FRESH DIRT: Scott
Nicholson's Journal 7-9/03
September 26, 2003
Next year's novel
"The Manor" has made the semifinals of the
Chesterfield Film Writers competition sponsored by
Paramount Pictures. Apparently this places it in the top
15 percent of several thousand entries, with the five or
so finalists to be announced in about six weeks. No
holding my breath but it beats a sharp stick in the eye.
Anyone who wants to
join the Literary Guild or Mystery Guild can get a free
signed copy of my story collection of "Thank You For
The Flowers." If I sign you up as a friend, I can
get three free books (which I intend to use to get more
hardcover copies of "The Harvest"). You get to
choose five of the book club books for $1 plus you get a
free tote bag in addition to my signed book. After you
join, you only need to buy 4 books over the next two
years. Email me if you're interested or learn more about
the Literary Guild or Mystery
Guild.
September 24, 2003
You ever notice how
literary novels often get the qualifier "A
Novel" after the title? I was doing a signing and
looked at the Book Sense catalog that had the favorite
titles of all the independent bookstores. All of the top
ten were titled like "The Life of Pi: A Novel,"
except one, which was something like "Blah Blah
Blah: A Memoir." I think this must be shorthand to
inform us that this is indeed Something That's Good For
Us Whether We Like It Or Not. So I think cheesy genre
novels ought to start coopting the colon. How about
"Bloodhouse: A Novel." Or "The Cheesening:
A Novel." Next thing you know, our cultural
gatekeepers in New York will become even more precious
and start using things like "The Life of Pi: A
Fiction." Or maybe we should all agree there's no
need to be pompous and if it says fiction on the spine,
then it's probably a novel.
Review of "The
Harvest" as part of a well-written column by Joseph
Nassise is posted at Midnight Fantastique. Make that "The Harvest: A
Novel."
September 22, 2003
I'm giving away a copy
of Stewart O'Nan's new novel "Night Country" to
a randomly selected newsletter subscriber when the next
issue comes out in mid-October. You can subscribe for
free by sending an email to scottnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then reply to the message you are
sent. I'll also have an exclusive link to one of my early
writings available only through the newsletter, plus a
second round of writing tips. I've got a few newspaper
articles coming up in the near future and I'm sending out
the last round of review copies for "The
Harvest." I'm looking forward to the winter so I can
squirrel away some writing time.
September 19, 2003
It's a busy weekend with
signings and interviews. What's been most interesting so
far on this tour is that I sell as many copies of
"The Red Church" as I do "The
Harvest." Maybe Church is easier to explain or
something. Of course, some people buy both, which is
always nice. The stores have been great and most of the
people I meet at the bookstores are from out of the area
and are visiting. Maybe bookstore browsing is something
people like to do while on vacation or as a day trip.
Hurricane Isabel
did very little damage here, a few scattered power
outages. It was a bit awe-inspiring to see the first wave
of clouds rising over the mountains from the east.
September 16, 2003
I've written a few
articles on writing lately and decided to shop them
around before I post them here on the website. I don't
follow the magazines too closely so it's been a bit
strange submitting the articles. Some of the magazines
have articles by big names while other articles appear to
be written by people who have had little publishing
experience. It is refreshing to get some rejection slips,
since I haven't submitted many short stories lately.
One of the radio
hosts was asking me about publishing, and I told him
about my hundreds of rejection slips, and he laughed as
if I were joking. I didn't want to shatter the moment so
I laughed, too. When you think about it, it does seem
kind of silly that humans enter a field of endeavor in
which they are repeatedly told "no."
September 14, 2003
The review of "The
Harvest" in Fangoria is so bad that people are
warning me not to read it. Hah.On the other hand, I got a
nice email the other day from someone who accused me of
being Stephen King writing under a pen name. As if Mr.
King would willingly trim his reading audience by 99
percent just to see if it was indeed his work and not
just his name that made the books so popular! Check out
more in the new feature Reader Mailbag.
The signings are
going well, but each time I have to ask myself why I do
so many when I should be home writing. I guess the short
answer is, if I don't do it, then no one else will do it
for me. It's also the best way to meet new readers right
at the point of contact and a chance to talk shop with
those on the front lines of the publishing industry.
