Whitechapel

Warren Ellis suggested that Murky Depths set up its own thread at his Whitechapel discussions forum. It's in it's infancy so it'll be interesting to see what people have to say. The Issue 3 cover is taking a pounding at the moment.

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London Underground Comics

My quarterly trip to London to visit Murky Depths stockists. . . . All of them had sold copies with Comicana selling the most. Also I took the opportunity to meet Oli Smith, mastermind of London Undergound Comics, whose stall, just down the road from Camden Market, has been running successfully for 23 weeks. So we sat and chatted about his babies, the stall and his comic projects, and mine, Murky Depths of course. He reeled off names, like Alan Moore and several others, who he had recently had the privilege of meeting and I . . . listened. The "names" I’ve met probably wouldn’t mean much to a comic fan. But I have to respect anyone who is trying to bag a degree in physics at the UCL even if it isn’t their first love. So we parted company with a tour of his digs and a promise to meet up and discuss the world of comics, over something more intoxicating than large cups of black Americano, at a comic convention - most likely Bristol in May. Oh, yes, the chances are you’ll be seeing his work in the pages of Murky Depths in the near future, illustrating someone else’s story.

If our society doesn’t knock him into the grove then I think he has the spirit to knock something into the world of comics. Keep an eye on that name!

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Murky Depths in Asimov’s

Asimov's are reviewing Issue 1 (September 2007) of Murky Depths in their July 2008 issue (due in May). Shame they're not reviewing Issue 3. And Issue 4 will be in the shops by then.

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Issue 3 is here!!

Yep, at last Issue 3 is back from the printers and looking oh so sexy!! It has to be the best issue yet (and I wondered how we were ever going to better Issue 1!). I don't just think it's awesome, it is awesome! There is nothing else like it.

Subscribers and contributors copies were shipped out today, so expect to receive your copy soon. You haven't ordered a copy? Shame on you. You'll never know what wonders you are missing. But, hey, there's still a chance. Go to the website and order Issue 3 now. Better still, take out a subscription and save yourself lots of lolly.

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Issue 3

Must tell you: We have some really fuck-off awesome artwork for Issue 3!! Amazing stuff!! Talent galore!! Even I'm impressed (and nothing from our very own Martin Deep this time - apart from a bit of lettering).

Issue 3 is coming together nicely, very nicely, thankee, sai. Do ya kennet? Coming your way soon (if you're a subscriber).

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SCARED?

Here's a few low-res double-page spreads from Issue 2 interspersed with blurb.

Issue 2 is shifting well, but could be better - always could be better!

The high production values, superb illustrations and short stories, not forgetting the comic (not ha, ha - oh no, definitely not ha, ha) strips, do make Murky Depths a unique blend of story telling genres.

It's so unique that only one distributor in the UK was prepared to take it on, but then only with a substantial bung in case it's sales weren't as good as they suspected it might be. And then Diamond in the States refused Murky Depths.

You could stick Murky Depths in any newsagent rack in the world and it would hold its own, so what are they all frightened of? If you haven't found out yet perhaps it's time you did!

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Free PDF Taster Issue!!!

http://www.murkydepths.com/taster/MD%20PDF.pdf

It may take several minutes to download.

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Issue 2

We have some great illustrations for the prose stories in Issue 2, plus samples from comic artist Darren Douglas who works with Violent. Ed Norden has done an excellent job on the spread for Stan Nicholls' short story SPOIL which headlines the list of stories. Luke Cooper surpasses himself in "The Dark Gospell" and Richard Calder continues the episodic "Death and the Maiden".

Subscribers should be receiving their copies from mid November onwards.

There are lots of good vibes around Issue 1. See what people are saying at the website.

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FantasyCon 2007
Category: Writing and Poetry

My first FantasyCon. It was to be my way of saying hello to the small press stalwarts such as Pete Crowther (PS Publishing) & Chris Teague (Pendragon Press). Sure, there are lots more I can mention, such as recent addition Steve Upham from Screaming Dreams who kindly allowed me space on his table after I'd cocked up my booking. So Steve gets a special thanks. But Chris in particular was very supportive and gave Murky Depths a plug whenever he could, including a panel he was on.

