Thursday, May 14, 2009

Me on the radio....

While in Bristol for the Bristol International Comic Expo, I had the pleasure of being invited into the BCfm studio to be interviewed by Mark Le-Leivre for his Movies and Music Programme.

In case you missed the show, broadcast live on 9th May, I've got the interview with me right here to download for your listening pleasure.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Gratuitous Self Promotion

So, it's that Eagle Awards time of year again, with any comic book published in 2008 being eligible for nomination. Now, 2008 was quite a while ago now so I thought it might be usueful for me to...heh....remind you of certain comics that were published during 2008...

Such as Contraband...the Eleventh Hour Collector's Edition...Eleventh Hour Vol 1...Marvel Heroes...

You can nominated by visiting here - http://www.eagleawards.co.uk

So, obviously, go vote for whoever you want to vote for, but, um, here are some suggestions (to be honest, the only ones I'm REALLY bothered about are Favourite Inker, Favourite British Black and White Comicbook and Favourite Artist: Fully-Painted Artwork)...

Favourite Newcomer Writer: Ian Sharman

Favourite Newcomer Artist: Azim Alberali

Favourite Artist: Azim Akberali

Favourite Writer: Cy Dethan

Favourite Writer/Artist: Ian Sharman

Favourite Artist: Pencils: John Charles

Favourite Artist: Inks: Ian Sharman

Favourite Artist: Fully-Painted Artwork: Azim Akberali

Favourite Colourist: John Charles

Favourite Letterer: Ian Sharman

Favourite Editor: Ian Sharman

Favourite Publisher: Orang Utan Comics

Favourite American Colour Comicbook: Dynamo 5

Favourite British Colour Comicbook: Marvel Heroes

Favourite American Black and White Comicbook: ??

Favourite British Black and White Comicbook: Eleventh Hour

Favourite New Comicbook: Eleventh Hour

Favourite Manga: ??

Favourite European Comicbook: ??

Favourite Single Story Publisher During 2008: "Rise And Shine" from Eleventh Hour Vol 1

Favourite Continued Story Published During 2008: Secret Invasion

Favourite Cover Published During 2008: Eleventh Hour Collector's Edition

Favourite Original Graphic Novel Published During 2008: Contraband (Slave Labor)

Favourite Reprint Compilation: Eleventh Hour Collector's Edition

Favourite Magazine about Comics: Comics International

Favourite Comics-Related Book: ??

Favourite Comics-Related Movie or TV Show: Iron Man

Favourite Comics Related Website: Down The Tubes

Favourite Web-Based Comic: Shortpacked

Roll of Honour: Mike Collins

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Into The Light & The Once And Future King

So I have two Elephant Words stories to talk about in this post because I’m a terribly slack blogger…

First up is Into The Light, which is a short tale about the forbidden love between an angel and a demon who meet one day when Jerusalem is changing hands during one of the crusad

es. They can’t be together, despite their love, and, indeed, the very touch of the angel burns the demon’s skin.

Of course, it’s about a lot more than that, it’s about how one can endure the pain of separation for brief moments spent together when that’s all you have. Why? Because the love that you share makes the pain bearable, and the pain of being utterly without each other would be unbearable.

The relationship that the angel and demon have in this story is the ultimate long distance relationship, a subject which is rather close to my heart.

The picture of the dark corridor with the light pouring in at the end was very inspiring. It led me to think about this meeting place between light and dark, and that’s how I started thinking about an angel and a demon meeting there, with the demon watching the angel walk away, back into the light. That led me to the last line…and from there it was a matter of filling in the story in between.

Secondly, we have The Once And Future King. It was my turn to post the picture this week and, I’m afraid, I’ve been rather preoccupied with all sorts of stuff, and so I almost completely forgot to find a picture. So I headed over to one of my favourite stock photo sites from when I was working as a graphic designer (http://www.sxc.hu) and, for some reason, entered “sword” into the search field, which led me to this rather interesting picture. Fast forward a week to today and, you guessed it, I almost completely forgot that I actually had to write a story about it!

Thankfully, for once, the idea came quickly to me. I’ve always been interested in Arthurian legend, and so the idea of the warrior king returning to Britain to save us in our darkest hour sprang to mind. And then it hit me…what use would he be? If he turned up in the middle of a modern day battlefield, he’d be shot in an instant.

It’s a simple twist, little more than a pun, really, but I had fun writing it and, hopefully, people will enjoy reading it.