as silly.  But if you do pull it off your crew will be talking about it for years to come.  Like how some of the old timers today talk about the Babe.


7.  "RIP" or "Rot in Pieces!"

You could use this one multiple times as long as everyone around you knows that it doesn't mean "Rest in Peace" but "Rot in Pieces".  Once they are all clear on that you can drop the explanation and just say RIP.  Feel free to add "bitch" at the end of this one if you want.

6.  "Can a zombie poop itself?  Because this dead one smells like shit."  (SK: see above note)

This one works on so many levels because zombies smell pretty darn bad already.  Make sure no one is taking a drink of water before you say this one because the chance of it coming out of their nose is pretty high and during the apocalypse every drop of water is needed.


5.  "Please someone tell me they took a picture of that!"

If all electricity has already been shut down and no one has a camera then pantomime taking a "selfie" with the corpse.  Then proceed to act like you are doing something else with the phone until someone asks "What are you doing?" to which you will reply "Hold on while I upload it to Deadbook" then sit back and wait for the laughter to die down.

4.  "Ding-dong, the zombie's dead!"

Everyone loves "The Wizard of Oz" so why not pay homage to this classic by dancing around like a member of the Lollipop Guild singing this classic tune?


3.  "Wax on, Wax off, head on, head off!"

Make Mr. Miyagi proud with this nod to "The Karate Kid."  Bonus points if you say this after killing the zombie version of Mr. Miyagi played by the late great actor Pat Morita.

2.  "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!"

Once the crew has given you one too many "what's the deal with this guy?" looks it's time to take it up a notch.  On the next zombie kill immediately cut one of its arms off and start smacking it in the face with it while saying this catchphrase.  That should let the team know that all is good with you and they can rest easy knowing you are with them.


1.  "I'm sure you were an asshole when you were alive too."

Because more than likely they were.  Channel your inner rage for assholes on this kill, too.  Think of all the people that don't use turn signals, chew with their mouths open, take the last slice of pizza without asking, cut you off in traffic, take up two parking spaces, "friends" who borrow stuff and never return them! AHHHHH!


About Cherokee Hall:
Cherokee Hall is one of the people that runs one of the top blogs about zombies at Escape From Zombies.   He has always had a somewhat unhealthy interest in zombies and the eventual and upcoming zombie apocalypse.  He also enjoy writing and film making but those are on a more healthy level.  You can usually catch him watching zombie movies and telling everyone that will listen how he could have made it better if he had the same budget.  I mean seriously this guy won't shut up about getting a bigger budget some times.

You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and his blog.

Zombie Beauty Tips (Guest Infographic from Taylor Nagenast)

Big thanks to Taylor from Ogle School for reaching out with today's infographic, just in time for Halloween.  It's tongue-in-cheek of course but looks like some decent makeup tips.  Enjoy!


Zombie Beauty Tips Created By: Ogle School

Artwork Reveal: The Zealot

Drumroll please!  It's the penultimate post before next week's final artwork reveal here on the blog, and then the full GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO trailer reveal over on THe GaL iN THe BLue MaSK.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  There's still a gorgeous piece of artwork to salivate over (er...sort of...if you're not thrown off by zombie arms) this week: one of the most dreadful villains I've ever conceived, the crazed religious zealot Reverend Sonntag!

Pictured: Reverend Coughlin Sonntag

The Quintessential REJECTED FOR CONTENT III: VICIOUS VENGEANCE Post

REJECTED FOR CONTENT III: VICIOUS VENGEANCE, which contains my alternate-universe GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO short "Cadaver Bite" is now available in e-book and paperback:

Amazon US
Amazon UK

Here are some other places around the net where you can read more about it:

Goodreads
A cover reveal on Jim Goforth's blog
A release announcement on the J. Ellington Ashton blog
A release announcement on Jim Goforth's blog

Never Mind Molly Ringwald (Interview with Christine Morgan, Author of MURDER GIRLS)

HAWM, loyal guildspeople.  Today we have a special treat for you.

I, like most horror-types, am a big fan of The Horror Fiction Review.  So I was really glad over the last few years to get to know Christine Morgan, reviewer extraordinaire for the HFR, and an incredible author and editor.  Christine was kind enough to take time out of her very busy schedule (seriously - follow her on Facebook to witness the craziness in real time) to talk with us today about the HWA, Vikings, unicorns, and all kinds of other stuff.  Let's briefly get to know the author and then jump right in!

About Christine Morgan

Christine Morgan spent many years working the overnight shift in a psychiatric facility, which played havoc with her sleep schedule but allowed her a lot of writing time. A lifelong reader, she also reviews, beta-reads, occasionally edits and dabbles in self-publishing. Her other interests include gaming, history, superheroes, crafts, cheesy disaster movies and training to be a crazy cat lady. She can be found online on Facebook and her blog.

Interview
SK:  Thanks for being with us today, Christine! You've been involved in gaming for some time. Can you give us a rundown, maybe a nostalgia-themed list and a current list, of your favorite games and why?

