Of the strange things that have happened to me, that I've become friends with so many of my formative creative influences is the strangest. 2 hours ago
Mike Norton is awesome, and he proves it by summing up my greatest hopes for a spin-off of the just wrapped Lost, as part of his series of “Found” strips.
(Though, clearly the “Number One” and “Number Two” nomenclature suggests that it might turn into a different island altogether…)
I have stayed away from internet discussion of Lost the last few months intentionally, and tried to avoid completely the back-and-forth over the finale. My $.02 is that the finale was clearly the ending to the story that Lindelof and Cuse had been telling all these years, and while it wasn’t the ending that I would have written, it represents the most satisfying conclusion to all of the character arcs in the series of any long form serial television to date. I will acept that the ending might not have been to everyone’s taste, and I think that “I didn’t like that story” is an acceptable objection, but all of the naysayers who insist that the ending is somehow proof that they were “making it up as they went along” were watching a different TV series than I was (or, in many cases, often weren’t watching it at all). As for the mysteries that weren’t solved? It was clear by midway through the last season that the things many of us in the audience thought were important to the larger story really weren’t, and that many of the Big Mysteries were just set dressing. That said, I think that the show-runners intentionally left them open to interpretation, while at the same time putting enough evidence on screen for viewers to work out the solutions themselves. And if you think that six seasons of fantastic character and relationship drama is spoiled because you aren’t told exactly where that pallet of food came from in season two, you’re probably better off watching something else. As Linda Holmes said on the NPR site last week, “There comes a point where you are asking for the midichlorians…”
I was so caught up yesterday playing with our new iPad that I completely forgot to mention the release of my new comic with BOOM! Studios, the authorized prequel to Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: Dust To Dust #1 (Cover A) $3.99
Writer(s): Chris Roberson
Artist(s): Robert Adler
A science-fiction publishing event! Who hunted androids before Rick Deckard? Taking place immediately after World War Terminus ends, the problems with artificial life – androids – become apparent. The government decides they must become targets, hunted down, but who will do the dirty work? Two men are assigned: Malcolm Reed, a ’special’ human with the power to feel others’ emotions, and Charlie Victor, who’s the perfect man for the job – or is he? Meanwhile Samantha Wu, a Stanford biologist, fights to save the last of the world’s animals.
The first issue hits stands this week. If you’re still on the fence, you can check out an 8-page preview of the first issue online.
I’ve raved before about the work of Kerry Callen, but I don’t think I knew before last night that he submits designs to Threadless as Angelrobot. Check out this beauty that Kerry posted on his blog last night.
I must have this on a t-shirt, so head over to Threadlessimmediately and vote for it!
(via) Do you remember the “premake” trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which imagined what the movie would have looked like had it been released in 1951, assembled from old film clips? Well, get ready for the premake of The Empire Strikes Back, circa 1950.
Some of you may remember me mentioningThe Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, the anthology that is picking up where the Farmerphile fanzine leaves off. Recently the cover art (by Keith Howell) and the table of contents has been released.
All new fiction set in the World of Tiers, the origin of the Wold Newton Family, Khokarsa (from Farmer’s novels Hadon of Ancient Opar and Flight to Opar), and the worlds of Flesh, “The Lovers,” and Greatheart Silver.
Parallel universe and time travel stories about Philip José Farmer himself.
A classic story, never-before-published stories, and a speech by Philip José Farmer!
Contents:
Foreword by Paul Malmont
The Bite of the Asp by Randall Garrett
Newly Born, Newly Dead by Philip José Farmer
It Could Make a Great Fantasy by Laura Wilkes Carey
My Summer Husband by Philip José Farmer
Sail On! Sail On! by Philip José Farmer
Read On! Read On! by James Gunn
Comment on “Sail On! Sail On!” by Philip José Farmer
The Legend of Mishiwapo by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer’s Adventures in Hollywood by Jack Mertes
Bordering on the Absurd by Danny Adams
Infamy by Edward Morris
Le Maréchal by Paul Spiteri
The Pollinators by Rhys Hughes
Is He in Hell? by Win Scott Eckert
The Blakeney Family Tree by Win Scott Eckert
No Trees of Earth by David Bischoff
A Kick in the Side by Christopher Paul Carey
Flesh Endures by Dennis E Power
The Final Flight of Greatheart Silver by Chris Roberson
A Writer’s Prayer by Philip José Farmer
The Worlds of Philip José Farmer will be a numbered limited edition trade paperback. The release date is June 26th, during Farmercon V. Meteor House will only be printing 50 to 100 copies more than are pre-ordered, so…
…to be sure you get a copy of this book, send an email to:
mike @ pjfarmer.com
…and reserve your copy today. You don’t have to pay for the book when you pre-order and if you request, the book will be signed by those contributors attending FarmerCon V, which is also acting as a launch party for the book.
