Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 96

Cruel Summer – A Brief Update

I got an unexpected day off today, so I’ll be putting it to good use working on Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer — which, at present, stands at about 35,400 words, almost the halfway mark.

I hope to get another good chunk out of the way today, since it’ll be the last chance I get to work on it until next weekend. I’m at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire this weekend, then it’s back to the daily grind for the rest of next week, but then I’ll have all of Saturday and Sunday to sit on the couch, pound at the laptop, and keep the Halloween horror movie goodness rolling.

By the way: as soon as Cruel Summer is out of my hair, I plan to keep the workaholic attitude firmly in place, because I’m already mentally laying out book five, which will be entitled (drumroll, please): Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups. Book four is going to be a darker story, and I suspect readers are going to need something a little lighter afterwards (I know I will), so book five will be a collection of mini-adventures that will pair up various characters in the AF universe. The game plan is to have book four out by March 2015, and book five out by September 2015.

Sharing The Love – The Halloween Series (Part Two)

I managed to sneak in some writing time Friday, which is noteworthy because my writing weekends are gone for a while (to attend a friend’s wedding and to work the Connecticut Renaissance Faire — in the Storied Threads tent for a couple days and as a street performer with my friend Scott).

I picked up on my Halloween movie watching where I left off last week and started the day with The Strangers, one of my favorite modern horror movies. It’s the kind of movie that unnerves me despite repeated viewings, much like its spiritual kin Halloween. The Strangers also emulates Halloween in that it uses sound to superb effect, though in a different way. Whereas Halloween used its soundtrack to enhance the scares, The Stranger uses silence to ratchet up the tension. There are long stretches of near or total silence, punctuated by bursts of sound that are enough to make you jump.

One of the best moments in the movie requires a decent surround sound system to fully appreciate. One of the masked killers is walking around outside the house, and if you’re in the middle of a surround sound home theater system, you get to hear the footsteps circling around behind you — and trust me, if you’re alone in the house while watching that moment, it’s doubly creepy.

I switched gears a little after that, moving from slow-burn horror on to masked killer mayhem (I like to keep my Halloween movie-fest thematically linked) in the form of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.

It’s an interesting transition between the first three films in the series and the next three. The original trilogy, made between 1980 and 1984, held onto the horror film aesthetic of the 1970s. They had a more raw, gritty feel that made them more effective than the franchise’s later entries, which had a more vivid, slicker 1980s vibe. A New Beginning really suffers from this, and that’s one of the reasons it’s one of the weakest chapters in the series (I say this knowing full well none of the movies are truly great, or even good).

For fans of the slasher genre, the Friday the 13th series is all about the spectacular kill scenes, and A New Beginning falls down hard there; the kill scenes feel timid and restrained compared. Add to that some of the worst acting in the franchise, flat humor, and TV-movie cinematography, and you’ve got a total package that makes one wonder if this movie was cranked out by the studio simply to keep the franchise alive while they thought of something better to do with it.

Sharing The Love – The Halloween Series

It’s October! It’s officially Halloween season!

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and every year I have my own little lead-up celebration in the form of a continual horror movie marathon. This is the time of year I pull out all the old classics, and I got an early jump on things when I stumbled across Friday the 13th on SyFy last weekend. The channel showed the first three movies and I happily let them run (even though I own the entire series on DVD).

I will be the first to admit that the Friday the 13th franchise really is not the best of film series. Some of the entries are downright terrible, trite, and more about gross-out kills than legit scares, but I have a soft spot for them. When I was a kid, the fondly remember Movie Loft on channel 38 (back when UHF was a thing) showed the original movie, mostly unedited for gore, and it freaked the hell out of me good…especially the final jump scare at the end.

Fun little side note here: years ago I wound up working a show with , who aided and abetted Tom Savini on the make-up FX, and provided the hand that held down for his death scene — which puts me two degrees away from Kevin Bacon.

The next day, I decided to indulge in a “slow burn horror” run, movies that take their sweet time building up tension before going batshit at the end, and I started off with The Shining, mainly because I had just finished re-reading the book for the third time. I’ve had a strange obsession with this movie ever since I was little. I remember seeing ads for it on TV and thinking it looked like the best scary movie ever, after Halloween (more on that in a bit).

Of course, none of my family would take me to see such a movie, so I had to settle for grabbing the novel…which, I would like to note, mysteriously disappeared before I could read it. Fortunately, our town library was well-stocked and didn’t blink at a 10-year-old checking out a Stephen King book.

I re-read it in high school, when I went on a hardcore horror novel binge, and again recently, and it wasn’t until the most recent re-reading that I fully appreciated the fact that if you were to remove all of the supernatural elements — entirely, or just play them as background rather than something that actually existed in the story — you still have a great horror tale about a man slowly losing his mind and wreaking havoc on his very trapped family.

