Joseph Devon's Blog, page 9

I Wish It Would Snow

There’s a lot going on but the headline for this post is all I can concentrate on at the moment. This morning when I went out for coffee the clouds in the sky at the end of the street were that amazing shade of pink that only happens when it’s cold out. That’s nice and all but it’s almost Christmas and I want some freaking snow.

I also have to find a recipe for pecan pie that I can make in my parents’ kitchen, which is a landscape where the counters are always sparkling but things like salt ca...

Your Holiday Guide to New York

I have tons of thoughts on marketing and writing and creating paintings with fans and stuff…but I had to get to dinner downtown last night and my cab ride took sixteen days because of traffic. And that doesn’t even make any sense.

Apparently it is time once again for my holiday guide to New York

Take heed, all you visitors to my fair city.

1. STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE TREE:

Seriously. Please. It’s a tree. Yes it’s actually quite pretty and yes it’s very large but you don’t understand what you’r...

Madeline: The Most Powerful Being in the Universe

Last year for my fan art contest, Saher Imran submitted the following picture which made my heart explode with joy (technically this is from two years ago, the fan art contest was not held last year for various reasons).

Being utterly enamored with Saher’s work, when I contacted her to tell her that she had won the contest I also asked if she would be interested in doing any more paintings based on my book.

It turns out that she is a huge fan of my work as well and was very interested in workin...

Hydra Headed Problems in Writing

Hercules was a demi-god…I think. We’re going off of memory here because that’s more fun.

Anyway, Hercules was a demi-god with some rage issues. One day, for reasons I can’t remember, he killed his wife and kids.

This was bad.

He wanted to atone for this bad thing that he had done, or the gods demanded that he atone for it, and so he set off on his labors. The Labors of Hercules. They’re sort of famous in mythology.

He had to kill the lion of Numedia (we’re guessing at names too…but I know he had...

Sin City Redux

This weekend I’m off to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. This will mark my second trip to Vegas. Well, the second trip where I’mover the age of sixteen. When you’re a minor, a trip to Las Vegas involves wandering around in a lot of places where you’re not allowed to loiter.

As an adult, though? As an adult Las Vegas is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. The comparison to Disney World is bandied about a lot and I do believe that comparison holds. It’s a destination designed entirely for fun.

Other c...

Obligatory Sandy Post

Anyone who knows me knows that I live in New York and grew up in New Jersey so obviously I’ve got Sandy on my mind this week. I don’t generally write about current events. I have a hard enough time keeping the imaginary people in my head straight, but, well…I mean you’ve seen the news.

My hometown was declared a disaster area and the beach where my family goes during summer was obliterated. Nobody was hurt and I think only my sister in Hoboken is still without power out of all the people I kno...

Thoughts on a Sales Spike

On October 7th a new ad went live for one week for Probability Angels. I would link to the blog where the ad went live, but I can’t find it. It seems to have been taken down. I’ve emailed the owner and am trying to figure that out.

At any rate, on Sunday the 7th the ad went live and when I checked sales on that Monday there was an impressive spike in my numbers. I should add here that this ad was solely for the Kindle version and the resulting sales have only shown up for that version so far.

S...

New York Comic Con and Me

So last weekend was the New York Comic Convention. And as I’ve mentioned I decided to attend this year. I brought my camera and this probably makes more sense if I just talk you through some photos…all classy like.

We begin our journey with the beautiful walk up to the Jacob Javits Center here in Manhattan.

Jesus. This is a freakingembarrassment. I’m sorry, all convention goers, who have had to trek out to this place to see their friends and colleagues. I mean come on, New York.

I’m not saying a...

New York Comic Con

New York Comic Con starts tomorrow, and I am going.

That’s about all I got. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to be doing there. I don’t know what other people do there. I haven’t actually double checked where “there” is.

But I’m going!

With business cards. And my camera. And my eyes. And my charming personality. And I’ve signed up for some other thing on Saturday but I don’t remember what because it was a month ago.

I’m absurdly nervous. This is a big unknown for me. I’ve never been to a...

On Villains

I’ve been giving an absurd amount of thought to villains recently, going so far as to research the origins of the word. Apparently it stems from a French word that applied to the farmers and workers under a vassal lord…or something close to that structure. Because these lower class people were perceived as dirty criminals the word eventually morphed to mean criminals themselves.

I have no villain chosen yet for this third book. I can’t decide if that matters or not. The fact that it is the thi...