Welcome to Biting-Edge, a blog shared by authors and vampire experts, Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein. We’ll cover urban fantasy, vampires, pop culture, and all things Joss Whedon. Unlike other fantasy blogs, we don’t insist on body cavity searches (unless you ask politely). Snarkiness is most welcome...though we won't promise not to bite back!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
What do they know?
Mario here:
Over at the League of Reluctant Adults, we had a lively discussion when Kevin Hearne wondered what to do about an especially snippy email from a reader, one that Kevin shared with us on the loop. Kevin's first reaction was to pen an especially nasty reply worthy of the sender's asshattediness. But we talked the gun out of Kevin's hand and calmed him down. Of course, when we send such a message, we expect the recipient to roll over and whimper, "Thank you so much for pointing out what worthless human being I am. Allow me to eat worms and grovel at your feet." But that doesn't happen. If nothing else, we'll get the bile spewed back by some waste of skin who has less to lose than any of us, so our response tends to be to ignore the fool.
So how do you respond to crappy "fan mail" and lousy reviews? We in League shift through the bilge of our one-star reviews on Amazon. We critique our favorites on the League loop and wonder (not too hard) about the personal issues afflicting said reviewer. We speculate about their demented fetishes, usually involving farm animals, funnels, and the ingestion of various bodily fluids and excretions.
Since one factor that leads readers to your books are reviews, we have an interest in gathering as many positive reviews as possible. Elle Lothlorien regards her one-star reviewers as unsatisfied customers and engages them directly and in many cases the reviewer substitutes their poor review for a better one. (Which gets back to the League's position that a one-star review is less about the perceived quality of the book than it is the reviewer needing therapy.)
In the long run, how effective are reviews? The critics initially crapped all over F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and we see how that book got pushed into the literary Dumpster.
The top book right now on my TBR pile is Hammer of the Gods, The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis. In their review of LZ's first American tour, Rolling Stone wrote: "...they will have to find a producer, editor and some material worthy of their collective talents." We see how history gave that critic a well-deserved noogie.
You'll get no noogies at the ongoing Lighthouse LitFest. I'll be reading at their first ever book fair, Friday, 1:45PM, at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop, 1515 Race St, Denver.
But if you get a noogie at Denver ComicCon 2012, it'll be done with a pencil or a space blaster.
Check me out next weekend at the Colorado Convention Center, downtown Denver.
Saturday June 16, 4pm “Paranormal” with Tamela Buhrke, Jeanne Stein, Lynda Hilburn. (Hyatt Capitol Room 2)
Saturday 6pm “The State of Horror in this Pre-Apocalyptic Age" with Carrie Vaughn, Molly Tanzer, Lynda Hillburn, and David Boop. (Room 104 )
Sunday 10-11am “Great SF/fantasy/horror books” (Room 104)
Extra! Extra!
My first novel, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats is on sale at Amazon for $2.99.
Over at the League of Reluctant Adults, we had a lively discussion when Kevin Hearne wondered what to do about an especially snippy email from a reader, one that Kevin shared with us on the loop. Kevin's first reaction was to pen an especially nasty reply worthy of the sender's asshattediness. But we talked the gun out of Kevin's hand and calmed him down. Of course, when we send such a message, we expect the recipient to roll over and whimper, "Thank you so much for pointing out what worthless human being I am. Allow me to eat worms and grovel at your feet." But that doesn't happen. If nothing else, we'll get the bile spewed back by some waste of skin who has less to lose than any of us, so our response tends to be to ignore the fool.So how do you respond to crappy "fan mail" and lousy reviews? We in League shift through the bilge of our one-star reviews on Amazon. We critique our favorites on the League loop and wonder (not too hard) about the personal issues afflicting said reviewer. We speculate about their demented fetishes, usually involving farm animals, funnels, and the ingestion of various bodily fluids and excretions.
Since one factor that leads readers to your books are reviews, we have an interest in gathering as many positive reviews as possible. Elle Lothlorien regards her one-star reviewers as unsatisfied customers and engages them directly and in many cases the reviewer substitutes their poor review for a better one. (Which gets back to the League's position that a one-star review is less about the perceived quality of the book than it is the reviewer needing therapy.)
In the long run, how effective are reviews? The critics initially crapped all over F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and we see how that book got pushed into the literary Dumpster.
