BEYOND THE SUN - Fundraiser

The answer is: To Open The Sky.

The question: What was the first book about colonizing outer space you remember reading?

Robert Silverberg’s To Open The Sky is not anywhere near as well-known as space colonization novels by Ray Bradbury ( The Martian Chronicles, the second colonization book I ever read), Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolfe, and countless others. It’s also not as well-known as other Silverberg works (The Chronicles of Majipoor, for example) and in fact is long out of print.  Regardless of all of that, it holds a special place in my heart. I reread it every few years and feel the excitement I felt the first time I read it, as I realize what religious founder Noel Vorst’s long-term master plan is, played out over a century or more, for getting humanity beyond our own system and out to the stars. We never get to see the actual colonies that are founded, but Silverberg’s future Earth and colonial Mars and Venus tell us enough.

I’m not the only science fiction fan fascinated with the concept of humanity’s colonization of other planets.  Bryan Thomas Schmidt is inspired and fascinated by colonization stories, even moreso than I am. With the essential end of NASA’s space shuttle program and the slow beginning of the commercial space program (with SpaceX’s Dragon rocket launching just this week), Bryan sees a need now more than ever for readers to look to the stars and regain the excitement that sf of the ’40s and ’50s, and the real events of the ’60s to the present, gave us.

So Bryan, a writer and editor of science fiction (his own first sf novel, The Worker Prince, was an Honorable Mention on the Barnes and Noble Notable SF List and he recently edited Space Battles for Flying Pen Press), has decided to put together an anthology of mostly-new colonization stories. The book will be called Beyond The Sun. Bryan’s invited twenty-something authors to submit stories to be considered for approximately sixteen slots in the book, joining four headliners: Mike Resnick. Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Nancy Kress. And …. Robert Silverberg.

Now, the Silverberg story will be one of the book’s few reprints but it’s a story I’ve never seen before. This is one of the two main reasons I want to see Beyond The Sun published, to readily access a Robert Silverberg story about space colonization that isn’t part of the universe he gave me in To Open The Sky, but which will be vibrant and exciting nonetheless.

But the book won’t be published if Bryan can’t raise the funds to pay the authors (the headliners and the mid-list and the newbies he’s invited).  He’s got just a few hours over 5 days to hit the funding goal of $5,000, and with Kickstarter (unlike IndieGoGo), it’s all or nothing. If we get to the deadline and Bryan’s not at $5,000 … no Beyond The Sun. Which is a shame considering how passionate Bryan is about this project, and considering how wonderful the contents are bound to be regardless of which sixteen authors get chosen to join the headliners.

And here’s the other reason I want to see this project fully funded, and it’s a very selfish one: I’m one of the twenty or so authors Bryan invited to submit a story for consideration. If Beyond The Sun gets funded, and Bryan chooses my story to be included … my colonization story would be in the same book with Robert Silverberg, one of the men who excited my own interest in SF more than thirty years ago. And that is just too cool an opportunity to pass up.

So that’s why I’ve backed the BTS Kickstarter at the highest level I can afford — not for the perks I’ll get for pledging at that level, but to increase the chances that the book will see print. It’s a book I’ll want to read whether I’m in it or not (and there’s no guarantee I will be, until I finish the story and Bryan accepts it).

Why should you back it?  Well, if you love good science fiction, especially good sf about colonization, consider it like pre-ordering a book through BN or Amazon, without the risk. If you pledge and the book doesn’t get fully-funded, you’re not out a cent. If you pledge and it does get funded, you’re guaranteed a first printing of a great anthology, and you’ll get whatever other perks are attached to your pledge level (which include things like personalized, autographed copies; having yourself Tuckerized into a story; or a critique by a well-known sf editor, among others).

Why else should you back it? Because (especially if you’re a friend of mine, sf fan or not) you’ll possibly be helping me achieve a dream: being included in the same anthology with Robert Silverberg.

So click the link, watch Bryan’s video explaining why this book is so important to him, read the bios of the headliners. If you choose to back, there are some story excerpts on the Updates page and links to where you can find other excerpts. And even if you can’t back the project financially … please spread the word. Hit the “Like” button and the Tweet button. Get the word out there. We’ve got 5 days to raise over $3,000 dollars. More has been raised in short time periods on Kickstarter, with the right word of mouth.

And thank you in advance to all of you who do help Bryan make his dream, his book, a reality, and thus possibly help mine as well.

BEYOND THE SUN KICKSTARTER PAGE

THOMAS FISS, Singer - Interview

First of all, I owe this week’s guest an apology. Thomas Fiss was good enough to take time from his schedule to do this interview back in early September, and due to personal commitments I lost track of the fact that I hadn’t posted it yet. His album, which we talk about, has already been released. Still, I think you’ll all enjoy the interview and go out and check out Thomas’ work.

Thomas Fiss

Thomas Fiss’ career  runs from Broadway (one of the two boys to play the son of Patrick Wilson’s main character in THE FULL MONTY) through boy bands (as a member of Varsity Fanclub) and on to a solo career ( four albums, including the current “Chasing Satellites”).

ANTHONY: Hi, Thomas, thanks for agreeing to this interview. Where in the world are you right now, and what are you up to?

THOMAS: What’s up man!  I’m always down for a good interview.  –I’m literally just getting back into my place in LA.  I was just out on a quick radio tour through the Mid-West again.  I actually head back out next week for a West-Coast run.  Always on the road….

ANTHONY: You’ve been working on the new album for a while now. When is it officially due out, and will there be a new music video for it?

THOMAS: Believe me, I know….haha.  I’ve been working on my new album Chasing Satellites for about 8 months and I’m BEYOND ready to let it loose.  I think people will be excited with these songs.  If you’re a fan of Walk The Moon, The Wanted, Coldplay, U2 and One Republic….You’re going to be all over this thing!  I’m planning on having a music video for every song.  It’s a HUGE expectation, but I’m determined to make it happen.  I already have 2 new videos ready to go and I’m really proud with what my team and I are turning out.  It officially releases September 18th, but my single “Let Go” iss available now on iTunes!

ANTHONY: What’s your song-writing process like? Lyrics first then music, or the other way around, or somewhere in between?

THOMAS: Honestly, I just write.  It kinda bugs me sometimes too…I have a really hard time shutting down and not thinking of new concepts or song ideas.  I don’t have a road map for how I write a song…normally it’s music first, but I’ve had some great songs come from a simple lyric idea.  I’m also really picky about how my songs are written and produced.  You could ask anyone I’ve worked with and they’ll tell you it’s my way or the highway when we’re in a studio.  Not out of pride or ego…I just know what I want as an artist.  I’ve worked with too many writers and producers who waste time…who are careless and lazy.  If you ever get in the studio with me, pack a lunch and bring coffee, cause we’re not leaving until a song is done.  I do a lot of work with Gabe Lopez (amazing producer), he understands, more than anyone, that a 16 hour session with me is out of a vision, not a hobby.  The studio is my second home, so I’m very protective of who I let in.

