Libre Tenebrae

SIXSMITHS: "Ding Dong, Merrily in Hell!"

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:45:42 GMT

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=320

SIXSMITHS: "Hark! The Hellborn Angels Sing"

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:30:39 GMT

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=318

Anti-Christmas Carols

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:19:40 GMT

It's Yule this week, and of course THE SIXSMITHS will be participating in the festive season with some traditional Satanic carols. Today, Christmas Eve and and Christmas Day itself we will have some sheet music for your singing pleasure.

Feel free to print some off and go caroling through your neighbourhood! http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=315

-- JF

Grindhouse World

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:58:57 GMT

This festive season, everywhere I look I see diseased and mutilated bodies.

Australian TV is wall-to-wall with ads from the Traffic Accident Commission showing graphic footage of pedestrians, motorists and cyclists being crippled in motor vehicle collisions. Cigarette packaging is now covered with images of cancerous eyes and lungs and throats (I don't smoke but I'm thinking about buying some just to collect the artwork). The public transport network is plastered with photos of amputee victims of workplace accidents and warnings about venereal disease.

Sure as fuck beats Christmas carols.

-- JF

Abstract Reality

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:09:16 GMT

My friend and colleague Dave Gutierrez, inker for the legendary Gene Colan and arse-kicking artist in his own right, is looking for some commissions to kick off 2010.

Inks, full art, B&W or colour, Dave can do petty much everything although he's particularly partial to Tim Burton stuff, the SANDMAN (check out those Delirium pics) and of course Dracula/Nosferatu. If you're looking for a Nightmarish antidote to the Christmas season, Dave is your man. He also has a limited edition hardcover art book for sale: I've got mine already...

Check out Dave's work on the web: http://abstractreality.net

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Idol Worship"

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:59:31 GMT

This week, the Sixsmiths vs AUSTRALIAN IDOL.

-- JF

TANGO #9

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:43:42 GMT

A bit late to post it, but Cardigan Comics' TANGO #9 was launched last Thursday.

It's a big fat beautiful book, more than 300 pages of Australian indie comics goodness, edited by the inimitable Bernard Caleo with covers by Peter Ra. The book contains stories by, among other people, Bruce Mutard, Ed 9mmed Siemienkowicz, J. Marc Schmidt, Bobby N., Mandy Ord, Nicky Greenberg, Owen Heitman, Bernard Caleo, Tom Bonin, Jo Waite, Paul Bedford & Renan L'Hopsum, Jen Breach and Trev Wood, Marita Obst and Luke Pickett, Andrew Fulton, Richard Butler, Daniel Reed, Phillip Bentley, and literally dozens more creators. I'm in there, too, stinking up the joint with a 6 page story called "All's Fair". this is the first time I've handled full art duties (pencils, inks, tones and letters) on a story in about four years.

The book is available from the Cardigan website, as well as from a number of book and comic shops around Melbourne.

The Tango launch is the biggest annual event in Aussie comics. As usual, Bobby N. provides excellent coverage (and photos) over on his blog.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Prayers to the Dark One"

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:21:34 GMT

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=306

Work Update

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:46:26 GMT

I have been busy, lads and lassies.

Here's a quick update:

* THE SIXSMITHS GN is slated for a May/June release next year, right in time for San Diego.
* I'm 7 inked pages shy of completing MCBLACK--looks like I'll have it ready for pitching first week of January.
* I have a complete first draft of my new short story, "Metempsychosis".
* UNGENRED is proceeding apace.
* Should have news on the novella soon.
* Nic is flying in today, so we'll see how DEUCE is coming along.
* Marc is coming in next week for the TANGO launch and so we can clear a path to completion of THE SIXSMITHS.
* TANGO 9 is out next week!

That'll do me for this year, I think..

-- JF

2 More Albums

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:27:20 GMT

Since writing that post about my favourite albums of the decade I've picked up two new recent releases, and guess what? They're both contenders.

