Summary of the Blastopolitan Saga

For his crimes—saying what he thought and living how he liked—he was given a harsh sentence. He was . . .

EXILED TO BLASTOPOLIS

"I still can't believe I was exiled to Blastopolis, but I'm settling in," said Gilliam Axhagen as he potshotted another astro-mutant with his tri-fission blaster. "Say, what's that building over there, the one they're staying away from? It looks abandoned—just the sort of place they usually like. Could that be the location of one of the . . ."

SECRETS OF BLASTOPOLIS

"We've uncovered some of the secrets of Blastopolis." Fred Wendell laid a paternal hand on Gilliam's shoulder. "But we won't be able to understand much more unless you become . . ."

RULER OF BLASTOPOLIS

"Now that there's a true ruler of Blastopolis, we can hope for some order," said Fender Bivins as he vaporized one of the last four remaining sludge-trudgers. "But who knows what could be out there, out . . ."

BEYOND BLASTOPOLIS

"It turns out readers don't much care what's beyond Blastopolis." The publisher laid a paternal hand on the writer's shoulder. "We really think it would be better to take things . . ."

BACK TO BLASTOPOLIS
TRIUMPH IN BLASTOPOLIS
WAR IN BLASTOPOLIS
SURVIVORS OF BLASTOPOLIS
EXCURSION BEYOND BLASTOPOLIS
RETURN TO BLASTOPOLIS
GENESIS OF BLASTOPOLIS
CANCELLATION OF BLASTOPOLIS
REVIVAL OF BLASTOPOLIS
Finis

The Upcoming Publishing Trend

Glossy pages but which ones are glossy are random and some of them have signatures from one of the hundred editors who worked on it.

The Next Thing in Publishing

The page margins will be made up to look like it's a heads-up display, periscope, binoculars, or other immersive framing. For fantasy? Illegible marginalia.

The Animal Fantasy Publishing Industry

The reason we don't have a genuine example of animal fantasy is that the writer bear and publisher bear keep trying to kill each other. Economists call this "transaction costs."

Commercial Research in the Publishing Industry

If you don't think they're figuring out right now a way you can pay them $4.99 to make the hero's sword shinier, I wish I lived in your naive world.

Publishing Advice

If you're going to infuse a few unlucky copies of your book with diabolical energies, try to make it a science fiction story so people really don't expect it.

Another Cost-Saving Measure

Why don't we leave out all the words you aren't supposed to capitalize? Surely those aren't important. What's that? The title capitalization rules are stupid? Ha ha, what a thing to say.

Efficiency in Publishing

The next time you print a story, why not print a second story in those little spaces between lines and on the margin? It's good advertising and the consumer will appreciate it too.