I talked with author/editor Jodi Lee about New Bedlam, what she loves about writing, and the things that get under her skin.
LT: Tell our readers about The New Bedlam Project. How did it start?
JL: The New Bedlam Project is a quarterly free ‘zine where all the stories take place in a fictional town, New Bedlam. On the outside, New Bedlam is pretty and functional and low maintenance, but if you were to look further, look deeper into the souls of the residents there – you’d see the nightmares only barely contained. Except for that one summer, when the monsters got loose. Those stories are told by the original writers, the original residents of New Bedlam in the anthology Courting Morpheus (available for pre-order in limited edition hardcover, and in two weeks in trade paperback from Belfire Press!)
The origins of New Bedlam are rooted deep in my own life. When I was a child, I lived next door to my grandparents, and every time my cousins came to visit, we’d get up to all sorts of mischief, inside and outside the old house. It never seemed to fail, every time we got together, at some point during the weekend one or both of the grandparents would yell that we were turning the town into New Bedlam.
Many years later, a handful of regulars to a particular forum noticed that we were all posting really late at night, leading to claims of insomnia. It sparked an idea that most horror writers (if not all writers) have to struggle with insomnia to do what we do. Louise Bohmer and I practically talked the idea to death, as both of us are chronic insomniacs, and how non-writers didn’t seem to understand our odd hours and little quirks… She would often joke she was going to buy an island someday, and only writers would be allowed to live there. That idea caused a chain reaction in my mind, and within a week or two, I’d formulated the basis for New Bedlam, the guidelines for the Courting Morpheus anthology, and that eventually led to The New Bedlam Project.
LT: How can writers get involved?
JL: The easiest way to get involved with The New Bedlam Project is to let the imagination wander into the darkest corners of the mind. Even romance and fantasy have dark corners, it’s not just horror. Read back issues to see what we’ve accepted before, and comment if something in particular touches you.
We love to support our writers, and most of the bios following the stories have links to their websites, networking sites and/or other work. If you like their work at New Bedlam, you’ll love their other stuff, too!
We have a banner on our main site that we ask folks to use to spread the word, but even a text link helps. The more readers we have, the more exposure we all get. Since we’re a low-pay market, exposure is a big thing for us – we all do it mostly for the readers. Well, I do it because New Bedlam has just grown into a part of my soul. Kind of like a leech.
LT: What has been your major challenge in getting the stories put together?
JL: Having to make a decision between so many amazing stories is probably our biggest issue. There have been times when I’ve had to reject stories that were so close, but one of the others was just that much better. With each submission period, they’re getting better and better, making it harder and harder to do the initial cutting.
Only the best make it through to the editorial polls, at which time we all read and vote on each of those that made it past the first cut. Sometimes getting us all into voting area in time is a challenge, but so far we’ve done it okay.
LT: Conversely, what has been the biggest thrill?
JL: Outside of the first day of our debut issue? Each and every first day after that, then the first weeks. Working with each of the writers pre- and sometimes post-publication has been awesome, everyone’s been absolutely great. The thrill I feel when I open the submission account and see a new sub…
I’m awed at how well the accepted and published writers have visualized the little town, and particularly now that I’ve had to incorporate a novel into the guidelines – writers are given a choice of time periods, and it’s all gone really well; everyone’s been really very accommodating to my plot and the New Bedlam theme.
Hmmm. Can I just say, all of it? It’s just been a thrill-ride since day one!
LT: What kind of ideas inspire you?
JL: Ideas that push boundaries and stretch the mind, but also leave enough wiggle room for the reader to take it further in their own imagination – those are highly inspiring to me personally. I’ve seen a lot of that in the work submitted to TNBP, and I hope to see a lot more of it.
Most people tend to run “movies” in their mind while they’re reading. That’s their imagination working, and if they let it stop when the writer puts that final period, what was the point of reading to begin with? That’s too much finality in a world where there is really very little finality.
Except for that last breath, but even then, our spirits live on… Perhaps even in New Bedlam. 
LT: What is your biggest form of inspiration outside of literature?
JL: Absolutely my family. I know everyone’s family is dysfunctional, but for whatever reason I’ve always felt my family is particularly so, even to the point of being stereotypical but on a grander scale. I believe everyone wandering this amount of insanity probably feels the same, right?
My daughters and I, we try to avoid the crazy from them by creating our own crazy. Rhia, my oldest, has Cerebral Palsy and her little struggles every day are humbling. Care, my youngest, is 15 going on 45 and never misses an opportunity to be the adult in the house. Their differences, their similarities, their very strengths through everything they’ve lived through already – huge inspiration to me. A lot of that makes it into my own stories, in one way or another.
LT: How did you get your start as a writer?
