Well, I ordered a b&w Kindle touch. I probably can’t afford it, but I’ve been reading a lot and need something easier on my eyes. I read a LOT about the various devices and compatibility and such, and took into account all your helpful comments, thank you. In the end, I felt it would most suit my various needs, and that there are plenty of workaround programs to convert most files to show on it. Should arrive any day, can’t wait to read.

I’ve begun slowly re-reading Spacetrawler, and making notes on all the little threads and side-comments I’ve written to make sure I don’t miss anything for tying together book 3 which I’m beginning to write (currently is only vaguely outlined, as the story has taken quite a few unexpected twists and turns).

HUGO Award nomination is open! The Foglio‘s (last I knew) have bowed out, which means others have a chance. I’d be in the best Graphic Story category, although I’m terrible at forms — they ask for “Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in 2011″ which I’m not sure if that would be Spacetrawler book#1 which appeared in print for the first time in 2011, or book#2 which began appearing on the web for the first time in 2011. Sigh.

Anyhow, go there, nominate me (if you find me worthy) (even Konrad Gaertner thinks it is), and then spread the word about the strip and nominating it far and wide (please). If not me, then either Schlock Mercenary or Marooned would be acceptable I suppooooosse.

Made seitan this week, as well as several batches of granola, bread, and we’ve recently been playing with growing sprouts. I do so love the kitchen.

I went running for the first time in years on Sunday, inspired because a friend asked me to play racquetball, and I wanted to see if my body would hold together in one piece if moved faster than a stroll. I survived the test jog (barely), racquetball is Wednesday, the resulting wake and funeral will probably be scheduled for the weekend.

Oh, and i got a nasty phonecall from Tom Walker this weekend, asking why the hell I didn’t link to last week’s SS Myra. There you go, Tom.

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(**EDIT** colored and finished version now uploaded) As you may notice, the strip is not all the way colored, seems the queen is still painting the roses red. The finished strip should be up within 2 hours TOPS.

For that reason, I won’t spend too much time blogging today. Thank you for the advice regarding the Kindle (and Nook and Pandigital). I am definitely interested in b&w, for ease on the eyes. But your discussion led me to go to my public library’s website and see what devices their files are compatible on. Every kind of file is compatible on every device except Kindle. Except Kindle files ONLY work on Kindle and no other devices.

It’s an interesting choice on Kindle’s path, and no doubt inspired by MAC who knew their presence was strong enough that they could make buyers feel their way was inevitable (where else will one buy ebooks if not Amazon?). I have a personal/professional reasons why it would be good to get a kindle or to get something else. I’ll continue to ponder.

Heh. not that I can afford to buy, but I might budget it in if I feel it’s useful and warranted enough.

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Have a wee bit of a headache (understatement). I think I might lie down rather than blogging.

Tom Walker has a new SS Myra up, of course.

Have I said recently that you all are awesome? You all are awesome.

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Just so you know, Spacetrawler is not now some dark grim comic. It has always had that element as a part of it, and this is just a period where the dark flows up a bit. Just wait, an ebb will come.

Shaenon Garrity (who created Narbonic, and is half the brilliant duo behind Skinhorse) wrote a review of my so-far-lifetime body of work over at The Comics Journal. And I’ve had a lot of reviews written about me, but this one really touched me. I thought it was really thoughtful about my work as a whole, and the underlying themes.

Also, despite Tom Walker DEFINITELY not blackmailing me to do so, I should mention SS Myra (NSFW) has it’s weekly strip up as usual.

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What a computer nightmare I set myself up to this weekend. But… perhaps wiping my HD didn’t show full insight into the tools I had available. Anyhow, a foolish waste of time. Thanks to Mike for saving my butt.

Aside from that, not much to blog about. Really enjoyed all your replies to the last strip, more specifically — about making bread and chocolate. The flavor of the bread I made is all good, and the consistency is nice to each but a bit crumbly. I might try more gluten, soak my whole grains a bit first, and then knead it a bit longer. I’m still fiddling with the chocolates. My sweetie makes almond milk from scratch, and so we have lots of leftover almond pulp. I’m currently trying to make a sort-of vegan almond pulp toffee, then dipped in chocolate. Fun to play.

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Been a busy week. I’m back home, getting caught up. Trying to make chocolates, but for my sweetie I’m making them vegan which is a real challenge. I also made bread twice by hand (we usually use our bread machine). Whoot!

Just finished reading The Comic Book Guide To The Mission, brought to my attention by the fabulous Lauren Davis who edited it (and who I finally got to meet at APE). And thanks for the shout-out from Crow of Nicky510.

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I had a lovely time at InterventionCon. And even though I really came to them last-minute, Onezumi and Harknell totally found a place for me in the whole thing, I really appreciate it. And thanks to the amazing Gloria Chapa who made sure all us guests had the support we needed. You guys were great, thank you.

And it was so good to see Shaenon Garrity and Pete Abrams, and also to meet Jeffrey Channing Wells, Jennie Breeden, and T Campbell among many.

And the conventioning is still not over. This coming weekend I’ll be doing the Saturday-one-day-indie-comics expo MICE up in Boston, and then the next weekend APE in San Francisco. And then I rest for a wee little bit. Well, probably not.

Oh, an amusing link from Fish in the comments last week, but nicely tied into today’s strip: the world of REAL Bar-Bots.

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Today’s strip has (give or take) six locations, nine characters, and six punchlines. