We conclude Vanity Week with a blog that futurist Mike Shatzkin recently posted, publicly asking Thomas Nelson, the Christian book publishing giant, to explain its new self-publishing program, WestBow Press. WestBow is partnering with Author Solutions, the biggest player in author-subsidized publishing and a partner with Harlequin in its controversial self-publishing venture.

Here are the questions posed by Shatzkin. We are not aware that they have been answered:

1. How many such titles will they do per season or per year?

2. How will access to Nelson’s (always limited, as is any publisher’s) sales and marketing bandwidth be allocated to this imprint?

3. Will the books be vetted as suitable for Nelson’s Christian mission? And, if so, how and by whom?

4. Will the books be vetted at all for quality? Or will an author just choose the WestBow option and, if that’s the case, how much extra will be they paying and what will they be told they’re getting for their money?

5. The story says that Nelson editors won’t touch the books but will “monitor sales to identify potential big sellers.” What’s the pre-monitoring launch plan? What’s the plan if Nelson editors actually identify a “potential big” book?

Hyatt discusses the initiative on his blog and says he sees real revenue in it. But he doesn’t answer any of the questions above.

I am not alone in anticipating that publishers may change things around in the future with big authors, sharing more risk (less or no advance in this case, not cash for services) for more reward. But it is a more radical step than I would have imagined for a publisher with an industry brand for quality to allow authors to buy their way onto the list. Their must be some controls here, one would think. But we certainly don’t know what they are yet.

Read The new Thomas Nelson self-publishing initiative; more questions than answers.

RC

Robert S. Miller, President and Publisher of HarperStudio, has been following the recent Harlequin/RWA controversy and, in a statement offered to E-Reads, suggests the author and publishing communities should keep their minds and options open on the matter of self-publication. “Just because a writer is paid an advance in a traditional way doesn’t make a book ‘good’, and just because they may be sharing the risk with their publisher to some degree doesn’t make a book ‘bad’.”

Here’s his statement in full:
RC
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“I was surprised to read here about how antagonistic the various writers’ associations (SFWA, RWA, MWA) have been toward the announcements by several large publishers that they are launching “self-publishing” divisions. While it seems fair to ask those publishers to make a clear distinction between those imprints and the others that they operate, and to make the differences clear to prospective writers, I don’t see what’s wrong with publishers offering a continuum of various services to writers. There are so many forms of publishing proliferating now; does it really threaten the writers in these associations that these publishing houses would have different publishing models under the same corporate roof? Just because a writer is paid an advance in a traditional way doesn’t make a book “good,” and just because they may be sharing the risk with their publisher to some degree doesn’t make a book “bad.” I say, let many flowers bloom.”

Eva Ullian, who describes herself as an impressionist painter, translator, historical researcher and retired teacher, has left an interesting comment on our blog about vanity publishing, You Got That Right, Ecclesiastes!

We thought her viewpoint was worth reprinting in full.
RC
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I am not going to defend Harlequin or Thomas Nelson but just describe what these new imprints are about. They are not Vanity Publishers because such would mean they send you thousands of unwanted books to your garage and you sell them even though they keep 50% or so of royalty. They are not Self-Publishers because that would mean you do everything, and I mean everything yourself but you get to keep, obviously, 100% of the royalty. People have tagged them as Self-Pub for convenience. But they are ASSISTED publishing, which means you ask them, in the basic package, to publish your book, exactly the way you want it, or seek advice if you want a second opinion. They then have a distribution system in which you as the author like in traditional publishing, if you have any sense, will aid to sponsor your own book since putting a book on a shelf doesn’t mean it sells. You get 20% of the royalty for soft copies. With traditional publishers you get more or less 5% of which 15% is given to your agent- who has done what? Given you access to a publisher, changed your book round so much because obviously you are not the expert that an ASSISTED publishing author is otherwise you would take the responsibility of investing in your book with real money.

The way I see it is that such publishers cannot publish in the traditional manner, give out advances that are not earned out and survive. The problem is indeed that traditional authors expect to have their book published, get a big advance, and if it doesn’t earn out hard luck for the publisher- they have to take risks. Well not anymore- you pay, and it’s only a partial amount, for the cost involved so your book is published and what replaces your advance is the increased royalty percentage, so no one loses out. I don’t see any unfairness in that at all, it’s what they have been doing in most countries, except the UK, for decades.

You pay, only a partial amount, for the cost involved for publication in Assisted Publishing. The Agent Rachelle Gardner has given a detailed breakdown of cost involved in the publication of a book in Trade Paper which comes to $58,000 and Hard Back is $90,000. See her blog here: http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-your-book-worth-it.html As you probably know, Harlequin asks for $600 and CrossBow $1,000 for a basic package. So, perhaps now you can appreciate why I don’t think it is possible that Assisted Publishing is there to make money off writers. They are there to give an unprecedented, excellent opportunity to writers who have no access to publishers because agents have denied them that access as judging such authors not fit for publication. Finally, publishing houses are opening up the doors to us, as most agents define us, SECOND CLASS authors. And I for one, thank them.

“All is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes
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The uproar over Harlequin Enterprises’ launch of a self-publishing venture reminded me of something my father used to say. He was an honest businessman, but every once in a while, when he saw an unscrupulous competitor getting stinking rich, he would shake his head and say, “I’m in the wrong racket.”

I sometimes wonder if I’m in the wrong racket too. Maybe I should have gone into vanity publishing. I’m sure I’d have made a fortune. Everyone who’s gone into it has made one, so I can’t blame anyone for succumbing to its allure.

And now mainstream publishing has jumped on the bandwagon, with respectable firms like religious publisher Thomas Nelson and, most recently, Harlequin Enterprises picking up the banner. The line that once sharply separated traditional publishing (“We pay you”) and vanity publishing (“You pay us”) has all but dissolved in this corrosive environment of fabulous riches.

My early exposure to the power of vanity occurred when I joined Scott Meredith’s literary agency after graduating college. Meredith had a fee-reading operation that ran like a turbine engine. Using his agency’s track record as bait – his brochure was a collage of six- and seven-digit checks paid to professional clients – Meredith attracted countless would-be authors prepared to shell out hundreds of dollars for a manuscript reading they hoped might lead to acceptance for representation and an eventual professional career. I don’t believe I ever saw a book accepted for representation out of the fee-reading program in all the years I worked there. Meredith’s operation made tons of money and he died a wealthy man.

Around 2000 a number of enterprising business people recognized the profit potential in self-published books utilizing digital media. (For purposes of this piece I draw no distinction between self-publication, subsidized publication and vanity publication.) Until then the most famous name in subsidy publishing was Vantage Press (which, significantly, is still going strong). But companies like iUniverse, Xlibris and an outfit called Fatbrain offered a variety of self-publication services. How well did they do?

Well, Fatbrain with its subsidiary Mighty-Words, which published technical and professional material online (someone described it as Amazon for geeks), was sold to Barnes & Noble for $64 million. Xlibris? Acquired by Random House for an undisclosed sum, then sold to Author Solutions, the vast self-publishing empire which embraces iUniverse, Author House, Wordclay, Inkubook and Canadian vanity publisher Trafford Press. Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions, projects $100 million in revenue in 2009. Last year, Author Solutions released more than 21,000 new titles, according to Mediabistro, “including one out of every 20 new titles put into distribution in the U.S. Overall, ASI’s catalog now includes more than 120,000 titles from more than 85,000 authors.” Author Solutions is partnering with Harlequin in its soon-to-be-renamed Horizons self-publication program.

But there’s more. Publishers Marketplace publisher Michael Cader recently reported that “Ebook distributor and online self-publishing platform Smashwords announced late Friday that BarnesandNoble.com will sell titles from the company as part of its new ‘premium feed.’ Smashwords, which says they publish about 2,600 titles electronically, will sell to BN.com at a traditional discount… Founder Mark Coker says that ‘additional distribution relationships are forthcoming.’ He says that ‘until today, it was difficult if not impossible for independent authors and publishers to gain such mainstream digital distibution.’”

