Tree City Comic Con Recap

So the Space Balrog's and I were at Tree City Comic Con in Boise Idaho - Boise being the adjusted french name for LeBois = River of Tree's. We had a good time! I sold the most books out of all of us on Friday and the least on Saturday - go figure. Apparently Idahoan's wanted more horror on Friday = Weird Tales of Horror and Space Eldritch, and more fantasy on Saturday.



Here is a shot that Jason King took of me when for about 5 seconds I thought our panel had been cancelled and I was shouting "CON!" as in "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" until James Wymore said we were still on - I had no idea that Jason was capturing the moment = priceless.



There were a fair amount of celebs at the con considering it was pretty small - just a few thousand. Here is me with Angie Everhart. I put my foot in my mouth telling her I loved her as Red Sonja (Thinking she portrayed Red in the Conan the Adventurer TV show) WRONG! The pic was taken just before I said that and she visibly cooled as I said it with a sharp, "I was never Red Sonja!"

I did get to mingle with a few other cool celebs - sorry no pictures - I went to the VIP Green Room quite a bit for food and drink - oddly enough security never ever stopped me - I always just walked in like I owned the place while my fellow Balrogs were always turned away along with anyone else who wasn't a star. I got to speak to Nichelle Nicols - Uhura for a quick brunch on Saturday, and John Rhys Davies just as he arrived on Friday very cool cuz he talked to me first! He came in and exclaimed loud like Sallah, "I see one!" and we toasted each other. I never asked what he meant by that - was too thrilled that he was talking.

Breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning was surreal as most of the patroons were stars and support staff so I was a having breakfast with a third of the cast for The Addams Family- Lurch and Cousin It and Wednesday, Uhura, Mark Sheperd, Monster Quest's Dr. Meldrum (I did get a Bigfoot cast), Joanie Brooks - who you may remember was on the cover of the first issue of Utah Geek Magazine that I have a serial action fantasy story in, among others.

At one point I joked that a guy was cosplaying as fellow Balrog Dave Butler - he was wearing the same jeans, white shirt and black blazer, we asked the guy to come and talk to us and it turned out he was the director of the whole Con! So we're making friends with shakers!

Here are a few of the more interesting cosplayers I saw.

Two of America's greatest heroes together again, Batman and Ben Franklin

Tim

Sara Butler, hiding and James Wymore and Jason King

Two cool cats that I don't know what they're from.

A Daft Punk Jedi

And the most bizarre thing was set up right kiddie corner from our booth - the pole dancing Wonder Woman!

Guess what I did when she left her pole unattended.

Just a good time overall!

Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

What a long strange trip its been. I have been all over over the place this year and now that the last big con I am going to is over its time to get back to work!

My most recent comment was an anonymous fan asking for me to finish my sequel to Heroes of the Fallen - it is coming, sorry for the delay. I'm going to try harder to post here at least once a week rather than just posting on facebook, twitter and tumblr. This needs to be a better catchall than just those other snowstorms.

In any case here are some highlights from SLCC - which was huge! My understanding is the numbers of people attending is right up there with SDCC or anywhere else for that matter so very cool! 120K+!

I got to meet Frank Frazetta Jr and the good guys at the Frazetta Museum Booth and get a few cool souvenirs!

Trolls were a problem as the WETA people brought quite a bit of LOTR goodness.

Lots of amazing cosplayers! Particular favorites of mine were Valerie Perez and Ivy Doomkitty

Being a presenter has its privileges, in the green room a number of celebrities were on hand and I hung out with Effren Ramirez (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite) super fun and friendly guy!

I met Ron Perlman (one of my all time favorite actors!)

I nearly won the Space Balrogs, Supervillian Smackdown, but Dan Wells garnered just three more votes! And Jason King was hilarious!

Groot and Gamora! (Valerie Perez - so cool and nice!)

Daft Punk!

This guy was a stud! Great outfits!

Smaug's head was huge and ever watchful!