ANTHONY: Has your Broadway experience influenced your songwriting process?

THOMAS: Sure has.  It allows me to transport myself into a character when I’m writing…to pretend that I’m really living out a situation or emotion in real time…When I write a song, I live it.  Either as a true life situation or in my head….All my lyrics come from a place and have a reason for being sung.  Acting has definitely been a trick I up my sleeve compared to other writers or artists…keeps me away from singing about “Dollar bills” or “Hittin’ the club”.

ANTHONY: How does the music you’ve written for the new album compare to the songs on your earlier EPs? How have you grown/changed as an artist?

THOMAS: This new album is my sound.  It took me a while to find out what that meant really.  It’s crazy to listen back to my last EPs and hear my voice on those songs.  A few I’m proud of, like “Jealous of Distance”.  Songs like that don’t come to writers everyday….I’m going to be chasing that song for a while.  As far as my new album…I’m so proud of every song!  The writing, production….it’s all perfect to me.  Hopefully my fans, new and old, feel the same!

ANTHONY: Have you collaborated with anyone for this album? And how do the songs from those collaborations differ from the songs you’ve written on your own?

THOMAS: I spent a few months working with a lot of big A-List producers.  Which is always an honor, but I was having a hard time translating my vision with outside sources.  I think collaborations only work for me when I’m writing for an artist other than myself.  I LOVE collaborating on songs, but for this new album, I discovered I was the only one should be writing it.  A few people think that doing so is a suicide mission when you get too far into your own work.  It might be true but screw ‘em.

ANTHONY: Who are your biggest musical influences?

THOMAS: Oh man, this is a long list!  The Dream, The Beatles, Walk The Moon, Something Corporate, The Fray, The Wanted, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer….everything I listen to on the radio influences me, whether I know it or not.  I spend a lot of time on Youtube listening to bands no one has ever heard of…There’s so much good music out there…It’s painful to know what makes it to radio rather than what should.  

ANTHONY: Will you be touring in support of the album when it releases?

THOMAS: Sure will!  I’m pushing to radio now so most of my shows will be focused around radio festivals….Jingle Ball, etc.  I’ve been lucky enough to play with some amazing artists this summer.  Karmin, The Wanted, Cobra Starship, Austin Mahone, Chiddy Bang, Sammy Adams….They’ve all been super cool.  I’m working with MTV-U for a national tour at the end of this year, so stay tuned!

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question for all my interviews: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

THOMAS: Haha, awesome question! My favorite book is called “The Los Angeles Diaries”.  It’s a true story about this kids life growing up during the “seedy” time of LA.  If you like a good true story, you’ll dig this one!

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Thomas, for the interview and for the great music. I’m really enjoying the new album!

THOMAS: Thanks so much sir!

You can find Thomas on Facebook, on Youtube, as @thomasfiss on Twitter, and on his own website.
And here’s the video for “Chasing Satellites:”

BEYOND THE SUN - Interview

Every now and then I like to feature Kickstarter projects that I’m particularly interested in, and more often than not those projects involve short story anthologies. Here’s the latest, a chat with frequent guest Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

Beyond The Sun

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince (2011) received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. A sequel The Returning followed in 2012 and The Exodus will appear in 2013, completing the space opera Saga Of Davi Rhii. His first children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Books For Kids (ebook only) and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Lost In A Land Of Legends (forthcoming) appeared from Delabarre Publishing in 2012.  His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. He edited the anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 (2012) and is working on Beyond The Sun,forthcoming. He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter and is an affiliate member of the SFWA.

ANTHONY: So Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 seems to have gotten good reviews and had steady sales, and now you’re raising backers for another anthology, Beyond The Sun. Tell us how that came about?

BRYAN: Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the Universe and space travel, the idea that one day humans could go out and discover what’s out there. An anthology on space colonization seemed a natural extension of that. And with the recent downsizing of NASA and death of Neil Armstrong, I found myself remembering all the times I spent dreaming about other planets and worlds. As an adult, I’ve travelled the world, exploring other cultures, and in large part, it comes from that same drive to discover the other, the different, the new. Beyond that though, I hear about young people, particularly boys, not being into reading like they used to be, and I want to create stories kids like me would enjoy. Additionally, I wanted to create something teachers and parents might use to encourage that urge to discover in younger generations. Lastly, I love working with other writers, and I saw a chance to bring pros and newcomers together to fulfill this in a way that benefits all of us.

ANTHONY: Well, you do have some big names involved.

BRYAN: I do. Robert Silverberg gave me an old story that has not appeared much which is really good, of course. Mike Resnick is a good friend and headlined Space Battles. He’s done so much to help me, my only way to return that is to give him work, and luckily, he gladly accepts.  Nancy Kress is a new friend but she’s explored colonialism a lot in her work so she’s a perfect fit. All of these, of course, are Hugo and Nebula winners on multiple occasions. But I also have a fourth headliner who’s won the same awards and she’ll be joining us if we get the funding.

ANTHONY: Some of the lesser names, you might call them, are not unknown either: Cat Rambo, Jennifer Brozek, Jason Sanford…

BRYAN: Yeah, all of whom have become friends and are people whose work I admire. Joining them are Analog regulars Brad R. Torgersen (Hugo/Nebula nominee this year) and Jamie Todd Rubin, and Sanford’s Interzone fellow Matthew Cook, along with novelists Jean Johnson and Erin Hoffman.

ANTHONY: And then there’s the little people…like me.

BRYAN: Well, you’re not unknown, just not as much for your writing yet, but that will come. You were in Space Battles, and so were several others. But as people may know from SFFWRTCHT (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat), encouraging and helping others, especially fellow writers, is something I love to do. And to be in an anthology with people of this caliber and make pro or semi-pro rates is a huge opportunity. I like helping others achieve their dreams, but the advantage here is that, in the process, they help me achieve mine, which is a cool parallel to have. At the same time, I have to make sure the anthology is the best it can be, so I’ve invited twenty writers to vie for thirteen spots alongside the headliners.

ANTHONY: You mentioned that Silverberg gave you a reprint and I know there are a couple of others, but the plan is mostly for brand new stories, right?

BRYAN: Yes, Resnick, Kress and our fourth headliner all plan to write new stories. Resnick’s promised to use his African knowledge for it, in fact. Those Hugo winning stories are amongst my favorites of his. I have reprints from Silverberg, Jason Sanford, and Autumn Rachel Dryden, whose story, “Respite,” is one of the inspirations for this anthology. Hers and Jason’s appeared previously in early issues of IGMS and it’s a privilege to reintroduce them to people now.

