NEAL BAILEY and DEXTER WEE, Webcomics - Interview

This weekend, instead of blogging about my inexorably slow NaNoWriMo progress (and aren’t you all glad I’m skipping thattopic!), I’m welcoming back my buddy Neal Bailey to talk more about the wonderful webcomic Cura Te Ipsum. This time, he’s brought along artist Dexter Wee, too!

Neal Bailey

CURA TE IPSUM is the story of Charlie Everett. Well, several Charlies, as it turns out. In most universes, Charlie Everett gets sick of his life (where he’s most often a guidance counselor who tells other people how to live their lives, while not knowing how to live his own). After a certain point, he’s fired, and he goes home and sticks a pistol in his mouth and blows his brains out. Charlie Prime, our hero, is stopped by another character, Leo, who introduces him to the concept of the multiverse, and tells him that there’s a whole team of Charlies, Cura Te Ipsum, fighting to stop him from committing suicide across multiple universes. The story has grown and deepened, new Charlies (both good and evil) have been introduced, and a world has been destroyed. Let’s see if Neal and Dexter will tell us what’s in store for Volume Two and beyond….

Cura Te Ipsum volume 1

ANTHONY: I know there’s a synopsis of Cura Te Ipsum as a whole leading off this interview, but give us an idea of what Volume 2 is all about, and how it is different from volume one.

DEXTER: Volume two opens with a bang, introduces new characters to the team and ends with a killer cliffhanger.

NEAL: Volume one was definitely much more about laying the ground rules for the story, and volume two is all about running with that world, now that it’s established. Charlie tries to come to terms with the first (of many) things that drove him toward suicide in the first place, and the Dark Everett moves to take the advantage by kidnapping Hank, Charlie’s childhood best friend. Charlie’s role as a leader starts to come into more prominence, and the Dark Everett solidifies his place as Charlie’s nemesis, where before he was more of a mystery to the team.

ANTHONY: Last time I interviewed Neal, we talked a little about the collaborative process between the two of you. Several months later, has that process changed at all? Have you guys settled into a comfortable rhythm or are there still surprises that pop up in the partnership?

DEXTER: The process is still the same. I read the script then send Neal the draft layouts for approval. Then once it is approved I tighten the pencils, scan, then email the pages to Neal for lettering. It’s been a smooth partnership. Neal is very easy to work with and the communication is great. It’s been a fun and enjoyable ride so far and will continue to do so.

NEAL: I would say the process itself hasn’t changed too much, but I do see a definite comfortable rhythm that has developed, at least with me. Dex has become very much a friend over the months that we’ve grinded away at this thing, and there’s a kind of sixth sense I feel now, where he’ll see something missing in the script or something that’s too much, and he’ll add a panel, remove a panel, or give something a little touch that it was missing in a way that makes me feel like I haven’t before… like I have a back up editor for one of my own stories. With a novel, it’s very much EVERYTHING I screw up, I see later and regret (even if it’s small). In a collaboration, I’ve learned that Dex has my back, that two minds are better than one, and it just keeps getting better and better for me.

ANTHONY: Neal, has your scripting style changed as you’ve developed a better feel for Dexter’s strengths as an artist?

NEAL: Absolutely. As I got to know Dex and learn what he liked to draw, and where his strengths lie, I started tailoring the broader script toward his work. Now, to be fair, I had the first year in the can before we got through the first trade, so much of that adaptation occurs in year two, which is an even higher compliment to Dex, because the first year is not directly tailored, and yet he’s still, consistently, CONSTANTLY knocking it out of the park.

ANTHONY: Dexter, what is your process like once you receive a script from Neal? Do you charge right in, or do you read it over and let it soak in for a while?

DEXTER: I read it over then soak it for a while. Just visualizing the story and getting the feel of it. But sometimes I just draw right in, read one or two pages then draw, but most of the time it’s reading a chapter first, and then I get one printed page and place it on the drawing table and read it again while drawing the page.

ANTHONY: Have you ever read over a script, started to draw, and then thought there might be a better camera angle or page layout for what Neal’s words are trying to convey? And if it happens, how do you guys work through disagreements like that?

DEXTER: Yeah. Sometimes scenes sounds good or easy in the script but looks different visually. So If I encounter something like that I usually draw a sample first then send it to Neal. Glad to say there isn’t much of a disagreement. Sometimes I just miss the point and once Neal explains it to me, I’m all good. There are times also when I completely mess up by forgetting to draw some characters in certain scenes. Good thing I don’t ink the pencil pages, so it’s much easier to correct once Neal will inform me about it.

NEAL: I should pop in and, in Dex’s defense, say that most miscommunications are mine. Like when I put Squirt in a bar! Duh! But yeah, usually the thumbnails catch anything that might be funky… and Dex is always, ALWAYS improving my pacing with his awesome layouts.

ANTHONY: Dexter has an interesting challenge with this series: even though each main character has an overall unique visual, they are still all variations on Charlie Everett. So what do you do to make sure they look like the same person while making sure they stand apart?

DEXTER: I have a picture of my head of what Charlie looks like from the eyes to the chin so that when I draw the Charlies they will look the same but still have those unique look.

ANTHONY: Cura has a distinct look. How do you create it? What tools do you use as you move from initial roughs to the final uploaded pages?

DEXTER: My tools are just pencils 3H, 2B and 4B. After scanning the pencilled page I just adjust the contrast in Photoshop. I don’t ink my work due to time constrain but hopefully in the future we’ll do one.

NEAL: I use an ancient version of Adobe Illustrator to letter. I take Dex’s final pages, place them, do my layers and all, and then I save a version for the site, which is typically much less detailed so it doesn’t take forever to load, but it’s still clear on the screen. Illustrator seems to leave less blur on a file than Photoshop, so I use Illustrator for most everything I can.

ANTHONY: Are there pages you are particularly proud of?

DEXTER: Ah, let met me think. I like the recent pages of volume three. The first page of Cura is also memorable to me. I also like the first time I drew Dark Everett in page 35 splash and Undertaker Charlie in page 49. The massacre splash of page 47. The doomsday scenes from page 76 to 78 as well as pages 89-91 where Hank slide down from the exterior of the building. I also like the Titanic scenes, it might look easy but it took me time to check the Titanic ship design and copy it. I also like the cameo scenes of pages 118, 119 and 149.

NEAL: I echo Dex for favorite pages. I remember seeing that first page and going “Holy crap, this is actually going to work.” I realized in Dex I was working with real talent, someone who could make this comic soar. My personal favorite page is when Charlie throws the gun into the water, the no copy page. I also like little things, mainly. Panels really make me smile on their own, as part of a whole. When Hank is being called Lucky in caption in the middle of the falling ash from the nuclear weaponry. There’s a page coming up that has the pyramids again (I won’t spoil it), and that page really makes me smile in a ghoulish, moribund kinda way.

I really, really love the pages with Henry V. Dex really killed those pages.

ANTHONY: Certain pages still jump immediately to mind for me with very little bidding. For instance, the buildings collapsing during the nuclear attack, where we first meet Hank. Did you intentionally draw on September 11th imagery for those pages? It resonated that way for me.

DEXTER: No. Neal wrote the script clearly for me to visualize it. Actually the picture that I think went into my mind while doing the page is the apocalyptic scene in Terminator two movie.

NEAL: I actually overloaded Dex with references for those pages, doing the math, seeing how high and how far you’d have to be to survive a nuke placed right behind the Eiffel Tower, seeing what you’d have to do to survive. That building is actually the Tour Gan, which I believe is a government building, across the water, but at just the right height and distance to survive that kind of nuclear explosion. And for all that reference, all that thinking, Dex still outdid me in that page. It was so awesome. I think the only thing we changed, if I recall, was added that waterfall in the building. Oh! I also (like a dunce) added a redundant panel at the top, so we deleted that, because that page on its own… oh man. Can you imagine it with a small panel at the top? I have learned to let Dex do his thing, because he does it so well, and stop cluttering.

