in lieu of a proper blog, here's the Fatalysia table

Post-SPX, my communication skills are not quite at 100%, so for those of you who couldn't make it to the con, here is an admittedly low-quality cell phone picture of the Fatalysia table from the con. The bloke on the left is Lance Hansen, author of Don't Cry, which I shall be reading shortly. Very nice guy to be next to behind a table with for several hours straight.

one more weird printer experience

I thought the weirdness was over, but I had one more odd experience with a printer today. I needed a rush job on a couple of signs. I called a printer from work, and they said if I emailed them the file of the sign I needed, they could have them printed by tonight when I got off work. I emailed them the file and all the information they would need. Hours later, when I had about an hour left before I got off work, I thought to call them and get a price quote, which I'd forgotten to do earlier. It turned out they hadn't even checked their email, so they hadn't lifted a finger on my signage. The guy on the phone asked his manager if they could do it tonight before they closed, and the manager said it could be done. About 45 minutes later, someone started ringing my cell phone off the hook. It was the printer. They said their building was evacuated, and they couldn't have my prints ready tonight. They suggested I go to Kinko's. I really wasn't even sure I believed this. I drove past the place on the way home, and it turns out there was a fleet of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and other vehicles all over their building's perimeter. I thought this would be the first year I wouldn't have to end up crawling around at Kinko's in the middle of the night before SPX, but it was inevitable. I've already done that at this point, and the signs are finally done. And on the way home, a trolley driver abandoned her regular route and just took me straight home. Very nice.

On a hopefully unrelated note, today on my lunch break I got one extra item which brought my total to $6.66. Amidst all the other weirdness, the eternally paranoid part of my brain was waving red flags. I hope it isn't a harbinger of more crap that is destined to happen at the con itself.

I am happy to say now that the smoke has cleared and all the materials I wanted have somehow come together I am finally excited about the con rather than dreading it. And my boss and co-workers have been extremely supportive of my plight.

The Comics Journal

While closing tabs, I found that I neglected to post this link to The Comics Journal's SPX preview. There's a short blurb about Fatalysia in there. Now I should go to bed before it's too late.

I should mention SPX, shouldn't I?

I've had one hum dinger of a week. And yes, I am comfortable using the modifier "hum dinger" for it. SPX is Friday and Saturday of this week (12-13 October, if you keep track that way). Anyway. If nothing else goes wrong, hopefully, possibly, issue two of Fatalysia will be available at the Fatalysia/Primeval Works table-H9A (which will be close to Jefff Smith of Bone and Shazam/Captain Marvel fame). Anyway, much printer drama has ensued, and thanks to some damage control by Chris, when the smoke clears I might actually have comics. I should also mention that Chris will not be able to attend the con as planned, so you're just getting me. One of these days, hopefully artist Uriel Duran will make it. Back to printing issues (can you tell I'm kind of scatter-brained about the whole thing?), the first proof I saw had the pages out of order in spite of the fact that they were paginated in advance (I think the wrong pages were printed on the wrong sides of the sheets or something), and I was so busy freaking out about that I failed to notice that the text/dialogue had disappeared from about half of the book. In the end I had to cancel the print job and move it somewhere closer to Chris so he could use his graphic design Jedi skills to better shepherd the whole dealie. Then a backdrop print of the cover illustration ended up being a big silly with me receiving a lovely poster of a bee hovering over a flower rather than the spooky scarecrow I kind of needed (Myke Amend, the designer of the lovely cover posted a nice, more coherant than I can manage at the moment account of these events here). Anyway, I might have to sleep with a printer or something to get the poster printed if the original printer is unable to fix the poster situation in time. Every year I go to SPX some kind of bizarre printing issue comes up, but I've never seen anything like this year's crazy. Anyway. Issues one and two should be available if some Asgardian war doesn't spill out of the heavens into the DC metropolitan area or something else along those lines (jeez, I can't even tell if I'm making sense anymore I'm so frazzled). If you can't make it to the con, they're also available from the website or by contacting me (although issue 2 will likely have to go to a second printing after the con, as we weren't able to get many). And nice prints of a color version of the cover as well as many other curiosities are available from Myke Amend's website. And here's a promotional version of his cover art.



Fatalysia #2
Script: Liam Kemp
Art: Uriel Duran, a.k.a. U
Cover: Myke Amend
Book Design/Lettering: Chris Tabor

Loretta King and other Ed Wood-related things

Loretta King died 10 September at age 90. She is probably best remembered for getting a role intended for Dolores Fuller in Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster.





While on the subject of Ed Wood, I was sent a link to a Vampira site, Vampira's Attic as well as a link to an article on Bunny Breckenridge, both of Plan 9 From Outer Space fame.

Doctor Poo

We went to a Renaissance Festival this weekend, so I used it as an excuse to dress like Tom Baker in 90 degree weather. Here's the Doctor Who costume (a portable toilet is as close as I'll likely come to having a Tardis, so...). I realized along the way my friend there kind of reminds me of Leela.

another wasted opportunity

I had a lucid dream last night. And once again, all I did was command the nearest person to turn into Chasey Lain. That's it. This time, I got a dumb Sci-Fi Channel low budget morphing effect.

Fatalysia #2 at printer

As stated in the heading, the second issue of Fatalysia went to the printer today. I should have it on hand late next week, just in time for the Small Press Expo. It has a new story illustrated by Uriel a.k.a. U!, a beautiful guest cover by Myke Amend, and guest illustrations by Chad Thomas and Maritza Campos. There will be a bit of an update at the Fatalysia site on SPX weekend. Lovely color prints of the cover illustration can be purchased on Myke Amend's website. I'll hopefully post more closer to the convention.