MileHiCon 2018, and, change in posting schedule

Hey folks! Just a quick little note to say that Shaenon Garrity and I will (assuming all goes well) be making one of our exceptionally rare joint convention appearances at the 50th Anniversary of MileHiCon 2018 at the Denver Tech Center Hyatt Regency, from October 19th to the 21st. As yet the schedule has not been finalized, and there will be no centralized vending area, so I can’t give you any specific place to find us; however, check here for updates as I get them!

Second thing I wanted to discuss with this post is changing the schedule that content arrives on this blog. I’ve been sticking to monthly somethings for going on six years now, but as Skin Horse enters its twilight years I am forced to think about life after comics, and whether I want to have a go at getting professionally published. As I explore these options, it might be best for me to keep the bulk of my work in as saleable a condition as possible for a time. Posting work here, alas, counts out the overwhelming majority of publishers who’d want first publishing rights. So, while I figure out what the future looks like, I will be posting fiction here less regularly. Rest assured I’ll still be able to be reached through the same contact methods here as before, and hey, there are still going to be some pieces whose natural home is a writing blog rather than a professional publication.

Hope to see some of you in Denver, and thanks for sticking with me as I embark on what I hope is a new chapter in my creative life.

Read Full Post »

Signal-boosting “JourneyQuest, Season 3”

Here is a link to what is probably going to be my most wished-after Kickstarter project in 2016.  Normally I’m not particularly big on pimping other people’s projects; you come here for monthly bits of writing and ridiculousness, not to read lengthy advertisements for other peoples’ creative ventures.  Since I have to do this sparingly, I like to save what goodwill I have here for the ones that really matter to me.  JourneyQuest is that thing.

You hang around enough comic and fantasy conventions, you inevitably end up wandering into a screening room, because, hey, what’s going on in this darkened room?  Invariably, if you do this, you will end up seeing a dreadfully unfunny fan-made fantasy film created by production startups with more leftover SCA props than decent scriptwriters.  Despite bearing some superficial similarities, JourneyQuest is not that thing.  The lesser-known brainchild of the people that brought you The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, JourneyQuest is an unexpectedly funny and well-written offering of the episodic indie fantasy genre, succeeding (in my mind) where many others fail.

The caveat: you will have to get past the fact that they lifted their A-plot from a minor bit in Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic.  The primary protagonist Perf and his ridiculously terrible intelligent talking sword are virtually indistinguishable from Rincewind and Kring, respectively.  So there’s that.  Once you get comfy with that fact, there’s a whole lot of delightfully memorable character moments to find:  everything from a hilariously bullheaded warrior mindlessly smashing his way through a temple of thought-traps (much to the chagrin of the temple’s architect), to a pair of dueling bards competing for the right to chronicle the ongoing story without compromising their narrative neutrality, to a trio of orcish hunters who will immediately make you regret every single wandering monster encounter you ever diced your way through, to the world’s most progressive barbarian conqueror, to a heartbreaking cleric-turned-lich struggling to hold onto his faith despite the fact that his increasingly-silent god seems to view him as a greater abomination than the evils he struggles against.  It’s surprisingly meaty stuff.

Anyway, check out the Kickstarter page, take a gander at seasons one and two on YouTube, and see if you agree.  And if you do, consider helping a bunch of indie filmmakers do what they do very well.

Read Full Post »

Social Issues Through Comic Books!

Hey, folks!  As part of my ongoing rise to power, the webcomic I share with Shaenon Garrity, “Skin Horse,” is being featured in a Massive Open Online Course on the topic of “Social Issues Through Comic Books.” Apparently it is possible to learn things through the Internet, rather than just at school! Also, you whippersnappers should stay off my lawn! Anyway, it’s kind of surreal to have people studying your stuff on an academic level, but I’mo roll with it. If this sounds like your particular ball of fun, or you just want to hear me embarrass myself at a Google Hangouts interview later this year, do consider checking it out!

Read Full Post »

Skin-Horse.com site woes and ComicPress updates

Hey, gang! Just a quick administrative post to let everyone know, in case they turn here for information (which, judging by stats, is happening): Skin-Horse.com is down due to the new ComicPress update, which was apparently and quite unexpectedly a dramatic enough update that it killed some sites whose code was not compatible with it. Rest assured, it’s on our end, not yours.

While we get things up and running again, keep pace with the comic on the mirror site: http://www.gocomics.com/skinhorse. Thank you for your readership, and hope to be back to full power soon.

Read Full Post »

“Skin Horse” website troubles, and a workaround!

Hey, folks. Anyone following “Skin Horse” will notice that the site has been pretty near constantly down for the past several days! We’re working with our hosting company on a solution, but in the meantime, to keep pace with the comic, please see our syndication site over on GoComics. Thank you for your readership!

Read Full Post »

“Tales of the Starbuck Avenger!!!” now in definitive form!

The first bit of writing on this site you may want to check out is the shiny new .epub edition of “Tales of the Starbuck Avenger!!!”, my long-running Internet serial story. If you’ve been to this site before and snagged a copy of “Tales…” prior to today, you’ll want to trash that sucker and grab a whole new copy! Unless, you know, you’ve got sentimental attachment, in which case, feel free to just download the new version. Why, you ask? Oh, I don’t know, how about a brand-spanking new cover image by the inestimable Shaenon K. Garrity? Additionally, less flashy but no less important, numerous small typographical and tonal corrections have been provided courtesy of the similarly inestimable Feech! Finally: this (I think) final version at last contains all the extant formal completed fan-art produced during the run of the piece. In short, this is the one you’ll want to show your kids. Assuming you want to show your kids a story about a girl who says “fuck” a lot. Because she does. Hoo boy, does she ever.

Anyhow, check it out on the E-Books Page, or, if you’re feeling lazy, right here. Enjoy!

-Jeff

Read Full Post »

Welcome!

Hi, folks! Welcome to the new writing journal / blog / whatever the heck this is! Kick off your shoes and stay for a while.

Some (well, okay, most) of you have probably arrived here from other venues rather than stumbling upon the site directly, but, this welcome post remains the same, whether you’re a refugee of my audience on LiveJournal, a fan of “Skin Horse” come to check out what one of the co-authors does when he’s not writing comic scripts, or simply a bewildered surfer who hit upon this site by random chance after making a really profound typographical error in the URL box.  This is to be my home for writing on the web for, I hope, many years to come.  A couple basic points, as much for my reference as for yours:

1. The intention here is that this blog will serve as a storehouse and showcase for my work.  This means, fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your preferences), I’m going to be keeping the place pretty devoid of fan-labor and other derived works.  Inasmuch as I am a Professional Author, I think it behooves me to have at least one site that reflects this fact.
2. On a similar note, this is not a personal blog.  Chattiness will be at a minimum, and confined to these administrative posts.  You will, alas, have to look elsewhere for details on what flavor oatmeal I had for breakfast.  It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, because I am in love with the sound of my own virtual voice and will happily chatter away given half an opening.  It’s just that this isn’t the place.
3. Monthly content updates.  I’m starting modest on this; I’ve got a daily comic strip going and other writing commitments on top of that.  If this starts going swimmingly I may up the scheduled frequency, but for now, I’m going to start with a somewhat less ambitious goal to avoid the inevitable apology-posts that absolutely no one wants to see, especially the author.

I think that’s about it!  Stay tuned for content just as soon as WordPress deigns to allow me to post some, and as I said, welcome!  It’s good to be here.

-Jeff

Read Full Post »