And selling books at a table with a host of awesome authors and friends including, Dave Butler, James Wymore, Craig Nybo, Sarah Seeley, Scott Tarbet, Jaleta Clegg, Sara Butler and Sean Ricks  - aside from their collective awesomeness was that the guys at UGEEK Magazine relaunched the magazine with a new action adventure fantasy serial of mine: Walking Through Walls. This went out to thousands of attendee's and I'm hoping even a decent fraction enjoy it and look at some of my other works. 

Lots of thanks to all the people that came by, said hey, asked for autographs and bought books, oh yeah and all the people who voted for me at the Supervillian Smackdown - We almost conquered the world!

I got to meet and hang out with far too many people to name them all, talked to so many great writers again - always love spending time with Peter Beagle. Til next time!

Read Somewhat Lately

King of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence

The second in a marvelous grim dark fantasy trilogy, this really had me turning pages and I only took so long finishing because of how topsy turvy life has been the last few months.

Set in a almost familiar realm, we follow Jorg (now a king by his own hand) as he is beset by two seemingly insurmountable foes in two timelines. We know that he makes it out of one to be telling us about the current predicament but nonetheless we are transfixed with all the brilliant setbacks ferocious young Jorg is dealing with.

I read Prince of Thorns last summer and was very pleased at his setting (which I can't reveal-but needless to say it is gratifying and intriguing).

Things come to a spine-tingling head and I wondered how it would end, alas its all set up for the third book Emperor of Thorns - but at least that is already available. Very recommended for dark fantasy fans.


Space Punisher, by Frank Tieri and Mark Texeira

This came out a couple years ago and I meant to read it back when I was writing Gods in Darkness for Space Eldritch 1 - I was envisioning in my head some of the same brawling action in space.
Space Punisher is a little over the top (its an alternate universe rather than a space mission for Frank Castle) but its got a lot of great one liners and cameo's of Marvel favorites. I especially liked that the Punisher is handling the big bad space mafia better than the Avengers.

I enjoyed the twists and found it interesting but not quite the book I hoped for. Mark Texeira's art is always great and I am excited for Frank Tieri's return to writing Wolverine very soon - he was my favorite writer for that series next to Larry Hama's run in the 90's.

Inside is also Galactus: The Real Story = the greatest hoax ever pulled on mankind, a parody of all the conspiracy shows revealing the real story about perceived threats - I enjoyed it more the second read through.


Some Freaks, by David Mamet

A selection of essays and thoughts by brilliant playwright David Mamet. I always enjoy his insights into drama and human nature, he displays a rare quality of looking at whole subjects and having the wit to put into words some dynamic metaphor to bring it all together in a way I never thought of before.

I enjoyed one section so much that I had to bring in a new chapter into my shortly forthcoming Bless The Child in part based on his little essay The Laurel Crown, simply because I was so moved and had to share a little bit of that same essence.


Red Sonja: Beserker, by Nancy A. Collins and Fritz Casas

I have not bought a Red Sonja book in a very long time, but have been hearing good things about the current run by Gail Simone so I've meant to check it out and I also heard about this one shot Beserker, so having finished this one first (one shots are just easier that way) I'm kinda on the fence about it.
Sonja befriends a polar bear cub (that grows up way too fast in one winter) and then says goodbye.
Years later Sonja is accosted by some dinks that think she is a whore-that chainmail bikini-and what I have hated as an over used premise in too many Conan tales, she is far too easily bested by the local authorities and put in jail. Then thanks to a crooked judge she ends up in an arena for savage amusement. She is to be fed not to the lions but the bear - but its her old bear so they turn and fight their way out. The bear dies to save her and later she returns to enact vengeance.
The art by Casas is great and the look of Sonja wearing the bearskin in the end is cool -very Herculian/Nemeian Lion, but its just a so-so story. Not bad, but not great.


City of the Saints: Part One Liahona, by D.J. Butler

Steampunk old west with a very healthy mix of political intrigue and great twists on historic personages. This is only part one of four and I love it. Again if life wasn't so crazy busy right now I would be all the way through this series-absolutely my favorite read so far this year!

