Jason Franks's Blog, page 13
February 2, 2016
Sixsmiths Booklaunch at ACAF
This February, The Sixsmiths graphic novels will be launched at the Austraian Comic Arts Festival in Canberra.
Be the first to see the diabolical new edition of volume 1 and the all new volume 2. Your friends will burn with envy for a thousand years!
Presented by Dr Gillian Polack, series writer Jason Franks (that’s me!) will be on hand to discuss the book and sign copies.
The book launch will be held during the ACAF Networking Drinks event. Book at the link below:
http://www.acaf.com.au/product/networking-drinks/
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1651605895061726/
For Canberrans who can’t make the launch but are still compelled to service the demon Mammon, Franks will be selling copies at the ACAF market day all day on Sunday the 21st of Feb.:
http://www.acaf.com.au/product-category/market-day-tickets/
Hail Satan!
January 13, 2016
ACAF Program and Sixsmiths Book Launch
The ACAF program is up! There’s a plethora of awesome panels and workshops by the likes of Tristan Jones, Ryan K Lindsay, Bruce Mutard, Paul Mason, Louie Joyce, Julie Ditrich, Wolfgang Bylsma and Mark Sexton.
I will be conducting a two hour workshop “Writing Comics: Script and Genre” (http://www.acaf.com.au/product/script-and-genre/) and I will also be joining Bruce and Queenie on stage to discuss contracts in “Legally Comics” (http://www.acaf.com.au/product/legally-comics/).
Make sure you show up late to the networking drinks event (http://www.acaf.com.au/product/networ...), because I will be disrupting the event with launch for the new volume of The Sixsmiths!. (I will have copies of the new edition of volume 1 as well, never fear.)
If you can’t make the first day, I will have both volumes for sale all day on day 2. If you’d like me to reserve you a copy of one or both books please feel free to email me at jf@jasonfranks.com.
Radio Redux
If you cats missed my interview with Sarah and Zoran on 3RRR you can catch the recording of it right over here!
January 10, 2016
On the Radio
Gang,
I will be on the radio tonight, talking about the Sixsmiths to Sarah and Zoran on the wonderful Graphic Nature radio show.
Melbourne listeners can tune in to RRR at 106.7FM. Otherwise, catch the live stream at
Cheers!
— JF
January 6, 2016
Australian Comic Arts Festival 2016
Hey folks,
I am going to be a guest at the first ever Australian Comic Arts Festival, along with cats like Wolf Bylsma, Thomas Campi, Queenie Chan, Louie Joyce, Ryan Lindsay, Paul Mason, Bruce Mutard, and Mark Sexton.
Programming details to follow–I will likely be presenting a writing workshop and participating on one or two other panels–but for right now, the main thing you need to know is that it’s on February 20-21 at the Novotel, Canberra.
More ACAF-related news to follow.
See you there!
December 29, 2015
Interview with Greg Chapman
Greg Chapman is an Australian writer, illustrator and comics artist. He’s the artist on graphic novels like Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (written by the late Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton) and Bullet Ballerina (written by the late Tom Piccirilli). His debut collection, Vaudeville and Other Nightmares, was published by Black Beacon Books in 2014.
Greg’s fifth novella, The Eschatologist, is about to drop, courtesy of Voodoo Press. He was kind enough to drop by and answer some questions for me.
JF: Tell me about The Eschatologist. What’s it about, in terms of story, and what is it really about, in terms of theme.
GC: The Eschatologist, in a nutshell, is about a family trying to survive in a world that’s been completely trashed on a Biblical scale, only to take the wrong path to salvation. On a deeper level it’s about the dark side of faith. I wanted to write a story about someone so obsessed with God that they would kill for their beliefs. A self-made prophet. With everything happening in the world at the moment I don’t think my story is too far from reality.
JF: What was it that inspired you to write a book set in a biblical apocalypse?
GC: I didn’t intend to make my story about believers and non-believers, but I think it’s turned out that way. As someone who was raised by Catholic parents (although I’m not so devout these days) maybe my subconscious is at play, but I think it’s an interesting concept nonetheless. It’s a modern day missionary tale, but with a lot more blood. I don’t focus too much on the apocalypse itself. It’s a very character driven tale and I’m using the two main characters to play the roles of good and evil with (hopefully) the reader sitting in the grey area between wondering which one of them is good and which one is evil.
JF: Tell me about David Brewer?
GC: David might have been a nice guy once, but as a beat cop he slowly became apathetic towards the world. At the start of my story he’s already burdened with guilt over something he did not long after he joined the force. When the end of the world comes he has to keep his family safe and he doesn’t want to because he doesn’t believe in himself. He especially doesn’t believe in God, despite all the evidence around him that He has wiped the slate clean. The Dave Brewer in my story is messed up.
JF: I love monsters, especially if the monsters are also characters. Are there monsters?
I love monsters in end-of-the-world fiction too, but I didn’t really want to rehash that, so the monsters are us… or people who take their faith too far. That was one theme I wanted to push; the idea of people using faith to justify terrible acts. The destruction of the world through cataclysm is what came before but it might just be humanity’s blind faith that finishes us off. Maybe.
JF: Tell me about this second main character, the antagonist. What’s he or she like? What has driven this character to evil?
‘Amos’ is even more screwed up than David. I can’t give you too many details about his back-story here, but there’s a certain amount of synchronicity at play here. Amos is someone who is devout to the point of insanity, but he’s totally cool about it. He’s a televangelist with a knife, smooth and charming. Through the story you’re going to wonder whether he’s an angel or a demon.