Slayer: WORLD PAINTED BLOOD
This album has a fairly similar in sound to Slayer's last (excellent) album, CHRIST ILLUSION, but with variation in the tempo and feel harkens back to 1996's dropped-D masterpiece DIABOLUS IN MUSICA. It's also lyrically smarter than most of their prior efforts; it looks like some of the sly wit that frontman Tom Araya demonstrates on stage is really starting to permeate the song-writing. This is a band that takes pride in siding with the enemy--any enemy--but there are a couple of songs on here ( "Americaon" and "Snuff") which take a legitimate stab at social commentary. But that's not important.

Five times your daily requirement pure, unadulterated thrash.

The Armada:
Self-titled debut album for Jeff Martin's brand new Australia-based outfit. Martin is best known as the frontman of the now-defunct Canadian band the Tea Party. Martin himself is a devotee of Jimmy Page and Aleister Crowley with a huge interest in world music, and it shows in everything he does. ARMADA is a rock'n'roll record, first and foremost and without question, but heavily integrative: some songs add middle-eastern instrumentation, string arrangements or even electronica. But it all sounds organic; none of these elements are there for decoration. There is a lot of familiar material here: many of the guitar tones and even the musical arrangements have been came off the last two Tea Party albums. But those albums were disappointing and indulgent; here Martin has recombined them into something that rocks.

"Going Down Blues" is a rollicking occult paeon to doom and damnation. "Closure" rephrases some classic Rolling Stones lyrics to gloriously sinister effect. And the centerpiece, "Black Snake Blues", is a full on, hardnosed, genuine, if not-quite traditional slide-blues.

I dig it.

Of course, now it occurs to me that I haven't spoken about Alice In Chains' new album, BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE, which I think is substantially better than their prior album, 1995's self titled disk. (The one with the three-legged dog on the cover).

Ok that's it for music for the year, I promise. Unless, you know, I'm lying.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Penitence"

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:47:40 GMT

Read all about it:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=304

Comics reviews

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:57:36 GMT

Went to the comics shop the other week, as I do with increasing less frequency, and I picked up a random bunch of single issues. I have been reading mostly graphic novels and manga lately (in addition, of course, to a steady diet of prose). I was hoping the last issue of INCOGNITO would be on shelf, but I've apparently missed it by some months.

Anyway, this is what I picked up:

HELLBLAZER #280: "The Long Crap Friday"

I stopped reading Hellblazer regularly when Mike Carey gave up the reins, even then I was only reading by force of habit. Still, I pick this book up every now and again if a favourite writer or artist (Andy Diggle, Leonardo Manco) puts in an appearance. On these occasions I'm usually disappointed. and this issue, by Old skool Vertigo scribe Peter Milligan and an uncharacteristically-restrained Simon Bisley, is no exception.

Ok, it doesn't help that I've missed the stories that are ongoing through this issue, but there's just nothing here to hold my interest. Constantine is a bastard with a lot of enemies, Chas is loyal and a bit stupid and drives his cab, the badguys are evil torturing dudes. There's no of the snap or fizzle despite all of the talent on the book; we've seen all of this before. Eh.

STRANGE #1

Mark Waid helms this umpteenth attempt to give Marvel's Dr Strange a viable title--I think I blogged about one of the preceding attempts when J. M. Straczinsky tried his hand. This time around, the Good Doctor has been largely depowered due to whatever cosmic ho ha has embroiled the Marvel Universe this week and Strange has taken a step back out of the spotlight, keeping his hand in but no longer a major player. I think this direction is good; Strange is much more interesting when he's doing sorceror things than when he's being a superhero.

The story presented in the first issue is a slight one: Strange deals with a demon who has possessed a baseball team and appears to have found a new apprentice. This is a fun, refreshing story that calls to mind a gem from Paul Jenkins HELLBLAZER run (in which Constantine confronts a demon who has been provoking hooliganism at a soccer game), although this story is handled in a very different way.

The execution by Waid and Emma Rios is slick but lackluster--lots of exposition and competent but uninspired storytelling. There's some surreal Steve Ditkoesque imagery, but there's no menace or grandeur or even really mystery. There might be a bit of HELLBLAZER in this book, but there's certainly no PROMETHEA. Still, I feel like it's headed int he right direction, which is a definite change for the fortunes of Stephen Strange.

HELLBOY: THE WILD HUNT

I enjoy HELLBOY, but I'm not by any means a determined reader. I'm sure I've missed so issues of this latest miniseries, but as good as it is, I feel like the story is foundering a bit. It started strongly enough, but it ends without much of anything beyond the usual predictions of darkness and doom--it's a waypoint, but it's not a complete story. What I'm saying is that it feels like HELLBOY needs to be an ongoing series now.

As always the book is beautifully crafted. Mignola's writing is full of style and character and a minimum of bullshit (although the plot here is not as tight as usual). Duncan Fegredo is a more than acceptable substitute for the Mig himself on the art chores; the book looks like a HELLBOY book but it also looks like Fegredo's work. Fegredo has assimilated enough of Mignola's style to keep it consistent without ever seeming to parody or ape the Mig. Classy but unsatisfying.

PUNISHER MAX #1:

When Garth Ennis left the Marvel Max PUNISHER book it immediately fell into mediocrity. Now Jason Aaron, with the aid of regular Garth collaboraor Steve Dillon, appears to have been tasked with restoring the book to its former glory. Under Aaron's guidance the book does in fact read a lot like Garth's run--in fact, it makes explicit references to a number of Garth's storylines. It's hard to say how much of the pacing is due to Aaron or Dillon's work, but it definitely moves like an Ennis book as well. Even the wiseguy dialogue sounds a lot like Garth's, although Aaron doesn't have Frank down yet--the protagonist of the book sounds too much like his enemies. In any case, it's Garth Garth Garth, all day long--Garth's absence seems to be the book's defining characteristic. I Can't Believe It's Not Ennis!

Where Marvel are trying to differentiate this book from the previous Max book is by bringing this book closer to the Marvel universe, by the introduction and Max-imizing of the Kingpin. This plot actually gets rather more airtime in the first issue that the Punisher's travails, which is all well abut I'm dubious as to the sense in doing this. Punisher Max worked because they allowed Frank to be drawn away from the silliness of the rest of the so-called Marvel Universe and placed into some much more realistic scenarios: having the Marvel Universe follow him into this gritty wonderland seems like a great way of undermining it. The Kingpin is certainly a good fit for the milieu, but who is going to be next? Should I be looking out for Spider-Man Max? Do we really need a third (or is this fourth) ground-up re-imagining of the forty-six year-old characters?

Feels to me that this is the cheap way out and I'm already bored, not even one issue in. This character became compelling when he was separated from the Marvel universe. Those stories were good because they were about Frank, they weren't about the milieu. The first person who says "The City Is A Character" is going to get a combat boot up the arse.

I'm skeptical that this is going to make for a good read. Good writing and compelling stories will make this book good and nothing else.

RED HERRING #1

A twisty espionage thriller by David Tischman and Phillip Bond, this is exactly the kind of book I want to see more of in comics. Smart, adult, fast moving, and fun with a complete dearth of grimacing whiners with strutting around in leotards. BUT... I just didn't enjoy it much. Too much flash and not enough depth; I don't know enough about who the characters are and what's going on and I don't really care. I love the work of both creators, rare to comics though they have become, but for all the skills they've brought to the table this book is just lacking in something. Perhaps it'll read better in trade.

GRIMJACK: THE MAX CAT #4

An old favourite returns for another turn on the stage. I do love this book and I believe hat veteran creators Ostrander and Truman's powers are still visibly growing. This issue takes us a long way back into Cynosure's past, showing us how the city used to be and paying off long time readers by showing the gestation of various elements that grew into 'future' stories that were actually produced in the 1980s. Great work; it's backwards-looking without retreading old ground. I'm really enjoying having this title running again, but I must confess to a tiny bit of disgruntlement: much as I enjoy the classic era of the character, my favourite Grimjack stories were the last ones in the original ongoing series and I want to see what happens next. I want to see is the doomed Jack Twilley incarnation of Grimjack, and I want to see the incarnation that follows. Tim Truman is an artist beyond compare, but I'd really love to see Henry Flint's version in his future era back in action. In other words, I want to have my cake and eat it. I can't help it, I'm selfish.

Anyway, it's great, go buy the hell out of this.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Reign in Hell"

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:52:44 GMT

Recess sure is a good time for philosophy.

