Tag Archives: coronapocalyse

Tuesday Night Party Club #22

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Gallery: Three Decades in the Past

I was sorting stacks of art a few weeks ago and I came across this image. It’s from 1991, soon after I’d started attending figure drawing classes. It’s a long way from perfect but it’s definitely an improvement over the work I’d done just the previous year. I don’t remember having posted it before. It’s a fairly large image and I haven’t had a scanner that can handle large images for long.

This was a promo illustration for a proposed miniseries about a couple of “crazy” people who can see the supernatural menaces that are invisible to the rest of us.

Local News 

i’m writing this on Tuesday morning. I’m hoping to be away from my computer most of the day.

No Story Seeds or Recommendations this week. Every time I came online here to write I made the mistake of checking news sites or Facebook first and fell into the black hole of human stupidity. God, that’s exhausting. I did have one morning when I couldn’t access the internet because someone had cut our cable. That was peaceful. I got more artwork done that morning than any four other mornings put together. If I were smart I’d unplug my ethernet cable before I went to bed and only plug it in again in the morning after I’d accomplished something.

If I were smart.

I went back to work on Tuesday, May 26th and worked a 12 hour day. The day after a holiday is usually a heavy one mailwise. Some Congressmen have proposed suspending mail delivery on Saturdays. Clearly none of those folks have worked a delivery job. Mail and parcels keep coming even when they aren’t delivered. That day was unusual. Parcel volumes have continued to be high. I worked all those hours on my own route. Fortunately there were few sick calls that day and so few routes had to be delivered as extra. I know some carriers were out much later than I was.

I had some overtime every day the rest of the week. Mostly it was less than an hour. All of that was because of parcel volumes.

On Thursday we heard that one of our recent retirees had passed away. She’d only retired within the last couple of years.

On Friday we celebrated the retirement of another carrier. He’d been on the job for 33 years. It’s hard for me to imagine having the same job for that long. Out in the private sector, at least these days, it’s rare to work at the same company for more than 5 years. I’ve tended to stay at jobs for a while but the most I’ve managed was 10 years.

Yesterday, June 1st, I put in overtime carriyng both my own route and part of another route. We had a lot of sick calls. I took myself off the Overtime Desired List last year in order to have more time to do art and, well, just breathe, but I don’t mind carrying another route occasionally. It’s pleasant to see another part of town.

Last week I got news of the passing of a couple of acquaintances.

I knew Nick Roberts when we were both kids in Sebastopol in the Seventies and Eighties. He lived a couple of blocks away. My brother and I would hang out with him occasionally. I’d lost touch with him after I moved to Santa Rosa and beyond. His obituary doesn’t say why he passed but I don’t suppose that’s important.

I knew Noel Franklin as part of the Seattle comics scene. She stayed with us for a few weeks a few years ago. We provided her with place to land when she left an abusive relationship. As another acquaintance has said, Noel was battling demons. She passed on Friday. Accidental overdose apparently.

Hearing of Nick’s passing didn’t hurt. Enough time had passed since I’d seen him. Mostly I was glad to read that he’d been married for 26 years and had kids. The news of Noel’s passing was a harder hit in large part because I was still connected with her via FB and she’d seemed to be doing well, even with the current isolation.

On Saturday afternoon my phone did the emergency klaxon buzz. Protests over the murder of George Floyd and become riots and a curfew was being called down. I had no idea that there were protests going on here in Seattle. I’d been delivering mail in a downpour a good part of the day. I’d checked Facebook on breaks but hadn’t seen any protest notices. Just another reminder that FB is not a good place to get news.

Curfews were announced on both Sunday and Monday evenings.

I spent a good part of Sunday moring cooking. I chopped up the last of the ham from Big Sister’s last care package and make a ham and bean stew in the crock pot. I also make a spaghetti squash cassarole that I’d intended to share that afternoon. We’d planned to visit a friend across town who has a big back yard. The plan was hang out together at a safe distance. We bought some individually packaged mini cheese cakes and I’d cooked two casssaroles so we could avoid sharing space as much as possible.

Saturday’s rain continued into Sunday and we had to cancel. We tentatively rescheduled for yesterday afternoon but our friend had to cancel due to food poisoning. Given that I had to work overtime I suppose it was just as well.

Today is my day off. I’m taking one of the cats (Chemo) into the vet for a check up and getting more electrolytes for Sabe. Then Costco. Then a phone call with a guy who needs me to do production work on a comic he’s writing. Then I’ll make more progress on the Lovecraft Country Holidays illustrations. I’m working on the art for the last scenario.

Take care. Be well. Be safe. Be angry but pick your targets with compassion. And proper focus. Stabbing up is always best. See you next week!

