Want to read some comics?

Remember Bristol Comic Expo? Seems like months ago already, back when the temperature was barely average for the time of year…. Anyhoo, I bought some comics while I was there, so here are a few thoughts and notions:

Tales from the Ramada Bar: behind the scenes at Bristol Comic Expo

There will, believe it or not, be some visitors to this blog who have never attended a Comic Expo.

In fact, there will be people for whom the concept of a Comic Expo shrieks of sweat-stained hobbits in Iron Maiden t-shirts and unfortunately-tight jeans talking earnestly about whether this reboot of Reboot Man is better or worse than the last reboot whilst trying to ignore the perky girls in hot pants roller skating by….

Well. You’re a little bit right. These things do happen. But in general, going to a Comic Expo is more like going to the pub with your mates. With shopping.

PLUG! Two new comics out this weekend!

I am a woman of many hats. Writer, environmental consultant, avid watcher of James Bond films, lover of cheese, wife…. And also – as of this Saturday – publisher of comics.

Disconnected Press is the name of the venture, and we’re launching two small anthologies at the Bristol Comic Expo this weekend.

Give me a Pro; give me a -crast; give me an -ination!

And what have you got?

Monday!

I’ve been variously distracted today by emptying the kitchen bin, making coffee, looking at my work email, reading the Guardian website (twice) and flicking through an Armando Iannucci book. All of which have been very entertaining (well, maybe not the kitchen bin)…

So in a fit of writerly guilt, I decided to do some writerly things to break the pattern and shake myself out of my distracted fug.

A new piece of flash fiction for your delectation

Recently, Writing.ie and the Anam Cara Writers Retreat organised a flash fiction competition, with the theme “A Garden of Eden”. I entered and….

I didn’t win. You can see the shortlisted stories here; congratulations to those who made it! The bright side of this is that it means I have a story that I can share with you. I’d love to know what you think, so here, without further ado, is my interpretation of the theme, entitled Paradise Regained.

Women In Comics… (more specifically, women in a comic)

So I’ve just read the first book of Rachel Rising by Terry Moore (and I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers). It’s dark, it’s moody, it adds layers of mystery with every page and I am now impatient to read more.

Something that marks it out amongst comics is the prevalence of female characters, from Rachel herself to Jet the mechanic, Aunt Johnny the morgue worker and the incredible Zoe (read it, she is compelling). Yep, there’s a mechanic-girl and a morgue-woman, both of whom are introduced in their workplaces in an androgynous, even masculine way. Terry Moore is playing here: you’re expecting a guy? Here’s a girl. This is a world where women drive the plot, solve the mysteries, make things happen, and are both the victims and the causes of violence. It’s refreshing. Traditionally, in literature and in comics, a woman was either a virgin or a whore,  a simpering sweetheart or a villainous vixen. Times are thankfully changing, and Terry Moore is giving us something different with his women: good gals, bad gals, confused gals, girls who do bad things yet still have you rooting for them.

So what about the men? Sorry, guys, but you’re not going to like this. The men in Rachel Rising are a venal, sleazy, cruel, easily led lot. Nice guys give you a ride home and then get the hell out of town (woe betide you if you try to help). Everyone else will betray some kind of weakness or perversion or downright weirdness before long.

So we have a world of mixed-up, stereotype busting women, alive, dead and all points in between, alongside a bunch of men who frankly deserve what’s coming to them. What’s not to like?!

Buy Rachel Rising from Terry Moore’s store or, as I did, from the lovely people at Orbital Comics.

Only when the clock stops does time come to life

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have heard my enthusiasm for the fair town of Middlesbrough earlier this week. It was my first time there; the sun was out; the people were friendly; and I tracked down two of life’s essentials: a comics shop and a Gregg’s (pasty-gate permitting).

The other thing I tracked down was MIMA – the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art – a great glass cube in the heart of town with a quirky and eclectic mix of art, sculpture and video installations.

One installation had me completely hooked. John Gerrard‘s video installation shows a Cuban school from the 1960s, now derelict and skeletal. You, the viewer, slowly orbit the school at ground level, one orbit equals one day. Nothing really happens.

So far, so modern art, eh?

