Stuck!

This set of chain questions is new to me. It’s been passed to me by my EsteemedBrother over at Lovesettlement. Apparently The Pink Bee started this particular set of questions. Who that is I have no idea but she lives in Kentucky. I have a fondness for Kentucky because Nizzibet had some good times there. (Bad times too but we won’t get into that right now.) There’s no explanation what The Stick is. I’m assuming this refers to passing a talking stick because, despite what is said about assuming things, it’s automatic to assume an explanation for something that seems obvious.

the Stick: You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Skook: Confession time. I’ve never read Fahrenheit 451. Never seen the movie or the play. Being culturally literate I do understand the question. My first choices all seem obvious, books or stories that someone else would already have chosen. And being a graphic novel is too problematic. The Word For World is Forest perhaps? Maybe the Little Fuzzy trilogy.

the Stick: Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Skook: All the time. Modesty Blaise. Mrs. Peel. The heroine of MFK Fisher’s Not Now But Now. Dorothy Gale. Mrs. Darling. Like all crushes they pass and are replaced by new ones.

the Stick: The last book you bought is:

Skook: It’s been a while. Mostly I buy movies. Because Rain City Video is constantly selling off their VHS tapes at a price lower than rental and because Nizzibet and I can share a movie more easily than a book. And I’m trying to reduce my book collection ever so slightly. I think the last book was Changes by Matt Howarth. Off ebay.

the Stick: The last book you read:

Skook: The Golem’s Mighty Swing by James Sturm. Checked it out from the library with a bagful of other graphic novels.

the Stick: What are you currently reading?

Skook: The Illuminatus Trilogy. I haven’t picked it up in a few months but, since I intend to get back to it “one of these days”, I tell myself I’m still reading it.

the Stick: Five books you would take to a deserted island:

Skook: I do like the first part of Luvset’s response – “One wonders whether one is marooned, thus these five would be the only books one will ever have resort to, or whether it’s just a nice island where there’s nothing to do but read.

If the former I’d start with a book of matches.”

I’m not really good at having favorites. I like so much. And it changes. The favorites don’t go away so much as gain the companions of new favorites. For the marooned island I’d like a blank book of a thousand pages to draw and write in. Two really useful survivalist manuals. A book on boat building.

For the pleasant island I’d have to look around. How long am I supposed to be there?

the Stick: Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?

Skook:
Schuyler, because I never answer her letters
Jenn, because I never write her
Nick, because I need to finish drawing that story

Consider This –

– A majority of us think that only somewhere between 1 and 5 million Americans live in poverty in the US.

– The actual number of Americans living at or below the poverty level is 33 million.

– 47% of us think the poverty level is $35,000 a year for a family of four.

– The actual poverty level for a family of four is $18,104 a year.

(Stolen from Long Story, Short Pier.)

Projects

Currently doing illustrations for –

Finnegan’s Brink – a graphic novel written by Sarah Byam. I’ll be doing that for the next couple of years.

The Black Seal #4. This is the Viet Nam issue. I’m illustrating an article on the Tcho-tcho and a short comic written by Nick Brownlow.

Miskatonic U Monographs – a few illustrations for one, more and larger illustrations for another.

Oz Squad – can’t say anything more specific at the moment.

The Sasquatch Chronicles – a huge overview of the sasquatch phenomenon written and edited by Christopher L. Murphy. I’m one of many illustrators working on this. Got to use illustrations since the darn critter is so camera shy.

Wild Nights in Oz – slowly, progress will be made.

I expect that I’ll do the occasional one off illustration for my own amusement (or that rare creature – money) but I’m not planning on taking any new projects beyond these for a while.

And Then There Were Two

J-Dogg is gone. From this house at least. He and TwoM have moved into a house together. I think it’s a slightly larger place than this one is. It’s better maintained at least. It also has two bathrooms instead of our one. That’s important. He’s going to be sharing the house with three other people.

So Nizzibet and I are living alone for the first time since we moved up to Seattle. Then we only lived alone for about four months. We’ll be spending the next few months until our lease runs out reducing our number of possessions. Once we get it so that everything we own fits upstairs we’ll be ready to move into a little apartment.

Better With Ultraviolence

While watching My Life, a rich-man-learning-how-to-live-after-discovering-he-has-a-terminal-disease movie, it occurred to me that there are few movies that couldn’t be improved by the inclusion of a rampaging werewolf.

Or the sudden decapitation of the main character at the two thirds mark.

Getting Second (and Third) Opinions

Billi 99 has gotten its first customer review at Amazon. It’s not a good review. The reviewer’s other review was of a watch. He didn’t like the watch either.

If you’ve read Billi 99 and liked it, do us a favor and go add your two cents.

I can’t. Not honorably. Being married to the author and all. Even though I read and liked the book before I met said author.