Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 84
June 28, 2016
Weekly Update – June 28, 2016
This week is jam-packed full of excellent announcements, starting with the big one:
That’s right: I can now legitimately claim that Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is a two-time number one best seller!
To celebrate this achievement, I’m going to make the Kindle version of Secret Origins available for 99 cents for one day only: July 19. If you’re a current fan, please spread the word to family and friends who might enjoy the series, and feel free to share this special promotional image ——————>
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: The latest revisions are done! I still have a couple of test-readers as yet unheard from, but if/when they get back to me I may have to work any sound suggestions into the final draft — assuming they hit any points my other test-readers missed, that is, which would be surprising. My test-readers were seriously on the ball and pointed out a lot of issues, small and large, that I had to correct.
The result was unusual for this stage of development. Usually in the pre-editing phase, I’m mostly smoothing out the prose and trimming any fat; I expect word counts to do down, not up, but in this case the word count rose from approximately 77,000 in the third draft (which was up 1,000 words from draft two) to nearly 80,000 in the fourth draft.
The extra work was well worth it, though. What I have now is a LOT stronger than what I had a couple of months ago.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Almost time to get back to work on this in earnest!
Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins: Wait, what? Why is this on the list? you might well ask. Because I have officially locked in the talented Jennifer MacPherson to record the audiobook version of Secret Origins! I’ve had Jenn in mind for this project for a long time and I finally decided to pull the trigger and make it happen. Our goal is to have the finished audiobook ready for your holiday shopping pleasure.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Wednesday, June 29: the Shrewsbury Public Library’s summer reading kickoff event, featuring a Local Authors Showcase. That runs next week from 3:30 to 6 PM and I’ll be one of eight (so far) local writers selling and signing books.
NEW! I’ve been accepted to the New England Authors Expo in Danvers, MA on July 27. This is a huge day-long show that connects authors with readers, libraries, bookstores, and industry reps. I expect to be exhausted by the end of it, but in a good way.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM. As it happens, I’m playing a more active hand in promoting the Meet the Author series this year (more on that below).
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
This last cool announcement is primarily for the benefit of Massachusetts residents, who can now read my first novel, Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins for free via Commonwealth eBooks Collections, part of the BiblioBoard system, which helps libraries across the country increase its access to e-books.
Action Figures was added to the Indie Massachusetts curation through (quoting from the website here) “the SELF-e program, a collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioLabs designed to cultivate robust local writing communities and keep libraries at the center of the indie book movement. SELF-e helps self-published authors and indie presses expand their readership while adding new and diverse indie eBooks to library catalogs across the country.”
You can find Secret Origins in the YA and Children’s Fiction section.
I’m going to close on a bit of a rant/lecture, but I think this is worth the space, so please give it a read.
My wife vended MASSive ComicCon here in Worcester over the weekend, and we learned of a display of blatant cruelty that had us both seething.
The artists’ alley area of the con was huge, which meant a lot of industry pros, independent professionals, and motivated amateurs had somewhere to display their work, which was great.
One attendee apparently disagreed. From what we learned through a few people who witnessed this, a kid asked his father about artists’ alley because, being a kid, he didn’t grasp the concept. In the course of explaining artists’ alley, the dad said many of the artists in this area weren’t very good.
Dad then transcended dickishness and achieved douchebag status by pointing out one particular artist, who was sitting right there, as exemplary of the terrible art on display.
The artist is question, a young woman attending only her second con and selling sketches for short money, managed to shrug it off at first. Later that morning, Dad unlocked his asshole achievement badge. As the artist was returning from the restroom, Dad pointed her out to his kid and remarked, loud enough for her to hear, “That’s that shitty artist we saw.”
Folks, trying to work as an artist, in any medium, whether amateur or pro, is incredibly fucking hard — not just because of the finances involved, not just because society too often dismisses the arts as a legitimate career field, not just because other professional fields try to pass off “experience” and “exposure” as legitimate forms of compensation for artists they(try to) hire, but because at some point, someone is going to be unnecessarily, excessively mean for no reason whatsoever.
