Warren Ellis's Blog, page 68

Book Design: THE COLDEST CITY

Oni Press editor Charlie Chu took this photo of the forthcoming Antony Johnston/Sam Hart graphic novel THE COLDEST CITY.  I have liberated it, because, well, look:

That's a book designed to be displayed with other books, in genre sections, not in the "graphic novels" dump where Posy Simmonds sits side by side with, I dunno, Frank Miller and Chester Brown and Bryan Lee O'Malley.  And it is just a really nice-looking object.  Congratulations to the team, and designer Keith Wood.

(A few more shots at this link here.)

Bookmarks for 2012-04-11

BLDGBLOG: Star Garden
"An artificially excavated limestone pit in the south of France will soon host star-making technology, New Scientist reports. "If all goes well," the magazine explains, in a few year's time the pit will "rage with humanity's first self-sustaining fusion reaction, an artificial sun ten times hotter than the one that gives our planet life.""
(tags:tech sci energy )

Joss Whedon Uses The Media To Threaten Me With Work Again

In the New York Times:

His next project, he said, would be another independently produced Web series, to be distributed free, created with the writer Warren Ellis and called "Wastelanders," which Mr. Whedon jokingly described as "Glengarry Timecop."

Calling it "a drama about people who save the world and how unbelievably unhappy they are," Mr. Whedon worried — up to a point — that its rougher edges could alienate even his dedicated fans.

"It's very dark and very grown-up," he said. "But it's the next thing that I want to say…"

 

 

#Wastelanders

FAQ 10apr12

Do you usually know the heart of something when you start writing it, or do you have to have dig around to find it first?

formidableumbrage

What I always say is that the two things I first need to know are what the story's about, and what the book's *really* about.  That is to say, the basic plot, often very basic, and what I'm actually there to talk about, the themes and subjects of the book.  Story without theme is just a bunch of typing.  Often, the themes — the stuff I'm actually there to talk about — will assemble themselves before the plotline.

And, also, the end.  I do need to have a clue of how it ends.  I've been known to start with the ending and work backwards.  I mean, to the point where I thought of an ending first, gathered the themes that suggested themselves from the ending, and then plotted in reverse time up to the opening scene.

FAQchive is here.

You can send questions to warrenellis@gmail.com or ask me on Tumblr .

Lake Radio

A collection of ephemera from the productive Lake Radio, worth it just for the rainy midnight travel of the opening piece. 

Eyes Rarely Closed by LAKE R?DIO

I Used To Use Twitter A Lot

But Now I Just Read It A Lot Because Let's Face It I Say A Lot Of Stupid Things:

I am clearly tired, because I have just said to the new chickens, "All this garden is yours, except the rhubarb. Attempt no landing there."

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) April 2, 2012

If the Doctor Who cast gets any younger they'll have to be filmed with a laparoscope

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 23, 2012

If contemporary literary fiction doesn't read a bit like science fiction then it's probably not all that contemporary, is it

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 27, 2012

So I'm guessing Keith Olbermann's YouTube channel will be funny, until he calls Google the running dogs of the Illuminati or something

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 30, 2012

You'd think I'd be better at being unemployed, since, as a professional writer, I already just sit around half-naked all day.

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 10, 2012

Also: in a decent world, Davy Jones' body would be laid in a bed and pushed through the streets to the cemetery by the surviving Monkees.

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 9, 2012

Also: in a decent world, Davy Jones' body would be laid in a bed and pushed through the streets to the cemetery by the surviving Monkees.

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) March 9, 2012

@pattonoswalt It's been proven with Science that repeated viewings of that show cause a medical condition called "Margaret Thatcher's Claw."

— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) February 20, 2012

Cartes Infernales: Ariana's Kickstarter

You all know Ariana. She designed warrenellis.com and keeps it running, she designed SHIVERING SANDS, she makes the IEU t-shirt designs, she designed the covers for things like CAPTAIN SWING… she's basically brilliant and I couldn't do without her.

And now she's doing this: restoring some public-domain vintage demonic illustration.

Right to the point: I want to design and print a deck of 69 large (3.5″x5.75″), full-color cards, each featuring an illustration from the Dictionnaire Infernal. I'd also like to create a supplementary PDF for the deck, with all 69 card images and extended information about each. If you're already familiar with the images I'm talking about, you can scroll down to the "accountability" section to see what this project would entail.

You can click through to read all about it right now (and possibly see the best demon anteater image ever), or Ariana can give you the pitch like this:

The documentation is thorough, and the work is absolutely beautiful. Please do give it a look, and, if you like it, share it around. Thanks.

Station Ident

(Dylan Gilman)

Who I Am And Where To Find Me (April 2012)

My name's Warren Ellis. I write books and comics and articles and other things.  I live in south-east England.  My next novel, GUN MACHINE, is due January 2013 from Mulholland Books.  The film RED 2, sequel to RED, based on the graphic novel I wrote, is due autumn 2013.  A film version of my GRAVEL graphic novels is in active development at Legendary Pictures.  I have author pages at Amazon and Amazon UK.  My most recent original comics work was SVK, produced in partnership with the design & invention unit BERG.

Public email address: warrenellis@gmail.com (gets checked daily.)

@warrenellis on Twitter. 

I have an Official Facebook Page. 

Username warrenellis on Instagram (for as long as it lasts!) and This Is My Jam.

I keep a notebook at Tumblr.

I'm writing a new novel and developing things in film and tv, but am keeping an eye out for interesting things to do on the side.

If you want to contact me about writing for print or web, please contact my agent Lydia Wills using the link in the righthand menu bar.

If you need to contact me about anything involving film, tv, games or other things that move and make noises, please contact my agent Angela Cheng Caplan using the link in the righthand menu bar.

Sometimes I speak at conferences, or do other kinds of talks and appearances.  I've previously been a columnist for WIRED UK and Reuters.

I occasionally podcast.

Photo by Ellen Rogers.

The Institute Of Paradoxical Shadows

I'm not entirely sure what artist and architecture professor Nat Chard is up to here.  I presume it has a lot to do with the weird "drawing instruments" he's been making and recording on his blog.  But you knew I was going to pay attention to something called The Institute Of Paradoxical Shadows, right?