I'm a big fan of Dylan Meconis' online graphic novels. But I have trouble reading comix online on my screen. So I'm delighted to learn (thanks, pamola!) that the wonderful Bite Me ("Vive les Vamps!") is now available in folding version, suitable for bathtub, subway & kitchen table reading. So Go Buy Bite Me!

Happy new discovery: THE JIMMIES - a hot, tight band for the preschool set. I think my favorite video so far is It's Cool to be Uncool - with Bedhead a close second. I suspect this is one kids' album you won't mind hearing the 501st time the little one hits Play.....

Finally, the enterprising shadesong is raffling off some very cool stuff to raise $ to send her smart, adorable daughter (whom I've met at Readercon) to a special Summer Program for, well, smart kids.

Enjoy!

Yesterday, here (in a frenzy of artistic self-pity over work going badly), I likened trying to fit Riverside into short story form to "trying to fit an elephant into panty hose."

yaoi_in_exile responded with ( this: )

Sometimes whining piteously gets good results. Don't tell the children. Like swearing and drinking, this is for adults only.

Artist Craig Hamilton is having a Fire Sale to raise money to keep from being evicted. He's selling off pretty much everything. Some pretty amazing stuff, there, especially his Neverland series. I first met Craig when a friend commissioned a Richard & Alec drawing from him - but as far as I know, it's not up on his site . . . yet.

Our beloved pal Doselle Young (and friends) are signing The Darker Mask ("a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes...[but in] a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white... and male...") in LA this Saturday 8/23, 3-5 pm.

I've been wondering for a long time whether I could write a comics script. All the cool kids are doing it. But can I?

livelongnmarry's auction has given me the strength to find out. It's for charity, after all, isn't it? And a charity my wife and I support wholeheartedly. (We were legally married in Massachusetts - in our backyard - before we moved to NYC. Your heart would break to hear our plaintive cries of "Now we're living in sin!" every time we cross the border, and our shouts of joy every time we re-enter that Blessed State. Wouldn't it be nice if California led the way in being another safe haven for our union - and a locale for many others'?)

Tongue only somewhat in cheek, I've been scribbling a shortish script* about the young Theron Campion's pre-Fall of the Kings enthusiasm to right an ancient wrong (that predictably enough involves a gorgeous young Riversider no better than he should be), plus his father, the Mad Duke** . . . It's called "A Riverside Marriage" and what I'm auctioning is your chance to illustrate the entire comic (Fan Use Rights only), and post the creative collaboration on my website.***

The amazing Colleen Doran would have liked to outbid you, but she's on deadline, so instead she's offering a single original illustration at the auction. (Thank you, Colleen, for supporting the cause!)

So if you can't draw, pay Colleen to do it for you! If you can, but you're short of the ready, put together a consortium of artist pals to share the drawing duty - and the glory (and expense)! Minimum bid is $75, but please get into a bloody bidding war with dollars and body parts flying everywhere. It's for charity, after all.

livelongnmarry's auction runs only through July 15th. And a good thing, too. The suspense would kill me.

*And may I say how much I love writing comics script? All I have to write is the dialogue!! Someone else does the description!!! Why didn't I think of this yeeeears ago?

**It's also got the Duchess Katherine, head in hand, going: "Oh, Theron..." a lot. blackholly said I should put that in, and who can deny her?

***I will also answer any questions you have while drawing it.