Loath though I am to steal the thunder of whatever trivial piece of news Apple has for us later in the week, I’m delighted to announce the launch of Ememess Press, a site dedicated to the short fiction of, well… me.
The site comes courtesy of the web wizardry of Fictitious Bob and his coding elves, and the idea is to make my short stories available — for the first time — in e-format. Every fortnight, three short stories will be published. (For now, ememess press is focussing on Kindle format. In the fullness of time iBooks and others may be brought into the fold. Imagine it as being a bit like when The Beatles finally hit iTunes. I certainly do.) The site is also optimised for use with iPhone, iPad and Kindle Fire.
The stories will range from alleged classics to lesser-known rarities and B-sides. Issue One, out today, features British fantasy Award-winning MORE TOMORROW, optioned-for-film HELL HATH ENLARGED HERSELF, and a lighter piece DIET HELL. You can buy the stories individually, or in Issue format — in which case, the third one comes free.
The site will also feature occasional special items, and they’re kicking that off with the publication of my only novella so far, THE VACCINATOR. More of this kind of thing to come in the months ahead. It’s been fun getting the thing up and running, and I really hope that you enjoy the stories…
Mate;
Nice one !! I’ll be downloading them pdq.
As an aside, I was wondering how Fictitious Bob went about recruiting his “coding elves” without falling foul of the Height Police? Now you’re based Stateside these things may not be as important, but you know what the UK employment laws are like. You can’t be too careful… I’m a bit drunk by the way, so this may be bollocks.
They have to be small to fit in the box. It’s all fine. Or so he tells me.
Well done on being drunk on a Monday night. I’m quite tempted to be.
Great stuff. Now all I need is a Kindle.
Will you be publishing stories that are hard to find or from special editions that cost more than my yearly food shop?
On a technical note, the link to the new site on the front page of this website leads to a 404 Not Found page.
I shall indeed be publishing stories that aren’t that accessible – DIET HELL, for example, in this first issue, is reasonably rare…
When you say the link 404s, which link are you talking about? The one in the first para of the blog? Seems to work for me…
“When you say the link 404s, which link are you talking about?”
The link at the bottom left on the front page of the http://www.michaelmarshallsmith.com site
Oh, duh – thank you – will sort it out!
No prob :)
Cool. I read “Substitutions” a little while back, loved it, towards the end I’m thinking “another good story” and then there was that added bit on the street and I’m at “Oh shit!!”. I finished “KIller Move” yesterday on the train to work, and had to read faster to make sure I could get off at my stop. Very happy to see some old friends!
Hey, sorry – your comment had got consigned to the spam filter! Delighted to hear that you enjoyed KM…
FANTASTIC..!!!!
I have ALL your short stories in print, but I am so happy that others can get to share all things MMS
Excellent! Spread the world… :-)
I think you may just given me the answer to a huge problem. My fourteen year old daughter has just read Always, Diet Hell, Everybody Goes and Later. She was gripped with all of them and tears rolled down her face with Always but she refuses to read The Man Who Drew Cats because it’s’ too long’ and will ‘take ages’.
I want the kids to read your books. They’re all there on the top shelf of the bookcase. I bang on and on about you but books are ‘so boring’…. I’m seeing a glimmer of hope though. Books on screens could well be the way to engage the next generation given that they’re permanently connected to some ‘touchable’ or another. I’ll show them this Kindle thing when they get back from school. And as much as it pains me, if it gets them reading, I’ll seek out Kindle versions of all your other books too. They need to read. Especially Killer Move!
I know what you mean… I really hope that my son will come value and love proper physical books as much as I do: rather than just seeing it as something else you do on one of the ever-present touchscreen devices. But I agree – any reading is better than none :-) Let me know if it works – and thank you for your kind words!
OK – both kids have now read A Convenient Arrangement. The nine year old’s face was a picture. She loved it because it was ‘gross’. The big one read it as soon as I handed her the computer (progress!) and although she tells me that the story wasn’t really her sort of thing, she wants to tell you what she likes and dislikes about each way of reading. Many thanks for opening up this dialogue and giving me a modern day way of encouraging them to read. Hope is not totally lost. Expensive by the looks of it, but not lost…! Michelle
This is Charli now:
Book:
-I need to hold it open, I often gets aches in my wrist from doing this after a long period of reading.
-I can’t change the size of the font, so sometimes if my eyes are playing up I find it difficult to read.
-It’s nice to be able to phsyically turn pages. I sometimes change the way I turn a page depending on what’s going on in the story. Eg; If there’s something exciting building up, I will turn the page quickly. If it’s something scary, that’s making my heart race, I’ll turn it slower and ‘peek’ at the next page.
-If I want to lie down (which I do a lot, because I’m lazy) it’s hard to keep the pages open.
-If I want to read in the dark, I need to set up a mini-light that will shine onto the book so I can read it.
-If I want a certain book, I have to wait until I have time to go to a shop and buy it, or wait for it to be delivered if I ordered it online.
Kindle (PC):
-It’s easier to read, as I can change the font to suit my eyes.
-It’s right infront of me, I don’t have to hold it. I can just sit and relax with it on my lap and easily click away to the next page, which makes me more eager to read on.
-If I want to read in the dark, I can do that without trouble because the screen has its own light.
-I can’t lie down with it.
-If I want a certain book, I can easily download it, straight away, from the comfort of my own home.
Now, I don’t have an actual Kindle tablet, but I’m guessing that it’s pretty much the same as Kindle on PC, just an easier device. If I did have one, I *would* be able to lie down!
So, I think that if I had to choose between book or Kindle, I would choose Kindle. Preferably the Kindle tablet. Charli
Well, I’m delighted to hear there’s progress… and hopefully some of the stuff coming up will be more your sort of thing, Charli. Hard to argue with some of your advantages for the Kindle, too – and if you do manage to get hold of a tablet hopefully it will become even more convenient to read! In defence of old-fashioned books, I will just point out that the batteries never run out… ;-)
Very cool.
(I’m always half awake when I read these things and way too eager to spray typos all over the page)
Will you be correcting the big old mistake in issue 7 of ememess?
Just as soon as someone lets me know what it is :-)