Writing 101 (and Blog Post #101)

Busy prepping things for the writing seminar I'm conducting at the Oak Park Library this Monday, October 22nd at 4pm.  I'll admit, I've never done anything like this before, but I think it'll be a fun experience for all involved.  I'm grateful to librarian Stuart Sturton for giving me the opportunity to do this: we met during Free Comic Book Day over at Liberty Comics, and he immediately gave me his card and suggested I contact him to organize an event of some sort.  I was hoping something like this would happen last year, when I donated a half-dozen copies of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale to various libraries in Macomb County, but no one ever got back to me.  Obviously, I should've crossed the border into Oakland County, then maybe Stuart and I could've met sooner!

Not sure how many folks will be showing up: the library can only advertise the event "in house", so to speak (i.e. no buying ads or contacting reporters), and though I set up an event page on Facebook for it and tried to get a little press on my own time, it's hard to tell how much attention that'll bring.  But as I told my mother-in-law last night, I don't care if only one person shows up, I'll just talk directly to them.  On that note, if you know anybody in the area that's just getting into writing or self-publishing or anything along those lines, send 'em my way Monday afternoon and I'll talk their ears off...and yes, I am selling books afterward!

Same book, new Amazon address

As you may be aware, CreateSpace (the printing service through which I self-publish "Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale") is owned by Amazon, who also owns Kindle Direct Publishing (the platform supporting the ebook version of my novel). Until recently, these were considered two separate entities, even though they had the same owner and offered very similar services: I had two accounts, two royalty notices each month, etc. Well, someone at Amazon just realized it was silly to keep them separate, so they began consolidating the accounts this month. Due to this, the Amazon link I'd previously used for my paperback is now defunct (the Kindle link remains the same, though). Here's the new one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540506924

Now this doesn't mean the paperback itself has changed. It's the same cover, the same ISBN, and the same contents. I simply had to verify my account info to complete the move, which led to an updated address. I'm in the process of changing all the links for it that I scattered about Facebook and my blog, so if you hit an old one and come up empty, don't fret, the paperback is still available, it's just scooted over to a new spot.

(By the by, this is apparently my 100th blog post...sorry it's not more earth-shattering!)

Take a Trip to Border Town

Back when I started this blog, I was expecting to write more about comics than I actually have (or rather, I expected to write about a wider variety...hey, I've found my niche and I've stuck with it).  But last week I picked up the first issue of a new series that truly moved me to put fingers to keyboard so I could sing its praises.  And I'll admit, the fact that I've known the artist for quite a few years is part of the motivating factor.

Like myself, Ramon Villalobos was one of the earliest staff members over at the DC2 fanfiction site, and was even kind enough to do the cover for Weird Western Quarterly #1.  Right from the get-go, you could see the grit and dedication he put into his work, something that set him in the upper-echelon of artists for the site.  As the years passed, his style evolved into something utterly unique and unmistakably his own (I love how he outfits just about everyone in chunky sneakers with deep treads), and I was glad when "The Big Two" finally sat up and took notice.  While I'll never be a full-on Marvel zombie, I was more than glad to pick up his work on What If: Age of Ultron and Original Sins for Marvel.  Then I heard Ramon had landed a gig at DC/Vertigo doing a new series called Border Town, so of course I took a peek, and it was love at first preview.  Not only was it top-notch Villalobos, but the dialogue by Eric M. Esquivel is wonderful: funny one moment, thought-provoking the next (I'm waiting for the day I get to use the phrase "world's shittiest centaur"):

I came here for monsters, but it's the human characters that have me enraptured.  It's a great mix, and I'm looking forward to seeing Frank, Julietta, Aimi, and Quinteh (I have a soft spot for gentle giants) every month.  I want to see the problems they're going to face both in and out of school, as well as how they're gonna handle the monsters we know are coming...and I don't just mean the chupacabra that runs rampant through the story, I mean the human ones, like the skinhead who gets a very-deserved beatdown, as rendered to perfection by Ramon:

I heard that the first printing of Border Town #1 has already sold out, and DC has gone back to press, which just blows my mind.  As someone who has to hustle like crazy to sell her own work, I am so proud of Ramon and Eric that they have an apparent runaway success from Day One.  I wish them 100+ issues, and I promise to be there to buy all of them.

