Posts Tagged ‘Particle Surge Productions’

Whilst I’ve been flailing around in an attempt to master the skills required to be a better editors, I seem to have forgotten that sometimes, other people are better at presenting your ideas than you are. Such is the case with the Particle Surge Productions re-release of A Nation of Shadows, now available on amazon.com.

The reasons for buying this volume are, if you don’t mind me saying, myriad. The most important however, is that it is a much cheaper volume than the 2003 edition, weighing in at $19.99 as opposed to $27.95. This new edition also corrects the mistakes that so beleaguered the initial version as well as incorporating additional extras by myself and new pieces by the very talented Lee Smith and, of course, Mister Watts himself.

For me personally, one of the most important additions to the text are the brief notes I wrote for my website at the time of publication.

At this point, I genuinely felt A Nation of Shadows was the abortive end of my attempt at carving out a niche for myself as a semi-professional writer.

I had lost my agent to very important real life matters, we were living in a tiny flat in an area I disliked and I was working uncomfortable shifts for a company that I had little respect for. From start to finish, the book was like passing blood with the final editing period seeing myself and my wonderful wife holed up and struggling – and, sadly failing – to proof read the text ourselves in an attempt to eradicate errors. Many of the corrections did not make it into the first edition of the book and many more went unseen.

The book became the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The release of this version corrects much, if not all, of what was at fault with the original, making this, without a doubt the ‘author’s preferred text’ edition of the title.

Hopefully, second time around, this book will find more of a home than it did with iUniverse.

"The skies filled with karura."

Recently, the first draft/promo copy of lecteur de tarot arrived for final editing.

This isn’t the actual book as you will see it as, more than likely, it will still be Mister Watts’ Particle Surge Productions that handle the final product but what you see here is the earliest edition of the book ~ think of it as the ‘pilot episode’ for the book proper.

I don’t think it would look half as impressive as it actually does without Mister Rasbury of razterized’s avian filled imagery and the interior picture of our friend the zebra-magpie, illustrated by my long-suffering wife and as seen on the sampler cover.

Both images have a history longer than their association with this title. My wife’s illustration comes from the well-worn sketchbook she used to carry about in her over-sized Paul’s Boutique leopard flower padlock bag, whilst Mister Rasbury’s cover was originally one of several designs for the new Love Amongst Strangers reissue.

More on that later.

Back to drinking strong, black coffee from the same old familiar Starbucks mug in the morning. I’ve been drinking a ‘green’ blend lately, which, I’m assured, is apparently good for me. It’s not as overtly sweet as green tea latte, but it’s not as sharp as my usual coffee. Musically, I’ve been listening to a lot of Arcade Fire, thanks to a friend’s recommendation, but it’s more the coffee than the musique that has influenced the shape and feeling of the new book.

This isn’t to say however that musique hasn’t played its fair share in inspiring the new book because, in many ways, it’s more about musique and pop culture than anything else I’ve thus far done.

If it sounds like I’m being vague, it’s because I am. The new book doesn’t have a title yet so I can’t properly tag this post and am somewhat loath to go into too many details about its narrative. Suffice to say it is something different, something I haven’t tried before.

Regarding things that I have tried before, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the planned Artifice Comics novellas will not be happening any time soon. Initially, the plan was to craft four short books designed to deal with issues in AC continuity that I’d like to revisit – Millennium Man’s trip into space and his eventual return, an Artifice Albion ‘movie’ and a ‘year one’ type story dealing with a Bush43 reboot. Right now though, AC can’t really support such a plan and, if I’m honest, I don’t really have the time to commit to it. It’s a shame, but maybe one day the project will be resurrected (again).

It’s not all doom and gloom though. lecteur de tarot’s cover is almost complete, which means that the project will be well and truly out of my hands soon. We’re working hard to get this done before we move back to more civilised areas of the country, after which point I’ll keep you updated on when you can expect the book to hit the shops.

I’m also working on something for September – more on this later.

Until then, please look forward to both the new book and to lecteur de tarot.

I have a great deal of trouble with script writing, it simply isn’t a language I am proficient in speaking. Giving directions seems like an awkward way to unfold a narrative and I’m dreadful at obtaining the level of cohesive planning that comic script writing often requires. Nonetheless, it is a skill I have, now and again, attempted to acquire.

If this sounds like I’m being vague or that I’m building you up for something later on, it’s because I am, for now though, I want to impress upon you that script writing is not a skill that comes easily to me but rather something that has to be won over from the page. Every time I sit down at computer or typewriter, ever time I open up a notebook and sketch out ‘Page 1, 1 – 6 Panels‘, I have to force myself into the discipline. Unlike prose, where pop musique and coffee become incendiary devices turning speculation and idea into narrative, comic script writing demands that I literally drag it out of the void. The narrative, the dialogue, the characters even, seem to evolve between stage directions and advice, all names capitalised forever.

When writing comics, pop and coffee are necessities, not luxuries.

Yet sometimes, now and again, things work out. Sometimes scenes are detailed and stage managed into existence and actually manage to fulfill the destiny intended for them when first they begun to unfold in imagination.

In order to highlight that, I’ve decided to reproduce a few ‘panels’ from several different projects, little sequences that don’t make me cringe when I re-read them.

The first is from a comic that I dare say will never be published, mostly because of the juxtaposition of the themes and the fact that the only words intended to be read in the story are the lyrics to Kylie Minogue’s 2001 single, Come Into My World (specifically the Fischerspooner Mix).

The story, after a little explaination, begins thus:

1 – Exterior: The city; much like any other. Towers of glass and concrete, each one triumph against once fields of dirt and sun dried grass. We’ve all been to this city, we see it on TV every day. The architecture is in the style of just about every establishing shot that has ever opened a film noir, think of huge water towers and endless red brick buildings with washing lines full of damp clothes hanging outside and flower boxes of wilted petals gathering their few small hours of sunlight. I think it was Will Eisner who used to open with these kind of scenes but we’re looking for something a little less crowded with life despite the obvious signs of habitation. In fact there is not a single person visible within our opening shot though certainly it wouldn’t be too much of an embellishment to show television screens and flickering images indicating the presence of viewers just out of sight. The horizon is one of those murky reds that I tend to favour, indicative of a setting summer sun.

CAPTION:
Won’t you lift me up, up, high upon your love?

2 – We are now inside one of the many flats seen from the establishing shot. Sitting in a hard backed wooden chair facing in the direction of the window (and away from us) is the hunched figure of our main character, BOY. He is scrawny, underweight in a fashion that suggests illness. Through the chipped and splintering bars of the wooden chair we can see the flesh of his back, as he is not wearing a shirt. Spread across the skin of his shoulders is a tattoo of two black-feathered wings. The wings are not large enough to cover the whole of his back but they are covering his whole shoulders and painted in such a way as to make them appear as if they are spread out rather than folded. His posture is hunched over although we can see the back of his head and his crop of messy black hair. His arms are resting on his legs and we can see thick trenches of scars and cigarette burns running up his left arm. His right arm isn’t as visible but we can see a cigarette smouldering between the fingers of his left hand. The trousers that he is wearing are black pin stripe, obviously the remnants of a suit of some kind, and his feet are bare. Around him the room is in darkness but the light falling over him clearly shows the clutter of a lifestyle that has lost any sort of value to its owner – all the pre-requisites are here from the discarded take-away boxes to the overflowing ashtrays and drained spirits bottles. Hinted at in the dark corners of the room is a collection of assorted firearms.

CAPTION:
Take these arms that were made for lovin’…

3 – A distinctive close up of BOY’s chest. Physiologically he is still a young man, somewhere between his early and mid-20s and as such the hair on his chest is infrequent and patchy. The flesh is mottled white, scarred by wounds, the most significant of which is the harsh and bloody target carved about his heart with a worn and tired knife.

CAPTION:
And this heart that will beat for two…

4 – Another close up, this time of BOY’s eyes. They are watery blue, rings of black and red suggesting a lack of sleep and a vast amount of time invested in crying. Like all the other wounds marked frequently upon his body, they are raw and untreated. The fringe of his black hair hangs down over the eyes and clouds slightly our view of them.

CAPTION:
Take these eyes that were meant for watching over you.

The second was for a project entitled Consanguinity, which I had begun to work on a while back at the request of a young artist. I asked her what she liked to draw, she answered ‘yaoi‘ and so I capitulated.

Consanguinity tells the story of two brothers, separated since childhood and rediscovering each other with typical genre aplomb upon entering school.

1 – A close up of REN’s bare chest as he shrugs his shoulders into a clean white shirt fills the right hand of the frame. Behind him we can see a tall, gaunt looking elderly gentleman in his late 60s with silver hair and a pencil thin moustache. He is dressed smartly in a black suit with a high collared white shirt and is standing amidst shelves of ancient books in what would appear to be REN’s study. This gentleman is in fact REN’s butler, ALFONSE SAINT LIBATIQUE and whilst he’s not really important to our current story he will certainly be of significance in the future.

CAPTION:
It’s hard to imagine the boundaries of loss until you’ve actually been there.

2 – ALFONSE is standing outside and with his back to us, helping REN up into the elaborate black carriage that will convey him to his first day at school. Standing either side of the carriage in perfect silence are three young maids, their uniforms equally as elaborate as the design of the carriage.

CAPTION:
Until you’ve been to that very edge of despair it’s impossible to predict the manner in which you will find yourself acting.

3 – A repeat of PAGE 10, PANEL 1 from the PREVIOUS STORY: REN steps from the carriage and into the crowd of surrounding students.

CAPTION:
To have truly lived is to have lost everything, even if only once.

4 – A repeat of PAGE 10, PANEL 2 from the PREVIOUS STORY: SHIN, GOKI and TSUYAKO look down from where they stand upon their high wall. REN has slightly turned, his head looking over his shoulder and up towards us. Lines indicate the sudden realisation that he is being watched.

CAPTION:
But to have regained, to have struggled within the shadow of pursuit and hauled yourself up from the mire of nostalgia and memory; that is victory!

5 – A close up of REN’s narrow eyes and his dark, tidy fringe.

CAPTION:
“Brother.”

Last but not least, the final scene is from an upcoming project that, hopefully you’ll see one day soon. Originally it was conceived of as a joint project with the very talented Jericho Vilar and intended as part of a submission plan for new writers and artists that Marvel Comics were running back in 2003. In time however, it became something quite different.

As I said before, news on that much later.

1 -  Close up of the fire damaged door and the blackened lock as Sophia picks the lock with a straightened hairpin.

2 – We are inside the gutted house and facing the front door, as it swings open revealing Sophia in silhouette in the doorway. The house is blackened and distorted and covering the floor, and some in mid-air, disturbed by the opening of the door, are a multitude of pigeon feathers.

3 – A close up of Sophia’s worn Doc Martens as she crosses the threshold, disturbing the feathers as she moves. On the floor beneath her feet we can see very prominent pools of dark blood.

4 – Back in the classroom. Similar shot to PAGE 3, PANEL 1 except Sophia is absent from her place on the edge of the desk and Jason’s own desk amongst the school kids is also vacant. The class is sitting in total motionless silence despite the absence of their teacher.

ON THE BLACKBOARD:
‘I exorcise thee, O impious Satan. In vain dost thou boast of this deed’.

Music is an important part of my life, possibly one of the most important aspects of my life. It has been there since I was a child, the familiar crackle and hiss of the family record player and the skip of the occasional line or beat in worn LPs. I wrote my first book almost entirely with headphones on and, ever since then have found music to be as significant part of my writing rituals as it is any of my other daily routines.

As I have grown older, many elements of the regime by which I write have been stripped away, I’d be tempted to say ‘refined‘ if I believed that, but in truth I don’t. Nonetheless, I still find it important to listen to music whilst writing, not all the time and not every time but I often find that the right song can set a scene or inspire an emotion with much better results than diving into something cold.

This type of writing is the second form that I find the creative act dresses in. It’s a little less inspired, a little less eager to confess its words onto paper than the spontaneous grab for pen and paper or the quickfire feed of paper in the typewriter or click on the mouse but it’s no less important.

As the weekend just gone was bank holiday, I took time to begin the first part of heronaut, a project I’ve promised to Adrian Watts for PSP’s Astonishing Adventures. The soundtrack for most of this has been a combination of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade album and After the Goldrush by Neil Young – a fact that is evidenced in the prologue’s faux!Young lyrics.

The Love Amongst Strangers (Again) project has so far consisted of a variety of Paramore songs from their two studio albums, the Veronicas and a very specific song by American Goth revival band, ThouShaltNot whereas the playlist for the pretentiously titled lecteur de tarot side-story, 『天国のお嬢様』 has acquired two very specific Aly & AJ songs from their Insomniatic album and even a track from the original High School Musical.

These are still early days and, as I’m first admitting my obsessions with music here, I hope to go into detail later about the ’soundtrack’ of heronaut as it evolves, along with a possible breakdown of the library of tokusatsu songs that were used in my stint on Millennium Man.

By way of comparison, lecteur de tarot’s playlist is over 4GB of mostly orchestral music.