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=302

NME's Top 10 Albums of the 2000s

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:44:31 GMT

Via

def_fr0g_42

, New Music Express has published their Top 10 Albums of the 2000s. As Def points out, the 2000s aren't yet over, and... I've discussed my loathing of music journalists several times before, so I figure I need to comment.

This is NME's list:

1. The Strokes - Is This It
2. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
3. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
6. PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral
8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
9. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows

I own a few f those albums. The Radiohead, the PJ Harvey. the Arctic Monkeys, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't own that particular Libertines or Arcade Fire album but I do have some of their stuff. I even have a Strokes album. Not a bad list, artist-wise, but it certainly has a bit of a smarmy hipster aftertaste. I'm surprised the Killers and Vampire Weekend didn't make it on there--I guess they had to make room for perrenial list-makers Radiohead and for dark horse Primal Scream. And of course, the White Stripes are far too popular to get a look in now.

Just about everything on that NME list fits into the indie/alternative/postpunk bracket, which I guess shouldn't surprise me... but I have broader tastes than that. FEVER TO TELL is the only one of those that'd go on my list, although the STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA was a close call. Course I'm not the sort of person who makes and orders these kind of lists, but I'll have a stab. My list is unordered.

-FEVER TO TELL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rock and fucking roll, FEVER TO TELL is all drums and guitar and Karen O, who is a unique instrument all by herself despite her many imitators. Killer lyrics and asses kicked.

-ORPHANS, Tom Waits
This 3 disk monolith beats out Waits' BLOOD MONEY by sheer weight. I like the first disk the best, as you might have guessed, but this is huge and dark and amazing.

-DOOMSDAY MACHINE, Arch Enemy
Razor sharp guitars from the Amott brothers, brutal vocals from Angela Gossow, this is for me the bet album to come out of the Gothenburg Metal scene. It's melodic death metal displaying classical virtuosity without the pretentious pomp that other bands from the region have displayed (and which Arch Enemy themselves adopted on their following album.)

-HERE COMES THAT WEIRD CHILL, Mark Lanegan
It was a tough choice between this EP and the BUBBLE GUM album which followed it (and includes some key tracks from the EP), but that album lacks the key tracks "Skeletal History" and "Wish You Well". The comparison to Tom Waits is obvious, but Lanegan's lurching, baritone blues-rock with a preponderance of songs about alcohol abuse and apocalypse is more conventional and less humorous than Waits' variety. Lanegan smoother and harder and to my mind quite musically distinct. The EP is full of killer guests from the Desert Sessions scene, but none of them play their regular instruments, putting everything just slightly off kilter. Marvellous.

-RATED R, Queens of the Stone Age
Swaggering psychedelic rock from this motley group of Kyuss alumni. Ferocious and oddly funky, this one was an instant winner. My favourite track is the non-single "Better Living Through Chemistry".

-TOXICITY, System of a Down
You'd forgotten the Amernian metallers already, hadn't you? But they're still good. If they still exist. They still haven't decided if they've split up or not. Anyway. The political polemic was a little bit half-assed, but this is the nu metal band that actually did introduce something new to the genre, and they used it to monstrous effect. Huge.

-GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS, Modest Mouse
Well, if I was gonna choose a hipster band it was going to have to be one with a pedigree, and who is better pedigreed a hipster than Johnny Marr? Well written, unique, agile, distinctive, agile, moody, and just plain odd, this band brings brains and class, rather than the usual sentimental hand-wringing.

-THE SPELL, Black Hearts Procession
If Black Sabbath was an indie rock band, they would be the Black Hearts Procession. To downbeat to be metal, the BHP wails its way through some wonderfully atmospheric, occult-tinged songs of doom and despair. Lots of strings and odd instruments in super-clean arrangements, none of the usual studio fakery.

-SWEAT TEA, Buddy Guy
This is where Buddy steps up and crowns himself the king of the blues. Blistering.

-THE BLACKENING, Machine Head
Straight up, finest cut, blue ribbon, choice-grade original god damn METAL.

