I’m spending a little time playing with the templates here before I do any serious work at Oz-Squad.com. Once I get a good grasp on how this works I’ll feel comfortable removing the temp page that’s currently posted. Stay tuned!
Spirit Medicine
Ten-Ghost by Adam J. Thaxton
Lucy Alraune Greeble, Ten-Ghost Who Finishes the Test Satisfactorily.
Child of mandrake, earth and blood. Doctor. Shaman. Non-person. Oath keeper. Wanderer in this world and many others.
Lucy is a nomad spiritual physician. Her travels take her wherever her skills are needed. That could be a hermit’s hut in the far wilderness, the home of the scheming wealthy, the land of the dead, a town on the edge of a wounded dream or a hospital in a throbbing metropolis.
Ten-Ghost tells the story of about a year of Lucy’s travels. It’s been a long time since I’ve read any science fiction or fantasy and this book reminded me why I don’t do that much anymore. A good SF story requires some work from the reader. You need to put yourself into an alien world and figure out what’s going on based on the clues that the author gives you. Without a lot of time to read these days I haven’t felt like I’ve had the time to work with a story. Nonfiction books or mystery novels are easy to slip in and out of during the few minutes I’ve got available for reading.
Ten-Ghost is Weird Fiction. Thraxton drops you into Lucy’s world, a place of spirit life, multiple gods and cultures and beings and expects you to keep up. The chapters are basically short stories, each one building on the previous. I didn’t read the back cover blurb until I’d gotten about a third of the way through the book. I can’t say it does the story justice. The story is a quieter one than the blurb implies.
When I read SF stories my imagination conjures up the world I’m reading about. It helps me center myself in the story. Often times I do by using the cover art as a starting point and the world I visualize gets built from there. I couldn’t really do it with the cover here. It’s not a bad piece of art, it just doesn’t match the world I built. The book had a lot of great visuals. I wish I had time to illustrate this review with a sketch.
And, for the sake of transparency, Adam sent me a copy of this book. He did not actually ask me to review it. If I hadn’t like it I probably wouldn’t be writing this post. Since I did, a positive review seems like the best way to say thank you.
Ow, My Sanity is Adam’s long running, crudely but effectively drawn Lovecraftian manga. It’s on hold now while he finishes other projects but there’s plenty to read.
And apparently there is a sequel on the way. Yay!
The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus #2
Here’s the second issue of The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus. I also stole this one from my friend’s Facebook gallery. And many thanks to him for posting these pages so I could!
This issue introduces Buffy Crawfield, who would go to have a reoccurring role in Misspent Youths and Chickenhead, who would have a reappear in later issues of Moe and Detritus. The back cover ad is for an album by Ruptured Internal Organs, a band that Moe opens for in the first issue of Misspent Youths. Not that I knew any of this when I drew this story. I was making it up as I went along. 
The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus #1
Way back in 1988 I drew and published (via a copy machine at this new 24 hour copy chain called Kinkos) the first issue of The Highly Unlikely Adventures of Moe and Detritus. I really had no idea what I’d do with the characters and I certainly didn’t plan on making The Pile one of the regular case. But there you go.
And here you go. A friend of mine recently posted these scans online at his Facebook account. Now I’ve swiped them and sharing them with the rest of you.
If you have a hard time reading the lettering just click on the page for a larger image. 
This minicomic was 8 pages plus a cardstock cover. If you count you can see that there are only 11 pages here. I used the back cover to advertise Cheap Thrills, my first minicomic series. My friend didn’t include a scan of that so it’s not included here either. You’re not missing much.
Frankenstein on the Bus
So I’m commuting again and so I’ve got time to read. I’m expecting to be reading textbooks when school starts again next week but in the meantime I’m trying to make it through a stack of recently borrowed library books. 
