Call me "Storyteller" Part the 2nd!

For years  I've been referring to myself as (alternately) a Journalist and as a storyteller. While both are true, a more accurate descriptor would be that, even as a journalist, my best articles were, in fact stories. 

Part of this reason is that, where my own learning has taken place, I've always been better at learning/remembering something if it was related to me as a story, rather than simply as a fact (probably why I was always better at English than Math). Needless to say, I've always been able to spin a good yarn. 

A short while back, in an earlier post, I shared a few links for some print stories that I had written. Well, since that time, I have penned a few more stories that reside online, and I would like to share those links with you now.

First up, is a story of a slightly different genre than I've been writing in, this one a romance story. This was in response to a writer's prompt in the attempt to get the story included in an anthology. Unfortunately, the story didn't make the cut, but it still is readable online, here. The story is entitled Good Morning Cupcake, and is the tale of a woman approaching 50 who is a widow, and on the cusp of a relationship with an older male friend whom she has known professionally for well over a decade. Part of my reasoning for making the couple older, is that so many "love" stories are about young teens or 20somethings, and I really just wanted to write a story about an older couple (finally) finding true love.

illustration by Carl Morgans

The second story Night of the Owl, operates on more familiar ground, as it is the backstory of a Golden Age superhero whose adventures I've been chronicling (along with others) in InDELLible Comics. Those of us who are working on stories for InDELLible are playing in a sandbox of Public Domain characters that were once published by Dell Comics back in the '50s & '60s. These comics and prose anthologies can be found on Amazon. We've written a bunch, and more are on the way.

The third story is an original piece that I penned while officiating a flash fiction story writing exercise at a comic con several years back. (To be sure, my piece wasn't so much entered in the contest I was proctoring, as it was done to pass my time while the actual contestants were writing their stories. My story sat around all these years with no where to go, until I discovered this website where I could post it.

Currently I'm writing more short stories, and just may wind up posting them online in one of these two sites. So, keep your eyes open as there is more to come, so stay tuned!

The Fantasy has Arrived!

 

Hey kids, it ;looks like my latest published work is finally here! Yup, that’s right, The two-volume set anthology Writers Unite! Dimensions of Fantasy has dropped, and is is officially available on Amazon in both print and ebook formats (vol. 1). The links for vol. 2 are here both print and ebook formats. 

My short story There Be Dragons appears in Volume #1.

Needless to say, you can either purchase the book(s) online, or directly from me (for vol. 1 only; you’ll need to go online for copies of v2).

This is the third time this year that I've had a short prose story of mine published. The first time was in InDELLiprose #2, the second time was in Writers Unite Dimensions of the Wild West Vol 2.

And that doesn't even count my illustrated story in Crackerjack Comics #3! or even the several magazines and books I've produced for my clients. So yeah, I'm having something of a very cool year. 

If you want copies of my stuff, you can either contact me directly (and I'll provide autographed copies of whatever I have (prices vary), or you could search them out online, or from the original publishers (like the most amazing Jim Main (jmain44@aol.com) or  Paul Kupperberg. 

So there you have it. although there is more stuff to come including (hopefully) a webpage dedicated to selling off books I've produced as well as books and magazines that I've written for over the years. 

Talk to all'y'all next year effendis! 

2019 was a very busy year!

So, it occurs to me that not only have I not posted here in a bit, but that I've actually been quite busy over the past several months, and the probability exist that I have been remiss about informing all'y'all about what I've been up to during the past year or so.

So, to rectify, I’ve decided to take a few moments and bring all'y'all up to speed on what I’ve been doing.
I suppose that at the top of the list, I’ve been posting movie and comic reviews over at HubPages. You should head over there and sign up to subscribe and receive regular updates as to what I find cool enough to write about.

Some of the film reviews (those dealing with monsters and creatures of the night), tend to wind up over on the We Love Monsters Facebook page as well as in their print editions(s).

As far as comicbook writing goes, I want to start back in 2018 (actually) with the inclusion of my short story Birds of Prey in the Wunderfunders anthology Memorial, The Great War Centennial Anthology The book was published for the 100^th anniversary of the first World War (The war to end all wars).

My short story told the tale of an American who witnessed both the initial flights of Gustave Whitehead and the Wright Brothers, then went off to England to help in the war effort over there prior to the U.S. entering the war. His story (briefly) documents the use of airplanes in the war effort.

My story was penciled by Greg Kimmet, inked by Dustin Pageloff, colored by Melissa Compton, and lettered by Jason Sylvestree, with the splash page colored by Christopher Geary.

Memorial is a sequential art anthology to commemorate those who fought and fell in the course of the first world war, and to benefit the children of the world caught up in the wars still being fought. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Warchild UK.

Next up (in 20190), I was invited by Ramon Gil to participate in a Kickstarter anthology project of his, by writing a short science fiction story (which Ramon then illustrated) for this wonderful SciFies Anthology. My story had kind of a fun twist to it, one which I believe came out very well.

I had previously worked with Ramon on a one-page story for a Phrases to Pages story for Pronto Comics, as well as having contributed the introduction to his first SciFies collection.

Working with Ramon, is always a pleasure (He has also invited me to attend his FIT Diversity Con in NYC on two occasions.)

This was followed by a short Halloween story that I penned for InDELLible Comics’ Tales from the Tomb anthology (The Witch and the Wolf, illustrated by the ever amazing Carl Morgans). InDELLible is comprised of a consortium of writers and artist who have taken it upon themselves to revive the (now Public Domain) characters of the defunct publisher, Dell Comics.

InDELLible also publishes the Popular Comics anthology (which is now up to issue #3). Issue #4 (due out in 2020) will (hopefully) have short story by me included that stars The Golden Age Owl Girl. Other InDELLible comics include Cartoon Cuties by Rock Baker, The House of Spades (which will contain the third chapter of my Wülf Girlz series), and CrackerJack Funnies which carries a Chanukah story of mine (Home for the Holidays), illustrated by the wicked-talented Carl Morgans.

InDELLible also published (in 2019) an InDELLiprose edition that contained prose stories of these same Dell heroes. That initial edition contained a short story of min featuring the Golden Age Owl Girl entitled Byline. A follow-up prose story with both Owl Girl and The Owl (entitled Hate by any Other Name) will appear in the second edition, due out in 2020.

(As soon as these other stories are available, I’ll be posting links as to where folks can acquire them.) In the mean time, just to keep you interested and to whet your appetite, I'll tease you with just a taste of the amazing artwork by Carl.

While these are the most recent, works that I have penned, there is also a short prose story of mine in the Metahumans vs. the Ultimate Evil entitled Northern Lite from 2016. I do have a couple of other short stories that have been written and are slated for publication; more on those as they come to fruition.

In addition to these stories of mine, I have contributed to some other publications, including two articles in Munster Memories, then there is an old interview of mine that I conducted with Mike Grell that was added to the TwoMorrows book by Dewey Cassell — Mike Grell: Life is Drawing without an Eraser, and of course the two Stan Lee books about drawing superheroes, Stan Lee's How to Draw Superheroes and Stan Lee's Master Class in which I wrote four chapters each (allowing me to say, with no ego, and in my best Chevy Chase voice, “I'm Stan Lee and you're not.”)

Then, not only am I a fairly prolific writer, but I’m something of a one-man production company as well in that I have preform pre-press production and editorial tasks for several clients, including Main Enterprises, Stone Island Comics, Red Anvil/JGM, Glass House Graphics, Macrospasm Studios, Hippy Comix, Big Apple Convention, and others. Some of the many books and magazines on which I have worked appear in the image below.

More to follow as the year progresses...