Crossover Mash-Up Hybrid Superhero Project

Here it is: the crossover mash-up hybrid superhero project you’ve all been waiting for. A confluence of stuff means that today, 1 March 2012, is World Book Day, St David’s Day and Creator Owned Day (inspired by comic book artist Stephen Downey). In honour of all of these, I’d like you to meet three brand new members of the superhero pantheon:

Tea and Comics

Back from Cardiff Comic Expo with a huge pile of new comics, the remnants of a hangover and a day off work to deal with both.

My recovery started with a nice cup of tea and a reading of a new anthology: Into the Woods. It’s a collection of fairy tales, reworked and retold by a variety of writers and artists, under the stewardship of Stacey Whittle. If you don’t know Stacey, you don’t know comics: she is the queen of the small press, one half of the Small Press Big Mouth podcast and a passionate advocate of all that independent comics can offer.

So it’s interesting to see her switch her reviewing shoes for editing ones. Talking to her at Cardiff Expo about launching Into The Woods, she was excited, relieved and terrified all at the same time. She didn’t need to be terrified: Into The Woods is a well-balanced anthology with a consistently high level of work throughout.

Everyone will pick their favourites: I loved the unspoken hints of nastiness at the end of Rich McAuliffe and Sara Dunkerton‘s Red Riding Hood; the oppressive atmosphere of The Madness From the Sea (by Scott Harrison, Lee Grice and Filiip Roncone); the beautiful, gentle ending of A Time For A Change by Ollie Masters and Valia Kapadai.

If I could only take one of these stories on my desert island though, it would be Black Shoes, as told by Daniel Clifford, David Wynne and Ian Sharman. Set in the early 1970s, it creates a great sense of place and time and quickly conveys the relationships between mother / daughter and schoolgirl / suitor. Our heroine finds herself in a perilous situation of her own making, and her solution is as brutal as it is inevitable. I believe that the best fairy tales carry a warning on their gossamer wings; for me, Black Shoes issues its warning cry loudest of all in this anthology.

You can buy Into The Woods for just £5 at Ayesaw Comics or read more about it at Stacey’s blog. Definitely a worthwhile investment!

Sensible Saturday – A Conference on How to Get Published

Spent the day at the Writers and Artists “How to Get Published” conference learning, um, how to get published. I’ve boiled it down and boiled it down and finally have something approaching jam. So here are my Ten Commandments of getting published:

1. Thou shalt follow the submission guidelines – just do what they say and no-one will get hurt.

2.Thou shalt follow the submission guidelines – no, really, we don’t want any trouble here.

3.Thou shalt do thy homework – don’t send sci fi to a romance agent / publisher; whether they like it or not, they just won’t know what to do with it (paraphrasing there).

4.Thou shalt woo thy potential agent or publisher with the same care and attention that you wooed (woo’d?) your beloved – oh yes, you have to find out what makes them tick, what they like, what they hate, who else they’ve dated / published, where they live, what their PIN number is… oh no, hang on, some of those aren’t quite right….

5.Thou shalt not apologise for thy work – humility kicks in when you accept your Booker, not when you’re trying to get noticed. However:

6.Thou shalt not puff thyself up unduly – leave your ego in the wardrobe and wear your writing instead.

7.Thou shalt not waffle. Full stop.

8.Thou shalt not have a spelling mistake, a punctuation error or any kind of slip that makest thou seem like an amateruish dingbat.

9.Thou shalt not get impatient or huffy when the agent or publisher takes some time to reply – they’re busy people but they will read you and they will respond, especially if you obey number 10.

10. Thou shalt only submit books that are really, really good. The moral of the whole thing was that if the book is good enough, you can break at least some of Commandments 1-9. If the book is a pile of proverbial, then go back and start again.

Sage advice from Carole Blake (superagent), Richard Charkin (senior bod at Bloomsbury), Cressida Dowling (book adviser, editorial consultant etc) and the marvellous Barbara Trapido (seemingly accidential novelist), plus a panel of even more agents (Patrick Walsh, Madeline Buston and James Gill). A lot of wisdom in one room including some lovely fellow writers to talk to in the breaks.  Particularly lovely to meet Charlie Wilson, aka The Book Specialist, Amanda who co-produces Harold the Platypus and Ann Thomas who has written and recorded the Enchanted Empire stories. Add decent coffee and comfy chairs and it was a pretty decent day out.