K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 37

Excelsior

Yesterday, we learned that Stan Lee—creator of many of the Marvel characters we all know and love—passed away at 95. Few have profoundly shaped pop culture like him, and fewer still have instilled their values into the zeitgeist. He was incomparable, and the comics world is a lesser place without him.

My own connection with Stan Lee is tenuous. I read every comic I could get my hands on as a kid, but it was never as many as I wanted. What I did read (’80s G.I. Joe, Star Trek) wasn’t usually centered around superheroes, so I don’t have the same relationship to his creations as some of my friends. But as an adult—beyond respecting the man as a creator, storyteller, and visionary—there is also something in Stan Lee’s personal history that I’ve come to admire.

Today our culture is obsessed with the idea of young success. It’s readily apparent in the tech culture where listicles of ‘Youngest Billionaires’ and profiles of the ‘Top 30-under-30’ are standard. But that worship of young success goes well beyond the technology sector. We see it in private lives, we see it in political ones, its apparent in education, religion, and entertainment. This drive for success is heaped upon the shoulders of the next generation, they’re pushed to succeed earlier and faster than their peers. That intense pressure can be both overwhelming and debilitating.

“You know, my motto is ‘Excelsior.’ That’s an old word that means ‘upward and onward to greater glory.’ It’s on the seal of the state of New York. Keep moving forward, and if it’s time to go, it’s time. Nothing lasts forever.”

—Stan Lee

Stan Lee’s own career is an antithesis of our culture’s obsession with young success. Here’s a man who started working at Timely Comics in 1939 when he was 17. But even with mild accomplishments during The Golden Age of Comics, his career languished. It wasn’t until several decades later, after having served in WW2 and after decades of toiling away in the comic’s industry that he launched the Fantastic Four with Jack Kirby. That series transformed comics, they made superheroes people, and the Fantastic Four took off. From there his career only blossomed. Spiderman. Hulk. Thor. Black Panther. Iron Man. The X-Men. Daredevil. The Avengers. Dr. Strange. The list of his creations is nearly endless.

That is what I love about Stan Lee. He was not an overnight success. His debuts weren’t a best-seller hit. But he kept doing what he loved. He fought through those his negative emotions and experiences, and he eventually made a profound impact. But it wasn’t until his forties that he became the success we know today: a man who’s creations reshaped the entertainment world as we know it. It’s important to remember that.

I admire that grit and that tenacity. I admire the willingness to stick with one’s passions—even in the darkest of days. It’s a lesson we should take to heart. Maybe with our own creative careers, we can all strive to be a little more like Stan Lee.

Rest easy, Stan. Thank you for everything. Excelsior, indeed.

I’m Obsessed with La Machine

The French production company La Machine has been producing urban operas since the early 1990s, and to put it simply: they’re stunning. Using wood, leather, copper, or glass, they create enormous mechanical marionettes with a surrealist bent and a bit of a steampunk aesthetic. (This is particularly noticeable in their Elephant marionette.) The movements are precise and that breaths life into the machines. These creations are then used in multi-day operatics with light, sound, steam, music, and even weather effects. I find myself awe inspired every time they perform. But you can just see for yourself in the videos below.

It’s so cool. New bucket list item: see one of these productions in person. This year’s show was The Guardian of the Temple held in Toulouse, France—it was an interpretation of the myth of Ariadne, who helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur. Each production typically lasts through several acts played out through a city and performed over several days.

You can learn more about La Machine on their website. (I’ll link to the English version.) Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. They also share much more content over on YouTube and on their Instagram. La Machine has upcoming shows scheduled for Nantes and Calais in France.

I’m excited to see what they do next.

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

On Armistice

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short day ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

—John McCrae, In Flanders Fields (1915)

It’s Veterans Day here in the United States, Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, and  Armistice Day everywhere else. A day set aside around the world to reflect on the ending of World War I which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918—one hundred years ago today.

World War I is a moment in history we should all consider, and its one we should not forget. The outcome and ramifications of that terrible mess of a war influenced so much of the following century. So, if you’re in the States thanking a veteran, take some time to pause and reflect on WW1 as well.

If you want to know more about the Great War. Here are a few places to start.

Garden of Horrors: Pterocarpus Angolensis

Fantasy authors love coming up with fantastical names for the trees that inhabit their magical worlds, and as readers, we all enjoy learning about new species of strange flora be it George R. R. Martin’s ghostly “weirwood” or J. K. Rowling’s violent “Whomping Willow.” But our own world is ripe with plant life that sometimes seems almost fictional.

Enter the Pterocarpus angolensis a type of tree from southern Africa. It’s also known by its common name: the bloodwood. Why? Well, because it bleeds, man. It bleeds! Want proof?

[image error] Pterocarpus angolensis—the bloodwood, bleeding

Ack! I mean, doesn’t it look like this tree was the victim of a horrible crime? High levels of tannins (the same stuff in red wine) are what gives the tree’s sap its dreadful color. Because of its red hue, the sap is often used as a folk remedy for blood conditions. I mean, if it looks like blood it must be good for blood, right? Right? Folk remedies aside, the tree has been shown to have actual medicinal benefits as well. (See all its uses in this extensive PDF document.) I also found a video on YouTube of something cutting into a bloodwood, and it’s as disgusting as you’d expect. It looks like something from a horror movie.

