Tesseracts Fifteen
A Case of Quite Curious Tales
Our wonderful cover, artwork by Michael Oswald.
Production Blog
September 10, 2011 - The first launch was a great success. Not to mention I was able to grab a copy from the bookseller and see it for myself! (Such is publishing - stores and readers come first.) The authors did a great job. On to Bakka-Phoenix the coming weekend, with a finale launch (for me) at SFContario in November.August 20, 2011 - There are books in the warehouse and some have made it into the hands of readers out west! I have three launches scheduled for the coming fall, and many of the authors will be attending. Hope to see you there!
May 20, 2011 - Authors have sent in their corrections in most timely fashion (high fives!), and I've finished my pass proof-reading the final galleys. Wow. Great design, great words. You know what that means ... great book! I've also emailed authors concerning the launches at CanCon (Ottawa) and Bakka-Phoenix Books (Toronto) this September. The more the merrier! I'm sure there will be launches out west as well. And feel free to organize your own. Why not!? It's officially party time, come September. If you have questions, authors, contact me, Susan, or EDGE.
May 6th, 2011 - Goodness! The galleys have come and gone, at least from my desk. I'm done de done done! Each of us editor types takes a good look at every page, then EDGE will put together a cleaned up version for the authors. As an aside, this is the first time I've worked solely onscreen when proofing. I won't say I'm a huge fan, but it does allow a quicker turnaround. So authors, it's on you to catch any typos or weirdness we miss. And there'll be something in the final printed book. I've been doing this since before cell phones ::coughs:: and there's always something, no matter how many eyeballs pour over the words.
This being my final production task -- unless there's some question circle back through about a correction -- I'd like to start chatting up opportunities to get the book into the public eye. For starters, any author who can attend Can Con in Ottawa this September (see my event page) should get in touch with me sooner than later.
April 12, 2011 - Talking has begun about launches to celebrate the release of the book. When I know, believe me, you'll know. April 4th, 2011 - I'm delighted to say that Tesseracts Fifteen is now with its publisher and looks amazing. Other than proofing galleys at some point, the editorial end of things is complete. Now it's up to the design and production staff at EDGE. Authors? You'll be emailed pdfs of the pages with your work and bios, to show you how they will appear in print. I haven't heard when, but I'll post if/when I do. At that point, you'lll be asked to check for typos etc. It's not a time for you to make improvements. That being said, if there were copyedits made you don't agree with, you have the chance to stet (return to your original). You'll be communicating about those with the publisher from now on. As for me? I'll be busy planning an eastern launch -- I expect my co-editor will be doing the same out west. We'll be in touch! Congratulations.
March 28, 2011 - Authors! If you haven't sent in your bio, please send it directly to me by March 31st if you can. Authors!! By now, you should have been contacted by the publisher for marketing info, including your head shot (I'm not laughing, really. Take a peek here to see my view of the Truth About Author Photos. Okay, I'm chuckling sympathetically.) If you haven't received that email, it could be hiding in your junk mail folder. If not there, contact events@hadespublications.com. Authors!!! Okay, there's nothing else at the moment. I just like saying it.
March 21, 2011 - The table of contents has been released. I've posted it on my newsgroup and on facebook, as has Susan. A terrific lineup!
March 19, 2011 - I've finished prepping the manuscript and it's now with Susan for her editorial pass. At the end of next week, I'll give it a final look, insert those bios sent to me etc, then it's off to production at Edge by the end of the month. (Authors: you will receive pdfs of your stories to proofread before publication.)
Authors of ours? Please send your bios this week or next, to me or to Edge. Authors Who Got Away? Please accept our sincere congratulations and get those wonderful stories of yours back on the market!
March 16, 2011 - The table of contents. While readers may approach an anthology like this by diving after their favourite author's work, or flip until they find something that catches their eye, we editors consider the book as a whole. There's a sequence of stories that will give the flow we envision. So yup, that's what's next. Should be done by the weekend.
March 15, 2011 - We have permission to share the fabulous cover, by artist Michael Oswald!
March 14, 2011 - There were over 250 stories and poems submitted to Tesseracts Fifteen - A Case of Quite Curious Tales. I don't exaggerate when I say the quality was outstanding and I'm hard pressed to think of even one story we rejected because it wasn't to guidelines. Love you guys! We worked our way to a short list of around 90, then deliberated from those. Among the criteria we had to address? A balance of genres, because we wanted them all. A balance of tone, because there's Julie-proof, as some may recall, but mostly in the sense of dark vs light, humour vs thought-provoking, and even in terms of a variety of protagonists. Something for everyone, with surprises as well. You can see from this that many terrific stories would be squeezed out before we had our final 20 or so (our word limit was 100K), and that certainly happened. But the book itself? AMAZING!
Next step? Assembling the manuscript, which shall be my labour of joy. Susan stands ready to pass her skilled eye over the result. Stuff will start happening fast. We've a pub date of Sept 2011 to meet, after all!