http://ursamajorawards.org/UMA_2008.htm
The hell, people. We effing won!
A big thank you to those of you who voted, a bigger thank you for those of you who voted for, y'know, me, and significant kudos to the artists and laborers who made Heathen City #1 possible.
Kamui, cover artist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kamui/
Ayato, interior artist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ayato/
Distasty, primary colorist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/distasty/
Krahnos, colorist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/krahnos/
Fel, colorist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fel/
Charha, colorist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/charha/
Blue_Panther, contributing artist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bluepanther/
Zaroi, financier and publicist: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/zaroi/
FurPlanet, printers and distributors: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/furplanet/
I will be doing a wee bit of celebrating tonight, methinks :)
- Alex
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
X: "I am the Lord thy God"
Sometimes you hear about a project that's just so damn juicy, so damn succulent, that it'sutterly irresistible. You find yourself watering at the mouth for it even before it starts. That's how I felt when Kyell Gold from Sofawolf Press approached me about contributing a story to a little project he was cooking up, named X. He hadn't yet fully fleshed out the team yet, so there wasn't a guarantee that it would move forward, and it was naturally to be kept secret, but I utterly, utterly loved it.A fiction anthology, a nice, thick paperback book, with ten saucy stories by different authors, each devoted to the theme of one of the Ten Commandments, with no restriction on genre, setting or mood other than that it should be good and sexy.
Fuck yeah, baby.
Oh, it was a pleasure to get back in the saddle. Heathen City is a fabulous challenge to write, considering how the story has to be compressed into a relatively small number of pages with criminally little space for dialog, so having the opportunity to really explore a scene and letting characters talk to each other for more than a few lines was an absolute joy.
Once the roster of authors was locked down (including
"I am the Lord thy God" has always struck me as such an odd duck in the list, because while the others are all advice or admonishments, this one is a statement. Even with its amendment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" it still rings so powerfully: this is the reality, and therefore here are some things you should and shouldn't do.
I'm not officially affiliated with any one religion, but I've always had a fascination for the liturgy and mythology of the Abrahamic faiths, and I had myself a grand old time delving into some of the lesser-known aspects of Christian history, waxing prosaic on the philosophy of monotheism, the sincere worth and dangerous risk involved in such an abstract, total form of love as faith.
This book's going to be a doozy. An official announcement from Sofawolf Press is still forthcoming, but we've been given permission to brag about it already. These are some fucking awesome stories by some stellar authors, with a gorgeous cover by
X: "I am the Lord thy God"
Sometimes you hear about a project that's just so damn juicy, so damn succulent, that it'sutterly irresistible. You find yourself watering at the mouth for it even before it starts. That's how I felt when Kyell Gold from Sofawolf Press approached me about contributing a story to a little project he was cooking up, named X. He hadn't yet fully fleshed out the team yet, so there wasn't a guarantee that it would move forward, and it was naturally to be kept secret, but I utterly, utterly loved it.A fiction anthology, a nice, thick paperback book, with ten saucy stories by different authors, each devoted to the theme of one of the Ten Commandments, with no restriction on genre, setting or mood other than that it should be good and sexy.
Fuck yeah, baby.
Oh, it was a pleasure to get back in the saddle. Heathen City is a fabulous challenge to write, considering how the story has to be compressed into a relatively small number of pages with criminally little space for dialog, so having the opportunity to really explore a scene and letting characters talk to each other for more than a few lines was an absolute joy.
Once the roster of authors was locked down (including
"I am the Lord thy God" has always struck me as such an odd duck in the list, because while the others are all advice or admonishments, this one is a statement. Even with its amendment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" it still rings so powerfully: this is the reality, and therefore here are some things you should and shouldn't do.
I'm not officially affiliated with any one religion, but I've always had a fascination for the liturgy and mythology of the Abrahamic faiths, and I had myself a grand old time delving into some of the lesser-known aspects of Christian history, waxing prosaic on the philosophy of monotheism, the sincere worth and dangerous risk involved in such an abstract, total form of love as faith.
This book's going to be a doozy. An official announcement from Sofawolf Press is still forthcoming, but we've been given permission to brag about it already. These are some fucking awesome stories by some stellar authors, with a gorgeous cover by
Monday, March 16, 2009
Nominated for Ursa Major Awards! Fuck yeah!
Ladies and gentlemen,I'm surprisingly proud to announce that Heathen City has been nominated for the Ursa Major Awards, in the category Best Comic Book. While the Ursa Majors aren't in the same league as the Huga or Nebula in sci-fi or the Eisners and Angoulêmes for comics -- it's still pretty fucking cool.
Not to put too fine a point on it (and foregoing my usual and legendary modesty):
We fucking want it.
