Roll On 2009

I have to admit - 2008 has been a rough year for many people I know. It hasn't all been daisies and bunnies for me either.
But... it has also been one of the most amazing years for me as an actor and for Something Wicked.
We started 2008 with no money and pretty much ready to throw in the towel with SW. It was sad and heart-breaking but it had been coming for awhile and I had several contingency plans in place as to how to keep the magazine going without sucking my bank account dry.

Around the 2nd week of January we received a call from the National Arts Council to inform us that our application for funding was under review. A month later we were told we had been successful.
The funding from the NAC allowed us to plan ahead, for the first time ever since the inception of Something Wicked we were able to take a long-term view and actually put a marketing and distribution strategy in place.

So we started the year out by sending out 50 mags to A Night of Horror film festival in Australia. We contacted a US distributor and managed to get SW on to the shelves in US and Canadian book stores.
We were able to increase (fractionally) our pay rate for artists and writers and we began to see an increase in sales and subscriptions.

Don't get me wrong here, we are by no means out of the financial shit, but the funding helped bolster what little available money SW has in its coffers.

From an actor's perspective, with the release of Starship Troopers 3, I began to receive my first ever fan mail and interview requests (through my performance website at www.JoeVaz.com) and through the year have been in a few more films and series (including ITV and AMC's remake of the classic 60's sci-fi series The Prisoner - due out next year). I've done a bunch of commercials and have been enjoying a boom in the voice-over market - all of which helps to finance Something Wicked a little more.

In 2009 we are hoping to try and get the mag to the UK, planning our first ever Radio Play (hopefully the first of many) and hoping to finally put our first anthology together - yes we've been promising for years, but this time it's going to happen.

All in all it has just been the most thoroughly exciting and fun year.
I am finding December, however, a little frustrating. The Christmas and Summer holidays tend to slow down the momentum of a year and I'm finding myself frustrated at the enforced holiday I have to take. I just want to keep on working - I have a thousand things that need to be done and I can't wait for the New Year.

2009 is gonna be a kicker!
Our funding will run out in SW10, but we are hopeful that we will be able to apply for more funding for another year.
In the meantime - please. please, please - go out and buy SW for your friends and family and for anyone else you may now.
Buy, buy, buy -tis the season for buying!!!

All the best for the holidays and may you have a Merry Christmas and a phenomenal 2009
Joe

currently reading:
Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Listening to:
Oldies from Thomas Dolby and The The

I Love Technology part 2 - Dead Space

Found an online review for this game - it is apparently a motherfucker of a frightfest.
For your viewing pleasure below is the trailer.
Wow - it looks better than most sci-fi movies.

I Love Technology part 1

Sometimes I am utterly blown away by where technology is taking us. I love where the world is going.
In the last couple of days I have come across some amazing shit.

Games

Firstly there is EVE online, a Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), where I spent sunday morning talking and flying with a good friend of mine in Joburg through the depths of space.

I'm the little ship on the right

We met up at a space station and made our way to a deadspace encounter with some baddies where we shot the shit out of them in a spectacular 3D BSG kinda graphics way - all the time talking to one another on skype.
Now some of you may nod your heads and go, "Yeah EVE rocks!!", while others may shake your heads and go, "Geez, Joe, we thought you were so cool. How wrong we were". But pay attention to what I'm talking about - I'm talking about technology.
When I was kid (way, way back in a galaxy far far away, endearingly referred to as The Eighties) we couldn't even have dreamed up the stuff that most of us take for granted today. Let me re-iterate - I was talking to my friend, through my computer, while playing a fully-immersive science-fiction space game with unbelievable Hollywood-type graphics. Are you getting this? Huge block-buster movies 20 years ago did not have these kinds of special effects. Seriously, go dig up your original Betamax video of Star Wars - it's brilliant, but the SFX on EVE are better. And you control them! It's your ship!
I can hang out with my friend in another city, or continent for that matter, and we can play online together while talking to one another. This is unreal, man, it is totally fucking incredible.