JF: Is there an overt paranormal element to the story?
GC: There is a slight paranormal element in the book’s final third, but it’s left to the reader whether it’s real or not. In the end the story centres around whether Amos’ actions are justified and the way he acts and the destruction around him lends a lot of mystery to what’s happening. If the end of the world did come in this fashion, with fires and earthquakes and tornadoes, it would convince a lot of people that God is real and that his power is real. Think of the Moses story in the Bible and you’ll get an idea of what I mean.
JF: You are an illustrator and a comics artist as well as a writer. Do you find that these skills inform the way that you approach a scene?
GC: Very much so. I see everything I write in storyboard. The difficulty is trying not to over describe what I see in my head. I am able to visualise each character very easily and how they do things, the expressions they make. A scene in the first chapter played out in my head in minute detail and spurred me on. I actually created a few complimentary illustrations for the print version and I guess you’ll get to see some frames from my mental storyboard, including this particular scene.
JF: What’s next for you, Greg? What do you have coming out, what are you working on?
I’m shopping around for a publisher for a novel I finished a few months ago, but apart from that I’m toying with a few short story ideas. The plan (as per usual) is to put together at least another novel and a novella in 2016.
The Eschatologist will be available fromJanuary 15th. It is is now available for preorder right here:
I recommend you order it now, before it’s FAR TOO LATE.
December 25, 2015
2015 Wrap Party
Well, 2015 is just about done and it’s been a big year for me.
Yuriko and I had a baby boy. His name is Akira. He will crush your puny resistance with his mind powers and then devour your city like a souffle. I have a very cool new day job. And the whole writing thing went alright, too.
Achievements
Award nomination for Left Hand Path #1 (published in 2014)
Short story “Metempsychosis” (pub 2014) reprinted in a year’s best anthology.
Work Published
Reprint of Sixsmiths vol.01 graphic novel and the all new Sixsmiths vol.02.
Short story “Darkness Beyond” in the Deep Down Under anthology.
Short comic “The Old Portrait” (with Leigh Kuilboer) published in Midnight Echo.
Work Completed
SF novelette “Exli and the Dragon” for Caln Destine’s And Then… anthologies. (9,000 words)
A new Bloody Waters novelette, “The Depths of Humanity”. (10,000 words)
Half of a new novel, “Sorrow”. (50,000 words)
I also overhauled my still-unsubmitted manuscript XDA Zai. I cut roughly 10,000 words and wrote about 15,000 new ones.
I also wrote introductions for 3 different books, I believe: Jan Scherphenhuizen’s
Publishing schedules are notoriously fickle, but I expect we’ll see the following
Coming In 2016:
Short horror/fantasy novel Shadowmancy
“Exli and the Dragon” in the And Then… anthology
“The Depths of Humanity,” probably Kindle direct.
2 issues of “Gourmand Go”, a science fiction/horror/comedy comic
Also, with any luck, some more Left Hand Path and McBlack
I hope you folks have had a smashing good year and that you will krush, kill and destroy in 2016. I know I plan to do just that.
— JF
December 17, 2015
AND THEN… interview with Angela Slatter
Mega award-winning writing beast Angela Slatter interviewed me about my novella “Exli and the Dragon” for Clandestine Press’ upcoming And Then… anthologies.
Read all about it:
http://www.angelaslatter.com/and-then-interviews-jason-franks/
December 2, 2015
The Sixsmiths Volume 2 #3 on ComiXology!
And here it is. The final issue of Sixsmiths volume 2, redolent of sulfur and besmeared with the blood of all who stand before the might of digital comics.
You can find it right here:
https://www.comixology.com/The-Sixsmiths-Vol-2-3/digital-comic/293304
The Albert Hills Satanic Congregation has pinned all their hopes on black metal heroes Hëll Hëlm, but, when the band arrives from Norway they are not what the everyone expected. Carrion crows are circling above. From the shadows, Jezabelle Sixsmith and her new coven are working evil magics. If Hëll Hëlm can’t save the church, who can?
Art by Sacha Bryning, Gregory MacKay, Jase Harper, Dean Rankine, Bruce Mutard, and me, with assistance from Jan Scherpenhuizen and Simon Wright. Glorious painted cover by Aly Faye.
This final issue is a decadent 43 pages long. The big finale, the final twist, the last punchline. No cliffhanger endings this time, I promise.
Big thanks to Caliber Comics for making this all happen.
Hail Satan!
— JF
The Sixsmiths volume 2 #3 on ComiXology!
And here it is. The final issue of Sixsmiths volume 2, redolent of sulfur and besmeared with the blood of all who stand before the might of digital comics.
You can find it right here:
https://www.comixology.com/The-Sixsmiths-Vol-2-3/digital-comic/293304
The Albert Hills Satanic Congregation has pinned all their hopes on black metal heroes Hëll Hëlm, but, when the band arrives from Norway they are not what the everyone expected. Carrion crows are circling above. From the shadows, Jezabelle Sixsmith and her new coven are working evil magics. If Hëll Hëlm can’t save the church, who can?
Art by Sacha Bryning, Gregory MacKay, Jase Harper, Dean Rankine, Bruce Mutard, and me, with assistance from Jan Scherpenhuizen and Simon Wright. Glorious painted cover by Aly Faye.
This final issue is a decadent 43 pages long. The big finale, the final twist, the last punchline. No cliffhanger endings this time, I promise.
Big thanks to Caliber Comics for making this all happen.
Hail Satan!
— JF