September 9, 2003
Back from vacation, so
I've hit the ground running. My hometown book signing is
tonight and my name is up on the marquee. I'll try to
post a photo in my "bio" section. I'll also be
changing my email contact to help avoid some of these
spam and virus problems. If anyone tired to contact me in
the last few days and didn't get a response, please try
again at scottnicholson AT(you type the "@")
hauntedcomputer.com. Unfortunately, the spam spiders have
been crawling all over my pages so I'm having to take
down the direct email link and you'll have to type the
address to contact me. Sorry for the extra trouble but I
always try to answer every email, so if it's worth it to
you to do that, then it's worth it to me to write you
back.
Being at the beach
was a great lift. The ocean is a wonderful reminder of
the relative importance of all things. I could toss a
copy of "The Harvest" into the waves and it
would be shredded to sand in a single day. The ocean
erases all mistakes.
September 4, 2003
Had a fun launch for
"The Harvest" in Hickory, NC, last night. Met
some true fans and also got to talk shop with Dale
Bailey, author of "The Fallen" and numerous
short stories. He had some interesting perspectives and
our paths have been a bit different. He's been writing
since childhood while I am mostly a "sudden
writer." Hickory had an unbelievable amount of
books, maybe 60 or so, and a dozen of "The Red
Church" and even a few copies of my short story
collection. Apparently my books do well there, and I owe
it all to the enthusiastic Barnes & Noble staff. I
also had a couple of newspaper features, though one
preview listed the signing date wrong. C'est la
everything.
"The Harvest" got a good review in Locus
Magazine: ""Nicholson has constructed a small
wonder...a story with the outlines of a B-Movie
narrative, but with complex, sympathetic characters (the
reader can even sympathize with the alien!) and an
emotionally satisfying plot." A new interview is up
at The Web of Horror. Off to Atlantic Beach for a few days.
One radio interview and a couple of drop-in store
signings, but mostly sand and sunburn. Look, ma, no
typing!
September 2, 2003
Busy on everything but
writing. A week off for promoting "The
Harvest," a trip to the beach, presenting evidence
to a zoning board, promoting some more. And day job.
Never forget day job. Today is official release date for
the new novel, though it's been available in some places
for a while. Kind of a mixed feeling this time around,
some excitement about its prospects but also uneasy about
its potential reception. Will readers mostly hate it?
Will they want it to be exactly like "The Red
Church"? Is it just plain too obtuse and straining
your suspension of disbelief? Fortunately, I've already
received a few positive comments, so I'm taking that as
proof that it's all going to be okay. Thanks to all of
you who continue to help my dreams come to life.
August 26, 2003
Apparently copies of
"The Harvest" are starting to trickle out into
the distribution system, with several people reporting
actually purchasing the book off the shelves (hooray for
them!). I have my first radio interview Friday, and I'm
in the awkward position of not having a copy to send to
the host. Next time I suppose I'll have to watch the
online booksellers and order a few copies
(Books-A-Million seems to have been the fastest on the
draw this time around). But the host seems more
interested in discussing libertarian Taosim (long story
best left for another day) than analyzing the intracacies
of my new novel. He did read and enjoy "The Red
Church," so this will be familiar turf for both of
us. Good news is that I hear Science Fiction Chronicle gave a thumb up for "The
Harvest" in its new issue. Maybe I'll read that one.
August 24, 2003
Some of my family
members have expressed concern that sooner or later I
would be the object of a deranged fan's obsession
("Get a PO Box, Scott, so nobody finds out your
street address"). I always thought it laughable
because my audience isn't large enough to include a nut
case. But then last week somebody called the phone
company, pretended to be me, and had my phone service
disconnected. (Yeah, the phone company lets people do
this unless the customer asks for a password system
beforehand). While such a subversive and anarchist tactic
appeals to my sense of the absurd, it was a big
inconvenience and the phone company wasn't very prompt or
sympathetic in correcting its error.
While I'm pretty sure the action was taken by someone
local who didn't like my sometimes-controversial
editorial columns in the newspaper, the incident served
as a motivator to have as much of my public information
erased as possible. I am still, and always will be,
accessible by email, but the rest is off limits to the
casual observer.
