Necrography : Weblog

The Death of Necrography...

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:40:43 -0400

Hello friends and fiends,

It is with deep regret and sadness that we are gathered here in remembrance of Necrography magazine who has died this remorseful day. Necrography’s life was cut short and snuffed out of existence and ever shall we mourn the loss.

We’d always hoped to be a self-sufficient, advertising free, independent horror magazine, but that hope is lost in the reality of our market.

Our submissions have been 12 times the number of our purchases and the advertising and promotion we've done have only served to increase those submissions rather than our readership. As a small, unfunded operation, such a submission volume is impossible to keep up with. We’ve done a disservice to our readers since we haven’t have adequate time nor money to deal with design and creation of our issues. As well, we’ve done a disservice to our writers in that our response times are far too long and we cannot offer beneficial critiques in our replies.

The move we made nearly a month ago, in regards to our tiered submissions triage, served only to anger a few of our writers and friends. I assure you this wasn’t intended for any other means than to generate the necessary revenue for printing our next issue. We figured that, as a community of writers and readers, we’d be able to keep Necrography going through a joint effort of folks who’d like to be in print and folks who’d like to see that print. It’s obvious now that this was not a viable strategy.

As of today, all authors who’ve had publishing rights purchased on their work by Necrography retain those rights per paragraph six: “TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT” in the Author and Artist agreement. All authors who have submitted their works, should find another market to submit to.

Necrography Issue #1 will remain on sale for $6.66 USD through the necrography.com website and on Amazon.com until the run is exhausted. Submissions are closed now and will remain so indefinitely.

Thank you to all the writers and readers who helped birth the first and only Necrography issue. We certainly wish that all our writers find suitable (hopefully high paying) markets for their work and our readers find exactly the story the’ve been always wanting to read.

In both life and death...

Issue #2 - Critical!

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:15:50 -0400

We've got an exciting line-up, we've got great cover art, we've got the issue ready for print... The one thing we don't have is money. Our initial seed money was used up for Issue #1's author and artist payments, printing, and advertising, and the income on Issue #1 hasn't been quite enough yet.

While we still have trickling sales on the first issue, we haven't sold enough to generate the needed funds for printing a second. This is not for want of trying however.

It's interesting to note that, if only half the people who submitted to Necrography had also bought a copy, we'd have just enough money to handle printing the next issue. With the exception of a rare few authors, hardly any submitters actually pick up a copy prior to submitting their work. This fact makes it hard for any community driven industry to survive (much less thrive). Unfortunately for authors, they often submit work that is in appropriate for the magazine. Unfortunately for us, we miss a much needed sale.

Because of this, we're implementing a new submission policy. It's very simple. If you buy a copy of Necrography, then submit your work, we guarantee it will be read and reviewed with the utmost attention and you'll get a quick and personal response in a very timely manner. If, however, you submit to Necrography without buying a copy, we can't guarantee we'll respond to your submission or even read it in the first place. This submission policy will be in place when (and if) we re-open submissions again.

In the meantime, we'll try to beg, borrow, steal, or sell corpses to get enough cash to print Issue #2. Money, as they say, doesn't grow on trees and unfortunately, printing is quite costly.

We hope we can get this issue out. At the $6.66 cover price, it's a pittance for a heap of dead bodies.

Issue #2 Cover Art

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:41:38 -0400

Our new issue is coming together nicely and we're on track for a late September/early October publishing date.

One of the treats we've got in store is some custom cover art painted by artist Lydia Burris. Lydia's art has that macarbe, phantasmical morbidty that Necrography's all about.

Her works can't be described by words mere mortal mouths can mumble. Instead, we must behold them to know them; and even then, we don't truly know them after all. Out of pure selfishness, I won't show off the cover quite yet, but rest in peace with my assurance it's as good as Lydia's other pieces. We're proud to have her grace our cover and can't wait to see it on top of our coffin... err... coffee table.

If you'd like a taste of Lydia's work, check out her website at lydiaburris.com Maybe you'll want to pick something up for yourself while you're there...

Necrography on Amazon.com

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:15:26 -0400

Our little magazine of morbidity is available on Amazon.com now. As of this writing there are no customer reviews yet so, if you liked the first issue of Necrography, write a review for us!

They've only got one copy left. Hurry up and you can get the last one (we'll restock them of course ). In reality, Amazon's shipping is a little more expensive than buying it from Necrography.com. Unless your getting it with an order of $25 or more (for free shipping) you might as well pick up your copies directly from the Necrography website.

From Distraction to Action

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:35:52 -0400

I finally made it out of China - got back at the end of June. We were quarantined for one of the two weeks we were there. The hotel they had us in would have been an ideal setting for a haunting; it even had a faint odor of death... Earlier this month we had a death in my own family which took some time out of our busy schedule. When looking into the very face of death, you know unequivocally you're alive. Trailing behind that same thought however, is the realization that you too are destined for the same fate. It's a curious dichotomy.