Criticism is part of an artist’s life. Good criticism helps artists grow and improve. Bad criticism is inevitable. It won’t be constructive, it won’t be solicited, it won’t be welcome, but it’s something artists need to learn to deal with productively.
The things this man said do not qualify as criticism. He deliberately singled out one young artist to be the target of flat-out cruelty for the sake of it. He said these things to tear this young lady down, because it gave him some twisted form of satisfaction to do so.
Fortunately, every artist around her rallied to her side, talked her down, and were ready to protect her if Dad came around again. When word of this spread, other vendors (including my wife and I) were almost praying he’d show his face again. There would have been a line of people ready to read this prick the riot act. Veronica went over and commissioned a quick sketch of our dog Beatrix to show her support. That’s the happy outcome here: fellow artists did not for one second stand for this bullshit and stood by one of their own.
But Dad is still out there and probably will piss on some other poor unsuspecting artist for shits and giggles, and maybe the next time that person won’t have people standing by him or her to provide the support he or she needs to roll with it and move on. This despicable excuse for a human being might well snuff out someone’s creative spark, and perhaps has done so already.
I offered this story not in the hopes it would enrage you or motivate you to be more supportive to artists — I trust you all do that already — but to make some of you think twice before you decide you simply have to tell an artist how badly you think he/she sucks. If that impulse is there, regardless of the reason, stop and ask yourself exactly why you feel you need to say anything. Chances are, you don’t have to say it; you want to, at which point the question becomes: Why? What good is served by dumping on an artist whose work you don’t like?
You don’t have to praise artists if you sincerely feel they don’t deserve it, but you don’t have to go out of your way to criticize them, either.
In closing, I offer the wise words of Kevin Smith:
Remember: It costs nothing to encourage an artist, and the potential benefits are staggering. A pat on the back to an artist now could one day result in your favorite film, or the cartoon you love to get stoned watching, or the song that saves your life. Discourage an artist, you get absolutely nothing in return, ever.
June 24, 2016
Fun Factoids And Fluff
Last year, I posted some fun background bits about the Action Figures series — trivia about the series and my writing process. Readers enjoyed the peek inside my head, so as I get ready for a weekend working MASSive ComicCon with my wife (and therefore will be away from my laptop), I thought I’d share some more insights (be forewarned, there might be some slightly SPOILERY tidbits).
Lovecraft references are scattered throughout the series. One of the more obscure references is to the film version of Re-Animator ; the Lumley brothers — Gordon, Stuart, and Jeffrey — are named after director and star .
While the series is roughly plotted out through the final book, game plans change as the story progresses. Originally, Matt and Sara were going to end up together, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked that idea. It fell into a trope I rather despise: boy meets girl; girl has no interest in boy; boy ignores girl’s feelings and keeps after her; girl breaks down after realizing boy wouldn’t keep trying so hard if his love wasn’t real; boy and girl get together. I dislike that trope because it sends a message that boys shouldn’t respect a girl when she says no, that a girl is a prize to be won, and that someone with self-esteem issues can be “fixed” by the love of a good person. I abandoned that story thread while revising Secret Origins and started planting hints that Sara’s lack of interest was due to the fact she was still coming to grips with her sexuality.
Edison “Concorde” Bose is named after Thomas Edison (who, like Concorde, was kind of a dick). Edison’s son Nick is named after Nikola Tesla.
Carrie owns a copy of the first American printing of The Hobbit featuring the revised Riddles in the Dark chapter, passed down to her from her father, who got it from his father. In mint condition, this book would be worth close to $2,000. Carrie’s edition is very well-read and nowhere close to mint condition.
The Hero Squad’s favorite flavors: Carrie = mocha. Matt = caramel. Sara = maple. Missy = ginger. Stuart = why play favorites? They’re all good.