Yet another company, Scribd, calls itself “the largest social publishing company in the world, the website where tens of millions of people each month publish and discover original writings and documents.” Scribd boasts “10 million documents published” and “5 million Scribd document reader embeds.” Last spring it was reported that Scribd was partnering “with a number of major publishers, including Random House, Simon & Schuster, Workman Publishing Co., Berrett-Koehler, Thomas Nelson, and Manning Publications, to legally offer some of their content to Scribd’s community free of charge. Publishers have begun to add an array of content to Scribd’s library, including full-length novels as well as briefer teaser excerpts.”

With so much money being thrown at subsidy publishers, and with the blessing of mainstream publishing, the evolution of vanity from the margins to the center of the publishing universe is complete. The erosion of traditional gatekeepers like reviewers, critics, newspaper book editors, and other refined literary tastemakers makes it clear why even a conservative publisher might lose its head over the prospect of all that money – and be tempted to go into another racket.

Richard Curtis

Matthew Braun, author of 56 books with some 40 million copies in print, is the greatest living practitioner of the western novel. Winner of the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in western fiction, he writes with a passion for historical accuracy and detail that has earned him a reputation as the most authentic portrayer of the American West. Braun continues to travel the West, gathering materials for his novels. And if you cross him, better keep your hands where he can see them. He has a lifetime appointment as Oklahoma Territorial Marshal.

We are happy to be reissuing one of his most distinguished novels, Lords of the Land, in trade paperback format.

Hank Laird had never laid claim to sainthood. Truth is, his enemies would be quick to swear that the man was the devil himself-a reputation Laird earned as one of the most hardscrabble men ever to grace the soil of South Texas. With grit, gold and gunpowder, he forged an empire out of chaos in the wake of the Civil War. But now the vultures are coming home to roost and it’s up to Laird whether Santa Guerra ranchlands will be heaven or hell.

You can visit Braun’s website at http://www.mattbraun.com/home.htm

RC

In my haste to report the story of the Romance Writers of America’s response to the self-publishing venture launched by Harlequin Enterprises, I selected some photo illustrations that were in poor taste. I regret it and have deleted them from my postings. They were inappropriate and, I realize, belittled the grave issues that are being aired by all people of good will who are working to find a way to resolve the dispute. In particular they were offensive to women including my wife, to whom I should have listened before giving in to an unworthy impulse.

Richard Curtis

If you’re getting it for nothing, why would you pay for it? Well, if you’re talking about news delivered online, about half of Americans say they would pay for it, according to a survey of 5000 people undertaken by the Boston Consulting Group.

That seems surprisingly high given the fact that America is the land of the free news. It’s so easily accessible on television or the Net that being asked to pay for it is like being asked to pay for air. Maybe that’s why those who say they would pay for news online don’t think it’s worth more than $3.00 a month. “In several Western European countries, more than 60 percent said they would pay,”writes Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times, adding that many would pay as much as $7 a month.

Even the higher figure is a fraction of a subscription to a printed newspapers. On the other hand, most of that subscription cost is for plant, paper and distribution. “Charging for online access to news would not greatly increase a newspaper’s revenue,” says Pérez-Peña, “ but since the cost of reaching Internet readers [is] very low, it could significantly increase profit.”

Read details in About Half in U.S. Would Pay for Online News, Study Finds.

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by The New York Times.

“A meditation on our sense of place and a hymn to the secret landscapes of its author’s heart.”
James Bradley
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“An alchemical blend of elemental magic, tragic romance and the coming of age of a young boy … poised between Earthsea and Mad Max, where the magic of fantasy meets the wonder of science fiction”
Jonathan Strahan
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Like a lot of readers, I was entranced at an early age by J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I’ve been reading fantasy enthusiastically ever since. It takes me to other places, to imaginary landscapes where mythic conflicts and battles unfold. Over time, however, it came to feel to me that the many different locations in which these stories occur were actually the same place, and it’s a place almost anyone would recognise–one of high, ice-capped mountains and dense forests, of rolling, grassy plains and dangerous swamps.

The Stone Mage & the Sea is the first fantasy novel I ever wrote. When I started, the natural thing to do was to set my story in that place. After all, I had visited there many times; I felt that I had come to know it well. I soon discovered, however, that I couldn’t honestly picture these sorts of places because I’d never been there. I’m Australian; I have no conscious memory of snow or wild forests or raging rivers. I did travel a lot as a child, but only through the Northern Territory and to nearby Asian destinations like Singapore and Manila. I knew–and still know–nothing about Europe except second-hand.