ANTHONY: Neal’s starting to feel left out by now, I’m sure. So, a plot question: As you know, I’ve really come to like the character of Billy, the version of Charlie who has cancer and has obviously been through chemo. Was he a planned part of the story all along? He seems to really be merging well with the main crew, although I notice he hasn’t been added to the cast page or the team picture…

NEAL: I would feel left out if I didn’t keep jumping in on Dex’s questions! Heh. Apologies, Dex.

Billie is an interesting story, actually. He’ll be added to the cast page and team picture shortly, actually, and he’s around for the long haul. He was planned to be around, but the cancer element I added as I was writing. When I’m creating a story, there are fixed things which can change, but often don’t. For example, the destruction of the Anchor Universe was ALWAYS the end of issue four, back when this was planned out as a monthly. The intro of Headquarters was the end of the first issue. The destruction the end of the second. Charlie’s second survival was the end of three, and then the death of the world. Explosion, implosion, life, death.

Once that settled into the regular story, the longform tale, Charlie would have to explore who he was in the past, and he’s not done with that at all. We still have to meet Cindy, we still have to learn about what happened in Paris, and on and on… I won’t spoil, but Charlie has a lot of life to unpack. The first thing, however, the thing which ate him up and spat him back out, was the fact that he believed if he had just had the courage of his convictions to go to New York, he’d not have been sad. He would have succeeded. He was weak, and selfish (in his head, not to me), and so he had to go and talk to his younger self and see if he actually was these things he believed he was.

And so the scene where Billie is brought in (it shall be explained how, toward the middle of year two you’ll understand) was important as hell, because of his naivety in comparison to Prime. I was writing this scene I’d had in my head forever, where Billie says something about having no future that sets Charlie off, and instead of realizing it’s a teenager being a teenager, he shakes the kid. The initial construction was that Charlie would think about what his dad did to him, then we’d meet Billie, and then Charlie would shake Billie and realize he was like his father. A real Luke looking at the glove moment. But then I realized that if Charlie thought he was like his father, like, ever, he’d blow his own brains out right after doing such a thing. I couldn’t shake the scene, though, I knew it had to play like that no matter what (fixed point), and so I wrote it anyway thinking I’d delete it or take a break if I had to, but then, as Charlie’s shaking Billie, the wig came off, and I realized… ah. Billie has cancer. That’s what my mind was trying to tell me.

Charlie is trying to confront death, and it’s VOLUNTARY death. My subconscious was telling me that I needed a character to help him confront inevitable death, because he’s looking at all the facets of why he should live or die, and the inevitability (or avoidance) of death, too.

That’s not to say Billie is doomed to fail with his chemo, or that he’s going to survive, note. Just that his character is an important part of the larger picture, and is, beautifully, not a fixed point. I will let Billie’s story tell itself to me, and given what’s coming, I think he’ll have a great potentiality in several worlds.

ANTHONY: By the time the print version of volume 2 hits, the webcomic will have moved on. So what teasers can you share with us about where the story is headed in the next few months?

DEXTER: Oh, it will be big year. Lots of exciting stuff happening. I already did some visual teasers for the next chapter. It will be posted soon so I hope you’ll dig it. I’ll give the floor to Neal to share his thoughts on whats coming next.

N: Well, like Dex said, we have some teasers. We’re going to release them in our first week after the trade (in five straight days of pics!), and here’s two of the six:

The Charlene pic is a hint at a little bit of what’s going to happen in the first few months. The peril of Central Park is… well, I can’t spoil it, but it’s pretty damned crazy. It’s a scene I’ve had since early in year one, and it’ll shake out over a few months.

Then there are other promos you’ll see, starting on the 11th of November, celebrating our one year anniversary. For a hint, you’ll get a look at the terror lightning, a familiar face will return, an origin will be hinted at, and a new Charlie will debut.

Year two is going to be CRAZY. Flat out nuts. There’s all kinds of great stuff going on now that the core team is in place. They have to rebuild Cura. They have to find a new source of cash. They have to cope with Billie’s health. We learn more about the Dark Everett and his creepy buddies. We see what happens when you open a portal to a place you shouldn’t, really. Plus, as promised, a return to the dystopian Anchor Universe! Stick with us! I promise a great time.

ANTHONY: Thanks for the hints and teases! I’m honored to be debuting some of Dex’s artwork here for the first time. Neal, any final words to add?

NEAL: On a more nuts and bolts level, buy a trade if you can, folks. It’ll help keep the lights on, and they flicker sometimes around here. I’ll gladly operate at a loss until my brain explodes (that’s one of the great curses of being a writer, you love what you do even if it’s eating at your pocketbook), and it’s totally worth it even if we never turn a profit. However, if you can, we’d love any help you can provide in this down economy to help alleviate production costs. And if you have already bought one, MANY THANKS! You’re a saint, and you give us the faith we need to do this thing.

More important than any of that, however, is if you can tell a friend. I may be being shameless here, but I want this comic to succeed, and if you can get one more reader for us, that’s one more person who can tell one more person, and we won’t need the apparatus to make this book work, we’ll just have a great, DIY, dedicated crowd of folks supporting independent art.

Either way, you all rock and have made Cura the best artistic experience of my life so far. Thank you. Thanks, Anthony, as ever, for this place to yak about what we love to do!

ANTHONY: You’re welcome, guys. I plan on inviting you back as long as there’s new CURA to talk about!

Don’t forget, folks, you can follow Neal on Twitter as NealBailey, and of course you can find the comic by clicking this link: CURA TE IPSUM.

BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT, Author - Interview

Tonight, we’re joined by author, editor, and #sffwrtcht (that’s Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Chat) moderator on Twitter Bryan Thomas Schmidt. This is the first of two interviews with Bryan. He’ll be back in October as part of the “blog tour” promoting THE WORKER PRINCE.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Born and raised in Central Kansas, Bryan Thomas Schmidt received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications-Radio-TV-Film in 1992 from California State University at Fullerton. He then spent five years working in the television and film industry on such shows as Biography, The Real West, Civil War Journal, and Brute Force: The History of Weapons At War as well as the Emmy award winning Discovery Channel documentary Titanic: The Legend Lives On.

Bryan released his first CD of original music, “Stand,” on his own label in 1998 and spent the next two years touring in support of that album.

Desiring to be more informed about theology and other topics which might help infuse his music with more depth, Bryan enrolled in seminary for the Fall of 1999. He graduated in 2002 with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri.

During his time in seminary, Bryan continued to write songs, stories and articles, releasing his second CD, “Glorious: Worship,” in 2003. He also founded Anchored Music Ministries, Inc. , a 501(-c) 3 non-profit organization devoted to providing leadership development training in worship arts around the world. Since the year 2000, they have worked in 6 countries on 4 continents, including Ghana, Brazil and Mexico.

Bryan’s first devotionals were published in Secret Place magazine in 2009. His first devotions for Upper Room magazine appeared in 2010. His first published science fiction story, “Mars Base Alpha,” was published at www.sffstories.com in January 2010. His first science fiction novel, The Worker Prince, is forthcoming in October 2011. The first novel in an epic fantasy, Sandman, is currently undergoing revisions, while Bryan works on a novella and sequels to The Worker Prince.

Bryan currently resides in El Paso, Texas, with a cat, Doce, and two dogs, Louie and Amélie. His third CD, “Love Like No Other,” was released in May 2009.

The North Star Serial, Part One

ANTHONY: Hi Bryan! Thanks for agreeing to ramble with us for a little while.

BRIAN : My pleasure. Thanks for inviting me.

A: Your first book, THE NORTH STAR SERIAL PART ONE, is a compilation of the short stories you’ve written for Digital Dragon magazine. Tell us a little about the history of that project and how it moved from web to print.