And now, a bonus factoid or two about The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot…
The main characters are a subtle homage to a classic Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party composition. There are two fighters (Derek, a straightforward fighter, and Erika, a ranger type), a thief (Felix), a magic user (David), and a cleric (Winifred). Also, the party starts to form after a chance meeting in a tavern — a traditional starting point for many adventures.
Speaking of Winifred, I’d originally planned for her to be a one-adventure character, but I liked her too much. How will she factor in with the rest of the series? You’ll have to wait for Assassins Brawl to find out.
Jorge Garcia, who should be cast in everything.As I’ve mentioned before, I sometimes cast actors as certain roles to help me find their characters. In S&L, Winifred’s look is based on former WWE star (which I guess would make her a Keibler elf), Derek was inspired by Mummy-era , and Felix I’ve always pictured as a scruffy . In Assassins Brawl, I’ve fan-casted two new characters — Lord Paradim and his captain of the guard, Isla Manse — as and , respectively.
Curiously, no one has stood out in my mind as suitable for Erika. If anyone has their own fan-casting suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
June 21, 2016
Weekly Update – June 21, 2016
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Revisions proceed. I added and amended scenes over the weekend to correct some deficiencies in the story and then conducted a beginning-to-end read-through to see how it all came together. I still have a couple of test-readers as yet unheard from, but I’m happy with the shape the story is in.
If there’s a lingering issue, it’s with my villain. I’ve set a precedent for myself with my bad guy characters and my test-readers wanted to see more of Ruined Isys, but having read through the whole thing again, I can’t find any good places to slip her in, not without compromising other elements of the story. Too many plot twists would be telegraphed.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Didn’t touch it over the weekend, but that’s okay. Its time will come.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
NEW! Wednesday, June 29: the Shrewsbury Public Library’s summer reading kickoff event, featuring a Local Authors Showcase. That runs next week from 3:30 to 6 PM and I’ll be one of eight (so far) local writers selling and signing books.
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM. As it happens, I’m playing a more active hand in promoting the Meet the Author series this year (more on that below).
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
I’ll be heading to Upton next month for an interview to air on community TV in that town. I’m supposed to get a copy of the video for my own purposes, so when I get that I’ll post it up somewhere so you can see how awkward I look during interviews.
Finally, after procrastinating for a couple of years, I am at last pulling the trigger on making Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins available as an audiobook through Amazon’s ACX platform. My friend Jen, who I’d had in mind as the narrator pretty much since I first released Secret Origins, graciously agreed to do it, and the wheels are now officially in motion. My hope is to have it ready for the holiday shopping season, but audiobooks can take hundreds of hours to record so I’m not holding to that as a firm deadline.
When it does become available, I’ll of course announce it here.
June 17, 2016
Sharing The Love – Letters From Whitechapel
Copyright Fantasy Flight GamesTaking a minute or two out of my first full writing weekend in a month and a half (yeesh) to let folks know about a cool now board game I picked up this week.
The game is Letters From Whitechapel, which is based on the Jack the Ripper murders. One player controls Jack as he hunts down and kills “the Wretched” (a gentle term for prostitutes) over the course of five nights, while one to five more players assume the role of investigators tasked with capturing Jack.
If you’re not bothered by the admittedly morbid source material, I’d recommend this game — especially if you’re a fan of Fury of Dracula, which uses a similar game mechanic. The player controlling Jack moves around the board surreptitiously, while the investigator players have to find clues the reveal his escape path so they can determine where his hidden lair is. Jack wins by killing all five Wretched and returning successfully to his hideout. The investigators win by arresting Jack as he tries to evade capture.
Along the way, Jack can throw investigators off with false clues and redirect them as they patrol Whitechapel with taunting letters — which are based on the actual letters Jack sent police during his murder spree. Several elements of the game likewise draw from history; the game board is based on a map of Whitechapel at the time, certain key spots on the board correlate to the locations of the actual murders, and the investigators play the actual police officers and detectives who worked on the case. Fun and educational!
