Category: Story Speculations

84 Days

I live in twelve-week increments.  I set training goals, business goals, personal goals, in twelve-week steps so that I have a clear deadline and I can break down the task to achieve these goals into their needed steps.  Most of my goals end up being writing and training, with a few professional and personal goals mixed in.  I try to keep my goals on the modest side because it is all too easy to get overambitious.  Plus, if I meet my goals halfway through the cycle, I can always do more. 

As I’m on the final week of the twelve (I take a week off in between), I look back and I’m kind of stunned by how much I got done.  The publishing of RocKaiju was a major (and long-delayed) accomplishment.  The completion and publishing of Proton and the 2017 Short Story Anthology were, likewise, huge steps.  I expect to release a 2018 collection, next year, but I am not yet certain what book will join it.  Rhest for the Wicked 2?  Proton 2?  RocKaiju 2?  Something totally new?  Continue reading “84 Days”

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Conventional versus the Avant-garde

In the early 2000s, when web comics really began to take off, a lot of commentators and armchair critics began to speculate why they were so appealing.  As I came into my artistic identity at that time, web comics had a profound impact on how I viewed the world (artistically and socially, which probably says a lot about me).  As such, I paid a lot of attention to these discussions.

One issue was the democracy of availability.  Thanks to net neutrality (something that has been and continues to be under attack, but thankfully is still in place at this moment), anybody could post a web comic.  So long as people had reasonable internet access, they could read the comic.  Distribution became instantaneous and universal (or as far as the internet reached at least).  There was no issue of shelf space limitations, production costs, sales minimums, any of that.  Draw pictures, post online, and boom.  Instantly available.  Now, available and successful are too very different things (as evidenced by the failed comics), but that’s another discussion. Continue reading “Conventional versus the Avant-garde”

Status Update

With Irma battering the United States, from Puerto Rico to Tennessee, I found it difficult to find much to write about it.  It’s kind of hard to discuss the nuances of character development or neat exercise tidbits I’ve been exploring when some people are struggling with life and livelihood.  Still, I wanted to write something, so I thought a quick project update might be in order.

 

RocKaiju

My third novel with Caffeine & Ink, RocKaiju remains in development.  We’re at the copyediting stage and things are moving slowly, but well.  I am pushing to have RocKaiju available for Anime USA this December (more on that in a second), but that will involve hitting multiple subsequent benchmarks that are, shall I say, ambitious.  I think it is doable and my publisher does as well, so here’s to hoping.

Continue reading “Status Update”

Two Robots Walk Into A Slum

I want to write a buddy cop series about Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Robocop.

I think the two of them could make a fun pairing, especially depending on the circumstances of their meeting.  Data was and is one of my favorite characters from TNG, played masterfully by the underrated Brent Spiner.  The android with aspirations to humanity, he was a delightful Pinocchio metaphor brought to life, as sci-fi is so very good at.  Over the seven seasons, though, Data turned into an increasingly complex and nuanced character who would be loved alongside cultural mainstays like Spock or Kirk.

Continue reading “Two Robots Walk Into A Slum”