Forum / This Is HUGE: Valentine Day Massacre CHAPBOOK Announcement
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 08:06amGloria Mindock of Cervena Barva Press was very impressed with the work presented for the V-Day Challenge. She has graciously offered to publish a chapbook of the V-Day stories and poems! Cervena Barva Press published my first chapbook Blue Edge in 2006, and has published many established writers as well as new voices. This press' books and chapbooks are of the highest quality. This is a fabulous opportunity for everyone who participated in the challenge! Go to Cervena Barva Press website to see all the beautiful books Gloria has published, and what else she has forthcoming. www.cervenabarvapress.com
More details on V-Day chapbook soon...
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David ErlewineFeb 15, 08:59amWOW! That is some bleepin' news! What a nice way to start Monday morning! D
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Kevin MyrickFeb 15, 09:19amThat's great news Susan! And thanks Gloria!
Do we have the option of one last look at our stories for editing purposes before it goes to press? Or does the work stand as it is?
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Sam RasnakeFeb 15, 09:26amCongratulations to you, Susan, for starting all this.
I am glad I participated - I almost didn't because of my editorial policy of not posting unpublished work. It was an important piece, that I probably would not have written - at least not in its present form - if not for your challenge. So, thanks.
I look forward to this chapbook.
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 09:37am
There will be plenty of TIME for everyone to edit, etc, before turning in your manuscript to the press. It also takes time to assemble a chapbook. I will keep everyone updated on the process as we move along.
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Finnegan FlawntFeb 15, 10:08am"Chapbook is a generic term to cover a particular genre of pocket-sized booklet, popular from the sixteenth through to the later part of the nineteenth century. No exact definition can be applied." (source: wikipedia)
i have come across this term 'chapbook' in anyone's posts many times. pleased to be part of something that i don't quite understand and that's (see quote) so out of this world as to close the great time warp in the best postmodern sense of the word.
i stand by every word, true to my heraldic posy "when you've got it, flaunt it."
thanks, susan!
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Josh SpilkerFeb 15, 10:20amwow, congrats. found out about this too late, but this is awesome.
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 10:33am
Finnegan, the actual standard chapbook size these days is 5 and a half by 8 and a half inches. Not quite pocket-sized but certainly handy to carry around. And nice to give as gifts. It's a popular form of book for poetry and short fiction. The perfect format for our V-Day challenge poems and stories.
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Finnegan FlawntFeb 15, 11:16am
susan, it sounds practically perfect in every way and you're the wo/man, in my view. Cervena barva press of course must be thanked, too, on the grounds of recognising a good thing when they saw it. Looking forward to this (for me) new process!
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xTx!Feb 15, 11:17amWheeee!!!!!
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Dorothee LangFeb 15, 11:49amyey!! what a great idea!
will go and look at their webpage now :) -
Susan GibbFeb 15, 12:03pmOh my--what happens when you get down to housework and don't check the internet!
Susan, I'm so very happy you started this all and grateful to Gloria and Cervena for realizing its potential.
It was a wonderful project and some phenomenal work was produced in just a couple days. Thank you all!
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 12:23pm
CLARIFICATION: Fictionaut TWITTER shows 20 stories and poems posted for the Valentine's Day Massacre Challenge, but there were actually a total of 25 stories and poems for the challenge.
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Sam RasnakeFeb 15, 12:46pm
Is the difference in number, Susan, because some writers - like myself - didn't list Valentine's Day Massacre in the title line?
I didn't even think about that. I placed the challenge note with the poem itself.
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 01:09pm
Yes, Sam. But we've got you and everybody else who did the challenge covered. It's 25.
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Finnegan FlawntFeb 15, 01:17pm
the cross total of 25 is 2 + 5 = 7 - a lucky number:
"Seven is the fourth prime number. It is not only a Mersenne prime (since 23 − 1 = 7) but also a double Mersenne prime since it is itself the exponent for another Mersenne prime (127). It is also a Newman-Shanks-Williams prime, a Woodall prime, a factorial prime, a lucky prime, a happy number, a safe prime and the fourth Heegner number." (source: wikipedia)
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Doug BondFeb 15, 01:52pmBravo Susan....you've set something wonderful in motion here. Can't wait for the St. Patrick's Day challenge...now that should be amusing...
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Gloria MindockFeb 15, 01:57pmI am so happy that all of you are excited about this. It is such an honor for me to publish this chapbook.
Best,
Gloria
Cervena Barva Press -
Sam RasnakeFeb 15, 02:06pm
Thank you, Gloria, for this marvelous opportunity.
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Meg PokrassFeb 15, 02:26pmThis news is incredible! Thank you Susan, Gloria, and everyone who participated to make this so special!
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Susan TepperFeb 15, 02:35pm
Doug, I definitely think you are the guy to run the St. Paddy's challenge!
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Derek OsborneFeb 15, 02:44pmSo I get up this AM and have to rush out for a meeting. Didn't even get upstairs till now and what do I see? Thanks for doing this and thanks for including me. I'm psyched.
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Julie InnisFeb 15, 02:51pmThis is wonderful news, all! What a collection of great talents!!
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Carol ReidFeb 15, 02:57pmCongrats to all of you! I look forward to seeing your collection.
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Kevin MyrickFeb 15, 03:36pm
Finnegan, did you just use math on a fiction website? Seriously? I think my brain just exploded.
I've already got an excellent story planned for St. Patrick's Day too...
