what is the purpose of this website?

First and foremost to get all my published writing in one place (Unpublished stories may or may not follow). Call it my colophon.

Second to make these stories available. Some are still available, for free, on the web. Some may or may not be available in print in magazines or anthologies. And quite a few are not available, as the magazine they appear inhas folded, or the anthology or magazine issue they appear in have sold out.

Third to restart blogging about topics that involve writing and topics that inform my writing (basically almost everything). It’ll be rare and irregular until I’ve prepared all my stories for iBooks (and then Google Books and Amazon Kindle, probably), after that I hope to get into the blogging habit on a more regular level.

 

where will your stories be available?

First on iBooks. I normally write my stories in Pages (Apple’s word processor), and when I add media, hyperlink, annotations and more to my Pages files, these are easy to export and adapt in iBooks Author.

Over the coming weeks and months, that’s what will take up the majority of my spare time. 

Then I’ll have to see how easy or difficult is to export or transform the files into ePub and Mobi files. Once I got that working, I intend to open account of Google Books and Amazon Kindle.

In the meantime, I’ve filled up this website with placeholders in the following catagories:

  • Upbeat;
  • Near Future;
  • Hard SF;
  • Humour;
  • Experimental;

And two blogging catagories:

  1. On Writing;
  2. Musings on the Impossible;

After that, who knows?

 

What's the charging structure?

I intend to keep it straightforward.

Hence:

  • Short stories up to 5,000 words = $0.50;
  • Short stories 5,000—10,000 words = $1,—;
  • Short stories/novelettes 10,000—15,000 words = $1,50;
  • Novelettes/novellas 15,000—20,000 words = $2,—;
  • Novellas 20,000—25,000 words = $2,50;
  • Novellas 25,000—30,000 words = $3,—;
  • Novellas 30,000—35,000 words = $3,50;
  • Novellas 35,000—40,000 words = $4,—;
  • Short novels 40,000—45,000 words = $4,50;
  • Short novels 45,000—50,000 words = $5,—;

So far, I haven't written stories above 50,000 words. But as that will—most probably—change, the rates will be consistent up to $10,— (or a novel of 100,000 words). Above that, I may—or may not—cap it off at $10,—. Time will tell.

 

Why this round off?

I hate all this psychological/salesmanlike bullshit of $0.99 or $4.99 that makes it look like it’s not really one or five dollars. Call it Dutch straighforwardness (or rudeness) (or stupidity).

 

there are free stories on your site, that—as you clearly indicate yourself—are also freely available on other magazine's websites. so why should i pay for the ipad version?

Because those files have interactives extras—such as various media (pictures, annotations, hyperlinks and more) and author notes that explain both things about the story and how the story came about. A glimpse into the method beyond the madness, if you like.

And because it supports the author. For some reason that’s beyond me, many people consider it normal to get fiction on the internet for free, while they gladly pay for theatre and broadway shows, music performances and movies in cinemas. I am of the opinion that writers are also artists—no less, but also no more than actors, performers and musicians—and should be paid for their art, as well.

On top of that, I think I’m charging very reasonable prices (feel free to disagree, but only after you’ve tried this writing gig yourself).

 

WHAT'S THE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE CATEGORIES AND THE ORDERING OF THE STORIES?

I’ve tried to keep a certain consistency with the images throughout, in this way:

  • UPBEAT = Sunny pictures (from my own photo library);
  • NEAR FUTURE = Pictures of Wall Gardens (ibid);
  • HARD SF = Pictures from Zen Gardens (from internet sources);
  • HUMOUR = Fragments from Hieronymus Bosch paintings(*);
  • EXPERIMENTAL = Architectural & Art pictures (most from my photo library);

(*) = In 2016 (last year), my home town of ’s-Hertogenbosch celebrated the five hundredth anniversary of Hieronymus Bosch’s death with an exposition of his most famous paintings (which they managed to lend from musea world-wide), excepting The Garden of Earthly Delights (which will probably never leave the Prado in Madrid). Personally, I think there’s a lot of satire and humour in Bosch’s paintings.

For the two blog sections:

  1. Musings on the Impossible = Sketches & paintings of M.C. Escher (#);
  2. On Writing = pictures of Apple computers (on which I do all my writin, editing and more);

(#) = The first post of  ‘Musings on the Impossible’ was inspired by Monument Valley, a game first launched on iPad/iPhone inspired by M.C. Escher. Many of Escher’s sketches and paintings are ‘impossible’ 3-D imaginations in 2-D, so that seems appropriate. Furthermore, while I have (and still am) travelling extensively, and consider myself more international than national, there is also some surreptitious Dutch pride in here.

 

Still, why?

Optimum Jesucum Messiacum Est.