B: It was suggested that my space opera style might be a good fit for Digital Dragon, which is family friendly, and hearing they were open to submissions, I decided to try and write them something. I had never written anything that short but Jay Lake advised me one of the best ways to improve your writing was to set word limits and try to meet them so I thought this was a good opportunity to put that into practice. I want a form that would be familiar to audiences, so I chose a star ship and her crew. However, wanting to avoid cliches and my own tendencies being a Star Trek fan, I made the Captain a woman, named her after my friend Mike Resnick, and decided to have her be just joining the crew so as to create a setting ripe with conflict. I also decided her crew would be international and that that would play into the story if possible. The first story was really a one off thing, but the editors liked it so much they asked me to write more. That’s how it became a serial.

A: What do you think the challenges are in writing serialized fiction of such short lengths? What did you do to deal with those challenges/restrictions?

B: Well, for one thing, I didn’t get into as much description and detail as I might in most of the NSS stories. Some were exceptions but since this was space opera, I focused instead on action and pacing, created with short descriptive bursts mixed with tense dialogue. Telling a story this short you really don’t have time to create a lot of twists and turns or subplots. You pretty much have to say this is what it is and here’s the core events and stick to that. But I challenged myself by still trying to add character development to grow and develop and even introduce characters over the series. That’s why you’ll find that in the first 13, all but two of the main crew get their subplot-like moments where they shine and we learn about their past, who they are and why they are there. In addition, I did a lot of trimming after getting the basic story down to keep it tight and fit to word length. The editors weren’t overly strict so some were slightly longer, some slightly shorter. The other challenge in writing a serial was figuring out how to make the pieces contain enough backstory but not too much that new readers could pick up what’s going on without feeling like they had to go back and reread everything that came before. You hope the story’s good enough they’d want to do that, but I wanted them to connect immediately. It helped that the first story I wrote ended up becoming episode 11, I think. I later went back and revised it though to add new stuff to tie it in closer with the other stories, including a couple crew members.

A: How much of the North Star universe do you have mapped out, and how do you work those details into the short pieces you’re writing?

B: None of it. I made it up as I went. So now, as I prepare to go back and write 12 more stories to finish the cycle, I have to reread all that and remember what I did. It was really an off the cuff thing, not at all how I’d do a novel, but I had never done a serial story before, and my typical method is let the story unfold as it comes, so that’s how the worldbuilding for this world came about.

A: What’s in store for the crew of The North Star?

B: We’re going to get to know the crew members we haven’t met yet and more about the others. Someone important will be killed and that will motivate the others as they continue the fight to its conclusion. The new crew member replacement will also have a hard time being accepted. Kryk will take over the Koreleans and bring a new ruthlessness to their tactics as well.

A: Your next book is THE WORKER PRINCE. Tell us what it’s about, and when we can expect to see it available for purchase.

B: The Worker Prince is my debut novel and book one of the Saga Of Davi Rhii, a story I dreamed up in my teens. I wanted to do the Moses story in the vein of Star Wars, essentially, with the big space opera, battles, interpersonal conflict, etc. all plaid out on a galactic stage. I dreamed up a planet with two suns and one group enslaving the other. I knew the hero’s father would be called Sol and the bad guy was his uncle, named Xalivar. I knew there would be some sort of Exodus but I also knew I wanted to vary from the biblical story as well, because I’m not trying to sell religion here. Ironically, when I finally sat down to write it 25 years later, the cultural context had made conflict about religion an important part of daily life in the U.S. and all of a sudden Christians found themselves being looked at with new scrutiny, often biased and assumptive in ways which I thought lent themselves to make the story’s milieu interesting and dynamic so I incorporated all that.

The book debuts at Conclave in Detroit in early October, street date Tuesday October 4, 2011. I should have preorders up on my website in mid-August though. It will be available in all ebook formats as well as trade paperback.

A: You’ve posted bits of THE WORKER PRINCE on your website. Speaking for myself, I’m intrigued by what I’ve read. From a marketing standpoint, do you think it’s been effective in building interest in the book?

B: Well, thanks, I am glad you’re intrigued. I have not gotten a lot of feedback so it’s been hard to assess the impact except that each of the excerpts got over 100 hits in less time than the previous excerpt and they continue to get hits every week. The first excerpt took a few months to reach 100. The second took a month. The third took less than two weeks. And they have all surpassed 100 now. I think that shows people like what they see and are coming back for more. And I think it also shows word of mouth. So I believe it’s been quite effective. I’ll be releasing a new excerpt this coming week introducing Xalivar finally. We’ve just seen the hero Davi, his father Sol, and a few others in previous excerpts. We’ll introduce Xalivar, then Davi’s love interest Tela as well in future excerpts. Hopefully people will enjoy those as well.

A: You also run the weekly #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction / Fantasy Writers Chat) thread on Twitter. How did that get started?

B: I was sitting around bemoaning the fact that I’ve had employment issues and, thus, money issues, and missed out on workshops and cons with authors I respect and admire. But then I noticed many of those people were on Twitter, and I was like ‘how can people like me get the chance to learn from these talented people if we can’t get to cons?’ And the idea of a 1 hour craft-focused interview thing came up and it went from there. I started with friends I knew like Sam Sykes, Blake Charlton and Mike Resnick. John Joseph Adams was dating a friend of mine (they’re now engaged) so I also asked him. Everyone I asked said yes and it just took off. It took a couple times to get the format and build up regulars but now it consistently gets a lot of hits and we get ARCS from publishers, people contact us to be on, etc. It’s a real blessing how accepted and successful it’s been and I really love doing it.

A: Dare I ask who has been your favorite guest on #sffwrtcht so far?

B: That’s probably not wise to answer. I have enjoyed all the guests for different reasons. But in particular, I will say, the chats with Lou Anders, Blake Charlton, Mike Resnick, Paul Kemp and Kevin J. Anderson were highlights for me because they are so easy to talk to and we just really relaxed and had a lot of fun.

A: Who are the upcoming guests?

B: Well the list is on the website. We’ve recently had Maurice Broaddus, Jennifer Brozek, Ken Scholes, Peter Orullian, Tim Akers, Howard Andrew Jones and John Pitts. Upcoming are Patty Jansen (8/17), Dayton Ward (8/24), Kat Richardson (8/31), Greg Van Eehouk (9/7), Daniel Polansky (0/14), Moses Siregar (9/21), Shaun Farrell of the AISFP Podcast (9/28) and Are Marmell (10/5). I’ve also discussed with Beth Meacham of TOR, who said she’d love to do it and some others like her whom I need to get scheduled.

A: And finally on that subject, where can people who missed previous chats go to read the threads?

B: Transcripts can be found via the #sffwrtcht website at: http://bryanthomasschmidt.net/sffwrtcht/ or you can read them in my column at www.graspingforthewind.com. Links to those cleaned up interviews are on the Column tab on the #sffwrtcht website.

A: Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

B: It’s hard to pick one but “Lord Valentine’s Castle” is one I’ll mention. It’s Robert Silverberg’s 80s come back novel. My sister bought it for me and I’d never heard of it or Silverberg. I was like “What is this? This wasn’t on my gift list.” She said: “Just read it. The bookstore raved about it. I think you’ll like it.” That book blew me away. Silverberg’s world building continues to be a model for me. Other than Tolkein, I’d never seen world building like that. He got into horticulture, geography, etc. and really created every aspect of his world in depth. And he used it in the story. It was really influential on me. It carried me away. The book also has a theme that comes out in my own work a lot of characters finding out who they are and where they belong in the world through quests. “The Worker Prince” has that as a theme and so does my epic fantasy “Sandman” which even borrows the amnesia element from “LVC.” I have read all the Majipoor books and stories I can get ahold of, and was impressed with them all, but “LVC” is a true masterpiece, not to be missed.

A: Thanks again, Bryan, for sitting down to chat with us! I’m looking forward to our second interview, when THE WORKER PRINCE hits the stands in October.

* * * * * *

Don’t forget, you can find Bryan and #sffwrtcht on Facebook, Twitter, and Bryan’s own website.

THE FIRFLAKE, Review on Amazon - Book Reviews

There’s a new reader review of THE FIRFLAKE up on Amazon today: Thomas P. Ryan Jr says: Anthony has done a marvelous job creating an original and clever Christmas story that remains true to the essential meaning of Christmas. Very highly recommended!

