Are books dead?

Yours truly (right) signs copies of "Full Spectrum 4" with Ray Aldridge (left) at a signing event at the Waldenbooks at Santa Rosa Mall in Mary Esther, Fla., in 1993. I don't know who took this photo.

I have been writing since the eighth grade. I began selling professionally in the mid–’90s and as recently as last year made the finals of the British Fantasy Award.

Around 2000 I began to wonder if there was any point in continuing. My sense was books were headed in the same direction as newspapers and magazines – marginalized by the web and video games and cell phones … and I guess the general illiteracy that seems to be overtaking the world.

I’ve dedicated a significant portion of my life to learning the use of words as an art form and lately I miss doing that. I suppose it has something to do with work, which has gone from providing an outlet for my creativity to confronting me with a relentless assembly line of button–pushing and software configuring.

But again, is there any point? I pose this question to the professional writers on my friends list who are still writing and, presumably, selling. Are there markets for novels? Do writers get paid for their work? Is the book an end or merely a means to an end, like a movie deal?

I would like to start writing again but I don’t want to do that if it means giving away my work or worse, having it lie fallow in my computer.

I know. That violates every tenet of the artist who is compelled to create regardless of markets and advances and licensing rights issues. Still, when I hear that Bantam Books has been shut down and mid–list writers are being muscled out of the business I wonder if my time wouldn’t be better spent at the local vocational–technical school learning a trade.

So … if you have any thoughts on the subject and would like to comment, I’d appreciate the input.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .