We Are Not Dead!
All reading is caught up and the next issue is full. We are putting it together and plan to be printing soon.
We are briefly closed to submissions.
As always, thank you for your support and encouragement.
Mike & Ryan
September 04, 2007
March 02, 2007
What people Want?!
I just posted this and the entire thing disappeared?
Anyway. With our first issue we posted a cover(it's still on the home page) and the table of contents (toc) on the web site as a way to sate our rabid fans. We haven't done that since. Shame on Mount Zion. I will make sure MZSFR 1.3 cover and toc are on the web site by next week. I will also post future issues as well.
No get out there to those fora and email lists and tell folks how great MZSFR (remember its a Journal) is. C'mon 154 pages for 5 bucks. You can't beat that with a shuggoth!
March 01, 2007
The latest on issue 3
Well, we have finished the second print run on issue three and our subscribers should be recieving thier copies soon. Also, Ryan should be posting a link to order issue three today or tomorrow.
We are now reading for 2.1 in earnest and have already accepted several good stories. Although we are running about two weeks behind on our submissions, I expect to be well within our six week turn-around by Tuesday. If all goes well our submission box will be empty the following week.
Finally, I spoke to a few retailers this week and hope that Mount Zion will soon be for sale some place other than our website. Although these will be local to the Norris and Knoxville areas, it's a start. I will update the Crier as to where it will be when an agreement is reached.
If you have any specific questions shoot me an email mpoole_AT_mountzionpress.com
January 21, 2007
How to get comments
First of all I apologize for teasing you with the previous entry. We really did think we were on track to get copies shipped by mid december.
Secondly, we are going to try to update The Cryer much more frequently.
Finally, we have begun printing and hope to be sending out copies next week.
Thanks for your continued interest. Each issue we do provided us with ways to improve and this issue was no exception.
Here's a story of Appalchian horror from Athena Workman. Brought to you by Apex Digest.
September 12, 2006
Now On Sale!
Mount Zion Press is proud to announce that MZSFR Volume 1 Number 2 is now on sale.
Click HERE to purchase your copy.
June 25, 2006
Future of MZSFR
Friends,
Mike and I would like to apologize for our lack of communication of late.
Neither of us realized the amount of time and energy this enterprise would
consume. Additionally, several things have happened in putting together
our second issue that have us reexamining our options. We both want MZSFR
to go forward, but are as yet unsure what that will look like. The only
thing I can say with some certainty is that we are both committed to a
print format (as opposed to electronic).
All in all I have a great deal more empathy for publications that seem to
bloom and disappear in the blink of an eye. We are seemingly on the verge
of being one of them.
Having said that, I assure you that our second issue is forthcoming.
Future installments may look different or have a different schedule, but we
are not throwing in the towel.
If you have sent us a story and have not received a reply, we have it and
will soon be catching up on our reading. If the delay is unacceptable
please be kind enough to let us know you want to withdraw your story.
To our subscribers: you are not forgotten. We plan to honor your
subscription regardless of our future format. Or offer a refund.
Again, MZSFR is not on hiatus, defunt, dead, or gone. We are...probably
too busy for what we had originally envisioned, but we are not giving up.
Thank You,
Ryan Shelton
Editor
Mount Zion Press
Mike and I would like to apologize for our lack of communication of late.
Neither of us realized the amount of time and energy this enterprise would
consume. Additionally, several things have happened in putting together
our second issue that have us reexamining our options. We both want MZSFR
to go forward, but are as yet unsure what that will look like. The only
thing I can say with some certainty is that we are both committed to a
print format (as opposed to electronic).
All in all I have a great deal more empathy for publications that seem to
bloom and disappear in the blink of an eye. We are seemingly on the verge
of being one of them.
Having said that, I assure you that our second issue is forthcoming.
Future installments may look different or have a different schedule, but we
are not throwing in the towel.
If you have sent us a story and have not received a reply, we have it and
will soon be catching up on our reading. If the delay is unacceptable
please be kind enough to let us know you want to withdraw your story.
To our subscribers: you are not forgotten. We plan to honor your
subscription regardless of our future format. Or offer a refund.
Again, MZSFR is not on hiatus, defunt, dead, or gone. We are...probably
too busy for what we had originally envisioned, but we are not giving up.
Thank You,
Ryan Shelton
Editor
Mount Zion Press
May 19, 2006
More Delays
We have not forgotten our authors nor our subscribers. Issue 2 is coming. We are doing our best to keep to a quarterly schedule. We have not and will not leave anyone in the lurch. As soon as the issue is ready to send out, we'll post it here.