ANTHONY: Like Space Battles, there wasn’t an open call for submissions. Is that going to be your modus operandi? Why not invite the public?

BRYAN: Space Battles wound up with a far more open call than this but I have novels to write and promote, freelance editing clients to please and 7 anthology projects in the works. I just can’t read that much slush and it’s hard to find someone whose sensibilities are identical enough that you can let them do it for you. I do invite new people with every project and I do look for people I’d like to work with and haven’t. But I have to face certain time limits realistically and so, at this time, an open call just doesn’t make sense. I’m not opposed to it in general though.

ANTHONY: Why Kickstarter as opposed to finding a publisher?

BRYAN: One, anthologies are a hard sale right now. Two, KS actually provides me a chance to use more up and coming writers. A publisher would want 10 headline names. Three, I get more creative freedom. Four, I can raise enough to pay far higher rates to artists and writers than a press would allow me, unless a big NY trade house came aboard, and I am still proving myself, so trusting me with a project like this, when they do so few, is a hard sell.

ANTHONY: How hard is putting a Kickstarter together?

BRYAN:  Not too bad but you do need to do your research. The hardest part is that being unemployed since May 2010 and surviving on freelance, I just don’t have much money for videos and promotion. But I found a woman who did a great video for $15 provided I did a voice over, gave her a concept and provided some images. And Mitch Bentley chipped in on cover mock ups as well as other artists. Plus the writers are allowing me to tease their stories to backers when we reach certain levels, so that will also be great to show people that we really will have not just variety but quality.

ANTHONY: Well, the headliner’s names kind of speak for themselves, right?

BRYAN: Yes, but even diehard fans may not love every story an author writes, and the new talent is a question mark for some. Sharing Jason and Autumn’s stories allows me to show stories from all three writing tiers.

ANTHONY: Very cool. Well, I’m going to write the best story I can in the hopes of making one of those open spots, but either way, I can’t wait to see it.

BRYAN: Thanks, me, too. I’m very excited. I loved the diversity I got from my writers for Space Battles, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do with this concept.

GIBSON TWIST, Author - Interview

Concluding Canada Week here, today we ramble on with Gibson Twist, the creator of one of my favorite webcomics, PICTURES OF YOU. POI is part coming-of-age story, part relationship drama, part college comedy, and the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Gibson Twist

Gibson Twist claims to be a fictional entity. In reality, he writes several other webcomics in addition to PICTURES OF YOU, and yet somehow manages to find time for his wife and his cat.

ANTHONY: Welcome to Rambling On, Gibson. How’s things?

GIBSON: Things are ridiculously good. It’s a bit shocking how good. I know it’s de rigueur for people to be unappreciated as they roll a rock uphill, but honestly, I’m riding one of those life-highs lately, and I’m not so much of a selfish asshole not to appreciate that. People love and support what I do, solid home life with someone who challenges and excites me. If it were cool to be happy, I’d be the Fonz over here.

ANTHONY: So tell me a little bit about the genesis of PICTURES OF YOU. Why this story, and these characters?

GIBSON: The first inklings of what would become Pictures of You began during a hangover. It was an earned hangover, I’ll say that. It came after a couple days spent with some old friends, most of us hadn’t seen or spent any time together in years, and we hadn’t all parted on the greatest terms, but all the water was under the bridge and we were enjoying each other and remembering good times, remembering why we liked each other in the first place. Someone tried to climb over the table and ended up in someone’s lap, then we were asked to leave. It was that kind of night.

While I was nursing my hangover with wine, white zinfandel to be exact, I started writing down a bunch of the more memorable times I’d spent with that group, and the others who couldn’t make it. It turned into sort of a project, to document it all. The more I wrote down, the more I realized how much I couldn’t remember, why people had done certain things, who was where when what was destroyed. There were also things that, out of context, made some of us look like bigger assholes than we were, and things where the context took too much time to explain.

I still wanted to tell the story, so I decided to fictionalize the whole thing, from the ground up. I threw everyone into a blender and started building characters, and shaped those characters to the story that began emerging, and as I grew to understand the characters, the story changed as well. They are compossible, as any good story/character realization should be, I suppose.

No one character is a depiction of a real person, but of the collection of them is meant to depict the spirit of the group of people that inspired the story. The story too is just a reflection of what happened in those years, fictionalized to make for a good soap opera.

ANTHONY: I get so caught up in the story that I occasionally forget you started this with a framing device, Peter looking back on the past. So do you have a planned end-point, and an idea of when you’re going to get to that point? Or is the series more open-ended?

GIBSON: The series has a definite end-point, and it’s where everything is going. I spent years drafting the plot, and despite a few variations here and there, the storyline is fairly well set. At the risk of a spoiler, the scene in the Prologue does get reached and even surpassed in the regular story.

ANTHONY: PICTURES is clearly your baby — you write it and you draw the majority of it. What’s your creative process like? Do you fully script before you start the art?

GIBSON: I like to have stories plotted quite deeply before I begin crafting the final product, but the length of Pictures of You didn’t really allow that as much as I’d like. The basic skeleton of the story is there, and I plot more deeply on each book before I sit down to script.

I script each book in full before I begin, with the exception of Book Three for which I’d done a large amount of art before scripting the entire volume. Oh, and Book Four’s final chapter is unfinished, but I know how it wraps up. I do rewrite a lot as I go, most chapters get at least a quick retouch before I begin penciling. Sometimes I’m revising pages as I’m drawing them, and it’s not uncommon for me to rework dialogue during the lettering process. If I have a process, and I might not, it’s to start with the big picture and refine details on an increasingly smaller level as I come to them.

I’m already working on the script to Book Five in my head.

ANTHONY: Once you start a page, what is that process like, from drafting through final art?

GIBSON: Well, the first thing I do when I start a page is to ignore it. I’m no good with blank pages, they are my enemy. Almost invariably, the next step is draw a lot of terrible things that I erase. That is followed by me putting on some music or video for background, and I pencil in probably finer detail than most. This is largely due to the fact that I’m not strong as an artist, and it’s still a struggle for me to produce lines I like. And of course the inks, which are strangely my favourite part of the art.

The pencils and finishes are done on actual paper with actual pencils and actual ink, which seems to be a dying process, especially among webcomickers. I will say I notice people of a certain age are more likely to use paper and ink while people under that certain age are more likely to use pixels. I’ll be honest, while I enjoy paper, I don’t work digitally because computers scare me, and I can’t figure out how make smooth lines with them.

I do colour and letter digitally, which is a fairly painless process, and I’m able to clean up ink blunders there as well, much more easily than with correction fluid or the like. More recently, I’ve been able to go back digitally and clean up let’s just call it bad art from earlier pages, and make them look nicer.