Yuck. Funny enough the P. angolensis isn’t the only tree that bleeds red. Australia has a species named the Corymbia calophylla, a type of eucalyptus that oozes a red kino and also looks like a murder victim. That video above might be from the latter. Either way—gross.

So yeah, now you know some trees bleed red, and it makes most fictional creations seem almost tame in comparison. Happy gardening!

More Garden of Horrors

Hydnellum Peckii – aka – Bleeding Tooth Fungus
Clathrus Archeri – aka – Devil’s Fingers

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

A Call for Gibbering Lovecraftian Items

It’s weird to admit it, but the holidays are just around the corner. For the past four years, I have put together a highly-curated list of Lovecraft-related paraphernalia for the holiday season! Items I’ve discovered throughout the year that would be the perfect gift for yourself or the cosmic-horror fan in your life. I’m pleased to say this year will be the 5th! (I’ll link to past lists at the end of this post.)

While I’m nearly done with this years list, I figured it’d be worthwhile to do an open call and see what else is lurking in the corners of the internet. Not everything submitted will get selected this year. But there’s always something cool out there that I completely missed. What have you found, dear reader? I want to know about it.

The categories are: Books (I generally have this covered), Music, Apparel (no teeshirts—there’s a bajillion of them, and most are awful), Games, Housewares, Miskatonic. You can leave a comment below (I approve all non-bot comments) or just drop me an email and let me know what you’d like to see on this years Lovecraftian Gift Guide!

Previous Lovecraftian Gift Guides

As promised, below are links to the guides from the last four years. Just click on any of the links and start shopping!

 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 

For those waiting don’t fret too much longer, the 2018 Lovecraftian Gift Guide launches in a few short weeks! Be sure to check back to see this years selection. It’s a good one.

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

‘The Stars Were Right’ is a SPFBO Semi-Finalist

Woke up this morning to discover that Rob J. Hayes selected The Stars Were Right, my Lovecraftian urban fantasy, as one of BookNest’s semi-finalists for SPFBO 4! Hooray! This means it’s survived the first culling and is still in the running to be one of the final ten. I couldn’t be more honored or excited. Big thanks to Rob and the rest of the crew at BookNest for trucking through so many books. Be sure to check out Rob’s review over on the site.

The next round will be tough, I’m up against some fierce competition. But that said, I didn’t expect my strange little book to even be a contender in a contest usually dominated by more traditional fantasy offerings. It’s been fun to be a part of this so far, and the community has been fantastic.

Mark Lawrence has updated the Phase 1 list, and you can check it out over on his blog and see who I’m up against for the next round. Also, be sure to check out my SPFBO interview with fellow contestant and author, Michael R. Baker.

Want to read the book? You can buy digital/ebook copies of The Stars Were Right at any of the links below—it’s only $2.99 which is cheaper than a latte these days.

Kindle • Kobo • Nook • iBooks • GooglePlay • DRM-Free ePub

Not an ebook reader? If you prefer the smell and feel of paper, you can buy the trade paperback from any of these fine establishments. I also sell signed copies through my own store, and I ship anywhere.

Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Powell’s • BAM! • Signed Copies

Good luck to my fellow semi-finalists and to all the participants. I’m sure there will be much more to come and win or lose I’ll be sure to let you know The Stars Were Right’s fate right here.

Raunch Review: Mork & Mindy/Starsiege: Tribes

Raunch Reviews is a series about profanity. Not real profanity, but speculative swearing. Authors often try to incorporate original, innovative forms of profanity into our own fantastical works as a way to expand the worlds we build. Sometimes we’re successful. Often we’re not. In this series, I examine the faux-profanity from various works of sci-fi and fantasy, judge their effectiveness, and rate them on an unscientific and purely subjective scale. This is Raunch Reviews, welcome.

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The Author: Garry Marshall and Dynamix
Work in Question: Mork & Mindy/Starsiege: Tribes
The Profanity: “Shazbot”

It’s rare for a fictional profanity to transcend its original source material and find new life in other properties. But that’s what we find with 1978’s Mork & Mindy’s “shazbot.” The word serves as a stand-in for a vulgarity; first uttered in the show’s opening credits but used occasionally throughout the series. Like “frak,” its generational cousin, “shazbot” first reads as a wink to the audience and a slip around the censors. But it has a silly quality—”frak” is intended to sound like the word it’s replacing. “Shazbot” isn’t. It’s nonsense for nonsense sake. A joke. With his performance as Mork, Robin Williams did a phenomenal job playing up the silliness and as a result, “shazbot” never resonates as profanity.

Decades later, the word would be revived making an appearance in Dynamix’s Starsiege: Tribes game series. Either emoted by the player or uttered automatically when a player’s character is killed, the word was so beloved by the fanbase it quickly became a meme. But, like on Mork & Mindy, the word remained a gag; it was a punchline, and largely unoffensive.

