Behind the Scenes: The 25th Anniversary Edition of IT Limited Edition Artwork Portfolio

When it comes to my day job at Cemetery Dance Publications, I’m often tossing out random ideas for new projects, just to see what everyone else likes and to keep things interesting.

Last year, I suggested that we put together a Limited Edition Artwork Portfolio featuring all of the artwork from the The 25th Anniversary Edition of It by Stephen King that Cemetery Dance published in December. This was based on something I had done the previous year at Lonely Road Books for the Lettered Edition of Blockade Billy by Stephen King.  (See those photos on the LRB website.)

Everyone agreed it seemed like a fine idea, so we made special arrangements with Glen Orbik, Alan M. Clark, and Erin Wells to collect ALL of their artwork from the book into one giant artwork portfolio. By giant I mean the artwork alone is 11 inches by 14 inch. Obviously, a portfolio that can hold that artwork would need to be even bigger. After the deals were made, we created a special signature sheet to be signed by all three artists. We publicly announced the project and we limited the portfolio to a one-time printing of just 500 sets.

But getting the actual portfolio to look and feel the way we wanted took almost three months and four prototypes. The first prototype was too flimsy and it didn’t feel elegant enough. For the second prototype, we used a heavier material and we also tried a different closure to give it a different look, but the closure didn’t really keep the portfolio shut and we were concerned the artwork would just fly out if someone moved it too quickly. The third prototype got the material weight and closure just right, but they accidentally made it at 2/3s the final size, so we had a fourth prototype made just to be sure everything was perfect. These prototypes are constructed by hand, one at a time, so they’re not cheap, but they’re well worth the cost when you consider the alterative: producing a less than desirable collectible. The final prototype was everything we envisioned and we gave it the green light.

The actual finished portfolios will begin shipping in late March, but below are some photos of the final approve case they sent us today. For the first photo, keep in mind how large our special edition of It by Stephen King is and that’ll give you a good feel for how huge these portfolios are.

Photos of the Deluxe Limited Edition of The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Here are a few photos of the Deluxe Limited Edition of The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, which I’m publishing over at Lonely Road Books. Mindy took most of these photos for me because I was having a really tough time with how shiny the book and slipcase material is. The Limited Edition, which sold out within 36 hours of being announced, will begin shipping by the end of the week. The Lettered Edition is waiting on the traycases, which should be completed in the next two months, hopefully sooner.

Dueling Minds Anthology Sales Update

Just a quick update that my anthology Dueling Minds, which features stories by Brian Keene, Gary A. Braunbeck, Tom Piccirilli, Tim Lebbon, Jenny Orosel, and Gerard Houarner, is selling out very quickly and there are no other editions planned at this time.

Even though the book was just announced on Friday, 85% of the signed Limited Edition copies are now spoken for and there are only 3 copies of the Deluxe Signed & Traycased Lettered Edition remaining. Be sure to click on the cover below and place your order before supplies run out so you don’t have to worry about paying the secondary market prices the Cemetery Dance Signature Series books often fetch:

Dueling Minds Anthology Officially Part of the Cemetery Dance Signature Series

I’m very pleased to finally be able to officially announce that my long gestating anthology Dueling Minds, which features stories by Brian Keene, Gary A. Braunbeck, Tom Piccirilli, Tim Lebbon, Jenny Orosel, and Gerard Houarner, will be published this year as part of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Signature Series.  The cover artwork is by Alan M. Clark and the interior artwork is by Erin S. Wells, both of whom are wonderful.  For the serious book collector, I should note that this volume is a huge bargain because it is signed by all of the authors and artists, but the price is the same as the other books in the Signature Series.

This anthology is a print version of what I experimented with on my webzine, DuelingMinds.com, while in college way back at the turn of the century.  For those who never had a chance to stop by the website, each issue of the webzine had four or five stories that were all inspired by the same piece of artwork, giving readers the chance to discover how different authors interpreted (and were inspired by) the exact same image.

In 2003, a small press publisher approached me and suggested a Dueling Minds anthology would work for his newly founded company.  I agreed and quickly went to work searching for a cover artist.  Normally choosing the cover art is one of the last parts of the creative side of putting together a book, but obviously in this case I needed the cover before I ever approached the authors since it was to be the inspiration for everything that followed.

Alan M. Clark was the first artist I spoke with and he was quite agreeable to the concept.  He had also edited an anthology where authors wrote stories based on individual pieces of his artwork, so he recognized how much fun this sort of project could be. We looked through his portfolio and settled on one of my favorite pieces, which was originally inspired by a Ray Bradbury story.

Once I had the cover artwork, I contacted a handful of my favorite authors to see if they might be interested in contributing to this project.  These authors took the challenge and ran with it, turning in their amazing stories over the next couple of months.  I was already a big fan of their writing before this project, and the results of their efforts here just reinforced for me how truly creative these authors are.

In an unfortunate turn of fate, though, the original publisher closed up shop, leaving the book without a home for many years.  Fast forward to 2011 when Richard Chizmar and I were kicking around ideas for new and creative titles for the Cemetery Dance Signature Series, which features small books from the genre’s best authors that are heavily illustrated by the most talented artists working in the business today.

Cemetery Dance had never offered a mini-anthology in the Signature Series, but the series seemed like the perfect place to experiment with this sort of unusual publication.

The artist and authors were contacted, all immediately agreed that it sounded like a fine idea and, all of these years later, we hired Erin Wells to create the interior artwork for the book since the Signature Series requires more interior illustrations than almost anything else Cemetery Dance publishes.  That meant she created interior images that were inspired by stories that were inspired by Alan’s cover painting… which was originally inspired by a Ray Bradbury story.

Funny how things work out sometimes.

Here is just one sample of the many outstanding drawings Erin created for the book, and you can see more on the Cemetery Dance website:

Read more or place your order on the Cemetery Dance Publications website while supplies last!

In A World Without eMail, What Would We Do With All of Our Free Time?

I had a bunch of boring titles for this post, but upon a final re-read, I realized I needed something a little sillier so people would be alerted to the fact that my very subtle sense of humor is at play in this post and there’s actually little reason to read it. I apologize to everyone who does not share my sense of humor. Also, I say hi to the two other people in the world who do. Anyway, here is the post that will leave you wondering why you stopped by this blog today:

FEARnet and Fangoria Discuss Seven Stories (Plus: Free Kindle Software For Non-Kindle Owners!)

I want to say thanks again to everyone who helped make Seven Stories the #1 bestselling free eBook short story collection on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, France, and now Spain, plus #2 in Italy.  It’s been climbing into the Top 5 and Top 10 in several other categories in the stores, too, including #1 in the “Short Stories” category.

Here is just a little bit of the recent media coverage of the eBook that I wanted to share real quick before I have to get back to work:

Book Review: ‘Seven Stories’ by Brian James Freeman at FEARnet.com

Author Talks Free Cemetery Dance eBook at Fangoria.com

Here are the links again if you want to grab your free copy of the eBook before time runs out:

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.fr
Amazon.es
Amazon.it

Help For Those Who Don’t Own A Kindle:
Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can still read this eBook for free on any of the free Apps to read Kindle eBooks on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android device, Blackberry, or Windows Phone: Free Kindle Apps

Or you could read the eBook in your web browser with Amazon’s Free “Cloud” program: Amazon Cloud Reader.

Hope that helps, and thanks again for the support!

#1 bestselling free eBook short story collection on Amazon!

Wow… That’s all I can say in response to the free eBook of Seven Stories.

As of this morning, the eBook is the #1 bestselling free eBook short story collection on Amazon in the US, UK, Germany, and France, plus #2 in Spain and and Italy thanks to your support! (Plus it’s in the Top 5 and Top 10 in several other categories in the stores.)

There have been thousands and thousands of downloads, tons of emails and Tweets and messages on Facebook.

The strong interest in this eBook only happened thanks to everyone who has been posting links and promoting the free download, and I truly appreciate the support you have shown this project.

There are a few more days left in the free promotional window, so please keep telling anyone who might be interested if you can. It would be awesome to keep up this level of excitement for the book!

If you’ve already downloaded Seven Stories, I hope you have a chance to read the stories and I hope you like them. These stories are going into my new collections later this year, so you could consider this a free preview of those books to see if you like my style.

And if you do like the Seven Stories eBook, I would really appreciate any positive customer reviews you might have time to post on Amazon so other readers will see your feedback in the future.

Here are the links again if you want to grab your copy before time runs out:

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.fr
Amazon.es
Amazon.it

Thank you again for all of your support!

FREE eBook This Week: #1 Bestselling Collection on Amazon in the US, UK, and Germany!

The other day I realized this blog had passed 20,000 hits, which I thought was pretty cool!

