N+M's Blog: SO SAYETH THE LITERARY DARK PRINCE, page 4

Death Metal cosplay contest

[image error]
The Franchi twins' winning submission




A while ago (mid-to-late December of 2011, I believe), I had an idea; one of those crazy sort of "what if" thoughts that refuses to fade away. This idea, driven by a desire to see what visual concepts the theme/story of Death Metal put into peoples' minds, took its roots in my love of the outfits that cosplayers from sci-fi, horror, anime, and other such conventions wore to show off their love/loyalty.





"Well why the hell can't Death Metal get in on that sort of excitement?" I asked myself.





So I went about setting up a contest where readers & those interested in trying their cosplaying abilities. Contestants were given one month to set up, plan, and execute a photo shoot (each group being allowed to submit up to three pictures to be considered).





The other day (1/27/2012) marked the deadline for submissions and, over the course of that night, a winning photo was determined.




Enter Brittany and Chelsea Franchi (appropriately known within their community as "The Twin Cosplayers").



Along with their phenomenal photographer, Maurice Ensell, the twins took the concept of a girl struggling with her inner demons to an exciting and awe-inspiring visual level. In their winning submission, the darker-self (Chelsea) seems to be coming out of the victim (Brittany) and looming over her, taking an already dark and foreboding subject and making it all the more haunting. To top it all off, the sisters were kind enough to include a quote from one of the novel's songs, Wings, to the photo to enhance its overall effects.






The sisters (19) have been cosplaying at anime conventions for the past four years. They attribute their sources of inspiration as mostly anime & manga (a favorite title being the action/adventure, vampire-driven series, Blood+) as well as movies in general.



When asked if they had any shoutouts, they had this to say:

"We'd like to thank both our photographer, Maurice Ensell, and our big sister, Tiffany Franchi, for helping us out. Without them this wouldn’t have been possible."

For their exceptional efforts, the twins will each be receiving an autographed copy of Death Metal as well as having their winning submission featured on my author page and a role in some upcoming promotional projects.



You can find both the twins and their photographer on Facebook at the following:



-The Franchi sisters: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Twin-Cosplayers/189973077742181

-Maurice Ensell: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003478771656&fb_source=message

DmC5 uproar...? Really??

Alright! So a great deal of debate and *ahem* controversy has been orbiting about the gaming universe since the first images of the Devil May Cry franchise’s new installment first hit. From there, the anger and venomous comments have only escalated to the point that I’ve come to question our generation’s priorities (I mean, people seem more concerned about an aesthetic tweak to a gaming icon than, say, EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE GODDAM PLANET).



But this is beside the point. After all, the internet has given everybody with a connection the ability to voice their opinions and, with this monumental and ground-breaking influential power, most have chosen to complain about movies and video games and harass one another to the point where you can’t go a week without another, even-younger child killing themselves because the new generation is saturated with cruel and hateful monsters.



Anyway…



So when the DmC game was passed over to the European developers famous for Ninja Gaiden, I was intrigued. First and foremost, I AM a vampire enthusiast, so I don’t personally view a character tweak that makes him look “vampiric” as a negative (but that’s hardly the point). While the fighting platform has been maintained (and, furthermore, added upon), the modifications to the character of Dante and, concurrently, the flood of criticism and poorly-worded rants tend to ignore the obvious fact that the character is CLEARLY younger than any of his past installments. Noticing this, I’ve been thinking from day #1 that this game is serving as an origin story for Dante (pre-DmC3—note that NOWHERE have we seen evidence of the shop that the game gets its namesake from).



Today, doing a li’l snooping, I came across this trailer that was recently released and, lo-and-behold, in the closing half we clearly see Dante’s hair shifting from the NEW black to the OLD white/silver. While I’m not about to pretend to know what the developers’ intentions are at this point, the evidence is piling up in favor of my suspicions.



Either way, people, to get this worked up over a game is ridiculous and, moreover, kinda sad. I can almost guarantee that nobody would give a shit if some epic and classic piece of literature was being modified to appeal to a new generation, but the moment we give Dante a dye-job you’d think that the entire gaming population was ready to wage Wold War 3—thank the heavens the new Modern Warfare game is out or they might make it a reality to sate their nearly insatiable blood-lust.



So let’s all have a deep breath, drink ourselves some herbal tea, recite some peaceful mantas, and try to remember—for what I’m guessing is the first time in a long time—what’s REALLY important in the world.



Hell, wouldn’t it suck to get so worked up over this and lose precious years off your life from the resulting stress only to discover that maybe the professionals knew what they were doing all along?

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MOTIVATION FOR DREAMERS:

Since publishing Crimson Shadow  with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly, I’ve been making up for a lot of writing and little submitting…



I first started ACTIVELY writing—that is to say, with the intention of actually doing something with it other than putting it on the fridge beside my report card—when I was about 16 (so about nine years, now). In that time I’ve done an excellent job of whipping out manuscript-after-manuscript, story-after-story, and concept-after-concept with every intention of using all of them as some sort of portfolio in a career as an author. And in those nine years I have queried less than a dozen agents and moved one—that’s somewhere in the vicinity of 1/6th (that’s less than 17% of nine years worth of work; equating to ABOUT 1.5-out-of-nine years PROPERLY spent on my literary endeavor and probably a few too many invested in mathematics that I’ll never make full use of).



Fortunately for me, I’ve got my Meggers and the combined efforts of her family and my own. Now, writers, as a general rule, are a lazy, whiny bunch, and I’m of the belief that not a thing—not one goddam thing—that any literary mind produced would’ve made it to the shelves if it weren’t for a loved one with a sharp implement behind them forcing them to follow through with the aftermath of the writing process.



