Page 51 of posts by: montsamu

More stores, local and not. And tomorrow is eventful.

Posted on 2010-05-22 at 04:40 by montsamu

Well, issue #1 is in stock at Barnes & Noble location at the Streets of Southpoint in Durham; thanks very much to the management there giving it a chance and their support.

And a box is on its way to Forbidden Planet NYC -- hopefully it will get there soon and folks will like it!

And for folks in the local area, I'll be at the Bimbé Cultural Arts Festival in downtown Durham tomorrow (Saturday) from 12-9. Come by to chat, play chess, and bring snacks.

Posted in events, store-announcements

Breaking free of locality.

Posted on 2010-05-17 at 19:09 by montsamu

Well, it's happened. Two stores whose management I cannot personally influence with a visit and an "offer they can't refuse" have opened their doors to Bull Spec #1.

The first is Greenville, South Carolina's Fiction Addiction. I found them on IndieBound and they were very up front about their support for authors and artists in the Carolinas, and though it's much later than I'd hoped (the fault is all mine, trying too long to figure out ever-cheaper ways to send more than a copy at a time somewhere) issue #1

Posted in store-announcements

Two quick little fun things.

Posted on 2010-05-13 at 15:37 by montsamu

First, I took a few minutes the other day to fill out the questionnaire form for Duotrope's Editor Interview for BULL SPEC. Some of the questions were fun, some were harder, some were impossible: "Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less!"

Second, the Locus Online: Monitor leads its Other Magazines: March-April index entry with: "New zine Bull Spec debuts" and it's absolutely amazing (and probably a bit unfair to the other magazines, but I'll take it) to be mentioned in the same sentence with Black

Posted in interviews-of-bull-spec, reviews-of-bull-spec

Taking over the title for most in-depth review of Bull Spec #1: Frank Dutkiewicz.

Posted on 2010-05-11 at 02:19 by montsamu

I'd enjoyed Frank Dutkiewicz's very detailed reviews of Writers of the Future XXIV and XXV, and asked him if he'd take a look at Bull Spec #1 and give me the same honest, critical feedback. Wow. He more than delivered, with in-depth analysis of each and every story, excerpt, illustration, interview, and review. I've got some work to do to keep the things he liked going and to try to address his points of criticism, but I'm very grateful that he went over the issue with such a fine-toothed comb and attention

Posted in reviews-of-bull-spec

Slight update to guidelines: no more multiple fiction submissions.

Posted on 2010-05-06 at 19:56 by montsamu

Simultaneous submissions are still welcome, and current multiple submissions will be read, but (1) due to giving not having "reading periods" a go and (2) the volume of submissions this is a change I'm having to make. It has been interesting to read more than one story from the same writer at one go, but as I try desperately to claw my way through at least the March submissions, I am going to give this a try in lieu of temporarily closing.

For poetry, multiple submissions are still fine (2 at most at a time,

Posted in meta

Another review! SFRevu's Sam Tomaino reviews BULL SPEC #1.

Posted on 2010-05-04 at 15:55 by montsamu

In the May edition of his SFRevu column "Zines, Magazines, and Short Fiction Review" Sam Tomaino provides the most in-depth review so far of BULL SPEC #1.

Of C. S. Fuqua's "Rise Up" he writes "This was a very good story and reminded me a bit of Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories. I can think of no better praise than that." Of Peter Wood's "Almost a Good Day to Go Outside" he writes, "Wood shows some talent here and I hope he continues to hone his craft." And he describes Natania Barron's "Doctor

Posted in review-announcements

BULL SPEC is now accepting subscriptions.

Posted on 2010-04-30 at 01:03 by montsamu

I'm finally at a point where I feel comfortable that I will be continuing the print magazine at the very least long enough to honor a 4-issue (a year, as BULL SPEC is quarterly) subscription. I didn't want to open the doors taking subscriptions, but as Issue #2 is well underway, stories, reviews, and interviews starting to fill out Issue #3, and even a couple things already booked for Issue #4, I went ahead and flipped the switch. In keeping with the "pay what you like" theme for everything I do

Posted in announcements

Free shipping to the United Kingdom until 8 PM GMT.

Posted on 2010-04-21 at 13:26 by montsamu

I've a box going that way anyway and a few more copies won't overburden the load. So until 8 PM GMT (4 PM Eastern Time, about 7.5 hours from now) orders from the United Kingdom can select "Local" shipping. There won't be a better chance to get BULL SPEC #1 if you're in the U.K. so head over to the funky/ugly/terrible order form and grab a copy! (Limit one copy per person, please.)

Posted in specials

Another review! Bookgasm's Rodd Lott reviews BULL SPEC #1.

Posted on 2010-04-14 at 14:10 by montsamu

While he found some things I need to do better (such as give the reader something to go on before plunging them into an interview), Bookgasm's Rodd Lott also had some very kind things to say in his review of BULL SPEC #1, calling BULL SPEC a "worthy vehicle for the short story" and singling out the first chapter of Mike Gallagher's serialized comic "Closed System" as "great fun."

So check out the review!

Posted in bookgasm, reviews-of-bull-spec, rodd lott

BULL SPEC #1 PDF available under a Creative Commons license at "pay what you want." Yes, even $0.

Posted on 2010-04-09 at 02:01 by montsamu

It's the way I wanted to do things from the beginning, and even though it is the result of an awful lot of work (and not a tiny amount of money) I'm putting my money where my mouth is when it comes to a lot of things, the two that come to mind right now are:

1. Gift Economy: Don't want to pay, don't pay. Want to support the authors, artists, and editor behind Bull Spec? I hope I made it easy enough.
2. Creative Commons: The PDF file is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3

Posted in announcements