JL: My grandmother encouraged me very early on, before I started school, and then most of my teachers did so as well. I started with an ‘exposé’ of horse abuse on a local ranch for the school paper which led to near suspension from junior high. I quit the paper, but I didn’t quit writing. A local writer and former high school teacher mentored me the following summer, encouraging me to go further with what was my first horror story.
I wrote for a newsletter based out of Alaska for a while, started my own newsletter in early ’99 then later that year I joined an online community that was looking for writers, and began a five year stint as an alternative health writer, which led into other areas… and so on. It wasn’t long before I was publishing pieces in spirituality magazines and non-fiction collections.
LT: How did you become an editor?
It was actually at that same community, about three months after I started work there. They offered me a position as a managing editor, which transformed to senior editor within a year. My third year there, I became the chief copy editor, as well as performing in other management positions. From there I went on to a sci-fi print magazine working in the submissions area and then on to copy editing. Louise then directed me to our former employer where I eventually wound up being editor in chief.
I suppose I was editor of the newsletter I founded in ’99, but I always looked at that more as layout and training than anything else.
LT: What upcoming projects are you working on?
JL: Right now, we’re working on getting Courting Morpheus out to the public, and the anniversary issue of The New Bedlam Project will launch in just over a month. Our judges are currently going over the entries into the contest, and the winning stories will comprise that issue.
Outside of that, the parent company – Belfire Press – is prepping our debut novel publication, At The End of Church Street by Gregory L. Hall, for a May 1st release. I’m sorting through the submissions folder at both TNBP and Belfire, as always in awe of the raw talent – and some absolute lack of talent – of the submissions.
Personally, I’ve been working on edits for the Dead Bells anthology that’ll be published by Library of Horror, as well as several cover and edit projects for that press as well.
I’m also waiting on invited submissions to the Ante Mortem anthology. The stories for that one have all been accepted elsewhere, but either never saw print, or only saw print very briefly before being pulled. I was recently involved in an anthology that faded away into nothing, with no contact or info from the publisher (and conflicting stories given to each of us, it seemed, when we did get info early on) and it frustrated me to see so many wonderful stories from some truly great and up and coming names just go to waste. We’ve all had that happen too often, and I thought it was time to change that.
LT: Do you see any group projects or collaborations in the future?
Outside of Ante Mortem, it’s unlikely right now. Things are just too busy all around, although I’m almost always open to the idea. I would like to see another New Bedlam anthology come out some day, and I’ve still got the list of writers I’d hoped would see publication in Courting Morpheus Too, before it was dropped.
One never knows what next week will bring!
LT: Is there anything that writers can do to absolutely drive you bananas? Or anything that touches your soft spot?
JL: It seems like there is a recent revolution among some writers that think they don’t need to follow guidelines. Every publication has different guidelines, and they’re there for a reason. It could be to make it easier on the person doing the formatting, or the copy editing, or even just easier on the editor’s eyes. It irks me to no end that some writers think they don’t need to follow guidelines for whatever reason. Recently I’ve had to verbally spank a handful of now-former twitter followers of mine, who thought because they followed me, that made us close friends, therefore I would overlook the lack of New Bedlam in their stories, and the lack of proper formatting.
And then they reply, angry that I’ve had the nerve to reject the stories. Hell, I’m angry they’ve had the nerve to think I’d publish a story that has nothing to do with New Bedlam, in TNBP. If my own mother pulled that stunt, I’d give her the same rejection. I do not pull punches, and most of my friends who have been rejected by me will tell you that. And frankly, I don’t care how many self-published collections, novels, P&E or Poetry.com awards someone has – if it’s not New Bedlam and not formatted right, it’s rejected.
Sending me a story that is well-written, tight and clean (no blatant errors or typos), following the formatting guideline – that’s the start of digging into my rather cold and hard heart. I know I’ve got a reputation for being a bitch, but if writers actually ask the people I’ve worked with, they’ll hear otherwise. If a writer really wants to get in there, they have to know and respect New Bedlam. It’s easy to do – the archived issues are available free on the site right now but will be put into a very affordable, downloadable format in mid-April.
LT: Is there anything that you’d like to add?
JL: The New Bedlam Project is partially funded by two investors, including myself. The ad spaces on all of my websites, as well as the ad spaces in the backs of the Belfire books all fund the pay-pool as well, and those spaces are cheap! We use Project Wonderful, and most of our spots are one cent a day through their program. We’d love to see more advertising through there, and we’d also love to see more folks open spots on their sites for us to advertise in as well…
I’d also just like to say that The New Bedlam Project is currently running a poll to choose the reader’s favorite story over the year, although the current issue isn’t on there. If readers want to vote for a story in the current issue, they need to post a comment on that story. Come on over and vote!
Thank you for the brilliant interview, it’s been an absolute pleasure.
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©2010 Lori Titus
Tags: Jodi Lee, SUNDAY SPECIAL
March 1st, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Great interview, Jodi! Looking forward to the next issue of TNBP! ^_^