A Little Irresponsibility is Good for the Soul

I have so many deadlines for publishing magazines and other people's books, that my own writing has been getting pushed aside lately, so I sat down and cranked this out for my upcoming novel "The White Death."  Five minutes of writing and I felt like I'd taken a week's vacation.  I think I'll ignore a few deadlines and write some more.  The deadlines will still be there in the morning.

*****

“I’m being followed,”  said Kirk.  “So I need you to get something to someone for me.  You got to help me, Charlene.”

He was breathing hard.  Out of shape as always.  Served him right climbing up her fire escape at two in the morning.  He stood near the window silhouetted in the nightlight’s soft glow like a mugger in a dimly lit alley.

“You can’t keep breaking into my place,” said Charlene.  “You scared me half to death.”

“Sorry.”

“I get a boyfriend someday and you might get shot.  You ever think of that?  And where’d you get that raggedy-ass jacket?”

“In a dumpster,” said Kirk.

One arm held a typing paper sized box to his chest.  The other held the bottom of his coat tight over his stomach like he was about to throw up.

“You’re wearing something from a dumpster?”

With his silvered sunglasses and leather hat, he looked like a park ranger on dope when he nodded his agreement.  He was the only man she knew with eyes so sensitive he wore sunglasses at night.  And she wasn’t sure how Kirk managed a coherent thought, but he did seem to know when to nod even when sloshed.

“You like it?”

Quarter inch of stubble on him looked like fuzz on a turkey’s neck in the dim light.

“You have to go in the other room while I get dressed,” she said.

“I thought I was in the other room.”

“Go,” she said.

Blankets held clutched in front of her breasts, she pointed toward the living room.

“You got beer?”

“Kirk, get out and close the door behind you so I can get dressed,” she repeated.

“Don’t turn the lights on, okay?”

“Go.”

Jeani Rector's Publishing Success!

Jeani Rector

Jeani Rector is an impressive woman with a strong sense of purpose.  As you read the interview below (which is also posted on White Cat Magazine), I think you'll be impressed by her combination of talent vision, self discipline, and focus.  Add to that the fact that she's a great person, and you'll see why I was so anxious to interview her.

*****

Editor: Jeani, you’ve had wonderful success as a writer, an editor, and most recently as the publisher of the online magazine at www.thehorrorzine.com, but for those of our readers who are being introduced to you for the first time, can you tell us more about your career?

 Good question! I started off as a writer, and I would submit short stories to online magazines. Suddenly the recession hit in 2008, and all sorts of zines began folding. When even The Harrow went defunct, I asked myself: “Who is going to replace these zines?” I must have been looking into a mirror when I asked myself that question. LOL

 Serendipity happened. I got an offer to join in a website building class free of charge, a freak thing. I said, “Let me think about it.” No I didn’t! I said YES!

Start-up costs for The Horror Zine weren’t cheap. I had to purchase the name and also the domain space because I didn’t want to use any free websites like webs.com or weebly.com. I wanted full control and ownership of what goes on my site, and you don’t get that for free. Plus there was the website software costs: I use Adobe Dreamweaver, a very expensive choice, but that was the negative of being invited to a free website building class…they used Adobe products. AH HA! Nothing is free! There was a catch! Too late now! I’ve been caught in the catch!

So anyway, I started The Horror Zine in July 2009. And at the end of this year, 2011, I am going to register The Horror Zine legally as a small business. I need to do it in anticipation of the book titled WHAT FEARS BECOME: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE HORROR ZINE , which will be available in October or November 2011. 

Editor:  Your hard work has been rewarded with numerous prestigious awards.  Can you list some of them for us and explain the process by which your magazine was selected?

Well, thank you! Not numerous awards, not yet. But The Horror Zine has won the 2010 Predators and Editors Awards for Best Fiction Magazine and Best Poetry Magazine. We have been Long Listed for Best Magazine by the British Fantasy Society twice. And we did have a presence at the World Horror Convention in both 2010 and 2011.

You have to remember, The Horror Zine has only been operating since July 2009. Give us another year, and maybe we can add to that list of awards! 

Editor:  The Horror Zine has been a tremendous success and in large part many of us attribute that to your talent at both bringing out the best in people and encouraging established writers to contribute to your magazine while you bring them together on your site with talented writers who deserve recognition.  How exactly do you that?

Because I had been a writer, I knew a lot of magazine editors. Trevor Denyer of Midnight Street Magazine (who incidentally wrote one of the best ghost stories I have ever read) introduced me to Ramsey Campbell, and one thing led to another, and now The Horror Zine is frequented by best-selling authors.