A short but sweet review. Check out the rest of the customer reviews on the book’s Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Firflake-Christmas-Story-Anthony-Cardno/dp/0595524680/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284776874&sr=1-1

HARMONIC CONVERGENCE - Anthony R Cardno

I discovered as I was getting ready to go to dinner that there is a Half-Price Books on the other side of my hotel. Hadn’t noticed it because Sunday night I ate in the hotel restaurant, and last night I went across to the Mall where the Cheesecake Factory is and purposefully avoided going into the Borders in the Mall (my excuse was that I was carrying my hardcover IT with me, and didn’t want to deal with explaining to the bookstore staff that it was mine and that I didn’t rip the dustcover of the book off in order to steal it. Plus, I was bloated from dinner and just wanted to come back to the hotel.).

It’s no secret that I have a love affair with the HPB chain. We don’t have them in NJ or NY so the closest to my home are the three locations in Pittsburgh. I tend to end up in HPB stores when I’m in Pittsburgh and Dallas, and one of these days I will get to the locations in Cincinnati and Chicago. And hopefully we’ll keep using this hotel in Seattle and I’ll return to this store as well.

You can guess what I did tonight. Yeah. I skipped going out to dinner in order to wander HPB for an hour. Hey, I had more than half of my dinner from last night in the fridge, and that was essentially a full meal in itself.

I got a pretty decent haul for about $35.

Ever since I started getting interested in the Wold-Newton concept again, thanks to winscotteckert mostly, I’ve been attempting to fill in some old series. August Derleth and Basil Copper’s SOLAR PONS books. Various Edgar Rice Burroughs series, esp. the MARS and VENUS books. Philip Jose Farmer’s various Wold-Newton-connected works. And Sax Rohmer’s FU MANCHU series.

This HPB had 7 Rohmer books: PRESIDENT FU MANCHU, THE ISLAND OF FU MANCHU, THE BRIDE OF FU MANCHU, EMPEROR FU MANCHU, THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU, THE HAND OF FU MANCHU and THE SHADOW OF FU MANCHU. Picked them all up for about #3 each. also got Farmer’s FLIGHT TO OPAR, LB Greenwood’s SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OFSABIN HALL, John Gardner’s THE REVENGE OF MORIARTY, and a Gardner F. Fox pulp SF book, THE HUNTER OUT OF TIME.

I now have all of Gardner’s three Moriarty books, and two of Greenwood’s three Holmes books. I’m still missing 6 of Rohmer’s original FU books and every Fu Manchu book written by other folks.

So, a Half-Price Books store by my hotel when I don’t have a rental car, and my little “to buy” notebook in my luggage, and the store had stock I was looking for … definitely a harmonic convergence of some kind!

GORDON McALPIN, Webcomics - Interview

This week, we get to chat with webcomic creator Gordon McAlpin.

Gordon McAlpin

Gordon McAlpin lives in Minneapolis with his cat Punk. In his twenties, he watched over a dozen movies a week. Gordon has written movie reviews, co-hosted a movie podcast, and edited a movie news blog, but now he just writes and draws Multiplex. While he has never worked at a movie theater, he has had several equally terrible jobs. From 2004–2006, Gordon created Stripped Books, a series of non-fiction strips covering book- and comics-related events in comics form. Multiplex began in July, 2005, and is Gordon’s first on-going comic strip.

The cast of Multiplex

ANTHONY: So let’s start out with the basics: Multiplex has been running continuously since 2005. Tell us about the comic’s origins. How did you decide on this situation and these characters?

GORDON: My buddy Kurt Bollinger first suggested that I do a comic strip about a movie theater. We both love to talk about how I basically thought it was a stupid idea at first, but the truth is, I just didn’t know how to approach the idea. I was thinking in terms of newspaper comics, the 22 (or so) page magazine comic, and long-form graphic novels, none of which I thought were really well-suited to the premise. Once I’d learned about webcomics, I started toying with the idea again, because I realized you could keep the strip extremely timely by setting the strip in real time and referring to actual movies.

In the intervening years, I did also manage to forget that Kurt first suggested I do a comic about a movie theater, but I named a character after him, and stole some aspects of his personality for the character, so it’s all good. There’s a ton of stuff with Kurt that’s totally made up, though, and a ton of stuff in the real life Kurt that I’ve used for other characters, especially Whitey. Along the same lines, Jason is sort of loosely based on me, but he isn’t just a mouthpiece for me. People assume that, especially once they realize we’re both half-Filipino and sarcastic and hate everything, but he’s more an exaggerated 21-year-old me than me now.

The supporting characters tend to arise from a theme or idea I want to play with — Gretchen, for instance, is kind of a commentary on tabloid journalism (comparing it with gossipy high school bullshit); Allen and Norma are two of many types of managers; Lydia started off as me just wanting Jason to find someone even snobbier than him and see how he reacts to it. Obviously, if I’m doing my job as a writer correctly, these aren’t completely obvious.

A: The cast has grown over the years, but the story still centers on Jason, Kurt, Melissa and Becky. How would you describe the dynamic between them? And how, if at all, has that dynamic changed over the years?

G: I don’t know that their dynamic has changed very much at the core of things. Jason and Kurt are still basically in love with each other, Kurt and Melissa are definitely in love with each other. Melissa kind of thinks “Jason is annoying but I guess if Kurt’s his friend then whatever as long as he doesn’t ever talk to my sister.” Those two, I think, have had their ups and downs, but they’re starting to get each other a little more.

And, of course, Becky and Jason are Becky and Jason.

A: Everyone grows up and moves on eventually. Do you foresee Multiplex continuing without “the core four?” Or does the story end when they leave the Multiplex 10 for other jobs? And speaking of the story’s end: is there a plan for how Multiplex wraps up, and specific character arcs that you’re following step-by-step, or are you just letting the story go where it will, throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks?

G: Multiplex is about Jason, Kurt, Melissa, Becky, and Franklin. Mostly Jason and Kurt, though, and really mostly Jason. But those five are the Big Five to me. Becky, Melissa, and Franklin all get shafted for screen time, I know, but I try. The Big Five will always be in Multiplex, whether or not they’re still working at the Multiplex 10; I know where each of the Big Five is headed with their lives, although not necessarily exactly how it will play out. There will be a definite ending to the series, though, and I think I’ll keep any more details than that to myself for a while longer…

I’ve already laid some of the groundwork for the various ends to each character’s arc (as you would expect, being half-way through the story), so you could probably make some good guesses, anyway.

A: The Multiplex has boasted a very diverse supporting cast over the years as other employees and managers have come and gone. Is there any character you were surprised took on a larger role in the story than you’d originally intended? Or, vice versa, a character you thought would be important who ended up relegated to the background?

G: Every time I introduce a new character, I start to feel bad that they never get any screen time. The worst of these was a character named Letizia, who I never even introduced. I mentioned her in one of Gretchen’s Multiplex Examiner articles, but she never actually appeared. I finally had one of the managers mention he was about to fire her for never showing up for her shifts as a joke.

I was surprised at how much Angie kept coming back for a while. Her and Jason dating was never supposed to be more than a few dates. If I remember correctly, I planned their relationship to last from the release of Expelled, the Ben Stein Creationist screed, until the release of Religulous, the Bill Maher atheism screed. At some point, the two movies’ release dates were a few weeks apart. I started the arc, and then I noticed that Religulous got pushed forward by about six months. I ultimately decided to stick with the original plan and leave them together for a few months longer.

Mr. Harris (the security guard) should have been a little more prominent, but he kind of fell into the background more because of the logistics of doing a strip in real time. I simply couldn’t take the break to tell the story of young James at the Regal Theater without interrupting the main story for too long. I hope to add that into the Book 4 print collection as a bonus story, but how well I can do that will depend on whether or not I can convince the Chicago Blue Museum to let me see the blueprints to the theater.