We arrived Friday around 6 pm after getting somewhat lost in Nottingham looking for the Britannia Hotel venue which is centrally places just a few minutes walk away from the city centre. A rather glamorous and seemingly overdressed woman we spied as we booked in at reception made Liz wonder if she'd packed the right gear.  We later met said woman in the bar with her husband and struck up a weekend friendship which resulted in an agreement to share a table at Eastercon next year.

You may have heard of Paigan Stone (AKA Sam Stone) who was hounded out of her teaching job by a local politician and the media after she had published a "controversial" vampire novel . Gabriele Caccini: The Vampire Gene - Book. Well, that's who our new acquaintance was. Sticking up whatever finger, or fingers, you choose to imagine at the "system", she had flaunted her beauty and cleavage to publicise her work and was secretly hoping that Golancz might be there to snap her up.

But backtracking a few steps we first of all settled in and headed for the dealer room and found Steve Upham who had bagged the best-positioned table directly in front of the doors as you entered. We set up our little corner and grabbed dinner in the restaurant.

One guest who particularly impressed me was Terry Brooks who brought a down-to-earth approach to a panel that wallowed in vainglory - maybe they were just nervous being in the presence of such an established fantasy writer. Interesting to hear his pronunciation of Shanara to be so different from what you normally hear in the UK.

New publications were giving the opportunity to announce their wares during Saturday afternoon and it was only then I realised I was the only magazine present; everyone else was promoting their books. I was nowhere near as elequent as some publishers whose antics would have won them oscars elsewhere but at least I had the chance to vocalise briefly on what Murky Depths is all about. 

Sales picked up during Saturday afternoon, not that this is the kind of convention where you should expect to do great business. With it's high membership price it isn't going to attract many fans unless a couple of huge names are present. It's mainly about mixing with others writers, publishers and artists and in that respect it succeeds brilliantly. Les Edwards, who produced the front cover for the Murky Depths Promo Issue 0, is a great supporter of the small press and hasn't allowed his success to alienate himself from the grass roots. He shows an appreciation for the efforts of publishers and was more than willing to sign all the copies I had with me of the Promo Issue 0.

How the majority of visitors can stay up so late beats me. I fell alseep twice during the mammoth raffle on Saturday night. But we picked up three prizes, one being a copy of Weird Tales that was published back in 1954!

Somehow during the weekend I missed the results of the short story competition. I doubted that any of my stories stood a chance but you always hold a secret hope. Anyone know who won?

Just a few more weeks and Murky Depths will be airing at the International Comics Show in Birmingham. We'll be doing some special offers there too, like we did at the weekend. Speaking of comics, since Warren Ellis discovered Murky Depths our website hits have rocketed and since Sunday we have picked up four more subscription. Might not sound much to you but with an ambitious target of one hundred subscriptions by the time Issue 2 is published every one counts.

Will we be going to FantasyCon next year? You bet. And we'll only be a fifty-minute drive away rather than the motorway-clogged three that we had to navigate this year. Would I recommend it? Definitely, if you're an artist or writer. Not so much if you're a dealer, but table prices are so cheap it doesn't really matter. It's the networking that's the plus.

To all the people we wanted to say hello to but didn't there's always next year or one of the other conventions. We'll be hitting as many as we can. See you there.

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What readers are saying . . .
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Writing and Poetry

"I have to congratulate the publishers . . . This is a bold production. . . a lovely object to hold and I've always been a believer in rewarding those with courage, so I'll be subscribing."

". . . what a sumptuous feast of art and words it is! . . . It must be the best quality inaugural issue in the history of SF magazines."

"It's a fantastic feeling to hold this in my hands."

"And how often do you purchase something you can appreciate as art that will also entertain the shit out of you and provide many hours of phantasmagorical escapism?"

". . .if you like your SF dark I recommend this unreservedly . . ."

"I know it sounds like I'm gushing. Seriously, though, there's not a misstep in the magazine. I'm proud to have a story in there."

". . . this magazine is really luscious. It's got fantastic production values, feels more like a graphic novel than a literary 'zine."

". . . this magazine is a work of art. . . In my humble opinion, this is the magazine to watch over the coming year."

"I just finished issue 1 and I have to say that I'm very impressed...Production values on this mag are through the roof; you really should check it out."

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