Back to other
stuff, I have heard "The Harvest" will be raked over the coals in the next
issue of Fangoria. The odd part is that it doesn't bother
me a bit. I'm not going to read it, and I'm of the
opinion that there's really no such thing as bad
publicity unless it involves pederasty. I'm actually kind
of honored to be criticized by a magazine that heralds
"Freddy v. Jason" as the nadir of western
civilization's cultural achievements.
August 21, 2003
One of the more amusing
signs that building a writing career is a sideways
venture: The foamboard cover blow-ups the publisher sent
for "The Harvest" book signings are about a
fourth the size of those for "The Red Church."
Or maybe it's just a sign of the recession. But I'm
grateful for the things, because they add some élan to a
signing table decorated by nothing more than a confused
author and a stack of books. I've been blundering ahead
with my promotional efforts, wishing I were an organized
person, but I have managed to secure some radio interviews. I'll try to keep the list up to date
and hopefully add a few mpg3 clips. A variety of worms
have been infesting my Internet provider's network so I
haven't been able to upload files for a few days.
August 17, 2003
There's a line from a
song that goes "Sometimes life sends you lessons
wrapped in ridiculous packaging." Living in a small
town with tremendous growth pressures, mostly due to the
local college, I always figured growth would hem me in
sooner or later. Now plans have been submitted for a
student apartment complex within shouting distance of my
house. So I'll have 114 new neighbors and 114 new reasons
not to delay finding a nice big place in the country.
Right now, we're thinking of keeping this house and
renting it out, though thanks to the same zoning laws
that allow a huge student apartment complex within a
hundred yards of our home, we're not allowed to rent to
anybody but single families. By renting to students, we
could probably make several hundreds dollars more per
month over what the average family can afford.
I spent Saturday
laying new vinyl and installing a new toilet in the
bathroom, and I did a more thorough job knowing we might
have to sell this place. I like working with my hands and
probably any place we could afford would have to a
"fixer-upper." My wife says roosters are out
but the goat is optional.
August 12, 2003
I've just learned The
Harvest is available in hardcover through the Doubleday
Book Club, Literary Guild, and Mystery Guild. I got my
Literary Guild catalog today and saw it offered on the
top of the back page of "The Insider." (I had
to join the guild to get copies of The Red Church, though
apparently those are all gone now). Rather nice
placement, though the price is $1 higher this time
around. But at the low, low cost of $11.99, what the
heck. Of course, you can do like I did and join the
Mystery Guild instead, then you get six copies for a
buck.
I really like the
book club's presentation of The Harvest: "If films
like Invasion of the Body Snatchers keep you up at
night, you’ll. be wired till dawn with this newest
chiller from 'a wonderful storyteller' (Sharyn McCrumb)
who 'knows how to summon serious scares' (Bentley
Little). Tamara Leon, an anthropologist in the small
Appalachian community of Windshake, North Carolina, has
been troubled all her life by 'the gloomies.' Now, her
dark visions and premonitions of evil are taking on the
physical form of an inexplicable, deadly force that
consumes the town of Windshake. The citizens are changing
into monstrous beings with only one thought in mind:
death and destruction. And the shattered town can only
wonder when the hunger will be sated."
Compare that with
the Ingram sales catalog passed out to bookstores, which
merely says: "Deep in the Appalachian mountains, an
evil presence consumes the citizens of the small town of
Windshake, spreading death and destruction."
August 9, 2003
Okay, I occasionally
make these silly promises to myself and then justify
breaking them later. Hopefully, this one will stick. I'm
not submitting any more original short stories to
anthologies that both a) don't pay advances and b) are
printed only as print-on-demand paperbacks or in
electronic formats.
My record keeping
for short story sales is not quite as good as it should
be, but to the best of my knowledge I have been in
several, three with my stories have been canceled in
mid-stream, and only once have I ever seen a dime. In the
latest case, I've yet to get a contributor's copy, which
even the lowest nonpaying magazine usually guarantees.
The editor of that one even canceled two other planned
anthologies with the "publisher" in question.
One of them would have contained one of my stories. I'm
not mentioning any names, since I still hope to get my
copy, but they know who they are and haven't put much
effort into salvaging their reputation.