In the Merry Merry Month of May...

As promised a while back, here's a list of my appearances for May 2018.  From the looks of things, these will be my last shows for this year, but if anything changes, I'll let you know.

May 5th, 12-6pm: Liberty Comics (https://www.facebook.com/Liberty-Comics-129730677060799) - We had so much fun last year doing Free Comic Book Day, we were more than happy that the folks at Liberty Comics in Roseville invited us back!  It sounds like it'll be an even bigger event this year, but we'll find a place to squeeze in.  Like last year, I'll be selling Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw's Tale for 20% off (that means you'll pay $12 instead of the usual $15), plus I'll be including a FREE copy of the short story I did for Motor City Steam Con last year!

May 11th-12th, 11am-5pm: Paperback Writer Books (https://www.facebook.com/paperbackwriterbookshop) - The “Made in Michigan Festival” returns to Mount Clemens, and I'll once again be taking up residence at the table in front of Paperback Writer Books.  Last year, I had the table to myself for most of the two-day show -- fellow author Michael Kitchen kept me company for part of Friday -- but we're hoping to get even more authors at the table this year, so you'll have a great selection of books to choose from (including my own, of course).

Since it appears that the rest of my year will be con-free, I'm going to crack down on my writing and see how much of Book #2 I can get done before the end of the year.  Also, I have a couple of pending projects that I hope to announce soon, so keep an eye here and on the Swords & Sixguns Facebook page for more about that.

Requiem for a Comic Book Writer

I recently learned that longtime Jonah Hex writer Michael L. Fleisher passed away on February 2nd.  Word is still getting around the comics community: Mark Evanier posted the first words about it a few days ago, with Newsarama, CBR, and Bleeding Cool picking up on it not long after (there’s also a memorial page put up by the funeral home in Oregon that performed the services).  I find it strange that Fleisher’s death slipped under everyone’s radar for a month-and-a-half, but then again, he hadn’t written a comic book since 1995 and -- so far as I’m aware -- he wasn’t active on the con circuit at all.  Fleisher just faded away from the comics scene and seemed content with that, though he was fine with giving interviews when asked (this wasn’t a Steve Ditko situation).  On that note, I highly recommend looking up the interviews conducted over the years by my fellow Hex-chroniclers Darren Schroeder, Dwayne Hendrickson, and Michael Browning, not to mention the vintage piece printed in The Comics Journal way back in 1979, as they’ve all been invaluable to me during my work on "An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex".

I am hoping that, as more people find out about Fleisher’s passing, those in the industry who knew him will speak up about his work (even a simple “in memoriam” page from DC or Marvel would be nice).  I’m not just referring to the 126 Jonah Hex stories he did, mind you, but also to Scalphunter, The Spectre, Spider-Woman, Ghost Rider, and all the other characters he wrote over the years.  If you look him up on comicbookdb.com, you’ll find his massive list of credits, which doesn’t even include his work on the three-volume Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes (covering Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman).  Then there’s his novels Chasing Hairy and Shambler, plus the non-fiction book Kuria Cattle Raiders from University of Michigan Press, which was based on the field work he did for his Doctorate in Anthropology from the school.  And not to speak ill of the dead, but as many of the articles about him so far have mentioned, Fleisher once sued Harlan Ellison and The Comics Journal for libel.  I’m curious to see if either of those parties offer up any sort of words about him in the coming days.

Despite all the stuff I’ve written in regards to Jonah Hex over the past dozen years -- and all the folks I’ve made connections with due to that -- I never talked with Michael Fleisher in any capacity.  Frankly, I felt the aforementioned interviews with him were so well-done and covered so much ground that anything I came up with, question-wise, would be redundant, and decided to just let Fleisher enjoy his semi-retirement in peace.  When a distant relative of Russell Carley -- Fleisher’s friend who was responsible for “script continuity” on his early Hex stories -- contacted me looking for help on a genealogy project, I passed her information on to those who knew Fleisher personally as opposed to contacting him myself, so as to respect the man’s privacy (I don’t know if Fleisher was able to help her, but since he and Carley had been such close friends, he seemed the best person to ask in this regard).

