Jason Rodriguez's Blog, page 15

Once Upon a Time Machine editor Andrew Carl interviewed about the book's TRAILER.

Once Upon a Time Machine editor Andrew Carl interviewed about the book's TRAILER.:

This book is getting press from all angles. Love it!

As a reminder - my story from Once Upon a Time Machine will be packaged up separately for the Kindle (with a back-up story) and offered free for several days either later this week or on Monday at the latest. You should check it out and then buy the book - it’s a great present! I got six of the eleven pages formatted with panel view, Scott’s finishing up the cover (rough cut below), and the back-up story’s ready to go. 

"The End of Stars” is a 21st century nod to the familiar Henny Penny fable. in..."

“The End of Stars” is a 21st century nod to the familiar Henny Penny fable. in “Stars,” though, the cries of Jessie (the story’s Chicken Little) that the sky is falling are all too real. This is a tale of generational ignorance. It takes the courage of a “hermit” to break a spell of Draconian silence and, in turn, save a village. “Stars” is a great allegory for climate change, wisely released by Rodriguez on the heels of a disastrous hurricane that cost billions of dollars and more than one hundred lives, one that scientists had warned us was inevitable. “The End of Stars” is essential reading “simply because there is nothing else it could possibly be.”

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My first Amazon review for The End of Stars! It made me gush! 

You can get it for 99-cents, BTW.

Well, no backing out now. Three books. Over two years of my life...

Well, no backing out now. Three books. Over two years of my life will be spent making comics about colonial times.

Checking in!

I have a real busy week ahead of me so you won’t see much of me. So here’s a blanket, “My Life.”

You will see my new story popping up sometime later this week, Monday at the latest. It will be my story from Once Upon a Time Machine , “Pinocchio, or The Stars Are Not Wanted Now.” I talked it out with the editor and he’s supporting my decision to use it as part of my sci-fi stories for kids books and also as a Holiday-time teaser for Once Upon a Time Machine. Scott White is making a cover for it and I’m formatting the story in Kindle Format 8 so that you can do panel magnification. There should be a back-up story in the book but it really depends on how long the KF8 formatting takes. I took me about 8 hours to do two pages (out of 11) yesterday but the process should be quicker now that I have a handle on it. The book will be free for the first three days.
I saw Nick Kroll at the Sixth & I synagogue yesterday. He was hysterical. 
Saturday night we went to the Christmas boat parade. It was pretty weak this year, there were only a handful of boats. Fun, tho, either way.
Friday night we played spades with some friends. A variant of the game called suicide, in which one team member has to bid nil and the highest score after eight hands wins. It’s a great version of the game. Another version we recently learned is called whiz, in which you have to either bid the number of spades in your hand or nil. And thus concludes “Jason’s Old Man Hour.”
I got my first four rough stories in for Colonial Comics and I’m expecting two more this week. I’m fighting the urge to announce the creators but I’d like to save that for the Colonial Comics website, maybe once I have some art to go along with it. I will say that TWO of them are about whaling, one’s about slavery in New England, and one’s about a female business owner and they are all being illustrated by some of my favorite people in the universe. And that’s all for now…
EXCITEMENT! 
Now back to work.
I love you.

Wait, now, what’s this in my inbox? It almost looks like...

Wait, now, what’s this in my inbox? It almost looks like the very early stages to a cover to what could be this month’s free book which NOW WAIT A MINUTE could potentially be the Pinocchio story I did with Scott White in Dark Horse’s Once Upon a Time Machine anthology?

WEIRD…right?

Hmmm…why am I formatting the pages from my Once Upon a...

Hmmm…why am I formatting the pages from my Once Upon a Time Machine contribution in Kindle Format 8? It’s almost as if this story may be released within the next week as part of my sci-fi stories for kids monthly series…but that’s just crazy, right? A story from Dark Horse’s Once Upon a Time Machine anthology, the anthology recommended by the LA Times as one of the best Christmas gifts you can give to folks? A story from THAT book will be free for a couple of days (with a back-up prose story, what?) and then only 99-cents…the perfect little introduction to what is one of the best reviewed anthologies of the year?

That can’t be what you’re looking at…

…can it?

Once Upon a Time Machine gets top billing over at Huff Post...

Once Upon a Time Machine gets top billing over at Huff Post Books. Read the article, then buy the book!