CM:  My pleasure, and thanks for having me! My experience with gaming started in 1981, when my mom came home and announced that some of her friends had this new game we should try. It was an odd way for anybody to be introduced to "Dungeons and Dragons" back then, especially a teenage girl, but it was great. I was soon running my own games for school friends. My first convention was OrcCon ‘83. And never mind Molly Ringwald movies; I got miniatures and paints for my sixteenth birthday.

In college, I discovered the campus gaming club and experimented with various other systems (what, it WAS college!) such as "Champions," "Villains & Vigilantes," and "Traveller." I once ran an all-female "ElfQuest" game at one of the Friday night meetings, which was quite a shocker to the guys in the club. Then "GURPS" came along, and that proved to be the system that suited me best. I still dabbled in a few others now and then – "Vampire: The Masquerade," and "TOON," for instance – but have pretty much been a "GURPS" gal ever since.

I’ve had a couple of long-running campaigns over the years, but the last of them kind of crashed and burned in a spectacular relationship-ending fashion, which left me gun-shy. Fortunately, right around then, I’d also fallen in love with the MMORPG "City of Heroes," and that helped feed my roleplaying craving. Its untimely closure was a devastating moment, and none others have yet even come close.

SK:  Your bio mentions that you're a former member of the Horror Writers Association. Personally I'm interested, and I suspect a lot of my readers would be interested as well, what are the pros and cons of HWA membership? What finally made you choose to leave?

CM:  I joined the HWA after my first couple of qualifying pro-rate story sales, but at the time, there just didn’t seem to be much going on with the organization that I felt I could really get involved with or benefit from. Or maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I don’t know. There was the message board, and that was really about all I followed. My decision to leave wasn’t even a decisive decision, more a matter of neglecting to re-up my membership and sort of drifting away. I probably should look into it again one of these days.

SK:  So, as an expert on all things Vikings, how do you feel about the History Channel's "Vikings?"

CM:  First off, much as I’d love to call myself an expert, I’m really more an aficionado. I love history, mythology, folklore, and culture, but it took me a lot longer than it should have to discover the Viking era was a true passion. There I was, into fantasy, into Tolkien, into pirates, but then finally I stumbled across Bernard Cornwell’s SAXON series, and a series of recorded lectures by Professor Michael D.C. Drout, and my inner Viking suddenly woke right up.

We even chose a Norwegian cruise for our family vacation a few years back and it was phenomenal … seeing the fjords, touring the ship museum in Oslo, visiting an Iron Age farm … BEING there, being able to stand there and take it all in, absorb with my mind and senses and imagination. Well, within reason. I am a total wuss and comfort-holic in real life, so being able to return to the ship for luxuries and buffets was just the best of all worlds.

That said, as far as the television show goes … enh, sadly, not much of a fan. I was excited when it first came out, but it just didn’t FEEL right to me, it seemed like it was missing something, the particular spirit of the Viking age that spoke most to me. I watched a few episodes of the first season, then a few more with the sound off just for scenery and ship porn, then stopped. I expect I’ll go back and binge-watch them all one of these days. And I am glad to see the show stirring up interest, making Vikings popular again. I’m also shameless enough to ride their coattails if that’s what it takes.

SK:  How did you get involved with The Horror Fiction Review? Aside from the Warren Buffett-level compensation, what's it like working over there?

CM:  Now, that, I think, is one legacy from my time in the HWA that I really can point to. I found out about The Horror Fiction Review back when it was ye olde school photocopied and stapled 8 and ½ x 11 ‘zine (I still have the back issues!). I’d been doing my own sort of rambling book reviews on my all-but-unread blog, so I kind of offered to send some their way, never really expecting anything to come of it. I seem to get into a lot of sweet gigs that way, half-joking or never really expecting anything to come of it, but I must be doing something right somewhere along the line.

So, I started sending in my reviews, and … they became kind of a hit … and then Nick Cato was asking if I had the time and inclination for some free books … I mean, HECK YES; I’ve always been a faster reader than my budget and local library could really keep up with, so this was a dream come true.

Then the dream-come-true got even better, because the next thing I knew, authors were contacting me with appreciative feedback. Edward LEE emailed me, thanking me for a review! I’d get requests! It boggled me. It still does. Boggles and humbles. Being able to go to conventions, be on panels, mention I’m a contributor to the HFR, and have authors approach me to see if I’d be interested in reviewing theirs – I met Michaelbrent Collings that way, and have absolutely loved everything I’ve read by him. Seeing blurbs from MY reviews in the “praise for” sections at the front of subsequent books is a thrill almost like an acceptance letter!

Of course, given some of the types of books I most like to read and review, it can be a little weird when a notification comes in that my review helped influence someone’s buying on Amazon … when I called Shane McKenzie’s PUS JUNKIES quite possibly the ickiest book of all time, for instance, and that convinced someone to buy it...Wrath James White’s books, Monica J. O’Rourke...I sometimes kind of feel like I should apologize for my part in any subsequent psychological damage...