We're still on schedule for a late September issue and the line-up is looking great! We've also got custom cover art for issue two that looks especially enticing. I'll reveal more about it in a future post. All of my being is focused on the next issue and it's the perfect task to throw myself into. Any revisions or corrections to the current line-up of work will be sent out to authors for approval in the next couple weeks.

Quarantined in China

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:01:14 -0400

Hi friends and fans,

Just a note to let you know that shipping, payments, responses, and all other business matters will be delayed by a week. I apologize for the inconvenience but I've been quarantined during travel to China and will be here for seven days. I'm not sick, but a person on our flight was confirmed to have Type A H1N1 influenza (swine flu). Chinese officials quarantined nearly all passengers as an overreactive precaution.

I hope you understand.

Regards,
E. C. Stanke III

The Dark Fiction Guild

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:45:47 -0400

It looks like the Dark Fiction Guild is starting to get some activity. I've put up our little space over there and all Necrography's authors and readers are welcome to join the group! Post some comments on the wall; promote yourself and your own site while helping to promote Necrography as well. Sounds like a win-win situation for the dark fiction genre in general.

Check out the Necrography group.

Soliciting Your Help

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:54:50 -0400

We've gotten our first issue out and into to the hands of many unwitting souls. I hope they've enjoyed it. We still have many more copies to sell and we need to get them into the hands of interested readers.

If you know of friends or family that may be interested in Necrography, let them know about us. If you have a small book store or horror themed shop you know of and think they might like to sell Necrography, let me know! If you have a blog, website, or other online presence and want to promote Necrography, please link to our banners.

We're really enthusiastic about publishing our next issue and we love to see our readership grow. If you like Necrography, help us out with some homegrown promotion. Our continued survival is entirely dependent on selling our entire run. All sales proceeds go directly to operating costs so we must sell each and every copy.

Thanks for your continued support of Necrography! We hope we've given you at least one more nightmare to keep you awake at night!

Issue #1 - Spring 2009

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:05:12 -0400

Necrography Issue #1 is finally here!

We hope it will satiate your hunger for horror...

Visit the Issue - One page at Necrography.com to read more about it. When you're ready for the feast, order your copies here.

Let us know what you think.

It's Coming Closer...

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:41:16 -0400

Can you hear that?
Is it the peculiar scrape of a booted foot drawn by a rigid, gimped leg?
Or is it the rustle of a dragged, lifeless body?
Might it be the shuffle of an impotent corpse crawling toward a meal?
Or can it be the movement of a foul beast on the prowl for flesh?

Maybe it's simply Necrography coming ever nearer to revealing itself to the world...

Issue #1 Line Up

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:25:37 -0400

With our first issue right around the corner we figured it was high time we gave you the dirt on it. We've got some excellent fiction and poetry accented by a mix of art and photos. We think it's a great first issue and we're dying to unleash this creation unto the world. Necrography's cover price is $6.66 and with nine pieces of short fiction, four poems, eight visual elements, and a glossy, full color, burial shroud.. err.. cover, that's a dirt cheap price for a macabre magazine! You'll want to keep this issue on the coffee table to occupy the neighbors when they stop by to ask about the smell coming from your root cellar.

Here are the talented individuals you'll see in Issue #1:

Ken Goldman - "Gran'ma's in the Bathroom (...and she's not coming out)"
Mathew F. Riley - "The Gardener"
Larry Hodges - "Omen of the Oven"
Steve Calvert - "The Deadline"
Jason Muller - "The Interrogation of Phillip Gregg"
Marlo Dianne - "Whale Bone"
Aaron A. Polson - "Brian Cullen's Confessional"
Tricia Urlaub - "Consumed"
Tim Kane - "Creeping Rot"
Alexis Child - "Gaslight Ghoul"
Aurelio Rico Lopez III - "The Worst Thing"
William Blake Vogel III - "Stretching Scars"
Greg Schwartz - "untitled"
Charles Wu - "Uncovered"
Owen Priestley - "The Gardener"
Michael Evans - "Spectre of Sanctuary"
Christopher Woods & Jeff Crouch - "Mortuary Attendants"
G. W. Thomas - "untitled"
Beth Mykkanen - "untitled"
Nicolas Bodereau - "Spectre"
Charles Wu - "Cullen"

We hope this list leaves you salivating because the fresh meat is soon to come!

We'd be Late to Our Own Funeral...

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:12:00 -0400

But then they say: good things come to those who wait...

Crossing over from the living to the dead can be a painful, arduous, and murderous experience. Sometimes it takes longer than expected and one suffers in agony until death's reprieve. It's much the same when producing Necrography, it seems.

The first issue of Necrography was originally scheduled for December 2008. I decided around that time that Necrography would be better off with a first publication in Spring of 2009. We set the date to March 21st, 2009 and obviously, that date has come and gone. Necrography however, is still here and we will be publishing our first issue... ...eventually.

