K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 39

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

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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!

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 →

Echoes & Updates

Part of the fun with events like this is discovering the trail yourself. That said, things have been somewhat quiet (at least on here.) So a small post to energize the stalwart few still dedicated to discovery wouldn’t be remiss. If you’re one of the marked who’s taken it upon themselves to follow the clues, a big one dropped today over on Instagram.

As always the repository has been updated. Diligence.

Use Fear

“I have always loved to use fear, to take it and comprehend it and make it work and consolidate a situation where I was afraid and take it whole and work from there.”

—Shirley Jackson

Most of us have read Jackson’s famous short story, The Lottery. But, since it’s October and the perfect season for spooky reading, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, easily one of the greatest ghost stories ever written.

Raunch Reviews: A Song of Ice and Fire

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.

[image error]The Author: George R. R. Martin
Work in Question: A Song of Ice & Fire/ Game of Thrones
The Profanity: “Seven Hells”

It’s easy to dismiss George R. R. Martin’s epic as just another fantasy. After all, it has all the trappings. But Martin likes to ground these in a grim reality that make the struggles and conflict on the page feel real—almost historical. This is especially incorporated through his in-world religions as well. From the strange faces of the old gods carved into the sides of weirwood trees, to the Drowned God of the men of the Iron Isles, and to the Andal’s Faith of the Seven—with any faith, oaths generally follow. So it’s no surprise Martin went with “seven hells” as his inworld mild-profanity replacement.

As a mild oath, it’s fine. Seven kingdoms, seven gods, seven heavens, seven hells—it makes sense. Likewise, it doesn’t stray too far from English’s own oaths, so there is a recognition factor that comes into play. The familiarity of this profanity is understandable, as in his writing Martin tends to stick reasonably close to actual real-world history and mythology in his work. That makes his bleak world feel more adjacent to our own which works in its favor. All that said, while this is recognizable, it’s not especially original. But it’s not a word to pull you out of the story. Instead, it allows you to glide right past one grim tragedy and onto the next.

Score: [image error][image error][image error][image error][image error] (3.0)

Previous Raunch Reviews

“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.

[image error]

Happy October

It’s raining outside and my favorite month of the year is finally here, so I’m in a pretty good mood this morning. October is also the month where I usually debut new stuff. While no new books are coming this year, I do have a few announcements I’ll be making. Those lucky Dead Drop subscribers will get to hear it first, and you still have time to join their ranks.

Until all that happens, here’s a fantastic interview with Aldous Huxley that everyone should take time to watch. (Hat tip to Mike Glyer over at File 770 who shared this yesterday.)

Happy October folks!

Learning to Say ‘No’

Distraction is one of my biggest struggles; something I grapple with on a daily basis. A few days ago, I posted how we as creatives need to choose to make time for our craft. I referred to time as the “currency for creation.” But there’s another metaphor that works just as well: time is the medium from which we craft our creative work. Without time we cannot produce—everything else: charcoal, oil paint, clay, wood, words, everything, is secondary to time. Yet, in an ever-connected world finding those moments can often feel difficult and overwhelming. When we do find the time it’s often fleeting, and we’re bogged down by distraction.

Those called to creation understand this on a very personal level. Obligations already eat away at the narrow slivers of time from which we hone our craft. And the siren call of distraction is always there to lure us away. Occupying oneself into idleness is easy. At the end of the day, the week, the month, the year one looks back and find themselves unfulfilled and wonders: what happened?

In the struggle of creation, eventually, the creator must learn to say ‘no.’

In the struggle of creation, eventually, the creator must learn to say ‘no.’ At first, it’s terrifying. In our culture of ‘yes’ a word like ‘no’ sounds final. (It’s not, but that doesn’t matter.) Your friends won’t get it. The family won’t understand. Entertainment and Social Media hate hearing ‘no,’ they feed off distraction. Our phones are abuzz with alerts demanding attention. The 24-hour news cycle wants you to believe everything is a crisis. Click ‘yes’ to receive alerts for this random website. It’s endless. Empathy for the creator—when it exists at all—is ephemeral. Dreams and drives get brushed aside as frivolous whims. Oh, that. That’s just a hobby. Nothing will come of that. Do that instead. Watch this. Come here. Go there. Play this. Guilt and shame are wielded with selfish abandon. But it’s for you! They say when really it’s for them.

[image error]It was so dumb I had to do it.

Facing those pressures is difficult. We’ve all crumbled and given in, and those slivers of time are lost forever. You don’t get them back. Hence, the lesson of ‘no.’ Learning to say ‘no’ allows us to set boundaries. It establishes what is important and it set priorities. It’s the first step in building a routine, making the work habitual, and living in the moment.

To be effective ‘no’ is something every creator has to master. Shut out the distractions. No, Twitter isn’t important. No, you don’t need to watch that latest reboot on Netflix. No, you don’t need to make that phone call. No, brunch isn’t necessary this weekend. Face the pressure head on, stand your ground, and make the choices for what matters to you. It’s important for our mental health. It’s important for the work. It’s important for creation. ‘No’ lets us carve out moments in time, and after all, time is the true medium.

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 Midsommar Dream

My friend Redd Walitzki is a wonderfully talented artist who blends watercolor, oil painting, and mixed media on laser-cut panel to create detailed and incredibly vibrant works of art. On September 22nd she launched her latest solo show, The Midsommar Dream at Haven Gallery, in New York. It’s stunning and worth checking out.

I’ve long been a fan of Redd’s work, but this series, in particular, stands out. There is something personal at play in each piece, but that intimate disclosure interlocks with a compelling narrative. The series is more than just magical creatures dancing through a lush dreamscape, Midsommar serves as a treatise on reality itself and the dreams that push at its boundaries.

I’ve included a few of my favorites below. Click on any of them to view larger. Be sure to head on over to Haven Gallery’s website where you can see the whole show.

The Midsommar Dream runs through October 27th, so if you’re in the New York area (particularly Long Island), then I highly recommend visiting. Redd’s use of vibrant color is beautiful on screen but it strongest in person. Be sure to contact the gallery with inquiries about any particular piece.

You can see more of Redd’s past work at her website. Also be sure to follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and make sure you subscribe to her newsletter.

My Fellow Americans, Register to Vote

Today is the fourth Tuesday in September, that means it’s National Voter Registration Day here in the USA. If you’re a US citizen and you haven’t registered, take some time and do it today. Registering to vote is super easy (usually only takes a few minutes) and it’s essential. Your voice is valid, and it matters now more than ever.

There are a few ways to register, but here are a few of my favorite resources:

Vote.org
This is my favorite. Here you find tools to register, and you can check the status of your registration. Be sure to do the latter, some states ( Ohio ) are trying to purge voter rolls for inactivity.

How to register to vote #RegisterToVote
Google has a handy tool to help you figure out how to register. Just simple search for that phrase (or click the link above) and all the information is at your fingertips.

Rock the Vote
This nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focuses on increasing the turnout for younger Americans and has been around since 1990.

I’ve said this before, but today is an appropriate day to restate that anyone trying to prevent or making it difficult for citizens to vote are the bad guys. In an era of voter disenfranchisement, suppression, and gerrymandering, the people must step up and elect leaders that fight for the rights of the citizenry. Do your duty: register and vote.