US$ 20.00
6×9 tpb, 264 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-37005-7
Copies are limited and already going fast, so contact mike @ pjfarmer.com and reserve your copy now!
(via) This video? This video right here? This is wacky.
Directed by Francesco Calabrese, it repurposes loads of 80s scifi movie imagery to
visualize the song “Tiger” by Amari. And, as mentioned, it is wacky.
Speaking of covers, Vertigo has posted a whole slew of them on their Graphic Content blog this afternoon, including one near and dear to my heart. Behold the sublime majesty that is Mike and Laura Allred’s cover to iZombie #4.
iFanboy has posted a whole host of splendid Mike Mignola covers for upcoming Dark Horse releases, and among them is this little gem, featuring everyone’s favorite dour Puritan adventurer. It’s the cover to the second collection of the Solomon Kane series with scripts by Scott Allie and art by Mario Guevara. It’s due out October 20, 2010, with a $15.99 pricetag. Kane is my absolute favorite of all Robert E. Howard’s characters, I must admit.
Just a quick note to say that my new prose novel, FURTHER: BEYOND THE THRESHOLD, is now available for purchase, in print, Kindle, and audio editions.
Here’s the description, from the Amazon listing:
Captain RJ Stone just awoke from a cryogenic suspension after disappearing twelve thousand years ago on Earth’s first unified interstellar space mission. He finds himself in a place known as the Human Entelechy, a myriad of worlds and habitats spread across three thousand light years that is linked by a network of wormholes with Earth at its center. Quickly caught in the middle of politics and intrigue he knows little about, Stone becomes the captain of the FTL Further, the first spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light. The crew’s first mission: investigate a distant pulsar for the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence. What they find, however, may be their undoing. Bestselling author Chris Roberson’s ambitious science fiction series drops a stranger into a strange time, combining world-building, humor, and action on a galactic scale. Among unfamiliar stars, RJ Stone’s second chance at a maiden voyage will propel listeners beyond the far reaches of space and imagination.
Absolutely my favorite and most inspiring image I’ve seen in a while.
I love how unpretentious and no-bullshit it is. It’s a plain desk, with a plain chair and a plain side chair, all of which are beat up from use and covered in ink. It faces a corner, one that’s covered in unorganized comics. It’s inspiring to see the desk that held the home of creation for countless characters was so practical. Nothing fancy about it. Just a place to sit down, shut up and do the work.
Trailer for ARJUN: THE WARRIOR PRINCE, an animated coproduction of Disney and ATV Motion Pictures. Here’s a rough translation of the dialogue from the trailer, courtesy of Cartoon Brew.
“Have the mothers of earth stopped giving birth to brave men?”
“Is there an archer (who can accomplish this)? Is there?!”
Drona: “Yudhishtira, what do you see?”
Yudhishtira: “Ten mango trees, three Bo-trees and one Audumbar tree.”
Drona: “Move aside! Arjun…?”
Arjun: “My eye sees only the eye of the bird, teacher.”
Drona: “Then release the arrow!”
“If you have to break the Pandavas, then first attack… Arjun!”
Draupadi: “Give me your word – that you will take vengeance for my humiliation from all the Kauravas!”
“Create the chakravyuha (circular formation)!”
Drona: “Get ready for battle!”
“Forget about victory and defeat – focus on action and you will fear nothing.”
Promotional ad for the Mackenzie Queen collection by Bernie Mireault, 1990.
Mireault is best remembered for The Jam or his collaborations with Mike Allred, but his Mackenzie Queen is a forgotten gem of 1980s indie comics. WELL worth hunting down in back issue bins.
Samsara takes the form of a guided meditation that will transform viewers as they are swept along a journey of the soul. Through powerful images photographed in 70mm and a dynamic music score, the film illuminates the links between humanity and the rest of the nature.
Just finished reading Nick Edwards’s DINOPOPOLOUS, published by Blank Slate Books in the UK. I strongly urge everyone who enjoys things that are awesome to hunt down a copy, immediately.
“In the first half of the 20th century an American couple from Kansas named Martin and Osa Johnson captured the public’s imagination through their films and books of adventure in exotic, far-away lands…Photographers, explorers, naturalists and authors, Martin and Osa studied the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific Islands and British North Borneo…They explored then unknown lands and brought back knowledge of cultures thousands of miles away through their films, writings and lectures.”
I’m pretty late to the party on these two, having just stumbled upon a mention about them this morning. I’m fascinated, though. They’re like “Nick and Nora Charles on Safari.”
(Though, clearly the “Number One” and “Number Two” nomenclature suggests that it might turn into a different island altogether…)
