Category Archives: State of the Conq

More Book News

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Sent my book to the editor the other day. I’m using Jordan Rosenfeld’s editing services. She’s great, and I highly recommend her. She looked over my manuscript once before and gave me great direction and guidance. Hope she’s ready because this draft is almost totally different from the one I showed her before.

Yes, I’ve been working on this novel for too, too long. Time to set it free to sink or swim. I’ve got another two books in the wings that I’m working on, so that’s interesting. Tang of Fate, my first novel, is a fantasy work about a woman who’s trying to stop an evil sorcerer and his skeleton army by finding a hidden power somewhere in the lost north. Fun times! There’s elves and buffalo and wizards and magic and stuff blows up.

Going to be starting a mailing list soon with all sorts of goodies. Not sure yet what form it will take, but stay tuned. It’s all happening this year. Next year. Whatever.

Not Dead Yet

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Hey, folks. Dusting this old blog off to say hello and let you know that I have not died. I’ve just been much busier on Twitter @MrWBrust and working on World Anvil and the novel as a whole. Plus that whole full-time job thing. I also write a blog for my full-time job over here.

World Anvil is this amazing tool that lets you create entire worlds filled with cultures, characters, maps, cuisines, mythologies, basically anything you need to populate the fictional world of your design. The community is huge and the choices are immense. The site is friggin’ huge, is what I’m getting at.

Yes, I saw Endgame. That was amazing of course. We can talk about that in the comments if you want.

Also been collecting and building worlds of LEGO, but that’s another story.

Anyway, will try to be more active here as well. Blogging’s hard work. Be gentle with me.

On a Break

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Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates. Trying to get this book done, and between work and living with parents, it’s taking forever.

As you can probably guess, I’m updating to let you know there won’t be any updates for a good, long while. When the book is done, I’ll get back to it. Probably with a new look. We’ll see.

Gods and Monsters and More!

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Hey, folks! Long-time readers may remember me talking eons ago about a book called “The Emerald Sword.” I’m still working on it, but NOW I have come up with a plan to have the final draft done in just ten short weeks.

Ok, ten regular-length weeks, but you get the idea.

The novel is about a fiery redheaded girl who embarks on a quest to save her family from an evil wizard and his skeleton army and winds up embroiled in a conflict that may lead to the destruction of all she holds dear. Plus, there are werewolves, fairies, dragons, buffalo, and maybe even some chocolate if I can squeeze it in there.

Depending on how the agent hunt goes, we could be looking at publication as early as 2020 or even later! Whoopee!!

Space Dracula stands on an asteroid in space.

Space Dracula approves of this message. (I made this one years and years ago. In MS Paint. So, yeah.)

I’ve also been working on making the site more accessible to my blind visitors and those with slower internet connections. PLEASE let me know if you have trouble accessing any part of this site! I’ve been adding alt-text and image description to all my images. A bunch got erased on accident and had to be either replaced or junked indefinitely (don’t leave me alone with computers). So now most of the images on this site should be friendly to screen readers. I’m only now getting started with this sort of thing, so please be patient and let me know if I’m doing this right.

I haven’t added descriptions yet for my Bubblegum-Man and In His Spare Time comics. I’ll be working on those soon!

Finally, I’m toying with the idea of putting In His Spare Time up in the comic space. Probably plow through some of my back catalog before posting new material. Let me know what you think.

Concerns Regarding Disney’s buy-out of Fox

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It’s a simple enough concept. Power and trust have an inverse relationship, at least where the human race is concerned. This has been true in government, business, and religion with few exceptions.

Today, Disney purchased Fox Studios. X-Men, Fantastic Four, and I assume everything created by Groening and McFarlane now owned by a single company.

This is reason for concern. Monopolies hurt consumers by limiting choice. A monopoly on art, however, would limit culture.

Imagine it. All geeky movies, all scifi franchises, controlled, filtered, processed, and packaged by a single entity with a single vision. And it wouldn’t stop there, of course. Soon, tv, books, magazines. Everything under one umbrella.

Not just geeky stuff either. All sit-coms, dramas, period pieces. Every historical picture telling only one version of a market-adapted, corporate-approved history.

Imagine new and veteran writers, both struggling to find room for professional publication. How will they gain wider audiences if their voices do not align with the vision of a publishing monopoly?

Sure, there’s blogs and vlogs. Things go viral all the time. But for now at least, the prospect of paid work resides almost exclusively with traditional publishers. The industry is changing, yes. Patreon and self-publishing software and platforms make it easier than ever for artists to go independent. In other words, to flood the market with free and purchasable content.

Guess which is more popular online?

Maybe I’m exaggerating. I hope I’m wrong. But answer me this: Would we as Americans be ok with exclusively state-sponsored, state-owned media?

If so, this is not the country I thought this was.

If not, why are we ok with Disney owning all our movies and TV shows? All our content?

Should one company have final say on what American (popular) culture looks like?

