Friday, February 22, 2008

"Alien Worlds" editor Stuart Miller sent me a hardcopy of the debut issue containing my cryptoterrestrial interview. The interview was conducted via phone, so there are unavoidable misheard words (entirely my fault for neglecting to ferret them out when given the chance to edit the transcript). Frankly, I sound a bit kooky. My advice: when reading the interview, imagine that you're listening to me talking. And if you don't know what I sound like (and you're certainly not missing much), try listening to one of the archived interviews listed on the Mac FAQ.





The magazine itself is a blast: lots of good content blessed by a sense of humor and some irreverent visuals. (Some "trade" publications treat the iconic "Gray" alien with a sort of puritanical reverence; Miller sees it as the pliant bit of memestuff it is and subjects it to all manner of distortion.)

Thanks for the ish, Stuart, and keep up the fine work!

3 comments:

Paul Kimball said...

Well, that settles it - the US Postal service is more efficient than the idiots at Canada Post, because I still haven't received my copy.

What the hell is the point of being a member of the Commonwealth when the rebel Yanks get their mail from the Mother Country faster?? ;-)

PK

Anonymous said...

Any chance of your providing a full or edited version of your interview, Mac, with any overlooked or less "kooky" essentials, as something on your website for those of us here interested, to read online?

Don't know what, if any, restrictions Stuart Miller may have or prefers to impose on magazine content being available elsewhere, but I suppose you could ask if he'd be willing to let you do that, hmmmm?

As a matter of fact, wouldn't it be a useful marketing tool to publish on his site, as an alternative or supplement, something like that, i.e., either a couple complete articles/interviews from the 'zine and/or teaser "executive summaries" or partial "abstracts" as it were, from sections of the magazine? I'd like to see an online actively linked table of contents, for example, with some graphics, ideally.

He might even want to have other content available via his site as things develop, and might even consider an online subscription or e-'zine option for those who can't (as yet) get the actual tree-'zine at their local US or other foreign country zine or bookstore outlet. Would seem profitable secondary channel with much wider potential distribution and profit, to me.

Seems like a pretty standard thing for tree-based 'zines to do these days, on their related online sites, to get people more interested in their full-cost product, nes pas? Please let us know if this or my other suggestion above seems of interest and viable/doable by you and/or Mr. Miller. This could be an interesting alternative venue, and means of access more broadly to content, both from the zine and otherwise, imho.

Tell Stuart, "extra money / minimal cost" -- that ought to grab him by the ear. Maybe even a mailable CD zine--oh, the commercial mind just reels with the multimedia possibilities!

And then, Paul wouldn't complain about the Canadian postal service, either! 'Tis all good & a win/win, blokes...Cheerio, 8^}

Paul Kimball said...

Stuart already puts some excerpts up on his site, but I doubt that he would want to give too much away for free.

PK