A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

None of this will make any sense unless you read the previous installments at the Very Bad Publishers Page.

Nice recommendation from Tom Spurgeon over at The Comics Reporter:

Colleen Doran is detailing one of those protracted publishing horror stories that has to be read to be believed and that everyone should read before fully committing to making comics with any sense of professional devotion.

Thanks.

Most of these posts originally went up nearly ten years ago, but today’s is new. I pondered a few days before uploading, then edited the heck out of it. You don’t need more of the wacky, and I don’t need to relive it anymore.

Man, reviewing all of this was draining…not nearly as draining as living it, though.

I appreciate the letters from Son of Tom, because they validate some of my memoirs, even though he disagrees on the role of Tom in the development of GN’s. As I said, didn’t really know the guy, and never worked directly with him.

One thing I did learn from all this explains the puzzling problem of people who bubble up from the oubliette to raise a stink now and then: they are frozen in time, and think you are, too.

Not necessarily referring to Tom here, but…

If they met you when you were 21, starting out, broke, then in their minds you are always there. No matter how much time goes by, how much you accomplish, they will assume you can still be had on the cheap, will sign crap contracts, have never done a thing with your life since they saw you, and have never learned a damned thing, either. They never do, that’s for sure.

Nothing is stranger than dealing with someone who saw you at a convention and can’t forget the sight of you in your Galadriel costume.

Just because they never change, don’t let that stop you from moving on, no matter how much they whine when you do. If they can’t keep up, tell them to enjoy the slower pace, and leave them behind.

I appreciate the internet, because back in the day, I couldn’t point you to this.

About a year ago, a case law website posted some documents from the lawsuit.

I’d say this pretty much backs up what I remember about it all. Keep in mind, the lawsuit was settled, so none of these people were found liable for anything. Our settlement was confidential, and not only have I never revealed it, I spent so much time trying not to remember it, I forgot what it was, except I was very happy about it.

Moreover, I haven’t a clue who most of those people are, and don’t know what role they played in all this. I suppose they could get mad at me for these posts, but in ten years, no one bothered to come to me directly about them, except for the Son of Tom. I sincerely doubt any of this could damage the principal players, since the imprint is gone and everyone associated with it is, too. Harming a dead imprint is not the purpose of these posts.

I have no hard feelings toward the company as it exists today. Those people didn’t do anything to me, and these posts aren’t about them. None of the people I once knew are with the company any longer.

The date here is later than I recall: 1992. Yet one more reason why my early years self publishing were particularly stressful. I started self publishing in 1991. This legal snafu ran on for nearly four years.

I also have no recollection of the court’s decision to split the suit between matters which required arbitration, and those which went to court.

A minor point; some of us had books reprinted with improper copyright notices. The book was published with an incorrect birth date in the copyright info. For years, someone spread the rumor that I changed my birthdate in a scheme to trick everyone into believing I was years younger than I actually am. Here are the court documents which show that not only did I have absolutely nothing to do with the edition of A Distant Soil that has my incorrect birth date in it, but I sued its publisher. (UPDATE: and because there are a lot of whackjobs out there, I no longer give out any private info. Including my real name or birthdate.)

It’s odd that some see a conspiracy in a typo. Stop sniffing the loser dust, people.

I also want to emphasize that Tom was gone from the publisher years before the suit, and is not named in this document.

Reading the letters from the Son of Tom, I am happy to know this kid didn’t have a clue what was going on. I repeat, his dad had nothing to do with the legal stuff.

A lot of the treatment I received at the old publisher was bizarrely unprofessional in a FAN FROM HELL kind of way. I’ve said over and over that real fans are never a problem, it’s the pros (including aspiring pros) you have to watch out for. It is highly doubtful your editor at Harper Collins (I know, I worked there, too) will induce you to draw slash porn for them on the sly in exchange for food, or will publish and sell fanfic, but Starblaze was that kind of place.

It’s not that I’m close-minded, it’s just that I subscribe to the wisdom of the Five Geek Social Fallacies, which should be required reading for anyone who comes anywhere near fandom. Just because I don’t want to draw slash for my editor for food does not mean I am making a judgment on people who enjoy kinky manga…except for the Loli and tentacle stuff. Ew.

My connection to this publisher came about in part because the man who created the Starblaze line was my mentor, Frank Kelly Freas. Kelly was discreet to a fault. Though he had a bad split with Starblaze and another Very Bad Publisher, he barely mentioned them until after I had signed on with them. Then he couldn’t shut up about them. Too late!

The Woman waged epic battles with fellow employees that were so hideous and personal I won’t go there. Let’s just say that at the moment we begin the sex change operation adventure – EDIT: which I decided not to elaborate upon, but cannot resist a momentary mention of, because that place reached stratospheric heights of uberdrama, and that should give you some indication of same – the whole epic jumps the shark and I don’t want to ski with the Fonz. I have decided not to link to blogs that do because they don’t address issues about contracts and publishing that will be of any use to you. However, I admit it was strangely comforting to discover that I was not the only one revolted by the personal dramas.

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