Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 47

A New Webcomic You Should See

M.C.A. Hogarth is probably one of the hardest-working artist/entrepreneurs alive. (She's definitely harder-working than any of the dead ones, due to certain specific metaphysical constraints on death that effectively hinder productivity). She's probably more well known in the webfiction community, where she's rather well known for Spots, the Space Marine and her affinity for creating brilliant, truly alien civilizations and bringing them to life. (I have reviewed one of those books, The Aphor...

Past Lives: Part Four

Little Dresden, Freedom House

CB opens his eyes to see sunlight streaming in through an old, dirty window. He’s lying on a mattress, wrapped in thick wool blankets. The air is cold against his face.

“Welcome back.”

He’s in a small, bare room, with cracked plaster walls and plywood subflooring. The doorway is an empty door frame with a heavy curtain hung in front of it to give the room a little privacy. Standing in the doorway is Joan, wearing an army jacket, blue jeans, and thick boots.

“Back whe...

Past Lives: Part Three

Little Dresden, January 6, 1984

Little Dresden is the way it is for a number of reasons, but the biggest is that is has a reputation for being destroyed by metahumans. Once upon a time it was just another part of the East Village, with all the baggage that came with it—thought of, primarily, as a haven for beatnicks, hippies, artists, and other unsavory people. But in the 70s it bore the brunt of some of the most vicious fights between metahuman hero and villain groups. Eventually people stopp...

New Years Resolutions, 2013

Just a quick post -- I'm still working on the last two parts of Curveball Issue Six (it has, alas, turned into a hybrid 2012/2013 issue) but I wanted to start off the new year with a simple declaration of my goals:

Show them.
Show them all.
Develop evil laugh. Alternatively, I can try for the "thin, humorless smile while my eyes mock the futility of my enemies' efforts to defeat me." I haven't decided yet.
Locate dormant volcanos for potential hidden lair.

That last one is a long-term project.

Othe...

Past Lives: Part Two

8BC, January 6, 1984

8BC on a Friday night is usually full of people. Tonight is an exception—there are maybe a quarter of the people CB expected, and he’s not sure how long they’re going to stay. It’s empty enough that CB has a table all to himself. He drinks, he smokes, he pretends to listen to the band; more fundamentally than that, he tries, unsuccessfully, to ignore the world around him.

A few years ago CB, Sin and Billy wound up playing pool with a bona-fide pool shark named Ray—a friendl...

Past Lives: Part One

Southbound

“We’re going to have to ditch your car.”

“What?” The car swerves as Jenny turns her head to glare at him. Neither of them has had much sleep, and Jenny refuses to let CB take a turn behind the wheel. She’s obviously exhausted, and the stress from last night’s violence combined with their current situation is starting to seriously fray her nerves.

CB sighs. “Sorry, Jenny. You have a very nice car, and having nice things makes you a target in Farraday City.”

“We’re already a target,” Jen...

Issue Six: Past Lives

Story: Christopher Wright
Cover: Garth Graham
Logo: Garth Graham

Pay Me, Bug! is getting a new cover

I've been trying to create a trade paperback of Pay Me, Bug! for almost a year. My first attempt was with Lulu. The samples were good, but when I tried to use their option to sell to distributors (like Amazon) the price of printing the paperback mysteriously shot up to the point where I would have had to sell each copy for twenty freaking dollars in order to break even. Now don't get me wrong, I think Pay Me, Bug! is a fine story... but it's not twenty dollars worth of story in paperback form...

A quick note on Music, Alienation, and Curveball

I like to listen to music when I'm writing. A lot of people do--there are people who find music or any other kind of noise distracting, but if I'm listening to the right music at the right time I find my ability to write increases a thousandfold, and "thousandfold" is a pretty good factor of increase. So for my writing projects I like to come up with playlists that reflect not necessarily the mood of the story, but the mood I want to be in when I'm writing the story. So my writing playlists a...

Plans and Actions: Part Four

Plans and Actions

CB wakes up suddenly, disoriented. He’s staring at the roof of Jenny’s car. He can hear the motor, feel the car vibrating as it rushes down the highway. The radio is playing softly—he focuses on that for a moment, realizes who’s playing, and instantly regrets it. He hates Jenny’s music. He hated it ten years ago, and her tastes haven’t improved.

“Good morning,” Jenny says.

CB doesn’t reply. He still feels an odd, aggressive exhilaration that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

“CB?”...