In the meantime, I hope my fellow writers are either busy Disney-fying their voices as quickly as possible or else preparing to hang on to independent thought as long as possible. Let the record show I shall ever belong to the latter camp.

“I bow not yet before the Iron Crown, / nor cast yet my own small golden sceptre down” –J.R.R. Tolkien

The Road Ahead

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Hiya, kids! Well, Bubblegum-Man #3 is currently updating. We’ll be putting up a page a week until the end of December. That should keep y’all slimy and satisfied. After issue 3 ends, I’ll start putting up issue 4 and 5 as soon as I can. Hopefully, we won’t have as much of a break as after issue 2. Once the current story arc is completed, I’m going to see what we can do to get a store up and running. I’d like to start selling T-Shirts with the Toxic Inc. logo (that fancy smiley-face with skull/crossbones thing up at the top there), but moreso I want to make a full-color graphic novel collecting the first Bubblegum-Man story arc: The Archon Invasion.

I have some ideas of what could come next for the world’s Stickiest Superhuman, but for now, consider the saga closed with the end of issue 5. Should be a fitting conclusion. I may be posting some old In His Spare Time comics up top, so keep an eye out for those as well.

News – 6/24/17

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Hey, kids. Here are some quick updates to what I’ve been doing.

  • Final (?!) revisions to Emerald Sword are underway. Still rethinking that title. At current pace, my fantasy novel will be ready for agents around July 15 or so.
  • Finished inking/coloring Bubblegum-Man #3 on the big paper. Working on #4 right now. Issue 4 may be a double-sized deluxe-edition. Once these are done, the current story arc will end. In other words, you can expect Bubblegum-Man #3 on this website within the next month or so.
  • Working on Iron Man armor for Dragon-Con. I’ll be down on Sunday this year. I spend most of my time in the dealer room, scavenging comics and coveting rare action figures I cannot afford.
  • Posted two new videos to the Youtubes. Here’s the good one:

I forgot to turn off the air conditioning for that first one, so…yeah.

  • Started watching Rick and Morty this summer. Good stuff!
  • Rebecca Cohen and Ethan Kocak still make better webcomics than me.
  • Someone made a Wheel of Time -themed metal song:

So there’s that.

  • This kid on Youtube wants 5 likes. Let’s help’em out:

Adorable, right?

Last Dragon Day – May 8

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English literature is awash with great heroes. One of literature’s most venerable heroes is the star of the anonymously-authored Beowulf. This bold Viking set out to save his lord Hrothgar’s people from a vicious monster called Grendel, slew the monster’s mother and her brood of sea serpents.

After these exploits, the author claims that Beowulf participates in the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vanern on the side of Lord Eadgils against the Swedish King Onela.

Beowulf then reigns as King of the Geats for 51 years before a dragon rises to threaten his domain. Taking up his sword and shield once more, great Beowulf set off to challenge the beast. In the end, dragon and hero killed each other.

With the exception of the Lambton Worm and a few other medieval sightings, this was the last Western European dragon. In honor of the beast and the hero, we commemorate May 8 as Last Dragon Day. Why May 8? Well, the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vanern took place around 530 AD. The battle with the dragon took place 51 years later, in 581.

5/8/1. Technically, Last Dragon Day should start at 1pm. But whatever.

It’s simple to celebrate Last Dragon Day. First, you’ll need a cape. Next, a sword. Preferably one that is obviously fake, so you don’t get shot by any overeager cops, soccer moms, or neighborhood watch people. Finally, you’ll need a place where you can consume vast quantities of sausage, steak, meat pies, breads, and (preferably) dark soda*.

The day starts at 1pm with the consumption of a single, whole jalapeño to taste the fire of the beast and honor the dragon. Revelry begins at night. Gather friends for your warrior band and have yourself a heady night of soda*, song, and merry-making!

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*where appropriate

Enough Talk.

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Ok. So by now, you’re either freaking out or wondering why everyone else is. I’m going to lay off the political posts for a while. Instead of complaining and shouting on here, I’m going to start contacting my representatives. I encourage you to do the same, should you feel it necessary.

 

As for this blog, we will go back to talking about fantasy fiction. Superheroes, monsters, and knights. Stuff like that.

Super Bowl PSA

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Hey, folks. Quick reminder that the NFL retains full copyright and trademark privileges for the words “Super Bowl.” So whether referring to your Super Bowl party, planning to attend the Super Bowl, or discussing the results of the Super Bowl after Super Bowl Sunday, please remember to refer to the Super Bowl only as the “Big Game” and not the Super Bowl.

By law, only the NFL is allowed to call the Super Bowl the “Super Bowl.” I know it’s ridiculous, but sometimes that’s just the way the super bowls.

No matter who you’re rooting for, please be safe on Super Bowl Sunday while watching the Super Bowl. Be safe getting home after the Super Bowl is over. And never, ever call the Super Bowl the “Super Bowl.”

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

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Super Bowl.