As my way of saying thanks to everyone who has stopped by, I’m giving my eBook short story collection Seven Stories away for FREE on Amazon for this week only.

US link: http://amzn.to/SevenStories
UK link: http://amzn.to/SevenStoriesUK
Germany link: http://amzn.to/SevenStoriesGerman

If you have a Kindle, or the Kindle App, or even if you just want to try out the Kindle Cloud for the first time, now is a great time to grab a copy of the collection before it goes back up to the regular retail price on Friday.

(Also: because these stories are going to appear in new collections down the road, the eBook will probably disappear from Amazon later this year, but those who download the eBook now will have it for as long as you want, of course!)

So please go ahead and download the eBook for free this week if you’re at all interested in my short fiction. What do you have to lose, after all? I hope you enjoy the stories.

Also, if you can, please help me spread the word about this FREE giveaway by posting the news and that link on your websites, blogs, message boards, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  Any help in promoting this would be greatly appreciated since I don’t have a lot of time to let readers know.

Thanks!

UPDATE: Seven Stories in now the #1 bestseller in Amazon’s “Free Anthologies” categories in the US, the UK, and Germany thanks to everyone who downloaded today!

A Student Needs Help With A Term Paper

We receive emails at work just about every week from students who need information for term papers, articles, and research reports.  I love that they’re writing about horror, or publishing, or the authors we publish.  I hate that they think we’re idiots and will write their paper for them.

I started this post back in November because one student’s email really made me laugh, but then I decided to wait to post it until after the semester was over, just in case this somehow got back to her professor.  Who knows with the Internet, right?  Here is the email that inspired this miscellaneous thought:

From: “XXXXXXXXXXX” <XXXXXXX@capecod.edu>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:52:15 -0500
To: “‘info@cemeterydance.com’” <info@cemeterydance.com>
Conversation: XXXXXXXX
Subject: XXXXXXXXX

11/10/2011

Dear Sir or Madam:

Hi!  My name is XXXXXX, and I am a fan of Stephen King.  I

am doing an analytical review of Blockade Billy for my English Composition

class.  I was wondering does your publishing company have any book critics

that have reviewed Blockade Billy and have published their review on the

Internet.  Could you tell me where to find these reviews?  Where do I find

these reviews on the Internet?  Could you cite these reviews in MLA format

with the author of the review, name of article, publishing source, and date

of publication or date of when the review was written?  Where would I go on

the Internet to find more reviews on Blockade Billy?  How was Blockade Billy

originally released by your publishing company, and how and when did

Scribner originally publish Blockade Billy?  Please e-mail me with the

answers to my questions and send me any other information about the novella,

Blockade Billy.  I need the information by next Friday.  Thank-you. My

e-mail is XXXXXXX.

Thank-you.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX

There’s so much in here that I love! The way she asks three times where she can find reviews of Blockade Billy on the Internet, for example.  And there’s something about “Could you tell me where to find these reviews?  Where do I find these reviews on the Internet?” that sounds almost musical to me.

But the best part, of course, is where she asks: “Could you cite these reviews in MLA format with the author of the review, name of article, publishing source, and date of publication or date of when the review was written?”

Well, yes, I can… because I actually paid attention during my college classes and wrote my own papers.  The better question is… can you?  :)

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

One of the more common questions people ask is: “Where do you get your ideas?”

For me, most stories come from the everyday things I see in my daily travels. Often a few unrelated events will come together in my mind at the same time, a character appears, and the story starts to tell itself. The stories often just spring to life, all on their own.

For example, there’s a strange house in our neighborhood, one that doesn’t quite fit in:

Every now and then, when I’m walking our dogs, I see a pale boy pacing around the back yard of this house, talking to himself:

A few months ago, they put bubble wrap in all of their windows:

A few weeks ago, they put a giant wooden owl on the front step, blocking access to the front door:

Finally, two nights ago, I was walking the dogs in the dark during a torrential downpour. As I passed this house, I realized the yard and sidewalk were swarming with giant earthworms, the biggest I had ever seen:

There were thousands of them, and what made this really strange was one simple fact: I walked the dogs for two miles that night and there was not a single earthworm to be seen anywhere else in the neighborhood.  Not one.

When you put those five things together, you start to set the stage for a pretty strange story, don’t you think? You do if you’re wired like me, at least.

So, where do my ideas come from?

I have absolutely no idea.