Storytellers Unplugged

Talk to any author who’s been around long enough and they’ll have a story for you about a bad publishing experience.  Most common are the books which were supposed to pay royalties after the advance was made, but which mysteriously never quite made enough sales to cover the advance… sometimes despite going into multiple printings.  There are others, though.  Many, many others.

It’s enough to put new authors into a state of permanent distrust when dealing with a publisher.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, particularly when you don’t have an agent or another experienced person helping to draft a contract.  But for the most part, horror has the best publishers in the literary field.

I suspect it is due to the prominence of the small press in horror literature.  Whereas other genres have historically relied upon national publishers almost exclusively, horror has a long history of appealling directly to the fans.  Arkham House, Carcosa, Whispers Press, Dark Harvest, Cemetery Dance, Borderlands Press, Fedogan and Bremer… these are among the best known publishers, and many of their titles were never sold through chain bookstores, instead focusing their distribution through specialty bookstores and catalog sales.  With the growth of the internet, catalogs are now easily found either on the publisher’s website or at aggregate sites like Amazon.  The ease of distribution has encouraged more small presses to develop, catering to a readership which was already familiar with mail order.

There are books designed as treasures.  Nearly the full line from Centipede Press, for example, or the artworks provided by Biting Dog Press.  Lettered editions from Necessary Evil Press, whose metal traycases are as beautiful and intricate as professional sculptures.  Books that are designed to not simply be read, but displayed proudly.

There are books designed as keepsakes.  Signed and limited editions ranging in price from $30 to $50 from Necro, Gauntlet, PS, Delirium, Overlook Connection and many more.  Compendiums of virtually unfindable older work from Ash-Tree and Tartarus Press.

There are books and e-books designed to get out of print work into appreciative hands at low prices.  Crossroads Press is a pioneering e-book publisher in that field, for example, and Wildside Press has put dozens of public domain scarcities back into availability as print-on-demand for $20 and under.

And then there are the publishers of new work.  People like Bad Moon Books, Dark Regions Press, Eraserhead Press,  and Apex Books, providing new material by authors who have earned readerships but who may have difficulty getting deals inked with the larger New York and London firms.

The common thread among all of these publishers is that while you may occasionally hear of problems arising (Full Moon Press, most notoriously, angered authors and collectors by selling lifetime memberships before medical problems led to cancelling their ambitious catalog and shutting down the press after only two books)  there is no shortage of fans who wish to help get their favorite authors’ stories into print, and this is a great sign for authors in the field.

These points were driven home at the most recent World Horror Convention.  I had people coming by the table asking for Cemetery Dance and old Dark Harvest titles.  I was set up next to Full Moon and Dark Regions, both of whom had great displays.  Dark Discoveries were set up nearby.  Centipede Press was across the way, with its usual display of books capable of inducing pain in the wallet (seriously, those are some beautiful books, worth every dollar charged and a few more additionally.  Jared’s work sets a high bar for the modern collector’s edition.)   It’s something I’ve seen at every previous WHC, although the publishers change.  I’ve seen booths for Eraserhead, Night Shade, Gauntlet, Necro and more.  As with most conventions, a new publisher was showing off their upcoming catalog… in this case, it was Genius Publishing, with titles out by Brian Knight, Harry Shannon and Gene O’Neill (rarely have I seen so promising a debut.)

Horror has an embarassment of riches when it comes to the small press publishers, which is undoubtedly why a separate award has been designed for them at the Stokers.   Fans and authors alike are encouraged to familiarize themselves with these publishers; the former as a source of interesting fiction and the latter as the market avenue most likely to create and expand a fan base.

This essay might be of special interest to writers of detective and mystery stories who would like to enrich their stories by providing their readers with a gift of some extra bits of detail. It might also be of general interest to many other readers.

The area described in this essay was not chosen merely to represent one of many areas in this country having similar problems. In addition to its problems, the area has historic links to a past that many readers might find interesting.

My previous piece, FORENSICS 150: A ROAD TOO OFTEN TRAVELED, described the treatment a hired killer received while growing up that played a role in developing his murderous lifestyle. This piece describes an important chemical involved in developing a child’s future capabilities and behavior.

Once upon a time in Cincinnati, there had been a waterway named the Miami and Erie Canal that ran southwardly from Toledo. Cincinnati drivers might not be aware that they are following along the course of the old canal when they travel on what is now Central Parkway.

During the mid-1800s, large numbers of German immigrants settled in the area on the far side of the canal from downtown Cincinnati. The immigrants built most of its ornate brick buildings. Architectural styles included Federal,, Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Renaissance, Revival and Second Empire.

Bridges spanning the canal provided passage between homes in the area and downtown Cincinnati, and the German residents began to refer to the canal as “the Rhine” in reference to the Rhine River in Germany. The area soon became known as Over-the-Rhine, or simply as the OTR.

A resident of the OTR was Devin, who had grown up in one of the many old houses built prior to 1978. Like many houses in the area, it had originally been painted with bright colors and well maintained. Also like many of the houses, it had more recently been neglected and had fallen into disrepair. The outside had long needed a fresh coat of paint, and even some of the paint on the inside had withered and flaked off areas of aging plaster walls. Paint commonly contained lead to improve its adherence and longevity. Dust containing lead from window frames was created as windows were opened and closed, and this created a substantial health hazard. The neighborhood in general displayed a depressive grayness where, even on a sunny day, a person would be hard-pressed to smile.

Devin attended a neighborhood school He was an unruly student from day one and showed little respect for any of his teachers. Several times, he climbed upon his desk and danced. He rarely paid much attention to lectures. When he did, he often had trouble understanding them. His temper flared easily. When he had trouble solving a mathematics problem, he would swear, wad up his test paper and throw it in the general direction of a wastebasket. Hardly a week passed when he didn’t get into a fight in school or out. As might have been expected, his last day in school was not when he graduated. It was on a day when his temper had exploded, and he had physically attacked a teacher during a class.

Given his academic record and lack of education, Devin found it difficult to get a job. Given his attitude and behavior, it was also difficult for him to keep one. He couldn’t seem to hold a job very long without getting into a serious argument or an actual fight. His lack of ready means to earn an adequate income and his contempt for rules might have first urged him into a criminal lifestyle. His temper and lack of self-control spiraled him into a life filled with violence and cruelty.. Eventually, his violent actions resulted in murder.

Unfortunately, the foregoing, “constructed” scenario does not represent a rare occurrence. It is all too typical of real situations, and these situations have commonly been found to involve lead. The University of Cincinnati has, for some 30 years, been tracking 250 persons from its own, highly lead-contaminated neighborhoods. Evidence compellingly reveals that early lead exposure, even at low levels and even while a child is still in the womb, is linked to later violent crimes. There is apparently no safe level of lead in children’s blood.

All violent acts are certainly not believed to be linked to lead; but, among arsonists, those who had set fires impulsively; and among prisoners, those who had committed impulsive, violent crimes and had exhibited more frequent aggressive and violent behavior, were found to have low levels of serotonin. At normal levels, this chemical reportedly acts as a brake on impulsiveness. Guess what element lowers serotonin levels. Lead.

An important function of the frontal lobes of brains is to recognize future consequences that might result from current actions and to suppress unacceptable social responses. A University of Cincinnati researcher found that children having higher levels of lead had smaller frontal lobes as they reach adulthood.

Experts reportedly believe that between 10 and 40 percent of impulsive, violent behavior is linked to lead. The U.S. government began phasing out lead in gasoline in 1975, and it banned lead in paint in 1978. A chilling statistic is the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of children, many under the age of six, in the U.S. who have high levels of lead in their blood.

A sticky question arises about how society and its legal system should treat persons who, by no fault of their own, have been predisposed to violence by their early physical and psychological environments. Banning the use of lead that can get into our environment will be a long-term solution. Meanwhile, citizens must be protected from criminals. Should persons who have already been poisoned and who subsequently commit violent acts be treated the same as criminals who have not been so predisposed?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

1. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, ‘’Lead-based paint is a major source of lead poisoning for children and can also affect adults. In children, lead poisoning can cause irreversible brain damage and can impair mental functioning. It can retard mental and physical development and reduce attention span. It can also retard fetal development even at extremely low levels of lead. In adults, it can cause irritability, poor muscle coordination, and nerve damage to the sense organs and nerves controlling the body. Lead poisoning may also cause problems with reproduction (such as a decreased sperm count). It may also increase blood pressure. Thus, young children, fetuses, infants, and adults with high blood pressure are the most vulnerable to the effects of lead.’‘ Gross symptoms of lead poisoning also include seizures, palsy, loss of control of the limbs, and impairment of hearing and sight.

The problem of lead poisoning of children was first reported in 1892. More then a century later, it remains a problem; and lead is now known to cause many problems in adults as well. Of forensic interest in this essay, however, are the consequences of lead poisoning of yesterday’s children.

By the mid 1900s, medical authorities acknowledged that the effects of lead poisoning could be permanent. Victims had trouble concentrating and learning, and they exhibited aggressiveness, explosive tempers and violent behavior. Their nervous systems had been seriously impaired, and they lacked an ability to foresee consequences of their behavior.

Studies have shown that tendencies toward violence can be counteracted by good parenting that includes love and nurturing and sometimes by pharmaceutical products such as lithium, Prozac and Zoloft. A treatment for lead poisoning is chelation therapy, which involves drinking a chemical that binds to lead in blood and ushers it from the body in urine.