I'll admit, my policy is not going to send any editor
diving under the sheets for a good tremble, but this also
means I am recommending any serious and professionally
minded writer avoid such markets unless you really admire
the editor, because that association might be all you
ever get out of the deal. Iffy publications are still
worth tossing out a reprint, because you don't lose much
if the house of cards collapses. But I'd rather get a
rejection slip from a real pro than a hundred acceptances
from a pretender.
August 5, 2003
If you like free stuff
and you love books and reading, you should visit Dear
Reader and sign up for
some of the great books they offer. You can subscribe to
the genre of your choice and receive a short book excerpt
in the mail each day. The excerpts go out to libraries
and bookstores across the country, as well as to any
individual reader who cares to sign up. The service has
been a big success so far, and the potential is
limitless. This method allows you to sample a variety of
work before you make your purchasing decisions and will
also give you a sampler of what's getting published these
days. I can't recommend this site highly enough. The
first 7,500 words of The Harvest will be running
there in the horror genre in mid-September.
August 2, 2003
After spending the day
rebuilding the bathroom floor, I'm thoroughly grateful
I've been able to make my living in the brainless media
for the past seven years or so. I spent a lot of my youth
in hard labor (not the prison system kind, but the
growing-up-poor kind) and gave up a potential life of
ease by dropping out of college and pursuing a
rock'n'roll career. That career led to more hard work in
various day jobs ranging from house painting to carpentry
to apartment maintenance to plenty of shovel time. Now
that I've got that soft middle age belly, I occasionally
enjoy a good masochistic stint of homeowner repair. But
when those muscles get sore, I am able to remind myself
that being a reporter and writer beats the heck out of
actually working for a living.
My latest screenplay didn't make the semifinals of the
Nicholl Fellowships, so I guess overnight success will
have to wait. Most "overnight successes" I know
took 20 years to get there, anyway. Hey, they don't know
what they're missing. Yet.
I got to read an advance copy of Jenna Glatzer's
"Outwitting Writer's Block." I'm not sure when
it will be out, but it's great. Lots of laugh-out-loud
moments as well as some useful tips. She's editor of Absolute
Write and has published
in numerous fields. While I'm usually suspicious of writing advice books, I can
confidently give this one the seal of approval.
July 31, 2003
Planning a publicity
campaign for a book involves a lot of small and subtle
actions, because there's an effect similar to the
build-up of an ocean wave. A tiny tremor in a distant
section of water heads in one direction and then is
pulled and pushed by all the other forces of wind,
gravity, and tide. Before you know it, there's a sudden
swell, a peak, and then a splash. The casual observer
sees only the splash, but the myriad energies that go
into the making of the original motion are quite
formidable.
While some authors
loathe having to generate publicity for their books, my
attitude is that if you don't believe in your own work,
how can you expect anyone else to get excited? Any writer
who thinks promotion is anti-artistic and therefore
"beneath" them is only giving us hungrier
writers an edge over them. Marketing is not a dreary
chore best left to faceless executives. It requires real
creativity and passion. If you think writing and selling
a book to a publisher is hard, try competing for
attention with all the media outlets, movie stars, video
games, reality shows, wars, diseases, fast food
restaurants, domestic beers, spiffy new brands of
personal care products, Internet porn, eBay, and used car
dealers.
I get pleasure from
the fruits of my labor, whether it's watching the
tomatoes ripen in the garden or seeing my book written
about in a small newspaper. I like setting up my book signings, contacting the bookstores (though I
admit cold calling is the one chore I would just as soon
hire someone to do), and sending out releases to
newspapers and radio stations. While I took a rather
haphazard approach to promoting The Red Church,
it turned out pretty well despite not having much money
to invest. I'm not a whole lot more organized this time
around, except for having all the previous positive
contacts and a small clutch of reviewers who are looking
forward to The Harvest. All the investment in
energy adds up to a positive vibe that builds on itself,
not with massive sales or world fame as the ultimate
desired outcome, but rather simple satisfaction. Besides,
it's fun!
July 27, 2003
Editor Ellen Datlow
posted her photos from the annual Horror Writers
Association conference at her site.
I have the gleaming thousand-yard stare that signals the
onset of rabies. I don't know when I'll be back in New
York, so it's fun to have these kinds of reminders. Since
I've now visited the three major cities in the U.S., I
think it's time to hit Texas and Canada. Now all I need
is a tax-deductible excuse.