It could be said, however, that in knowing so much about Jonah Hex, I know Michael Fleisher pretty well.  The writer embraced Jonah as if he was his own creation, giving this fictional person a depth and breadth that helped him live on long past the Western heyday that birthed him.  Nearly every facet of Jonah’s backstory was crafted by Fleisher, building upon the scant amount of information left behind by John Albano & Tony DeZuniga (if it can be said that they’re Jonah’s “fathers”, then it can be equally said that Fleisher raised him).  Thanks to Fleisher, we know about Jonah’s time with both the Apache and the Confederate cavalry, his parents, his marriage, his son, the countless enemies he made over the course of his life, and even his final days.  “I got very choked up writing that story,” he once said in regards to the bounty hunter’s demise in the Jonah Hex Spectacular, “because it was the death of a character that I really loved -- not only loved, but I feel is really me.”  That sentiment is probably what led Fleisher to impart some of himself into Hex lore, first by sharing his birthday with Jonah (November 1st), then by bestowing his middle name of Lawrence upon a character in Secret Origins #21 who not only resembled Fleisher, but in a case of art imitating life, was also said to have written “the definitive book” on the bounty hunter.

Though he may be gone now, Michael Fleisher will never be forgotten in the hearts and minds of Jonah Hex fans.  The two names are inseparable, and I have a feeling he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

April Showers Bring Con Appearances

Convention season is upon us again!  My husband and I have already attended two as fans (gotta squeeze in some fun here and there, y’know), and my first appearances as a vendor for this year are rapidly approaching.  Here’s my schedule for April 2018:

April 14th, 10am-6pm: Bluewater International Comic-Con (http://www.fantasticon.net/?page_id=4918) - Port Huron’s Bluewater Convention Center sits right on the U.S./Canada border, so even though this is a Michigan show, it’s a perfect opportunity for you folks over in Ontario to come see me in person!  Tickets for this one-day event are $5 in advance or $10 at the door...or I could simply give you the pair I have in my hot little hand!  That’s right, I have TWO FREE TICKETS I’m giving away, which were generously donated to me by some fellow vendors.  All you have to do is go to the Swords & Sixguns Facebook page, click on the Bluewater pic (as seen above), and tag a friend in the comments along with the word “DIBS!”  The first person to do this will get the tickets.  Now keep in mind, I ONLY have one pair to give away, so if there’s multiple people calling dibs, I’ll be checking the time-stamps to see who said it first -- once the tickets are gone, that’s it, no parting gifts for the other contestants.  Also, this giveaway ONLY covers the tickets: you’ll still have to foot the bill for travel expenses and such, so I hope you can arrange transportation to Port Huron.  No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, blah blah blah.

April 21st, 10am-4pm: Ypsilanti Comic Con (http://www.yourcomiccon.com/ypsilanti-comic-con.html) - Another one-day event, this time taking place inside St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Ypsilanti.  Tickets are only $3, meaning you’ll have more money to spend on cool stuff...like my book!

And for those of you who missed me at Motor City Nightmares last year, I won’t have a table of my own for this year’s show (April 27-29), but Davey Taylor of Weirdsville Records will have autographed copies of Swords & Sixguns: An Outlaw’s Tale available for sale at his table, because he is awesome.

I do have a few other appearances scheduled for this year as well (details pending), so keep an eye here and on my Facebook page for those announcements.  Hope to see ya at the show!

I'm famous on the Internet, Part Deux

As you can see, Jimmy Palmiotti gave me a little boost on his Twitter feed the other day in regards to "An Illustrated History of Jonah Hex".  As is customary for me when I interview folks directly for the project, I sent him and Justin Gray a link so they could see the finished work (or in this case, the first section of it...we've got quite a few more posts to go in regards to the J&J era).  I wasn't expecting him to tweet about it, though I certainly appreciate it!  Any time my name gets out to the masses in a positive way, I'm a happy camper.  Matter of fact, so far as I'm aware, this is the first time my name has ever appeared on Twitter.  As you might remember, it took me a while just to open a Facebook account, and I've never even considered doing the Twitter thing.  Yes, I know, wonderful promotional tool, great way to connect on social media, blah blah blah...but c'mon, I write slow already, do you really want me to have another distraction?

Anyways, a HUGE thank-you to Jimmy for getting the word out, as well as to both him and Justin for letting me pick their brains about tenure on Jonah Hex (and I ain't done yet, boys, we still need to discuss All-Star Western!).