I think the only really interesting or unique thing that I do is that I flip the page around in circles as I draw, to get angles and curves and so on. And I only know this is unique because my wife looks at me weird whenever she sees me do it, and then she pretends it’s not weird. And what I’ve noticed since then is that I flip it clockwise. I couldn’t even begin to tell you why, and I’m pretty sure it’s better for me not to know.

Michelle Cutter

ANTHONY: What tools do you favor for drawing, coloring, etc.?

GIBSON: I draw on large board, specifically Strathmore 11×17 Comic Pages and I scream myself blue in the face begging people more talented than I to do the same. It allows me to draw bigger, with more space to work, and then reduce later. I have yet to meet the artist whose work doesn’t look better reduced. It pulls all the lines together and makes a lot of mistakes disappear. But yes, 11×17 paper.

I work with non-photo blue pencil leads. Currently, I’m using Uniball’s new “soft blue” mechanical 0.5 leads, which are a dream even if they break more easily and I go through them faster. Before that, I used Pentel’s blue leads, which worked but were not technically non-photo, and I had to scan lighter, which did no favours for the line quality. Before that, for years, I used Prismacolor Col-Erase NPB pencils. I got a great line from them, but was forever sharpening, sharpening, sharpening.

My inking has been done since day one with Koh-i-nor rapidographs and Black India ink (which is not india ink) for paper and film, which I adore. I’ve never been able to ink particularly well with anything else. Before Pictures of You, I tried working with disposable pens, which dried out too quickly or just didn’t give a nice line. I’m useless with brushes or brush pens.

Colours and letters are all done with GiMP, which is a free imaging program. I just can’t afford the big stuff, and I won’t use pirated software.

Would it be strange to admit I’m picky about my rulers? I use the clear plastic ones with the beveled edge. They let me see the page while I use them, and the bevel lets me ink straight lines. I hope someone out there finds that information useful because I feel like an amazing nerd talking about it.

ANTHONY: When PICTURES started out, it was black and white. What brought on the shift to full color, and how did that change your creative process if at all?

GIBSON: Colour came about after doing a little thank you/incentive thing, and I found I was a little better at it than I thought, and I was happy with how it turned out, so I tried colouring some older pages just for kicks, and I was pretty happy with that too. I knew comics with colour did better at drawing audiences, too, so there was also a bit of marketing involved in the decision.

My inking has become cleaner since switching to colour, which is a result of having to colour in all sorts of sloppy hatch marks and broken lines, and I think that’s also moved me into refining the lines that I make, and grow the quality of my pencils as well.

Truthfully, colour made me like the visuals of Pictures of You a lot more. I thought, and still think, it brought a new kind of life to it. I got a lot of static from people, purists, I guess, when I switched to colour, but the simple fact is that my numbers tripled within a few months after. So what are you gonna do about that?

ANTHONY: Between books you run “Snapshot” segments with other artists. How does that process work?

GIBSON: Pretty simply, I ask friends of mine who are fans of the comic, whose work I enjoy, if they want to do some pages for fun. I ask them what characters they’d like to draw and if they have any preference for subject or theme, then I write them a script based on that. I try to find a range of styles, from cartoony to manga, and in one case a photo comic from one of the few people I’ve seen do photo comics really well. It was serendipitous that he bore a striking resemblance to the main character.

It’s fun for me, because I really enjoy working with other artists and don’t get to do it enough. I hope they have fun too. It seems like they do, most of them. Maybe they’re too polite to tell me I’m horrible to work with.

We’re reducing the number of guest strips for next time to three or maybe four shorter pieces. Two artists have already signed on and I’m in love with both of their work. Number three is still a toss-up, mostly on whomever is first to say yes.

ANTHONY: PICTURES is divided into books, with the books divided into smaller arcs. Have you ever started an arc, or a book, and realized it was going someplace different from where you intended? I guess what I’m asking is the classic “have the characters ever taken over and moved the story in a different direction?”

GIBSON: This happened a number of times in Book Three, which might have been inevitable considering its length. Everything ends up more or less the way I intended. The important things, at least, but things happened in different orders, some things had to be scrapped. The relationship between Peter and Kara, for one, was supposed to play out differently, in different chronology, but as I wrote other things and other characters’ storylines, it made more sense to happen the way it has. There was supposed to be more with Devon and Melanie as well, but had to be truncated, and the Devon storyline was changed as a result.

I wouldn’t say it’s ever happened that a character speaks to me, but sometimes the plotted story doesn’t mesh with a character’s personality, and the writing changes to be more true to them. I’m not someone who believes characters speak, but act and react the way they should to what’s happening, and that’s not always the way I planned it. It’s the balance of telling the story you want to tell and representing fully realized characters in their own realistic fashion.

ANTHONY: Peter is clearly the narrator and focal point of the series. Other than him, I think my favorite characters are Andy, Melanie and Wylie (who I wish would get a “front burner” storyline, honestly). Overall, which characters have garnered the biggest response from readers? Who gets the most “fan mail?”

Wiley Ryan

GIBSON: Michelle is clearly the fan favourite. She seems to resonate with both the female readers for being strong yet vulnerable, and with male readers for being good looking and kicking ass. Kara gets a lot of love too, far more so now than in the first couple books when no one seemed to like her much. The most curious and divided reaction is to Mulligan, of course. Lots of hate, a fair amount of love, no one seems to be luke warm about him.

Patrick and Wiley are also up there, at least for the cooing that happens in the comments section. Wiley definitely comes to the forefront in the upcoming books. I get a lot of messages asking what happens to Wiley, there seems to be a consensus that something bad happens to him, but I try to tell people, something bad happens to all of them. Well, except one, but I’m not telling who.

I suspect reactions will change as the books go forward and different characters are brought to the front of the story. Sam and Lauren, for instance, will certainly be given more of their due in the next few books.

ANTHONY: PICTURES isn’t your only webcomic. Tell us about some of the other projects you’ve got going on.

GIBSON: Well, there’s Our Time in Eden with artist Ben Steeves that we’ve been working on for years. I started writing the novel on which it’s based in 1996, I adapted the comic script in 2004, and we started working on the art for the comic in 2006. It’s been incredibly rewarding working with Ben on it, he’s brought a vision to it I never could.

The only other project that’s in development with an artist attached at the moment is Little Earthquakes with Rori making the pictures. This is one we’ve been working on for a while as well, the first version of the plot hit paper in late 2008. I can’t say a lot about it, but it’s going to rival, perhaps surpass Our Time in Eden for darkness. We don’t have any kind of release date for this, as we’re going to shop it around before we post it as a webcomic.

