Words From the Publisher #1
by Richard Chizmar
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Have you ever seen that old Billy Crystal movie CITY SLICKERS? Most of you probably have and those of you who haven’t probably should. It’s a lot of fun.
In case you missed it, the movie follows three middle aged big city men who are each in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Longtime friends, they decide to go on a two week vacation to a dude ranch out West.
They’re expecting fresh air, good food, and a little harmless fun. What they get is…Curly. An old time, real life cowboy played wonderfully by Jack Palance (I believe he won the Oscar for his performance). Curly teaches our boys how to be real cowboys and at the same time teaches them a thing or two about life and friendship.
There’s a lot of action and laughs in CITY SLICKERS. Even a few tears.
But my favorite scene in the movie comes near the end. Advertising exec Mitch (Billy Crystal) has just arrived back in the city and his family is picking him up at the airport. While his kids admire the calf he brought home to them from the dude ranch, Mitch and his wife embrace outside the car and she tells him, “It’s okay if you want to quit your job. We’ll be okay. I support you.”
Mitch, renewed by his experience out West, pauses for just a beat and says, “I don’t want to quit my job, honey…I just want to do it better.”
**
I feel a lot like Billy Crystal these days.
I just want to do my job — and do it better.
Let me explain…
We published 15 books last year (21 if you count chapbooks), 10 the year before. Not bad for a small press. I’m betting (without counting other press’s totals or really giving a damn) that the only small presses out there that published more books during that time period are Subterranean Press and PS Publishing.
But still it wasn’t a good couple of years for us. For me.
We had planned for a lot more titles, had promised them, in fact — and didn’t come through.
Sure, most of our authors were gracious. Same with most of our customers.
We’ve been around 20 years now, so folks know they will get their books — and they will be worth the wait.
But some customers were disappointed. Others were ticked off. And they had a right to be.
We, as a publisher, have a responsibility to our readers. It’s something I felt very strongly about from Day One, back in 1988, and it’s something that every person who works here at CD thinks about every single day. Customers trust us with their hard-earned money, they energize us with their feedback and enthusiasm — and for that we owe them the best job we can do.
And let me tell you something… Mindy Jarusek, Brian and Kate Freeman, and Andrea Wilson have worked their backsides off the past couple years. They’ve done their jobs exceptionally well and much of the time they’ve done their jobs without enough input and support from me.
That’s right, if there has been a problem here at CD the past couple years…you’re looking at it.
And the reasons why are pretty simple.
I spent the first half of 2007 taking care of my father. I already wrote about this in an earlier issue of CD magazine. I’m going to reprint that editorial here for those who don’t read the mag.
**
From Cemetery Dance #58…
I’ve always watched him. Secretly. From the time I was a child. Watched the way his eyebrows danced when he laughed. The way he lit his pipe or handled a tool, like a magician wielding a magic wand. The way he walked the family dog; bending to talk with it or ruffle its fur, but only when he was sure no one was watching. The way he read the newspaper or one of his tattered old paperbacks, peering over the worn pages every few minutes to keep me in check. The way his eyes twinkled when he called me “son.” I’ve always watched him.
The above paragraph is the opening of a short story I wrote 15 years ago. It’s called “Heroes.” It’s about my father.
My father raised five kids. Went to work every day at the airfield. The Cal Ripken of aircraft mechanics. He fought in World War 2. Traveled the world. He was an amazing husband to my mother. A hero to us kids.
My father is the reason I love to read so much. The reason I became a writer. He was always reading something. Newspaper. Magazine. Back of a cereal box. History books by the stack. But usually it was a beat-up old paperback. The kind you swapped for at the local library. Spy novels. Adventure stories. Pulps. I often tell people that I grew up only seeing the top half of my dad’s face — usually above an old paperback while he watched me playing ball, fishing, swimming, looking for crayfish in the creek. It always makes me smile when I think of him like that…
The following sentence appears near the end of “Heroes”:
I remember someone once said that there is nothing sadder, nothing more heartbreaking, than watching your hero die. They were right.
My father is sick. Cancer. The real bad stuff. He’s a brave man, more worried about us than himself. He’s often in pain and confused…but somehow he continues to teach us all about dignity and selflessness. He’s surrounded by family and friends. All of us supporting him. Supporting each other.
And as they often do late in life, the roles of father and son have reversed themselves. Some days, I help comb his hair, help him get dressed, help him cut up his food…and I remember him doing the same for me when I was a kid. I remember his hand swallowing up my hand, the way he smelled of aftershave, the way his voice sounded. I remember everything from those days…because I truly did always watch him. And I continue to do so today…usually over the top of a tattered old paperback of my own. My father taught me well.
My father still loves to read. He’s currently reading Rear Window by Cornell Woolrich. Last week he read an Ed Gorman novel. He also loves the fact that his son makes his living as a writer and publisher and editor. He loves Cemetery Dance Publications and the magazine you are holding in your hands. My father is the best man I have ever known.
**
My father died shortly after I wrote this. I’m still feeling his loss today. It took six months for the cancer to take him, and it’s taken after 18 months for me to feel human again. Two damn years. Not an excuse. Not a plea for sympathy. I want neither.
It’s simply an admission. As much to myself as to all of you. And it’s not an easy one.
At some point, late last year, I finally woke up and came to terms with all this. Sure, I was depressed. I had lost my father, my best friend. I had watched him die, slowly, one day at a time, in a way I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. Of course, I was depressed.
But it was more than that — and it took the better part of last year for me to get it through my thick head. I was lost. I wasn’t putting in the same hours I once had at the job I loved. I didn’t have the same enthusiasm, the same spirit…the same heart. I didn’t have the same vision.