The top book right now on my TBR pile is Hammer of the Gods, The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis. In their review of LZ's first American tour, Rolling Stone wrote: "...they will have to find a producer, editor and some material worthy of their collective talents." We see how history gave that critic a well-deserved noogie.
You'll get no noogies at the ongoing Lighthouse LitFest. I'll be reading at their first ever book fair, Friday, 1:45PM, at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop, 1515 Race St, Denver.
But if you get a noogie at Denver ComicCon 2012, it'll be done with a pencil or a space blaster.
Check me out next weekend at the Colorado Convention Center, downtown Denver.
Saturday June 16, 4pm “Paranormal” with Tamela Buhrke, Jeanne Stein, Lynda Hilburn. (Hyatt Capitol Room 2)
Saturday 6pm “The State of Horror in this Pre-Apocalyptic Age" with Carrie Vaughn, Molly Tanzer, Lynda Hillburn, and David Boop. (Room 104 )
Sunday 10-11am “Great SF/fantasy/horror books” (Room 104)
Extra! Extra!
My first novel, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats is on sale at Amazon for $2.99.
Labels: Denver ComicCon, Led Zeppelin, LitFest, noogies
¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 11:57 AM 7 comments
Sunday, June 03, 2012
The End of All Things
Mario here:
Actually, it's not the end of all things, just big uncomfortable changes for more institutions getting the Internet whammy. Some months ago I had posted that the Internet had really hit the sales of two businesses: map companies and porn.
Map Quest delivered the first body blow to Rand McNally, but it was Goggle Maps (who ironically enough, has almost driven Map Quest out of business) and iPhone apps that killed off the traditional map companies. Thompson Maps, those big city map books we used to lug around, has also been kicked into obsolescence by GPA devices and smart phone map apps. Similarly, why rent or buy porn when--as I've been told--you can get it for free via the Internet?
The next thing that's on the endangered list are those editor's proof marks we writers love so dearly.
What's happened is that most editing done today is on e-copies using track changes. Back in the Golden Age of writing, you used to send a paper copy of your manuscript to your editor, she would mark up your pages using the proof marks (once you understood them, it was like being in the special writers' club and you looked forward to fighting back with STET). Now with e-copies, you'd have to manually insert the proof marks as symbols, and it's just as easy to note the correction with a comment. Considering how fast a new crop of writers advances up the system, I suppose in three years remembering proof marks will identify you as one of the those dinosaurs who used dial-up modems and white-out.
Image from Getting Published blog.
It's time we pay our respects to the passing of the hardbound dictionary and thesaurus. I still have my copies and they wear their scotch tape repairs and dogeared edges like proud scars. But when you need help with a word, it's so much easier to goggle word definition or word synonym.
The next institution that's taking an Internet beatdown is the newspaper business. No surprise of course. Most cities have only one daily and some--such as New Orleans--not even that. Our chapter of the Mystery Writers of America meets in the Denver Press Club, a creaky vintage hangout, great place to soak up local history and booze. Like many American cities, Denver was home to several dailies and weeklies. But what's walking the plank are not just newspapers but newspaper reporters.
The press club displays caricatures of local news personalities and these cartoons reveal that it was once possible to have a career as a reporter. This meant newspaper readers had men and women with an institutional memory of the city and its politics and the means to say, "Here we go again," whenever politicians came up with a "new" harebrained scheme that didn't work the first time. And they had the means to peek under the rug of business and government obfuscation to show us who was doing what and why. We're expected to think that social media will fill the void, and the Internet has many things but sadly, no editors or ombudsmen. A friend's wife was a reporter and columnist at The Denver Post, and she states that time on the news beat has been replaced by driving traffic to Twitter and FB.
But there is much that is still thriving.
This week, you have THREE big chances to wear your literary duds.
Wednesday, June 6, critique pal, Warren the shank Hammond, signs and reads from his newest book, Kop Killer, 7:30PM at the Tattered Cover on Colfax. Kaye Lynne Booth shares her review in the Colorado Examiner.
In case you haven't heard, the next two weeks in Denver are all about LitFest at the Lighthouse Writers Workshops.
Tuesday, June 5, I'll be moderating and channeling snark at the LitFest Salon, Writing With a Gun to My Head, featuring Julie Kazimer and Jason Heller. Drinks are poured at 7:30PM, with the interview starting at 8PM. There is a charge of $30 for nonmembers, but if you belong to RMFW, MWA, or DASFA, you can get in at the member rate of $20. The price includes beverages and food.