A: As a writer, of course, I’m curious about your plotting and scripting method. Do you write out a full script first, and then craft the art to match? Or do you come up with a rough idea, pencil it out, and then craft the dialogue?

G: Honestly, it varies depending on the comic strip. I’ve done both. I think I’m more likely to just start writing out dialogue and breaking down panels (without any actual scribbles to go in them) than anything else. Sometimes, I sit down knowing what needs to happen and in what order and I’ll just go straight to breakdowns and write the dialogue later. In any case, I’m constantly revising dialogue until a strip is posted — and sometimes for a while after it’s posted.

I have an outline file to keep me reminded of where the various themes and arcs in the strip should be progressing in any given chapter. I work out of an InDesign file with the current chapter of the comic. In that file, I’m basically blocking out (on a strip by strip level) and breaking down the chapter in shorter 4–8 page arcs, with approximate dates for when the strip will post and what movies have just been released.

My workflow changes pretty regularly, though: it wasn’t until the beginning of Book 5 that I started even thinking about Multiplex in terms of chapters. Books 1 – 4 were broken into chapters after the fact, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve been adding new material in the collections — so I could flesh out the events in various chapters and make them feel more intentionally constructed when you read them in the collected editions.

A: What tools do you use for the art? Is it hand-drawn first and then scanned in and completed on the computer?

G: I draw Multiplex almost entirely in Adobe Illustrator, a vector illustration program. I use a graphics tablet for any rough thumbnails I need to do, but if a panel is just two people talking to each other in a room, I often don’t bother with any thumbs first and just go get any existing vector reference I need to get crackin’. When I have movie posters shown in perspective in the backgrounds, sometimes I’ll need to use Photoshop to distort the images, because Illustrator’s capabilities there are… limited, at best.

When I do hand-drawn sequences in Multiplex, I pencil digitally with Manga Studio and then print the page out onto Bristol board (in 10% cyan) to ink by hand. So those, I’ll scan in and touch up and color or tone in Photoshop with my tablet.

A: After a successful Kickstarter project in December 2009, you were able to bring Multiplex to print form with Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show. What was the most difficult part of making the change from web to print?

G: Distribution, definitely. I’ve worked in printing and publishing for over a decade, so getting the book together and to the printer was easy — time consuming, of course, but easy. I do that stuff for a living, and this book was for me — so I was happy to work on it. But once the book was printed, getting it out there was (and continues to be) a lot of work.

I’m signed up with Small Press United (a division of IPG), which specializes in distribution of new publishers like myself, and through them, I’m available through Amazon and (via Ingram and Baker & Taylor) at bookstores nationwide. It took us several months to convince Diamond to give the book a chance, unfortunately. Hopefully whenever the second book comes out, Diamond will be on board from day one, and I’ll see stronger sales to comics shops out of it.

A: You created a brand new “prequel” sequence for the print edition, revolving around the debut of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. What was that process like, getting permission from LucasFilm to use the still from the movie and the poster?

G: Most of the time, I don’t feel I need permission to use film stills, because I’m commenting on the film (or satirizing them) in the strip. But that movie still was really half the punchline to the Prequel story, and I knew that it was an unusually prominent and non-critical way, so I felt it was important to ask for permission. I licensed one still from Lucasfilm, and they also gave me permission to use the theatrical poster as “set dressing” — but not as a focal point in any panels, just in the backgrounds.

It was a very smooth process; as you would expect, they have a whole team that works on this stuff for people like me, so on their end, it was all business as usual. For my part, I tracked down their licensing department’s e-mail address and explained the whole idea of the story. They responded very quickly and asked me to send the relevant pages for approval (in their incomplete state), so I did so. We signed some contracts, I paid a licensing fee, they gave me a high-res file for the still, I added legal notices per their instructions, and eventually I sent them a few copies of the book for their records. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

A: Any idea on when we’ll get to see the next print volume? There’s still plenty of story not collected, after all. You have years to catch up on. And will future volumes feature print-edition-only material like the Prequel in Book One?

G: I’m working on it! I’m examining ways of financing a second book, but while the first book was profitable, it wasn’t profitable enough to allow me to jump straight into Book 2. I don’t make much from bookstore or comics shop sales; I just want them available in stores so I can introduce the comic to new readers, really.

Book Two will have a bunch of new material in it, as well. Nothing as big as the Prequel story, though, just shorter strips spread out throughout Chapters 6–10, like I did with Chapters 1–5. Some of that stuff will be in the eBook collections. Some may be exclusive to the print book. I’m still working on the Chapter 6 eBook, though, so the Book 2 print edition is a ways off, I’m afraid. But I’m working on it.

A: I’m going to tweak my usual final question just slightly, and split it in two: First, since Multiplex is all about the movies, what is your favorite movie and what would you say to convince someone who has never seen it that they should watch it?

G: My all-time favorite movie is The Apartment by Billy Wilder (co-written by I.A.L. Diamond), starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. It’s hilarious, dramatic (shockingly so, in a few parts), romantic without being schmaltzy, and sort of a coming of age for the main character — all stuff I love, all in one flick. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Shirley MacLaine was ridiculously cute in the film. I could watch it forever and never get sick of it.

A: Second, what is your favorite book, and what would you say to convince someone who has never read it that they should read it?

G: I don’t know how to begin comparing comic books against novels, so I’ll have to answer that twice:

Comics — Cages by Dave McKean. It’s a beautiful exploration of art and writing and music by one of the finest artists working today. He throws so much up in the air in the first several chapters that it’s all the more amazing when everything falls into place by the end. Or just about everything, at least. It’s a brilliant story, brilliantly told.

Novels — Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet and novelist with an exquisite writing voice. She’s my favorite novelist, in part because every one of her books has a few passages that make me stop and turn them over in my head for a while. And Cat’s Eye is my favorite of hers, because it has loads of such passages. I think Cat’s Eye struck a particularly strong chord with me, being about an artist who returns to her tremendously dull (to her) hometown of Toronto for a retrospective on her work and continually flashing back to her youth, especially her rather abusive “friendship” with a girl named Cordelia.

I guess I like books about artists…?

A: Thanks again for joining us, Gordon!

G: Thank you for having me!

You can find Jason, Kurt, Becky, Melissa, Franklin and the rest of the gang hanging at the Multiplex. You can follow Gordonhimself on Twitter, as well as Multiplex10. There is also a Multiplex Facebook page for you to Like! And you can still buy the print version of MULTIPLEX: ENJOY YOUR SHOW, which I highly recommend doing.

JEREMY C SHIPP, Author - Interview

Join us as we Ramble On with author Jeremy C. Shipp!

Jeremy C Shipp, sans Attic Clown

Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker nominated author of Cursed, Vacation, and Sheep and Wolves. His shorter tales have appeared or are forthcoming in over 60 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Withersin, and Shroud Magazine. Jeremy enjoys living in Southern California in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse called Rose Cottage. The gnomes in his yard like him. The clowns living in his attic–not so much. Feel free to visit his online home at jeremycshipp.com. His twitter handle is @JeremyCShipp

Vacation, Jeremy C Shipp

Jeremy is the author of the novels VACATION and CURSED, and the collections FUNGUS OF THE HEART and SHEEP AND WOLVES, all available from Raw Dog Screaming Press as well as on Amazon. And of course you can order through your local independent book seller as well.

And now, on with the interview:

ANTHONY: Okay, let’s get the 800-lb gorilla in the room out of the way right away. Attic clowns? How are they scarier than Pennywise in IT? And can’t you call in an exterminator?

JEREMY: For me, the Attic Clowns are much more terrifying than Pennywise because they’re living in my attic instead of in a book. They throw flaming pies at me, and while I’m sleeping they replace my organs with balloon animals. I’ve learned that if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will giggle back at you. I’ve tried calling a few exterminators, but they always end up transmogrifying into rubber chickens.

A: Attic clowns, yard gnomes. On a more serious note… like your life apparently, your work is often called “bizarro.” To me, that brings to mind the defective anti-Superman, something imperfect and plodding. Not words I’d use to describe your work at all. So for my readers who are unfamiliar with the term, can you explain “bizarro fiction” and mention a few other authors that might fall into that description?

