BARRY B. LONGYEAR
Webmansion

Exciting news: We are now in the midst of making all of Barry B. Longyear's works available on Kindle. This digital format enables us to get all of Barry's books to readers at a great break in prices. In addition, many works previously unavailable, such as uncollected short stories and articles, will soon be available in this format. Our imprint for these works is Enchanteds (and no, we don't have an verb/noun disagreement. Enchanteds is named after two political divisions in Maine: Upper Enchanted and Lower Enchanted (they are indeed named that for a reason).

The first to come will be the more recent works that are already in compatible electronic files. Eventually, though, works originally cranked out on his ancient IBM Selectric will follow. Stay tuned.

Jaggers & Shad, Turning the Grain, and Dark Corners fans --- These completed works will be among the first to be published.

____ABC IS FOR ARTIFICIAL BEINGS CRIMES contains the Jaggers & Shad mystery stories that appeared in Analog in addition to two previously unpublished tales, "The Colleton Ghost," and "The Sheriff's Tale."

____TURNING THE GRAIN is a greatly expanded full-length novel a shorter version of which appeared in Analog some months ago. The full version is worth another read.

____DARK CORNERS is a collection of some of my best and darkest stories formerly released in electronic form that must have sold upwards of six copies in this antiquated format (you had to peddle a bicycle and hand-pump a bellows to turn the pages). This is a great collection and one we are happy to be able to get to readers.

____Many, many more to come.

The story begins during the night of May 2nd, 1863 during the Battle of Chancellorsville when Maj. John Barry of the 18th North Carolina ordered his men to fire upon some unidentified soldiers in front of his regiment's lines. As a result, Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was shot and wounded by a private soldier named Alan Castle whose adventures over the next eight days brings him to the core of the issues underpinning the war, and to the heart of this dark thing he has become.

This April the Mysterious Regina and I checked out the Chancellorsville battlefield, walked the ground where my character fired the shot that took down Jackson, and then we toured the plantation office next to what was then called Guinney's Station where Jackson died eight days later, photos below.

The first book in the Confessions of a Confederate Vampire series is titled The Night, and is centered on a single bad order coupled with a remarkably skilled shot that changed the world from what it would have been to what it is, although only glimmers of this future are visible to a private soldier who dies and awakens with the power to live forever, as well as to heal Stonewall Jackson.

If you choose to visit this site, first read about the Battle of Chancellorsville and about Thomas J. Jackson, where he fit in the Army of Northern Virginia and the cause of the Confederacy, and how his death affected the Civil War and thereby altered the future of the world. Others will be looking at an insignificant plantation outbuilding as they would have looked at Jesus's empty tomb as a rather damp hole in the ground. You will be visiting an interdimensional time machine. The ranger there will be very helpful. In fact, the interior pictures I took didn't come out for some reason. The ranger promised he'd bring his camera to work next time and take a few snaps and send them to me.

Suggested Readings: Chancellorsville by Stephen W Sears; Lee's Lieutenants by Douglas Southhall Freeman (Volumes I and II).

And, where do the vampires fit in? Well, for that you'll need to wait for the book.

George Scithers, first editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, died April 19th at the age of eighty from a heart attack. There are any number of links that can fill you in on George's recognized accomplishments as prozine and fanzine editor (four Hugo Awards), and as a book publisher. These dusty little articles will get in the obituary grist, but they leave out this man's most important accomplishments.

In his days running Asimov's, George bossed the most expensive editorial operation in the business. What made it expensive was that every manuscript that arrived in his slushpile, if rejected, rather than a stock form "We regret your story does not fulfill our current editorial needs" piece of crap, got a note explaining exactly what was wrong with the piece. George Scithers was out to discover and develop new writing talent, and his editorial operation was designed to do just that. Many current writers in science fiction and fantasy today owe their beginnings to this man, including me.

The first thing I got from George was a rejection letter, rather than a form. He told me what he liked about my story, but why it didn't work for a prozine: too many science fiction in-jokes. He closed with: "I'd like to see something else from you."

When I read that letter, my back was out and I was confined to my bed and essentially writhing in agony. That last sentence, though, levitated me off that mattress and into my office where I began writing "The Tryouts," the first story of my Circus World Series, and the first of many sales to George.

I learned a great deal about writing from George: scene structures, characterization, even punctuation. More important than that, he introduced me to the fun and wonder of science fiction fandom. He had his roots in fandom, and he was the one who had me go to my first convention in 1978, a Philcon.

My short story Alten Kameraden is in the April 2010 Asimov's Magazine. It's one of my favorites. Look for it.