Thursday, June 7, Salon: Literary vs. Genre Death Match, featuring Nick Arvin, Nic Brown, Robert Greer, and the great Connie Willis. The party starts at 7:30PM, Salon at 8PM, same pricing deal as above.
And...I've still got openings for a couple of classes during LitFest:
Scene and Sequel: The Building Blocks of Story
and
What was the Question? Keeping your story on track.
Actually, it's not the end of all things, just big uncomfortable changes for more institutions getting the Internet whammy. Some months ago I had posted that the Internet had really hit the sales of two businesses: map companies and porn.
Map Quest delivered the first body blow to Rand McNally, but it was Goggle Maps (who ironically enough, has almost driven Map Quest out of business) and iPhone apps that killed off the traditional map companies. Thompson Maps, those big city map books we used to lug around, has also been kicked into obsolescence by GPA devices and smart phone map apps. Similarly, why rent or buy porn when--as I've been told--you can get it for free via the Internet?
The next thing that's on the endangered list are those editor's proof marks we writers love so dearly.
What's happened is that most editing done today is on e-copies using track changes. Back in the Golden Age of writing, you used to send a paper copy of your manuscript to your editor, she would mark up your pages using the proof marks (once you understood them, it was like being in the special writers' club and you looked forward to fighting back with STET). Now with e-copies, you'd have to manually insert the proof marks as symbols, and it's just as easy to note the correction with a comment. Considering how fast a new crop of writers advances up the system, I suppose in three years remembering proof marks will identify you as one of the those dinosaurs who used dial-up modems and white-out.
Image from Getting Published blog.
It's time we pay our respects to the passing of the hardbound dictionary and thesaurus. I still have my copies and they wear their scotch tape repairs and dogeared edges like proud scars. But when you need help with a word, it's so much easier to goggle word definition or word synonym.
The next institution that's taking an Internet beatdown is the newspaper business. No surprise of course. Most cities have only one daily and some--such as New Orleans--not even that. Our chapter of the Mystery Writers of America meets in the Denver Press Club, a creaky vintage hangout, great place to soak up local history and booze. Like many American cities, Denver was home to several dailies and weeklies. But what's walking the plank are not just newspapers but newspaper reporters.
The press club displays caricatures of local news personalities and these cartoons reveal that it was once possible to have a career as a reporter. This meant newspaper readers had men and women with an institutional memory of the city and its politics and the means to say, "Here we go again," whenever politicians came up with a "new" harebrained scheme that didn't work the first time. And they had the means to peek under the rug of business and government obfuscation to show us who was doing what and why. We're expected to think that social media will fill the void, and the Internet has many things but sadly, no editors or ombudsmen. A friend's wife was a reporter and columnist at The Denver Post, and she states that time on the news beat has been replaced by driving traffic to Twitter and FB.
But there is much that is still thriving.
This week, you have THREE big chances to wear your literary duds.
Wednesday, June 6, critique pal, Warren the shank Hammond, signs and reads from his newest book, Kop Killer, 7:30PM at the Tattered Cover on Colfax. Kaye Lynne Booth shares her review in the Colorado Examiner. In case you haven't heard, the next two weeks in Denver are all about LitFest at the Lighthouse Writers Workshops.
Tuesday, June 5, I'll be moderating and channeling snark at the LitFest Salon, Writing With a Gun to My Head, featuring Julie Kazimer and Jason Heller. Drinks are poured at 7:30PM, with the interview starting at 8PM. There is a charge of $30 for nonmembers, but if you belong to RMFW, MWA, or DASFA, you can get in at the member rate of $20. The price includes beverages and food.
Thursday, June 7, Salon: Literary vs. Genre Death Match, featuring Nick Arvin, Nic Brown, Robert Greer, and the great Connie Willis. The party starts at 7:30PM, Salon at 8PM, same pricing deal as above.
And...I've still got openings for a couple of classes during LitFest:
Scene and Sequel: The Building Blocks of Story
and
What was the Question? Keeping your story on track.
Labels: apps, Denver Post, Lighthouse Writers, LitFest, maps, proof marks. Warren Hammond
¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 9:40 PM 3 comments
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Czech this out!
