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| SFReader Forums > Book, Magazine, and eZine Publishers > Rogue Blades (RBE) > RotB contents survey | Forum Quick Jump
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| 42 Day Poll - The contents of RotB (while only consisting of those genres RBE publishes) should | | stick to S&S exclusively - 11.8% | | remain in the Age of Heroes (pre-gun powder) no matter the genre - 41.2% | | hold all fantasy adventure (as long as it tells a good big beastie tale), era & setting be damned - 11.8% | | mix-n-match it all, genres and eras and settings - 35.3% |
| | 26 posts in this thread.
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
      
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3056
| Posted 7/22/2008 12:35 AM (GMT -5) |   | | Well, seeing as the SFReader gang has been so helpful over the years and we're all such a close-knit family afterall, I'd like to offer y'all the chance to influence what stories appear within the covers of Rage of the Behemoth (RotB).
My original intent had been an anthology of tales, while not necessarily sword & sorcery, sword-specific. An anthology, while not filled with barbarians and carnage and battle axes and melees . . . . definitely not stranger to them. An anthology of heroes armed more often with wands and war hammers and wits, then with MAC-10s and mushroom clouds.
and yet . . . .
I've been receiving numerous more 'modern' tales, stories set now or in the near now, stories of reminisce told in the here and now, stories beginning now and ending up elsewhere or in another time. So far they've all managed to avoid the scientific, at least 
At first I was rejecting them, for I did not want them; then I was rejecting them yet telling authors that if the objective of the anthology changed I would be interested in re-reading their tales, for I might possibly be persuaded to expand its focus; now I'm wondering if I simply should start considering such tales, for I have received some pretty darn good stories whose only 'fault' lies in their timeframe or setting.
SO this post.
Cast your vote and potentially influence the contents of RotB. You have 42 days to provide me an answer to it all - though I can't guarantee the final product will reflect the results of the poll.
But your vote could make the difference. And yes, RBE staff members are allowed to vote.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1717
| Posted 7/22/2008 12:58 PM (GMT -5) | | Also, you won't have a problem filling your slots with S&S, if that's your thought. You will have a problem achieving a balance, though, if you accept any genre. What will you do if all the contemporary pieces you take are in the Ocean and your two scifi type pieces are both in Deserts, for example? The antho already has a self-imposed structure that will make any attempt to spread differences over the whole book difficult, I think if you throw in too many genre switches you might not be able to 'smooth them out.'
Getting these off-target submissions is completely typical, I know Rob & I fielded so many science fiction shorts for M&M even though we specifically said in the guidelines no science fiction. People like to take a long shot, they figure their underappreciated story is good enough for an editor to bend the rules. Maybe that's the case sometime -- I accepted one far future story for M&M because it felt like a fantasy -- but overall, it's about editorial vision first, and story quality second. It's not about the 'best stories period,' its about the 'best stories that meet my criteria.' Taken as a whole a consistently themed anthology is more than the sum of its parts, in my opinion, like RoTS. People were excited about that because it showed S&S didn't need any other genre's help, and it didn't have to be just a snack food mixed in with a lot of other, 'healthier' meals -- it could be a nourishing full course dinner all on its own.
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3056
| Posted 7/23/2008 12:27 PM (GMT -5) | | CW - not a bad idea at all, there's definitely tales that could go into a second anthology . . . and your payment plan is sound, too. I'll think about it all, yet that will probably have to be a much later future project.
I've got some very strong (or at least what I think is strong) material I want to get out and I have to take a steady, sure pace here - else I'll be just another dead and gone press before I even get established. Learning and setting up this business, web domain, publishing, marketing stuff is bogging me down greatly - and I'm supposed to also finally be doing a rewrite of my first story accepted for an anthology. Enough about me - I want to come out the gate strong and pounding what RBE is about - heroic adventure fiction, predominately fantasy, predominately in the Age of Heroes.
Bill's nailed a lot of my thoughts (you SURE you won't come work with me?!?), and perhaps once people read this they won't vote so I might not let this run its full 42 days. For now, keep on voting. If nothing else, it will at least give me an indication of interests, from both writers and readers.
Thanks, y'all.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1696
| Posted 7/23/2008 3:32 PM (GMT -5) | | In my opinion, Jason, you're probably best keeping with S&S/heroic fantasy and related material. At least early on. Give your audience a chance to learn what they can expect from you as a publisher. Then, later on, maybe even a few years later on, you can surprise them with something different, or several somethings different.
Amazon started with books, then expanded into all kinds of stuff (what DON'T they sell nowadays?).
Night Shade Books, if memory serves, started mostly with dark fantasy stuff, but has slowly expanded.
Even cw started mostly with fantasy, and now appears to have expanded.
"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology
"Peter Piker the Pankin Man" upcoming at Big Pulp
"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology
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Jaqhama
Adventurer
Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 510
| Posted 7/24/2008 11:46 PM (GMT -5) | |
von Darkmoor said...Thanks for the words and the votes, y'all! It looks like straight S&S finally got itself a vote, too! What I'm getting out of this poll and its comments is reinforcing what I thought and planned for RotB. I agree with the sentiments so aptly expressed here by several members. I guess I was starting to second-guess myself based upon the subs I was receiving. So leads me to now ask this: Are the RotB guidelines as currently written clear enough? Or should I reword them?
Well...I managed to work it out. 
You can read some of my stories here:
Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...
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darkbow
Rabbit lord
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1696
| Posted 7/25/2008 2:47 AM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 942
| Posted 7/27/2008 2:36 PM (GMT -5) | |
von Darkmoor said...What I'm getting out of this poll and its comments is reinforcing what I thought and planned for RotB. I agree with the sentiments so aptly expressed here by several members. I guess I was starting to second-guess myself based upon the subs I was receiving. So leads me to now ask this: Are the RotB guidelines as currently written clear enough? Or should I reword them?
Not to be argumentative, but the guidelines say:
"whatever falls within the RBE genres" By following the hyperlink, we find that these genres specifically include: 'historical adventure', 'swashbuckling adventure', and 'sword and planet'. All of which can include firearms, S&P can even include ray guns.
So then, if only pre-gunpowder stories are wanted, simply specify that.
You'll save on sorting through some subs in H/A, S/A, and S&P which are not what you're looking for.
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
www.geocities.com/robmancebo/
The Wastelander
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 3056
| Posted 7/27/2008 7:44 PM (GMT -5) | | The intent of the anthology is to be a compilation of heroic adventure fiction within the heroic fantasy genres of Sword & Sorcery, historical adventure, and epic fantasy. The entire thrust to the existence of Rogue Blades Entertainment, as it were. Sword & Sandal, Sword & Soul, dark fantasy, low fantasy, even swashbuckling adventure or the rarer and harder to pull off Sword & Planet - all are variable options fully available to an author as long as the story remains within the overriding three: S&S, historical, epic. Further, I have no desire to see any Alternative History, Contemporary/Urban anything, Erotic or Romantic Fantasy, Fan-fiction, Game-based Storytelling, Hard Science Fiction (for that matter, any Science Fiction beyond that in Sword & Planet), Horror, Superhero Fantasy, or any Parody/Comedic Fantasy. Does this mean that no tale can contain romance, horror, or comedy? Not at all; rather, as evidenced by numerous of the pulp adventures that made these genres popular, a strong tale will contain components of all three.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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