As a faux-profanity, “shazbot” is lacking. It has no bite and lacks any weighty resonance. While “shazbot” has been found charming by multiple generations, it’s certainly not offensive nor does it feign as being offensive, as a result, it works much better as a goofy joke.

Score: [image error][image error][image error][image error][image error] (2.0)

Previous Raunch Reviews

“Seven Hells” from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire/Game of Thrones
“Mudblood” from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
“Frak” from Glen A. Larson’s, Ronald D. Moore’s, & David Eick’s Battlestar Galactica
“Jabber” from China Miéville’s Bas-Lag series
“Storm it”/”Storms”/”Storming” from Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archives

Have a suggestion for Raunch Reviews? It can be any made up slang word from a book, television show, or movie. You can email me directly with your recommendation or leave a comment below. I’ll need to spend time with the property before I’ll feel confident reviewing it, so give me a little time. I have a lot of books to read.

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Vote

Today is November 6th, Election Day. If you’re a United States citizen, today is the day where we participate in our civic duty. For the last few decades, mid-term elections have been largely ignored by most of the population—turnout in 2014 midterm election was a pathetic 36.4%—and in recent years we’ve seen the results (or lack thereof) when people grow complacent and don’t engage in government. Every vote matters.

“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Please make time to vote. Most states require employers to give you paid time off to head to the polls, and in states that don’t have specific laws, you’ll find that employers often give you time off. (You can check which states have voting laws at vote411.com.)

I tweet this out often, but it’s important to remember that anyone trying to prevent or making it difficult for citizens to vote are the bad guys. Here in Washington State, we do all our voting by mail. It’s fantastic, and it prevents villains doing scummy things like moving polling places outside of a city or purging voter rolls. On the positive side, we also tend to have above-average voter turnout. Today, I was able to track my ballot online, and I’m proud to say my vote has been counted. It’s a good feeling.

Finally, remember that as an American citizen, no one has the right to stop you from voting. Your voice deserves to be counted. If you’re in line to vote when the polls close they are legally required to allow you to vote. If you’re intimidated at polls or have problems voting, keep these numbers handy:

866-Our-Vote (English)
866-Ve-Y-Vota (Spanish)
866-API-Vote (Asian Languages)

Find out more information at 866ourvote.org.

Go vote. Make your voice heard.

Vote

Today is November 6th, Election Day. If you’re a United States citizen, today is the day where we participate in our civic duty. For the last few decades, mid-term elections have been largely ignored by most of the population—turnout in 2014 midterm election was a pathetic 36.4%—and in recent years we’ve seen the results (or lack thereof) when people grow complacent and don’t engage in government. Every vote matters.

“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Please make time to vote. Most states require employers to give you paid time off to head to the polls, and in states that don’t have specific laws, you’ll find that employers often give you time off. (You can check which states have voting laws at vote411.com.)

I tweet this out often, but it’s important to remember that anyone trying to prevent or making it difficult for citizens to vote are the bad guys. Here in Washington State, we do all our voting by mail. It’s fantastic, and it prevents villains doing scummy things like moving polling places outside of a city or purging voter rolls. On the positive side, we also tend to have above-average voter turnout. Today, I was able to track my ballot online, and I’m proud to say my vote has been counted. It’s a good feeling.

Finally, remember that as an American citizen, no one has the right to stop you from voting. Your voice deserves to be counted. If you’re in line to vote when the polls close they are legally required to allow you to vote. If you’re intimidated at polls or have problems voting, keep these numbers handy:

866-Our-Vote (English)
866-Ve-Y-Vota (Spanish)
866-API-Vote (Asian Languages)

Find out more information at 866ourvote.org.

Go vote. Make your voice heard.

Vote

Today is November 6th, Election Day. If you’re a United States citizen, today is the day where we participate in our civic duty. For the last few decades, mid-term elections have been largely ignored by most of the population—turnout in 2014 midterm election was a pathetic 36.4%—and in recent years we’ve seen the results (or lack thereof) when people grow complacent and don’t engage in government. Every vote matters.

“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Please make time to vote. Most states require employers to give you paid time off to head to the polls, and in states that don’t have specific laws, you’ll find that employers often give you time off. (You can check which states have voting laws at vote411.com.)

I tweet this out often, but it’s important to remember that anyone trying to prevent or making it difficult for citizens to vote are the bad guys. Here in Washington State, we do all our voting by mail. It’s fantastic, and it prevents villains doing scummy things like moving polling places outside of a city or purging voter rolls. On the positive side, we also tend to have above-average voter turnout. Today, I was able to track my ballot online, and I’m proud to say my vote has been counted. It’s a good feeling.

Finally, remember that as an American citizen, no one has the right to stop you from voting. Your voice deserves to be counted. If you’re in line to vote when the polls close they are legally required to allow you to vote. If you’re intimidated at polls or have problems voting, keep these numbers handy:

866-Our-Vote (English)
866-Ve-Y-Vota (Spanish)
866-API-Vote (Asian Languages)

Find out more information at 866ourvote.org.

Go vote. Make your voice heard.