June 14, 2016
Weekly Update – June 14, 2016
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: I received some more beta reader feedback over the weekend, and as a result I’ve made some significant revisions to what is becoming a formal fourth draft. The story’s main bad guy is getting punched up, as are some thematic elements, and some characterization issues are getting ironed out. I usually don’t make such drastic adjustments to my novels this far in — I’m normally cleaning out superfluous language and streamlining the prose — but the story needs it to be a worthy follow-up to Scratching a Lich. I’ll be working on S&L 2 this weekend. I might also see some preliminary cover art!
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: Made a little more progress over the weekend, but I won’t be able to hit this one hard until S&L 2 is out of the way.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM. As it happens, I’m playing a more active hand in promoting the Meet the Author series this year (more on that below).
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
Last week I finally got together with my friend Phil at the lovely Scrapwood Studios in Connecticut to record our podcast, in which I discuss Scratching a Lich and read the first chapter from said book — the first time I’ve ever done a reading of any kind. The podcast went up yesterday, so here it is. Enjoy!
Finally, as I mentioned above, I am more involved with promoting the CTRF Meet the Author series this year than I was last year. I’ve been contracted to write up a ton of promotional material for the show, including press materials for the series, so hopefully both the faire as a whole and the author events will see a lot more traffic.
June 10, 2016
The 2015 – 2016 TV Season In Review
The 2015 – 2016 TV season is done, and the past year felt like such a mixed bag. This was the first season in a while that I felt any excitement about, and in a lot of ways it failed to live up to my expectations. Here are my thoughts about the shows I watched (but don’t expect any deep analysis here. A TV critic I’m not).
BEWARE! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
My favorite show of the season. Unlike DC’s cinematic properties, The Flash is optimistic, light, and fun, and the drama never reaches the state of quasi-nihilism that has made the DC movie such downers. is a highly likable protagonist and he has a great support cast, particularly in and . My wife and I have vowed to abandon the show if either of their characters are killed off.
The show also knows how to press the geek button in obvious and subtle ways. A geeked out hard when the show recreated the iconic Flash of Two Worlds cover in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene. Pure nerdvana.
Season two also did a better job with character, Iris West. The writers gave her more to do than simply be the hero’s love interest, which is great. The character still had a few moments that made me roll my eyes, but the season as a whole gave me hope she’ll continue to improve.
It’s perhaps ironic that The Flash has a tendency to fall apart at the finish line. The season one finale ended on an abrupt, awkward cliffhanger that set the stage for season two, and similarly, the season two cliffhanger on a “Huh?” note that lines up season three. The creative team needs to be better about putting a button at the end of a season arc.
Supergirl had some first season shakiness, but its issues were minor as far as I’m concerned. As with The Flash, Supergirl benefited from a brighter tone and a more upbeat, positive lead in Kara Zor-El, played with irresistible charm by .
How can you not love this face?However, — as Kara’s boss, Kat Grant — almost stole the show every time she appeared on-screen. She started off as a typical boss-from-hell ice queen but quickly developed depth and texture as a character. By the end of the season, she was as lovable (in her own aloof, prickly way) as Kara, and the two made for a great if unlikely team.
I also have to give the writers credit for a great swerve. In the comics, Hank Henshaw () became the Superman villain known simply as the Cyborg Superman (as a result of the overhyped Death of Superman storyline) and I was expecting the TV show to go the same way — and then it blew me away by revealing Henshaw was in fact J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter.
I’m happy the CW has picked up Supergirl for season two, and I trust it’ll have a good home there alongside the other DC series. Now, if only someone would pick up my other favorite new series from the past season…
ABC canceled The Muppets after a full (if short) season and I hate them so much for it. Like a lot of new shows, it was a bit rocky for a while as it tried to find its tone (early eps were a little too cynical for the Muppets) and a lot of people didn’t like the more adult edge or the mockumentary style of storytelling, but I thought those were minor points. The gags landed far more often than not and were legitimately laugh-out-loud funny. Anytime Uncle Deadly was on screen was pure comedic gold.
