Welcome Back To The Day After Yesterday

So I had this book come out on Tuesday and I suppose I should have been all over the place shouting about it (You can read the first chapter of ReVamped over in the forums, BTW), but instead I've been mostly knuckled down trying to get book three ready to ship off to my agent so that Shawna can whip out her mystic evaluator and say "It's perfect" or "Needs a few fixes" or "OMFG! Why the hell am I your agent? What is wrong with you? Why did you write this? I may be sick."

And I suppose that I could be writing something clever about why I think that a vampire car would get more miles to the gallon if it was running on an oil executive's blood or why it's really funny to have a vampire break up a prostitute ring run by pint-sized vampiric pimps, but I'm not.

Can you tell that I like to bury the lead?

Instead, I wanted to take a moment to be amazed by the impact fans can have on the venues they love. I'm not sure how many of you read Realms of Fantasy, but it's a cool magazine* that almost died. I say "almost" because there was enough of an uproar when the publisher declared it was closing, that they managed to find a buyer for the magazine and it looks like, in the end, the magazine will only miss two issues.

How cool is that?

One day everything is all doom and gloom and then BOOM! False alarm! More cool stuff is on the way. Nobody panic! Welcome back to the status quo.

There are always stories about fan efforts to save television shows. Sometimes they work and the show comes back on (Star Trek, Futurama, etc) or the fan support makes a movie possible (Serenity a.k.a. Firefly: The Motion Picture), but I am incredibly impressed that readers can do the same darn thing.

You have the power! You're like super-heroes and stuff. You can fly!!! Not without mechanical assitance, but still...

So the next time you purchase a novel or a magazine, remember how powerful an act that is. You're becoming a patron of the arts. Rock on, patrons! Without you we're just crazy people typing away on our laptops. :)

(*- In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that Shawna McCarthy, the editor of Realms of Fantasy is my agent, but then again it's not as if she's purchased any of my short stories... so I'm thinking it's not all that big of a conflict.)

Comments

Vickie said…
I promise to use my power for good.....
Starbuck O'Shea said…
She is the fabulous Shawna. Having her keep her other day job is imperative. Just like the care and feeding of authors -- agent/editors gotta live too.

And Shawna found YOU, Jeremy. That right there is all sorts of awesome. Would someone else have got _Staked_ out there so we could even HAVE _ReVamped_?

Dunno. But I'm glad that she's around, doing her magic, and that we got you [and Eric, and Talbot, and Fang...]

ninja copy editor*---
GB said…
I never thought of myself as a patron of the arts. So, when I give away books I'm unlikely to read again, that makes me philanthropic, does it not?

Somehow, that makes me feel enigmatic with a touch of meglomania thrown in...

(Mwahahahahahahaha)
Jeremy F. Lewis said…
Darn, Vickie, and here I was hoping you'd use your power for the League... Oh. That probably counts as good. Doesn't it? ;)

Thanks, Starbuck!

JD, yep. You're slowly controlling the minds of others through the careful application of books....

When you rule the world can the League have its own group of allied kingdoms?
Anonymous said…
No biggie, but I don't think it was fan uproar that saved RoF. I think Warren Lapine looked at the numbers, saw the magazine was turning a profit, and decided to buy it and carry on. Which still is good news all around.

Jeff P.
Jeremy F. Lewis said…
That may be the case, Jeff.

I don't think the fan outcry hurt, though. And it becomes something of a semantics issue. If fans hadn't purchased copies of the magazine then it wouldn't have been profitable and there would have been much less of a business case to support Mr. Lapine's purchase.

I don't mean to diminish his role any more than I intend to diminsh Doug's, Shawna's, or the contributions of the writers and artists that helped to make RoF a great magazine. What I do mean to do is highlight the power of fans... and voting with one's dollar.

Best,

Jeremy

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