Mario here:
I am now an international author. Here is my one foreign title, the translated version of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, from the Czech republic:
I'll give their art director the benefit of the doubt and assume that this cover resonates with the Czech public and soon my bank account will runneth over with korunas.
Get Smart!
I'll be teaching on online class with the Margie Lawson Writing Academy, this June 4-29, 2012.
Fang It to Me: Writing Vampires, Fantasy, and the How-To's of World-Building. The workshop includes examples and materials prepared especially for this class by some of the top writers in fantasy to include: Carrie Vaughn, Kevin Hearne, Warren Hammond, Jaye Wells, Dakota Cassidy, Carol Berg, Diana Rowland, Stephen Graham Jones, and our own Jeanne Stein.
Though there is a danger your head might explode from so much knowledge.
And for only $30. Sign up here.
If you're jonsing for a dystopian tale of double crosses and murder, Juno is back, in Kop Killer.
You have two opportunities to catch the master of mayhem and future noir, Warren Hammond:
Wednesday, 7:30PM, June 6, the Tattered Cover Colfax.
Sunday, 3PM, June 10, the Broadway Book Mall, 200 S Broadway, Denver, with Betsy Dornbusch (Archive of Fire) and J Ewing (A Problem in Transmission)
And then, more literary fun at the Lighthouse Writers LitFest Salons in the Lighthouse Grotto
1515 Race Street, Denver, CO 80206 info@lighthousewriters.org
$20.00 members / $30.00 non-members (for adult beverages and snacks). Sure, it ain't free, but the wisdom and entertainment are worth the price: throw in drinks and chow, and it's the best bargain of the summer.
Tuesday, 8PM, June 5, 2012
Writing With A Gun to My Head: Jason Heller, Julie Kazimer, moderated by Mario Acevedo
How
do you balance creativity against the relentless push of deadline? What
is it like to slave at the word count, only to leave your
work-in-progress to address a fresh round of revisions from another
manuscript? And then the copy edits from another book fall on top of
you. Plus you’re expected to blanket social media with promotions for
yet another book. Meanwhile, readers demand that whatever you write
can’t be anything less than genius. Come listen to why we crazy writers
are willing to put that gun to our head.
Thursday, 8PM, June 7, 2012
Literary vs. Genre Death Match: Nick Arvin, Nic Brown, Robert Greer, and Connie Willis
The world of fiction tends to divide itself into two camps, literary and genre. But how do you tell one from the other? What are their strengths and weaknesses? And, most importantly, if you locked the two of them in a cage and forced them to fight to the death, which would win? Join us for a freewheeling discussion with some of Colorado’s best literary and genre writers.
I am now an international author. Here is my one foreign title, the translated version of The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, from the Czech republic:
I'll give their art director the benefit of the doubt and assume that this cover resonates with the Czech public and soon my bank account will runneth over with korunas.Get Smart!
I'll be teaching on online class with the Margie Lawson Writing Academy, this June 4-29, 2012.
Fang It to Me: Writing Vampires, Fantasy, and the How-To's of World-Building. The workshop includes examples and materials prepared especially for this class by some of the top writers in fantasy to include: Carrie Vaughn, Kevin Hearne, Warren Hammond, Jaye Wells, Dakota Cassidy, Carol Berg, Diana Rowland, Stephen Graham Jones, and our own Jeanne Stein.
Though there is a danger your head might explode from so much knowledge.
And for only $30. Sign up here.
If you're jonsing for a dystopian tale of double crosses and murder, Juno is back, in Kop Killer.
You have two opportunities to catch the master of mayhem and future noir, Warren Hammond:
Wednesday, 7:30PM, June 6, the Tattered Cover Colfax.
Sunday, 3PM, June 10, the Broadway Book Mall, 200 S Broadway, Denver, with Betsy Dornbusch (Archive of Fire) and J Ewing (A Problem in Transmission)
And then, more literary fun at the Lighthouse Writers LitFest Salons in the Lighthouse Grotto
1515 Race Street, Denver, CO 80206 info@lighthousewriters.org
The world of fiction tends to divide itself into two camps, literary and genre. But how do you tell one from the other? What are their strengths and weaknesses? And, most importantly, if you locked the two of them in a cage and forced them to fight to the death, which would win? Join us for a freewheeling discussion with some of Colorado’s best literary and genre writers.
Labels: Czech vampires, Lighthouse, LitFest, Warren Hammond
¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 8:20 PM 6 comments