It only got better as the season went along, and a change of showrunners mid-season shored up the lingering weak spots. By the end, The Muppets was running on all cylinders. Unfortunately, it seems that the ratings damage was already done. and the show got axed. Bah. BAH, I say!
I never expected to love Galavant. When my wife and I checked it out last year, we were expecting a light, fluffy, kid-friendly program, not a sharp, witty, edgy musical-comedy with some surprisingly catchy tunes. Season one ended on a cliffhanger, and I was worried I’d never see a resolution due to the show’s tepid ratings.
The producers knew better for season two and ended things decisively, thought they left an opening or two to continue the story in case season three got the green light — which it didn’t. I can’t complain, though. I feel a show like this could too easily get stale if it went on too long, so I’ll take two solid seasons and a high note conclusion and be happy for it.
Conversely, I’m unhappy that Agent Carter is also over after two good seasons. In so many ways the series is superior to Agents of SHIELD and has one of the best protagonists on TV in Peggy Carter (), as well as one of the best partners in her totally platonic buddy/sidekick Edwin Jarvis (). Their chemistry and crack comedic timing were on full display in the second story arc, which took Peggy to California where she crossed paths with Whitney Frost (), who is known to comic fans as the super-villain Madame Masque.
Alas, we didn’t get to see Frost in full-on Madame Masque mode, and probably never will thanks to so-so ratings. Fortunately for Atwell and her fans, she’ll be returning to TV next year in a new series, but she should have been coming back for a third go-round as Peggy.
While it bears little resemblance to the Vertigo title, iZombie is entertaining nevertheless. It’s basically a procedural, but the gimmick here is that the heroine, a medical examiner, is a zombie who, after consuming someone’s brain, takes on the subject’s personality and has flashes of their memories.
The writing in spots is cheesy, as evidenced right up front with the main character, Olivia Moore () — aka Liv Moore, ha ha — but the jokes fire off consistently and the characters are likable, and when it comes to procedurals, that’s all I really need. I don’t expect deep drama and compelling plots.
However, the show could be getting more ambitious in that regard next season. The finale was a major game-changer and I’m curious to see where they take it.
I plan to stick with Arrow into season four, mostly because I’m jazzed at the prospect of a massive four-show crossover that the producers have been teasing, but season three had some serious frayed edges.
RIP. Until they bring you back to life, which happens a lot in “Arrow.”The show’s worst sin was killing off Laurel Lance/Black Canary (). One producer said the decision was born of the fact that “It kind of feels like Laurel’s story has come to a very organic… if not ‘conclusion,’ certainly a ‘plateau.'” But apparently finding a new story for her was too much of a hassle.
The season also felt too familiar in spots: Oliver’s grating, self-centered brooding and constant need to push people away; the traditional springtime threat to Star City; the increasingly pointless flashbacks that feel more and more disconnected from the main storyline…
And then there was the finale, which traded a logical story for some cheap feels. One guy shouting “Stop!” atop a car before delivering a poor man’s St. Crispin’s Day speech quells a raging riot within seconds? And Oliver uses magic that he barely learned a few weeks earlier to stop a demi-godlike bad guy? Yeesh.
I hope Arrow takes a few steps back next season and goes for something a little smaller and more personal rather than yet another overblown “villain plots to destroy the city” story.
Agents of SHIELD has improved considerably since its tepid first season (specifically the first two-thirds of the first season, prior to the events of Captain America – The Winter Soldier) and is entertaining, but it has yet to become truly awesome. The season finale had some good twists and emotional depth, but it felt like too little too late for this particular season.