SK:  You've written horror, fantasy, superheroes, erotica [takes deep breath] historical and it seems like a few others. Do you have a particular favorite? And do you ever worry about spreading yourself too thin?

CM:  I love it all, but yeah, the historical stuff … the Vikings for sure, and the other eras I’ve played with … ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt … the Maya and Aztec cultures … I’ve gone as far back as Mesopotamia, and further still to caveman days (I’ll try my hand at dinosaurs eventually; RAPTOR RED is one of my all-time favorite books) … Victorian, steampunk, Civil War, the Gilded Age, Old West, the World Wars … there’s so much to explore, and the challenge of story and language and character just delights me.

Speaking of challenges, another of my favorite things to do is mix and match, mash-up, cross over, and generally bring together things that might normally not ever seem a natural guess, and see if I can make it work. I ask myself, “can I” or some idea will hit out of nowhere. Lovecraftian elements are hugely fun to blend with others...I’ve done Lovecraft and Austen, various myth-meets-Mythos, Lovecraftian fairy tales, Lovecraftian smut. I’ve combined Poe and Ru Paul’s Drag Race. They gave me a special award at KillerCon one year for my Gross Out treatment of smutty Wodehouse. If it’s wrong, if it seems so, so wrong, so wrong it’s right, I want to try it.

I also love superhero universes, I think mostly because superheroes are our modern version of classical mythology. Also because, in a superhero universe, anything goes. Aliens, magic, psychic powers, high-tech … it all coexists and is simply accepted that way. Just, oh, okay, and everyone rolls with it.

I only worry about spreading myself too thin in terms of over-committing, or having too many projects going so that some fall through the cracks. There are some genres I think I’m unlikely to try my hand at (hard sci-fi, for instance), but even then, I don’t like to rule anything out. My muse, when she wants to do something, I cannot tell her no. 


SK:  In addition to eeeeeverything else, you've also edited numerous anthologies, including the upcoming FOSSIL LAKE: UNICORNADO. That being said, how many fonts do you own?

CM:  My husband being the font-slut of the family, he got custody of most of those in the recent divorce (I got the cats). I’m a little anxious about UNICORNADO, actually, because while I have loads of experience on the editing end, I am not at all up to speed on all the layout and such. That’s going to be a scary learning curve these next few months.

The editing gigs, though, I also sort of meandered into in some roundabout ways. I put together our college gaming club’s newsletter, and the resident-written one at the first psych facility I worked at, and did one for my daughter’s Girl Scout troop for a while. I – now, this is top-secret confession time – used to write a lot of fanfiction, and became very involved in the "Gargoyles" fandom, to the point I took over a fanzine called "Avalon Mists" and did four fanfic anthologies for the conventions. We had the online "Sabledrake Magazine" for many years.

All that, and I still didn’t (and don’t!) really think of myself as an editor. Not a REAL one, not compared to the ones I’d worked with. Some of my editing gigs happened because another editor had to back out of a project, so I volunteered to help out (a couple of times, I’d already had a story accepted, which is why the upcoming GRIMM BLACK, for example, might look like double-dipping).

The FOSSIL LAKE phenomenon, though, was where I really found myself having fun. Except for sending out rejections. That part sucks no matter which end of it you’re on. I will never like that part. I mean, yes, rinky-dink small beans market and all, but people send me stories … a lot of stories, really GOOD stories, more than I can use, and I am constantly blown away by the amount of trust and talent and willingness to work even with the likes of me that these really awesome people continue to show.


SK:  Well, thanks so much for being with us today, Christine. Before we part, do you have any closing words or anything you'd like to mention that we didn't cover today?

CM:  More words? Like I haven’t done essays here already? Well but hey, give a mouse a cookie and all that; give me a chance to ramble and I will do it. So. Yes. Ahem.

First off – buy books. Mine, sure, yes please, ones I wrote, edited, contributed to, reviewed, whatever...I have a daughter in college and four cats to feed...but really, just, buy books. Buy books, read books, give them as gifts, tell your friends.

Secondly – enjoy, play and enjoy. Language is amazing. Writing is amazing. Creativity, imagination, characters, emotions, travels of the mind, it’s all there. It’s passion. It’s telepathy. Art and invention and language and storytelling, in all their various forms, are what we’re meant to do, what fuels and feeds the soul, what really does make us human.

And, finally – when you find your niche, your community, your place to belong and feel at home … cherish that. I’m finally getting there myself, and it is, simply, the best and warmest and most incredible sensation...to be where you’ve always been meant to be.

Coming soon:

Artwork Reveal: The Warlord

The next piece of artwork from the world of THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO is one of the coldest and most loathsome villains I've ever created: the remorseless warlord Sinclair Fall.

Pictured: Admiral Sinclair Fall