As I hadn’t visited a forest or a glacier, I couldn’t appreciate their reality except in terms that I had read about in other fantasy works–and those terms tend to be rather polarised. Forests are either light and soothing or dense and threatening; ice is associated with dangerous mountain passes or northern wastelands; deserts are lifeless barriers in which bandits are frequently found; and so on. Like a lot of writers, I wanted to portray both sides of the story. The sea can be beautiful, yes, but it’s also very dangerous. A desert is not as obviously fertile as a forest, but it does contain a rich variety of life. There are two sides to every vista, just as there should be to characters, and in order to make my fantasy novel work for readers I felt that I had to portray those sides as authentically as possible.

If I couldn’t set the scene, how could I expect to carry off a full-length novel?

The answer was to make the genre fit the landscape. I turned for inspiration to the vistas of my youth–of the far north and the west coast of South Australia–and the result is a story set in a world many Australians know intimately–one of beaches and sand dunes, of deserts and barren hills, of scrub and stony plains–subtly changed and enlivened by the fantastic.

The changes this required ran deeper than just swapping the compass bearings on the map so the cold regions were to the south, not the north. The sort of landscape I’m used to would have camels rather than horses, for instance, and it’s hard to imagine a hero in the mould of Aragorn slouching to the rescue on the back of such a rough beast. In the world I knew there would be vast distances to cross that would, for the most part, contain little of interest to humans. So no Shire, that’s for sure. There isn’t a forest in sight, not a single snowflake, and no rivers; instead, there’s the sea, the sun and the sand; there’s space and dryness and the terrible struggle to survive.

But it’s not Australia, either. One of the great things about working with your home in the genre of speculative fiction is that you change it as much as you like–or even destroy it, as I’ve done several times in other works. This is a fantasy world I know well, to which I instinctively respond. I’ve certainly returned to them often enough: ten books now; several short stories and novellas; over a million words of fiction, and this is where it all started.

The Stone Mage & the Sea was nominated for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2001. Subsequent Books of the Change have gone on to win the same award, been nominated for the Ditmar, and have been recommended by Locus magazine as one of the best young adult fantasies of 2002, alongside work by Clive Barker, Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman and Isabel Allende.
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Reviews of The Stone Mage & The Sea and the Books of the Change

“The Stone Mage and the Sea is not simply a clone of plot devices that have gone before, or simply the struggles for identity and insecurities that typify the usual coming of age story. Throughout these tropes Williams has interwoven an unfolding mystery that remains unresolved at the end, the hints at its identity only partially revealed, lingering tantalizingly just out of reach. This mystery is framed within a mysticism that lends itself to the naturalism of its setting, a world of the spirit whispered upon the breeze, the hiss of sand across a dune, the raucous call of gulls, or the pounding drum of surf. Within a stark and empty landscape, stillness is but the soundless echo of as yet unheard life, just as shadows suggest the presence of light. Something stirs just beyond sight, felt only as a vibration upon the skin, a barely perceived hum, a fugitive odour upon the air. There is a sense of pregnancy building within this story, much as yet out of sight, but no more diminished, no less real because unseen…