 

Tuesday Night Party Club #16

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Artstuff – Acute Care

My last Dark Conspiracy illustration project was the scenario Acute Care. It featured an investigation of a busy hospital that is a front for all manner of nefarious experiments and weird events. As with the other DC projects published as PDFs by 3Hombres this one is no longer available.

This supplement was reviewed by Marcus Bone here.

Story Seed #40 
The Night Land: Tales of the AbHumans

The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson is an early example of the Dying Earth subgenre of scifi/fantasy. It’s a work of great imagination, particularly when you consider that Hodgson didn’t have many previous examples of the genre to inspire him. Part of the imagination gets spent on the book’s faux-archaic prose style and that makes the book a bit of slog for most readers. Including me. I read it back in the days when I had much more time and patience. James Stoddard, a fan of the novel, did an edit/rewrite of the story using contemporary language. It’s a much easier read.

The plot is simple – Heroic Dude ventures into hostile territory to rescue his True Love. He succeeds.

Yes, I’m being a little snarky. The Heroic Dude and his True Love are some of the last remaining true humans on Earth. And therefore Good. The hostile territory is populated by mutants, monsters and beings from other spaces – all with a hatred (or at least an appetite) for true humans. And therefore Evil.

I enjoy looking at stories to see what’s missing, what stories aren’t being told. Sometimes it’s the ecology that weird – what do all the these predators eat when they’re not trying to eat the hero? Sometimes I wonder what the story would look like if told by the antagonists. There are humans of a sort in The Night Land. The abhumans live and breed among monsters and giants and worse things. In the novel they are depicted as savage brutes but perhaps the narrator’s view of them is skewed, prejudiced. They’ve adapted to a hostile environment. They may have language and culture and art that the citizens of the Last Redoubt have not seen or, perhaps, refuse to see. Europeans have been very good at ignoring and demonizing the cultures of those they conquered. The Redoubtables might do the same. And the Abhumans may have good reason to hate and fight against the Redoubtables. That seven mile tall pyramid must suck up a lot of resources.

What do the Abhumans do when they’re not trying to kill Redoubtables? How do they greet each other? Do they farm? Do they hunt? Do they have religions? Politics? Art? Crime? How do they co-exist with the other inhabitants of The Night Land? There are seven million stories in the Last Redoubt. There are many more outside it.

Other Newsletters : Dangerous Characters

Dangerous Characters from Sady Doyle is a review newsletter focusing on horror movies. Ms. Doyle likes horror movies and writes from a feminist perspective. I like horror movies and, while I consider myself a feminist, I’m still a guy. Reading the opinions of someone of someone with a lived female experience broadens my worldview.

Lifestuff

My big sister is smart, driven and creative. During this coronapocalypse she’s put some of her enormous energy toward looking after her little brother. For the last few weeks she’s been preparing meals. popping them in coolers and ferrying them across town. She tells us when she’s coming, we put out last week’s cooler and SHAZAM! she switches in a new cooler packed with gourment goodness.

This week it was handmade pork potstickers, beef broccoli stir friy with sauce, Adouille garbonzo chilli with avocado and cilantro garnish, and lamb filo pie with a cucumber feta salad. Some of it is precooked. Some of it needs heat applied. She provides instructions. Both the nephew and I have worked in restaurants so we don’t need a lot of details. There’s enough in each dish that we’re able to share some with our housemate and we’ve often got leftovers. My taste buds will be a little sad when Sis has an open social schedule again. The rest of me will be happy to give her hugs and to be in the same room with her again.

Assuming it will be safe to ever hug anyone again. (Which it will. It just won’t be safe to hug everyone again. And it never was. Some people don’t like hugs.)

Saturday night the nephew tried teaching Sarah and me how to play Magic the Gathering. He’s been playing the game since he was seven and can talk about it for hours. Sarah got the basics of the game pretty well. Me … not so much. I mean, I got the basics – the cards do explain themselves somewhat – but there’s a lot of complexity to the game that I haven’t grokked yet. We played with decks that the nephew had set up with different winning strategies. He explained those strategies pretty well. I can see the appeal of the game. The cards are pretty.

I also need a new prescription for my glasses. To play the game well it’s necessary to be able to read the other players’ cards and I can’t do that well rightn now. I’ve known I needed a new prescription for a while but this drove that point home. One more thing to do once the lockdown lifts.

I hope this letter finds you well. Things won’t go back to normal and they should not. The old normal was a lot less great than the marketing implied. Ignore the marketing. Maintain social interaction while practicing physical distancing. We’re all in the this together.

