Jason Franks's Blog, page 20
March 27, 2014
“Butcher’s Hook” in Aurealis Best of 2013
My short story “Butcher’s Hook” was voted equal third in the Aurealis subscriber’s Best of 2013 poll.
Equal third with four other stories, one of which is edit-buddy Marta Salek’s excellent “Intelligent Design”.
View the full list here:
http://aurealisblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/best-of-aurealis-subscriber-survey-results/
Aurealis is now an all digital magazine, which is good news! That means you can get still get copies. “Butcher’s Hook” appears in issue #65, which is available on Smashwords right here for the princely sum of $2.99:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/363386
March 26, 2014
Review by Dirk Flinthart
Another day, another kind review, this time from the excellent Dirk Flinthart.
“Bloody Waters isn’t by any means a conventional novel, but it may well represent the shape of things to come. And in the meantime, it’s a lot of fun to read.”
http://dflinthart.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/review-bloody-waters-by-jason-franks-possible-press/
Dirk is the author of the excellent novel Path of Night, which is currently on the shortlist for a 2013 Aurealis Award.
March 24, 2014
Volume 2 Art Lineup: Sarah Howell
Oh ye who scorn the tepid promises of heaven for the cleansing flames of perdition, I have another artist to announce for the second tome in the Sixsmiths’ unholy sequence.
Prostrate yourselves before the majestic wrath of Sarah Howell!
A founding member of Melbourne’s Squishface Studio, Satah is well known for her cartooning as well as for her work as a teacher and festival organizer. Her work has been published in The Lifted Brow, Drawn From Life as well as a variety of zines and minicomics. She was one of the eight comics artists invited to the month long Inherent Vice residency and the National Gallery of Victoria in 2011.
Sarah’s chapter required a very careful balance of tone and material and I can think of no other artist I would have chosen for this work. Welcome, Sarah!
March 19, 2014
HBVB
Infernal Beloved,
With special thanks to thrice-cursed editor Garth Jones, I may reveal to you the existence of a previously unknown piece of apocrypha:
“Literature”, a lost sermon from the Reverend Melmoth, as received by the Sixsmiths Family, will now be published in issue TWO of the excellent Home Brew Vampire Bullets magazine.
Written by Jason Franks, with artwork by Franks and Jan Scherpenhuizen, this is sure to shed some kind of light on… well, I’m not sure what, exactly. The Reverend does go on a bit.
Anyway! Look HBVB TWO! Look for it on the last day of March!
Thank you for you continued patience as we continue to put the finishing touches on Sixsmiths vol.02. There will be news soon, I promise. Just remember–damnation is eternal, but comics are today!
March 16, 2014
Celia Franca
I wrote a guest post for Women’s History Month, hosted by the excellent Gillian Polack. My subject is my great aunt Celia Franca, who was a huge influence on me.
Click on through. While you’re over there, have a browse of some of the other guest posts, and of course Gillian’s own beautiful writing.
http://gillpolack.livejournal.com/1269729.html
March 3, 2014
Oz Comic Con 2014
Apologies for the radio silence, cats and dogs. I have been working hard to bring you more horrible fiction and I just haven’t had a lot of time to blog. Some announcements real soon, I promise.
In the meantime, the kind folks at Oz Comic Con have promised to free me from my padded cell in July, so if you want to meet me, or you have an axe or a bone to pick or some hard liquor to share you can find me at the Melbourne shown, all gussied up and desperate for attention. And liquor. Did I mention liquor?
http://www.ozcomiccon.com/guestbio.aspx?GID=849786486042339
January 28, 2014
McBlack vol.01 #3 Now Available from amazon.com
Here it is, folks, the third and final instalment of McBlack vol.01, now available from amazon.com with a lovely new cover by Tom Bonin.
It’s one dollar.
Coming soon for Kobo, Nook and iOS.
January 27, 2014
The Clock Strikes Thirteen
“This is a great book, superbly written and one of those things you can call truly different.”
Couldn’t ask for a better review than this one, written by Alan Baxter for Thirteen O’Clock:
Whatcha Podcast Aussie Comics Special
Well folks, it’s here again. The wonderful folks at the Whatcha Podcast have done their yearly summation of most of the Aussie comics released in 2013, including Lady McBlack #1 and Franks’ Ungenred collection.
Dean, Dr Emma, Nath, and Mike work their way through everything with humour and panache and it’s well worth a listen if you want to see where the Aussie end of the comics business is at.
Click here to listen: http://whatchapodcast.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/whatcha-056-whatcha-super-aussie-special.html
January 19, 2014
Review by Mark Webb
Australian spec fic reviewing stalwart Mark Webb has been kind enough to review Bloody Waters, and… well, I guess he liked it.
Mark says:
“…very different to a lot of the horror I’ve been reading recently, with a clarity and deceptive simplicity that really suits the story.”
“The escalating series of supernatural encounters had a balance of kick arse action and absurdity that appealed to my sense of humour. “
“…as in many “deal with the Devil” tales, the Devil plays a crafty game and it isn’t until the very end that you find out what’s been behind all the events. The resolution felt fresh, without a cliche in sight.”
Full text of the review is here, on Mark’s site:
And of course the book is still readily available all over the damn place.
