Interviewing Francesca T Barbini of Luna Press Publishing
Helloooo!
I’ve been aware the last few weeks that Luna Press Publishing were launching a range of novellas this month. On Friday I was lucky to go onto Youtube and hear readings from all the authors and started my own pre-orders for them shortly afterwards! Obviously as I am well known for ensuring you Dear Reader do not fall short of reading material (ahem) I had to know a bit more.
Francesca T Barbini is the Founder and Senior Editor for Luna Press and kindly agreed to answer some question on the publisher, the new novella range and how publishing is changing digitally and with the wider novella trend we are now seeing.
How did Luna Press start and why?
Hi Womble! Thanks for having me! Luna Press’ origin is tied to my teen SF series Tijaran Tales. I had just finished the first book, White Child, so I bought a copy of the Writers and Artists Yearbook to make a list of publishers and agents. At the time, paper submissions were still the norm and you had to wait an average of three months to find out if you had been rejected before you could send to the next place. After a few months of kind words accompanying my rejection letters, I thought, ‘I’m going solo’. I had successfully tested Create Space, so I decided to entrust book one of the series to the same avenue. Book II, The Oracle of Life, followed suit, and here’s where the story takes a turn.
One of my most avid readers turned out to be the son of a very talented artist, Jay Johnstone, who offered to redo the covers and make the books look more professional. I was so grateful to him; it really did make a difference. At the same time I continued to query, until an American small press, Oloris Publishing, liked the books enough to consider taking me on. So I was offered a contract for the full series.
Enters the idea of Luna. Just as book IV, Tijara’s Heart, was coming out, Oloris was unfortunately experiencing financial troubles, which eventually led to them closing the business. I had observed them closely, what they did well and what I would have done differently. Between my experience in self-publishing, what I had learned from Oloris, and my growing experience at genre conventions, I decided once again to take on a new challenge and see where it would take me.
I am a facilitator by nature, I like to connect people to their dreams, or help them along the right path. Plus, I have an entrepreneurial spirit. Couple this with my passion for SFF, and this led to Luna being born.
The Luna vision includes experimenting with new projects, working with charities, and exploring the non-fiction side of SFF. Luna is me, so those three aspects are very important in my life as well. And here we are!
Would you say there is a particular type of story you can say is a typical Luna story?
I think what I consider a Luna story has changed since 2015, when we started. When you read hundreds of submissions a year you become attuned to what you like and what you don’t. The first thing for me is the writing style. I’m not sure I can explain this one, but I recognise it when I see it. It feels flowless, captivating, fresh, daring; it takes you straight into the story, it doesn’t ask you to stop while exposition takes over – a skilled writer finds a way to tell you what has happened, whilst telling the story. There is also an element of subjectivity, of course, as I have to like the story itself. I don’t publish “by trend”, but “by heart”. So, something in the content has to speak to me, for whatever reason, and at the same time it needs to feel fresh and original.
This year you’ve announced a remarkable set of novellas coming out! Can you tell us more about them? How did you choose these books?
I began planning the Luna Novella series in 2019. The open submission windows from 2020 left me overwhelmed by the interest they generated, with seriously high numbers of entries. I don’t commission fiction, so for me open subs are fully open to all. Now, novellas are tricky to write; you could tell that there was a lot of confusion about “what makes a novella” as we received some problematic submissions, including some which read like summaries of novels. But, the shortlisted works had really nailed it, captivating and entertaining me, so the subsequent selection was made based on how they spoke to me, where they took me, and how they did that. In the end we selected two SF, three fantasy and one dark fantasy.
What made you choose this balance of tales?
They were simply the stories that spoke to me.
Joanna Corrance’s John’s Eyes is the right balance of science and fiction for me. I love genetic engineering and technology, and although they are key in this novella, it’s the actual story line that makes a really clever use of them, to create a bond with John and his life.
John Dodd’s Just Add Water deals with the relationship between humans and AI, and our reliance on technology. So when the AI pulls a stunt like in Dodd’s novella, you feel powerless. It hits you to the core, because you realise that you’ve given it the power to begin with. And how do you take it back? Can you take it back?
Andrew Wallace’s Dread and The Broken Witch made me feel like someone had zoomed my view into a piece of desert of this fantastical world, only to be stared back at by this irreverent, outrageous character, with a serious attitude! I loved how the story happens within the village, yet you get glimpse of so much more, throughout. The Broken Witch is one of these characters that deserves its own world. (Are you listening, Andrew?)
Dilman Dila’s The Future God of Love, introduces you to the need for humans to create stories. Dila’s clever use of African mythology and storytelling tradition, are blended here in a story of love, loss and deep reflection on the human condition. Storytelling is essential to society, and this novella takes you through that journey of realisation.
