Some of these drift into questions about me rather than advice, but here we go:
I left because of the central absurdity of the organization: all its leaders were either upper middle class or the lower echelons of the rulings class, and thus had no idea how to relate to people with no money. Then their dalliance with the Green Party made the class basis of the group pretty clear.
Depends on the irrational need in question; if it were the irrational need to humiliate me, I wouldn't. If it were some other kooky need, I might let them do it even if some blowback was likely.
A bit of scholastic wrestling.
Yes it is—just publish something with an independent press first, and gain the attention of the majors that way. Of course, you'd also gain the attention of agents in the same way, so may as well pick one up when moving to the majors. Even if the agent doesn't really sell your book, they are better equipped to handle foreign sales, contract negotiations, etc. Lots of the agentless writers at Leisure are holding their dicks in their hands right now, for example, not knowing what their contracts even say or what might happen in case of a bankruptcy.
I think Brooks is in better shape, physically. He looked good when I saw him at Comic-Con in 2005, plus he has the sort of serenity about him that would help in a Thunderdome match against Card, who always comes off as twitchy.
Depends—if the only choice is a freebie "market" or self-publishing with a Paypal tip-cup, 4tLuv might still be a better bet. After all, many crime magazines are no-pay but then get turned into major publisher anthologies; many literary journals pay only in prestige, but prestige is worth something if you work at a university or are seeking an agent for literary (not commercial) fiction. Tip-cupping is a good idea if your work appeals to particular sexual fetish of some sort, on the other hand...
I left because of the central absurdity of the organization: all its leaders were either upper middle class or the lower echelons of the rulings class, and thus had no idea how to relate to people with no money. Then their dalliance with the Green Party made the class basis of the group pretty clear.
Depends on the irrational need in question; if it were the irrational need to humiliate me, I wouldn't. If it were some other kooky need, I might let them do it even if some blowback was likely.
A bit of scholastic wrestling.
Yes it is—just publish something with an independent press first, and gain the attention of the majors that way. Of course, you'd also gain the attention of agents in the same way, so may as well pick one up when moving to the majors. Even if the agent doesn't really sell your book, they are better equipped to handle foreign sales, contract negotiations, etc. Lots of the agentless writers at Leisure are holding their dicks in their hands right now, for example, not knowing what their contracts even say or what might happen in case of a bankruptcy.
I think Brooks is in better shape, physically. He looked good when I saw him at Comic-Con in 2005, plus he has the sort of serenity about him that would help in a Thunderdome match against Card, who always comes off as twitchy.
Depends—if the only choice is a freebie "market" or self-publishing with a Paypal tip-cup, 4tLuv might still be a better bet. After all, many crime magazines are no-pay but then get turned into major publisher anthologies; many literary journals pay only in prestige, but prestige is worth something if you work at a university or are seeking an agent for literary (not commercial) fiction. Tip-cupping is a good idea if your work appeals to particular sexual fetish of some sort, on the other hand...