I have a wide range of projects sitting on my Future Projects list, and I’ve been itching to do some more prose work in the near future. It’s hard to say which ones will get worked on first, depends on what artists want to work with me and take a shine to which projects.

There’ve been a couple false starts in the last couple years, projects I began working on with artists who, for one reason or another, had to bail. Which is cool. Finding a collaborator is never easy. They have other priorities, they lose interest in the story, they find other stories, life steps up and demands time. I keep at it, though, there are too many artists with whom I want to work to stop, and too many stories untold.

ANTHONY: And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

GIBSON: Favourite book of all time? Comic or prose?

Prose, I’d have to say High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Fantastic read, no one shouldn’t read this. It’s the purest insight I’ve read into the mind of men of a certain age, which is good for men because it’s a mirror into which they can nod, and for women because we’re not as simple as sitcoms would have you believe. The movie was very well done and I watch it often, but the book goes deeper and tells more story than a movie ever could. The irony is that every time I’m asked what my favourite book/comic/movie/album is, I reenact a scene from this book.

Comic, that’s a tough one. If I can include a whole series, Jaime Hernandez’s Love and Rockets would win the prize. Hugely influential on my work, and just enjoyable no matter how many times I read it. If I have to pick a single volume, though, I’d probably go with Jeff Smith’s Bone. It’s hard to choose, since there are so many fantastic books out there that don’t get enough time in the spotlight. Joe Sacco, Evan Dorkin, Eddie Campbell, Chris Thompson, Marjane Satrapi…they all make brilliant comics that I love every time I read them.

You can find Gibson on Twitter as @GibsonTwist.  In addition to PICTURES OF YOU, you can also find OUR TIME IN EDENon the net. Gibson also has a Kickstarter running at the moment to get PICTURES into print form finally. Take a look at it, and consider helping bring one of my favorite webcomics to bookstores.

THE BROTHERS DUBE, Singers - Interview

Continuing Canada Week, today I’m rambling on with The Brothers Dube. Liam, Jan and Quinn are not only a tight and accomplished power trio, they are also committed to charity work — helping to improve impoverished conditions in Haiti and raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research at home. In the short time I’ve known of them, they have moved high on the list of today’s young performers who impress me because they’re doing more than just performing. We chatted via email about their recent musical releases and charity work.

ANTHONY: From looking at your videos, it looks like you all play multiple instruments. So what do you each play, and who plays the most different instruments?

LIAM: bass, guitar, drums, piano

JAN: banjo, bass, guitar

QUINN: piano, mandolin, ukelale, drums

ANTHONY: You write your own music, clearly. What’s the songwriting process like? Is it always a collaboration between the three of you? Do you ever collaborate with anyone else?

JAN: We collaborate with each other, we usually come up with some riff, chords… the music… then we come up with the lyrics and melody. We collaborate with others as well, we’ve written with Valdy, the Odds, Shaun Verreault (from Wide Mouth Mason), North Easton (My Favorite Tragedy)… Mike Goyette, and our producer Kaylen Prescott (oh and dad!).

ANTHONY: I feel like I can hear some country influences in some of your songs (like “One”) and then on others there’s a very RUSH sound. Who are your major musical influences?

JAN:  The country influence comes from our liking of southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Big Sugar, Big Wreck… while the Rush stuff comes from our taste in prog rock like Floyd, Phish, Rush and Zappa…. But we also like straight up rock and roll like Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine.

LIAM: we hear from some people “in the music business” that “kids aren’t into rock anymore”… we think that’s not true. kids like whatever they like… if it sounds good to them, they like it… it’s not like music can be boxed anymore… so we think rock is as alive and well as any other kind of music…

ANTHONY: Let’s talk about my favorite song of yours, “One.” Tell us the story behind writing the song, and the message the song conveys.

JAN: The song was written with the goal of explaining how we believe that our Mom (Michèle) is still with us in a different form than physical “Cuz we are One” means you are still with us no matter what. It’s pretty deep, and we don’t often talk about it, but when we were young and she died… our dad told us something important. He asked us to think about a sugar cube, and all the ways we’d describe it… we thought of it being square, shiny, hard, white, rough… and then he asked us to imagine dropping it into a glass of water, and stirring it around, and then asked whether the same ways we described it before were any good… he helped us realize that even though the sugar cube as we KNEW it is gone, it’s still actually there, in a different way, and we can KNOW this, know that the sugar cube is ONE with the water, just like our mom is ONE with everything in the universe…. pretty deep maybe but that’s ONE for ya (just listen to the words)!

ANTHONY: You started performing to raise funds for cancer research, right? Which cancer charities do you support, and how can people help?

LIAM: Breast cancer… but then we saw orphans in Haiti and started helping them because they also lost a parent, and in some cases BOTH… we now raise funds for two causes Little Brothers and Sisters Orphanage Gena Heraty Fund, and the KANPE Foundation… we are now focused on getting into schools and showing kids that you can change the world through art or anything you are passionate about. We call it the ART-IVISTS SHINE SHOW and we want to bring it to a school near YOU.

ANTHONY: Tell us about your recent trip to Haiti and what you did while you were there.

LIAM: We went to Haiti to see where and how our funds were invested… and film a documentary on where kids there were living, what their lives were like, what they were doing.

ANTHONY: Your videos include a lot of concert footage. Do you tour a lot, and if you do, how do you balance the touring and school?

JAN: We share school time with touring and with the studio… we stay on top of our school work and get it out of the way as soon as we can and make sure we’re in good standing at school so that they can continue to support us (Ecole Secondaire Catholique Garneau TOTALLY supports us, it’s awesome!)

ANTHONY: Your videos also include a lot of hockey-playing. What’s everyone’s favorite positions to play?  And who is your favorite team?

LIAM: Defence, Buffalo Sabers

JAN:  Goalie, Ottawa Senators

QUINN: Right Wing, Montreal Habs

ANTHONY: What other sports do you guys enjoy playing?

JAN: Megastar (it’s our own invented game) / leftovers batting (we bat leftovers at the cottage) / street hockey / frisbee / soccer / easter egg hunting

ANTHONY: I have no idea what Megastar involves, but I’ll admit “leftovers batting” sounds like a lot of fun. Your newest song is “I Kinda Like It,” and I admit, I more than kinda like it! How fun was the video shoot?

QUINN: Burning stuff is always fun when you’re a kid… so that was ALOT of fun… we have other ideas for videos too that we’re working on… that was a perfect day…. started snowing those BIG PUFFY snowflakes and we ran for the equipment, set up (thanks to our busking experience) and just started shooting right away.

ANTHONY: Quinn, burning stuff can be fun as an adult too. There’s a reason I love campfires, and it’s not just the songs and ‘smores! “I Kinda Like It” came out in March. Any other new music on the way?