Blogs
But wait, it get's better.
Check the blog links I have down the right side of this page. You see any names you recognise? Thomas Dolby, Madam & Eve, John Connolly, Neil Gaiman? These are like famous people, right? I mean, I own Dolby CD's. I've bought Gaiman's books and own all the original Sandman comics - but technology, and more importantly the Internet, has allowed me access to their thoughts and ramblings. Or more to the point, it has allowed them to interact with their fans and allow them a behind-the-scenes view of the creation process of their latest album or book while still maintaining a level of anonymity and privacy.
In the old days if you wanted to communicate with the writers, singers or actors you admired you'd have to hunt down their "Fanclub" address and then send them boring old letters and wait months and months and years and years for a response - if you ever got one.
I remember sending Stephen King a fan-letter when I was about 15 or 16 and waiting for 3 months before the damn letter came back to me with a stamp across saying "Return to sender - Postage insufficient"!!! (So because I hadn't put enough stamps on the letter to cover the journey from Joburg to Maine the post office posted it back to me - costing them twice as much as it would have if they had just delivered the damn letter in the first place. Come to think of it I probably did have enough postage but it took so damn long to reach the States that the currency had changed making my postage insufficient! - Rant over)
By contrast, today I can log onto the Stephen King Forum, ask a question of the man himself and NEVER get a response. Okay, bad example.
But Gaiman has his agent's address and phone number on his site, Pratchett used to have a publicly accessible email address and Alastair Reynolds can be reached through his blog. This is incredible.

Music
Most recently I was on Thomas Dolby's blog and discovered that he is recording a new album. He did a small tour last year and has, thankfully, been bitten by the music bug again, (this is a man who has released 4 albums in the last 27 years!) So it is with great excitement that fans of Thomas Dolby will welcome this news.
On his blog he has been documenting the writing and recording process through which I heard about eSessions.com. eSessions is basically an online recording studio and session muso database. Most solo artists don't have bands and so what they do is write and demo their songs alone and then when it comes time to record the album versions they book a studio and hire sessions musos to play the instruments.
Traditionally this is a time consuming process as not all the session musos you want are always available at the same time, so unless you have access to your own studio you will end up paying multiple studio fees to go in and record multiple sessions. For example, let's say I've written a song, but now I need some piano laid down, a drum track, guitars and maybe some horns. But I can only get hold of the drummer in two weeks time, whereas the pianist and guitarist are only available this week. So I have to hire the studio twice, once this week to record piano and guitars and then again in two weeks to record the drummer. It's a long and expensive process.
Enter eSessions. Most of the session musos available on eSessions have their own home-studios. So you enter a search string for drummers and find out who is available and book them. You pay the session fee, they record the part in their own studio and upload the full-res file to the server. So what's so amazing about this? I mean the technology is great, but what really blew me away is exactly who is on that database.
I won't bore you with names you won't recognise but here are some of the artists available to record on your next album, (for a fee of course), the life-long bassist for Peter Gabriel, the saxophonist for Tom Waits, the drummer for Portishead, the keyboard player for Goldfrapp. This is utterly mind-blowing.
Tony Levin is available for a session??? On my song??? Holy shit!!!

And speaking of accessible musos, following on the success of their last experiment, Radiohead have once again released the "stems" of another of their songs, Reckoner. Basically, they've split the parts of the song and separated them into "stems". You get a vocal stem, (which will only have Thom Yorke's vocals on it) and a Bass stem, and a Guitar stem, and so on and so forth. These stems are available through iTunes and 7Digital and you can download the individual tracks of their song and then remix it in anyway you want. And when you're done you can upload it to www.radioheadremix.com where your friends and others can vote for their favourite remix. Imagine, a Joe Vaz remix of a Radiohead song. This is extraordinary. This is what technology is about - allowing you to jam, interact and communicate with your favourite artists, actors, musicians and writers. Never before in history has this been possible.
And all thanks to the internet.
Are you beginning to understand my excitment yet?
There's more.

to be continued...

