Why, yes, as it happens. Via Weird Tales comes news of the descriptively named Steampunk Tales e-zine, which is only available to you alpha-geeks who are rockin’ the Cupertino Jesusphone:
Emulating the style of the pulp adventure magazines of the 1920s and ’30s, Steampunk Tales contains first-run, original fiction written by an A+ list of award-winning authors. Issue #1 contains 10 stories, each running between 4,300 to 11,000 words, for the unbelievable price of only $1.99. Authors contributing to issue #1 include Jay Lake, Catherynne M. Valente, SatyrPhil Brucato and G.D. Falksen. The cover art was painted by popular artist Melita “missmonster” Curphy.
$1.99 for ten pieces of fiction by pro writers seems like a pretty good deal; it’s a shame you can’t get it any other way than on an iPhone, though.
What about you Futurismic readers with iPhones – is this the sort of zine format you’d pay for? And how does that price-point look to you?
The mag looks great and the price is fantastic. It might just about work if they reach a mass audience.
However, I wouldn’t want to read 4,500 (minimum!)-11,000 words on such a tiny screen! Then again, there are people with long commutes.
Will the iPhone and its ilk fill the niche that ebook readers have failed to do so far?
I’d do it for a favorite author, but not for just any 10 stories absent specific indication that they’re good.
We’re just seeing the beginnings of what a working microtransaction environment is going to do to stuff we’re used to getting for free, though. (The App Store is not even designed to sell e-books, but it’s so convenient for authors and audience that it’s being used to launch a project that might have gone free only a couple years ago.)
2 bucks for 10 random stories wouldn’t be a sell for me…they’d have to be the “best” in some way.
This app is a winner. It’s totally worth $2. The writing is fantastic and reading a short story on my iPhone done this well is a pleasure.
god i wish i had an iphone
_Steampunk Tales_ is now available in PDF, so it’s not just for iPhones anymore.