K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 38
November 6, 2018
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
November 5, 2018
It Dies
“All the blood is drained out of democracy—it dies—when only half the population votes.”
Tomorrow is Election Day here in the United States. If you’re a citizen of this country, do you part and plan to cast your ballot. We need your voice.
November 4, 2018
Catbeard Book Five is Here!
The latest in Matt Nelson’s hilarious piratey comic series has arrived with Catbeard Book Five: Poopdecks & Pawprints! Once again we can all set sail with Catbeard and the crew of the Fearsome Roar, and I couldn’t be more excited. If you haven’t read Catbeard, you should rectify that immediately. (New storyline begins November 17th.) It’s hilarious, and these days it’s a nice respite from the absurd chaos reality throws at us.
[image error]Matt Nelson’s Catbeard Book V: Poopdeck & Pawprints
I’m also in this book! I was honored to be asked to write the forward for this one and I jumped at the chance. Plus it meant Matt would do an illustration of me! He gave me the option to have a standard portrait, or he offered to draw me as a gibbering Lovecraftian monstrosity. Clearly, I made the correct choice.
[image error]It’s me as an elder…uh, thing. Credit to Matt Nelson.
Want to know what I wrote? Well, you’re going to have to pick up the book. You can buy them directly from Matt or pick them up for your Kindle over on Amazon. Catbeard always starts life as a free webcomic, and you can follow along at catbeardthepirate.com. If you want to support Matt’s work (and you should) you can join me in supporting him on Patreon.
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 →
November 3, 2018
Revisiting My American Horror Story Title Rankings
A year ago, I sat down and ranked all seven of the title sequences for FX’s anthology horror series American Horror Story. It was a fun project. While I’ve never considered myself a die-hard fan of the show, I’m always drawn in by those opening titles.
Here we are a little over a year later, and FX has released American Horror Story Season 8: Apocalypse and it looks to be a doozy. Of course, with a new season came a new title sequence and this prompted me to revisit my rankings and decided once again which title sequence reigns supreme. So which was it? See my updated list here.
How would you rank them? Shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
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 →
November 2, 2018
Visual Inspiration: Brian Coldrick
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. It’s a book that contained a series of images, each was accompanied by a few lines of text that sent one’s imagination soaring. These small one-shot scenarios were fascinating to a younger-me and were often more imaginative than many of the novels I’ve read in later years. I’ve thought about them often over the years.
So, imagine how delighted I was when I stumbled across the art of Irish-illustrator and sloth-enthusiast Brian Coldrick and his unsettling series Behind You. These single-shot stories follow a similar method to Burdick but the stories themselves skew towards the modern horror or creepypasta—and damn, are they ever compelling.
Behind You is extensive—there are so many pieces it’s difficult to pick a favorite and the series is still ongoing. The loose style and muted colors work remarkably well, blending the fantastic with the realistic and letting the narrative fill in the spaces in between. You’ll find yourself enthralled.
If the static illustration wasn’t enough, Behind You now includes subtle animations as well, which only further each pieces’ effectiveness. You can see a few of my favorites below, click on any image to view it larger. Or just start at the beginning.
That’s only a tiny portion of the entire series and you should take some time and explore the narratives. Recently, many of these images have been collected into the book Behind You: One-Shot Horror Stories, which I recommend buying (link takes you to Amazon, but I’m sure you can get it all over the place.) As I mentioned above, Behind You is still ongoing and can be viewed at Tapastic or Tumblr. Making cool art isn’t free—Coldrick has a Patreon (of which I’m a member) and I’d encourage you to throw a few bucks his way so he can keep making these delightful terrors. You can buy prints of his work from Society6. Finally, be sure to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Deviant Art, and Instagram.
If you like Brian Coldrick’s work be sure to check out some of the other artists who I’ve found inspiring in the past. While there’s certainly a theme to the art that inspires me, you’ll find lots of different styles, tones, mediums, and moods.
Filip Dujardin
Sebastien Ecosse
Zhichao Cai
Yuri Shwedoff
Jordan Grimmer
Kuldar Leement
Marc Simonetti
Anthony Wolff
Robin Olausson
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 →
November 1, 2018
National Author’s Day
Today is November 1st, which means it’s National Author’s Day! Hooray! No matter how successful the author, the act of writing can be a lonely gig, and this day (Established in 1949) is here to commemorate authors you love and help make their day just a little bit brighter. How can you do that? Here are a few easy ways:
Buy their books. (I mean, it’s a given, but still.)
Leave a review for their books on Goodreads , Amazon , your blog, or wherever.
Tell your friends. Heck, buy a few books for your friends.
Ask for your local library to stock your favorite author’s books.
Talk about their books on social media.
Any or all of those simple things will go a long way to encourage the authors you love and make their day a bit better. If you want to spread the love on social media, consider using the hashtag #NationalAuthorsDay.
Have an author whose work you love? Share their work in the comments!
October 16, 2018
Introducing: Gleam Upon the Waves
It’s been far too long so let’s make this official. If you’ve followed my Project Tracker, you’ll have noticed that I’m now halfway into writing the fourth novel of The Bell Forging Cycle. It’s high time I announce it.
Waldo Bell will return in: Gleam Upon the Waves.
Hired to work security for a political envoy, Waldo Bell and the crew of the Bell Caravans find themselves en route to Empress, the capital city of the hermit-nation of Victory. But things are never as simple as they seem. Sinister forces are circling; stuck in the middle, Wal will learn that darkness runs much deeper than he ever thought possible, reality is not what it seems, and a new apocalypse is much closer than anyone anticipates.
I’m targeting Gleam Upon the Waves to be about the length of Red Litten World. The story itself will be standalone, but we’re now at a point where reading the previous books will be helpful. If you read Red Litten World, you understand that there are a lot of moving parts now.
A teaser site has been live for a while but, you can see it here and read the epigraph. You can also check out my inspiration board over on Pinterest. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the plan is to work on this until it’s out. Y’all have been more than patient, and I’m excited. I think you’ll enjoy it.
I’ll see you on the trails, roaders. Things are going to get weird.
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 →
