Hello!

Thank you.

Thank you for what?

Thank you for the kindness you share with others. Thank you for your generosity with your time. Thank you for the compliments you give and the moments when you take a deep breath and do that thing anyway. Thank you for being more than you have to be.

Thank you also for opening and reading this newsletter. This last thank you is way down the list in terms of importance.

These Days …

It’s finally started raining again here in Seattle. As a mail carrier I’m not crazy about it. The USPS has had more than a century to work on the problem of keeping mail dry while delivering in a storm and it hasn’t come up with a solution. It’s embarrassing to deliver soggy letters and magazines. As a Northwest native, I’m delighted to see the wet descending. I moved here for the green. The wet enables the green. So, YAY!

Transmission 06 

This place was quiet. Unless she turned on the microphones, Wilhelmina Grace’s suit kept out most external sounds but this was different. This quiet was more than noiselessness. This quiet was something she could feel in her bones. The transmitter had placed her on the lap of some sort of statue. The statue floated about a field of stones. The field extended into the mists in every direction.

WIlhelmina sat. The statue’s clothing wasn’t stone. It was cloth. She looked at its face. At its chest. The statue breathed, slowly but deeply.

“Ah,” Wilhelmina thought, “Not a statue.” She expected that the ten minutes she would spend here would be very relaxing.

Power Dynamics – Fantomah

Welcome to another edition of What The What, the podcast in which I interview some of the more unique personalities in our society. I’m Blane Walker. For the next few weeks I’m going to be speaking with superheroes, those folks with powers beyond the normal. This week we’re chatting with Fantomah. As usual, I’m speaking to you from my home studio here in Portland, Oregon. Fantomah is sitting across from me here in the studio. She materialized just a few minutes ago. It was amazing. And weird.

Blane – Hello. Welcome to What the What. The world knows you as Fantomah. Do you have another name that you’d like me to use?

Fantomah – I have had thousands of names. I answer to them all.

Blane – I’ve heard that you’re a goddess of some sort. That you are worshipped by a lost civilization.

Fantomah – Those who prayed to my first name are long gone. Their cities have crumbled. The people formed other tribes. They forgot my first name and now, when they remember me, they pray to different names.

Blane – Uh. If they’re using different names how do you know they’re praying to you?

Fantomah – I know who speaks to me.

Blane – . I’ve read a lot of weird stories about you. There’s a youtube channel dedicated to videos of your … manifestions and some of that stuff is unbelievable. I wouldn’t want to make you angry.

Fantomah – I am rarely angry. I answer prayers. I provide and transform.

Blane – Yeah. Uh, the stuff I’ve seen and the other stuff I’ve heard about … it’s pretty wild but also kind of all over the place. What are you the goddess of?

Fantomah –

Blane – Uh. I’m sorry. Was that a hard question?

Fantomah – As I was one of the first I am one of the last. I am awake. The others sleep. I answer prayers.

Blane – Whose prayers do you answer? Do you just answer the prayers of your worshippers?

Fantomah – My temples are gone. My people are the world. There are more prayers than any god can answer. I do what I can.

Blane – If I prayed to you, would you answer?

Fantomah – I did. I have been here and I have spoken to you. The prayers you are thinking now are small and dark. You ask that question because you think you are bigger than you are.  You would not like my answer.

Blane – Did I make you angry?

Fantomah – You are too small for that.

Meanwhile, Back at the Castle

One of the benefits of having spent a few years just drawing stuff is that I’ve got a lot of work that can be updated for my online stores. I did the piece below when I was finally making time to draw again after my first year at USPS. Back in the Nineties I’d worked for Half Price Books and I’d seen a lot of old paperback romances – lots of covers featuring beatiful lone women standing outside (or running away from) creepy forbidding castles. Those cover images had great mood so I thought I’d try my hand at a similar image.

This year I colored and expanded the image. I’ve had enough experience putting images on merchandise now to know that the original drawing was going to have limited use so before I set to coloring it I expanded it. I’m really happy with the results.

It’s available on all sorts of schtuff in my Redbubble store.

And, while I’m shilling, let me remind you that I’ve got a calendar available at my zazzle store. Fourteen illustrations featuring the Might Nizz!

Thank you again for dropping by.

Stay safe. Stay sane. Read a good book. Remember there are no guilty pleasures – that’s Protestant killjoyism.

See you next week!