The Secret Laboratory Journals of Victor Frankenstein by Jeremy Kay
This one is a breezy cliff notes adaptation of the original Frankenstein. It’s a “reproduction” of Victor’s journals, handwriting, sketches, bills to tradesmen and all. As with most adaptations of the story, the account of the creation of the monster is greatly expanded. Kay also adds in the characters of Franz and Praetorius as Frankenstein’s partners in monster building. Frankenstein comes off as less self centered and the Monster more evil in this version.
The Bride of Frankenstein by Elizabeth Hand.
The copy I’ve got is subtitled Pandora’s Bride but that text is missing on the image I swiped from Amazon. This sequel to The Bride of Frankenstein film is never boring. The Bride saves Dr. Praetorius from the destruction of Frankenstein’s laboratory and off they journey into a movie fairy tale version of 1920’s Germany. It’s pure pulp. Henry Frankenstein and his Monster are both in hot pursuit. Pandora (as the Bride names herself) encounters an array of real historic figures and characters from M, Metropolis, The Blue Angel, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and probably other films I don’t recognize. I’d read another story with these characters if Hand were to write one.
New Phone Number
Nizzibet and I have a new home phone number. While it feels a little silly to post about it, given the crazy variety of ways that we keep in touch with each other these days, it also seems sensible to get the word out any way possible. We had our old phone number for at least 15 years but, for some reason, when our new phone arrangement was being set up we were told it would be a month before we could get our old number attached to it. Rather than have a different number for a month and then changing back we’re just giving up the old one.
I’ve emailed most of the folks that we communicate with regularly but I’m sure I’ve missed a few people. If you haven’t gotten the new phone number by now (and you want it) please send me a note via the email address on the right side of this page and I’ll be happy to update you.
Welcome to the Squad’s Temporary Home
www.Oz-Squad.com
Full Site Launching August 31st, 2011
(Launch postponed from July 31st due to technical difficulties.)
March of the Tin Soldiers
The new Oz Squad novel by Steve Ahlquist
Available now at Smashwords.com
6/01/11
Steve Ahlquist interview at Jazma Online
Oz Squad: March of the Tin Soldiers – Available NOW
While Steve was waiting for me to finish illustrating the first issue of the new Oz Squad comic series he went and wrote an Oz Squad novel. As you can see, I did the cover illustration for it. I’ve also done a dozen interior illustrations. I’d intended to do more but this school thing is filling up most of my drawing time 🙂
The book available in various electronic formats at Smashwords. Until June 30th (2011) you can purchase it for $3.99 with the coupon code: VR38M
It’s also available in print at Lulu.com
Steve has an interview about the book and other projects at Jazma Online.
Portrait of a Nephew at Seventeen
I’ve got four nephews. Three on my side of the family and one on Nizzibet’s side. I did a portrait of the one on Nizzibet’s side a few years ago when I sent out a series of postcards to friends and family around the country. He’s grown quite a bit since then and asked me to do an updated version. 
He asked me to keep the outfit the same but to have his hands giving the ^^^ sign. I had to ask him to send me a photo of him demonstrating that. I have no idea what it means. If he’s calling for the destruction of Western Civilization don’t tell me. 
Once he’d confirmed that I had portrayed his hand signs accurately I inked it up and then sent it to Photoshop for coloring. The white space around his hands was to make it easier for me to add the lettering to his t-shirt. 
And there you go. Another young man out to make his mark on the world. And calling for the destruction of Western Civilization. Or something.
It’s All in the Set Decoration
Amazing Spider-Man #103 is the first comic book I ever bought. It’s also the both the first story and the first comic I can remember reading. In all likelihood my mom bought it for me but I know I bought each subsequent issue myself. My brother and I got small monthly allowances and most of mine went to buying Spider-Man each month. The date on the cover is December 1971. Since magazines post dated their issues by about four months that issue was probably on the stands in September. I would have been a little more than seven years old. I’d obviously read other stories prior to this one – after all, I knew how to read. But this is the story that made its mark. If you look at the type of things I draw and the sorts of stories read then Spider-Man #103 looks like a big sign post pointing me toward those interests.
