Comments on: Eclipse 2 Contents Posted

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:37:34 +0000

Sure. Further, I’d say in The New Weird case, intro made sense, didn’t contradict itself later on, and a reading list for people to find more stuff.

These are things some books lack – perhaps more keen editors are likely to do these extra bits and pieces? It seems odd to me at least that sometimes blank pages are just sitting there.

e.g. Mr. Strahan has mentioned I think on his blog he doesn’t find it heaps of fun.

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:58:37 +0000

Hey, BT–thanks for the kind words.
JV

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:46:41 +0000

I didn’t notice any elder god summonings, or spells of compulsion to buy VanderMeer stuff (or anyone else’s) in The New Weird, either. Though it did make me more likely to get your next retrospective, which I did, for the spousal unit. Haven’t seen it since, either!

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:41:39 +0000

I have seen multiple editors write in their books that using ‘Best’ in the title IS marketing hyperbole, deliberately, because, say, ‘Stories that some bloke whose name starts with J liked the most this year’ doesn’t sell as many books.

By: The Link Garden « Torque Control

The Link Garden « Torque Control — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:53:16 +0000

[...] Jonathan Strahan and Jeff VanderMeer discuss the importance of managing reader expectations [...]

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:53:15 +0000

Jonathan–your comment came in as spam for some reason. Just caught that and de-spammed it.

I think you’re right, but it’s always interesting to see how people respond to what you’ve done. Although New Weird has gotten great reviews for the most part, for example, some reviewers presumed to believe that Ann and my motivation for doing the anthology was less than pure. Quite hilarious, considering it’s from an indie press (no money to speak of, given payments to contributors) and that it’s useless to me career-wise (NW for me as a writer is not helpful for sales or anything). I.e., there was no nefarious, cynical reason for doing it.

One reason I sometimes get exasperated with genre is that while it can be quite a generous community, it is also an inbred and suspicious community.

Anyway, to get back to the point–there’s no point in doing anything unless you’re excited about it. Life’s too short, and besides, we’ll all be dead from global warming in 30 years so, again…

Jeff

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:19:47 +0000

Oh–I wasn’t thinking you were talking about BAF or anything. We’re just doing BAF2 now and I always try to go back over what we did before and look for ways to improve. I guess I was kind of thinking out loud…in front of thousands. LOL.
Jeff

By: J. T. Glover

J. T. Glover — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:03:11 +0000

My pardon, I should have been more clear: I wasn’t including “best-of-the-year” in that. Year end summations are limited to what’s out there in a given year & what the anthologist(s) can read through. I’m talking about… excessive claims. Claims to absolute value. Claims that thrill readers and make the quiet, cynical guy in the corner raise an eyebrow. Claims that mock the gods and demand retribution for their hubris. I’ve hardly read everything you’ve blogged or said in interviews, but somehow I am confident that you have not made the kind of claims I’m talkin’ about.

By: Jonathan Strahan

Jonathan Strahan — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:22:35 +0000

Because of our conversations, which I value greatly, I’ve given a lot of thought to the importance of creating realistic and accurate reader expectations for a book. There are obviously a lot of things readers respond to – from cover art to blurbs to references in introductions – and you can’t always pick how strongly they’ll react to something. That doesn’t get past the need to try, though. If I were publishing Eclipse Two myself I think I’d go for a strongly SFnal cover, and place it very much in the middle of the genre. That’s very much the way this instalment in the series has turned out.

As to hyperbole, I sympathise somewhat with J.T’s situation, but again it’s hard. You’re trying to sell a book, and that means the publisher (and you) will do what they can to get readers’ attention, and to tell them why you think they should buy it. I’d also add that, from my perspective, when you finish a book and hand it in, if you’ve done your job properly, you love it. You think it is terrific. And you *should*. Otherwise, why do it? So, if there was some hyperbole in BAF or Steampunk or Eclipse or The Starry Rift it’s because we believe in the books we’ve done. I think it’s forgivable.

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:53:01 +0000

Well, as Jonathan admitted on his blog, a lot of his solicited contributors also bowed out on #1 at the last second. That makes it hard to get the kind of balance you want or the kind of tone.

But I agree, and it’s possible on BAF we also were guilty of some hyperbole. I still think, though, it’s a killer antho, stuffed full of goodness.
Jeff