At last week's meeting, we all had a very lively discussion about publishing and editing issues going on in the world outside of Susquehanna University. We talked a lot about how Amazon is opening up "brick-and-mortar" bookstores (is it a grab for a bigger monopoly? it out of the goodness of their hearts? do they have hearts? what does this mean for the publishing companies and bookstores? will they serve coffee?) as well as demographics in publishing companies vs. the demographics of the authors that are published. But there were lots of interesting things that members of the exec board found that were not discussed, and so if you would like to follow up on them, here are some links that will lead you to interesting thought spaces:

• http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/biggest-problems-facing-publishing-disappearing-shelf-space-discovery-pace-of-change/
• http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/69313-amazon-may-open-400-bookstores.html
• http://flavorwire.com/558171/book-publishing-is-as-almost-white-as-the-oscars
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/can-we-stop-pretending-the-publishing-industry-is-fair-now_us_55c25732e4b0d9b28f05354a
• http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/61243-challenges-and-rewards-in-small-press-publishing-an-awp-panel.html
• https://creativecommons.org/
• http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-plans-hundreds-of-brick-and-mortar-bookstores-mall-ceo-says-1454449475
• http://www.fastcompany.com/3052464/fast-feed/amazon-new-york-times-duke-it-out-over-scathing-expose
• http://www.politics-prose.com/
• http://www.vidaweb.org/paris-review-2014-vida-count/
• http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/distribution-by-raceethnicity/
  
  

Check out the highlights from the Essay launch!It was wildly successful, with eight beautiful readings by wonderful authors and a gorgeous issue of the magazine! This was the 16th issue, with the Cunningham Essayist and judge Diane Roberts. The winner of the Erik Kirkland Memorial Prize is Christine Guaragno, with Abriel Clairese Newton and Samuel Melnyk as runners-up. Congratulations to them and all of the contributors and editors! Be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine in the Writer's Institute!

FUSE: Discover Your Wild Side at SU!

Come to GENRE WARS!!!

Flagship Launch Update

Attention! There's been a slight change to the Flagship launch. It will still be held tomorrow, April 23rd, at 6:00PM, but the room has been changed to Fisher G13 (it's in the basement). Hope to see a lot of people there! Don't forget - there will be cookies.

Fun Events this Week

 Attention Fusians! There are several exciting events going on this week that everyone should know.

First, on Monday, April 20th, Rivercraft is launching! It will be held in Isaac's Auditorium in Seibert at 7:00pm (I'm pretty sure this is the time - it's the usual time for such events). Also, there will be a visiting editor there.

Second, Flagship is launching on its maiden voyage (pun intended)! I invite you all to come on Thursday, April 23rd in Fisher 223 at 6p.m. The winners for written and visual pieces will be announced and will receive their monetary awards, there will be readings, and there may be ship-shaped sugar cookies! It'll be a great time.

Third, Sanctuary is also launching this week, on April 24th. They are not having a launch party, but everyone should support them just as much!

And finally, Genre Wars is this Friday, April 24th around 4:30pm. The game plan is Quidditch, although if we don't get at least 15 people, the backup game is good old-fashioned, middle school style kickball. It is BYOB (bring your own broom), and there will be pizza! Make sure to round up your friends and come!

Sorry for the long and somewhat tedious post, but here's a pretty picture.

Also, here's a test to see if anyone is actually reading this blog. I have a roll of leftover bubble wrap from the Homecoming float. If you leave a comment on this post about your favorite thing from FUSE, you will get a complimentary square of bubble wrap. Not interested in bubble wrap? Just imagine how satisfying it will be to pop it all when you're stressing about finals. So leave a comment.

Last one, I promise. This first picture was taken right after the FUSE Caucus on Saturday at 6:00pm. We had a lot of schools and a lot of magazines represented, and we managed to have a good discussion, despite the microphone setup. All in all, great success.

FUSE AWP 2015 Caucus students

And this picture was taken at the Nicollet Diner after the caucus. There were students from three schools there, and with the rather long time to get our diligently prepared food, we had ample time to get to know one another!

Student dinner after caucus