2. Residents of Over-the-Rhine that are of note include Anna Marie Hahn, who poisoned a series of men for financial gain. She was the first woman to be executed (in 1938) in the state of Ohio.

Nicholas (Nick) Clooney, a journalist, anchorman and television host, also lived in Over-the-Rhine. He was the brother of the late Rosemary Clooney and is the father of George Clooney.
Another resident was Venus Ramey, who was the Miss America of 1944.

Yet another resident was Levi Coffin, a descendant of Tristam Coffin. Tristam was one of nine persons who bought Nantucket from the Indians. By the time Levi moved to the OTR in 1847, he had already helped several thousand escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad. Once there, he helped another 1,300 to safety. He was often referred to as the President of the Underground Railroad.

One of the escaping slaves was a woman who carried her child across treacherous ice on the Ohio River. Readers might recognize her as the model for the Eliza Harris character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. That Eliza was also the Eliza of the phrase ‘’Eliza crossing the ice,’‘ which refers to a narrow escape.

Since 1983, the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, which includes 943 contributing buildings, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Among the buildings are those that comprise the largest collection of Italianate architecture in the United States. The area puts one in mind of the historic areas of Charleston, New Orleans (French Quarter), New York (Greenwich Village) and Savannah. The Over-the-Rhine area is thought to be the largest and most intact urban historic district in the United States.

Unfortunately, by the end of the 1900s, it had become so infamous for its poverty that one magazine referred to it as a “ground zero in inner-city decline.” Fortunately, one positive result was that crime and a decreasing population lowered the cost of property. This stimulated developers to begin buying and renovating many historic buildings. Hundreds of millions of dollars have since been invested, and the crime rate has been steadily declining.

I once put a Nobel Laureate to sleep.

I grew up in a rural part of a sparsely populated province in eastern Canada. I only knew of famous people through books and television. I never thought I would get to rub arms with a celebrity or talk to someone famous. Even after I moved to Halifax to attend university, I felt like I was at the edge of the universe. We thought we hit the big times when Supertramp or Chris de Burgh came to town. Someone like Elton John would never venture so far off the beaten track.

My first encounter with celebrity took place when I was working for the town newspaper in northern New Brunswick for a summer job. The mill wasn’t hiring students any more (it has since closed). I was a cub reporter, in effect. Taking notes at town council meetings and snapping pictures during the summer festival. Sitting in on court sessions. Then came the Royal Visit: Prince Charles and Princess Diana came to town, of all places. It was a fleeting visit, but everyone in town turned out. A couple of my fellow reporters got press credentials, but I didn’t. I was in the crowd with everyone else, and I got to shake Diana’s hand. (Turns out, the reporters with press credentials were cordoned off in a different area and didn’t even get close. My lucky day!) It was one of those heart-pounding moments when time seems to stand still. It was over twenty years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday.

When I went to graduate school, my thesis adviser arranged a visit by his former adviser, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1964. She was well into her seventies when she came to our university. Still sharp, but in a wheel chair some of the time. My adviser put me in his little closet of an office with her for an hour so I could tell her all about my research. It was a warm summer day. The room grew stifling. She nodded off. I was a nervous wreck, prattling on about alkylammonium  hexachlorostannates. I was convinced she didn’t hear more than a few words of what I said, but she later told my adviser she thought I was “sharp.”

Being in science, you tend to meet up with famous people at conventions (I met Linus Pauling at one), and as you work your way up the academic ladder, but it’s still always a little strange.

Shortly after I came to Texas in 1987, I heard that Stephen King was going to be signing in Houston. I took a Greyhound bus 120 miles each way to attend the event. Only chance I’ll ever get, I thought at the time. My wife got me tickets to see Ray Bradbury when he was in town a bunch of years ago. One of my all-time favorite writers. Never in a zillion years growing up in eastern Canada did I ever expect I’d get to shake his hand and have my picture taken with him.

Since I started writing and publishing in 1999, I’ve gotten to meet and become friends with a number of authors and other celebrities. It always seems surreal. My nerves still get the better of me.

As I write this, I’m battling nerves yet again. For my current project, I’ve had to interview quite a few people. You’d probably recognize some of the names. Today as I write this (the day before this post goes live), if all goes according to plan, I’ll be interviewing an Academy Award winning screenwriter. It’s a daunting proposition. To top things off, our home phone decided to act up this morning, adding to my stress level. Tomorrow, again if everything goes according to plan—these are very busy people and schedules can get changed on a moment’s notice—I will be interviewing an actor-turned-director whose name you would undoubtedly recognize.

OK, this doesn’t have very much to do with writing—except that many of these opportunities came my way because of writing projects or writing conferences. With an April 1 deadline for my next book, and all these interviews to conduct and transcribe and incorporate into the book, I don’t have much spare time to write an essay for Storytellers Unplugged this month.