And my stubborn ass has *counts on fingers and nods to each digit* yea, SIX loved ones lighting their own individual fires under my too-wide backside. So nearly a full decade later and I get something from a scribbled-up manuscript and into print in LESS-THAN two weeks (adding that to the three weeks it took to write & the two weeks of editing and we’re looking at a little less than two months to go from NOTHING to an in-print novel; by that standard I should have AT LEAST 45 FULL publications [and that’s allowing myself a month-or-so between projects to rest]).



(Just for the record, my using basic math to illustrate my INSANE levels of laziness is making me just a little sick…)



Anyway, with a fiancee, her parents, my mother, and my grandparents all persistently poking & prodding for me to do something, I’ve kicked my ass into overdrive. So, for the past three-to-four months before Crimson Shadow’s become public, I’ve been increasing my efforts to turn an obsessive hobby into a career. In that time, I’ve planned & “sketched” a sequel for Death Metal, edited & submitted a short story to an online publication, pitched several comic book scripts, and published a prequel to Crimson Shadow called "Wicked Paints". In an effort to do my own marketing (what has got to be the hardest part of this whole writing thing) I’ve gone from two-or-three social networking sites to more than 10 and worked inadvertently with some of the coolest & most-brilliant literary minds I’ve had the fortune to encounter. This increase in networking has also, in turn, introduced me to countless other like-minded enthusiasts of literature & mythology.



To sum it up, these past few months of being active towards my dream have been some of the happiest in my life!



I know in a lot of ways this sounds like a simple “yay me” sort of post, and I guess in some regards that’s the case (hell, I’m more surprised to see me pulling it off than anybody else) but a lot of it comes down to something I noticed upon a period of recent self-reflection:



All of us—that’s you, too—have hopes and dreams and aspirations that we spend countless and embarrassing hours staring off into nothingness imagining; painting such vivid pictures of “the happiness that could be” but always being too damn chicken-shit to make step #1 to achieving (for fuck’s sake: NINE YEARS!!). The point is, scary as that first step is, you gotta just do it; I promise you that it’s the hardest one to make and, after you do, your own instincts will carry you there. If it’s something you’re passionate about, then chances are it’s something your also decent at!

So don’t be a chicken-shit—sitting on piles-upon-piles-upon-piles of your time and effort that you refuse to show to the world—‘cuz I want you to know that it’s worth it to take that step!



PS - Check me out at the following (don’t be surprised to see a link to this site on here, this is going up on multiple pages):



Facebook (personal) ; Facebook (Death Metal page) ; Facebook (Creatures of Darkness page)



Google+ (personal) ; Google+ (Vampires & Other Creatures of Darkness page)



Blogspot



Tumblr



Twitter ; Vampirefreaks ; MySpace



(there are several other, lesser-known sites that I roam about in. If you frequent any other social networking sites and wonder if I do too, simply inquire—I either do and will gladly share or I don’t and will most likely join.)



Or hit me up on AIM: “VisceralVices”

GOOD OL' UPSTATE NEW YORK

November's upon us--Halloween an increasingly distant memory (it's safe to assume that our morbidly obese generation has already depleted its candy stash by now and is now eagerly salivating over thoughts of Thanksgiving's feast and the promise of holiday treats)--and here in Upstate New York, Rochester to be exact, the region is making it a point that the reasonable comforts of Fall are coming to an abrupt end.






My normal nesting-place when the evening is upon us and it comes time to relax and soak in some prime-time television is on my couch (big surprise there, I know) and the proximity of this couch, and (by association, myself) to the living room window can only be measured in a matter of simple inches. This måeans that the sights and sounds of what occurs outside my apartment are more noticable for me than the actual television (which, standing at the opposite side of the room, can be measured in a matter of feet and is really only on for the sake of background noise and the occasional glimpse of Vanna White as she marches her ancient-yet-still-eerily-sexy self to-and-fro across the WoF board or a visual confirmation of the posted clue on Jeopardy to clarify any suspicions before I rattle off what is little more than an educated guess (curse you, Alex Trebek). So Mother Nature, for the sake of pointing out her firm hold on my life, likes to make little shows for me to crane my neck to take in (I consider the resulting neck-strain as the sadistic, old hag's punchline). Tonight, more than most nights lately, I've been shown a rather random and chaotic show:




The late afternoon (somewhere in the area of 4:30-5:30 PM) started off, while not sunny, relatively pleasant. It was somewhat cloudy, but not to the point of being anything but being a comfortably-lit afternoon. And then...






As the evening arrived, I noticed--not without a substantial amount of surprise--that there was a great deal of moisture on my rooftop outside of my hallway window (though I'd heard or seen no rainfall). Soon after this discovery, Mother Nature, rather than confirming the discovery with further rainfall, decided that some strong thunderstorms were overdue (but didn't want to splurge for the lightning, I guess). So I got a nice li'l roaring soundtrack for about half-an-hour, but then...






7:00 PM rolls around and suddenly a dry thunder seemed so--I don't know--ten minutes ago. So Mother Nature, never one to be pegged as predictable, barrels through my expectations and drop kicks our town in the teeth with some concussive rainfall and, 'cuz I guess later is better than never, some insanely bright lightning.






All of this was--for me, at least--incredibly inconvenient, as the resulting weather service warning that appeared on the screen hid the category for Wheel of Fortune and gave my fiancee the edge (I think she and Mother Nature are in league against me @_@).






And now, a mere half-hour later, complete, stark, and utter silence.






So here it is, what I'm sure the old bird is waiting for:






OH HEED ME NOW, MOTHER NATURE, I BOW BEFORE YOU AND SUCCUMB TO YOUR INFLUENCES AND POWERS OVER US, YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS! PLEASE GRACE US WITH A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST!!