Holiday Reruns
I’m busy blasting the theme from Rocky and training for my pose-off rematch with John Scalzi, in which we’ll both be attempting to duplicate this pose while decked in suitably festive holiday attire. While I try to figure out how far I can bend my spine without snapping anything, please enjoy these Christmas carol reruns from last year:
Have Yourself a Slashy Little Christmas
Rudolph the Autocorrected Reindeer
John D. Bell
December 21, 2012 @ 10:18 am
Mind Bleach! Mind Bleach!! Oh, Goddess, give me Mind Bleach! Quickly!!!
😀
Jessica Burde
December 21, 2012 @ 10:20 am
OMG! Better have EMTs standing by.
Henrik V.
December 21, 2012 @ 10:46 am
Be carefull with that pose. I fear the original model for it was made of partl clay and partl a somewhat crazy painter and part Mayan Prophecy.
Lady Cheron (@LadyCheron)
December 21, 2012 @ 11:39 am
Jim, I do not think that pose can be replicated by a human in a one-gee gravity field without the use of a suspension harness and a large amount of pain killer. Say a bottle of Glen-Something to get you limbered up and not caring, and a bottle of Percocet for the aftermath.
Ron Mitchell
December 21, 2012 @ 2:12 pm
Do either of you gentlemen actually own stunt rigging?
Jim C. Hines
December 21, 2012 @ 2:15 pm
Me? Not so much, no.
I wouldn’t even try to guess what sort of equipment John has around the house, though…
Mark E.
December 24, 2012 @ 2:45 am
Jim,
I went to college with the author in question, and this is his first non-licensed novel. Honestly, we didn’t get along, but I am troubled that you included his name in the cover art that is the result of his publisher and that he had no control over.
You and Scalzi are, due to your web presences, about to unleash a shitstorm of mockery onto an innocent author who had no control over his cover art. And this is his first novel under his own name. Make or break time. Is ruining his career and making his name a laughingstock across the internet worth some charitable contributions?
Please, consider what you are doing.
John Scalzi
December 24, 2012 @ 6:30 am
Mark:
I recognize your concern and without discounting it, let me tell you why I think it won’t be an issue in this particular case.
Jim has been doing this for a while now, and has been getting a significant amount of attention for it. The covers included well-known and not-so-well-known authors, as I remember it. At no point that I can see has there been any evidence that Jim’s cover posing has done any sort of economic or reputational damage to any of the authors or their books.
On the other hand, and on an entirely anecdotal level, I know of at least one sale, via Twitter, of Vicki Pettersson’s book to a reader who did not previously know of her existence, because of the pose-off and because Ms. Pettersson treated the pose-off as something fun.
What Jim is doing is, with humor, calling attention to a general issue in science fiction and fantasy cover art. People know that Jim (in part because Jim has been pretty clear on this) is calling focus to the general issue, and not to the particular authors (or artists). It seems the risk to any particular author’s career is minimal.
Beyond this, both Jim and I have a long and verifiable history of helping other authors, not damaging their careers. Neither of us would do anything we believed would jeopardize the career of another author on the basis of something they had no control over.
Nor, for that matter, do I believe the majority of the people who have been following along with the fund-raiser would penalize an author or book for its cover because of its inclusion in the pose-off. The folks who have been following along are a largely literate crowd and seem to understand that much about publishing is beyond the control of an author. They appear also to understand its purpose in making a general point about cover art, not about the particular covers.
Finally, I do not believe there will be a “shit-storm of mockery” unleashed against either the author or the book, because previous experience with Jim posing strongly suggests that it won’t happen, and that the focus will be elsewhere, either to Jim’s general point about cover poses in science fiction or fantasy, or on Jim (and me) ourselves — and in the latter case Jim moved pretty quickly to put the focus back where it should be.
In sum, I genuinely believe there will be no damage to the author or the book because of the pose-off. I would not be participating otherwise.
Jim C. Hines
December 24, 2012 @ 9:40 am
Hi Mark,
I can certainly understand how nerve-wracking it is to be launching a new book or series. To add to what John said, if I believed there was the slightest chance this sort of thing would hurt an author, I certainly wouldn’t have started it all with my own book.
I’ve seen and heard no evidence that the posing has damaged anyone’s sales, and anecdotally (so take it for what it’s worth), comments and reaction have suggested that some authors have received at least a few extra sales from the attention.
I hope this alleviates at least some of your concerns. Believe me, if I thought there was even the slightest chance this could hurt or ruin someone’s writing career, I’d cancel it right now.