UPDATED: Read Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom Chapter 1 Absolutely FREE

2/15/12: UPDATED WITH WORKING LINK!

Welcome to the blog, dear reader. I hope you had a happy, safe, and refreshing holiday season. Things were a little hectic here at MacPherson Manor, but they were also pretty wonderful. Rebecca and I had a terrific time with our sons and family, but it was over far too soon, and we are once again buried to our cephalopodic necks (yes, Cthulhoids have necks) in writing projects. But that is a good thing.

Tweet of Truth

Yesterday whilst reading my timeline on Twitter (don’t judge me), one of my friends Re-Tweeted this interesting bit of information from mainstream comic writer Ed Brubaker:

@brubaker If my Fatale promoting tweets bugs you, you probably don’t understand how hard it is to sell an indie comic.

If a writer who has seen considerable commercial success is having difficulty selling his creator-owned book, perhaps you can begin to appreciate how nearly impossible onerous and frustrating it is for the rest of us. Indie comic creators make comics out of a deep love for the medium, and we rarely see a dime for our efforts. And, to add insult to injury, we often find that some mouth-breathing dunderhead(s) is/are scanning and pirating our books on the internet.

So… with this in mind, I have decided to make the first chapter of Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom available for free download.

The Fine Print

All I ask (and I realize this is a lot to ask) is that if you enjoy this special preview, please pre-order the book and tell your friends and family about it. If you have a blog, Facebook or Twitter page, share a link to this blog post.

You can pre-order Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom from your friendly neighborhood comic shop with the Diamond Order Code JAN12 0814. Or, if you prefer, you can pre-order from your favorite local bookstore or any online comic or bookseller.

I would also mention that the critically-acclaimed first book, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom, is available from the aforementioned outlets.

FREE DOWNLOAD

To get your copy, simply click the wickedly-cool cover image below. When you get to the download page, click the bubble next to Download Files to my Computer and then click the Download button. Too easy.

Thank You For Your Continued Support

I mean that. I really do. Without each and every one of you, I would not be able to do what I love. You have my deepest and most sincere gratitude. Thank you.

I’ll write more later, but now I must dive back in. *glub*

-D

SIDEWISE Commentary, Part 2

As promised, I will continue my ongoing SIDEWISE commentary. I will do my best to get caught up so I need only write commentary for page 15 (which will be posted here Thursday).

PAGES 6 & 7

Pages 6 and 7 are the in-your-face action pages. It was almost entirely artist Igor Norohna’s idea. You see, I was extremely busy when we began working on SIDEWISE, so I simply suggested “Hey, let’s have some action on these pages.” The end result is what you see: a stylized battle scene with the Queen’s robot army that showcases the abilities of their exo-suits. I simply went back and added dialogue after the pages were complete.

Well done, Igor. Take a bow.

PAGE 8

Page 8 was our last chance to hook readers and make ‘em hungry for more. It was also my intent to question the nature of reality. “And that’s exactly what it was.” In light of Adam’s previous statement, perhaps there’s more to this assertion than meets the eye?

Did you think Wells’ “Come with me if you wish to live” was a nod to the Terminator films? It was. A tongue-in-cheek reference to one of the greatest action flicks of all-times. Why not?

PAGE 9

This is one of my favorite pages. Igor really captured my vision of a “Teslafied” Buckingham Palace. The Tesla coil powered force field is especially important in the future, but I won’t give it away. Keep reading.

Page 9 is also particularly important because it introduces the Knights of Hanover: Dr. Fain, Sir Campion, Lord Tritton and Major Wilson. In case you didn’t notice, the Knights are manifestly strange.

More on that later.

PAGE 10

Introducing the monstrosity that was once Queen Victoria! I really wanted to impress readers with the strangeness of the Queen. Igor really nailed it.

This is also the first mention of Minister Moriarty. Is he the Moriarty from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Regardless, he is a major player in the story and–as we find out later–a bitter rival of Lord Tesla. Why? You’ll just have to continue reading to find out.

Th-Th-That’s All, Folks

I need to get back to work, but I’ll post commentary on the remaining pages in the next couple days. I would say tomorrow, but I’d hate to become so busy that I lie to you (again).

Please take a moment to check out Parts 1 and 2 of my interview with Rocket Llama. The conclusion of the interview should be posted this week. Be sure to check my tweets for a link as soon as I get it.

Thank you for your patience. I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read my little blog.

Sidewise Launch Date: 8 October 2009!

The Final Countdown

We now have a launch date for SIDEWISE on Zuda Comics, and that date is Thursday, October 8th! Please be sure to bookmark the SIDEWISE page and add it to your favorites. Trust me: you are not going to want to miss the launch of this exciting story!

All-Ages Does Not Equal Kids Only

I’m really going to need your help spreading the word. I like to think of SIDEWISE as the little all-ages webcomic that could, and if you are familiar with Zuda’s ongoing content then you are keenly aware that SIDEWISE is the first all-ages project to win the monthly competition. I think this is indicative of the current sentiment regarding all-ages stories: They’re only for kids.

I’m not sure when there was a paradigm shift in comic books, but when I was growing up, parents didn’t think twice about sharing their comics with their children. After all, you would never find inappropriate language, innuendo, partial nudity or ultra-violence in a comic book. It just wasn’t necessary to tell a good, entertaining story. Our comics were super cool and we loved them–oblivious of the fact that they were all-ages comics. We read them because the stories captured our imaginations and we lived a super-powered life vicariously through characters who could fly, leap buildings in a single bound and run faster than a locomotive.

Kid-Friendly = Kiss of Death

“Kid-Friendly” is a stupid phrase. My 13-year-old told me so. He doesn’t want to read a kid-friendly book, he wants to read what I’m reading. So I create stories like SIDEWISE, Edgar Allan Poo and Kid Houdini. My sons–like all kids out there–don’t want you to dumb down the story, and they certainly don’t want to read a book that says “kid-friendly” on the cover. Book series like Harry Potter, Twilight and Pendragon have proven that you don’t need to speak down to young readers and young adults. Believe it or not, they can handle thick novels and the comic books you read. They just don’t need all the aforementioned non-story-essential “adult” elements. So why can’t all-ages be smart, engaging, action-packed and accessible to all readers and still be cool?

Sidewise = Cool

My goal for SIDEWISE is simple: to create a smart, engaging, action-packed historical fiction story that will appeal to readers of all ages… and still be cool. And if you believe a story needs adult language, ultra-violence, innuendo and partial nudity to be cool, I feel sorry for you. You’re going to miss a heckuva story. A heckuva cool story.