Author Archive: jsomers

I suddenly realize that I have been shockingly lame in not plumping for Xerography Debt. What is Xerogaphy Debt? Heathen. XD is a zine-review zine, which is to say it is a DIY, underground publication that reviews other DIY, underground publications. They’ve reviewed my zine, The Inner Swine, many times, and for the last few issues I’ve contributed a kick-ass column called It Means Its Wank. No, really, that’s the title.

Fun fact: XD used to be called Xerox Debt until they got flack from Xerox about the trademark. Seriously.

There are thousands of zines out there, folks. Like anything else numbered in the thousands, most are crap. The rest can offer perspectives and writing you just won’t see anywhere else – finding the gems among the chaff is the trick. And that’s where a zine like XD comes in – the reviews give you something to go on when sending dollar bills in the mail for ziney treats. There are other zine-review zines out there – Zine World being the  yang to XD’s ying – as well as purely zine-review web sites, like Zine Thug. But naturally, since I have a column in XD, I think it’s the best. The best! Plus also too, Davida, the main force behind XD, is super cool. Plus also also too, she just started a blog for Xerography Debt, which I occasionally post to. I don’t get invited to contribute to too many blogs, because of the cursing. And the drunkenness. And the inexcusable inability to spell. So when it happens, I get very emotional about it.

If you’re curious about zines and DIY publishing, check out XD and maybe order something that looks interesting. Why not? For two bucks and a stamp you might discover something amazing. You might also get a crudely illustrated diary from a very boring person. Not knowing is part of the adventure of zines!

Well, just finished the first draft of The Eternal Prison, Avery Cates #3. And, who knows, possibly Avery Cates Terminus, you know? I’m only contracted for 3 books, so future installments in that man’s slow descent into a violent and painful death (you know it’s inevitable) are, for the moment, theoretical. I have ideas, though.

Of course, first draft just means I’ve stopped writing for a few days while 2 or 3 trusted minions read it and deliver to me their comments. Then I take their comments, get drunk, and if I agree with anything I revise again before sending it on to my editor. That’s when the real nail-biting begins, because if I get a 33-page memo from her about what she doesn’t like about the manuscript, the drinking begins in earnest, baby.

Meanwhile, we just sold Italian rights for The Digital Plague, which means a slightly better chance that I’ll earn out the advance and not be kidnapped and held hostage by my Corporate Masters, locked in a crawlspace for weeks, living on pipe runoff and rat carcases while my wife struggles to raise the eleventy billion dollars they demand for my safe return. We’re huge in Italy! And thank god we’re huge somewhere.

And, as a random thought, I watched Frank Darabont’s The Mist last night. I’d read King’s story eons ago, and thought the film was very well done. The ending, which differs from the original, was a goddamn kick to the head though. I was flabbergasted. In a good way. If I’d been drunker I would have wept, but luckily I was somewhat sober.