Honorable Mentions:

PJ Harvey and Tool don't need any further coverage, but I reckon these two could stand a mention:

-PASSOVER, the Black Angels
Take the classic Creedence track "Run Through the Jungle" and turn it into a strutting psych-rock concept album and then turn it up loud. Pick up your feet and let's go.

-BLOOD MOUNTAIN, Mastodon
The music journos in my local broadsheet, The Age, love to use the word 'hirsute', but there's no better band to apply it to than Mastodon. A forward-looking metal band who are versed int he breadth and depth of all of those who came before them, and manage to cite those influences without sounding like copycats or teenagers who forgot to take their ritalyn.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "All That Glitters"

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:27:40 GMT

The saga continues:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=299

Book Reviews

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:32:32 GMT

Reviews of some of the books I've read in the last few months:

STAND ON ZANZIBAR, John Brunner
This monstrous, multimedia book deserves its reputation as a science fiction classic.

Written in 1968, STAND explores an overcrowded and increasingly corporate world through the eyes of a very large cast of disparate characters, some of whom intersect with the main story in only the most tangential of ways. Brunner's intent is mainly sociological, and he goes everywhere through these pages: the upper classes, the lower and criminal classes, the military, the corporate world. Initially starting out in an en-domed New York, the book follows threads about eugenics, colonialism, technology and anthropology out to two fictional countries, one in South East Asia and one in Africa, making detours through old Europe and Latin America.

Not all of Brunner's predictions are correct, of course. Information technology and AI has gone the opposite way to the direction that he speculated. Popular entertainment and fashions have become simpler and more backwards-looking, rather than moving to the avant garde he foresaw--likewise, the various Western governments are a lot more bolder when it comes to eugenics and fertility than our own have turned out to be. But, by an large, his predictions about corporatism and the world economy are uncanny. And of course the quotes from the work of in-text sociologist Chad Mulligan work are priceless.

My only beef with the book is that, despite the extremely liberal politics it espouses, there are no positive female characters. The women in this book are mostly either bit parts, never POV characters: betraying 'shiggys', objects of lust, or brood mothers. If they do have power and influence they are portrayed as montrous: GT, the half-cyborged old harridan who owns the world's largest corporation; Guinevere Steel, the megalomaniacal fashion maven; Olive Almiero, the baby broker--none of these characters are at all likeable. The male characters are also flawed, but they demonstrate good intentions or integrity. Not so the women.

MATTER, Iain M. Banks
Another iconoclastic and subversive epic science fiction action/intrigue novel with sociopolitical innards by one of my favourites, good old Banks. MATTER is full the cosmic scale imagination that somehow feels scientifically plausible with only a minimum to tech-babble. One of the pleasures of reading Banks' Culture books is that, while the stories are unconnected, there is a throughline in which you can see his galactic civilization (specifically, the human/AI empire called the Cuture) evolving and advancing in status through the hierarchy of Involved species. They are clearly much more advanced here than in CONSIDER PHLEBAS, the earliest book in the sequence.

There is some great stuff in this one, including the philosophical position espoused by the character Xyde Hyrlis from which the book takes its title, but for once the saga sprawls a bit too far: MATTER is a very large book that could have done with a lot of pruning.

Not Banks' best work, but worth your patience--especially if you are a fan.

THE STEEL REMAINS, Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan has definitely set out to kick over a few genre tropes in this book.

A fantasy epic that picks up ten years after winning the Big War with the Alien Menace (the Scaled Folk and their dragons), the trio of heroes are scattered far and wide. Ringil, the gay knight-aristocrat, has settled into a sulking existence way out in the boondocks, where he makes his living telling war stories in the pub and sneering at the yokels. Egar, the steppe barbarian, has bartered his own war hero status for leadership of his tribe and is having a midlife crisis. Archeth, the half-cast engineer abandoned by her own people, is a disliked and drug-addicted advisor in the Emperor's treacherous court. Various events drive the three of them reluctantly to the confront a new menace--and when I say reluctantly, I mean it. They are driven to trouble by circumstance and coincidence, rather than a desire to do what i right. In Egar's case it literally takes divine intervention to get him into position.