Except, as I see, I sort of accidentally did.

World Horror Convention 2012 occurs roughly three weeks from now.  I’m going to spend more than 40 hours on the road to get there and back again, and I’m going to be in the dealer’s room for another twenty to twenty-five hours.  The transit time is unusual but the room time isn’t.   On top of that, I’ll be doing about twenty hours of preparation work finding and arranging the books and magazines I’ll be bringing.   This is an opportunity for which I’ll pay anywhere from $60 to $400 per table, depending on the convention.

With the money generated by dealer’s rooms and the work put into them by the dealers, there’s no reason for so many bad experiences.  I believe the problem comes from the expectations and focus of the con staff.  They consistently do well at the most important things: I have never had anyone steal from my table overnight, I have watched as door guards stopped people without badges from entering, and I have even seen a thief caught.  In other matters, dealer’s rooms often vary widely.  I’m going to present some of the best and some of the worst ideas I’ve seen.

BEST:

The Food Runner

This is a brilliant idea that has caught on at some conventions.  The reason behind it it simply: many dealers are covering their tables alone.  They eat just before the dealer’s room opens and again after it closes.  This results in hungry, somewhat crabby dealers.  In recognition of this situation, some conventions have staff members walk through the dealer’s room and offer to go on a lunch run.  The source of the lunch run is identified (usually a fast food venue nearby or the hotel dining room) and orders are taken, money collected.  About an hour later, the runner returns and distributes the food to the participating dealers. 

Bathroom breaks

Similar in methodology to the previous item, someone from staff coming around to the single-dealer tables and offering to watch their table during a bathroom break is something which many dealers greatly appreciate.  Necessity has created a system where dealers will ask neighbors to watch their tables while they’re gone and prevent anyone from stealing things, but having a trustworthy con volunteer stepping in (possibly even keeping a potential buyer around until they can return) is greatly appreciated.

The Change Person

This is a new phenomenon I’ve rarely encountered, but hope to experience more often.  A person goes from table to table and checks to see if they need change.  The person has stacks of ones, fives, and tens and will exchange them for twenties, fifties and hundreds.  One of the problems encountered by dealers is the tendency for person after person to pay in large denominations, typically just pulled from a nearby ATM.  The change person isn’t seen very often, but is adored when they are around.

WORST:

Variable Hours

Every person in the dealer room wants to make money.  This happens only when people purchase the items for sale, and they can only purchase them when the dealer’s room is open.  If people don’t know when the room is open, people don’t enter and no sales are made.   I have seen the dealer’s room held back from opening on time because door guards weren’t available and I have seen the hours extended in an effort to encourage more sales.  Unfortunately, there are other factors involved besides sale opportunity, and those include things like meals, arranged meetings, and event attendance.  Hours should never be extended or diminished without giving the dealers at least a full day to change their plans, and hour changes should be posted in as many places as possible.

PRODUCT WARNING

When a dealer purchases a table, they are investing money and time in an effort to reap a profit.  While there is no legal reason that a convention should warn potential dealers away, there are moral reasons.  Some vendors do not fit with a convention, and are very likely to lose money on the venture.  If such a prospective dealer is warned of the disparity ahead of time, there is rarely any problem: they knew the risks and took their chances.  If they are not warned, anger and resentment grow and become bad publicity for future conventions.  I have seen media stars at literary conventions instead of their usual conventions.  Instead of getting lines of people paying $20 or more per autograph they’re usually lucky to sell five signed phots all weekend.  I’ve seen authors selling at comic book cons and vice versa, webcomic people at anime conventions, and possibly the oddest situation has been a person selling customized sex toys at a literary sf convention.  Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t, and failing to warn the dealer ahead of time is a bad mistake from the con staff.

BAD HOURS

Dealers are people too, and most of them are fans.  While they are certain to miss almost every panel, it adds to the value of the show if the hours are arranged to allow them some participation.   Some huge conventions, like Worldcon, start programming early in part to facilitate this.   But a smaller convention that schedules all of the programming against the dealer’s room time is just asking for unhappy dealers.  And unhappy dealers may not return.

And the one big point of debate:

OPEN DEALER’S ROOM

Depending on the convention, this can be a terrible or wonderful idea.  There are people for whom the dealer’s room is the center of the convention, and if they can get in for free they won’t bother to pay to attend the con.  On the other hand, an open room can add to exposure for the field and increase sales for the dealers.   In my estimation, if a convention is expecting a thousand or fewer attendees, an open dealer’s room is a great idea.   A smaller convention can live or die by the publicity they generate, and that includes expanding their fan base.  If they’re expecting more than a thousand, or if it’s at a venue where the majority of attendees won’t be interested in panels (like at a college) they’re better off considering keeping it closed.  Either way, it should be considered, and it usually isn’t.