The show has a great cast, likable characters, maybe the best fight scenes on TV, and has finally found a consistent sense of low-key humor. What it lacks is strong season arcs (the Inhumans storyline is getting old and feels like it’s not going anywhere significant) and a real sense of place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel could decide tomorrow that the events in Agents of SHIELD never happened, retcon the show out of existence, and it would have absolutely no impact on anything that’s happened in the movies.
Marvel could also learn a lesson from DC when it comes to appeasing the geek audience. The DC shows constantly mine the DC Universe’s deep vault of characters, but Marvel barely scratches the surface of its available roster.
The weakest of the DC/CW shows, and the fault for that is all on the creative team. I like the cast and the mix of characters, and there were some damn cool action sequences throughout the season, but the “Hunt for Vandal Savage” storyline felt sloppy and disjointed, and too often the episodes relied on this plot point:
RIP HUNTER: All right, people, don’t go screwing around with the timeline.
TEAM: We won’t!
TEAM then proceeds the screw around with the timeline.
RIP HUNTER: What did I tell you?!
TEAM: Well, what were we supposed to do? I mean, we’re not big picture people here.
I had higher hopes for this show. I love , the concept was intriguing, and it was good, but it somehow never rose to greatness for me. The supporting characters, with the exception of techie Patterson (, who you might know as the waitress from the closing scenes of The Avengers), are as boring as a beige room, and as the season progressed the plot relied too much on the trope of characters keeping secrets from one another.
The finale shook things up considerably and is poised to send season two in a whole new direction, buy I don’t think I’ll be sticking around for it. The big plot twists were predictable and so they didn’t excite me enough to make me want to see how things play out. For Alexander’s sake I hope the show has a healthy run, but in the end it just wasn’t my thing.
This show was never high art, but that’s not a criticism. It was meant to be a fun procedural that featured a likable cast headed up by and engaging in lighthearted shenanigans, and for eight seasons that’s what it was. The last season or two were a bit shaky but they were generally satisfying.
The series finale was mostly satisfying. It had action, tension, and it didn’t end as many speculated it would, with Beckett (Katic) dying — but that’s only because the show didn’t get renewed. Take out that clumsy, tacked-on coda and it’s obvious that season eight was supposed to end on a cliffhanger and season nine would have opened with the reveal that Beckett had died. That would have been an insult to the viewers, so at least I’m glad the series ended on an upbeat note.
Ugh. This show used to be such fun…back in season one. Its Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills versus the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse storyline was gleefully off-the-wall, but with each season the show veered away from its core concept — ostensibly to make it more accessible by doing away with its heavy focus on the mythology and going a little more threat-of-the-week. It also grossly mishandled its female characters and watered down a diverse cast with bland white people. In this most recent season we watched two flat, dull villains stand around delivering stiff dialog badly episode after episode while Abbie Mills (, who deserved so much better) did nothing of consequence until finally sacrificing herself in the season finale.
As of this writing, the show could be renewed, in which case Crane would receive a new partner, but who cares? Like Castle, the dynamic between Sleepy Hollow‘s two principle characters fueled the show through its weakest episodes and made its strongest episodes truly memorable. When you kill one of them off, what’s the point in going on? Did no one learn any lessons from The X-Files?
On that note…
I’m an old-school X-Phile. I watched the original series religiously and to this day I have a huge crush on . I awaited the revival with cautious optimism but low expectations — which, I’m sad to say, were met.
The series returned to its classic form to a fault. 
June 7, 2016
Weekly Update – June 7, 2016
Alas and at last, the Robin Hood Springtime Festival for this year is in the rear-view mirror. Aside from some upcoming cons I’m working with my wife, my weekends are mine again and I can focus on getting some projects wrapped up and out of my hair.
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: I heard from a couple of my test-readers and they’re hoping to finish things up within the next week or so. With luck, I’ll have a draft ready for my editor by the end of June or early July.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: I’m hitting this in fits and starts until I am done with S&L book two.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
It’s taken us a while to coordinate schedules, but I expect to record my podcast interview and reading with my friend Phil tomorrow evening. I’ll post a link once it’s up.
