I received this press release, which is a follow-up to the info I posted last month about the steampunk ezine.
Due to overwhelming demand Steampunk Tales #1 is now available for most smart-phones, PDAs, DRM free .pdf digital download and still as a native application on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Emulating the style of the pulp adventure magazines of the 1920′s and 30′s Steampunk Tales #1 contains first run, original fiction written by an A+ list of award-winning authors. Issue #1 contains 10 stories, each running between 4,300 to 11,000 words, for an unbelievable price. Authors contributing to issue #1 include Jay Lake, Catherynne M. Valente, SatyrPhil Brucato and G.D. Falksen. The cover was painted by popular artist Melita “missmonster” Curphy. The iPhone version features the uniqueSteampunk Tales Reader which delivers the stories with a retro-futuristic Victorian flair never before seen in any eBook reader application.
Originally available only on the iPhone App Store, the decision to bring Steampunk Tales to multiple platforms ahead of its planned 6 month anniversary was due to several factors. “We were flooded with requests to expand to other platforms. Writers such as Jay Lake and Catherynne Valente have huge online followings. The vast majority of their fans do not own an iPhones,” says John Sondericker III, Steampulp Publishings founder.
Additionally, the publisher found it exceedingly difficult to get through the iPhone App Store approval process. Pulp fiction inherently contains some amount of intense situations, but what was thought to be standard fare was repeatedly rejected by the application reviewers because the content was deemed objectionable. It eventually took 5 attempts before the App Store approved Steampunk Tales #1. “Trying to operate an indy publishing company with magazine release dates that hinge on Apple’s application approval process is far from an optimal way to do business. The difficulties we’ve had with Apple were a great incentive for us to expand onto other devices earlier than we had planned,” said Sondericker.
“We stand at the beginning of a revolution in the distribution of print. The combination of low distribution costs and the potential for high volume sales allows us to provide an astounding value for the consumer. The timing is perfect to re-introduce the world to the penny dreadfuls, and the modern portables are platforms that can truly do them justice.”
Issues of Steampunk Tales will be released monthly.
For more information, and to view the bios of the contributing authors, visit http://www.steampunktales.com
Anyways, looks interesting. I will need to check out the first issue when I get the chance.
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I bought a copy for my iPod Touch after reading your first post about Steampunk Tales. So far I have quite enjoyed it; the writing is top-notch in the stories I’ve read so far, and the built-in reader software is well-designed. I had qualms about the exclusive Apple format just like you did, though, so I’m glad that they will be doing PDFs as well now. So much so, that it resolved me to support their experiment by buying the next issue on my iPod as well.
Funny how that works.
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