Tuesday Night Party Club #15

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Artstuff: Panel Jumper
Behold the Panel Jumpers – Cole Hornaday and Ben Laurance. They produce a series of videos and podcasts focusing on comics and comics history. Cole is generally the face in front of the camera and voice behind the microphone. Their videos are minimovies that both educate and entertain. Besides the youtube channel they also do a live show called, not surprisingly, Panel Jumper Live. For each of the PJLs they commission a local artist to do their portraits. I was honored to be asked to create their portraits for their upcoming June 22nd show.

Above is a scan of my original black and white drawing. Cole and Ben are both fans of the Mad Max series so I put them in post-apocalyptic gear. After the apocalypse the survivors with have fabulous outfits and fascinating hair styles. It’s true.

The image below is my first finished color portrait.

I did a second version after Cole asked me to make the Panel Jumper logo red. A perfectly reasonable request. That’s the color it normally is. I had gone with blue because I thought it worked better with the background.

With a red logo I adjusted some ot the other colors and the image below is the final result.
At this writing no one is sure if the scheduled PJL will happen. Plagues mess up all kinds of plans. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Story Seed #39: Alternate H & Ws

African American Holmes and Watson
Korean Holmes and Watson
Congolese Holmes and Watson
Cyberpunk Holmes and Watson
Wild West Holmes and Watson
Medieval China Holmes and Watson
1950s Noir Female Holmes and Watson
Anytime/Anywhere Holmes and Watson

Arthur Conan Doyle created a solid story formula in his Sherlock Holmes adventures. A genius detective and loyal friend solve mysterious crimes. The detective is kind of misanthropic and weird, the friend is more normal and relateable to the general reader. Add in the Baker Street Irregulars, Detective LeStrade, Mrs. Hudson the long suffering housekeeper, Mycroft the spymaster, the Woman and arch nemesis Professor Moriarty and you have a template for a series of mystery suspense stories.

The formula has been used many, many, many times by many, many authors over the years. Some folks have just changed a few details and given the characters new names. Others have gotten permission from the Doyle estate and written new adventures. Some versions have modernized the setting. Some have tweaked the characters ages or relationships. Generally the new versions don’t stray too far from the original. Sherlock Holmes stays male and stays British.

But the formula doesn’t require the genius detective and the loyal friend to be British or male or to take place in Victorian England. The brilliance and resiliance of the formula is that an author could pick any setting and with a few adjustments make the formula fit. It’s been done a few times. Watson & Holmes. Miss Sherlock. Baker Street. There’s room for a lot more takes.

Pick a setting. Start playing.

Other Newsletters

Nothing Here is a newsletter spearheaded by author, Corey J. White. He has regular and guest contributors and a wide focus discussing and linking to various articles, podcasts, videos, newsletters and other interesting things. I like this newsletter for the variety and for originating out of Australia. I think better when I get perspectives from outside the US.

Lifestuff: Coronapocalypse Days

Unlike cinematic apocalypses, fashion during the Coronapocalypse is pretty staid. Mask and gloves on top of whatever you’d normally wear.

Functional. Hopefully.

I spent Sunday doing some spring cleaning and organizing. I’ve been letting things pile up for years. I can ignore stacks of books or art or paperwork for long periods of time. Last week I had taken time to clean off the top of one of our flat file cabinets. I’d expected that job to take longer than it did and was relieved at how quickly it had gone. I’d uncovered some art that I’d forgotten that I’d done. That’s always entertaining.

I’ve got plans for reorganizing our library/studio space but it’s a big job that will involve moving hefty pieces of furniture. I’m not ready for that yet. I tackled smaller jobs. Took out the recycling. Packed up the old Mac Mini. Set aside the two backup hard drives. Cleaned off the table that the Mac had been occupying. Covered the table again with art and art supplies that had been on the floor in the spare room. Recycled some process art – blueline and reference images. Stirred up a lot of dust.

Emptied the shelves in the pantry. Checked the “best by” dates on various cans and boxes. Looked online for evidence whether the food in some of those containers would still be edible. Kept the stuff that was only two years past the date. Five year and older got opened and dumped in compost. Returned to shelves the remaining items. Hey! I can walk around in the pantry now!

Monday, yesterday, Sabe went to the vet for blood tests. Hopefully we’ll get good news. He’s been suffering his own fashion crises lately. We got him a sweater because he’s lost weight and also taken to sleeping behind Sarah’s nephews gaming machine. Where it’s warm. He’s adapted to the new garment with grace. In the midst of the above (and other more mundane activity) I’ve continured to work on illustrations. I’ll post the commissioned work when appropriate and the practice work in between the archived stuff I’ve been finding.

I hope things are going well for all y’all out there. I make it through the hours by remembering that change is the constant of life. Sometimes I can direct the change. Sometimes I just need to ride things out. Feel free to write. I’ll do my best to answer. Take care!