Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The New Frontier


My contributor copies of Frontier Cthulhu arrived in the mail today, so I smiled for a while. It's the new Chaosium anthology edited by William Jones, featuring my collaboration with Durant Haire, "The Terror From Middle Island" (which originally appeared in Dark Wisdom magazine). Chaosium still puts out a nice-looking product, and they sent me a check, which helps temper some long-standing ill feeling going back to Song of Cthulhu,which I edited in 1997 and came out in 2001. This actually looks like a really nice volume, so when I get done with Mr. Jones's previous effort (Horrors Beyond II), I think I'll dive into this one.

I've spent the last couple of days giving my Web site a considerable facelift, going for improved readability and such. If you get a chance to check it out, I'd love to get any comments, particularly if you see areas that need improvement.

'Tis here: The Realm of Stephen Mark Rainey.

8 comments:

David Niall Wilson said...

The site is quite cool, but one suggestion. You need to save it in lower resolution. I even have this one in 1024 by and it requires scrolling right to get all the text in the top of that division on the right...Usually 700-800px wide is about right for the "body"

I love that fixed background image with the transparent scrollage...neat trick.

I'm afraid Chaosium would have to go QUITE a way to fix things with me. They published my one story years ago...reprinted it umpteen times and despite my even walking u and talking to them at conventions (twice) never made good on it.

D

Stephen Mark Rainey said...

Hrm. The center column is 720px wide; on my widescreen monitor, it leaves huge spaces left and right. I tried to hit a happy medium for different viewing modes.

I just discovered I accidentally blew out the BLUE DEVIL ISLAND page. I'll have to fix it when I get home this evening.

--M

Anonymous said...

It looks and reads well fine for me.

I especially like the layout and feel of the bibliography page. It was on that page, just now, that I received a slap upside the head (as opposed to a hard knock of lumber).

I've had 'Deathport' kicking around in my library for aeons. To think: I had fiction of yours on the shelf long before we crossed paths.

Now I'll actually have to read the damned thing...

Oh, the terror.

Stephen Mark Rainey said...

As do most of the stories in DEATHPORT, my story has a bathroom scene -- hence its somewhat less-than-endearing nickname DEATHPOT.

--M

Anonymous said...

If you receive a bill from my psychiatrist, you'll know why.

William Jones said...

The website looks sharp on my display, Mark. But I am at a very high-res setting.

Glad to read that both Frontier Cthulhu and Horrors Beyond 2 arrived safely.

David Niall Wilson said...

I have a bathroom-based scene in my Deathport story as well, but let it be known - mine was the second story accepted and the FIRST with a bathroom scene!

Anonymous said...

You should all be ashamed of giving away a sacred secret: If you want to locate a horror writer while at an airport, look in the bathroom. That's where they spend their time. :)