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| Posted By : Daniel - 1/11/2006 4:11 PM | One of the things that is slightly annoying about doing a column of short ficiton reviews is the lack of column space that can be used for any individual story.
I wondered how many (if any) of you would be interested in reading "bonus" columns for individual stories that seem to merit longer discussion?
Is it more important to get a sense of a pub as a whole, or are detailed reviews of individual stories something that might interest you?
Opinions?
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com |
| Posted By : Red Viper - 1/11/2006 4:38 PM | Daniel: I'd appreciate a bonus "heads-up" whenever you feel a story merits it. I think detailed reviews of every piece of short fiction in a particular publication would be a bit much. But when there is something you think is really good, or which raises issues that merit discussion beyond what you can normally do in the column, then a bonus column would be a good thing.
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble
Upcoming stories: "The Grey Mother" and "The Bloated Curse," upcoming in Flashing Swords; "Zeerembuk," upcoming in "Clash of Steel 3: Demon" from Carnifex Press; "The Hungry Bottle," upcoming in Sword's Edge |
| Posted By : Epoch - 1/11/2006 7:20 PM | Tough call.
Hi, I hope I'm understanding this correctly, Daniel. Instead of a critique of each story in some cases you want to give a general impression of the anthology, for example, or in others you want to pick out an individual story or two that you think are the best and give your impression of those.
You can give a general impression but you have to be fair to the buyer. If you say, for example, that the stories were good with a couple of standouts but....well that is somewhat vague.
On the other hand if you give rave reviews of a couple of stories, then to be fair you also have to say which stories sucked.
I prefer a review of all stories but maybe it's just because I'm spoiled.
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| Posted By : C.Cevasco - 1/12/2006 5:48 AM | Hi Epoch. I notice this is your first post, so welcome to the forums! [:)]
Chris
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Christopher M. Cevasco
Editor/Publisher
Paradox : The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction
http://home.nyc.rr.com/paradoxmag |
| Posted By : Epoch - 1/12/2006 8:57 AM | | Thank you, Chris. This is an impressive site. I like the diversity of the members: from publishers to aspiring novelists like myself [:)] |
| Posted By : Daniel - 2/11/2006 8:58 PM | Belated welcome, Epoch -- and thanks for your input.
I think I may post some extra columns on individual stories of merit. I think I've decided to concentrate on finding obscure gems, too -- stories from the small press or from lower-profile venues that really stand out. Too many of them go unnoticed and a review column like FF is restrictive in some instances, when a great story deserves more than a couple of paragraphs of commentary.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
BTW, there will be a February Firebrand column and this should be ready by Monday.
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com |
| Posted By : Red Viper - 2/11/2006 10:23 PM | More Firebrand is a good thing!
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble
Upcoming stories: "The Grey Mother" and "The Bloated Curse," upcoming in Flashing Swords; "Zeerembuk," upcoming in "Clash of Steel 3: Demon" from Carnifex Press; "The Hungry Bottle," upcoming in Sword's Edge |
| Posted By : MichaelEhart - 2/12/2006 11:58 AM | Welcome Epoch!
How about breakout links with individual reviews? For a print mag, this would be a nice blending of media, for an e-zine it would be pretty natural.
"Dancing with the Elder Gods"-- Thirteen Magazine, October
"It's a Living" Byzarium---November
"Voice of the Spoiler" and "An Exorcism Straight, Hold the Elvis" The Sword Review, October
"Oathbreaker" Mythica Vault
Host, 2005 Nebula Awards Live Chat, sff.net
http://mehart.blogspot.com/ |
| Posted By : Daniel - 2/12/2006 5:45 PM | More Firebrand is a good thing!
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble
***
Thanks, Steve!
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com |
| Posted By : Daniel - 2/12/2006 5:46 PM | How about breakout links with individual reviews? For a print mag, this would be a nice blending of media, for an e-zine it would be pretty natural.
***
That's a pretty good idea and an interesting one at that. Thanks for the input!
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com |
| Posted By : Christopher_Heath - 2/15/2006 6:09 AM | | Yeah, I think a mix of both would be good. If a link is available, that'd be a great route and easy enough, if there isn't one, and you think it's a great story that merits more discussion, absolutely, let us know! |
| Posted By : Daniel - 2/17/2006 7:16 PM | Thanks for the input, Chris. I'll certainly try to follow up on reviews of individual stories of merit. See how it goes anyway....
Daniel
www.pitchblackbooks.com |
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