The Things I'm Doing

New Novel: So far, I've been able to plug away at the 1,000 words a day goal I set. Feels good to get into something new, and to already feel the pieces falling/clicking into place in my head. Already had a few character surprises, as one of them is nothing like I initially envisioned. Whatever, though. It's all about going with the flow, right?

Bring the Ink, Issue 1: It's almost finished and ready to rock your October. Not sure when tomorrow it will drop, but it is scheduled to drop on the morrow.

Book Proposal: I'm pulling together a proposal for a VERY different project than what I normally write. It seems to be shaping up better than I'd hoped, but who knows. All the work might be for not. More on this as it develops.

Waiting: Still no word from the agent-hopeful. It's only been a little more than two weeks since I mailed the book out--plus I heard that she's been busy moving or something. Regardless, I still feel the pressure.

Arting for My Friend: Still plugging away on his graphic novel. Fun stuff, but quite a bit o' work.

Broken-Hearted Bear: With the help of a few other artists and writers, we're building an on-going webcomic for Bring the Ink. I hope it will start in November.

On the Back Burner: The first volume of Gibberish; the collected group of my and Logan's reviews for the defunct Filmmedium.com; two ideas for webcomics/graphic novels; and my want to just watch movies and play video games.

Plugging Two Things, Then Another

As I said in a past blog, some of these are simply going to be an advertisement for things that I've found and loved.

I can't remember or not if I plugged this earlier, but it needs to happen. Since I can't remember, I'm doing it again--or for the first time. Either way, you must check THIS site out if you like comics.

It is stuff like Ramon Perez's Kukuburi that makes me want to give up my Gibberish endeavours, write me a "real," story oriented comic and try my hand at, you know, layouts and stuff. However, as I do not have the time to work on such things, I have to live vicariously through people like Perez. This comic is simply amazing, from the art to the story. To use a Hollywood film cliche: "It fires on all cylanders." But what makes this quote even MORE amazing is that Kukuburi has NOTHING TO DO WITH CARS. (Honestly, I don't know what I'm going for here, so go check this comic out. It is awesomeness rolled up, then mashed into the interweb like a banana in a VCR--or should I say DVD?)

Number two thing is new music. Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker is fantastic stuff here. I've been rocking out to their newest album, Questimation, for the last few days, and I can't seem to get enough of them sweet, sweet sounds. They've got a good thing going, mixing a whole lot of playfulness with a bunch of catchy beats, lyrics, and sounds. Do yourself a favor, check out their music on Myspace, then buy their album.

The another thing is that Bring the Ink is still looking for submissions for Issue 1. Read up on Issue 0 if you haven't already, and then submit something. The theme for Issue 1 is "Connections" but that can mean just about anything. And if it's really good, theme doesn't matter. Send it their way.

Out and Away

I am in Colorado right now, hanging out with my wife after five years of marriage.

In my absence, I leave you with the below pic of a new comic I'm developing with a few artist/writer friends of mine. It will be hosted at Bring the Ink. He is called Broken-Hearted Bear.
p.s. I'm still looking for two or three more artist/writers to join the team, so contact me if you are interested in working with this character.

Bring the Ink and Gibberish

Alright, literary peeps. Today is the drop-date for Bring the Ink Issue o, "The Taste of Ink." It will probably be later this afternoon before everything is available, but be sure to check back for an evening filled with prose, poetry, and comics. You won't be disappointed. (There's even an exclusive Gibberish.) Be SURE TO CHECK THIS PLACE OUT, and if you want to be a part of it, BE SURE TO SUBMIT.

In other news, Gibberish turns one year old next week. It's amazing to think that this side-project of mine has been going steady for a year now. Not too many readers still, but I believe that those of you that DO read, do so faithfully. Thank you for supporting me this past year.

And to celebrate in style, Gibberish will be updating EVERY DAY NEXT WEEK, starting on Sunday, July 26, and running until Friday, July 31. Nothing but guest artists, too. They've got some great work lined up for you, including: Aaron Stueve, writer of the on-going Blue Water Comic, The Legend of Isis; Gregg Paulson, a noted comic artist; Erik Jagger of the Agonizing Trifles fame; Matt Stout, who produces Big Sandy Gilmore; Byron Remple, who gives us the Daily Zombie; and guest comic alumni, Scott Aleric from Hell Has Found Me.

So yes, TUNE IN SUNDAY, not Monday, to kick off an awesome week of comics. I'm sure you'll love each of them as much as I did. Have yourself a good week, and I'll see you in August.

Trying to Be Professional

I'm in the midst of finishing up my upcoming lecture (which I hope to be able to chop up and YouTube in a few parts), and this is the type of slide that is going into my PowerPoint. Either I've been working on Gibberish for too long or, perhaps, there is simply something wrong with my brain that I think this is okay to not only be using in a lecture, but also in a lecture that my master's degree is hinged upon.

On the news side of things: Bring the Ink Issue 0 will be dropping on Friday. We've pulled together, on rather short notice actually, some very good prose, poetry, and even a comic or two. (If you happen to be a comic artist and have a short comic--from one panel to ten pages--send it our way, mayhap it'll make the cut into our trial issue. Please send submissions to: sardonakissrexakon@gmail.com, or visit our "Submissions" page on the site.) So, be sure to check it out and give us your thoughts. There'll also be an exclusive Gibberish.

Also, Gibberish will no longer be appearing on Webcomicsnation after this week. This probably doesn't affect most--or any--of you, but it's just a heads up. And there is going to be some big news about Gibberish's birthday coming up next week, so stay tuned.