JAN: LOTS. Got a full album under construction… we’re taking our time and want to make sure that we’re happy with absolutely everything.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: For each of you, what is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

LIAM: The Making of Pink Floyd The Wall – you find out about all the things that were happening behind the scenes.

JAN: Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle – it will change your entire perspective of life.

QUINN: I can’t remember, it was a French book, and you should really read it if you need a book to read that is easy to summarize, for people that aren’t completely advanced like me.

ANTHONY: Thanks, boys! Looking forward to the new music!

You can follow each Dube brother, as well as the band as a whole, on Twitter: @liamdube  @jigdube  @QuinndubeDube   @brothersdube  You can also find them on Facebook  and at their own website.

Then of course there’s their Youtube channel, the most recent video posting being an acoustic version of “One” that I’m going to share right here:

ADAM MURCIANO, Actor - Interview

It’s another week of pure Canadian entertainment interviews here on Rambling On. Today we have young actor, and activist Adam Murciano; Wednesday we’ll chat with musicians and activists The Brothers Dube; and Friday we’ll close out with webcomics creator Gibson Twist.

Adam Murciano is probably most familiar to American tv audiences for his appearance in the Disney movie FRENEMIES with Bella Thorne and Zendaya. He’s more than just an actor, though, as you’ll see in the following interview.

ANTHONY: Adam, thanks for taking the time to do an interview. How are you?

ADAM: Anytime! Thank you! I’m great, thanks!!

ANTHONY: How long have you been acting professionally, and what was your first job?

ADAM: I’ve been acting my whole life, but in the professional industry – for 4 years.  My first acting job ever, was on a comedy television series called “Rent-A-Goalie” I played an Italian soccer-obsessed boy named, Tino.

ANTHONY: You worked on Disney Channel’s FRENEMIES. How was that experience?

ADAM: Working with Disney was a dream come true. It was such a fun time! The whole cast was so sweet! I still keep in touch with them! We all would go to school during the week, and film during the weekends for like two months straight! It was crazy, but so fun!!

ANTHONY: What are you working on now? Any new acting jobs coming up?

ADAM: Yes! I have a few projects already filmed, just in post-production…Can’t say anything just yet – but they should be out in 2013!

ANTHONY: A lot of the young actors I’ve interviewed have a charity or cause that is important to them that they use their celebrity to help support. What causes are important to you, and what can people do to support them?

ADAM: Giving back, and charity work is very close to my heart. I am part of an organization called “Blessing in a Backpack” with another fellow actor, Austin MacDonald. Blessing in a Backpack feeds kids in order to give them the nutrients and energy for school! Kids can be so mean, and make fun of others for not being able to afford meals, so Blessing in a Backpack does it in a private way so no one has to ever know! People can donate and read more about it here: http://blessingsinabackpack.ca/

ANTHONY: You know, I interviewed Austin a while back and we talked about Blessings in a Backpack.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

ADAM: I know this is a common book right now, but for English class, we had to read the Hunger Games! And I’ve been hooked on the books since! I’d convince the person to read it because it is just filled with adventure and you can never put it down!

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Adam!

ADAM: Thank you!!

In addition to the links to his website embedded in the interview, you can also follow Adam on Twitter as @AdamMurcianoand check out his Facebook fan page and his IMDbpage for updates on his acting work.

DAVID JOHNSTON, Author - Interview

Today, I ramble on with my good friend and accomplished playwright David Johnston.

David Johnston

David Johnston’s plays have been performed and read at the New Group, Moving Arts, Rude Guerrilla, the Neighborhood Playhouse, Henry Street Settlement, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. He was named one of Time Out’s Playwrights to Watch. Recent regional productions include The George Place at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. New York productions: with Blue Coyote Theater Group, Conversations on Russian Literature Plus Three More Plays, a new adaptation of The Oresteia, Busted Jesus Comix (GLAAD nominee 2005), and A Bush Carol, or George Dubya and the Xmas of Evil. With director Kevin Newbury, Candy & Dorothy (GLAAD winner, 2006) and The Eumenides. Publications: The Eumenides, (Playing With Canons, published by New York Theatre Experience, Inc.) Leaving Tangier , (Samuel French, produced by Blue Coyote). Awards include Theater Oxford, Turnip Festival, Playwright Residency at the University of Cincinnati, Berrilla Kerr Foundation Grant, Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation and the Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation. Education: College of William and Mary, Circle in the Square. Member: Actors Equity, Dramatists Guild, Charles Maryan’s Playwrights/Directors Workshop.

ANTHONY: Welcome, David! Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions.

DAVID: I’m thrilled to be on the show today, Anton!

ANTHONY: MOTHRA IS WAITING is described as being about “Two Showgirls. One giant moth. A comedy of redemption and sequins.”  Can you tell us a bit more about the story?

DAVID: It’s about two sisters, who have spent years doing their musical act in a seedy club in Bridgeport.  One is convinced that a giant moth will come and rescue them from their lives of showbiz obscurity.  The other wants to move on.  It combines my love of two things: tawdry backstage drama and Japanese monster movies.  And I threw in some drag queens.

ANTHONY: MOTHRA started out as a short play, correct? Where was it first produced, and what was the audience reaction like?

DAVID: I wrote the short play about seven years ago, after seeing a revival of “Mothra” at Film Forum. I found the movie very beautiful and oddly moving and it made me cry.  Which I discovered in not considered an “appropriate” response to a monster movie at Film Forum.

I just wondered whatever happened to the two little Japanese women in the film, who do all the cheesy musical numbers so I wrote the play. Rather quickly too, it just popped out.  It won an award, and was produced at a theater in Mississippi, Theater Oxford. I went down to see the production and they did a wonderful job. It had readings here in the city, and then Blue Coyote Theater Group produced it on a bill with three other one-acts of mine in early 2009.

Audience response has always been all over the map – surprising.  To some people, it’s a movie about holding on to dreams. Other people think it’s about growing up.  Some just love monster movies so they think the play is neat.

ANTHONY: How did the movie deal come about?

DAVID: It’s all Kevin.  Kevin Newbury, who I’ve worked with several times in the past and he’s a wonderful director.  We always have a great time working together.  His opera career has been taking off for the past few years, but he was hankering to do a movie.   Both of us love movies – we’re always emailing each other with OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO SEE SUCH AND SUCH.  So, he optioned a screenplay from me two and a half years ago. We’ve just been waiting for a break in his schedule so he could do it.

ANTHONY: It’s not often that playwrights (or novelists!) get to adapt their own work for the screen. What was the process like for you, turning the play script into a movie script?

DAVID: This one was painless. The play is pretty short and straightforward.  One room, two actresses, ten minutes.  I opened it up a bit, but Kevin also wanted to keep it short. He dug the compactness of the piece.  We went back and forth on a draft four, maybe five times and then he said, “Great. It’s ready.”