J: Bizarro fiction is the genre of the weird. Bizarro has been described as “Franz Kafka meets John Waters” and “Dr. Suess of the post-apocalypse” and “Takashi Miike meets William S. Burroughs.” Bizarro books are not only strange, but thought-provoking and fun to read. Some prominent authors include Carlton Mellick III, Jeremy Robert Johnson, and Chris Genoa. Anyone interested in learning more about Bizarro should check out www.bizarrocentral.com.

A: Like most of my favorite authors, you write both novels (VACATION, CURSED) and short stories (collected in SHEEPS AND WOLVES and FUNGUS OF THE HEART), and even your novels are fairly succinct. Do you usually have an idea of length when a story pops into your head, or do you let the story take you where it will?

J: From the get-go, I know whether an idea will grow into a novel or a short story. But beyond that, I just write the story until it’s finished. Somehow, my novels usually end up around the same length.

A: Do you see yourself ever producing the doorstop-sized fantasy/sf so many genre writers seem to eventually write, or are you content to write in shorter bursts?

J: As a minimalist, I don’t think I’ll ever write an extremely long novel. But perhaps someday I’ll write a series of books that could be compiled into a book of admirable girth.

A: One of the things I noticed about the short stories in FUNGUS OF THE HEART is that the worlds in which they take place feel so fully realized and yet there’s often very little world-building detail in the stories themselves. How much work do you put into creating the background for your short stories versus your novels? Is it a conscious choice as to the level of descriptiveness in any particular story?

J: For every one of my tales, there’s a lot of world-building that goes on in my notebooks and in my head. But then, when I write the actual story, I only include those details that I believe are important. For me, that’s what being a minimalist writer is all about. I often spend just as much time building the reality for a short story as I do for a novel.

A: I know you’ve been actively promoting your own and others’ work being published through Amazon for the Kindle. Tell me a bit about how that cross-marketing project got started for you and where you see it going.

J: For years, I’ve helped other authors promote their work on sites like Facebook and Twitter. These days, I’ve been focusing more on Kindle books, because I believe ebooks are the future. Recently, I created a site called dailykindlebargains.com, where I blog about bargain kindle books. I’m surprised at how popular the site is already, and my hope is that it will continue to grow.

A: If I had a Kindle, I’d check out dailykindlebargain.com. Someday! You also run Yard Gnome Boot Camp writing classes online. How has the turn-out for those been, and when is enrollment opening for the next one?

J: I love teaching, and I love writing, so teaching the craft of writing is a fantastic experience. The classes always fill up quickly. I’m have some slots open for my July course, so anyone interested in learning more about the class can contact me at bizarrobytes@gmail.com.

A: So what’s next for fans of your work? When can we expect the next book, and can we get a hint as to what it’s about?

J: There’s a stage musical in the works called Nightmare Man, which is based on one of my short stories. More information can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/nightmaremanmusical. Right now, I’m writing an Attic Clown book, as well as a young adult fantasy novel. Hopefully, these will be published within the next couple of years. I’m also putting together a monster anthology called Aberrations, which should be out within the next few weeks.

A: I’ll be watching for that and adding it to my TBR pile. Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

J: I have quite a few favorite books, but if I had to choose one, I’d go with The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Roy’s unique writing style is amazing to me as both a writer and a reader. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves good books.

A: Thanks again for taking the time to chat, Jeremy! Always a pleasure.

LUKE HERR, Webcomics - Interview

For this, our first interview on the new Tuesday night schedule, we ramble on with Luke Herr.

Luke Herr (aka Koltreg)

Born in Ohio and currently abandoned in Pittsburgh, PA, Luke Herr alias Koltreg is a web designer, writer, and amateur impressario along with anything else that you need. He currently writes the online comics Changeling and Socialfist as well as articles for the comics blog DC Versus Marvel and occasional extra comic pieces for Socialfist.

ANTHONY: Thanks for sitting down to chat with us, Luke.

LUKE: No problem Anthony. I’m always happy to talk about myself and my work.

A: So, you’ve currently got two webcomics running, on different publication schedules and with different artists. Let’s talk about Socialfist first, since that one’s been around a bit longer. Give us a summary of what Socialfist is about and what kind of audience you’re intending to reach.

Zendorsky leaves his mark on Socialfist

L: Socialfist is about some really confused communist superheroes trying to bring communism back. In the world though, communism has been outlawed and it is seen as a form of rebellion more than actual communism. The force they (the Russians who get branded Socialfist) are fighting is the American Justice Squad (because every American team needs America, Justice and something saying they are a group in the title). The AJS isn’t much better than Socialfist but they are a lot bigger and so this struggle and the inner group struggles are the crux of the story.

A: What inspired Socialfist?

L: Way back about 5 years ago in high school I wanted to make a parody of American superhero teams with the opposites so I thought “Who is the classic stereotyped American enemy – the Russians.” Back then it was SFCRTSN or Super Feudal Communist Russia Team Squad Now! and it was a bunch of horrible characters and a good deal of scatological humor.

As time passed though I decided a guy whose power was vomiting from his butt was probably too juvenile so I removed the superfluous characters and rounded the casts down while making the story about this incredibly partisan world and people trying to cope with living in it. Those people just happen to be superheroes.

A: What kind of working relationship do you have with the Socialfist artist? Do you send a full script with detailed notes, or do you work more in the “this is what should happen on this page” mode and let the artist fill in the details?

L: I’m currently working with Remus Brezeanu who lives in Romania and is a wonderful illustrator. We mostly communicate via email or sometimes via Skype or IM if something needs more immediate notice though I am an internet addict so I am rarely away from my laptop for too long. Usually when I write I have at least loose notes on each script since we reached this understanding of how we were doing the comic. The first chapter was really heavily annotated but that was because I wanted something very cinematic and planned. I didn’t write page long notes like Neil Gaiman or Grant Morrison but enough that I could slip things in. Now for the other chapters where there is dialogue, I usually just do loose notes on the scripts.

A: Does Socialfist have a limited storyline? An “end-date,” so to speak? Is it fully plotted out or is there room for character growth to impact how the story will play out?

L: Socialfist, at least for the meantime, has an end date all planned out but this universe and the major changes and movements are planned though I’ve changed ideas before just by sitting on them. With all of that said though, the first person who I told the whole Socialfist outline to pretty much said he really wants to know what goes on after Socialfist is done. If I am up to do that will depend where I am at the time.

To answer the second question, this is one comic where I am happy to tell origins and other stories of the characters. Socialfist is sort of like only reading an event comic like Crisis on Infinite Earths. There is still so much going on in the world and books of interesting stuff that went on in the past that can change things like how you might see a character. One of the ways I am actually going about showing this backstory is that once the current chapter is finished, I’ll be having a guest artist do a background story, both to flesh out a more popular character and to get some more time for Remus to build a buffer.

A: Any creative type knows that sometimes you start a project, and you realize it’s not working, and you go back the drawing board. For writers that often is a hidden road-bump, meaning our larger public (outside of our circles of first-readers) doesn’t see the false start. But webcomics sometimes face that hurdle right in the public eye. You restarted Socialfist with a new artist and a refocused storyline. Talk a bit about how you came to the decision to relaunch, and whether you feel you’ve addressed the problems you’d identified.

L: The last version of Socialfist, when it was SFCRTSN, wasn’t working for me and so when the artist had to leave for better paying work, I was stuck. We’d signed a loose agreement where he got to keep character design privileges and I actually started to think more about the aesthetic and what wasn’t working for me.
When we rebooted, Remus and I got inspiration from the DC Animated Universe shows like Justice League that also helped to set my mind in place for how to show action. I do believe that now we have addressed a lot of the problems that I had concerning me about the original series at the time but sitting with the comic for so long, you start to think of ways you could improve it and there are some ways that are obvious now that were not before.

Chaneling's main character

A: Okay, now, on to your other comic, Changeling. Tell us what Changeling is about and what audience you’re intending to reach.

