Fantastic Vision

Al Krever is one of the regulars at Dangerous Visions, the Valley mecca for devotees of fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery. For almost 20 years, the bookstore has attracted hard-core buffs who go there to get a fiction fix, to attend one of the store’s many author readings and to talk with its knowledgeable manager, Art Cover, a writer himself.

Something of a club, Dangerous Visions has an offbeat flavor all its own--not surprising when you remember, as Cover points out, that lovers of the genre refer to non-science fiction readers as “mundanes.”

Out of the friendship that developed in the Ventura Boulevard store has come a commercial enterprise--a new press called Alexander Publishing. It’s one of 7,000 new publishers that appear each year in the United States. Many of these, including Alexander, are born out of a passion for certain kinds of books and frustration with major publishers’ neglect of certain genres.

In operation for four months, Alexander Publishing has already brought out three books and has 28 more in the pipeline.

“We’re a trade publishing house, we’re just very small,” says Krever, 50.

Alexander publishes three distinct lines, including a science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror line called EMR--for Escapist Mind Rot, Cover explains with a slow grin. EMR is also the acronym for Alexander’s management line--Emergent Management Resources. Justin Thyme Publications is the firm’s line of nonfiction and children’s books.

Cover’s Rolodex is a major asset in Alexander’s struggle to be one of the small presses that survives. Krever characterizes 49-year-old Cover as America’s leading expert on science fiction, fantasy and horror. Cover, who cheerfully disagrees with Krever on just about everything except which books to publish, claims only to be the leading expert in the Valley.

A graduate of Clarion, a prestigious program for writers of science fiction and its related genres, Cover knows many of the major figures in the field, a number of whom live in the Valley, including Harry Turtledove, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Harlan Ellison. An anthology of stories edited by Ellison gave Dangerous Visions its name.

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Among the books Alexander plans to publish is a collection of stories first published in 1984 by William F. Nolan, the West Hills resident who co-wrote the classic science fiction movie “Logan’s Run.”

“To get these books in the line, I’ve been ruthlessly exploiting my relationships of the last 25 years,” Cover says.

New technology, including desktop publishing, allows the company to be based in cyberspace and to operate much more flexibly and inexpensively than a large publishing house.

The partners think one of the keys to the press’ hoped-for success will be its ability to produce relatively small runs of its many titles.

“We can afford to put a book out without printing 20,000,” Krever explains. Able to publish on demand, Alexander can print as many books as necessary. If a bookstore needs 100 copies of a title, it can get them in three weeks or less, Krever says. The company can deliver 25 copies or even a single copy as required.

This publication-on-demand feature appeals to writers such as Dennis Etchison, whose collection of horror stories, “The Dark Country,” is one of the three Alexander books already in stores.

Originally published in 1982, the collection has long been out of print (Cover remembers Etchison signing copies at Dangerous Visions when it first came out). According to Etchison, most major publishers are loath to publish short-story collections, believing they don’t sell as well as novels.

Etchison is so impressed with Alexander’s commitment to reissuing classic works and keeping them in print that he has offered the press a completely new work, a Hollywood noir novel called “Blue Screen.”

Alexander’s books are published as trade paperbacks and sell for $13 to $22. They are distributed by Ingram and are available at Dangerous Visions and other outlets, including Amazon.com.

Krever has already invested thousands of dollars in the company, and the partners are seeking financing. Although still in the red, they are confident the company can become a money maker.

“It is going to take a lot less for us to be in the black than a larger company,” Krever says.

Another way the firm is keeping costs in check is by paying small advances--typically $500. The firm uses a writer-friendly contract based on that endorsed by the Science Fiction Writers of America. The publisher buys five-year rights and pays writers a royalty of 10%.

According to Alexander’s founders, many choice science fiction and related titles are out of print or were never widely available. Cover obviously sees the EMR line as one that could bring important works to the attention of a new audience and, ultimately, shape taste.

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“The stuff from the past comes out in dribs and drabs,” Cover says. “I hope to find stuff from the whole history of the genre to publish in the next five to six years. . . . We don’t want these books to ever fade.”

Cover adds that the new writers Alexander publishes “will have to measure up to that standard.”

Krever, who does research on chaos theory in addition to serving as Alexander’s CEO, was a peripatetic computer consultant until he moved to North Hollywood several years ago to be near his parents.

“My job as consultant took me all over the world,” he says. “I couldn’t do that as a caregiver.”

Cover, author of a dozen books, has four of his own works in the Alexander pipeline, including “Autumn Angels,” a book he describes as a humorous experimental novel first published in the mid-1970s.

The new press’ editor and vice president, Cover lives in Northridge with his wife, Lydia Marano, who writes scripts for animated shorts (she did 19 scripts for the Disney TV series “Gargoyles”) as well as young-adult novels. She is also Alexander’s art director and designs the covers for all its books.

“I want to give the writers covers that they don’t need to be ashamed of,” she says.

One of the most attractive things about the new company is the founders’ palpable love of books.

Krever says he reads widely but has a special affection for science fiction and its brother genres: “There are places that I can’t visit in the here and now, that I can only visit in mystery, horror, science fiction and fantasy.”