My updates have been a little erratic recently. Summer has messed around with my schedule. Anyway…
August 4, 2010
August 2, 2010
Gene Yang speech
Here’s a link to a nice little speech given by Gene Yang (American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, Prime Baby). And apparently, Gene and Derek won an Eisner.
July 29, 2010
Carnivale book four available
So, it’s done. You can see it on the “books” page here. It’s listed on the ordering form now, too. I’ll try to get Paypal set up here some day. Maybe I should add it to the Summer to-do list.
July 28, 2010
Carnivale book 4 in the works
I started working compiling book 4 of Carnivale today. I want to redraw a few things here and there, but when it’s available I’ll let you know (within the week probably). I’ll definitely have it at the APE in October. If I get a lot done these next two months, I may even have book 5 done by then. But I was approached to do a story for a literary anthology and the due date is in November, so I may not get book 5 done by October.
July 27, 2010
July 25, 2010
July 23, 2010
Great Aunt Virginia
I just learned that my great aunt Virginia died a few weeks ago. She was married to my grandfather’s brother, so my grandmother, Naomi, and Virginia were sister-in-laws. Yet Naomi always looked down on Virginia, because she thought she was low class. So I had no idea Virginia even existed until the year before my grandmother died. Virginia was the only member of the family still alive, besides a cousin and my mom and I, to visit Naomi before her death. There’s a lesson in that.
Virginia was an incredible woman and I’m glad I got to know her. She had more energy than almost any other person I have ever met. She ran her own farm, sewed uniforms for the local fire fighters, and baked for all the local charities–– and she was in her 80s at the time. I think she embodied the best aspects of the American pioneer spirit. The obit I linked to above shows this side of her. The thing it doesn’t capture is her humor. Virginia had an easy laugh and would actually slap her knee when she really got going. I didn’t know people actually did that.
Basically, Virginia represented a whole way of life for me. She inhabited a world similar to my grandmother’s: a mid-twentieth century, small town, midwestern world where everyone knew his or her neighbor and baked pies for Sunday church. But Virginia’s world was more rural. She lived on a farm which she ran herself, and concepts like “I can’t” or “I’m bored” never entered her consciousness. She just did what had to be done. And, unlike my grandmother (and perhaps myself), she never stopped to criticize what other people were doing or saying. There wasn’t time for that. Perhaps this means she lacked reflection, but it also means she lacked bitterness. I only wish I had got to know her better.
July 21, 2010
archive rebuild
Just a quick note to tell you I’ve redone the archive. I’ve taken away some stories, ones that I’m going to reprint. But I’ve also added a bunch of other stories. It’s kind of a schizophrenic collection, but fuller than before.
Anyway, click on the archive link to the right or above.
July 20, 2010
duotone Carnivale page 91
It’s late, but it ain’t never…
July 16, 2010
