Boskone and Corflu and fanac and fantasy

Heading off to Boskone this morning for a daytrip. In addition to dropping off some goodies at the freebie table, I'll be visiting some dealers with copies of Merry Blacksmith Press books and some flyers promoting our titles. It's been too long since I've visited a con, even for a day, so I'm very glad I was able to shoehorn this daytrip in.

I'm already making plans for more cons this year.

In other news, I'm happy to report that Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction? has been getting some great responses. The book debuted at this year's fanzine fan convention, Corflu, in Sunnyvale, California. Apparently most of the copies were sold within half an hour after opening the box on Friday night, and the rest were gone by morning, and orders taking advantage of the February free or reduced shipping have been nicely brisk. I donated a copy of WKSF and Anthopology 101 to the fan auction. The video feed cut before I could find out how much they went for, alas. Still, if they brought in their cover price, I'm more than satisfied. Every little bit helps to promote healthy fanac.

And speaking of fanac, stay tuned for new on a special fan anthology project coming soon.

And speaking of staying tuned...by the end of the month, Bradley H. Sinor's excellent fantasy short story collection, Where the Shadows Began, will become available. As usual, there will be special deals available when it's released into the wild.

Cheers!

Anthopology 101 on the LOCUS 2010 Recommended Reading List

I gotta say, I had a very pleasant bit of news this morning when Bud Webster e-mailed me to tell me that his book, ANTHOPOLOGY 101: Reflections, Inspections and Dissections of SF Anthologies, appears in the Non-fiction category of the 2010 LOCUS Recommended Reading List. That's pretty cool for Bud whose work on the Anthopology 101 column over the years has gotten him quite the reputation as a scholar, but also for our little press here.

So congratulations to Bud! And thanks for offering me your book to publish.

And in case you were not aware, you can read the Preface at our website.

And while I'm pointing out Merry Blacksmith titles on awards list...don't forget that Connie Wilson's Hellfire & Damnation is on the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Award. Granted, the ballot still lists the original publisher, Sam's Dot, but that's only fair because the Merry Blacksmith edition didn't come out until January of this year. That Connie selected The Merry Blacksmith Press when the Sam's Dot agreement ran out is very nice, and congrats to her for making the ballot.

You can read "Confessions of an Apotemnophile" for free.

So, yeah...it's a great first year.

Cheers!

--John

On Barsoom and Dublin

It's been about a year since The Merry Blacksmith Press got underway. Before getting down to the nitty-gritty of publishing new books, I wanted to do some tests with the printer, experiment with PayPal and generally do some dry runs. Before I started releasing new books, I did what so many other small publishers do and took a stab at some public domain titles. Obviously, I was happy with the results from the printer which is why I started hawking them on the website, and those four titles I started with are still listed in the catalog, and still available for order.

First up was A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Why? Partly because I started hearing noise again about a film version (anyone know whatever became of that?) but mostly because I was addicted to the Barsoom series when I was a kid. These were fun, action-packed stories with many of the sort of thing that are still popular today. Adventure, Romance. Massive battles. Airships. You know...the works.

After approving the first Merry Blacksmith publication, I went ahead and put together the next two in the series: The Gods of Mars, and its direct sequel, The Warlord of Mars. Every now and then I consider putting together an omnibus edition, but I see a lot of those around, and sometimes folks just need one of the three titles to replace an old, worn-out one. Even if I do decide to go with an omnibus edition, they will always be available as single volumes.

The Christmas before I started Merry Blacksmith Press, my wife had given me an old copy of James Joyce's Dubliners. Of all of Joyce's works, I had always found this the most accessible and enjoyable. This is one of those collections that I feel should be taught in every school or, at the very least, read by everyone at least once in their lives.

And given that "The Merry Blacksmith" is the name of a well-known Irish reel, and Joyce was a celebrated Irish writer, the fit seemed right.

Hence, the Merry Blacksmith Press edition.

Will I put out other public domain titles in the future? Probably. There are some science fiction adventure titles I've had my eye one--real pulp-era sort of yarns. I sometimes consider editions of books from early English literature, which was my major in college. I'm also open to suggestions.

My next post will be about more new releases, but today, I celebrate some classics.

Cheers!