Gift Giving Guide

I’m not really one to make year-end Top Whatever Lists but here’s a year-end Top Whatever Gift Giving Guide or something. Note: Not all of this stuff came out this year, this is just some of the best stuff I first experienced/continued to experience/support that I think would make awesome holiday gifts. I can’t list everything so I’m just rolling off the top of my  head…

Charities

Homeward Trails Animal Rescue - Always my #1. They take in some serious special needs pets.

Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry - A great local charity.

Books

The Hunter, The Man With The Getaway Face, The Outfit - Don’t worry, next year I’ll list Richard Stark’s other 21 books.

The Year of the Beasts - Cecil Castelluci and Nate Powell are a perfect match and this graphic novel’s probably one of my favorite releases of 2012.

Buddha, Swallowing the Earth, Message to Adolf - Do I really need to say anything else about Osamu Tezuka?

This Is How You Lose Her - Heartbreaking and wonderful. Diaz is becoming my favorite living writer.

11/22/63 - I can’t believe this is 2012 and I’m putting a Stephen King book on my list but this book was completely captivating. It’s, like, 8000 pages and I finished it in five days. 

Richard Matheson: The Twilight Zone Scripts - Instantly became one of my favorite books.

Movies

Prometheus - I spent a whole day blogging about how much I loved this movie. In retrospect I might have been TOO excited but, no, I wasn’t.

John Carter - It’s a terrible shame how people piled onto this movie. A terrible, terrible shame. 

Chronicle - Best superhero movie of the year which is saying a ton considering The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises came out this year. Those movies were fun but flawed, Chronicle was pretty pitch-perfect (although a bit cliched, at times).

Sleepwalk With Me - Mike Birbiglia is pretty great, right?

TV

ESPN 30 for 30 - I saw a bunch of these when they ran on TV but I watched all 30 in a row when I was recovering from knee surgery. They’re mostly all pretty great.

Twilight Zone - Again, I saw a bunch of these during various TV marathons but I’ve been watching them all in the order they aired this year and I am just so in love with all of the episodes. Rod Serling is now one of my idols, and Richard Matheson (who wrote several of my favorite episodes) has become one my favorite writers.

American Horror Story: Asylum - This has been one of the all-time best single seasons of television ever produced. The first season was pretty good, too, but My God this season…

Walking Dead - This show wins every award for most improved. This season has been phenomenal.

The League - Probably my favorite comedy on TV right now.

Breaking Bad - I saw the whole run this year. You all know how amazing it is, I’m just late to the party.

Music

Cancer 4 Cure - My favorite album of the year. That’s all. 

Channel Orange - Probably my second favorite album of the year.

Love This Giant - A fantastic album that got way too many mediocre reviews.

Former Lives - This album snuck up on me but I don’t know why. Maybe because Death Cab for Cutie has been kind of “they’re ok, I guess,” the past several years? This album’s pretty great, tho. 

Swag

Vinylmation Star Wars and Muppets - I completed my sets this year. Love them so much. You can only get them at the parks or eBay, tho. 

Puma Formation Lightweight Stand Golfbag (White/Orange) - Yeah, I just got this, but man it is so fly. You can probably find it cheaper elsewhere, tho. We got it for $75.

Furinno Laptop Table - I got it when I was laid-up following knee surgery but I still use it all the time and it stores really well. 

Twilight Zone Mystic Seer Bobblehead - He guides my every decision.

Me

Of course, you could give the gift of Jason Rodriguez.This year I wrote on…

District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington DC (Fulcrum Publishing)

Once Upon a Time Machine (Dark Horse Comics)

And my sci-fi shorts: The Girl Who Could Live In Yesterday, The Little Particle That Could, The Monster Hunter, The End of Stars, and The Boy Who Could See Through Mountains. All self-published, all 99-cents. 

DC Conspiracy's Magic Bullet #6 is now accepting submissions.

DC Conspiracy's Magic Bullet #6 is now accepting submissions.:

I think I’ll contribute this time. Of course, I’ve said that about Magic Bullets 1-5, as well…

I decided to keep The Little Particle That Could free for one...

I decided to keep The Little Particle That Could free for one more day. It’s been getting some play and, as a result, getting a steady stream of downloads. I believe that with a little push it could potentially start to crack the elusive top-100 list at Amazon. 

So…have you downloaded the book yet? It’s about a graviton that wants to meet a photon but just can’t seem to catch him. It’s illustrated by Noel Tuazon and sports a cover from Dylan Todd. People seem to dig it. 

If you haven’t downloaded your copy yet, please consider getting it today. Tell your friends. Let’s see if we can push it over the top, cool? 

The Boy Who Could See Through Mountains is also still free and doing pretty good as well.