2011 in brief

2011 was quite eventful for me. I started a new job*, somehow managed to pass my final module for my BA (Hons) Degree in Literature, decided that throwing money at Murky Depths wasn’t ever going to produce a break-even scenario and that cutting my losses was the best option, had some great and some abysmal conventions, had one of our paperbacks voted Best Novel in the British Fantasy Awards (Sam Stone’s Demon Dance) only for Sam to throw it back because of the controversy, beefed out the new Murkee imprint ready for launch this year, started a comics review column in the BSFA’s Vector magazine, had a new granddaughter, had her parents move in with is (until they find a home nearby), got to see my son at last lead-singing his band Ménage à Trios and had a medium tell me that I was going to be successful this year – at what though was never said (but then they don’t do they?).

*(just one day a week, mind) at another primary school (I already worked one day a week at a primary school) but accepted conditions far and above what I was being paid for. ie I’m not a teacher but am expected to write all the lesson plans and co-ordinate across the school the making of clay tiles, firing, decorating and fitting them on an exterior wall. My hours are 9 till 3.15 with an hour PPA time (more than the recommended 10%, but as I’m all new to this it takes me days to sort out the plans!), but I’m expected to arrive early – my TA has other duties so can’t arrange resources and see all the kids are safely in the hands of their parents or guardians – with no additional pay. Thankfully there will be a new headmistress on my return next week so hopefully (though I’m not going to hold my breath) there will be a tad more understanding.

I Dream Of Ants

Back in 2006 when Murky Depths was still under development we needed to put across our message. The easiest way of doing that was to publish a promo issue. So we set about putting Issue #0 together, a 16–page attempt to give people an idea of what an 80-page Murky Depths might deliver. Not easy.

We got Les Edwards on board with a cover – okay, not an original piece of artwork but it fulfilled our need for a striking cover. Dave Evans from Futurequake allowed us to use a one page comic that was spot on what I wanted. Among the contributions I received a piece of flash that both made me smile and shock. That was to be our first story from Lavie Tidhar. He has since had stories in Issues #1, #6, #10 & #13, the latter three being comics, and Issue #15 saw the start of his I Dream Of Ants series which was due to complete in Issue #19. Ooops. We stopped publishing Murky depths at Issue #18.

Not wanting to disappoint those who have been following Ants we will be publishing the whole series as a standalone comic, re-toned, in March, 2012, with artwork and cover by Neil Struthers.

Dead Girls

With the final issue of Murky Depths still selling like hot cakes it seems paramount that Richard Calder’s Dead Girls continues its run somewhere. Those expecting another hardback limited edition – an Act 2 to follow Act 1 – might be disappointed as we have decided, while Act 1 was a great product and has virtually sold out, to go back to the start and re-issue Dead Girls as a series of 24-page comics which will see the current story through to the end. Dead Girls #1 with three additional pages will therefore be launching in the first quarter of 2012 with subsequent issues appearing every three months. Each cover will be illustrated by a different artist although it’s still Leonardo M Giron’s internal artwork that will take Dead Girls to its present conclusion.

If you feel up to the challenge of producing an illustration that will do a Dead Girls cover justice let us know!

New YA Murkee imprint

For almost as long as Murky Depths has been in print we, that is The House of Murky Depths, have been considering producing a series of YA or children’s books. Now that we have made the decision to close Murky Depths we are intent on making an impact with the teenage reader and consequently have launched a new imprint called Murkee which will publish similar genres to its parent, i.e. science fiction, horror and fantasy. The books will initially be at the lower end of the novella range at around 20k words with a cover price of between £3.99 and £4.99.

The first book will be launching at the SFX Weekender in February 2012 and is a steampunk story called Queen Rat from the pen of rising star Kim Lakin-Smith. Whereas most steampunk stories feature dirigibles, Lakin-Smith’s story is set in the submersible world of the Free Ocean where 14-year-old Princess Ratiana Clementine Saint John of the submersible Victoriana is to be wed to Prince Simeon of the Aesthetes. Not only are neither of them keen on the match but to add insult to injury they have no option but to fulfil several life-threatening Grand Rites together before the knot can be tied. As their trials unfold we learn more about their world and they learn more about each other, but will they survive?

Kim Lakin-Smith has two other novels available: Tournequet from Immanion Press and Cyber Circus from Newcon Press and will be signing Queen Rat and her other novels at the SFX Weekender.

Murky Depths’ demise

Starting a print magazine just months before a major recession and around the time e-books begin to gain a foothold doesn’t sound like a recipe for major success, but all good publishers have to be optimistic and I believed that Murky Depths was different enough – with it’s high production values and mix of prose and comics – to wow the reading public. Some people thought it was fantastic from the off, while others – some even who were small press publishers themselves, although I have to say most other publishers of genre magazines have been ultra helpful – didn’t want us to succeed, to the point of making derogatory remarks on genre forums. If great reviews, appreciation and words of encouragement were enough to keep a magazine going then Murky Depths would be around for years to come, but unfortunately goodwill doesn’t pay the bills – and neither does winning an award guarantee increased sales.

