Just announced from Graphic Mundi, wherein Yazan Al-Saadi's dispatches are illustrated by an impressive lineup of comix-makers including one short illustrated by me, originally for the now sadly defunct The Nib. Titled Cairo Under the Crackdown, here's an excerpt.
I'm sure I will regret this 11:00pm coffee, but I need to push to get this chapter in the can.
It's true what they say, the last 10% of any project is always the hardest. No idea who “they” are, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing.
Inking with a Q-tip to get them fat cap feels. Always a challenge to recreate the look of one medium using another, but I think it turned out alright.
Promised myself I wouldn't travel until the entire TSG is in the can, but this chapter has genuinely sapped the lifeforce out of me and I think a recharge is very much in order. Considering fucking off for a few days as soon as its wrapped. Either Mexico City or NYC, can't decide. Mexico City is closer, more my vibe, and kinder on the wallet. I do know more people in New York though, some of whom I haven't seen in a couple years.
Another day of surviving on a mere three hours sleep after awaking at 3:00am for no good reason. Orders dropped off at post office though, and a quick visit to the lab for bloodwork checked off (I'm rather particular about my health and try to get tested fairly regularly). These are now the very last remaining copies of THE SOLAR GRID #1 in existence:
Cover for the print edition of #9 underway today.
STATUS:
Awoke at 2:30 am for no good reason. It is now noon and I am dead and delirious, but I know not how to sleep during the day so I will continue to be dead and delirious till sundown. This always happens whenever I'm close to finishing a big thing, any big thing.
Trying to wriggle away from TSG for just an hour or two to tend to a few other things, but the Grid has me firmly in its grip right now.
Thoroughly enjoying Paul McAuley's SECRET OF LIFE in the very short reading breaks I manage to steal every now and again.
Now that I have fully shaken off the incessant doom-scrolling of all social media by not being on it at all, I am now more active on RESTRICTED.ACADEMY again, catching up on some fantastic threads that go back a couple years (!) but also starting a few new ones. Some of my favorites are:
I am told that today is the last day for Barnes & Nobel members to preorder DEEP DREAM with a 25% discount.
Edited by Indrapramit Das and published by MIT Press, I have a short story in it along with numerous other science fiction luminaries from across the globe.
Confession: I had no idea that Barnes & Nobel had a membership thing. In fact, I didn't even realize Barnes & Nobel was still around at all.
Spent the entire goddamn day speed re-reading this entire book just to locate one single passage I needed for a bit in THE SOLAR GRID.
Frustrating, but necessary. I am however reminded by what a fantastic and well-researched read it is. I doubt this is going to be the last time I utilize Luddite history in a story. It's such a fascinating episode in history. Remember this is just a few years before Mary Shelley started writing FRANKENSTEIN and young Percy was frequenting pothouses. Lord Byron was already a famed poet, having written verse in favor of the Luddites actually, and the Napoleonic Wars were still ongoing.
Post office run earlier today. Wise choice because presently a violent thunderstorm roars overhead. Assembling TSG08/#9 right now. Will break for cooking and exercise before starting on cover pencils. Very much behind on all the things this week due to Hurricane Beryl. Won't get to newsletter-drafting before tomorrow which is cutting it way too close.
Inbox 5, RSS 44.
In celebration of ten years since the release of THE CURE, a single by musician, collaborator, and dear friend N Vs. A (AKA N Slash A), I have created new cover-art for the song's re-release:
The lyrics are as relevant to the current moment as they were 10 years ago, and the music is a glorious nod to the rock sounds of the late 90s/early aughts, which as I understand it, is making a comeback. Give it a listen here.