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Caleb.J.Ross's Blog
November 7, 2009
- This afternoon, on vacation, sitting at the beach with a cigar in one hand and a notepad in the other, getting a head-start on inscriptions for Charactered Pieces preorders, I was struck with a sense of a realized dream, a dream I didn’t really know I had until that moment. I write fiction for fun. One day, I’d like to make some money doing so. But until then, taking time at the beach ...
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November 3, 2009
- To everyone who preordered Charactered Pieces:You likely received a refund notice from PayPal. There was a problem with the ordering system, which is being addressed.Please know that Charactered Pieces is still going as promised. Please, though, if your money was refunded by PayPal, re-purchase using the link below (I have had the buy-it-now button updated). I know this is a hassle. Such is the ...
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October 19, 2009
- A few of you know how unbelievably happy I am to say this. The rest of you will likely get tired of me saying this: my story chapbook is now officially available for preorder! Books will ship around November 16th. All preorders will receive a copy of the book, along with the following: A (very) personal inscription. Note the specific name you would like the inscription made out to in the ...
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October 12, 2009
- Recently, I mentioned my obsession with RSS to a writer friend, and he was surprised by its capabilities. Maybe I’m too much of a salesman when it comes to nerdy tech things, but nonetheless, I piqued his interest. That got me thinking: what writer tools do I use and unintentionally keep to myself? Selfishly-kept secret #1: RSS. You’ve likely seen this icon: This represents a link to a ...
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August 22, 2009
- When Sideshow Fables creator Paul Eckert approached a group of writers (to which Paul and I belong) about creating a magazine of circus themed tales, I said a silent thank you on the behalf of all readers. He’s got it right, I think. Going about fanbase-building and marketing in the way that independent record companies have been doing for years is a wise move when falling publisher ...
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August 15, 2009
- Metafiction (see: “intertextual fiction”): self-referential fiction. A simple definition but one open to great possibilities. Think of the infinite mirror effect in that when two similar subjects are forced to reflect each other, self-commentary snowballs. For me, the pull started with Jorge Louis Borges’s story, “The Garden of Forking Paths”: “In all fictional works, each time a ...
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May 28, 2009
- With all the talk of dwindling advances, shrinking sales, and too many scribblers willing to saturate the bookshelves with crap, Writers (with the admittedly douchey capital "W") must become more creative in monetizing their efforts. I anticipate the recent Amazon Kindle decision to open its interface to the blogosphere at large will ultimately impact blog-structured web zines like ...
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March 14, 2009
- When a person takes interest in my work, I squeal. If you heard a hi-pitched shriek last night, I might be to blame. Craig Wallwork contacted me with a request to ask a few questions about my work and its ethic. Great conversation ensued, supported, I'm certain, not only by Craig's excellent provocative queries, but by the fictional Cat O'Nine Tails ambiance.You can learn: My thoughts on ...
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March 13, 2009
- Everybody seems to want something to shake dust and mold from assumed stagnant foundations. Ask any independent literary webzine editor what she wants and the words “original” and “new” will inevitably nestle into the response. This original and new work may come by way of various splintered isms, for better or worse.Literary isms sprout often, and lately it seems that so many of them ...
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December 29, 2008
- Chris Goldberg’s recent article at the Huffington Post states that men, in general, simply do not read. “But is it our fault?” he asks. “Or have publishers just given up trying to publish and market books that we want to read?” A sadly self-fulfilling prophecy? It’s true that we need writers, and publishers with the balls to market them, but in this case I think change must start with ...
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December 20, 2008
- The path to book sales shouldn’t be paved with white smiles and checkerboard slacks. When dealing with a product that has neither life-sustaining value nor infomercial superfluence, sales might best be treated as a byproduct of a well-manicured relationship. One between author and audience, as well as among the audience members themselves. Book groups exist. George Foreman Grill groups do not. ...
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December 13, 2008
- The new issue of UK's Gold Dust Magazine is available for sale. Also as a free .PDF download. Acquire by any means necessary. Featuring fiction by Alan Kelly, Jim Meirose, Robert Edward Sullivan, Robert Dando, the always impressive Christopher J. Dwyer, the always disappointing Caleb J Ross, THE Richard Thomas, V Ulea, Sam Szanto, and the ...
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November 30, 2008
- Issue Five of the Colored Chalk zine looms. Kidding. It's here. I don't want to blow too many minds here, but this issue has some fantastic writing by some fantastic writers (and one shitty writer named Caleb Ross). Do we have Peter Schwartz? Yep. Richard Thomas? Certainly. Alex Martin? Definitely. Michael Morey? Let me check...yes. Stephen Graham Jones? Come again? Stephen Graham Jones! ...
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November 8, 2008
- An Abebooks bookseller is trying to get a quarter of a million dollars for a collection of signed Barack Obama books. To put this into perspective, a signed copy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s first book goes for 20K. L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought goes for $8.07 (but to be fair, this converts to 1 Bajillion Quagnars). This begs a few questions: 1) what’s the point ...
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October 19, 2008
- I've been clicking over to 3:AM Magazine for quite a while now. I can't remember where I first heard about it (probably from Dogmatika, where I hear about most every great thing in the underground lit scene), so I can't place praise with full accuracy. However, I can pass on the good word. And what better way to do so than via the news of my own story, "Snake Girl at Scab," getting some ...
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