Full of interesting characters, violence that's much more realistically depicted than one expects in this genre and an overt dislike of authority (Morgan in particular has an axe to grind with religious establishments), this book is a fun and fast read that stops to challenge your preconceptions about what is going on as often as it can. But the plot is a bit thin and the end of the story isn't satisfying; most of questions that Morgan poses are unresolved and unanswered. Perhaps that's a bit unfair; I know there is at least one sequel in the works and I assume that this was planned from the outset, but... this book is all first act and I really think the book needed to be bigger, Still, I'll be there for the sequel.

HELL'S ANGELS, Hunter S. Thompson
One of Thompson's earlier forays into gonzo journalism, so this one, unlike his later work, is heavier on the latter part of the equation. Thompson did immerse himself in the Angels beyond the point of objectivity, but he's less of a stylist here and he presents He's clearly put in a lot of stringent research: there's a lot more meta-analysis of the media phenomenon than there are flights of speculative fancy. Insightful and gritty and annoying, but a gripping read nonetheless as Thompson debunks the myths and explains the legend. He leads us more or less earnestly through a series of anticlimaxes until we feel sympathy, even pity for the subjects... then he describes the beating he received that ended his association with the Angels once and for all.

THE HOT KID, Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard's Depression-era gangster drama set in Oklahoma brings all the good stuff you expect from the master: the leanest, lightest prose holding together a story that is almost completely dialogue-driven. I love Leonard's books because they skew so heavily towards character: there's no red herrings or whodunnit turns, because he writes from the point of view of characters on all sides of the story. Because of this you hardly notice the the plotlines, which are rambly and natural. There's never question of plausibility or motivation; you really can't prise Leonard's work apart and divideg it up into writing school constructs.

This one is a pretty simple story: US Marshal Carlos Webster, the Hot Kid of Oklahoma, is in pursuit of rich-kid turned -psychopathic-outlaw Jack Belmont. Belmont and Webster get just about equal time as their conflict leads them to tangle with the Kansas City mob, oil companies, former hookers an the KKK. A number of supporting characters and bit characters get a fair bit of play as well: both Webster and Belmont's fathers are important players.

Although Leonard is best known for writing contemporary crime stories set in Detroit or Florida, he has, throughout his very long career, made frequent and memorable excursions to places as diverse as LA, Cuba, and Israel. Leonard started out writing westerns bewfore switching to crime, so the HOT KID is a sort of a halfway point for him and it's interesting to see those genres coexisting here. This book also has more gunplay than I recall seeing from Leonard in recent years, but it still doesn't feel like he's going for an action piece. Highly recommended.

My read pile is, as always, growing, rather than shrinking, but next time I expect I will review some books by China Mieville, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman and... well, who knows?

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Beverly Hells 90210"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:47:25 GMT

Ever wonder what the vicar's sermon sounds like in a Church of Satan?

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=296

-- JF

Change Up

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:20:13 GMT

I've just finished writing the last chapter of the SIXSMITHS graphic novel (as opposed to the webcomic, which is of course still ongoing). It's a first draft, and there may well be some further tinkering and reorganizing, but the main construction work is done.

I've also completed a short story I had due and the script for another short that I had promised an artist and, for the first time in about six months, I do not have any pressing deadlines.Sitting at my desk this evening I find myself in the half-remembered position where I have no pressing deadlines and I can actually choose what I will start working on next.

It's going to be prose for a while. I have a half-completed horror story called "Metemppsychosis" that I'm dying to finish, then finally get back to the final draft of FAERIE APOCALYPSE, which I haven't had time to look at since March.

I don't think that I have the same kind of work routine as most of my peers. I write about 50/50 prose and comics, but at any given time I tend to be focused on one medium over another. This is entirely driven by what is due and what is ripening: I have a couple of quite big comics projects falling ripe (SIXSMITHS, DEUCE and perhaps even CERBERUS), but I am way ahead of the artists in terms of script.

Sometimes my work schedule gets disrupted by art. I am a writer and that is how I think of myself, but I do the odd bit of drawing every now and again and when I have a piece due that throws everything else into chaos. I need lots of intensive hours to draw, I can't multitask it the way that I do writing. It's worse on the even rarer occasions where I have to ink. I do really enjoy the process (otherwise I wouldn't do it), but the truth is that I am almost never satisfied with the results. I have improved to the point where completing a story does not bring the bitter sting of disappointment it used to, but it's more relief that I feel than anything else. It certainly doesn't compare to the rush I get when I receive something gorgeous from my ~~art slaves~~ collaborating illustrators.