“The Stone Mage and the Sea is a welcome and assured debut that understatedly blends elements from both fantasy and science fiction in a way bound to intrigue and engage the interest and imagination of most readers, be they young or old. Immediately setting out its own territory, and written with a realism and appreciation of descriptive detail and characterization that generates a great degree of vitality, this opening narrative may well herald a new series already on its way to gaining the author a wider, more international audience. This first book is certainly deserving of notice.”
(William Thompson, SF Site)
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“…original, unconventional and imaginative. The Stone Mage & The Sea is no pseudo-medieval romance with a few dragons and wizards thrown in for color. It is a far future fantasy of Australia that Jonathan Strahan described being “poised between Earthsea and Mad Max”. Different? You bet.”
(Cheryl Morgan, Emerald City)
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“Stark South Australian landscapes imbued with Tolkienesque flavour”
(Colin Steele)
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“Spare, allegorical and haunting in its evocation of the world it depicts, The Stone Mage and the Sea is at once the story of a young boy’s coming of age, a meditation on our sense of place and a hymn to the secret landscapes of its author’s heart.”
(James Bradley)
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“Williams has developed a world of magic in a setting that breathes the atmosphere of the southern Australian coast, with a menacing sea at its edge… The Stone Mage & the Sea has much appeal for fantasy readers…”
(Stella Lees, ViewPoint)
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“The novels have been described as a synthesis of Earthsea and Mad Max. I’d add Tolkein and something of the unexpected mystery of Kafka – that is if Kafka had been well informed about the social and political conditions of Australia in the 21st century. The tropes of city and the bush are hauntingly there in the Strand and the Interior, and the novel traces recognisable but allegorical spaces. Similarly, the haunted city serves as a metaphoric centre of the country while ‘the sea is its heart’. The land’s vast regions are under constant surveillance and like the early writing of Peter Carey, this mix of realistic and surreal elements destabilises certainties causing the reader to interrogate the workings of the known world anew. Interestingly, these epic parables involving powerful and magical elites are similarly counter-balanced by demonstrations of the transformative power of love and individual belief.”
(Lyn Jacobs)
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“The Stone Mage and the Sea is remarkable for its lyrical openness to landscape and the natural world; the sea swirls like a backdrop, heaving and restless. After the earlier Williams novels, reading this book is like tuning to the outdoor action of Water Rats after the claustrophobically darkened settings of The X-Files or Burnside.
(Van Ikin, Sydney Morning Herald)
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“What makes the story worthwhile, and what makes The Stone Mage and the Sea worthwhile, is what Williams had added to it: a convincing cast of characters taking meaningful actions when faced with difficult choices, set in a detailed world that is at once reminiscent of some of the post-apocalyptic Australias that have featured in recent science fiction, and yet has the aura of classic fantasy. The Stone Mage and the Sea makes it clear that Williams is an increasingly adept storyteller who is getting better and better, and is only beginning to hit his stride.”
(Jonathan Strahan, Locus)
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“Williams continues to move comfortably around the wide possibilities of science fiction and here has come to rest in a blending between the ideas of sci-fi and fantasy…. It’s a tribute to Sean Williams’ emerging power that he keeps a powerful tone of mystery and the flavour of the landscape uppermost in this interesting book.”
(Tim Lloyd, Adelaide Advertiser)
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“Sean Williams’ The Stone Mage and the Sea is an alchemical blend of elemental magic, tragic romance and the coming of age of a young boy who is yet to come into his own power which exists, poised between Earthsea and Mad Max, where the magic of fantasy meets the wonder of science fiction. It is one the most rewarding genre novels to come out Australia this year.”
(Jonathan Strahan)
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“Magical and mesmerising, The Stone Mage and the Sea is a story to disappear into, whether you’re 15 or 50.”
(Kim Wilkins)
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“A wonderful, magical fantasy set in a landscape that is both eerily familiar
and strangely alien, and peopled with mages and villains and heroes that
keep the story pounding along.”
(Simon Brown)
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“A stunning new fantasy – a world where Sky Wardens and Stone Mages wield
unthinkable power. And caught in the middle, between the forces of Air, Water, Cloud, and Earth, Sun, Fire, is a young fugitive whose own raw talent for magic is the greatest risk of all. Williams has a sure touch: he invents a future that feels as real as today.”
(Janeen Webb)
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“[Williams] has delivered a Fantasy story that has a texture and vibrancy that captures, enraptures and carries the reader along on a journey they will not wish to end… The tension builds well and the pages turn easily. [Williams] delivers poetical images of a world where imagination is still the vital key to existence. And beneath the harshness of the landscapes of the world, of life and its changes weaves a softer tale of developing love, understanding and acceptance. This is a book all will enjoy.”
(Robert Stephenson)
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“Sean Williams is one of the most successful and amazingly prolific science fiction and fantasy writers in Australia. He has written or co-written everything from exquisitely crafted short horror stories to galaxy-spanning trilogies, including best-selling Star Wars: New Jedi Order novels. The Storm Weaver & The Sand is the final book in his Books of the Change trilogy, a wonderfully inventive fantasy and coming-of-age story that has already been compared to LeGuin’s Earthsea books, set against a future Australian landscape as fascinating as that of Terry Dowling’s Rynosseros tales….

