Welcome to The Week in Review, the weekly round-up for those too busy to follow Stupefying Stories on a daily basis. Except that beginning right around May 12th we got too busy to stay on top of this ourselves, so the May 19th Week in Review became the May 26th Fortnight in Review, became the June 2nd Month in Review, and now here we are on June 9th, with the… one, two, three… many Weeks in Review post.
To bring everyone back up to speed: in the first week of May we ran with the “April flowers & May flowers” theme, and published five short stories by Jeannie Marschall, Avra Margariti, CB Droege, Michael Ehart, and Eric Fomley. We also continued our discussion of A.I.-generated audio book narration, and you’ll find links to all those stories right here.
In the second week of May we published the results of The Pete Wood Challenge “Tristan da Cunha” contest, comprising six new flash fiction stories by Tobias Backman, Brandon Case, Pete Wood, Kai Holmwood, Kimberly Ann Smiley, and Ian Li. Again, you’ll find links to all those stories right here.
In the third week of May we began running “Catastrophe in Space” week, but were interrupted by external considerations that were not catastrophic but disruptive all the same. In that week we ran:
“The Last Guardian of Tarugal,” by Kai Delmas
Then we went silent for a week, as we dealt with OTOGU. (Should I explain OTOGU again?) After a few days, Guy Stewart grew concerned and dropped in another of his science fact columns.
Spurred by Guy’s concern, I posted an explanation of what was going on, with afterthoughts as well as answers to some new frequently asked questions. (Yes, as horrific as the idea seems, they are doing a remake of Barbarella.)
The Never-ending FAQ: What happened?
The Never-ending FAQ: Addendum
Following this, we introduced what may become a regular feature on this site: “Courting Controversy.” This owes its existence to a marketing newsletter that recommended “bother bonding” as a technique for drawing in more readers. The idea is that rather than write about anything positive, you should write about something that really bothers you, and then encourage people to join in together for a good cathartic Group Hate.
Hmm. I dislike the idea. It sounds too much like political commentary to me. Nonetheless, it’s claimed that the idea works for fiction writers, and it is an easy and cheap way to fill column inches, so we posted two invitations to argument. We’ll be watching the readership stats and reader comments for these columns, to decide whether this idea is worth pursuing.
“Courting Controversy” (5/25/24)
“Courting Controversy” (6/7/24)
To counterbalance the negativity of “Courting Controversy,” we announced a 99-cent Sale. This isn’t quite as simple as 99-cent e-books. We have some e-books that are now free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers; some that are priced at 99 cents to buy; and 99-cent shipping on selected paperbacks and hardcovers. The 99-cent shipping sale runs through June 15th. For more information on all these things, read this.
With this in place, we finally began to talk publicly about our plans for the rest of 2024. We’ve spent the last two months taking a very serious look at our readership and sales numbers, and decided it’s time for Rampant Loon Media to do that new dance craze that’s sweeping the nation, the Mid-Year Pivot. We will be making substantial changes to the way we do business. There is a lot of information to unpack here, so we’ll just post the relevant links. Please be sure to read them all before you panic.
The Never-Ending FAQ • Looking Ahead: The Next 7 Months
The Never-ending FAQ • Looking Ahead, Part 2
The Never-ending FAQ • Doing the Mid-Year Pivot
The Never-ending FAQ • One more thing…
Finally, last week we launched Season 2 of The Odin Chronicles. We’ve posted three stories so far and will be posting more new stories every Saturday and Tuesday. Watch for the complete episode guide, coming this week.
“Lost and Found,” by Pete Wood
“The Song of Her Heart,” by Matt Krizan
“An Infestation in the Mines,” by Carol Scheina
“Dilation,” by Pete Wood — Coming Tuesday, 6/11/24!
“A Good Boy,” by Kimberly Ann Smiley — Coming Saturday, 6/15/24
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