Coming This Summer

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

It's been a long time since I last updated this site. It's not because I haven't been working on things. I'm simply trying to not announce stuff that isn't complete or have a concrete print date anymore. Too many times I've announced projects that I was working on, only to never have them materialize.

I've written two Edgar Rice Burroughs-based comics for American Mythology Productions - Carson of Venus #1 and The Moon Maid #1. The two books make up the first two chapters in American Mythology's "Fear On Four Worlds" ERB crossover event (tying in with their existing Land That Time Forgot and Pellucidar books), and if sales warrant, they will be followed up by new miniseries. Carson is scheduled for June, and Moon Maid for July.

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

If you can, PLEASE pre-order these from your local comics shop - otherwise, they may not stock them. Diamond Order Code for Carson of Venus is APR181254 for the Main Cover and APR181255 for the Cyrus Mesarcia variant cover.

Hopefully, sales on these will justify American Mythology following them up with new miniseries. I hope so, because I'd really like to write them (and could use the work!). In particular, I've already got some great ideas (I think) for a Carson Of Venus miniseries...

Step One

I'm currently outlining two comic book miniseries/graphic novels. Hopefully, I'll start writing the script for the first of them before the end of the month. Then, with luck, Rick Burchett will eventually draw them. Fingers crossed (even though it slows down my typing).

And I haven't given up on my novel; I expect to get back to it in the Fall.

Pulp, Atomic-Style

It's no secret that as a writer I've had a few rough years, and haven't been nearly as prolific/productive as I'd like. There are a lot of reasons for that - many (if not most) of them of my own making. As per my New Year's resolution, 2013 has been all about the Atomic Pulp brand - i.e. finishing up the creator-owned comics projects that had been languishing (Gravedigger & Perils On Planet X), reviving older properties (Femme Noir), and getting started on some new projects that have percolating in my brain for a long, long time (Skorpion, "The Issue #200 Project," Star Busters, Young Felons In Love).

With half the year already gone, I haven't made quite as much progress as I'd hoped, but with the Gravedigger and Perils On Planet X comics running weekly online, I've at least made real headway on those particular projects and have raised my profile a tiny bit. I'm currently working on a new Femme Noir graphic novel, which I'll be sending to artist Joe Staton around the end of the month (I hope!) and have started plotting a new Gravedigger caper that both Rick Burchett and I are quite psyched about.

I also am working on plans to re-present the already-existing Femme Noir comic book material, and should have some news on that front shortly.

If I can keep my shit together, I should be able to get to work on new stuff by mid-Autumn (the above-mentioned "Issue #200 Project," Star Busters and Young Felons In Love), and maybe, in 2014, I can start looking for freelance comics work again (assuming anyone would be interested in hiring me).

In many ways, I'm my own worst enemy, allowing myself to get discouraged too easily, and letting that discouragement paralyze me for ridiculously long periods of time. I'm working hard to get past that, though. I just turned 48 years old this week, and there are so many stories I still want to tell....

Work In Progress

So far, my New Year's Resolution to finish up all my stalled comics projects is going pretty well - in the last few weeks I've written new Gravedigger and Perils On Planet X script pages, set those two features up as weekly webcomic sites (HERE and HERE), and started on the script for a Femme Noir graphic novel to be illustrated by my partner-in-crime, Joe Staton... and it's still January!

Once I get those done, *maybe* I can finally get back to Captain Midnight - both the comic and the novel I started last Summer - assuming I still have a publisher.

If your comics diet lacks sufficient quantities of essential pulp, please check out - and bookmark - the websites for the above-mentioned, forthcoming weekly webcomics Perils On Planet X (with Gene Gonzales) and Gravedigger (with Rick Burchett):
 
Both weekly comics debut at the beginning of February! Thank you for your support... and please tell your friends!

A New Year Resolution

I have only one (compound) resolution for 2013: get my shit together and finish everything.