“Every character in the novel has his or her own voice and own agenda, and the relationships between father and son, and student and teacher, are explored with a depth and insight that is rare in genre fiction.

The strongest point of the series, however, is the setting. Instead of the usual pseudo-medieval European background of Tolkien imitators, Williams has created a new world of deserts and beaches, camel caravans and bone ships, Stone Mages and Storm Weavers, ghosts and golems, man’kin’s and strandbeasts. There are no swords, but plenty of sorcery; no dragons, but some great dungeons.

“The Storm Weaver & the Sand is a superior Australian fantasy novel, but more than this; it is simply superior fantasy.”
(Stephen Dedman, The West Australian)
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“Why are Sean Williams’ books such page-turners?

“Easy: because they engage and intrigue the reader on every level and at every turn.

“For instance: in Williams’ hands, setting becomes a vital force. His landscape, welcomingly familiar and open, yet charged with exoticism, takes on a character of its own as it stands against the dark and brooding threat of the sea. The tension between these two key elements of Book One is wrapped by a powerful mystery that drives the story relentlessly – and spills forward into the Interiors of Book Two. In this regard, Williams wastes nothing. From book to book, the scale of his vision never falters.

“But he is at his best with his characters. Sal and Shilly, the main protagonists, are young. They are brave and vital, but with all the insecurities of the young. Williams balance of the forces acting on them is assured. Reactions and decision-making, be they by major characters or minor, heroes or villains, seems always to be real. And the characters grow, as they should, be they the young, coming of age both within the commonality of their day-to-day lives and also the epic tale that ebbs and flows around them, or be they the lesser players, finding their personal light within the swirl of emotions and events.

“These stories are for everyone, from the very young to the very old. They tread the line between SF and fantasy – but use those elements purely to engage. These are no ordinary tales. Sean Williams is a young writer who’s already mastered his trade.

“And yet he keeps getting better and better. He’s on his way – and at high velocity – to being the Best genre writer this country has ever produced.”
(Peter McNamara)
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Aurealis Award Judges’ Report for the Storm Weaver & the Sand (the Third Book of the Change), winner of the 2002 Best Fantasy Novel category

“Sean Williams’ conclusion to his Change trilogy…is an impressive and assured work, a coming-of-age novel in the true sense, which eschews the usual dramatic confrontation between good and evil for shades of grey, as the protagonist is thrust into adulthood and the complexities this entails. Williams shows an impressive maturity and courage in offering us a novel that doesn’t fall back on sword battles or the wizard version of gunfights, but instead focuses on the mind of a young boy as he explores an unfamiliar world. The fact that this doesn’t result in an anticlimax, but rather in a thought-provoking and emotionally involving conclusion, is testament to Williams’ talent.”
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Reading Notes

Topic 1: Fantasy vs Science Fiction vs Mainstream

What is fantasy? What is science fiction? Is The Stone Mage & the Sea science fiction or fantasy, or a mixture of both? What makes The Stone Mage & the Sea fantasy, as compared to realist fiction, and what (if anything) makes it science fiction? Is it set in the future of our world or a completely different world altogether?

The Books of the Change have frequently been compared to Ursula Le Guin’s classic Earthsea series. The Stone Mage & the Sea has also been compared to early Peter Carey. What other influences are visible in the text?

(See the references to Edgar Allen Poe and post-apocalyptic writing below.)

The magic of The Stone Mage & the Sea is very different to that seen in other fantasy novels, such as the Harry Potter books and The Lord of the Rings. How is it different, and how does that affect the story?

What is the relationship between landscape and the Change? What are the laws governing the use of both?

Given that The Stone Mage & the Sea is set in an Australian landscape and deals with many themes familiar to Australian readers, should it be on “Australian Literature” course lists as well as the “Fantasy & Science Fiction”?

Speculative Fiction novels are often actually about the world of the author, disguised as sci-fi or fantasy. Are there any connections between The Stone Mage & the Sea and the world in which we live?

Topic 2: Story

The Stone Mage & the Sea and the rest of the Books of the Change are a coming of age story. Sal and Shilly (and other characters) take significant steps through the course of the story along the road to become both independent and adults. Does this make The Stone Mage & the Sea a Young Adult novel or could it be read by people of all ages?

