Kevin Shamel's Blog, page 4

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A friend of mine clued me in on a special deal at an online printshop yesterday. They were giving away free printed material. Things like business cards, postcards, t-shirts, and car magnets. Yes. Those big magnets that you put on your car door if you're a realtor, exterminator, or security guard.

Part of the deal was that I had to use stock photos and stock layouts to get the stuff for free. So I spent a while looking through their available designs. Inspiration struck.

I designed a few car...

Podcast of Mission Accomplished

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We've all had the pleasure of meeting missionaries at our front doors, haven't we? I wrote a story about that, once. Recently, the folks at Every Day Fiction podcast it.

It's a trip, hearing someone read my writing–especially a voice actor.

I'm sure it's not the same for the rest of you, but I'll bet it's still trippy. To hear my take on spreading The Word (it involves gin and boobs, of course), click this upcoming link and have a listen. It's less than five minutes long: Mission Accomplished...

Still Recovering from RadCon

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I was a RadCon virgin. I didn't tell anyone outside my immediate Eraserhead family (a few of us in the group were), because I wasn't sure if something utterly bizarre would come of letting that slip. In fact, I'm fairly certain something would have come about if I'd been silly enough to say, "Wow, I've never been to RadCon before." I am not silly enough for that.

There are traditions at conventions and I'd rather stay on the quiet, safe side of them.

What a convention. There were panels. a

Review: Archelon Ranch

I finally reviewed Garrett Cook's, Archelon Ranch on Amazon today. Sorry that took so long, Garrett! What an amazing book. I suggest everyone take a look.

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This book is an amazing odyssey for the reader, writer, and characters in the story. Not many authors can work themselves into their stories effectively. Fewer do it well. Garrett Cook has done an amazing job of making himself a character in, and really the entire story of, his book. During a gripping tale about an entirely different...

Die Antwoord

Last week my mind was blown. I watched this short video on YouTube called, Zef Side. I didn't know what I was seeing at first. (I was seeing The Answer.) I couldn't stop watching. (You can't stop watching, can you?) I watched that video a few times. There is something completely amazing about it. The girl, the rapping, the Dark Side of the Moon boxers. I was held to the screen, totally electrified. I thought, "Where ARE these people?"

I clicked on a video on the sidebar, "Enter the...

Spreading the Weird Word About READING

One of the things I love most about being involved in the Bizarro Movement is the genuine love of reading and writing that comes from the community. Not only do bizarro authors love to write what people want to read, but they love reading in general. One of my publishers' goals is to get people interested in reading again.

They do a great job of it.

I've spent some time selling Eraserhead Press books at conventions. One of the things that strikes me each time is that so many people say that...

Monster Librarian Reviews Rotten Little Animals!

What about the horror genre? Where can you find in-depth reviews, interviews, and resources dealing with the scary side of writing? Yes, Monster Librarian. They do a great job of it.

Here's what the site says about its mission…

 

Monster Librarian was created with the following goals:

1) To support Public, Academic, and School Librarians in developing their library horror fiction collection and assist in readers advisory.

2) To help current readers of horror fiction find another good book to...

Every Day Fiction's Anthology is Out!

The Best of Every Day Fiction Two can be ordered here:  NEW Anthology!

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Or you can find it at Amazon.com. (The photo is a link.)

This anthology contains on hundred stories from some of the very brightest flash fiction writers in the world. Every Day Fiction provides a new piece of flash fiction every single day. That's a bite-sized story that you can read on a short commute, your lunch hour, or over a half-cup of coffee. There's a hundred of those in this book, selected from a year of published ...

Nirvana Got it Wrong–Sometimes Fish Have Feelings

More napkin humor.

The drunks at the bar thought they were funny…

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Cocktail Napkins

A long time ago, in a city far away… (Well, as far as Milwaukee, anyway.) I worked as a waiter in a restaurant with a bar attached to it. One particularly slow night in the restaurant but not so slow a night in the bar, I spent my evening drawing comics on cocktail napkins and passing them down the line. This eventually led to me selling t-shirts with crazy sayings on them. Some of those napkins haven't been seen since that night at the bar. So I thought I'd break a few out. Here's a couple o...