Terry Grimwood’s Skin for Skin, is the dark fantasy one of the six novellas. I have studied religions for over twenty years, so to me the novella’s religious setting felt natural and well built: religion is never issue-free, and Terry was able to capture a lot of the things that humans, who have religion in their lives, have to contend with, through a fabulous character which you cannot help but feel for. All of this skilfully interwoven with the supernatural.
M.E. Rodman’s Clockwork Sister, concludes the first of our six releases, with a world of simulacra, build to protect, and die, for their “originals”. Although we are dealing with Fantasy, there is a hint of steampunk and it brings back to that conversation of the human condition and our reliance on technology, as it was the way forward. Of course, the consequences are unexpected, to say the least.
The novella is definitely making a resurgence with a number of publishers now creating novella lines. What has led to those choices?
Novellas, as you know, have been with us for a long time. They can be considered tricky to place, because of their lengths –easier to make an anthology of short stories, or publish a novel – but I think a couple of things have led towards a shift: our lifestyle, and digital printing. Now, I can’t obviously speak for other publishers, though I’d be curious to know why they also took this route, but for me those were the reasons. As I mentioned, I began planning the Luna Novella series in 2019. Although I love a good novel, I often find that the short medium is more conducive to our frenetic lifestyles. Time is less and less our own, and there is something alluring about being able to go in, read something, finish it whilst all the details are fresh in your mind and appreciate it fully. I’ve noticed this with visual mediums as well: I can watch a movie or a mini-series, but anything longer is more problematic. On holiday is different, as you are supposed to be mentally relaxed (at least in my holidays!), and therefore a novel finds its place better. I also think the stress of Covid and lockdown has made us more fidgety, and less focused at times, so short medium can be more effective. The other factor, digital printing, has then allowed us to print in a way that the ratio cost/profit/royalties has become more attainable, and so as well as ebooks, you now get print format too for individual novellas.
Covid seems to have really helped push the use of more digital events such as the recent readings on Youtube. Do you see this trend persisting and is that going to assist independent publishers?
I do hope this trend persists. I know we might feel a bit of screen fatigue because of lockdown, but the online streaming of cons, launches, panels, etc, has really broken down many barriers for accessibility. And that is a positive. Travelling across the world is not always feasible, either because of health or money, etc. I found myself going through Twitter as if it was a TV listing! What’s on tonight? What panel can I watch? And, aside from the live moment, all events are available on the various YouTube channels, so you can dip in and out when you can.
One thing that really needs to be looked at, is pricing, particularly for online conventions. I sat through six hours of Tolkien seminar on Saturday, for free. Last September FutureCon ran for four days, for free. You could donate if you wanted to, and many did. Now, I’m not saying that free has to be the way for all, but there has to be a way to remove that last barrier, cost, especially in these tough times.
Once we are able to run physical events again, we should do our very best to maintain these online options, because there will be people out there who will still not be able to attend, for whatever reason. I’ve had so much fun organising these events and taking part in others. We brought a little bit of joyful SFF into people’s homes and we’d love to continue doing so. Our little YouTube channel didn’t really spring into full action until the end of 2020. I love it! As well as launches, panels and readings, I started to do Publishing 101, a mini-series to cover the basics of publishing, for those writers who have yet to experience the publishing process. And I have an Outtakes video of it too! I’ll post it at the end of the series.
As for the help to independent publishers, it does. We don’t have the marketing budget of the bigger presses, and never mind the Big Five, so being able to reach a wider audience through social media is an absolute bonus.
What else can we look forward to from Luna this year? Where can we find out more?
2021 will be another exciting year for Luna. Aside from the website, Twitter is our second home (@LunaPressGlobal), and you can find all our socials’ links on the Home Page of the website, including our lovely little YouTube channel – please subscribe if you can, and make the Luna family happy!
There are also two main ways to be in the know.
The 1st of the month’s newsletter is the “Know-it-all Have-it-all” level. As well as all the news, even before they go out to socials, you will find how each book in the making is progressing, what ARCs are available (great for reviewers), the monthly raffle (£10 to spend in store), a monthly selection of free books (first comes first serve), extra open submissions, and more. This is to say thank you, for journeying with us.
If you are simply interested in the new releases, then take a look at our Catalogue. It is updated months in advance with what’s coming.
PS - also more can be found via Facebook https://m.facebook.com/lunapresspublishing/
If there was one book (not one of your own) that you wish everyone could read what would it be?
Given the way it changed my life, I’d have to say On the Road by Jack Kerouac (not the movie!). Suffice to say that, as a teenager growing up in Rome, it started in me the process of separation between material possessions and freedom of the soul, between living in comfort and actual living. Anyway, a story for a con bar!