I know King is no fan of the movie, but I absolutely love it. The atmosphere, the tension, the slow build toward the end…it still holds up for me.

As does my next selection, Alien, another movie that, as a kid, I knew mostly through TV ads, by reputation, and through other media (Alien: The Illustrated Story, which I read in a bookstore and lusted after for many years before finally snaring a copy of the reprint when it was released a couple of years ago).

There are a few spots where the movie shows its age — Mother the computer, wrestling with what is clearly a mannequin — but man, it holds together otherwise, and the chestburster scene remains an iconic moment in movie history. I recall reading some interviews with the creative team, which wanted to create a “haunted house in space” movie, and I think they nailed it pretty well. Re-watching it makes me lament all the more the missed opportunity that was Prometheus.

PS: Despite what the poster image I use here suggests, I watched the original cut of the movie. The director’s cut has some interesting changes, but it also has one of the ballsiest shots in the movie: in the scene in which goes looking for Jones the Cat, adds in a POV shot looking up into the cuts of the ship, up at the jungle of swinging chains — and the xenomorph is HANGING RIGHT THERE and you’d never see it unless you knew it was there. Love it.

The day ended with my all-time favorite horror movie: Halloween. The original not the remake. God, no.

Once again, this is a movie that, as a kid, I fell in love with simply through the TV ads. The ads alone creeped the fuck out of me, and once again, when my family refused to take me to see it, I got my hands on a copy of the novelization (which, I’ve learned, is one of THE most sought-after out-of-print books out there. Who knew?).

A few years later, NBC showed Halloween on TV — heavily edited, which I find funny considering that it is such a bloodless movie — and I watched the entire thing from between my fingers. I was terrified of going outside at night for years — YEARS afterward, because I was convinced Michael Myers was out there somewhere.

As hinted above, I am no fan of the Rob Zombie remake. It’s everything the original isn’t: loud, gory, and legitimately scary, in part because Zombie makes what I consider a horrible mistake in trying to explain Michael and give him a backstory. In the original, he was a mysterious force of evil. He had no motive. He was the boogeyman…and he remains my favorite boogeyman.

Fun fact: studio heads saw an early cut of the film, before

Artwork Is Work

Passing this along for consideration by all the artists out there, from my friend Marrus: Wanna Eat? Charge for Your Work.

Also? While you’re over there, you should maybe go check out her art and buy something.

Thank You, Readers!

As you may know, Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect became available for the Kindle this past Saturday, and thanks to the amazing response, this happened:

That’s book three sitting at the number 10 spot on the Kindle top 100 paid best-seller list for my genre (superheroes). Yes, for the first time, one of my books cracked a top ten list!

I can’t think of a better way to mark one year since the release of the first AF novel, Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins. Yep, it’s been a whole year since I dove headlong into the great self-publishing experiment, and I definitely have no regrets. In fact, this weekend’s big win kept me motivated in a huge way, and I knocked out a nice chunk of book four.

Yep, work is well underway for Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer! This is one of the AF stories I’ve been dying to tell. It’s going to be a bit darker than its predecessors, but I trust everyone will hang tight for what’s sure to be a wild ride. My goal is to have it ready to go by March 2015, so stay tuned!

Blog Tour – Mayra Calvani’s “The Luthier’s Apprentice”

Hey there, regular readers. Doing something different today in the form of providing a blog tour stop to help out fellow indie author Mayra Calvani, whose new book The Luthier’s Apprentice is out now.

 

Here’s everything you need to know, including where to pick up a copy…

The Luthier’s Apprentice (Violinist Detective Series, Book 1)

Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), one of the greatest violinists who ever lived and rumored to have made a pact with the devil, has somehow transferred unique powers to another…

When violinists around the world mysteriously vanish, 16-year-old Emma Braun takes notice.  But when her beloved violin teacher disappears… Emma takes charge. With Sherlock Holmes fanatic, not to mention gorgeous Corey Fletcher, Emma discovers a parallel world ruled by an ex-violinist turned evil sorceress who wants to rule the music world on her own terms.

But why are only men violinists captured and not women? What is the connection between Emma’s family, the sorceress, and the infamous Niccolò Paganini?

Emma must unravel the mystery in order to save her teacher from the fatal destiny that awaits him.  And undo the curse that torments her family—before evil wins and she becomes the next luthier’s apprentice…

Genre: YA Fantasy/Mystery

Sound good? Then click the link and grab your print or e-book copy now!

The Luthier’s Apprentice (Violinist Detective Series Book 1)

And now, a little about Ms. Calvani herself:

Award-winning author Mayra Calvani has penned over ten books for children and adults in genres ranging from picture books to nonfiction to paranormal fantasy novels. She’s had over 300 articles, short stories, interviews and reviews published in magazines such as The Writer, Writer’s Journal and Bloomsbury Review, among others. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, she now resides in Brussels, Belgium.