Thank You for your patience,
Ryan and Mike
April 17, 2006
The Latest
List of Complaints
First of all, I swear we are trying to get this thing out this month. We thought Vol. 1 No. 2 would be easier. Heck, we had a little experience under our belt. Then I had to move. No biggie right.
Except Mount Zion Press World headquaters is was in my basement. No problem. We've moved the operation to Mike's place.
No problem. Except I had to prep the new house and move out of the old one at the same time. And I got a killer cold. And I still coach my daughter's soccer team. And...okay I know this is sounding whiney.
And we realized we could no longer print and bind MZSFR by hand. Well, we could, but our equipment was destroying every other cover and the printer screwed up the last page trimming job we gave them...and we want to grow!
What It All Means
We are looking into having someone else do the the production. Cover price will go up. Sorry. Page count will go up too! Yay! We are another step closer to paying our contributors more than a dollar. We still have no ads. Not to dis' those that do, but we are trying our damnedest to be different. No ads in Mount Zion.
I am going to hold off naming a price right now. But I can tell you it will be worth it.
March 16, 2006
Spring Issue
The spring 2006 issue (technically Vol. 1 No. 2, or V1N2) is coming together nicely. It may not be quite as thick as V1N1, but I am very pleased with the quality of stories. It will include a few longer pieces (hey, with 120-160 pages to fill we can afford the space). Oddly enough I've purchased 3 stories from writers from the UK. One is definitely not Appalachian, but the end is subtly terrifying. Another is very short and gruesome--and very good. The third is well-written and mighty troublesome.
What is it with you Brits? Ain't got any small press mags of yer own?
We also have a few repeats: Ron Shiflet with a nice Lovecraftian tale, Mark Allan Gunnells sent a fine ghost story, Eric S. Brown evidently has a soft place for zombies, and Danny Adams continues to impress us with his tales of Appalachian fantasy (obviously written by a native son).
We hope to have V1N2 ready by the middle of April. My family is moving, though, so that may slow us down a bit.
If you've been in touch with us about illustrations: sorry, time has slipped to far away from us that we'll probably be using photos only this issue. We do have some nice photos from cameras other than Mike's and mine this issue. John Stanton, our very first paying customer and our first subscriber, has sent us several.
Keep sending stories and poems. I'd love to be an issue ahead on content.
March 06, 2006
Thoughts on MZSFR next step
This weekend Mike and I did some serious thinking. We are very pleased with the success we’ve had so far, and I can easily see things continuing at their current pace without much effort. Still, I feel like we are at an important time in the life of MZSFR. The second issue will be out soon (our goal is early April) and it will be physically similar to the first issue. Nonetheless, some niggling in my brain tells me that now is the time to break through to the next level. We have the market cornered on a certain type of fiction and several well-wishers have approved of my editorial choices. We have had two issues to figure out the basics; I’m ready for Publishing 201 (Advanced Small Press).
Or not. But my motto is, “Begin before you’re ready.” If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never get started.
What is the next level?
Better pay for contributors. An honest-to-goodness printer. A barcode so we can snag a distributor.
What’s holding MZSFR back?
Money. I am still hoping to find a printing partner that will allow us to keep the cover cost at or below $6. Registering a barcode and ISSN ain’t cheap.
What can we do?
Ah, “there’s the rub,” as the Bard said. I am trying to figure out what we can do cheaply to spread the word. This week I will be designing a banner ad to swap with our friends. If you have a website, email me if you’d display it for us. If you are a regular in a forum, tell folks how great we are. (And what a value! You can’t buy 156 printed pages of anything for $4.)
If you have any ideas, pass them along. Just post a comment below.
January 13, 2006
The Humble Beginning
It had to start somewhere.
Mike and I decided we'd have a blog devoted to Mount Zion and the divers parts thereof. Right now the biggest part is Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review (henceforth MZSFR). In the future we will be adding posts according to how Mount Zion Press grows.
Why The Cryer?
If you've read the "About Mount Zion" page on the website you know that we named the Journal after a fictional town in East Tennessee. We have each written a couple of stories tied to Mount Zion (although none have yet been published). Ideally we want to create a shared setting for what Jason Sizemore calls "Hillbilly Horror."
In coming weeks we are goin to post some information about Mount Zion, Tennessee. Feel free to use it in stories. Submit them to us or others. Only add to the Mount Zion Mythos, if you are willing to share your characters with others. This kind of thing is best done if we don't step on each others toes. If you like a character in someone else's story, email them and ask if you can use it.
A note on Aesthetics
I am very unhappy about the look of The Cryer and plan to change it as soon as I can.
Yrs.,
Ryan