Insanity is Contagious

You’ve probably heard the definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.” But oddly enough, I’d done this before.

I started e-publishing back in the 90s, starting up one of the first e-publishing ventures ever (no, not the first. I walked the paths of other pioneers, and tried to avoid the pitfalls they ran into, finding new ones instead) with a company called BiblioBytes. We proudly outlasted a number of better-funded latecomers, but time and the Twin Towers took their toll on the biz, and I packed up shop in early 2002. So when Michael Jan Friedman said, “I want to start an e-publishing venture for our books, and I want you invovled,” I was trepidatious. That’s because my mother raised me not to say “Are you f%$#@! nuts?” to friends.

And yet– times had changed. In the decade since I stopped doing e-publishing full time, the Internet had become even more omnipresent in our lives, electronic readers had come out with wide selections and deep market penetration, print-on-demand was finally economically viable, and traditional publishing business-as-usual wasn’t cutting it. Clearly, a bit of madness was called for.

And to be fair, I’d already been dragged back into e-publishing with ComicMix doing digital versions of comics, so prose wasn’t that far of a stretch, and in many ways it was easier. So I couldn’t use “no more e-publishing!” as an excuse.

But more to the point, there were people who were willing to come along for the ride. The hardest problem in any startup is finding people who will share your vision, who will go in the same direction you are– people who are committed. With Aaron Rosenberg, Bob Greenberger, Peter David, and Mike, along with early asylum cellmates David Mack, Marco Palmieri, and Howard Weinstein, and later inmates Russ Colchamiro and Paul Kupperberg, there was a squad of people all ready to slay giants, even if they did look suspiciously like windmills to the uninitiated.

And we’ve done pretty darn well. With over two dozen releases in two years, and many more on the way, we’ve gotten far along the way to our plan to take over the world, all while wearing our Napoleon jackets and hats.

So doing the same thing and expecting a different result may not be insanity after all, it may just be… crazy.

By Dave Galanter

When tasked with writing my first ReDeus story, I knew that some writers were going to have some of the returned gods as actual characters. I wanted to avoid that my first time out. I wanted my story to be about an atheist who found he now had to deal with a world where beings proclaimed themselves deities and had the power to back it up. How was he dealing with such sweeping changes? But for my second ReDeus entry, I thought it was time to meet a god, up close and personal.

That’s what happens in “Helping Hand,” my second ReDeus tale, and I continue the same main character’s experience. In some ways, Jordan Tate is a stylized version of myself. I asked how I might deal with such a world as his? Like Tate, I like to know what the rules of the game are in my daily life. But when powerful beings–who can change the rules with a whim–are on the board, the game can change at a moment’s notice. Can Tate handle that? Well, that’s the story. That, and why a god may be interested in little-old-him.

Raven, in Native American mythology, is a trickster god (much like his Native American rival god Coyote). In my first story, Raven seemed to like that Tate had used trickery to meet his ends. In this new story, if we were going to see Raven in person, he’d have to fit that bill…but if the trickery were too overt, it wouldn’t be god-like, would it?
So I wanted to tell a story that was in some ways subtle, and explain why someone as important as Raven may want to have any sort of relationship with an electronics store owner like Tate.

It was also important for me to contrast the secondary characters from this story to the previous one. Tate’s cohorts the first time out still believed in the Judeo-Christian god that hadn’t returned. His friend Bankim in this story is Hindu and believes in the gods that have returned. He appeals to Tate to do something that his friends in my first story never would have: pray.

For Tate’s part, he knows he’ll never stoop to that. But it’s one thing know there are such things as “gods,” and another to have them interact with you on a level that can’t be ignored.

As a writer, to have the chance to be both Tate and his god-like foe was too good to pass up. One can’t ask for much more than that when telling a tale, and that’s one of the things that makes ReDeus a unique romp.

ReDeus: Native Lands will be available in print and digital editions in August.

Anniversaries are a terrific time to sit back and reflect. It forces you to slow down and assess what has been accomplished, what worked, what needs attention and gauging your overall satisfaction.

When we launched Crazy 8 Press in the summer of 2011, none of us really knew what to expect. In some ways we envied the established Book View Café and wanted to immediately achieve their success, but as we are doing now, they built it title by title, author by author. So, we’re doing that, releasing 6-8 titles a year.

The challenge then and remains today is getting the word out. Press releases, blog posts, interviews, it’s a slog and a slow process. The founders all brought their followings with them, but there is significant overlap so the hope was that we’d start with this core and grow outward. In some cases that’s happening. We got a tremendous bump in attention in the worst way possible. When Peter David has his stroke, the year began with people flocking to our site to buy his books to support his incredible medical expenses. It brought our site to peoples’ attention which we hope will mean they come back periodically to see what’s new.