Finally, there is a good chance I'll be getting a tattoo this week. Not quite 100 percent sure it will happen, but we're at about 80 percent right now. I'll be sure to post a pic if I do.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Monday. Gibberish tomorrow.

Pic-sures

So this weekend was so much of hanging out and relaxing that I'm just going to give you some pictures that I worked on over the weekend. These will be used in the aforementioned Lit mag that will be dropping soon.

Open for Submissions: Bring the Ink

Hey, everyone:

As I mentioned last Friday, some buddies of mine and myself are putting together an online lit mag, Bring the Ink, for the world to devour. Of course, the only way to truly have a good lit mag is to have truly good submissions. While we toil away on all the nitty-gritty details and site building, we want to be reading the best you have to offer. Here are our tentative guidelines (any and all of this info is subject to change.)

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see something from you soon.

What We're About:

Sardonakiss Rexakon is a mutant man-beast with a brain and a good eye for good writing/art. He is the four great travelers of the mind, Wayward Son, Comfortably Numb, Silent Lucidity, and Dr. Rover. Plucked from the corners of the great American continent and slammed together in the Middle of Nowhere, their powers combined to create the very emblem of the word awesome--Sardonakiss Rexakon. If you don't get that, then perhaps you don't belong here. If you don't get that and you want to, then do the following:

Listen to Anthrax: Sound of White Noise.

Read a book, read a book, read a mutha fuckin' book.

Don't forget not to take yourself too seriously.

Submit something.

Guidelines:

We like good writing; we like good genre fiction; we like good literary insights; we like comics; we like animated films; we like stupid films; we like many things. We just don’t like to be bored. Every story has been told before; we know this, but we want to forget that fact in your submission.

Send us whatever surprised you when you wrote it. Send us fantastic nonsense. Send us whatever comes as close to perfection as you can create.

All of us have created something that we have no idea what to do with it, the things that have no home. We want to be that home.

Please note: While we might be more forgiving than some, manuscripts with one too many gross errors will be rejected. So please, run spell check, re-read it (and again), have someone else read it. Nothing throws you out of a piece like a typo.

Prose:

As this is a place that’s all about no limits, it seems lame to put a cap on word counts and limit you—especially when all creations go for as long as they need. Since this is the case, we’ll do it like so:

For all fiction and non-fiction: From one word to 5,000, paste the entire piece into the body of an email; for lengths above and beyond that, please send us a query. (We do encourage shorter pieces, from one to 3,000 words, as reading online can be a bit hard on the eyes.)

For interviews and reviews: Please query us with what you want to review, or what amazing person you want to interview (your own hook-ups here). Please note, DO NOT limit yourself to writers. Filmmakers, musicians, and artists are, well, artists, too. And hey, if you just know someone who has a good story, but you don’t know how to take their words and shape them into an amazing story, then let us know, we’ll send the final word.

Poetry:

All good writing is poetry. You want to call it poetry? Call it poetry, and we'll look at it as such. You want to go all out, write us a sestina, do it. Please, just nothing epic, unless you query first.

Comics:

Again, lengths are never fun to impose on anyone or anything, but we can only do so much and have so much space to offer. At the moment, ten pages are about the limit—unless, again, you query first. (We'd be open to ongoing series, too.) These can be anything from a one-panel gag to a full blown space opera. Whatever you send us, make sure it is complete. We cannot supply artists or writers. (There are plenty of networking resources out there that can help you find one or the other.)

Send us links to your work, and we’ll contact you for 300dpi files for print.

Cover Art:

If we have a theme, try to go with it. If you have something awesome and it doesn’t fit the theme, send us the link. Again, no attachments, just the link, we’ll contact you for a larger file. (Also, as it might be used in print, please make sure it is, at least, 4” x 6”. This can be B/W or Color. Please note, too, that your work may be cropped for spacing/design.)

Payment:

At this time, we can't offer payment. Hopefully this will change. For the moment, though, as we are doing this for free--you, sadly, have to, too.

Things to Keep in Mind:

For all submissions, please email to the following address sardonakissrexakon(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, PLEASE, in the header of your email, put the following: Submission, "Title of Your Piece," and category, e. g. "Submission, 'I Like Pie,' Poetry." Also: If you're submitting to a future issue, please add that to the header, too. "Submission ... Spring 2010."

We accept simultaneous submissions, however, please let us know if we are in competition for your piece. Also, if it is accepted elsewhere, let us know AS SOON AS YOU CAN. (It helps if you include the date, title of your submission, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

We DO NOT accept previously published material. Don't care if it was on your blog or the zine you put together last month, we don't want it unless it is so shiny and new we can still smell the shrinkwrap.

We publish with one-time first rights, with the option to collect your story in a best of anthology. (At the moment, there is no foreseeable payment, but we'd like to at least give you a contributor copy or two.) Otherwise, once your story is published with us, you are free to do with it what you will, we only ask that if it is reprinted elsewhere that you please give us credit for the piece's original appearance.

Response Times:

As we don't know how many submissions we will be getting, it's hard to give a good guestimate. For now, please give us, at least, eight weeks before bothering us. (And like the simultaneous submissions, it helps if you include the date, title of your piece, and--of course--your name in this informative email.)

Themes:

Fall: Issue 0 “Introducing SR” – Anything you think is cool, and we want to think it’s cool too. Deadline: ASAP.

Winter: Issue 1 “Connections” – Connections can be anything, from person to person, person to animal, audio cord to audio cord, pieces of a broken vase glued together again. Connections are made and broken all the time. Show us some. Deadline: September 11.