FULL BLEED: SEVEN STORIES TALL

“In a tall building there is so much to do.”

You said it, Robert.

So, Fake Believe is happening. Like that on-again/off-again planet-killing asteroid that may or may not be on a collision course with us this year or next.

The ultimate insane project, a one-author anthology. Hey, at least they’re not all stories off the same prompt, unless that prompt happens to be “interesting stuff that’s happening in a Los Angeles of the eighties which is slowly sliding into a world of strange magic” and I guess that does sound sorta interesting. Seriously, though, one-author anthologies are what self-publishing was made for, like Tyrone Power and the life of a geek in Nightmare Alley. Yes, Ray Bradbury has plenty of collections of his own stories. Bradbury also came up in a world with so many paying writing markets that paid very well compared to the cost of living that it’s nearly unbelievable. And you could actually develop a mainstream career as a writer of short stories.

“So why even do this if you’re going to be so down on yourself?” you might ask.

Because it was the only thing that made any sense. In an insane world, etc etc. All of these stories are just that, stand-alone stories. Sure, they might lead to something else, but there wasn’t enough there there to spin them into novellas or novels.

Can’t recall if I’ve talked about this before, but one of the not-secret inspirations for the Hazeland books themselves came from reading comics that spun into long-form stories. I’m not talking about just Watchmen, for instance, which was always of a defined scope and twelve-issue duration. I’m talking about runs of comics like Uncanny X-Men (94-150 even if that original plan got sidetracked and spun out longer), the Moore (and many artists) run on Swamp Thing, The Invisibles and Doom Patrol (Grant Morrison and many artists), Hellblazer’s original run from say 1-41 or whenever Jamie Delano and Dave McKean brought the story to a close (but it kept going). Yes, even The Sandman by Gaiman and others. All of those ran very long, telling an entire story (but sometimes still going because franchise has its demands). And honestly, I should probably write up something on these series and others which really hit me at the right time, but not right now.

One of the things that happened in those series was that we got single issues that also told a whole story, maybe illuminating a new corner of that fictional world, or exploring a character who could look at things differently, offering a change of pace and tone. That was the idea with the stories that ended up in Fake Believe. Play with some ideas that will get folded into the bigger work but in a more contained fashion.

There was a time that I thought I could place stories in anthologies or fiction magazines. For a time, I did. A short time. Everything after that has been either too long or not genre enough or just what the editor wanted (which is how you really get story sales and don’t think it’s anything different.) I even tried to place a few of these from Fake Believe, but it never happened. Including one which I think is probably the closest I’ve come to writing a successful short story since I stumbled into a little success with them. Oh well. But hearing from the editor that “it just didn’t do it for me” in many more words than that is frustrating. Particularly when you go on to see that editor on video panels talking about how only the best of the best get to be on their pages now, but not explaining what that actually is. Yeah, I’m salty. I was born salty.

Maybe these are really just short short novels. A short story is actually a different beast altogether. And, truthfully, I’ve been better at novels. Or at least I think that’s the case. Im a little too close to tell for sure. I do know that I can’t really make 5k words as an upper limit work. I’m rolling around then. I regard it as a personal failing. And let’s not speak of flash. I have no sense for it whatsoever. I’d be better off writing blank verse.

So these were fun stories to write, mostly coming pretty easily. Some were a little more tortured, mostly in the front half. Im not always great with the setups and a bit/lot unfocused. They all came together in the end. And I won’t lie. Some are much more horror than others. Don’t let that worry you. Unless you’re reading horror to get gnarly. In that case you’ve probably already figured that I’m not your guy.

They are all fantastic, even if they’re not straight fantasy. Particularly if they’re not urban fantasy. Which is weird, because these are all stories based in an urban setting, and they’re fantasy. But urban fantasy has become shorthand for tattooed badass heroes and heroines fighting vampires in gritty settings. Or taking them to bed. Or both. So maybe I’m trying to reclaim the term. Or maybe I don’t care since all those designations are for shelving books more than anything. Call these stories what you want. I don’t know what else to other than fantasy slash horror slash crime.

Like all the other Hazeland books, they’re what I wanted to write. Though there’s been some drift in that over the years. The first one in particular, the Queen of No Tomorrows, I put some things in and handled some characters in a particular way because of the expectations of horror. There’s some I’d rewrite. But I didn’t do it a couple years ago when I had the chance. I didn’t want to turn into George Lucas special-edition-izing that original trilogy. TQONT happened and it’s done. Good or bad, it’s the base. I’ve pushed things in different directions since then and continued to do so. I’m hoping I won’t lose folks along the way, But I’m not spending a lot of time thinking about that.

That’s what the direct appeal via Kickstarter is for. To sidestep all the genre gatekeeping and get right to the audience.

So let’s roll those dice.

One more day.

If you missed it, there's a more thorough breakdown of the stories in Fake Believe right here. It also includes the first third or so of the story "Suicide Jewelry" which should give you a sense of whether or not you want to stick around for more.

See you tomorrow.