As it stands now, we look to be about a month late. This makes our publication date toward the end of next month (April). There's not much longer we'll have to wait for Necrography and while patience is its own reward, there's also darkness at the end of this tunnel. I'll post a followup entry soon with a sneak-peak of the cover and the line-up of great content we've got for you!

On to the other issue at hand...

I've been quite silent over the last month about what's going on here at Necrography and I hope to remedy that. As for an excuse, I can only say that while exhuming a body late last month, I ran into some lecherous fiends digging for bodies as well. Though their intentions were certainly not as pure as mine, we all happened to find ourselves in the same cemetery, on the same moonless night, with similar wicked machinations. Afraid that I'd expose their activities, the hoodlums saw me as a threat to their scheme and quickly overwhelmed me.

It was days later when I awoke to a fecal stench and found myself prostrate on a mildewy mattress in the darkness of a dank cellar. Though my hands seemed bound behind me and my head throbbed with every heartbeat, quick introspection and self-analysis revealed an abundance of pain coming from my lips and wrists. I rolled onto my side and saw dim light coming from a doorway at the top of some stairs. I got to my feet and made my way toward the light through the darkness.

Half-way to the stairs, my feet met with a solid, meaty mass on the ground. I fell forward, thrust my bound hands out from around my back, and grimaced from the ripping pain in my wrists. Gathering my strength, I stood and continued to ascend the stairs toward the door.

In the hallway, I realized I was in my own house. As I passed the mirror on the way to the kitchen, I saw my hideous reflection illuminated by the dim, bare bulb hung from the ceiling by a frayed wire. Once I saw the thick stitching binding my lips shut, I tried to gasp and scream but couldn't open my mouth. Looking down on my wrists, I realized I'd torn the stitches binding the skin of my arms to one another when I fell. The ripped flesh dripped spots of blood on the dusty wooden floor at my feet. I nearly passed out from pain and fear.

I regained my composure after a time and I realized I'd better do something about that body in the basement. Sometimes work is tough... I can only imagine what demons we've unleashed with the first issue of Necrography. I'm afraid it will only get worse. I'd better buy another axe...

Now that I've handled this little interruption, I hope I can be a little more communicative. Stick around for the first issue of Necrography and I'm sure you'll be pleased!

Now Accepting Submissions

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 02:14:00 -0400

We briefly stopped accepting submissions so we could get caught up and tie up some loose ends. I must say I was very overwhelmed and appreciative of the many great horror submissions that came in (really - there was an amazing amount of submissions and interest in Necrography and I certainly couldn't have anticipated it). There are probably a few of you that haven't received notification yet but you should get word, one way or another, very soon.

We've already started receiving a slew of new horror work - poetry, shorts, flash and the like. Once again, we're always in need of art, digital art, and photography so if you—or any of your friends—indulge in such media, please send us your work! I can't emphasize enough how good your writing submissions have been and I'd be ecstatic to see more art and photos of equal quality.

We've already bought publishing rights to a number of pieces that will hold us through the next few issues but even so, we'd like to see more. Our hopes are that we'll have many issues yet to come and we can't wait to open the floodgates with the issue number one release in late March 2009. We're hoping everyone enjoys devouring it as much as we did putting it together. When it's available—if you've picked up a copy and enjoy it—let your friends and family know and blog, review, and recommend it to the world. It's only with great word of mouth that we'll be able to maintain a readership level that allows us to continue production.

All said, I'll let you get back to creating your morbid works of death and macabre subjects and we'll get back to reading and lining up those few pieces left to release our first issue. May no one find the bodies in your basements and the skeletons in your closets unless you're ready to show them off.

Delays, Delays

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:15:35 -0400

As much as we hate to say it, we're going to delay the release of the first issue of Necrography until March 21st.

We weren't really pleased with the original printer we'd commissioned and we felt the balance between quality and price was a little off kilter. We decided that rather than release a "Winter 2008" issue in 2009, we'd just wait to publish the premier issue in spring of 2009 - around March 21st.

Nobody likes waiting, but in this case I feel like it's better to wait a little longer than to suffer with a low quality, high priced magazine that, while the content is superb, is too expensive for anyone to buy! I'm proud of the writers we've selected and I want more than anything for a great multitude of horror and ghastly fiction lovers to have a chance to read Necrography. I think this short delay will aid us reaching that end.

Stay tuned to this blog or our website as we get closer to March. We'll be sure to let you know when the first issue is nearly available!

Let Me Know When It's Out!

nospam@example.com (E. C. Stanke III) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:00:00 -0400

In less than six weeks Necrography will be available for purchase. If you'd like to know it's available as soon as it's out, you can submit your email address to us on our Subscription page. We'll send you an email when Necrography is available. Don't be afraid send us your email, we won't use this address for any other purpose besides notification of new issues of Necrography.