This is me.

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This post by Ally Carter comes at just the right time, because I’m having a bought of the crazies myself. Mine are probably not like yours–I tend to become quiet, lie in darkened bedrooms, and mutter to myself about all the ways I’ve screwed up.

I’m not fishing for encouragement; I’ve said before that encouragement makes me uncomfortable. Still, I’m going to have to come to some kind of balance, or work out a way to put marketing and sales out of my mind. I’ll find success the way every other writer does: by writing books people want to read.

It’s not going to happen by looking at Twitter traffic, or by skimming the Random House bestsellers to see where my book is rated, or by checking Amazon.com sales rankings, or any of that. I just have to work on my next book.

Storytelling, Heroes, and The Goon.

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I just deleted a long post I’d written about The Goon, which was brought on by reading the trades. It was Volume 8: Those That Is Damned.

It was about happiness, and heroism, and how happiness is for people who are too fucking weak to get out into the world and face down evil and misery. It was also about how fundamental this is to so many heroic story structures. It was also about my own need for order and how fucking weak I am that I pursue happiness when I could be doing more and risking more for justice.

But I couldn’t make my point, possibly because I was talking about a lesson I learned from a beautiful comic book about violent antihero criminals who fight zombies and ghosts, who pal around with werewolves and a giant spider in a bowler hat, and all the humor comes from poo-flinging and punches to the face. In other words, an oddball horror comic that’s full of raw, sophomoric humor and incredibly dark characters and storylines. It didn’t seem to fit, but there you go.

They’re terrific books, though; as the stories go past, they acquire a depth you would never really expect. They’re that well written. If you have a chance to check them out (of the library, maybe?) you should.

BTW, here’s a few sample pages of the comic. The art is representative (iow, beautiful), but it doesn’t capture the verve of the book.

On to other things

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Game of Cages is officially on the bookstore shelves (or in your hot little hands) and I can move on with my life. Maybe.

For instance, my father-in-law took one glance at the Lego guns my son has been building, and he insisted my wife take photos of them. Like this:

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or

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There’s more at the Flickr set.

Needless to say, I suspect we’ll be visiting Brickcon this fall.

Randomness for 9/6

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1) While I have pretty much given up on DOCTOR WHO, the chances are you haven’t. In recognition of that, a link: Warren Ellis challenges artists to create a photograph/original artwork depicting the 13th (and final) reincarnation of The Doctor. It takes a while for the art to really start coming in, so be sure to skim through the pages to check it out. Some is pretty cool.

2) “Vampire” skull discovered.

3) 600 Hanna Barbera Characters This pretty much has to be viewed at the original size. And I reject the notion that “Snorkle” was the main character on The Banana Splits. I reject it!

4) Brazillian Legolas of the cell phones.

5) A quick summation of the problems inherent in our student loan system.

6) Seanan McGuire, this year’s Campbell Award winner, lays out the dos and don’ts for folks who want to support an author with a new book out. Like her, I would rather people not send me notes about Amazon.com reviews. Unlike her, it’s because I’ve already read them. The other stuff she says is pretty much spot on, too.

7) Oh. My. God. Why didn’t anyone tell me David Fincher was making an animated movie of THE GOON??!! There’s even a trailer already! Video. It looks incredible! WANT!!!