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Estelle BrunoFeb 15, 04:58pmIt sure is a pleasure to be in your
chap book Gloria. -
Miles TepperFeb 15, 04:59pmGloria, this is really exciting. This is a great thing you are doing.
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David ErlewineFeb 15, 05:11pm
Folks like Gloria and Susan make me happy to be toiling away at stories at odd hours of the night. Thanks to you both.
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Ajay NairFeb 15, 11:00pmThis sounds very exciting. Can't wait!
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See yaFeb 16, 06:10amThis is simply awesome. Wow, it's going to be a helluva chapbook, I think.
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sara t.Feb 16, 09:04amGreat news. Feels good to be part of this. When is this going to be published?
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Gary PercesepeFeb 16, 10:13amgreat to see so many people happy--shiny, happy, massacred.
tee hee
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Darryl PriceFeb 16, 10:28amI agree. Here have some heart.
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Nora NadjarianFeb 16, 11:00amwhat a lovely surprise! thanks Susan and Gloria! well done all fellow writers and fictionaut friends!!!
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Matt KangFeb 16, 01:54pmHey, this is great news.
Thanks, and I'm grateful (and confused) to be a part of this.
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Angela BrettFeb 16, 03:40pmI'm also grateful and confused (What's a chapbook? Is there money involved or is it all, appropriately, 'for love'?), and wondering why Finnegan considers the properties of the remainder when 25 is divided by 9 to be more important than the properties of 25 itself. Not only is it both square and octagonal, it's what the baby's using. (I'm not going to explain that, because the video explaining where it really came from has been taken down, so I guess its originator wants it to be mysterious.) And yeah, if I go to wikipedia, I find that it's the smallest composite non-sociable number whose aliquot sequence does not terminate.
However, in case anyone else was confused by his post, I should mention that the 3 is an exponent.
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Susan GibbFeb 16, 05:54pm
If you go to the Cervana site, www.cervenabarvapress.com you'll get a better idea of a chapbook (and the high quality that this press produces). It is usually a short essay, a small collection of a few stories or poetry, normally a focused theme or subject, so this is a perfect form for this selection of pieces. Since Gloria graciously offered to produce this, there is no money paid to the writers but I think that the chapbook will be like an anthology of a two-day hustle where 25 writers and poets put together their talents and came out with a phenomenal array of Valentine reading. It's sort of a joy of camaraderie that will be honored by print.
Angela--as far as the numbers go, I'll leave that to Finny to answer!
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Dorothee LangFeb 17, 03:27am
Gloria, Susan: so great that you had this idea! thanks for creating this chapbook. i visited the Cervana Press site, it looks really good. now i can't wait for the valentine massacre to go print.
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Finnegan FlawntFeb 17, 03:54am
angela, i dig you. the 13 letters of this last sentence is the smallest integer with eight letters in its spelled out name in English. It is also the age at which children officially become teenagers.
we ought to start thinking about a new litmag called math 101 or something like it. so MUCH you can do with numbers never mind the inherent distraction from the writing path.
as an afterthought - 'masscacre', via its 8 letters, can uselessly be linked via quaternions and the exceptional lie group E(8) to quantum physics. hence, with love and quantum physics at its start, this chapbook may well contain all of the wonders of this world. pat yourself on yer back for that, folks.
with so many connections and miracles in one place, i am surprised and appalled that we will not get paid for this chapbook but i suppose i'll let it go this time. (just kidding, of course)
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Susan TepperFeb 17, 09:48am
Susan Gibb has summed it up quite perfectly. This is a fabulous opportunity to have the Valentine Massacre work come out in print by a very fine press. It will be a very special chapbook by a group of connected writers who obviously believe in the power of love.
Also, check out the Fictionaut Cervena Barva Press Group for updates and links (I posted one recently). -
David ErlewineFeb 21, 12:25pm
I shared the good news with Susan and Gloria bu thought I'd post here too...maybe get some others to submit their V-Day stories. A slightly revised version of my V-Day story (shaved down about 150 words) was just accepted by Staccato Fiction. Should be up on their site soon. Thanks to everyone who commented on this story. And thanks to Susan for inspiring it. I'm often accused of having stories that are just dark and depressing. While my story had dark elements, I think it was the most fun I've had writing something in a long time. And I hope I don't come across as annoying for saying that).
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Susan TepperFeb 22, 10:02am
David, you don't come across annoying in any way, shape or form. I'm so glad you had fun with the challenge, that was the whole point of it. Then for Gloria to step up and offer to make us a chapbook-- well that was the icing on the cake! Your stories are dark and compelling. You (everyone) should always write what we want to, and never worry about other peoples opinions. That's my soap-box message of the day. Cheers!
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David ErlewineFeb 22, 12:32pm
Why thank you, Susan! What a nice note. My wife and my parents and, well, a number of my friends are always telling me to write something "happy." I'm not sure they'll consider this a happy story (ha ha) but it might be as close as I get. That said, the experience definitely was fun and one I should try again soon. Indeed, it was a great challenge.
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Susan TepperFeb 22, 12:41pm
well sharpen your pen for the April Fool Challenge that Kevin Myrick has proposed--
I'm looking fwd to that one, too!
BTW, great interview you did on jmww blog with Mike Czynewjewski of Mid-American Review. -
David ErlewineFeb 22, 12:46pm
Indeed, I will be ready for the April Fools Challenge!
And thanks so much about the Mike Czyzniejewski interview. His book is amazing and I hope more people read it along with his wonderful stories online.
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