The Horror Zine has been privileged to publish such “masters of the macabre” as Ramsey Campbell, Graham Masterton, Joe R. Lansdale, Simon Clark, Piers Anthony, Tom Piccirilli, Elizabeth Massie, Melanie Tem, Ronald Malfi, Conrad Williams, Cheryl Kaye Tardif, Scott Nicholson, Jeff Strand, Gregg Hurwitz, and the current issue features Susie Moloney.

But I never forget our mission: to support and promote struggling writers, poets, and artists. So even though we have a lot of star power, we also have some of the most talented newcomers and lesser-knowns in the business.

You ask: “How do I do that?” I do it by treating my contributors with the courtesy and the respect that they deserve. I work hard and remain honest. They are all important to me, every one. And I am grateful to them all. And I tell them that, because I mean it.

Editor:  Where do you see your writing and publishing efforts taking you in the future?  Will your emphasis be more on your own writing career or will you focus on becoming even more successful as a publisher?

 Another good question. Can I dodge this one? No? LOL.

Okay, here’s the deal: I will be leaving my full-time job as an analyst this December to devote more time to The Horror Zine. But! Leaving an eight to five job frees up time that I can use to finally begin writing again. And the next book I write will not be horror; it will be historical fiction about the 1930s Great Depression in the Midwest USA. I have run the idea past the literary agent I have, and she agrees to represent that book. Pretty nice to get an agent even before I write the first word for that book!

So stay tuned folks! Kind of like, “But wait! There’s more!”

In the meantime, come visit us at http://www.thehorrorzine.com, and look for the book WHAT FEARS BECOME: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE HORROR ZINE coming out around Halloween 2011. WHAT FEARS BECOME not only contains works by most of the writers I have already named, but it will also contain a never-published-before story from Bentley Little. How’s that for a teaser?

The Good Fight

Inivite Your Publisher to Sit Down
With You-

But Not on You

*****

"Union grievance officers have recovered more than $1.4 million for NWU members and have represented members in non-monetary grievances as well."

Source: The Nationa Writers Union website.

*****

J.K. Rowlings probably doesn't need a union.  Stephen King can buy and sell the state of Maine, and Stephanie Meyers is probably looking at buying the Virgin Islands.  They can afford to to stand up for themselves.  How about you?

Let's say you sold an article a few years back to the New York Times.  You sold them First North American print rights.  You beam.  You glow.  Your friends and neighbors ask to be photographed with you and you begin to get holiday cards not addressed to "Occupant."  Things are going well.

Then, someone tells you that they saw your article on the web, or accessed it on an electronic database.  You start to think.  Maybe it's a mistake.  Maybe they misunderstood the deal.  You contact them.  They say they're exercising their rights under the contract.  You point out that the contract is for print, not electronic publications.   They hang up on you.

A quick check of your bank account reveals that you can afford to buy a new blender, but unfortunately can't afford to sue the New York Times. 

You've been proud of your independence.  You take on the world with your laptop.  Your brain and you against the world.  You're published.  By a big publisher.  But now that big publisher is pushing you around.

If you were both a freelance writer and also a member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981, you could contact your Union.  If you weren't, well, you'd have a long, uphill and expensive legal fight that just might be more than you could afford.

Here's the story, taken from the National Writers Union Website of "Tasini et al vs. The New York Times Company, Newsday Inc., Time Inc., Lexis/Nexis, and University Microfilms Inc. et al":

*****

"Tasini v. New York Times


Tasini et al v. The New York Times et al is the landmark lawsuit brought by members of the National Writers Union against The New York Times Company, Newsday Inc., Time Inc., Lexis/Nexis, and University Microfilms Inc., charging copyright violation regarding the electronic reuse of work produced and sold on a freelance basis.

Background

For decades when freelance writers sold stories to American publications, it was understood by all concerned that they were selling only First North American Serial Rights which allowed the newspaper or magazine to publish the story in print one time. For freelance authors, retention of all other copyrights is crucial to their economic survival because a significant additional source of income comes from their ability to sell secondary rights such as syndication, translations, anthologies, and so forth, to other publications.

With the advent of electronic media including databases like Nexis, publishers such as Time/Warner and the Times/Mirror Company, the parent companies of Time and Newsday, have been selling freelance-authored material to electronic databases such as Nexis/Lexis without any additional payment or purchase of electronic rights from the original authors. They claim, without justification, that by purchasing First North American Serial Rights they automatically gain electronic republication rights. Tasini et al v. The New York Times et al established that they are violating the copyrights of writers."

*****

Now that's what I call a happy ending.  Oh yes, there was a financial settlement involved.  Guess how much?