L: Changeling is my attempt to condense a lot of the comic ideas I had back in high school about these weird paranormal worlds similar to ours into one story and ultimately to make it about something bigger. Less abstractly though, it is about a paranormal detective named Jeff Seibert. The first chapter deals with him being called in for an insurance claim and the second chapter, well, that will be interesting when it happens. We are currently finishing it up early for SPX to bring some prints of the first chapter along so we can get some early opinions.

A: Changeling has a very different feel to it compared to Socialfist: very much in the style of the daily three-panel newspaper comics, with a punchline of some sort at the end of each “day” but also a building storyline. How is plotting Changeling different from plotting Socialfist?

L: With Changeling I wanted to exercise my mind a bit more as far as writing goes. Remus had commented that I wrote a lot of panels on each page of Socialfist so I wanted to make myself learn to do more with less (though I wouldn’t be surprised if some people thing I am worse at that based on Changeling’s pacing). Changeling was also a test to see if I could make jokes easier or at least anti-jokes in some weird attempt to try and create the biggest unfunny thing I could (nut tots) and see if people would start saying it. I’ve heard it purposefully said it twice but luckily the phrase wont show up for another two years of story at least.
Really though Changeling isn’t all that different in plotting though from Socialfist minus the fact that most stories will be able to stand on their own chapter to chapter. For both of the comics I follow this pattern of writing out the dialogue and notes with an idea in my mind. When I reach the end or when I need a break I end up counting pages to see how many I got and then adding in additional notes. Currently I have about 9 or so chapters of Changeling dialogued out and at least 20 other story ideas.

A: Your artist on Changeling, Joe Hunter, has other webcomics running as well. Did his schedule have any influence on the way you’re plotting/telling the story?

L: Haha. Ironically it was my perception of his lack of a schedule on his journal comic Ghostbucket that got me to say “Hey, we should do a biweekly comic.” Keeping him on a schedule and all while fueling my ego with another comic.

A: Does Changeling have a finite storyline?

L: Oooh, that is an interesting question. Last week I couldn’t sleep and so I wrote the end point for the first arc of Changeling that could be the end of the series. It ends with something set up and hinted at and reading through I got shivers which I take as a good sign. Luckily the whole story is in flux but I figure when the characters reach that point I’ll see how Joe and I feel about continuing or not. If we do continue, it will, well… it will be fun.

A: Is Changeling a more collaborative effort than Socialfist, or vice-versa?

L: Socialfist is the more collaborative of the two comics I am currently doing, Remus frequently checks in on his ideas and substitutions. With Changeling it is more of Joe and I sending work to each other and only meeting up after everything is done for the commentary. We do frequently chat about other things though, more so that I talk to Remus, partially due to the time difference.

A: Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

L: Oh, well my favorite book of all time is How To Become King by Jan Terlouw though it is really hard to find, at least online, since it is out of print. I remember reading that book at least 7 times in elementary school, if not more. It is this story about a teenager trying to become king but he has to deal with these codgery old politicians who give him these impossible tasks like stopping a dragon and a wizard, figuring out why houses are moving. There are these great political twists though like the dragon has polluted the countryside which causes all of the people in the town to become the most efficient workers and the wizard is actually a good guy at heart. He ultimately succeeds but it is done in such a creative and fun way it stuck in my mind over all of these years.

I’d recommend you pick up How To Become King if not for the fact that the only copy on Amazon is ridiculously expensive. As that is the case, read Grant Morrison’s Supergods which is what I blame if I come off as pretentious in the interview because that book is literary wizard drugs and comic history rolled into one.

A: Thanks, Luke!

L: No problem Anthony. Pax.

* * * * * * *

In addition to the links in his bio, you can also find Luke Tweeting away as Koltreg and occasionally on the official SocialfistTwitter as well.

SHORT FICTION OBSESSION - Anthony R Cardno

I have an obsession with the short story form. I might even have an addiction. Or a mania. Whatever you want to call it — I can’t get enough short stories in my life.

It doesn’t matter whether the work is flash fiction of less than a thousand words, average length short stories in the several thousand range, or what Stephen King famously called “the banana republic of the novella.”  If it’s a shorter-than-standard-novel-length piece of fiction, chances are good it will interest me. Genre doesn’t matter, either. I’m as apt to read the latest “literary” short story in The New Yorker or Tin House or Glimmer Train Stories or Zoetrope All-Story as I am to read the latest sf/horror in the great online Apex Magazine and Subterranean Magazine, the latest fantasy in Realms of Fantasy, the latest mystery in The Strand.

And of course, outside of the magazines, there are the anthologies. Anthologies seem to be taking up more and more of my shelf-space. Single author anthologies by writers ranging from Joyce Carol Oates to William Trevor, Michael Chabon to Karen Russell, Orson Scott Card, Stephen King, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Jhumpa Lahiri. “Best of” Anthologies from The Best American series and the O. Henry Awards. Themed genre anthologies edited by the great Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, John Joseph Adams, P.N. Elrod, Jennifer Brozek, Maurice Broaddus.

I could go on for pages. My obsession/mania/addiction is such that three years ago I created a community on livejournal called “365shortstories,” where I review stories as I read them (or reread them) and invite others to do so as well. I can’t say there’s a huge amount of participation, but people do seem to enjoy “watching” the community and occasionally authors and editors will chime in to comment on my comments.

What is it about the form that sparks my interest so?  I’ve tried to describe it, and anything I say comes out trite and cliched. Yes I do love the fact that most short stories are “done in one,”  but I also love the interconnected short stories that form a larger picture (think Robert Silverberg’s TO OPEN THE SKY, Ray Bradbury’s THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS).  I like the economy of words that allows a story to be  easily consumed during a meal or even a bathroom break, but I also love those wordy novellas that require longer to digest.  There is no single aspect of the short story form that I can point to and say “that’s why I love them,” just as I can’t point at one aspect of my nieces and nephews personalities and say that’s why I love them.  The plain fact is, I just do.

As for my own writing, there was a period where short stories were all I was writing. That was shortly after moving to New Jersey in 1996. I suddenly had a spate of small inspirations, none of which felt like they should be stage plays or novels. All of them are more than 1,000 words (some barely so) and I would say none more than about 5,000. One of them, a tale called “Invisible Me,” has been published in print form in a literary magazine called Willard & Maple. I have one copy; my other comp copy disappeared a while ago in the hands of some friend or another who borrowed it to read the story and has probably forgotten it (as I have forgotten who has it).  I have been, in the past two years, pretty remiss about sending those stories back out into the world. I’ve taken to editing them (in at least one case almost completely recasting the nature of the story), and recently other short form ideas have been popping into my head.

It might be time, in addition to reading and reviewing short stories, to really start writing them again.

(In conjunction with this post, you can find my thoughts on the latest P.N. Elrod-edited urban fantasy anthology, Dark And Stormy Knights, in the next post.)

JAY LAKE, Green - Book Review

Green by Jay Lake, isbn 9780765321855, 368 pages, Tor, $26.95

I’ve read several of Jay Lake’s short stories. What I usually like about his work is how the sense of place and the sense of character are equally important, how neither aspect overwhelms the other, and how both combine to move the plot forward.  Green is the first of Lake’s novels that I’ve read, and I’m glad I chose it to start off with because it has the exact same qualities I’ve enjoyed in his short fiction.

Green is the story of a girl taken from her home at an early age and raised through her early teens in The Pomegranate Court, where she is trained to be a Great Lady. If she succeeds in her training, she’ll become a favored toy of the Duke of Copper Downs; if she fails, she’ll be sold off to some outlying lord’s manor to be used however that lord sees fit. Throughout her education, she has no real name, simply being called “Girl,” and no real friends amongst her teachers except for Federo, the man who took her from her home, and The Dancing Mistress, a mysterious member of a feline race who teaches Girl more than just dancing. It seems as though Federo and the Dancing Mistress are preparing her for something, but can she trust them?  She is eventually given the name Emerald in the court, but chooses to call herself Green.