Superglue

Went to see a good friend's album launch last night at the New Space Theatre on Long Street.
Awesome venue by the way - very much still in the construction phase, the Space is a four story Art-Deco monstrosity that used to house one of the great theatres of the eighties. It will be re-opening at the end of the year with Sondheim's Assassins musical (which I auditioned for but didn't get in).
All of which is an aside to Ian Henderson's Superglue album launch - awesome setup, awesome gig, great album (listen to some of the tracks here: www.ianhenderson.com).


Ian Henderson 'So That's What It's Like' (Superglue, 2008) from maxthepanda on Vimeo.

One of the things I love about Cape Town is the social nature of this city. I love that almost every night there are bands playing somewhere within a 15 minute walk. I love how prevalent independent artists are - that there are so many great bands and solo-artists out there that are financing their own productions, recordings, gigs and albums.
So go check out Ian's site and buy his album - this is the future of music, artists taking over from the studios.

13 Stories!!! Really?

Well here we are.
Looking through the last couple of blogs I've written it is becoming apparent to me that the only time I get round to updating this site is when I finish a deadline.
Bad Joe! I really must try and write more often in here.
The problem, of course, is when you spend every day writing, reading and editing stuff that you have to, you feel kinda pooped out and not really in the mood for more writing. The other problem is that trying to update this blog regularly tends to bring home the fact that my life really isn't as interesting as you may think it is. So it makes sense that the only time I feel like I have something to talk about is at the end of a Something Wicked deadline.

Which brings us to the topic at hand - Something Wicked #8.
What a daunting task this has been - so many excellent stories, so many rejections. I go into more detail in my Editor's Letter in the mag, but it has been a rather harrowing process.
I guess I should stop whining and be grateful. Better to have too many excellent stories, than not enough. But by the same token I am a little concerned.
SW08 features 13 stories - by far the largest number of stories we've ever published. What if you guys, the readers, find it a little cramped. What if, in an effort to hold on to as many of the stories we've received, we've actually overdone it and filled the magazine to such capacity that we'll overwhelm our readers?
What if the stories are not as good as we think they are?

These are the constant questions that go through my and the other slush-reader's minds. You never know. It is probably one of the most petrifying things about being an editor is that you never actually know if the choices you made are any good.
The process of putting together 56 pages of cover-to-cover fiction is incredibly daunting, not only because of the cold, calculating choices you have to make when the page count starts diminishing, but also because we're so insulated during the creation process that only after the magazine has come back from the printers and hit the shelves do we ever know if the choices we made were any good.

I've read interviews with published authors who feel the same way. That space between sign-off of the product and waiting for the first reviews, or emails and crits to come back can be terrifying.
Up until that point you're working, head down, bent over the keyboard or the monitor, making sure that everything looks the way it's supposed to. That all the paperwork is in order, that all the images are the correct resolution, that every word is where it should be - you're too busy to worry about whether or not you made the right choices.
But on the day after deadline there is a lull.
You deliver the final version to the printers and then you wait...
It can take just over 24 hours from delivery to seeing the proof. It's an enforced quiet time. I can't start working on the next issue, or updating the site, until I know that Issue 8 has been put to bed.
So I wait and try and find stuff to do that keeps my mind off the tension.
I update this blog.
I catch-up on reading some of my other fave blogs (see column on the right).
I catch up on some TV series (I've recently discovered House - which I'm thoroughly enjoying).
I read for pleasure - I play my guitar.
And I wait.

Of course once I've signed-off on the proof tomorrow it all starts up again. Update the website, compile eBook version, sort out invoices and start paying artists and writers, start commissioning art for Issue 9, get ready for HorrorFest.

Actually, when I put it like that, there really is never a dull moment in the SW Office. Hmmm, interesting, I think I may have just blown my own excuse for not keeping this blog updated.

Something Wicked Issue 8 hits the shelves on the 23rd of October and we'll be launching it, and selling our usual T-Shirts and other merch, at the HorrorFest on Halloween.
See you then.

