Get ready for Villaintine’s Day: teaser image 👀
Raven Belasco I’m writing this through a horrific cold (which I’ve been bitching about over on Bluesky) and I could have just stayed in bed and continued binging Star Trek: TNG, but no, I have dragged my ailing ass over to the computer to write this for you. Be very glad emails cannot pass along germs, because this has been the Cold From Hell, and I hope you steer clear of it!
It all always bunches up 🙄
I have worked on both these new stories in the am’r world over very different months, but for some reason, they are both finally going to be available to read around the same time. “It never rains but it pours” and all.
I have worked on both these new stories in the am’r world over very different months, but for some reason, they are both finally going to be available to read around the same time. “It never rains but it pours” and all.
Firstly, you’ll be meeting Lady Ankaret Isobel L’Estrange Ruthven in the annual Villaintine’s Day Card. You haven’t met her yet, but she will be grabbing your attention by the short-n-curlies in the upcoming novella (which is still only titled “That Lesbian Vampire Pirates Story” and I’m starting to consider just shrugging and naming it “Friggin’ in the Riggin’” because a more useful name is just not coming to me…
You’ll get to see the whole thing on Friday!
Get ready for a special email in your inboxes on Friday February 14th, with the three cards to vote upon and choose a winner!
Avoiding Drama and Lessons Learned
Next up, the short story “Finding Bela Lugosi” (which, thank goodness, at least has a title!) is shortly coming back from the sensitivity editor, and then I can quickly turn it around and finally get it out into the world!
There’s a saga of a story behind this story. Go get a cup of something nice to drink, and settle in for it…
I had no plan to write another short story right now—I think we can all agree I need to be writing the fourth novel in the series! But I saw that a Bauhaus Anthology was happening, and if there was any fiction anthology I needed to be a part of, it was one devoted to the seminal goth band Bauhaus and their influence in helping to create the goth scene as we know it today (never mind their personal influence on me!)
However, I made a mistake and did not research deeply enough into the author who was creating this anthology. I have never, in decades of being published in anthologies, had any real trouble with the process.
At first everything seemed OK. The guy writing it was very earnest and a little socially awkward, but hey, writer, right? None of us are overly well-adjusted.
He allotted the stories, and since I showed interest so early in the process, I got to choose Bauhaus’ most famous song. I was both psyched and overwhelmed.
He asked for a draft of the story to be turned around really quickly, so he could send it to Bauhaus to get their OK to do the anthology, to use their logo on the cover, etc. I told him I would drop everything and crank it out…if he would include me getting permissions to use the lyrics of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” while it was with them.
So I took two weeks in September and did nothing else every day but get that story written. (Well, I walked Archie, obviously.) I figured, if Bauhaus liked my story, I might be able to get a blurb from a band member, and that was worth messing up my schedule!
Then I started seeing the editor having meltdowns on social media. This was not just “on the spectrum a bit” but really worrying…
I started checking in regularly, and he would always assure me the story was with Bauhaus, but when I inquired he would never give further details.
Suddenly, he announced that the book was going to be “published” in two weeks (which was months earlier than he had originally announced). I was now deeply concerned, because he still just had a rough draft from me, as I hadn’t been able to find a relevant sensitivity editor…
We are taking a quick break from the story for this ad. Remember, you only have to click on the ad for me to get a small payment. “Every little helps,” and it’s greatly appreciated if you can take a moment to just click…
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Back to the story already in progress… When I contacted him, to remind him that my story was a rough draft and that I needed time to get him a final draft, he freaked out at me, told me I was “holding back” the anthology, and then kicked me out of it, and blocked me on all social media.
This was actually fine with me. Having nothing to do with the project was now an optimal solution. I wrote him an email stating firmly that he had kicked me out and that I required he not publish my story in his anthology, and grabbed screen shots of his incoherent ranting.
Because I had a bad feeling that he would not take the story out of the anthology.
And, for months, that was accurate. The listing he had put on Amazon (which was actually a pre-order page, not publication at all, so if he had just clarified that for me instead of kicking me out of the anthology, all that drama could have been avoided) never stopped having my name in it. Since I was blocked on social media and he wasn’t answering my emails, it was impossible to know what his publication plans were.
This was concerning on many levels, but mostly that Bauhaus had never seen my story or approved my use of some lines from the song. So I started trying to get in contact with Bauhaus’ management company.
And, for months, I’ve been slowly shuttled down from one company to another. None of them knows who has the rights to the song. The last email I received suggested an LLC which doesn’t even have a website or contact info. So I am feeling pretty good that I have done due diligence on that front. I will continue reaching out, of course, but after having spoken with a lawyer, there is no reason not to go ahead with publishing my story.
🎉 I will do the cover reveal after the Valentine’s email on the 14th. 🎉
I had looked into sending the editor a cease and desist letter, but happily, as of a few days ago, the page on Amazon was updated to remove my name and story, so I don’t even have to waste time and money on that.
This is, in the end, a total win for me. I have played with fire without getting burned and will go into all future anthologies much more cautiously. I now have a gorgeous story I would never have written otherwise, and I never lost the rights to it, and now do not even have to fight to get a rough version of it removed from the anthology.
Maybe someday, members of Bauhaus will come across it, read it, and I hope enjoy it. That would be most optimal. But, for now, you can read it and enjoy it, and that’s the most important thing.
Finally, a friend who knew about anthology sent me this video. It demonstrates pretty clearly that what happened was actually me getting off easy, and I’m lucky things did not get more serious. I urge everyone who is a writer to be wary of situations like this, and always do as much research on people as you can before getting into business relationships with them.
To end on a happier note, the presentation on being an indie author at Emerson College was a wonderful experience. The students were warmly welcoming, and I hope I have given them some actually useful knowledge. I have the first 15 minutes posted on YouTube, for people who are not part of the Emerson College’s Undergraduate Students For Publishing “Pub Club” and couldn’t get to see it live.
Thank you to everyone who got to the end of the newsletter: you fucking ROCK 🤘and I appreciate you! Until next time, BE GOOD OR BE GOOD AT IT! 😘
I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: drop me a note 📨
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Beatrice Murch