The artists worked their butts off, as did the FurPlanet printmonkeys who toiled tirelessly to produce enough to satisfy the punters way back at AC '08. And I helped too, y'know.
So here's what we need from you guys.
- Check out the list of nominees (we're on there, look): http://www.
ursamajorawards.org/Voting.htm - Get an enrollment key using the If you have not yet enrolled field here: http://www.
ursamajorawards.org/ nominations/ - Ignore the e-mail they send you. It currently contains links for Nominations, which are already closed.
- Copy and paste the contents of this page into a new e-mail: http://www.
ursamajorawards.org/ Ballot2008.txt - Make sure you fill in the items at the top:
- The registration key that was e-mailed to you
- Your name or pseudonym
- Your country of origin
- Vote. You can cast up to three votes in each of the categories, with 1 being the highest vote, 2 being the second and 3 the third. Under Best Comic book, you'll find our pleasant little homespun.
- Your fingers will at this point itch to give Heathen City a 1. While you should of course be honest in your voting, this instinct is probably one you'll want to go with.
- Oh, you can vote in the other categories as well. Kevin Frane, Kyell Gold, K. M. Hirosaki and Blotch are getting my votes, FYI.
- Make sure the subject is UMA 2008 official
ballot, and send the whole shebang to UMA2008-ballot@ ursamajorawards.org. - Profit.
Go on now, brave souls. You could make us very happy by casting a vote -- and happy creative people are productive creative people. You want HC #2, don't you? We'll work harder, faster and more exciting if you all chip in to get us a pretty, shiny award!
- Alex F. Vance McShillington
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Fucking Christmas!
Happy Holidays is the more politically correct way to well-wish your fellows, I'm sure, but seriously, fuck that.
Two out of three Abrahamic faiths acknowledge this season, and two out of three ain't bad. Merry Christmas, and happy Hannukkah. And there's Pancha Ganapati for the Hindus, which, really, is pretty close. Buddhists got nothing special going on, to my knowledge, but with all this peace and love they must be feeling the mettā more than usual. And the Muslims who have the comparatively good fortune to be living in a Judeo-Christian nation get time off work, so that ain't all bad. You boys keep petitioning to make Eid a national holiday and return the favor -- and do share some of those lovely noms y'all make, yeah?
It's a time to reflect on the past and prepare for new beginnings. The sillyness of Saturnalia became the majesty of Sol Invictus in the Roman world, though it fortunately carried on the tradition of gift-giving which we still enjoy today. This trend of brotherhood and let's-all-get-along continued, with Christians playfully adjusting the supposed date of Baby Jee's birth to December 25 to coincide with the Roman feasts, and the Norse King Håkon declaring the 25th to be the official day of the Yule celebration a millennium later.
This intermarriage of different traditions around a common theme is represented most curiously by Santa, who was originally a rarely-mentioned side-note to the Catholic holiday season, though the dude, in his original form of St. Nicholas, was much more significant to the colonists from my country, who celebrate Sinterklaas very seriously on December 5. With the Dutch and to a lesser degree German children getting presents early in the month and the English and French kids getting theirs at the end, there was naturally constant rivalry in the many mixed-blood townships, and again, we see traditions mingling for the betterment of festivities.
De Sint, as the Ducth called him, shrugged off the mitre and the bishop's robes he'd worn since his days on the Turkish island of Myra. He said good-bye to his white dapple horse Amerigo, as he embraced his new role in America -- but then a curious thing happened.
From the depths of ancient lore, Germanic Pagan imagery billowed forth and infused the holy man with a power and vigor and magic the stately old Sint had never possessed. Santa became the modern reincarnation of Odin, with his furs and boots and belt and frosty hide-out. Sadly for Amerigo, there was no place for a horse at this new jolly fat man's side, otherwise he would have seriously considered sprouting four extra legs and becoming the new Sleipnir. Alas.
Nor was there room for the rest of Odin's bestiary, his crows and wolves had to stay behind, though he would gradually be given reindeer by the various poets and storytellers who enlivened this melting pot of a man. An anonymous contributor to the Sentinel of Troy in 1823 (Clement Clark Moore, but don't tell anyone, it's secret) gave them names, and in no time flat everyone knew that Santa Had Always Had Eight Reindeer And These Had Always Been Their Names, Pinky Swear.
We complain about commercialism these days, and really, we're justified in doing so. Where Washington Irving first portrayed Santa Clause as a pipe-smoking Dutch sailor (best not to ask) before he became an Odin impersonator, the image we all have burned into our retinas of the jolly ol' droog in red clothes with white trim all comes from political cartoonist Thomas Nast, but that was just one of many colorful interpretations until the Coca-Cola Company pumped so much of the red-and-white imagery into the world in the '30s that no challenger could remain. Hell, remember that Hindu thing, Pancha Ganapati, I mentioned earlier? Also popularized by Coca-Cola in the '70s.