Since we launched there have been successes such as Peter rescuing The Hidden Earth series from Tor’s indifference and Mike Friedman’s forthcoming new editions of his earlier books, also retrieved from a traditional publisher. We succeeded with the well-reviewed ReDeus series of books while our Latchkeys series met with silence. The lesson learned from the latter has everything to do with outreach than content. Those who read the digital stories or print omnibus were delighted there are just too few because the target audience are young adults, many of whom do not yet have online purchasing privileges.
There’s much to be proud of starting with the fact that we’re still talking to one another after two years. After all, going into business with friends comes with certain risks but we’re putting friendship first which I think helps tremendously. We still believe in sticking together and helping one another find audiences and bring our stories to life.But we’re also growing. We’ve welcomed Russ Colchamiro and Paul Kupperberg this year, expanding the sorts of books we’re releasing. We’ll be releasing a book on behalf of an editor who needed a home and that’s exciting. We all have new projects in the works and Mike has made it his goal to crack the library markets.

Summing up, we’ve learned a lot and remain optimistic about the future and that’s cause for celebration.

When Crossline debuted this spring, i had no idea the kind of reception it would receive. So far, I have been humbled by the great reviews it has garnered, Over at Goodreads, one recently wrote a detailed analysis which I just had to share with everyone:

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Crossline. It’s an adventurous tale of space ships and dimensional travel…of warring cultures and dopplegangers…of spirituality and technology…of the breadth of time and the power of the moment. I entered into this book expecting another comedic and trippy tale from Russ Colchamiro. What I got was much, much more.

I’m a big fan of Russ’s first book, Finders Keepers, especially the wild mix of comedy and science fiction that reminded me (fondly) of Douglas Adams and Christopher Moore. Finders Keepers was very funny with just the right amount of wacky WTF? moments that I couldn’t put it down. Specifically, Russ is excellent at describing the sensory overload found in a severe hallucinogenic trip, and that excellence is found again in Crossline, though this time he uses it to describe the buffet of sensory input found in warping through the solar system. Those moments come alive easily, and when combined with his ease at writing comedic dialogue, the narrative in Crossline comes alive.

In the hopes of keeping this review spoiler free, I will simply state that Crossline is – at its heart – the story of two men and what they will do for their families set in two different versions of Earth. That story is wrapped up in a multiple plots and conflicts and supporting characters, but that’s the story that stuck with me the most. It’s a very real question that is even more poignant to me as Father’s Day approaches. What will a father do for his family? How far – how low? – will a man go to protect and love his own? Russ answers this in similar yet different manners through his two main characters, and those answers are powerful even when delivered in a comedic sci-fi wrapper.

That’s a fairly heady concept, and I don’t mean to imply that Crossline is a deep and brooding book. It’s quite the opposite. It’s funny and fast paced and takes chances when you least expect it. As with Finders Keepers, it provided me with some honest laugh out loud moments (fellatio vs. rodeo…that’s all I have to say). However, more so than Finders Keepers, it poses a question answered by the two main characters that carries some depth and weight that I enjoyed.

I also want to comment on the characters found in Crossline. Russ has created a group of memorable characters to populate both Aretha and Earth. I have to admit that I enjoyed those from Aretha more (Dolores and Chill being my favorites) though I think this has more to do with their comedic relief when I needed it most. Regardless, the characters all have unique voices, personalities, and clear motivations. They live and breath and – yes – die in ways that will both entertain and move the reader.

I really enjoyed Crossline. It made me think and laugh, which is all that I can ask for from an author. I highly recommend it, and would love to hear what others think of it as well…especially if you’ve read Russ’s first book.

Three years ago, at Shore Leave, my frustration with the changes in traditional publishing finally amounted to something.

Great stories were lying around untold because publishers, pressured by an increasingly treacherous marketplace, were hewing more and more to the “sure” thing, refusing to take a chance anymore on anything even slightly outside the box. At the same time, advances in internet tech were making it possible for writers to publish their own books. For the first time, we could reach the reader without a middle man if we were clever enough. I had been obsessed with the possibilities for some time, and couldn’t stop preaching them to anyone I could buttonhole. Finally Bob Greenberger, who was probably just tired of my chewing his ear off, convened a gaggle of writers on the convention floor. “All right,” he said, “we’re listening.”

And that was the beginning of Crazy 8 Press.

In July of 2011, we launched with our first book, Peter David’s wry and witty The Camelot Papers. A month later, Aaron Rosenberg debuted No Small Bills, the first entry in his quack-a-minute DuckBob Spinowitz series. I followed in November with Fight The Gods, a roller coaster of a contemporary fantasy anchored in Greek mythology.

Two years later, Crazy 8 Press is putting out books like we’ve been doing it forever. Books I’m really proud of, from the quality of the stories inside to the quality of the paper they’re printed on. Like Peter’s Pulling Up Stakes. Like the popular ReDeus anthologies. Like Bob’s novella, A Matter of Faith. And next month I’ll be re-releasing the first books I ever wrote, a trilogy steeped in Norse mythology called The Vidar Saga.

How long can we keep all the balls in the air? Well, take that 8 in our logo and turn it on its side. That long.

Providing, of course, that we continue to get the kind of support we’ve gotten from our readers. Because we’re in this together, you know. When great stories get told, it’s not just us writers who benefit. It’s you. And with you in mind, we go forward.