Given the post-apocalyptic setting of The Stone Mage & the Sea, is it a pessimistic novel, depicting the depths to which humanity can descend after falling from technological highs, or an optimistic novel, showing our capacity to rebound and recover from any catastrophe?

How does the fact that The Stone Mage & the Sea is set in an Australian landscape (unlike much traditional fantasy) change the nature of the story?

The Stone Mage & the Sea does not refer to native Australian myths for stories. This was a deliberate attempt by the author to avoid claims of appropriation. Is that a valid concern for an Australian writer? How does the absence of Aboriginal myth affect the novel’s “Australian-ness”?

The Stone Mage & the Sea leans heavily on [19th Century British author] Edgar Alan Poe for inspiration. As well as the lines from “A Dream Within A Dream” quoted on p.269, there are references to “The Tell-Tale Heart” in the story of Polain the Butterfly Merchant and “The Purloined Letter” in Lodo’s attempt to hide Sal. Is this appropriation, or an honest means of seeking inspiration?

Topic 3: Setting

The Stone Mage & the Sea is set in a very Australian landscape. There are no mountains with snow on them, or lush forests, or wide rivers. It is based loosely on Cowell, a town south of Whyalla, on Eyre Peninsula. (The map at the front of the novel is simply a section of that coast reversed.) The Sky Wardens have elections and censuses. In what other ways is it like our world?

The Stone Mage & the Sea does not source mediaeval European history for landscapes and settings. Other fantasy novels (such as The Lord of the Rings) do just that. In what other ways do they differ from The Stone Mage & the Sea?

Post-apocalyptic fiction is a well-known sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy. Two are John Wyndham’s The Kraken Awakes and Stephen Donaldson’s The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. What others are readers reminded of when they read The Stone Mage & the Sea?

Topic 4: Characters

Is anybody in The Stone Mage & the Sea completely good or completely evil? Are Kemp and his father, Alder Sproule? Are the people who kidnapped Sal’s mother while he was still a baby? Is Tom’s brother, Tate, for betraying Sal in order to gain favour with the Alcaide? Sal’s decision to defy the Sky Wardens cost him his adopted father, and Shilly her home and mentor. Sal’s parents cuckolded Sal’s real father, and ran away with his child. Do the characters feel more real for being so ambiguous? Does it make The Stone Mage & the Sea feel less like normal fantasy and more like real life?

Are Sal and Shilly friends, or enemies, or potential boyfriend-girlfriend? He has something that she desperately wants (the Change) but that same thing has caused them untold grief. Where might that lead them in future books? (The answer can be found in the Books of the Cataclysm.)

Sal’s father turns out not to be the man Sal thought he was. How does this affect Sal’s relationship with his adopted father? Should it have any affect at all?

Topic 5: Themes

Sal has light-coloured skin and stands out among people with dark skin. The dark-skinned people of the Strand inhabit the coastal regions of his world, while light-skinned people inhabit the Interior. This is a reversal of the existing situation in Australia. In what sort of light does this reversal encourage the reader to look at racial relationships?

Both the Strand and the Interior impose a strong sense of law and government on their people, yet they are otherwise very different cultures. How are they different? How do they each attempt to impose order on chaos? Is this an important theme of fantasy, or all mainstream fiction?

There are many degrees of community infusing Sal’s world. That of Fundelry (a small, isolated fishing town) is fundamentally different to that of the Strand (a vast, centrally governed nation). How does this affect the relationships between Sal and the people around him? Is there a difference between the Alders of Fundelry and the Sky Wardens from the Haunted City?

The setting of The Stone Mage & the Sea is a post-apocalyptic one: there are various relics of a lost civilisation in evidence, and a story of ancient times sounds very much like the world in which we live. Such writing often emerges as a reaction to the times in which it was written, e.g. the Depression or the Cold War. What current events might the author of The Stone Mage & the Sea have been responding to? (It was written in 1998.)

Topic 6: Structure

The Stone Mage & the Sea contains several stories within its central storyline. The most obvious example is that of Polain the Butterfly Merchant, told to Sal by his father. What other examples are there? How does the way these stories (or histories) told reflect the culture in which they are told?