I’m not by any means an experienced screenwriter, so it’s all been a big learning experience for me.  I just discovered, hey! I don’t have to have a half page speech. We can show the scene she’s describing! The character doesn’t have to say what time it is – we can just show the clock!  Movies are great.

ANTHONY: Did you make any major changes to the narrative once you started the adaptation process?

DAVID: The narrative is still very much the same.  Two sisters who love each other very much, and they can’t keep going in the same way. Something has to give.

ANTHONY: Let’s talk about the movie itself: who’s directed, who is in the cast, and how many of the cast and crew were involved in the play production?

DAVID: Well, there’s Kevin, of course, and it’s his first film.  Kevin’s a genius at bringing people together, getting them excited and getting great work from them.  We have a great DP, Simon Pauly, who’s coming over from Berlin.  Nell Gwynn is an actress both Kevin and I have worked with several times. She was in CANDY & DOROTHY in ’06, which Kevin directed. She did readings of this one several times, and she was also in my adaptation of THE ORESTEIA at Blue Coyote in ’07.  Amy Staats, who’s playing Dot, is an actress I’d seen in readings and really liked her.  Matthew Principe, our producer from CANDY & DOROTHY is on board.  Vita Tzykun, who’s this fabulous art director and production designer. Paul Carey, our costume designer.  The designers work a lot in opera and are all having a field day on this short weird film.  They’re giving the piece a really out-there look, kind of David Lynch-y crossed with 70s John Carpenter, Euro music videos and sad small town bars with mooseheads on the wall. We have some songs by Todd Almond, we have a disco remix of Betty and Dot’s act.  Kevin has really put an amazing group of artists.

ANTHONY: How far along in production are you?

DAVID: We’ll start rehearsals and shooting next week.  It’ll take about ten days.

ANTHONY: People can donate to help complete the film, right? How and where can they do that?

DAVID: Yep. We’re a fiscally sponsored project with Fractured Atlas.  You can donate at this link.  And you get a tax deduction!

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=6597

ANTHONY: Let’s go back to discussing writing. I personally live by Christopher Durang’s comment that “the Protestant work ethic is something we Catholic boys don’t have.” What’s your writing work ethic like?

DAVID: I love Durang, but he’s full of shit with that one.  James Joyce was Catholic, and had about the most fiendish work ethic of any writer ever.  These days, I’m lucky to steal four to five quiet mornings a week to write.   If I’m really busy on a project, I’ll write in the evenings as well, but mostly it’s in the morning.  At ungodly hours.

ANTHONY: What projects are you currently working on?

DAVID: As soon as we’re done shooting, I’ll come back to New York and we’ll start pre-production for CONEY, which is the new full-length play I’m doing with Blue Coyote.  That opens at the New Ohio Theater in late October. Gary Shrader is directing – he’s directed a bunch of my plays for Blue Coyote, and also up at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater up in Cape Cod.  I’m in rewrites for that now.  Actually I just sent a new draft to Gary today. It takes place on one day in Coney Island, with about a dozen different characters.

ANTHONY: The last time we saw each other, we half-joked about an anniversary revival of your play BUSTED JESUS COMIX. Have you given any further thought to that?

DAVID: Ha! I should mention that to Gary. He directed that twice.  None of us can believe it’s been ten years since we did that piece.  And it’s since had other productions, one in London.  But I agree. It’s time to do that one in New York again.  Unfortunately – in many ways – it’s not dated at all.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

DAVID: That’s a tough one.  I could come up with a different answer every day.  But today I’ll say my favorite is Joseph Mitchell’s UP IN THE OLD HOTEL.  It’s a collection of his essays and profiles from the New Yorker, most of them dating from the forties and fifties.  Gypsies on the Lower East Side, bearded ladies, the old Fulton Street market.  Mitchell could write about anything and make it endlessly fascinating.  He was funny and tough and his prose style was just perfect. You can’t improve on him.  Joseph Mitchell wrote the way Armstrong played the trumpet.  It’s alive and human and gorgeous and it looks and sounds effortless.

You can also find David at his blog, THEATRE, CULTURE, POLITICS & STUFF I LIKE.

JOHN KLIMA, Editor - Interview

It’s no secret that I am a lover of the short story format. The more anthologies and print mags and online mags there are featuring flash fiction, short stories and novellas, the better. So when a Kickstarter for an anthology or magazine comes to my attention, I not only contribute, I invite the people involved to talk about it here. Today’s interview is with ELECTRIC VELOCIPEDE editor and publisher John Klima. In addition to founding and publishing EV, John has also edited the anthologies LOGORRHEA and HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

ANTHONY: Tell me a little bit about the history of Electric Velocipede and where things stand now.

JOHN: I founded Electric Velocipede in 2001 after I left publishing as my full-time job to become a computer programmer. I missed publishing almost immediately but got some inspiration from Gavin Grant of Small Beer Press to start my own zine. We’ve published two issues a year, with the occasional double issue thrown in. In 2009 we won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine; we also received four nominations for the World Fantasy Award. We partnered with Night Shade Books in 2009, but dissolved the partnership at the end of 2010. In 2011 we moved online with issue #23. We’re currently getting issue #24 online and plan on getting out #25 before the year ends. Beyond that, we don’t have any fiction in reserve and will need to re-open to submissions in order to put together more issues.

ANTHONY:  What can readers expect in EV going forward after the Kickstarter?

JOHN: If the Kickstarter succeeds, we’ll have the funding to put out four issues in 2013. We’ve published a range of writers from new to established, including people like Jeffrey Ford, Catherynne M. Valente, Jeff VanderMeer, Genevieve Valentine, Ken Liu, Aliette de Bodard, and more. As I said above, we’ll get out issue #25 at the end of this year and start putting together issues for next year.

ANTHONY: What is EV’s policy on open submissions from authors?

JOHN: We take submissions from anyone. We’re currently closed to submission however.

ANTHONY: What made you choose Kickstarter for your fundraising efforts, as opposed to IndieGoGo or any of the other tools out there?

JOHN:  I’m using Kickstarter instead of raising the money solely on my own. It was the service I knew beforehand from backing a few projects and was comfortable using. It wasn’t until after I had myself set up on Kickstarter that I realized there were other tools available. If we find ourselves in need of fundraising in the future I’ll certainly investigate all my options.

ANTHONY: What are some of the perks people can receive for backing the Kickstarter?

JOHN: We’ve got some basic perks like an electronic copy for your e-reader of choice of issue #25 and a four-issue subscription, but we also have a few fun things available. We have a cool t-shirt (there are photos on the Kickstarter) in men’s and women’s sizes that people can get along with a four-issue subscription at the $50 level; there’s a $45 level for a custom mouse pad and four-issue subscription; at $100 you get a 2013 calendar using Thom Davidsohn’s amazing cover art and a four-issue subscription. There’s also baked goodies (I do a lot of baking in our house), editorial services, and more.

