Animation, Woot!

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Yes, yes, I’m still around. Been checking out the reboot of Sailor Moon over at Hulu, and I’ll have to say… the novelty ain’t there. It’s gone. Mind you, when I first saw the series (at least up until Chibi Moon showed up, and I promptly ran the other way), I was in my late 20s or thereabouts, and while I cringed at the cheesiness of the whole thing, I enjoyed the novelty. Now, even with the updated character designs and stuff, I just cringe. I’ve only seen two episodes, and I think I’ll call it a day, in a manner of speaking. It’s definitely time to move on.

And speaking of animated stuff, three movies I’d love to see (not counting How To Train Your Dragon 2):

Big Hero 6 has been getting a lot of buzz over at iO9, and I’m stoked. Yes, I’m still a not-really-nerd, and I fall in the category of “casual fan” in the comic book world, but I can appreciate good entertainment when I see it. And, boy, computer animation has really come a long way.

I was blown away by the stop-motion/CG animation of ParaNorman, and this movie looks like it’s even more complicated or intricate. And it’s set in the 19th century!

Guillermo Del Toro (producer) + animation + Dia de Muertos = Here, take my money! I haven’t heard much about this film, and I’ll have to rectify that ASAP. But this movie, along with the other two above, will be released this year, so it’s looking to be a pretty damned rich year for great full-length animation.

And now to count the days till Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Also waiting for more announcements from Marvel over at Comic-Con. Rumor has it that Joaquin Phoenix might very well be Dr. Strange, but that needs to be confirmed. If it’s true? I’m all for it.

TGM: Ah Just Made a Liar o’ Mahself

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So my boss gave me ten days off because of my cold. A bit of an unnecessary length of time for recuperation since I’m practically healed now, and I can go back to work on Monday. Oh, it’s tempting, waiting till next Thursday to go hustle my butt back to Berkeley, but I seriously get bored, lounging around the house, even with my running list of chores. Plus since I only work part-time, I don’t get paid for sick days.

As a quickie update regarding my cold, then, thumbs up. :) Two lessons learned from this week-long crapfest…

OTC stuff meant for cold symptoms and so on doesn’t work and is a waste of my money. All those fancy-schmancy, unpronounceable words only got me woozy and irritable in the end.

You know what worked? Ibuprofen and Benadryl. Yep. Just those two. No wimpy-ass, updated decongestants or non-drowsy stuff for me. First generation antihistamines know how to whip your system into shape. True, they make you drowsy, but since I’ve got extra time off, it was a price I was more than willing to pay.

Anyway, on to the main point of this post…

Remember when I said that I wasn’t going to touch The Glass Minstrel for its second edition? Yeah, I lied. While the book didn’t really need another thorough editing work, I still asked to go over the print proofs for surface-level errors, and I found quite a few. Mostly repeated words in a passage and a few long, awkward sentences that needed to be broken up.

The biggest change I made, though, involved THE scene. Jakob’s masturbation scene. It was a controversial passage that Mark, my previous publisher, and I went back and forth over, and I was more than willing to hit delete in case he found it too explicit. We ended up keeping it in the book, but for the second edition, I saw that it was borderline explicit and not really reflective of the books I’ve published with Queerteen Press, so I lightly revised the scene for the new edition.

Oh, sure, the scene’s still there. It has to be. It’s an important one in terms of how Jakob deals with his sexuality and his delusions about Covell (if you’ve read the first edition, you know how and why I say that – I’m trying to avoid spoilers here). But it’s more suggestive than explicit now and certainly more in line with the way Heinrich and Stefan’s sexual encounters are described.

So the proofs are back with my publisher, I’m very pleased with the way things turned out, and I can’t wait to get my copy of the second edition.

To prove further that I made a liar of myself, I decided to do a giveaway for the new edition. It’ll be mid-August, and I’ll keep you all posted. Now if only the pizza delivery guy would just show up… I’m starving.

Masks: Evolution Giveaway at TNA (and Some Stuff)

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Egad, people, I feel like a Romantic poet. I’ve been steamrolled by the cold bug for the 289,521,444th time this year alone. I’ve no idea what’s going on as I’m still keeping up with my fitness and have worked running / brisk walking into my weekly workout schedule, and yet… and YET…

Here I am, coughing, sniffling, wheezing away, about to give Keats a run for his money. My immune system’s down for some reason and despite all the time I’ve put in, keeping myself active and fit. I’ve never been this prone to colds before. Ever. Even Andy’s baffled.

At any rate, here I am, all hopped up on over-the-counter meds. Fun times.

Anyway, I’m doing an ebook giveaway for Masks: Evolution, which comes as a package of sorts. Since you can’t read Book Two of the trilogy without reading Book One for context, I’m tossing in Book One for good measure. Head on over to The Novel Approach, toss your name in the hat, and Lisa will be picking a winner on the date noted.

Speaking of Masks, the seventh and last book is now underway (currently being written, that is), but as I’m too woozy from decongestants, expectorants, and suppressants, I’ll try to tackle today’s writing this evening before I go to bed. I find myself defaulting to my old writing schedule as of late, which is the late night hours. Coming full circle, ain’t we?

I’m not a morning person, though, and I find it extremely difficult getting into the swing of things even at midday. Creative work that requires a lot of brain-hammering tends to work best after dinner for me.

At any rate, if you’re participating in the giveaway, good luck! Lemme deal with this annoying cold first, and I’ll be back with stuff to talk about.

Now Available: Masks: Evolution (Book Two)

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Huh. Too many colons in the subject header. Ah, hell. But dem’s good news, no? :D Because TA DA! Ye Olde Second Book of the Masks trilogy is finally out in its second edition, brand spankin’ new cover and all that.

Second verse, same as the first – it’s on sale at 20% off as a new release. And that’s only if you purchase directly from either Queerteen Press or JMS Books. Can’t have the same deal elsewhere (mainly because it’s really not available elsewhere – yet). But lope over yonder and check out the blurb and excerpt. Hope you enjoy the series if you’re just getting into it.

As a quickie addendum, Ordinary Champions (Book Three) will be out in September.