For the last few years, I've stalled out on pretty much every creative project I've started, and as I'm not currently working a day job, that means I've accomplished virtually nothing in a very long time. There are a lot of reasons for my lack of productivity - some of which I'm not even sure I understand - but there comes a point when you just have to get shit done. I've reached that point.

I am determined to finish my part (the writing, primarily) of every comics project that I've promised to do over the last few years. This consists of the Perils On Planet X miniseries/graphic novel with Gene Gonzales, the Gravedigger: Hot Women, Cold Cash graphic novel with Rick Burchett, a Captain Midnight one-shot with Richard Clark, and a new Femme Noir graphic novel with Joe Staton. I can't control their schedules in drawing those projects, but I can at least get my part done and stand ready to letter and handle the production on the books when they complete the art.

The hardest part of all this is believing that I can accomplish my goal; which is ironic because all of those talented artists listed above seem to believe in me. Even after years of me missing promised deadline after promised deadline, they have all - to a man - expressed their willingness to still draw these books.

And then there's the fans - yes, I have fans, even though that concept is still utterly incomprehensible to me - who keep asking when the next Femme Noir is coming out or sending me notes on Facebook to tell me how much they're looking forward to Perils On Planet X or Gravedigger. I'm tired of disappointing those folks.

But most of all, there's Brandi, who always believes in me despite how well she knows me. I can't bear to let her down.

So... here's 2013. One way or another, I'm making it my bitch, because I don't just want to finish the projects I've already started; I want to move on to new ones. Skorpion with Rick. A retro super-hero graphic novel that I want to co-write with my pal Jim Chambers. A couple of novels that have been percolating in my brainpan for a while now.

And I can't move on until I clear my desk....

Adrift

So... I haven't written anything over here for a while. I wish I could say that it's because I've been busy, but the shameful truth is that I just haven't been very productive of late. I've mentioned before that a few months ago I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, a chemical imbalance in the brain that makes it difficult to remain focused on specific tasks - like writing, for instance - and although I've been taking medication for it, it hasn't proven very effective.

After a remarkably productive January, I seem to have backslid, and have found it very difficult - and sometimes impossible - to gather my wits and concentrate on any prolonged activity. I can't even watch a 90-minute movie in a single sitting. I've managed to write some short reviews for my DVD site and made a little headway on a comic book script, but that's about it, and I'm agonizing over it. It's especially frustrating because now that I know why my mind "drifts," I feel like I ought to be able to correct the behavior by sheer force of will. But, being as it has a physiological, not psychological, cause, it just doesn't work that way. I'm picking up a new prescription tomorrow for a different type of drug. Hopefully, that one will work better.

I am a writer. I am compelled to write - or at least, I have to create stories. And my mind races (again, part of the condition) with countless ideas, plots, characters, scenes, snatches of dialogue. I flatter myself that I also have earned some small skill as a wordsmith, a fair understanding of story structure, and perhaps possess a smidgen of talent as well, if you believe in such a thing. But, the physical act of sitting down at a keyboard and remaining focused long enough to get all those ideas, characters and stories written down in ink - or rather, pixels - is a genuine struggle for me. I so envy and admire those for whom the words flow like water from a tap; for me, it's like wringing water from a sponge. At first, there's a brief cascade, but soon it's nothing but drops, and then, far too quickly, the sponge is wrung dry.

A lot of people I talk to don't understand that. I'm quite certain that they believe that I'm just not trying hard enough, and/or making excuses. I used to think that, too. I used to believe that I was lazy, because that's what all my teachers told me back in school. But now I know that isn't necessarily the case. If anything, I work a lot harder to accomplish much less... and that is insanely discouraging.

Monday night, in fact, I was so discouraged that I quit. Writing. Comics. Everything. And I fucking meant it. I was done banging my head against the wall, trying to make something of a career out of my stupid damned stories and characters that nobody wants to pay me anything for. It's too damned hard, and apparently I'm not good enough anyway, so fuck it.

I quit.

For about an hour.