This world.
I tell you.
But let's not scoff at the gaudy lights and the tacky plastic decorations. It's a new millennium, and this is our reality. No longer is the German town of Lauscha the principle exporter of glass baubles, no longer do we recognize that the lights in the tree are a safety-aware recreation of the burning Yule log, and that's all fine.
The method isn't what we should focus on, it's the message. And guys, fucking hell, it's an awesome one, and I really do mean that. Peace and love ain't just for hippies, y'know.
So think of something nice, do something kind, call someone you haven't heard from in forever. Think about the grudges you hold and see if you can't forgive some of them. Think about the shit you've gotten away with over the last year, and consider maybe apologizing for some of them, even unasked. Seriously, this is an important opportunity, since you can do sappy stuff like that at Christmas and not be called a pussy like you usually would.
Peace and love to all you guys and girls. Feliz navidad, prettige feestdagen, joyeux noel, frohe Weinachte, and merry fucking Christmas, bitches.
- Alex F. Vance
PS: I leave you with a gem by Vahnfox, that Mexican scoundrel!
Two out of three Abrahamic faiths acknowledge this season, and two out of three ain't bad. Merry Christmas, and happy Hannukkah. And there's Pancha Ganapati for the Hindus, which, really, is pretty close. Buddhists got nothing special going on, to my knowledge, but with all this peace and love they must be feeling the mettā more than usual. And the Muslims who have the comparatively good fortune to be living in a Judeo-Christian nation get time off work, so that ain't all bad. You boys keep petitioning to make Eid a national holiday and return the favor -- and do share some of those lovely noms y'all make, yeah?
It's a time to reflect on the past and prepare for new beginnings. The sillyness of Saturnalia became the majesty of Sol Invictus in the Roman world, though it fortunately carried on the tradition of gift-giving which we still enjoy today. This trend of brotherhood and let's-all-get-along continued, with Christians playfully adjusting the supposed date of Baby Jee's birth to December 25 to coincide with the Roman feasts, and the Norse King Håkon declaring the 25th to be the official day of the Yule celebration a millennium later.
This intermarriage of different traditions around a common theme is represented most curiously by Santa, who was originally a rarely-mentioned side-note to the Catholic holiday season, though the dude, in his original form of St. Nicholas, was much more significant to the colonists from my country, who celebrate Sinterklaas very seriously on December 5. With the Dutch and to a lesser degree German children getting presents early in the month and the English and French kids getting theirs at the end, there was naturally constant rivalry in the many mixed-blood townships, and again, we see traditions mingling for the betterment of festivities.
De Sint, as the Ducth called him, shrugged off the mitre and the bishop's robes he'd worn since his days on the Turkish island of Myra. He said good-bye to his white dapple horse Amerigo, as he embraced his new role in America -- but then a curious thing happened.
From the depths of ancient lore, Germanic Pagan imagery billowed forth and infused the holy man with a power and vigor and magic the stately old Sint had never possessed. Santa became the modern reincarnation of Odin, with his furs and boots and belt and frosty hide-out. Sadly for Amerigo, there was no place for a horse at this new jolly fat man's side, otherwise he would have seriously considered sprouting four extra legs and becoming the new Sleipnir. Alas.
Nor was there room for the rest of Odin's bestiary, his crows and wolves had to stay behind, though he would gradually be given reindeer by the various poets and storytellers who enlivened this melting pot of a man. An anonymous contributor to the Sentinel of Troy in 1823 (Clement Clark Moore, but don't tell anyone, it's secret) gave them names, and in no time flat everyone knew that Santa Had Always Had Eight Reindeer And These Had Always Been Their Names, Pinky Swear.
We complain about commercialism these days, and really, we're justified in doing so. Where Washington Irving first portrayed Santa Clause as a pipe-smoking Dutch sailor (best not to ask) before he became an Odin impersonator, the image we all have burned into our retinas of the jolly ol' droog in red clothes with white trim all comes from political cartoonist Thomas Nast, but that was just one of many colorful interpretations until the Coca-Cola Company pumped so much of the red-and-white imagery into the world in the '30s that no challenger could remain. Hell, remember that Hindu thing, Pancha Ganapati, I mentioned earlier? Also popularized by Coca-Cola in the '70s.
This world.
I tell you.
But let's not scoff at the gaudy lights and the tacky plastic decorations. It's a new millennium, and this is our reality. No longer is the German town of Lauscha the principle exporter of glass baubles, no longer do we recognize that the lights in the tree are a safety-aware recreation of the burning Yule log, and that's all fine.
The method isn't what we should focus on, it's the message. And guys, fucking hell, it's an awesome one, and I really do mean that. Peace and love ain't just for hippies, y'know.
So think of something nice, do something kind, call someone you haven't heard from in forever. Think about the grudges you hold and see if you can't forgive some of them. Think about the shit you've gotten away with over the last year, and consider maybe apologizing for some of them, even unasked. Seriously, this is an important opportunity, since you can do sappy stuff like that at Christmas and not be called a pussy like you usually would.
Peace and love to all you guys and girls. Feliz navidad, prettige feestdagen, joyeux noel, frohe Weinachte, and merry fucking Christmas, bitches.
- Alex F. Vance
PS: I leave you with a gem by Vahnfox, that Mexican scoundrel!
Friday, October 31, 2008
NaNoWriMo Ahoy!
Even though I no longer participate in the National Novel Writing Month, I still luvs it to bits. Tonight, at the gong of midnight, gaggles of writers across the globe will pour themselves a fresh cuppa and get down to the business of writing 50 000 words over the course of November.
There's a few folks on the FurRag forum already preparing for NaNoWriMo, and I wish 'em the best of luck.
Tonight, I prance off to a local book store to give the annual NaNo Kick-Off Workshop for the local community. Ah, I so miss teaching! I loved doing the BDB Boot Camp workshops at FC last year. Can't wait to do some more.
Wish me luck!
There's a few folks on the FurRag forum already preparing for NaNoWriMo, and I wish 'em the best of luck.
Tonight, I prance off to a local book store to give the annual NaNo Kick-Off Workshop for the local community. Ah, I so miss teaching! I loved doing the BDB Boot Camp workshops at FC last year. Can't wait to do some more.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
NO on 8: We interrupt your porn for a public service announcement.
Proposition 8 is a proposal to eliminate gay marriage in the state of California. Same-sex couples can already legally get married in that state, but if Prop 8 is accepted, the constitution will be amended to define 'marriage' as a union between a man and a woman.
The No on 8 movement is a group opposed to the proposition, who are campaigning to spread awareness and encourage Californians to vote against the measure. These efforts rely on community involvement; people donating their time and informing others they know, but also through a donation-funded media campaign using television spots and print advertisements.
It's a very hot issue. People like Steven Spielberg, Bruce Wayne Bastian, Larry Page & Sergey Brin have publicly spoken out and donated large sums of money to No on 8; even companies like Apple, inc. have made public statements and financial donations in the interest of preserving the rights of their Californian employees.
Even our kooky little fandom is getting involved. Kamui (the artist responsible for the awesome cover of HC #1) gathered links to a bunch of journal posts and pictures (we know how you all love art) showing other furfags' rah-rah spirit:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/501230/
If you live in California, you should absolutely consider casting your vote on ballot day, November 4.
Even if you don't, there are other ways you can contribute:
http://www.noonprop8.com/action
Even a tiny donation is worth-while. And of course it costs nothing to spread the word.
The visibility of this issue makes it an important one for gay rights across the globe. Being Dutch, and therefore legally endowed with the same set of rights that my heterosexual countrymen enjoy, I generally don't pay much attention to gay rights issues. The success of No on 8 is important because it's a highly visible statement that there is no such thing as 'gay rights', just, you know, rights.
Spread the word, donate a bit of money if you can. It's a good way to sustainthe gradual progression of the world to a more open, free society. Consider it an early wedding gift for any friends you might have in California!
http://www.noonprop8.com/
The No on 8 movement is a group opposed to the proposition, who are campaigning to spread awareness and encourage Californians to vote against the measure. These efforts rely on community involvement; people donating their time and informing others they know, but also through a donation-funded media campaign using television spots and print advertisements.
It's a very hot issue. People like Steven Spielberg, Bruce Wayne Bastian, Larry Page & Sergey Brin have publicly spoken out and donated large sums of money to No on 8; even companies like Apple, inc. have made public statements and financial donations in the interest of preserving the rights of their Californian employees.
Even our kooky little fandom is getting involved. Kamui (the artist responsible for the awesome cover of HC #1) gathered links to a bunch of journal posts and pictures (we know how you all love art) showing other furfags' rah-rah spirit:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/501230/
If you live in California, you should absolutely consider casting your vote on ballot day, November 4.
Even if you don't, there are other ways you can contribute:
http://www.noonprop8.com/action
Even a tiny donation is worth-while. And of course it costs nothing to spread the word.
The visibility of this issue makes it an important one for gay rights across the globe. Being Dutch, and therefore legally endowed with the same set of rights that my heterosexual countrymen enjoy, I generally don't pay much attention to gay rights issues. The success of No on 8 is important because it's a highly visible statement that there is no such thing as 'gay rights', just, you know, rights.
Spread the word, donate a bit of money if you can. It's a good way to sustainthe gradual progression of the world to a more open, free society. Consider it an early wedding gift for any friends you might have in California!
http://www.noonprop8.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)