July 26, 2003
The fun part of being a
writer (besides the tidal wave of rejection slips) is
that you get email from the strangest places. In the past
couple of days I have received, in addition to several
dozen spams: a letter from a writer in Norway asking
about book promotion; a note from a Scientologist
thanking me for presenting my views on the religion with
an open mind; the cover art for a friend's story
collection; and the unsolicited opportunity to prove the
world is wrong for not giving the email's author a fair
shake in the cruel, close-minded world of publishing,
because of course the Publishing Industry is spending all
its spare time and untold wealth on keeping unknown
writers away from what no doubt would be a large and
adoring readership.
I quit a newsgroup list after two of the authors bragged
about being censored because some places refused to run
their ads or sell their books. They write what they have
described as "pornographic horror." When I
pointed out that it was an unfortunate situation, but not
really censorship, since magazines have no obligation to
take any ad just as no store is required to carry any
product, I was immediately persona non grata.
I'm always amazed when someone courts controversy and
then acts hurt and attacked when that controversy leads
to consequences. It's like playing with a snake, yelling
"Look, everybody, I'm playing with a snake!,"
and then acting surprised when you get bitten. Then you
either blame the snake or blame everyone else for not
warning you. Puh-leez.
July 24, 2003
The Haunted Computer is
getting its new "look," which is a lot like the
old look with the addition of banners at the top of each
page. From my stats page, I noticed that a lot of
visitors zoom in from left field for some of the
non-writing articles, such as the Civil War and
Appalachian stereotypes stuff. Hopefully, those visitors
will see the books and want to browse around a bit more.
I've got most of my signing events set up, and will
probably only add three or four more stops. It's fallen
into place pretty well, and so far there is only one city
that I wanted that I couldn't find a store. After doing
this a few times, I'm learning which stores to avoid and
which stores are my preferred locations. It's a great
feeling when there is at least one employee in a store
who digs what you're writing. New article up, Ticket To Write, examines why you don't need to spend
money to be a writer.
July 20, 2003
A lot of horror and
thriller writers are getting new book deals and movie
options right now. It's really an exciting time, and also
good for me because soon it will be time to shop the new
books. It's hard to tell if these are leaps forward or
just the inevitable result of natural ebbing and flowing.
Of course, I have a long-running theory that a Republican
administration throws gas on the embers of dark
literature and entertainment, because a Republican
administration is usually accompanied by war drums, long
unemployment lines, massive deficits, and a socially
repressive atmosphere (not a political statement; more or
less a historical fact, with limited exceptions).
Eisenhower gave us big bug movies and "The Twilight
Zone," Nixon begat "The Exorcist" and
"Carrie," Reagan birthed the entire 1980s
cheesy monsters and slasher boom, and Bush II is spawning
a whole new nest of slithery things, a Pandora's box that
people need to peek into for their psychic comfort,
because the news media and the TV pundits certainly
aren't giving us any insight into what's happening to us.
Coming soon is a
slight redesign of the site, mostly in the banners and
top link line. All content will remain more or less the
same, with a little more consistency of layout. What I'm
reading: Greg Iles, Mortal Fear; Sharyn McCrumb,
Ghost Riders; a book on the twisted painter
Heironymous Bosch.
July 15, 2003
I saw "28 Days
Later" tonight, the first theater movie I've been to
since probably Harry Potter I. I was amazed how many
advertisements there were before the start of the movie,
maybe 8 minutes' worth. I liked the movie, especially
some of the photographic effects (as opposed to special
effects, which usually don't excite me much). The movie
also had some good morality issues and a bit of a story.
Apparently a lot of the summer blockbusters are tanking
because there's nothing to fuel the word of mouth or
inspire repeat trips to the theater. We know The Hulk is
going to get very angry and when Hulk angry, Hulk smash.
We know Arnie will give his usual mechanical performance
in T-3 even if he's supposed to be a little more
humanized. Now we need a story, something to make us
care. It's almost like the audience feels obligated to go
see whatever they call a blockbuster, then we act
surprised when we leave the theater with nothing added to
our lives, only two hours and seven bucks taken away. But
then some surprise movie sneaks in and owns the top slot
because it has that magical something. Sixth Sense.
