Daikaiju! sequel NEWS
Thanks to a deal forged between Agog! Press and Prime Books in the US, the sequel to Daikaiju! will be published as a real-world, rather than a virtual, book. Not only that, there will be two of them! This has come about because, as originally chosen, the total wordage of the stories exceeds Prime's limits for a single volume. Rather than reject stories already accepted, we have decided to separate the stories into two volumes. So now there will be DAIKAIJU! 2: ATTACK OF THE GIANT MONSTER TALES and DAIKAIJU! 3: REVENGE OF THE GIANT MONSTER TALES.
Submissions Writers should note that, while some new material will be added, the volumes are NOT open to new submissions. All content has been accepted already or has been commissioned.
Release Dates The release dates have not yet been finalised, but we are striving to get the two volumes out as soon as possible. Some of the contributors have been waiting to see their stories in print for over a year! Check back here for more news as it happens. More info as it becomes available. |
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It has been decided that there will definitely be an on-line supplementary Daikaiju!
anthology made up of original giant monster tales that
aren't in the book version. Consider it to be More Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales 2. This is a sort of bonus for readers
of the anthology and a marketing strategy -- as well as offering
an alternative market to the large number of authors out there who
seem rather keen to explore the genre.
However,
we still have many issues to resolve -- some of which may never
be resolved. But it is something to strive for, I guess.
Some
of the questions the idea raises are listed below. |
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Will
the stories included here be made up of submissions to the anthology
that we shortlisted but could not include in the final cut, or would
we make a new call for submissions?
Response:
That rather depends on the authors involved.
The truth is there are going to be very good stories that we logistically
won't be able to put in the anthology because of space, compatibility
or other considerations... and it would be a shame if these never
found a home. But we can't ask specific authors about it yet,
as we won't be making decisions on the final composition of the
anthology until after November 30, the deadline for submission
--- and before then we won't know what's "left over"
(if anything is). I have been, and will be, keeping a record of
stories we have sent back that would fit into a proposed e-anthology,
so I will be able to contact authors about their stories when
and if it becomes reasonable to do so. The idea is still a relatively
new one and we are not willing to commit to it yet.
As
for calling for submissions specifically for an e-anthology, that
might happen. If we take a few steps in the direction of an e-anthology
and it works, perhaps Daikaiju! Giant Monster e-Tales
will become an ongoing proposition.
What
would the cost implications be?
Response:
Still undetermined. The print anthology itself is likely to
exceed the publisher's budget, so cost may stop the e-anthology
project from happening.
Would
the proposed e-anthology be available to all or restricted to those
who buy the book version?
Response:
That's a tough one. It would be nice to offer something extra
to purchasers of the book version, but attempting to set up a
restricted site may be beyond our capability. We can envisage
ways of doing it, but do we want to? Of course, anything we set
up wouldn't be high security, but that wouldn't matter much. And
we would like to offer a few stories to the net-surfing public
as an enticement to seek out the book anthology. So there are
lots of aspects to this and we will continue thinking about it.
Time
issues?
Response:
While we would plan to put a few stories up to coincide with the
printed anthology -- hopefully to encourage people to buy it --
we wouldn't envisage a full e-anthology being available until
well after the book is out. It is, after all, an after-thought.
Another
issue relates to how much time an ongoing e-anthology would demand
of us, the editors. In terms of our own writing, the anthology
has been quite a millstone and will only get more demanding as
we approach actual publication. So as part of our evaluation of
the e-anthology we will have to ask ourselves whether we want
to commit ourselves further. At the moment, I'm inclined to feel
positive about the idea; but, again, I'm not agreeing to anything
definite until all the implications have been weighed up.
Do
you out there, the potential readers, have any comments to make?
Writers (including contributors to the anthology) should feel free
to do likewise.
Response:
All comments for or against -- and any suggestions -- would be
gratefully received. Just email us at daikaiju@roberthood.net
(to avoid being deleted as spam, put the words "Ezine
comment" as part of the heading).
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One
contributor has written in to comment on the above. He thoroughly
approves of the idea but had two questions (and a suggestion):
"Firstly,
would the e-anthology become a regular e-zine, as opposed to a one-off
project? I think this would provide an excellent opportunity (and
niche market) for all those monster fetishists out there."
Response:
The answer here is... maybe. I do like the idea of an ongoing
e-zine. It is going to depend on response to the anthology itself
and the editors' endurance levels.
"On that note, would the e-project (anthology or zine) be a
paying concern?"
Response:
Hopefully. The level of that payment is likely to be lower than
the already abyssmal payment level for the anthology itself, but
I would like to offer contributors something.
"Finally,
while I know it's none of my business, if you are looking to do
some cross-promotion, you may consider a limited edition bonus CD
with a PDF version of the bonus stories, to be sold with the print
antho. CDs are dirt cheap, creating an attractive label for the
CDs is also easy and inexpensive, and the actually PDF (or e-book)
format is simple if you have the software."
Response:
Another good idea... and we will put it under consideration.
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