And then a couple close friends in the business asked me a question, pretty much the same question — and I woke up.
**
The first question went something like this:
“Rich, you’ve been doing this for 20 years now. You’ve won every award you can win. You’ve published all the big guys. You’ve been around for horror’s re-birth and its re-death. Aren’t you tired yet? Aren’t you ready to quit publishing and do something new?”
The second question:
“Chizmar, are you a fool or what? The publishing industry is a mess. Small presses are dying every day. Even most of the popular small presses are slowing down or turning to trade paperbacks. Magazines — big and little — are dying every week. Others are tucking their tails between their legs and transforming into online publications. New York publishing is no better. Lay offs. Entire divisions being closed down. Can’t you see the writing on the wall? Aren’t you ready to quit yet?”
**
It was just before the holidays when I was asked both of these questions within the space of a couple days — and like a man waking from a long and unhappy dream, I took a good look around, a good look at myself, and started to blink away the dust.
And my answer was simple — no, I’m not tired. No, I’m not ready to quit my job.
I just want to do it better.
And I will.
**
It’s funny. People asked me the same type of questions 13 years ago when I was fortunate enough to survive two bouts with cancer myself. “Are you ready to move on and try something new?”
I guess they expected me to come out of that experience with a different outlook on life. Maybe they expected me to be more serious, to put away my little magazine and book hobby and get a “real job.”
All I remember thinking at the time was… how can I quit my dream?
**
Cemetery Dance is my dream.
I love this genre. I always have. I love the stories, the books, the movies, the comics, the artwork. All of it.
To be able to make my living — for the past two decades — doing something I love so much is a blessing.
And, as I noted earlier, it’s also a responsibility.
If I ever need a reminder of that, the last two years of my life will always be there to look back on…and learn from.
And I have learned from this.
You see, I don’t just want to do my job better. I need to.
As corny as it sounds, I need to for my heart and my soul.
I need to in order to make life easier for Mindy and Brian and Kate and Andrea. To help them do their jobs, not hinder them.
I need to for all of CD’s authors and readers.
And I need to in order for CD to get back to where it belongs.
People are right. Publishing is a mess. The genre is hurting. And it’s only going to get worse.
Readers deserve Cemetery Dance Publications back with both barrels blazing.
And we are on our way.
**
So what’s the short version of all this rambling?
A few things…
#1 — The boss is back. And it’s about time.
#2 — The time has come. CD is about to undergo some changes. CD is about to get a whole lot better and a whole lot more fun.
#3 — Cemetery Dance Publications is my dream and will be around for a long, long time. Go ahead and bet against that. People have been betting against CD since issue #3 when we added color to the cover, way back in 1990. So bet against us if you want, but I promise you…you will lose.
**
So…where do we start with these changes?
The magazine, of course.
It’s where everything first began back in 1988 — and it’s where we’ll begin reinventing in 2009.
Let me tell you a secret. Out of all the things I love about CD — the books, the comics, the chapbooks, the t-shirts…the magazine is my favorite.
It’s certainly not for business reasons. Anyone will tell you that publishing a small magazine is not a high (or even low) profit business.
But horror magazines were responsible for getting me into the publishing biz in the first place — namely David Silva’s amazing The Horror Show — and they will always hold a special place in my heart.
Back in the late 80′s/early 90′s there were more mags — big and small — than you could shake a stick at. The Twilight Zone. Night Cry. Grue. Deathrealm. Twisted. Portents. Midnight Graffiti. Eldritch Tales. The Scream Factory. Iniquities. After Hours. And so many other good ones.
Sadly, nowadays, you can count the good magazines on one hand.
Most are dying, dead and buried, or exclusively publishing online.
Many of the remaining newsstand magazines run 48-60 pages in length. And sell for $6-$9 a pop. Not anyone’s idea of a bargain.
The genre needs a good magazine. A timely magazine. And Cemetery Dance is going to continue to fill this need (that’s right, I said timely — as I noted earlier, there are changes coming!).
**
Beginning with issue #61, we are introducing a brand new cover and interior page design (Kate Freeman, who has designed complicated projects like The Secretary of Dreams and Dark Forces, will be in charge of CD’s new look). In addition to the new design, we will also be juggling the non-fiction contents of the mag — welcoming aboard brand new columnists Don D’Auria, Ellen Datlow, and Mark Sieber, as well as Nanci Kalanta as our Reviews Editor. We’re also thrilled to report that longtime CD favorite Ed Gorman will be returning to these pages with a new column — and perennial favorites Thomas F. Monteleone, Michael Marano, Bev Vincent, and Bob Morrish are all returning. Associate Editor Norman Prentiss will now be in charge of all non-fiction appearing in the magazine and Brian Freeman, Mindy Jarusek, and Andrea Wilson will also be assuming larger roles in production.
Cemetery Dance #60 is due back from the printer in about six weeks. Here is our schedule for the upcoming issues:
• Cemetery Dance #61 — Peter Straub Special Issue (cover by Alan M .Clark)
• Cemetery Dance #62 — William Peter Blatty Special Issue (cover by Les Edwards)
**
That’s all for this time. Next column, I’ll talk a little about Chesapeake Films and my involvement in the film industry. We have some cool stuff happening with Stephen King’s FROM A BUICK 8 (finally), news about the DVD release of Ed Gorman’s THE POKER CLUB, and a few other surprises.
I’ll also fill you in on our new book schedule and some exciting news about Grave Tales.
– Richard Chizmar
