Coffee Shop; Soliciting Subterranean Magazine Comments
Posted on September 1, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 12 Comments
I’ve been so busy that I’ve quite forgotten to show you my cool new toy: The ARC for Coffee Shop (Subterranean Press | Amazon), which Bill Schafer at Subterranean was kind enough to forward to me while I was at Worldcon, so I could wander about casually and show if off to people. Which I did. I’m happy to say it looks pretty good, and having the publication date moved back to February gives us some time to get it out to blurbers and reviewers. I’ll be very interested to see what the reaction is to this one.
Speaking of reviews, Colleen Mondor wrote a very nice review of Subterranean Magazine #4 (that’s the one I edited) over at her site Chasing Ray. I particularly liked this part:
I was expecting a lot of silliness and maybe some snarkiness but all my offbase preconceived notions were thrown out the window with the issue’s first story, Rachel Swirsky’s “Scene From a Dsytopia”. This is Swirsky’s first published story and man did she hit it out of the ballpark. By picking up the tiniest background characters of a story and then expanding on why they might really be in that story it immediately brought to mind every single one of those damn “Star Trek” episodes where the unnamed crewmember died in the first five minutes. Swirsky’s piece is way more indepth then that – it’s stunning – and much more serious. So I knew, from the very beginning, that this issue was not at all like what I expected.
Yup. And indeed, that’s one of the reasons why I put Rachel’s piece up front; to let people know it wasn’t going to be all smirk, all the time (also because it’s simply a hell of piece of writing). I was proud of this magazine when it came out and am becoming increasingly so, not in the least because Bill tells me that the magazine sold out its entire print run, which is neat because it was the magazine’s largest print run. So if you got a copy, thank you kindly. I’m terribly happy about its being successful.
Also, if you did get a copy of the Subterranean Cliche issue, both Bill and I would be very happy to hear honest feedback on it; what you thought worked and didn’t work and so on. You can leave a message in the comment queue here or drop me an e-mail. Or if you posted a review on your own blog/journal (or now plan to), leave me a link so I can find it. I would be appreciative, and it’ll help Bill with his planning for Subterranean Magazine in the future.
To make sure you folks don’t feel constrained in your review/comments, I won’t be posting in this message thread, and I ask that the magazine contributors keep themselves from commenting as well.
Thanks in advance.
Really quick comments on Subterranean Magazine cliche issue — ’twas well worth the price of admission (insert allusion to Heinlein’s beer money aphorism). I enjoyed reading it. I noticed my (24 yr old) daughter reading it. And her boyfriend commented on having read “a really cool story” in it (Elizabeth Bear’s story).
Any chance many libraries, including college libraries (I’m in Pittsburgh), subscribe to Subterranean magazine? The review really makes me want to take a look at that issue.
I really like the cover of “You aren’t fooling anyone … ” I hope they keep it exactly like that for publication.I didn’t like the cliche issue as much as a lot of people did. I was expecting silliness. My fault, I guess. But, I have paid more for things I liked less.
I started reading the issue and loved how fresh all of the stories were. They seemed more vibrant than many stories based on “original” ideas. Then a friend picked it up in the greenroom and got hooked; I haven’t seen it since.
Glad you found my little review John. I was quite impressed by the collection of short stories you put together for this one. Like any collection some were more appealing to me than others (it’s always going to be that way) but altogether I thought it perfectly nailed the theme while showing the many nuances within that theme. I never would have thought that a Sci Fi cliche collection could have such dramatically different stories. It was excellent reading and I’m happy I was able to help spread the word to my readers.
I expected the CLiches Issue to be all making fun of the cliches. I was mistaken. Damn. It turned out awesome. I am stilll going through it slowly, as it is more of a sipping read than a guzzling (like Knockandoo vs. jack Daniels). I like it alot.
I loved it. I’m plugging it in my fanzine, the bulletin for the Swedish Fanzine Association. (Though I’m just the editor this once.)
Though since it’s sold out, I’ll have to plug it with the assumption that people can borrow my copy.
I’m also thinking about getting some other issue, so I can see if Subterranean is worth subscribing to.
I am disturbed that the cover comes pre-ringed. I feel redundant and superfluous.
I just realized that my beloved bride is writing her first book (a how-to on kiln-formed glass) and is largely doing it in a local coffee shop (to avoid the manifold temptations of our house). I guess you just made a sale.
One of the local coffeeshops around here has a small display of books on sale, with a placard saying they were written on premises.
“…and having the publication date moved back to February…”
Bollocks. On the other hand, the end product will be better? On the gripping hand, that might explain why my order at Amazon.com hasn’t processed yet.
I think the end product will be better, yes. The delay gives us time for housekeeping stuff like copyediting (which I personally need, oh, yes), and will give us some time to generate buzz.