Thursday, April 18, 2013

At Last: A Confederacy of Horrors.

Years ago a publisher got in touch with me, asking to do a collection of my short fiction. So I assembled such; editing and proofreading was completed. And then...the publisher lost air and went belly up.

Thereafter I set about trying to find a new home for it. Various publishers showed interest. Finally, one made an offer of publication. Time passed...and they vanished.

Off to the markets yet again. I passed the collection around from place to place, a publisher wanted to do the project, letters were exchanged, an agreement was reached and...yeah, they croaked. Todt. Kaput.

A couple of years ago a new publisher asked to see the manuscript. The editor in chief liked what he saw and sent me a contract (I actually still have that contract here, with me). And then...yep...outfit croaked. Dead eyes starin' at th' moon.

Then, last year, I heard from ST Joshi who is editing short story collections and such for several outfits. He asked to see the book. Stories were plucked out. Some stories were added. We arrived at a collection that contains about 85,000 words, some of it ancient reprints, some of it of more recent origin, and some of it wholly new.

This book has killt four publishers so far. Unless the jinx is permanent, A CONFEDERACY OF HORRORS will see the light of print in 2014 from Hippocampus Press. Not some self-published ebook. But actual, hold-the-paper-book-in-yer-hands print. A real book. The only kind of book for me.

The original cover art here was done by the late Harry Fassl. This artwork is unavailable, so new art will have to be commissioned by the publisher, Hippocampus Press.

8 comments:

MarkGelbart said...

I'm going to buy this one, if your publisher doesn't fold.

I'm always reading something...I go through about 2 books a month.

James Robert Smith said...

Thanks. Hippocampus publishes quality books. I'll be happy to add this one to my growing "Shelf of Bob".

dogboy443 said...

Pick me, pick me for the cover artist!!!!!

James Robert Smith said...

Once again...the publisher does that. But I will certainly pass your name and email to them!

Maybe I should look into self-publishing?

Kirk G - The Thrifty Rocketeer said...

What's that white bony thing on the cover? A mutated spinal vertebrae?

James Robert Smith said...

Harry's art was a combination of line work, collage, and photo paste-up. He was going with a bony kind of Confederate Bars for the cover, the bar consisting of various bones.

Harry died very unexpectedly of the flu a few years back. I would love to use his cover and the interior illustrations that he conceived for the book, but I've been unable to get in touch with the folk in charge of his surviving artwork.

Kirk G - The Thrifty Rocketeer said...

the stars and bars? Not seeing it.

James Robert Smith said...

No stars. But the bars are definitely there.