October, 2010:
On professionalism, goings on, and some quick absurdity
Professionalism
I’ve kinda neglected the blogging a bit lately – call it a spurt of professionalism, in that I only wanted to blog Things Of Note and not just pollute my new site with rubbish jokes, pictures of stupid stuff I found funny, and all of the crimes against humour that I committed on my old Livejournal site since 2007 or so. I tend now to email this stuff to a select few and spare the greater world my special brand of spam 
Still, I’ve rethought this approach, particularly as my parents even read this to find out what’s going on and I’ve been more or less silent, barring some writing-related news. There seems to be a cast-iron infallible belief amongst many aspirant writers that, above all else, you have to be professional at all times, and conduct yourself with perfect decorum in your online life, and most definitely in person when you are at cons or what have you.
Jason Paulos book signing in Sydney
Just a quick post to help promote Jason Paulos, all-round legend and pulp comic artist extraordinaire. This weekend he is part of a comic signing at Kings Comics, Sydney, so if that’s your neck of the woods it’s probably worth checking out. This is the gentleman responsible for the amazing cover-art of my zombie novella “After the World: Gravesend”, as well as the artwork for one of my comic scripts (appearing in an upcoming issue of his pulp-tastic comic EEEK!).
There’s a number of exciting new projects coming out from the good people at Black House Comics, and by all accounts there will be lots of stuff instore for you to sink your teeth into. Well worth checking out.
And I quote from the website:
“On Saturday the 30th of October, KINGS COMICS will be hosting the ever-decaying JASON PAULOS and the imminently gory CHRIS SEQUERIA between 12pm and 2pm, and they’ll be ghoulishly signing their very own books and comics for anyone who drops by and says hi!
If you’re not up to scratch on who these indecently talented guys are, JASON PAULOS has been writing and drawing comics since the late Eighties and is known for his anthropomorphic private dick HAIRBUTT THE HIPPO. Lately Jason has been getting into retro-horror and will soon have his early editions of the brilliant EEEK! comic published in the U.S. as a graphic novel by Asylum Press. Jason currently has a new EEEK! comic released through Aussie publisher Black House Comics with brand new stories not showcased in the EEEK! collection.
CHRIS SEQUERIA is also a veteran Australian comic writer, creating and writing a horde of heroic and horrific concepts that have appeared on newsstands nationwide, including PULSE OF DARKNESS, RATTLEBONE: THE PULP-FACED DETECTIVE, THE BORDERLANDER, and many others. He has also written for U.S. publishers, most notably contributing a Dazzler story in the recent X-MEN: CURSE OF THE MUTANTS – X-MEN VS. VAMPIRES #1. Locally, Chris is currently writing the critically lauded DARK DETECTIVE: SHERLOCK HOLMES, an original Sherlock Holmes series also published by Black House Comics. ”
http://www.kingscomics.com/site/pages/custom.php?CID=27
Speaking of a nameless house…
The anthology for WOTF XXVI has just been reviewed over at the Library Journal, and reviewer David Rapp says:
“These new stories by talented as-yet-unknowns are uniformly good; some show impressive talent, such as Adam Colston’s “Not in the Flesh,” an interesting take on the sentient android story, and Jason Fischer’s clever “The House of Nameless,” which opens with a girl and a minotaur on a date.”
The rest of the review can be found here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887391-264/xpress_reviewsthe_first_look_at.html.csp
The book has also been reviewed over at The Baryon Review, and can be read here http://thebaryonreview.blogspot.com/2010/09/writers-of-future26-and-exile-reviews.html
Some belated WOTF congrats!
Just found out that the winners of the 2nd quarter of the 2010 Writers of the Future have been announced. And 2 out of 3 of the winners are Aussies! WOOHOO!
THE 2nd QUARTER WINNERS ARE
1st Place — Patty Jansen of New South Wales, Australia
2nd Place — Ben Mann of West Australia
3rd Place — Van Aaron Hughes of Colorado
Some special Vegemite congrats to Patty and Ben (and of course Van)! More in the write-up here:
Went Bush
Just spent some time at Kangaroo Island, and it was amazing. So beautiful, and so many cool things to do. Saw oodles of native animals (both roadkill and still hopping), drove over 1000km on several scary dirt roads, looked at some Remarkable Rocks, ate honey from the purest strain of Ligurian bee in the world, and paid $1.70/litre for fuel. Most importantly, I had an absolute ball with my nearest and dearest.
Our cabin at Kangaroo Island – geez, we sure did it tough
It was an interesting exercise to go without phone coverage, internet access or TV – I have proved to myself that I’m a sucker for these modern conveniences, and have spent most of the time since getting home huddled to the computer, plugged into all the goings-on. It’s scary how much I like to suckle from the information superhighway. Sigh. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Read a bunch of stuff while away, including China Mieville’s “Iron Council” (how have I NEVER read a China Mieville book until now?) and halfway through George RR Martin’s collection “Dreamsongs”. In an attempted fit of Literature I got a David Malouf book from somewhere but I’m kinda struggling to keep my interest levels up on that one.
Just putting the finishing touches onto After the World: Corpus Christi, and poking around with a few other writing bits and pieces. Now, a final week at home to chill and write up a storm. As far as holidays go, this one’s all fine and dandy
Daddy and Toddler Fisch, near Seal Bay. There’s some important sand-castle construction under way and we mean business!