MangaKast has Moved...

As I'm sure many of you have heard, Weekly Shounen Jump has changed its publication date. The translations were scheduled to come out Friday, but we managed (like many people who were crashing the various translation sites) to read them on Thursday afternoon. We decided to stick with a Friday AM publication, anyway, because, honestly, I suspect it will settle into that soon enough. Anyway, you can get the link to our podcast here: mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/22-we-love-you/

In this podcast, I actually spend some time trying to figure out why this last chapter left me feeling unsettled. Ultimately, I think I decided it was the questions that a certain scene opened... but go listen. I'm actually fairly articulate for once, which is fairly amazing considering how little coffee I had before we started this.

At Wyrdsmiths last night I was overwhelmed by a desire to doodle and drew this on my paper cup:

I call her "meep" and she seems to be at least partly inspired by Digger (by Ursula Vernon), which Mason has been re-reading. She also has a very long, dinosaur like tail on the other side of the cup and has probably been recycled by now.... but she made me think that I should try to draw a graphic novel type thing with these kinds of fantasy characters. Because, you know, if I don't get the bodies just right, WHO WOULD EVEN KNOW?? :-)

Tuesdays with Tate

Today is Tuesday, which means you can read the newest installment of my work-in-progress, UnJust Cause, a serialization of the sequel to Precinct 13. In this episode, Alex hangs out with the werewolf biker gang while on run from the demon agents... http://www.wattpad.com/67753844-unjust-cause-part-21-heart-breakers-and-heart

When Rivendell Calls, I Answer

The Rivendell Discussion Group of the Mythopoeic Society has invited me to join their discussion of "The Hobbit: That Wasn't in the Book" at Common Good Books in St. Paul on Monday, September 22 at 7 PM. (September 22, of course, being the date recognized as Bilbo and Frodo's birthday by most Hobbit/LotRs fans.)

Apparently, Gandalf David was having some trouble finding a burglar panelist for this gig. I'm not quite sure about this funny mark he's left of my door, but I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm not really the adventurous type, you know. Do hope there might be a bit of singing, though (and some sexy dwarves.)

Fingers crossed. See you there, perhaps.

Fingers to the Keyboard, Nose to the Grindstone

I'm having one of those writing days where I feel like every word I write is stupid and nothing comes easily. It's only annoying because I haven't had much time to write this weekend, since I worked both Saturday and Sunday.

When I have days like this, I always remember back to the interview I did with Neil Gaiman for Science Fiction Chronicle back in god-knows-how-long-ago. He talked about that classic idea that really, showing up is the biggest part of writing, but his contribution to that old saw was that it's worth the effort. At the end of a novel or story or whatever, for the most part you can't really tell the difference in the writing between the days when every word was like squeezing blood from a turnip and the ones where you felt like the Muse dribbled gold out each finger. So, you know, the difference between someone who writes and someone who doesn't, is that the writer just keeps banging away, even when it's hard. (That's the gist of it, except, of course, he said it cleverer.)

Also, I take comfort that someone like Neil Gaiman has had shit-for-writing days, too.