In 1991, Kathe Koja’s novel THE CIPHER inaugurated the Dell Abyss line of horror novels, a dark and visceral classic. Since THE CIPHER is the first release from Roadswell Editions, Kathe and I sat down for a fun dual interview.
Q: Ever since the format became available, people have asked about THE CIPHER coming out as an ebook. Why did Roadswell Editions choose this as a first release? And will there be a paper edition, too?
KK: Because Christopher has bang-on eclectic taste. And for me, it’s a total thrill to bring the story to a whole new audience this way, in such excellent company-to-be.
CS: I've always loved THE CIPHER. I remember being an editor in 1990 and having the manuscript submitted to me (back when it was titled THE FUNHOLE). I got outbid then, so now's my chance! It won instant, enormous praise when it was first published, and it's been highly sought-after since it went out of print a decade ago, so it makes sense to bring it back as the first title. It launched an imprint in the 90s and still has the power to do so in the 10s. We’re not planning a print edition right now – would that be regressing? – but anything’s possible given the shifting landscape of the publishing industry.
Q: One of you is the other one’s client, and the other is your agent. How does this translate effectively to a publisher/author arrangement?
KK: Seamlessly and splendidly. Chris has been my agent for a dozen years, and completely understands and supports my work in whatever direction it travels – horror, historical, YA, whatever. He’s always been more of a creative accompanist than a purely business agent, so to work together with him in this way is a natural outgrowth of our collaborative mojo together.
CS: I agree, it's working beautifully. Roadswell Editions really is a collaborative project. An agent is the author’s advocate – their employee, even – so they want the same thing, and this is a way of moving toward it together. As publisher of Roadswell I don’t have veto power over an author’s decisions about their own work. Traditional publishing battles like packaging and pricing and marketing are nonexistent because the author is packaging it the way they want, we’re exploring all the different pricing options together, and figuring out smart ways to market in this new configuration. Because the roster of authors is a group of people with whom I’ve had great and productive relationships for fifteen years, we’re very like-minded about what we want.
Q: THE CIPHER is 21, old enough to drink! Is it dated, or still viable for today’s fan of dark fiction?
KK: The Funhole never dies . . . What’s contemporary about this novel is what’s eternal – the human fear not only of the darkness, but the secret space inside the self that’s nothing but darkness, that recognizes emptiness as a component of the heart itself. That never changes. And the human urge to investigate, to give in to the curiosity that is better left unsatisfied, to stick your hand in all the way to the elbow … That never changes, either.
CS: Having recently re-read it I was struck by how eerily it speaks to a boomerang generation about loss of self. But mostly it’s even sicker and scarier than I remembered.
Q: What’s next for Roadswell Editions?
CS: There’s a fun, cool, eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction in the pipeline - Paul Witcover's WAKING BEAUTY, which was nominated for the Tiptree Award and the Crawford Award in 1997, is on deck. Hanne Blank's lively cultural history, VIRGIN: The Untouched History will also have a print edition, since it's much in demand in the academic market, and Phyllis Raphael's criminally overlooked memoir, OFF THE KING'S ROAD: Lost and Found in London, will also be on the fall list. And there's a very special, new, original title for the fall . . .
Q: What’s next for Kathe Koja?
KK: My next book from Roadswell will be BREATHE, a brand-new novel about love, death, and how far into the darkness we need to go to feel truly alive.
Q: Ever since the format became available, people have asked about THE CIPHER coming out as an ebook. Why did Roadswell Editions choose this as a first release? And will there be a paper edition, too?
KK: Because Christopher has bang-on eclectic taste. And for me, it’s a total thrill to bring the story to a whole new audience this way, in such excellent company-to-be.
CS: I've always loved THE CIPHER. I remember being an editor in 1990 and having the manuscript submitted to me (back when it was titled THE FUNHOLE). I got outbid then, so now's my chance! It won instant, enormous praise when it was first published, and it's been highly sought-after since it went out of print a decade ago, so it makes sense to bring it back as the first title. It launched an imprint in the 90s and still has the power to do so in the 10s. We’re not planning a print edition right now – would that be regressing? – but anything’s possible given the shifting landscape of the publishing industry.
Q: One of you is the other one’s client, and the other is your agent. How does this translate effectively to a publisher/author arrangement?
KK: Seamlessly and splendidly. Chris has been my agent for a dozen years, and completely understands and supports my work in whatever direction it travels – horror, historical, YA, whatever. He’s always been more of a creative accompanist than a purely business agent, so to work together with him in this way is a natural outgrowth of our collaborative mojo together.
CS: I agree, it's working beautifully. Roadswell Editions really is a collaborative project. An agent is the author’s advocate – their employee, even – so they want the same thing, and this is a way of moving toward it together. As publisher of Roadswell I don’t have veto power over an author’s decisions about their own work. Traditional publishing battles like packaging and pricing and marketing are nonexistent because the author is packaging it the way they want, we’re exploring all the different pricing options together, and figuring out smart ways to market in this new configuration. Because the roster of authors is a group of people with whom I’ve had great and productive relationships for fifteen years, we’re very like-minded about what we want.
Q: THE CIPHER is 21, old enough to drink! Is it dated, or still viable for today’s fan of dark fiction?
KK: The Funhole never dies . . . What’s contemporary about this novel is what’s eternal – the human fear not only of the darkness, but the secret space inside the self that’s nothing but darkness, that recognizes emptiness as a component of the heart itself. That never changes. And the human urge to investigate, to give in to the curiosity that is better left unsatisfied, to stick your hand in all the way to the elbow … That never changes, either.
CS: Having recently re-read it I was struck by how eerily it speaks to a boomerang generation about loss of self. But mostly it’s even sicker and scarier than I remembered.
Q: What’s next for Roadswell Editions?
CS: There’s a fun, cool, eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction in the pipeline - Paul Witcover's WAKING BEAUTY, which was nominated for the Tiptree Award and the Crawford Award in 1997, is on deck. Hanne Blank's lively cultural history, VIRGIN: The Untouched History will also have a print edition, since it's much in demand in the academic market, and Phyllis Raphael's criminally overlooked memoir, OFF THE KING'S ROAD: Lost and Found in London, will also be on the fall list. And there's a very special, new, original title for the fall . . .
Q: What’s next for Kathe Koja?
KK: My next book from Roadswell will be BREATHE, a brand-new novel about love, death, and how far into the darkness we need to go to feel truly alive.
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