Then I came back in here, booted up my computer, opened MS Word, slammed down a Red Bull (for those with ADD, stimulants can have a calming effect and can aid concentration - friggin' screwed-up brain chemicals) and stared at the damned screen for another three hours and manged to squeeze about a page and a half of script out of my dusty, dried-up sponge of a brain.

This post is about the longest thing I've written in one sitting in nearly two months. After I click on PUBLISH POST, I'm going to go find something caffeinated, consume it, and come back here to once again try and finish the overdue comic book script I've been struggling with.

Wish me luck.

Early Sunday Morning

It's been an interesting few weeks. I've been very busy writing and trying to write, and I turned in my first script for what is intended to be a new ongoing Kolchak series from Moonstone some days ago. Hopefully, it will pass muster with everyone necessary (it is a licensed property, after all), and I'll get to write more.

I've also put all the finishing touches on the Femme Noir: Dark City Diaries trade paperback. I'm not going to beg everyone to pre-order it again – I figure that if you read this blog, you've already made up your mind and are sick of hearing me grovel. But I do want to say how exciting this is for me. This will be my first genuine graphic novel (The Night Driver was an adaptation; it wasn't mine), and I've been working so damned long on the project that having a nice, thick, bookshelf edition of the material to hold in my hand and place on my shelves is going to be so sweet.

That I also was able to personally design and lay-out the book makes it even more satisfying. This thing is going to be exactly the way I want it; of course, any mistakes will be mine, too. That's why I haven't shipped off all the files quite yet (that will be late tonight). I've been going over them with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, determined that there will be no embarrassing typos in this volume. (That, of course, just jinxed it. Sigh.)

The long-gestating Captain Midnight project finally seems to be coming together, as well. It's been an exciting week on that score – artist Rich Clark has laid out the "zero issue" completely, and we went over his layouts together a few days ago. They look great. He's also painted a knock-out of a cover. Once we've run it by the publishers and gotten their reaction, I'll be sure to share it with you guys here.

Finally, this past week, I was offered a design gig, one that will allow me to get a brand-new, state-of-the-art computer, with a whole bunch of software and software upgrades I've been needing for a long time. Not only will this make the aforementioned gig possible, but should make it possible for me to accept more of the opportunities that occasionally come my way, opportunities that I've had to turn down because I lacked the technical means to do them.

I'm also hoping that it will allow me to pursue a personal side project that I've been wanting to do for a few years. More on that later, if it comes together.

Anyway, it's late (or, more accurately, very early) and I should get to bed so I can rise at a reasonable (for me) hour. I'll try and post more frequently in the next few weeks, but I still have a lot on my plate, and I'm not sure how much blogging time I'll have.

Later.

Tuesday Morning Blues

It's been a rough couple of weeks. I don't want to go into details, but last week was a really horrible one for both Brandi and I, and money (or rather, the lack of it) is – as it is for most of us these days, I presume – at the root of our troubles. It was so bad that I spent the long weekend gorging on forbidden carbohydrates and vegging in front of the television, watching DVDs of old television shows – even more than usual, I mean.

Sunday was the only good day of the batch – though I still consumed junk food in grotesque quantities – as Brandi and I joined some friends in Bangor for an afternoon and evening of old school (2nd Edition) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It was fun, and I found that role playing my character – a no-nonsense hardboiled thief – to be rather cathartic, especially when I threatened to slit the throat of one of my own party for acting like an idiot. My wife was actually worried that I wasn't acting! I contend that I was.

As of today, I'm dieting again, will be making uncomfortable phone calls to try and wrest some control back from our financial demons, and endeavoring to buckle down and write. I have a lot of stuff I've committed to do; the problem is motivating myself to do it. None of it actually pays anything, and I'm finding that fact to be discouraging and disruptive to my powers of concentration. I keep taking non-paying work with the theory that the more stuff I have published, the more editors and publishers will want to offer me writing assignments that pay. So far, though, all it's done is attract editors & publishers that want me to write for free.