Russell Davis, President of Science Fiction Writers of America, has issued the following statement on the ever-widening controversy surrounding Harlequin Enterprises’ launch of a self-publication website. Here’s the essence:

“Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA. Further, Harlequin should be on notice that while the rules of our annual Nebula Award do not expressly prohibit self-published titles from winning, it is highly unlikely that our membership would ever nominate or vote for a work that was published in this manner.”

Full statement below.

We haven’t heard from the Western Writers of America…yet.
Richard Curtis
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SFWA Statement on Harlequin’s self-publishing imprint

November, 2009, Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd. announced the launch of a new imprint, Harlequin Horizons, for aspiring romance authors. Under normal circumstances, the addition of a new imprint by a major house would be cause for celebration in the professional writing community. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances. Harlequin Horizons is a joint venture with Author Solutions, and it is a vanity/subsidy press that relies upon payments and income from aspiring writers to earn profit, rather than sales of books to actual readers.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) finds it extremely disappointing that Harlequin has chosen to launch an imprint whose sole purpose appears to be the enrichment of the corporate coffers at the expense of aspiring writers. According to their website, “Now with Harlequin Horizons, more writers have the opportunity to enter the market, hone their skills and achieve the goals that burn in their hearts.”

SFWA calls on Harlequin to openly acknowledge that Harlequin Horizon titles will not be distributed to brick-and-mortar bookstores, thus ensuring that the titles will not be breaking into the real fiction market. SFWA also asks that Harlequin acknowledge that the imprint does not represent a genuine opportunity for aspiring authors to hone their skills, as no editor will be vetting or working on the manuscripts. Further, SFWA believes that work published with Harlequin Horizons may injure writing careers by associating authors’ names with small sales levels reflected by the imprint’s lack of distribution, as well as its emphasis upon income received from writers and not readers. SFWA supports the fundamental principle that writers should be paid for their work, and even those who aspire to professional status and payment ought not to be charged for the privilege of having those aspirations.

Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA. Further, Harlequin should be on notice that while the rules of our annual Nebula Award do not expressly prohibit self-published titles from winning, it is highly unlikely that our membership would ever nominate or vote for a work that was published in this manner.

Already the world’s largest romance publisher, Harlequin should know better than anyone else in the industry the importance of treating authors professionally and with the respect due the craft; Harlequin should have the internal fortitude to resist the lure of easy money taken from aspiring authors who want only to see their work professionally published and may be tempted to believe that this is a legitimate avenue towards those goals.

SFWA does not believe that changing the name of the imprint, or in some other way attempting to disguise the relationship to Harlequin, changes the intention, and calls on Harlequin to do the right thing by immediately discontinuing this imprint and returning to doing business as an advance and royalty paying publisher.

For the Board of Directors,
Russell Davis
President
SFWA, Inc.

Romance fiction icon Nora Roberts weighed in on the soon-to-be-name-changed Harlequin Horizons controversy, in a comment on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books website. Ms. Roberts is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at next summer’s Romance Writers of America national conference. Harlequin publishes many of her books, so we’ll be all ears for that speech!

Richard Curtis
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Nora Roberts said on…11.19.09 at 03:40 AM

~Professional” authors are already paying for packaging, editorial, promotion and admin (copyright and such) through the rather huge chunk the publishers take from the revenue pile. FACT: The author gets what… 6 – 8% of the take? That means the traditional publisher gets 92 -94%.~

Just no.

When a publisher BUYS the rights to your book, they PAY you an advance on royalties. You do not PAY them. You get a check for the SALE of your rights. You have sold your book, you have not paid to have your book published.

The publisher then shells out the money for all the areas of publication, invests considerable time and money into that publication as it has bought the book and paid the author an advance on royalties. When the book is published, the author will receive more money when that advance earns off. The author does not pay, but is paid.

In addition to getting a check rather than giving one, the author receives the support, experience, muscle, editorial input, etc, etc, from the publisher.

Vanity press is called vanity for a reason. You’re paying for your ego. That’s fine, dealer’s choice.

But it’s a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it’s not really their brand being used to make money on mss they’ve rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place.