Recently read:
Sporeville, by Paul Marlowe
The Reapers, by John Connolly
The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

Reading:
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons

About to read:
The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds
Making Money, by Terry Pratchett
Seven Dials Mystery, by Agatha Christie
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

Listening to:
The Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby
The Pink Opaque by The Cocteau Twins
Random Selections by My Ipod :)

Something Wicked #7

Greetings

Whew... I swear these deadlines are getting harder and harder - I'm aging five years every issue and at this rate I'm about 95 years-old today (Happy Birthday me!!).

Well SW07 has been signed off and is currently being loaded up and printed. We should get the first copies back by Thursday or Friday and it will then be released to the public on the 11th of July at the ICON Roleplaying Game Convention in Jo'burg - yay!!!
Jesca Marisa did the cover for us and as you can see - it kicks dark & gruesome ass!!!

Anyway.
I got word today that a good writer friend of mine will be in town in two weeks and has invited us for dinner with him - so I'm in a tremendously good mood.
Over the last couple of years Something Wicked has opened some very interesting and exciting doors for us - we've met some incredible people, writers, artists, actors, directors - a lot of whom we've become friends with.

It is a genuinely amazing experience to hear that someone you know is having a book published, or is in a new movie, or has won an award - it's been a thrilling ride.

So as another deadline is finished, so begins the promotional work - update website, pay invoices, go to Jo'burg for Icon, start ploughing through the as-yet-unread short-stories sitting in our inbox.
But for right now, just tonight, I'm on holiday. My work is done and I can relax and catch up on BSG season 4 - finally!

Recently read:
House of Suns, by Alastair Reynolds
Pompidou Posse by Sarah Lotz

About to read:
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
Sporeville by Paul Marlowe
The Reapers by John Connolly

Listening to:
Rockferry by Dusty
Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow
Flavors of Entanglement by Alanis Morissette

Stupid Questions - A Rant

Helloooooo
Okay so it's been a while since last I wrote in here but we've been incredibly busy trying to rework and remodel Something Wicked.

As you know we came in a little behind schedule with Issue 6 due to late payments but we're setting up new systems that will hopefully allow us to get SW running smoothly from now on.

Now the title of this blogpost is Stupid Questions and to be honest I've been meaning to get round to this for some time.

Dear Writers
There is a website called www.SomethingWicked.co.za on it there really is quite a lot of information.
It has taken us quite a long time to put that information on the website. The reason we have that information available on our website is not, as some of you may believe, so that we can bring up the page and go, "oh cool, my words are on a screen," but so that you, the writers, can easily access answers to your most common questions.
Simple things like, "where do we send our submissions" can be found on the website. "How long should our stories be?" - answer... on the website.
"Can I send you a sort-story that is about a dog that eats his owner?" - use your imagination, is it horror? Then chances are you can.

Honestly it drives us crazy, and sucks up a lot of time, to constantly have to answer questions whose answers are freely available on the website.
More importantly it doesn't really put the author in a good light.
Bottom line; if you can't read, there is a very good chance you can't write.

Some simple guidelines:
If at all possible, it is considered good manners, not to mention good research, to have read at least one issue of Something Wicked before you submit a story to us. South African writers can pick one up at CNA, or Outer Limits for 30 bucks, or better yet you can buy it from us for R25 and it is delivered free to you. International writers can buy an eVersion through Fictionwise.com.
This is what freelance writers do - they research a market and then they submit to it.
If you have never picked up a copy of the magazine, or if the closest you've come is reading a flyer you picked up, then at least have the decency to check out the website.
We have Contributor's Guidelines available that let you know exactly what we like and don't like to receive.
There are also examples of the type of stories and artwork we publish. There are even examples of the kind of bios we publish.
It's all on the website, folks, that's why the website exists - we didn't build it 'cause we had some spare time on our hands and thought it might look pretty!
Read The Guidelines - it will help you, it will help us. It will definitely get you to the top of the slush pile. It really isn't hard to do.

So...rant over.
Go forth and write.
Joe