I know that there are hordes of unpublished, aspiring writers who'd kill for some of these opportunities. And I am grateful that people like my work and actually publish it. But I'm getting older – my hair is silvering rapidly – and working for free isn't so attractive anymore.

I've been contemplating getting a new "real job," but...there's this recession thing, maybe you've heard of it? My training and experience is in publishing – and the publishing industry's on life-support as it is; nobody's hiring. My health issues make the prospect of retail or manual labor gigs pretty much untenable. Freelance writing and/or editing are my only real options, and I've been spectacularly unsuccessful at making those pay.

That frustration vented, I'll be getting back to work today, and will fulfill these obligations, and will probably take on more. I may not be a particularly good, productive, or reliable writer... but it's all I got going.

I will persevere.

Or not.

Another Monday, More Miscellany

• I want to express my gratitude to those who posted encouraging comments to my last post. It is greatly appreciated. Like I said, if I can actually make myself sit down and write it, Ravenwulf will be mostly an exercise in long-form prose. Posting it online is simply a motivational stratagem, something I've seen numerous other writers do of late. If it turns out halfway decent, that'll be an improbable bonus.

• Watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian over the weekend. Personally, I liked it vastly more than the first film in the series. It was darker, more violent, and more dramatically satisfying. It was considerably less "cute" than the first, as well, with the young protagonists actually getting their hands – and swords – dirty. The sword fighting was very well staged, and the CGI effect were much more consistent and well-designed than in the previous installment. (Probably the best centaurs I've seen realized for a fantasy film yet.)

I'm not a fan of the Narnia books (of course, I haven't read them since I was in grade school), and found the first film tepid, but this one was an entertaining couple of hours. Good, if not great, stuff.

• My Femme Noir publishers, Ape Entertainment, sent me a few of their other titles this week, maybe as a consolation prize since I wasn't able to attend the big New York Comic Con. I was able to finally read the complete White Picket Fences miniseries (& one-shot Special), and catch up with The Black Coat Special, too. WPF tells of three young boys living in the small-town world of 1950's sci-fi films, with Martian invasions, giant insects, and mad scientists, while The Black Coat chronicles the adventures of a masked crusader operating in pre-Revolutionary America. Fun stuff, very well executed. Gabriel Hardman's art on The Black Coat one-shot is especially awesome.

You really should buy some of this stuff.

• If anyone reading this blog is a fan of vintage horror and genre films, has either an extensive DVD collection or mastery of their Netflix queue, and is looking for a good excuse to spin some classic discs once a week... drop me a line. Especially if you're frustrated that you can't find anyone to hang out and watch them with you. I've got something brewing that you might be interested in....

Coming Soon (maybe)

You'll remember that a week or two back, I was talking about my stillborn sword & sorcery comic, Ravenwulf, Swordsman of Tanar'r, and how I was considering turning it into a novel? Well, I'm still considering it, and further, I'm thinking about serializing it online as I write it.

Not on this site, though. The resounding silence last time I ran fiction on this blog has made it clear to me that this is not the proper venue for such literary indulgences. If I do follow through with this plan, I'll create a blog/site specifically for the purpose.

I hope to start writing this novel in March or April, and I see it very much as a "practice novel." I've never written anything in prose much over 10,000 words, and I see this as my first attempt at long form fiction. Of course, it won't be all that long, probably. I'll be deliberately trying to keep it at the length of a Sixties or Seventies' fantasy PBO. I don't even really plan on submitting it for publication – at least not to any mainstream publishers – after all, there's not much market for old school barbarian pulp outside of Robert E. Howard reprints. If it turns out well, maybe I'll submit to a small press, but that's still a long shot.

Anyway, I'm mentioning it here, publicly, in an attempt to light a fire under my own butt, and force myself – through threat of public humiliation – to actually follow through on this project and get it done. We'll see how that works.

Before I can get to it though, I have two short stories that I've promised to write (a pulp adventure and a ghost story) and several comic scripts. When and if I start posting chapters of Ravenwulf, Swordsman of Tanar'r online, I'll let you know.

Wish me luck.