Website: http://www.MayraCalvani.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcalvani

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mayra-Calvanis-Fan-Page/162383023775888

Blog: http://www.MayraCalvani.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/272703.Mayra_Calvani

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Mayra-Calvani/e/B001JP3I7C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Black Magic Women – 99 Cents!

Just a quick reminder today that the Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women is on sale for 99 cents for three days, now through Thursday! Read it and get ready for the release of Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect. The print edition should become available at any time on Amazon, and the Kindle edition is locked for release on September 27, and is now available for pre-order.

Pasts Imperfect – On Sale Next Week!

All the gruntwork is done, now it’s time to unleash the literary kraken: the print edition of Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect will be available next week!

I unfortunately cannot specify a date, because the CreateSpace/Amazon system has to do its thing once I pull the trigger, so it can take up to 24 hours for the book to appear once I give final approval. I expect the print edition will be available as of Wednesday, but that’s approximate.

And remember, if you’re a Kindle owner (or have downloaded the Kindle app to your phone, tablet, or laptop), you can pre-order the Kindle edition right now! Order it today, get it automatically on September 27.

If you need to catch up to be ready for book three, make sure to grab the Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women next week when it goes on sale for 99 cents — Tuesday through Thursday only!

Creator Interview: Dean Calusdian

Hey, everyone, it’s time for another author interview, but this time around I present to you Dean Calusdian, who recently released his first graphic novel, The Stocking Dead.

Dean, tell everyone a little about yourself.

I’m a freelance artist, playwright, a stage director and filmmaker. I like to try a little bit of everything. My artwork has been on such divergent things from record album covers to olive oil bottles.

The Stocking Dead. What’s it about?

It’s “Night of The Living Dead” meets “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” On Christmas Eve a zombie plague spreads throughout Christmasville turning the residents into flesh eating fiends, and small band of elves fight to survive.

What was the inspiration for this project?

After years of doing haunted houses, and being known for creepy art, I had tried something new by creating a large walk-through Christmas display. After two years, and the occasional observation that my Christmas display was still more creepy than cute, I decided to try something new. So purely for the fun of it, I started The Stocking Dead. I had no real intention of ever publishing it, it was more of an exercise to just spend several hours drawing every day.

I know you’ve been working on The Stocking Dead for quite a while now. How long did it take you to complete it?

Over three years. At least a year to write and pencil it, another year for inking and a year to color.

Did you do all the art by hand or did you have some digital help?

The pencils and inks were done traditionally on 11x 17 bristol paper, then those were scanned and the coloring was all done in Photoshop.

You’ve employed a rather tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign that’s so far included fake billboards and Stocking Dead pogs. What’s the thinking behind that?

I don’t know if my funky marketing campaign will actually yield sales, but it’s a lot more entertaining for me, than to keep posting “Buy my book! PLEASE!” I’m actually having a great deal of fun creating a campaign that is its own ridiculous (and mostly fictitious) adventure.

I have a really hard time with self-promotion, so inventing “Stocking Dead Central” and their terrible marketing and public relations divisions was much easier for me.

For the print edition, why did you choose to have a large quantity of hard copies printed rather than use a print-on-demand approach?

Unlike a novel that’s completely prose, the on-demand printing costs of a 116 page fully illustrated color graphic novel are super high. It was about an average of $16 a copy, and that’s before any type of mark up. Although I’ll be living with boxes upon boxes of graphic novels, ordering a huge amount of offset print editions was the only way to make it affordable for the consumer. We currently have a cover price of $11.99.

How can people get their hands on a print edition?

Currently you can order it from Amazon, or direct from us at StockingDead.com. The Kindle version is also currently available (right here: The Stocking Dead). The coolest of comic stores will be carrying it. We’ll also be selling it, along with some of my other artwork at SuperMegaFest in Framingham MA, and RI Comic-Con.

Is this a one-time project, or do you have another graphic novel in your future?

Right now this is a one shot deal, if it’s successful maybe in another three years we’ll do our follow up book…World War X-Mas.

Secret Origins – 99 Cents!

Hey, kids! Been thinking about jumping on the Action Figures bandwagon but haven’t gotten around to it? Well, now is a great time to fix that, because for three days (today through Thursday) the Kindle edition of Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins is on sale for 99 cents! Click on the preceding link to read chapters one and two for free, then click on the following link to jump over to Amazon.com and buy Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins!

If you like it, you’ll want to hit Amazon next week when Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women goes on sale for 99 cents, and then you’ll be ready for the release of Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect later this month! You can pre-order AF3 for the Kindle now at Amazon, and it will be delivered automatically on September 27 (print edition release date is still TBA).