Optimism has, eventually, to be checked by common sense and a business model that, at the very least, gives a return that covers the full costs of production and distribution. We were never in a position to fling golden ingots into marketing and, in any case, I’m not so sure that the market for Murky Depths could ever be as big as was necessary to keep it viable.

So, to all those who whispered that Murky Depths wouldn’t succeed … you were right, but I bet you never quite expected it to be as influential as it has been.

The bottom line is, Issue #18 is the last one. No we’re not going the e-route, that’s far too easy, and no doubt someone else will pick up and run with a similar publication designed specifically for e-readers … but then maybe not.

While Murky Depths, the anthology magazine, may be no more, it’s far from dead and The House of Murky Depths is to continue publishing paperbacks and graphic novels using the experience it has gained over the last five years. Murky Depths is dead. Long live Murky Depths.

Phlegm? No, mucus.

Lauren Beukes gives us a little insight into her success here. While I’ve not yet read any of her work it’s something I intend to do. Her Arthur C Clarke award for Zoo City suggests she has talent (other than her looks, and I mean that in the nicest possible way) and there seems to have been, and still are, lots of people going out on a limb to put her where she is, or at least help her to get there. She surely understands the aspiring writer so I was more than a little disappointed earlier this year to overhear her asking another writer why they bothered to allow magazines like Murky Depths – in this case specifically Murky Depths – that only pay token rates, to print their work, and even that they shouldn’t do it. Surely writers like Lauren should be encouraging and supporting small press publications who one day would love to be in a position to pay pro rates. We all have to start somewhere. Surely an aspiring publisher is not that far removed from an aspiring writer – only, publishers are the ones investing their money and time in writers. That the likes of established writers such as Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Mike Carey, Juliet E McKenna, Richard Calder, Stan Nichols and Robert Rankin have supported Murky Depths says a lot about their appreciation of what the independent press is trying to do. It’s a shame that not all new kids on the block think that way because then, perhaps, we could work towards success together.

British Fantasy Awards Best Novel

. . . went to our very own Sam Stone. The first time a woman has won this award for 31 years. There was some controversy following the awards that the BFS winners have become horror rather than fantasy. Those who have read Demon Dance (the winning novel) will agree it’s a (not-so-typical) heroic quest – certainly not horror romance. The hero(ine) starts her journey in a symbolic Garden of Eden where she meets the “the creator”. Okay, so she’s a vampire, and trying to get back to her lover, but the story itself journals her adventures through time and the challenges she faces in trying to get back to him – her quest. Demon Dance IS fantasy.

Conventions and the dealer

Why do conventions have dealer rooms? A cynical response might be that the organisers need the revenue to run their event. An organiser’s response might be that they are offering their members an additional attraction. Some conventions charge dealers just a nominal rate for tables, although the dealers still have to pay the same membership fee as others but without the ability to visit the panels, while others will shock you with a mortgage! Some conventions make the dealer room the main attraction while others add a dealer room almost as an afterthought. But what are dealers doing there in the first place? Selling their wares seems the most obvious answer but that’s often too simple. Of course dealers need to cover their costs – that probably happens less than you think if all costs are taken into consideration – but for the likes of Murky Depths and our publishing arm it’s also about promoting the brand, to let people know what we’re about. It doesn’t follow that the bigger the show the better the sales. MCM Expo get thousands through the door but it’s always been one of our most disappointing events, no disrespect to Bryan Cooney who made a bold pitch to get us to take a table again during Asylum – and we all think we can organise something better . . . Eastercon is a much smaller affair despite being probably the biggest ‘purest’ science fiction convention in the UK and, though this year was very disappointing for us (but that may have been due to the venue), it’s usually one of our most fruitful events. The SFX Weekender, with its membership of ‘ordinary’ SF readers with a far more open mind than the pure genre cons, and with no preconceived idea of what is ‘trendy’, has so far been our most lucrative event ever, but from year to year it’s difficult to predict what your sales are going to be. But, like I said, it’s not all about sales when you’re at a convention. MCM Expo might have been a financial disaster but we spotted and commissioned five new artists.
At the end of the day do convention members want dealer rooms? It’s somewhere to go and browse between panels, but if browsing is all that’s done then some dealers will eventually not support the event any more. Organisers can sometimes forget that that is exactly what the dealers are doing . . . supporting the event. There has always been a new dealer ready to fill the table of the ‘fallen’ with aspirations and hopes of success, but will that always be the case?

When is a publisher a publisher?

When people in the UK reel of a list of small, or independent, presses I’ve never heard them mention The House of Murky Depths, yet we’ve published sixteen Murky Depths anthologies (and one at the printers as I write), three paperback novels (a fourth to be published later this year), five standalone comics and two hardback graphic novels. That’s 28 publications in our catalogue. So, can anyone tell me how many publications we need to get out there before we’re actually recognised as a publisher?

Publisher’s Day at Waterstones, Peterborough

First of a series of experimental trips to the biggest UK bookstore chain with the Murky Depths catalogue – mainly Murky Depths, of course, but also comics, graphic novels and Sam Stone’s Vampire Gene series. It went well and the second one will be at St Neots on Saturday 16 April – sandwiched between Kapow and Illustrious/Eastercon.