Letter to Members on Board Activity
Many of you have contacted us recently about your concerns regarding the actions of a SFWA member, including the recent misuse of the sfwaauthors Twitter feed.
SFWA Blog
Police Investigate Pay-to-Play Publisher 2 Moon Press
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
Pay to play publisher 2 Moon Press, located in Olivet, Michigan, closed abruptly last month, after having been purchased earlier in 2013 by one of its employees. It leaves a litany of sadly familiar complaints in its wake.
According to local news coverage,
…the [Marshall police] department has received about 25 complaints about 2 Moon Press since May 8. It is currently looking into authors’ claims of unpaid royalties, unfulfilled book orders and breaches of contracts, and is also investigating the current owner’s allegations of fraudulent activity against the former owner, Don Semora.
In return, Semora says that he is “proceeding with legal action against both [the current owner Melinda] Lundy and 2 Moon Press.” He has denied Lundy’s and authors’ allegations.
Established in 2009, 2 Moon Press–which, possibly exaggerating a tad, billed itself as “Michigan’s largest and most trusted book publisher”–charged thousands of dollars to publish. Its website is no longer extant, but examples of its prose stylings can be seen here–an immediate red flag for anyone with a decent grasp of grammar. As of April 2012, it claimed to be working with 283 authors, but per Amazon, it has published only around 215 books to date.
The Marshall Police Department is asking 2 Moon Press authors to contact them at 269-781-2596.
Plan for Moving Ahead with the Bulletin
On the advice of the task force, and with the approval of the board, the president has authorized the following plan:
In Memoriam: Iain M. Banks
Scottish author Iain M. Banks (b.1954) died on June 9, a little over two months after announcing that he was suffering from late-stage gall bladder cancer.
Editor of SFWA Bulletin Resigns
Effective immediately, Jean Rabe, the editor of the SFWA Bulletin, has tendered her resignation and I have accepted it.
Guest Post: Working with the Obstacles in Your Path
et’s say you are sitting at your desk, with something to write, and you notice some anxiety, and an urge to go instead to one of your favorite distractions.
And let’s also say you decided to adopt my approach, the Obstacle is the Path.
SFWA at Book Expo America
SFWA was invited by Book Expo America to share a short presentation on the genre. Authors Laura Anne Gilman, Leanna Renee Hieber, Sarah Beth Durst and Jeri Smith-Ready took the stage to talk about SFWA and SF. The space was packed, and led to quite a few people coming to the SFWA booth afterwards to […]
Presidential Statement on the SFWA Bulletin
We could spend a long time here discussing whether the offense was intentional or accidental, or whether it is due to a generational, ideological or perceptual schism. It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, too many of our members have felt their contributions and their place in the industry and within the organization belittled; too many of our members see other members being treated so.
SFWA Bulletin Task Force Announced
The board is aware of a number of complaints by members regarding Bulletin issue #202, specifically the article by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg.
In Memoriam: Jack Vance (1916-2013)
SFWA Grand Master Jack Vance (b.1916 as John Holbrook Vance) died on May 26.
Vance wrote more than sixty novels, including the sequels to The Dying Earth, his five volume Demon Princes series, the Alastor series, the Cadwal Chronicles, The Lyonesse series, the Durdane series, and the Tschai series.