Shrek. Almost any animated Disney feature. Oh, yeah, they
call that "story."
July 10, 2003
The mystery of the
missing Red Church has now been partially explained.
People have reported a little difficulty in getting the
book, as is only natural given that it's been over a year
since release and another 200,000 or so new books have
pushed their way onto the shelves. The local store order
25 copies for a book fair and was only able to get three.
The book is currently out of stock, meaning the publisher
and distributors don't have any copies, and the book
won't be available for about 6 weeks or so. Presumably,
any current orders will be filled once a new printing is
done in late August.
The print run is
fairly small and likely portends the remainder of the
book's existence-- sporadic periods of non-availability
followed by occasional print runs, until the book is
completely out of print or something dramatic happens,
such as a big sale on a later book that gives new life to
an old title. If the book is out of stock, that means all
the original copies are either sold, sitting in a store,
or have had their covers ripped off and mailed back to
the publisher for credit. The book club versions
apparently dried up some months again, though Doubleday
still holds a license to reprint the title for four more
years. I guess I won't know the whole picture for a
couple of more years, when the publisher's accountants
eventually crunch all the numbers on the royalty
statements. It's sort of scary that my first novel is
half-dead before my second novel even hits the press. But
it's one of those good news-bad news things. Better to
run out than to have never sold at all.
July 7, 2003
Material possessions are
such a burden. Our washing machine, a sturdy old model
which is no longer made (of course), finally gave up the
ghost in the form of gushes and spurts. We had
trouble-free use of it for more than five years, when we
rescued it from the back of a pickup whose owner was
disposing of it because (yeah, really), the handle had
come off. So a pair of vise grips was the only repair
needed, though occasionally blue sparks would jump from
behind the panel if you pushed the vise grips too hard
while starting a load. Now it must make the return trip
to the dump, though since it was probably built in the
1970s, it's rest is well-deserved. But the chore of
buying a new one remains. Since our laundry room is in
the unfinished basement, we have no concerns over style
or matching the color of the dryer. But the whole idea of
becoming an appliance consumer is daunting. Which model?
How much? Energy efficiency? What will the neighbors
think, assuming any ever crawl into our basement in the
dead of night?
It's the same with
buying a car. My old junker is on its last rubbers and I
have the money put away to buy another one, but I can't
get motivated to even shop. For one thing, I hate
shopping, though I've generally had good luck with cars
because I've always stuck to a few simple principles: buy
them as cheaply as possible, care not a bit about
appearance or their supposed reflection on me as a
person, and drive them until they have to be hauled away
by force, with teams of horses and a plump, sweaty
whipmaster.
My wife bought me a very nice digital camera for
Christmas, with quality suitable for taking professional
photos (some of those taken with it ran in my newspaper).
But I worried about that camera almost every minute I
owned it, even when it was tucked away in a drawer.
Finally I lost it (I think I left it on the roof of the
car when strapping in mon petite cherie) and the
relief nearly outweighed the regret. I got a cheaper,
simpler digital camera for my birthday and haven't lost a
single wink of sleep nor a photo opportunity.
To make a long point sharper, everything you own comes
with a price. Even when it's already paid for.
July 4, 2003
It's been a pretty nice
holiday, and even the coerced and obligatory patriotism
hasn't dampened the day. Apparently it's cool to be cool
with the United States again, without the feelings of
panic and insecurity. Heck, when it comes right down to
it, it's all about the hot dogs and the watermelon. Just
don't get me started about fireworks. Let freedom ring
(but hopefully not in your ears all night).
July 1, 2003
My story
"Thirst" was accepted for reprint at Eternal Night, a good multi-faceted website of
speculative fiction.The site will also be running an
excerpt of my new novel "The Harvest." I have
an interview there from 2001. I've been busy on my
bookstore mailings and scheduling of book signings, so
far it's gone pretty well but I haven't tackled it in
full earnest yet. The theory is to get my biggest and
farthest cities down first and then fill in weekdays with
the closer stops. The book release party will be at
Barnes & Noble in Hickory NC on Sept. 3, though I may
have a local event the night before, which is the
official release date of the book.
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