Electric Velocipede

ANTHONY: How has the Kickstarter been going so far?

JOHN: We’re at 85% funding with more than two weeks to go. It’s been going well.

ANTHONY: What other projects are you working on in addition to editing and publishing EV? 

JOHN: My agent and I are finalizing a few anthology ideas and I’m working on the first book of a YA series. I have a book I’m putting together for the American Library Association, and I’m generally doing too many things at once at my job as an assistant director at a large public library. Somewhere in there I find time for my wife and two kids.

Interested in helping support a great genre short fiction market put out another year’s worth of issues? Follow this link to the Electric Velocipede Kickstarter … and remember, the more they raise beyond their $5,000 goal, the more they can do!

And of course you can visit the magazine itself to see what all the fuss is about: Electric Velocipede.

You can follow John on Twitter: @johnklima and the magazine too: @EV_Mag.

ALEX DALE and CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES - Fundraiser

This guest post is long overdue; I made a promise to Alex Dale over a week ago to run it, and then the holiday weekend and other life stuff got in the way. So, my apologies to Alex and to the rest of the Up In Arms comedy troupe. The work they are attempting to raise money for is important; funding future episodes of their web-show will help them raise even more money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.  Here’s the information Alex sent me about the the fundraiser:

Alex Dale

Alex Dale, 16, a Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Junior Ambassador and writer and creator of the comedy web series Up In Arms, recently donated $150 to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

The teenage mastermind behind the creation of Up In Arms was diagnosed with Scheuermann Kyphosis, a spinal deformity, in August 2010 and had to wear a back brace for nine months, which did not cure him and he continued to endure extreme back pain. In July 2011, David Skaggs, MD, Chief, Children’s Orthopaedic Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, performed a spinal fusion on Alex to correct the curvature of his spine.

There is currently inadequate information and research about Scheuermann Kyphosis. The Pediatric Spinal Deformity Endowment was formed to collect funds/donations to explore the disorder and to provide more treatment options for children so that they do not have to live with the effects of kyphosis into adulthood, which can leave people wheel chair bound.

In 2011, Alex launched his web series, Up In Arms, to raise money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to help research treatment for children who are diagnosed with Scheuermann Kyphosis. It is described as a cross between The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live and is written in a humorous fashion, focused on social issues that teens are dealing with and to ultimately lend support for others who are struggling with spinal deformity.

“I want to assist other people who are suffering from Scheuermann Kyphosis and raise funds to help research alternate methods for treatment,” says Alex. Viewers can give back to the cause through the Up In Arms website, where 100% of the proceeds go directly to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Please visit http://www.indiegogo.com/UpInArmsComedyCharity?a=688746 to donate to production of the next episode and help UP IN ARMS raise money for this great cause.  Thank you.

JOE PHILLIPS, Artist - Interview

Today’s guest is artist Joe Phillips. Since 1987, Joe’s work has not only been seen in books from every major comics publisher but also internationally in advertising for a number of products. He’s also a sculptor and animator, including the music video for Air Gold’s “Where The Music Takes You.” Joe and co-creator Chad Prato are running a Kickstarter to build a new clothing line called “Vampire vs. Werewolf.”

ANTHONY: Hi, Joe! Thanks for taking some time out for a chat. How are you?

JOE: Good thanks for asking, Any day above ground is a great day right?

ANTHONY: You know I’m fan-boying a bit right now. I have several of your calendars still hanging on my wall even though the years they represent are long past.  So, let’s talk a little about you, first. How long have you been illustrating professionally?

JOE: For over 25 years, I know right. But yeah I’ve been drawing since high school. Doing fan -zines and local papers first then independent comics and working for the big boys.

ANTHONY: What have been some of your favorite projects to work on?

JOE: I did a national ad campaign for Bud Light the same year I drew the illustrations for “the Joy of Gay Sex” LOL lot of crazy projects in my time but MR. MIRACLE for DC was my first time big comic and so it stands out for me.

ANTHONY: I hate the “where do you get your ideas” type of questions, but so much of your work seems drawn from real life … so what inspires you to work on a project?

JOE: My mind is haunted with all sorts of strange things and the voices speak to me to let them out. Sometimes they are profound images or sometimes just a great butt will inspire my work.

Vampire vs Werewolf

ANTHONY: The project we’re here to talk about today is your Kickstarter for “Vampire vs. Werewolf.”  Tell us a little bit about the project.

JOE: It’s a fun project inspired by all the Vampire and werewolf fever there is in pop culture. As a cartoonist at heart I wanted to do a classic vs match between them, not so much as who would win in a fight but who is cooler. I wanted to do cool t-shirts and magnets and stuff so folks could show their love for their favorites.

ANTHONY: How did the idea for this project come together?

JOE: I was talking to my long-time friend Chad Prater who use to put on comic conventions down in Florida years ago. We have been wanting to do a t-shirt company and needed something fun to do as a first project so we came up with this.

ANTHONY: Tell me about the rewards backers will get if they support Vampire vs. Werewolf.

JOE: The pledgers get t-shirts and stickers as well as really nice prints and magnets. We will be adding new images throughout the pledge time so there will be lots to choose from.

ANTHONY: If the project does get fully funded, are you planning on doing more with the concept? Is there perhaps an idea for an animated webseries or the like?

JOE: How cool would that be maybe a web cartoon series or comic book. I’m open to suggestions.

Werewolf Problems

ANTHONY: The art style for Vampire vs. Werewolf is a different from your better-known work. How did you decide on this particular style?

JOE: Well it comes from my love of cartoons I loved the rubber legs of old black and white cartoons and the new fun stuff like Adventure time and Regular Show. The style came from that school of thought.

ANTHONY: What was your process for creating the art for this project? And how different was it from your usual creative process if at all?

JOE: With this I just open up to all the foibles of being a werewolf or Vampire. you can see my humor in how pretenses the Vamp boys are and how rowdy the wolf pack is. It’s just fun to let go and let them tell me what to draw.

ANTHONY: What else are you working on these days?

JOE: New calendars, new art books and releasing my first novel. Please check my website for more info on upcoming projects.

ANTHONY: And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

JOE: LOL my favorite book is Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis I laugh out loud every time I read it.

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Joe!

JOE: My pleasure. If we make our pledge goal we can buy the equipment to do all sorts of fun stuff. Thanks for the interest.

Vampire Problems

You can see more designs and learn about Vampire vs. Werewolf on the project’s Kickstarter page. You can also follow Joe Phillips on Twitter as @joephillipsart.