So that's me right now. I'll be taking it a bit easier for a little while. My main efforts will go to something new and fresh and discrete (the short story), which I can easily put down for whatever edits or redrafts or fixes come up. I have some pitch documents to hone. I have some other new projects I want to get stuck into next year and I need to tidy up the desk a bit before then.

I should also be blogging a bit more regularly, hopefulyl with news and certainly with more reviews, opinions and random cynical commentary. Otherwise, I will be sitting in my jockey shorts playing BRUTAL LEGEND.

-- JF

In the New York Times

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:36:23 GMT

Last year Steve sevenredblurs Mangold and I co-wrote a story that was published in BAD-ASS FAERIES 2.

The anthology was mentioned in a recent New York Times article about the renewed popularity of modern fairytales in the bookstore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Marler-t.html?_r=1

Check out the article! The book has just been reprinted (now under the banner of a different publisher, Mundania Press). Steve and I are in volume 2: http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Bad-Ass+Faeries+2:+Just+Plain+Bad

Amazon have sold out of the prior (Mariette Publishing) edition of the book and the new one does not appear to be available there yet, but you can purchase it from the publisher's website at the link above. It's also available as a PDF ebook.

UPDATE: The new edition of BAF2 is now on amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Ass-Faeries-Just-Plain-Bad/dp/1606592068/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257863145&sr=1-3

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Tattoo You"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:19:18 GMT

Guest writer Jen Breach takes a third turn behind the wheel:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=293

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW now available on Amazon.com

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:16:47 GMT

The new KAGEMONO book is now up on Amazon.com from the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/Kagemono-Tooth-Claw-Jason-Franks/dp/0980516730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257311138&sr=8-1

Price is $12 USD. Australian buyers who have paypal accounts are probably better off ordering in $AUD through the Blackglass Press website from this link:

http://www.blackglasspress.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=6&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=25&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

I should have the books in Melbourne CBD comic stores by the end of the week.

Cheers,

-- JF

DEUCE cover concept

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:13:36 GMT

Cover concept for a GN called DEUCE I am working on with Nic Hunter.

-- JF

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:45:35 GMT

The Sixsmiths family wishes you a happy halloween:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=290

Hail Satan!

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "The Big Bounce"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:04:42 GMT

This week's installment is a little bouncier than usual. Make with clicky:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=287

--JF

In the Barrio

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:26:53 GMT

Dear Powderfinger,

Boys, I've never been a huge fan, but I like a couple of your songs and I always sort of respected you for being the mainstays mainstays of domestic Aussie indie rock. You've never been exported well; aside from brief appearance on the MI:2 soundtrack the local bands that have gone on to crack the US have been always of the bigger and dumber variety: ~~Blink 182~~ The Living End, the Vines, Jet, Wolfmother. I don't wanna call you boys soft, but, like your music, you fellas have always been the sensitive types who've stayed home to look after Mum. I've never doubted yoru credibility before, but I'm afraid I gotta call you on this new one.

See, I caught the video for your new song, All of the Dreamers, on TV over the weekend and... well, where to begin? Ok, let's start witht he first line:

"But when you come down to the barrio. Get a feel of the peoples scenario."

I'm really sorry, but that is just fucking terrible. Yes, it rhymes, but really? This from the same 'acclaimed songwriters' who penned My Kinda Scene? But it's worse than that. See, based on the video clip, I'm pretty sure that you don't know what a 'barrio' is. (Hint: Downtown Melbourne isn't it). The Melbourne CBD is as much the barrio as P!nk is a rockstar.

Now, okay, I know there's almost no Hispanic people in Australia to put you wise, but I still have to call you on it. And fellas, I'm as happy as anyone to see the return of flannel and stubble, but the waxed eyebrows are ruining the effect. It's all getting a bit boy-band for my taste.

Pull up your socks and wash behind your ears, chaps. I expect better.

-- JF