Set in 1859 on the verge of Civil War, multiple characters are converging for the sake of getting in on that Mormon madman Orson Pratt's wonderful inventions. Mark Twain, Richard Burton, and the long thought dead Edgar Allen Poe each vying for either the Union, England and the soon to be Confederacy as well as mysterious forces at work from within the Utah Mormon camp as well - Porter Rockwell and Eliza R. Snow.
All the side characters have me enthralled as well, Butler's writing is the perfect mix of action and drama and has that great way of making you root for all these people that are opposing each other.

The only downside for me was the cliffhanger ending, luckily all 4 of the City of Saints are available ad I'll be continuing on that very soon. If you like historical action and steampunk, I can't recommend this enough.

Read Somewhat Lately

As you loyal readers know I've had a down and out year of gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth (love) in any case I'm putting forth a renewed effort to be around and keep up some useful if not entertaining content.



The Hammer and the Blade, by Paul S. Kemp


I thought this was great and am very pleased to note that Mr. Kemp has recently announced here that he will be doing at least 2 more collections of Egil and Nix.

This harkens back to the days of Sword and Sorcery novels being quick action romps before the days of the long convoluted multi-character epic fantasy phone books.

In any case, Egil and Nix are out for that big score, and what happens next has repercussions throughout the novel with sinister sorceries nipping at their heels for revenge.

I liked the magic in this (powerful but at a terrible cost) and I enjoy Kemp's action prose. I will get the next in the series reasonably soon.

Gardens of the Moon, by Steven Erickson

 And just as I finish singing the praises of the standalone small roster of character novels I begin on one of the BIG ONES! Steven Erikson (and Ian C. Esselmont's) Malazan Books of the Fallen.
This has a ridiculously huge cast of characters with enormous far reaching points of view and plotlines spanning the globe. Like the Illiad and Odyssey we have some Gods or at least Demi-gods interfering with human plans and wars, we see the two sides of warring nations and even the intersecting allegiances within one army.

It seems that Erkison has a flair for many characters and I applaud him for it, they all have depth and feeling and even a small aside is important. It can fly in the face of the reader who always wants to be with their favorite and I can't recommend this for those readers who need the intimacy of a small cast but if you are in the mood for such I truly enjoyed this. Much more so than Jordan's Wheel of Time, and almost on par with Martin's Song of Fire and Ice.

I will start on the next in the cycle (or even a prequel of Esselmont's) soon.
 
Savage Wolverine: Kill Island, by Frank Cho

I've been a big fan of Wolverine since day one, and a fan of Frank Cho's art for ages as well, though this is the first time I've actually read one of his stories.

Let me start by saying Cho's art is fantastic as usual, always visceral and sensual he really mixes what is so appealing about the comic as medium. When it comes to storytelling I can't say he is as strong, I was lost a few times with one of the POV characters within the arc, but that could be my own fault for falling out with regular Marvel reading the last few years.

I did enjoy the idea of a savage new island within the Savage Land, a Cthulhu type alien held in stasis, and the revolving story of Wolverine and Shanna therein. It did open up for a continuing storyline and I'll have to look for that to see how things continue. So I suppose it did hold me enough to continue with Cho's writing as well.

 
 Avengers Prime, by Brian Michael Bendis, Alan Davis


Bendis got me back into the Avengers back when Marvel relaunched New Avengers around 10 years ago. Since then the team had some great story-lines and even a Civil War that really tore at the Iron Man/Captain America bond.
Avengers Prime is largely about them getting that bond back via becoming powerless in a shattered Asgard with Thor.

If there is one kind of storyline that appeals to me in comics it is when your super hero loses his superpower - for example best run of Wolverine ever???
{When Magneto pulled out his adamantium and he lost his healing factor and all his enemies came gunning for him. Wolverine #75 - #100+ by Larry Hama}

So I loved seeing Iron Man doing his best smart alecky self without the suit, Thor without his hammer, and Cap with a sword AND shield!
Nothing brings a team back together like something so desperate and perilous.
And its neat to see even old foes like Enchantress lending a helping hand against the forces of Hel. Great book.