May 31, 2016
Weekly Update – May 31, 2016
Another slow week due to the Robin Hood Springtime Festival, but it’s been a good run so far and I’m having lots of fun.
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Draft two is under review with test-readers. I’m curious to see how many people make notes on bits and pieces I’ve already tweaked in my third draft.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: I wrote a few pages last week but I need to go back and read everything I’ve written so far to re-familiarize myself with it.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
This week I put in my application to sell books at Arisia 2017, and I expect J.M. Aucoin and I will be back next year, a little older and wiser in the ways of pitching ourselves to prospective readers. With luck, the convention organizers will set up a proper authors’ area that isn’t in a hallway — which wasn’t a bad location, really, but it wasn’t astounding either.
MISC.
So, what, is Mjolnir also a Hydra agent?I just want to throw out a few quick thoughts on the latest kerfuffle in the comic book world, the controversial twist in issue one of Steve Rogers: Captain America that reveals Cap is and always has been a deep cover Hydra agent — which ranks right up there with the idiotic Spider-Clone Saga in terms of ill-conceived character shake-ups.
It is an incredibly stupid plot twist that requires readers to ignore 75 years’ worth of stories in order to make it work logically. The Mjolnir issue alone pretty much renders it unworkable.
Fans have every right to be pissed off about the story and express their ire verbally and by refusing to buy the comic. Threatening anyone at Marvel, including the story’s writer, is going WAY too far. Grow the hell up.
On that note: no, this story did not ruin your childhood. You’re just being a huge drama queen.
This will not last, and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t read a comic in decades. Comics always revert to the status quo. Remember when Cap died and Bucky took over, and how permanent that was supposed to be? My guess is that this twist will be explained away as false memories and psychic tampering by the Red Skull, who currently has Charles Xavier’s powers (don’t ask). I originally gave it two or three years before everything went back to normal, but considering how vicious the fan backlash has been, I’d be surprised if this arc lasted through the end of the year.
May 24, 2016
Weekly Update – May 24, 2016
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Draft two is with my test readers. My hope is to get all my notes back by mid-June so I can have a draft ready for final editing by the end of the month.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: I should be getting back to work on book seven this week. My writing time will be limited for a couple more weeks due to my commitments to the Robin Hood Springtime Festival, but after that my schedule will open back up.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
It’s been a week of ups and downs in terms of publicity opportunities. A couple of things I’d lined up feel through, which is disappointing and frustrating, but a podcast interview is still a go. That might happen later this week or perhaps next, depending on the host’s availability.
Finally, I was rather thrilled to find that someone ordered several books through the website. It’s maybe the second direct sale I’ve made, but it’s encouraging to think this little experiment of mine might just work.
May 17, 2016
Weekly Update – May 17, 2016
Drumroll, please…
WRITING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Assassins Brawl: Draft two is DONE! I finished it yesterday so I could get it off my to-do list before I get sucked up into the delightful nonsense of the Robin Hood Springtime Festival for the next three weekends. Now it’s off to my test-readers for feedback, and once the show is over, I plan to get right back to work on the next draft.
Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Live Free or Die: Pre-editing revisions are done, in the queue for editing.
Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War: About a quarter of the way through the first draft. Once Assassins Brawl is out of my hair, I’ll be getting back to work on this so I can have it ready for a spring 2017 release.
APPEARANCES and EVENTS
Sunday, October 2: The Connecticut Renaissance Faire’s 2016 Meet the Author series, which runs from 1 to 3 PM.
Saturday & Sunday, October 15 & 16: The fall New Bedford Bookfest. Times TBA.
MISC.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a possible public appearance. It seems Barnes & Nobles stores across the country are holding a weekend of signings and discussions featuring local authors and I’ve put my name in to participate.