There is far more to the story than that, of course, but I prefer to keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible.

I described Green, when I was about halfway through the book, to a friend by saying it was “languid, but not slow.” One of the things that amazes me about the book is that it covers, in 368 pages, three distinct phases of Green’s life (in fact, several times I found myself thinking that in the hands of another high fantasy author, each section of this book would have been a 400-500 page book of its own). So the pace of the book cannot be said to be “slow.” And yet, Green’s voice as she narrates is melancholic, languid, pining for what she thinks she has lost. Lake takes the old “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” trope and really drives home, through Green, the fact that we never really understand what life is like for others when the only lens we have to view it through is that of our own experiences. Green repeatedly finds herself confronted with how her life might have been different, and each time it happens there is the potential for her to change her thoughts — and yet, like most normal people, she retains her anger and her wish for something different despite all evidence that the life she was handed is in some ways better than the life she would have left had Federo never found her.  Of course, it’s not that simple, and I think in the end the best we can say is that Green’s life would have been brutal and dangerous either way.

So the book may feel languid, thanks to Green’s voice, but it is not at all slow. Events happen, and in the nature of the world, we don’t always know the outcome because we’re getting the story from Green’s point of view completely and she is not a narrator who tells the story out of order. If she were, that great languid quality of her voice would be lost. Because she is a child of two societies (continents? they are separated by a vast sea), it is inevitable that Green will journey back to the land of her birth, just as it is inevitable she will return to Copper Downs to finish what was started. The reader can sense this inevitability, but Green herself drops very few hints at it.  When Green leaves for Kalimpura, I did have a momentary thought of “that’s it? Lake is just leaving this whole plot thread hanging to go off in search of a completely different story?” That momentary thought is to Lake’s credit. It shows that I was caught up, perhaps more than I thought at the time, in what Federo and the Dancing Mistress were really up to with Green. It shows that a jarring, but perfectly logical, change of scene and storyline, was exactly what the book needed, and more importantly it was exactly what Green needed.  It proves, as I said earlier, that events happen and sometimes we are not privy to the outcome. Especially in the type of world in which Green lives. There is no internet, no cell phone service, not even a magical approximation of those things. So when Green is out of touch with what is going on in Copper Downs, so are we. Even when she hints, from whenever in her life she is narrating this, that there were events going on that she had no awareness of … she still doesn’t tell us what those events were. She perfectly replicates the insular life she lead.

I feel a bit like I’m rambling. I haven’t addressed the other characters. It is hard, in a first-person narrated tale, for the reader to get a sense of other characters’ inner lives except through the viewpoint of the narrator. Still, perhaps because of Green’s own fascination, I find myself hoping that sooner or later Lake will write a story from The Dancing Mistress’ point of view. Or from Federo’s, or Septio’s, or any of the Lily Blades we meet in the course of the book. They all strike me as interesting characters, and I know it’s not unheard of for Jay Lake to write novellas and shorts that add depth to the worlds he’s created.

I also haven’t addressed that sense of place. There are two major locations for this book: the city of Copper Downs, where Green is effectively raised, and the city of Kalimpura, where she furthers her education.  Lake does a great job of showing us the differences in the societies Green inhabits by describing the differences in the cities she encounters. Copper Downs feels very European, Kalimpura very Asiatic. Those are gross simplifications, but they’ll do for the review. Green’s two societies don’t war with each other — they trade (although even that is implied to be limited) and otherwise co-exist across a vast sea. But they are almost ideologically at odds with each other simply in the way they are structured. And that, of course, feeds into the primary problem for our main character, as she tries to figure out who she really is, and who she wants to be.

I highly recommend Green as an example of what High Fantasy can be. It doesn’t all have to be over-written and bloated. It doesn’t all have to feature a cast of thousands that are difficult to keep track of.  In Green, Jay Lake gives us an intriguing fantasy world with political and social depth and a main character worth following through multiple adventures.  He also gives us a book that feels complete in and of itself. I know he’s already at work on at least one sequel, but you can read Green and feel like you’ve gotten a full story with nothing lingering forcing you to read a second or third book.

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS BOOKS - Anthony R Cardno

As the author of a book that retells some classic Santa Claus-related legends (THE FIRFLAKE, which you can find purchasing links to right here on this website), and with another book that takes place at Christmas (CHRISTMAS GHOSTS) hopefully to be picked up by a publisher in the coming year, I guess it’s natural for people to assume that I love most of what’s connected to the Christmas holiday. And that assumption would be correct. As most people, I have my  downs during the holiday season: missing loved ones who are no longer with us, getting caught up in the more commercial side of the holiday and feeling all of that shopping pressure and tension. But there are more “ups” for me than “downs,” and one of those “ups” is the plethora of Christmas-connected fiction that is out there.

Here, in no particular order, are my favorite Christmas books and a brief comment about why they rank amongst my favorites:

1.  A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Okay, this really is #1 for me, although the rest are in no particular order. This is the one Christmas book I am guaranteed to reread every year. I should note that overall I am not a Charles Dickens fan, but there is something about the narrator’s voice in this book that I just love, apart from the story itself. I tend to read large portions of this out-loud to myself. Is anyone not familiar with the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Jabob Marley, Tiny Tim and the Three Ghosts?

2. Red Ranger Came Calling, by Berkeley Breathed. Breathed is better known for his “Bloom County” and “Opus” newspaper comic strips. He based this story on an event from his father’s childhood, retelling it in his own inimitable style. “Red” Breathed is sent to visit with an aunt at Christmas time, and meets a hermit named Saunder Clos, who may or may not be the real Santa Claus. It’s a great adventure story with fantastic illustrations.

3.  The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, another picture-book classic lavishly illustrated by the author. Late on Christmas Eve, a boy who no longer believes in Santa is beckoned to board a train bound for the North Pole, and the adventure changes his life. I wonder how many people watch the movie without ever opening up the original book?

4. How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. The question I asked about the Polar Express could be asked about this book as well. We are all so familiar with the Boris Karloff-narrated, Thurl Ravenscroft-sung television special that I think people forget the book came first. I love to read this to my niece and nephew on Christmas Eve, along with The Polar Express and the next book on my list…

5. Twas The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. The version I have is illustrated in a highly realistic style by Bruce Whatley. There are so many published versions that there has to be a style for everyone by now. When they were younger, the kids loved the reindeer’s facial expressions in this version.

6. A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd is actually a compilation of his essays from various other books which includes all of the stories used in the movie version. Reading these stories, you can hear the author’s voice as clearly as you hear it narrating the movie. There are some subtle differences between the two formats, but I love Shepherd’s down-home storytelling style.

7. A Wish Upon the Wind by Joseph Pittman is a story of celebrating Christmas in the aftermath of a great loss. Brian Duncan and his young ward Janey Sullivan are trying to find their way after the death of Janey’s mother. Their small town friends and neighbors end up helping them remember what Christmas is all about, and how we can use our grief to grow. A wonderful short novel.

8.  Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis is a collection of short stories that take place during the holiday season. I usually pick one or two to reread each year since I bought the collection back in 1999. There are eight stories in here, and surely something for everyone.

9. The Autobiography of Santa Claus, as told to Jeff Guinn. I put off reading this one for years, knowing that it might touch on some of the same territory I was covering in my own book. And then one year I realized — doesn’t every story about how Santa became Santa touch on the same basic concepts? Why avoid reading what everyone says is a wonderful book? I’m glad I did. It’s a bit heftier than most of the usual Christmas-season fare in terms of page-count, and I have yet to tackle either of the two sequels, but Guinn captures a wonderful voice for Santa and makes some unique story choices to explain how Santa does what he does.

Honorable Mentions: “A War of Gifts” which takes place in Orson Scott Card’s Ender Wiggins universe; “The Book of Christmas” by Time-Life Books (which inspired my second Christmas book).

Books I hate to admit I haven’t read yet: I have never read L. Frank Baum’s “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus,” or Orson Scott Card’s “Zanna’s Gift.” Perhaps this year!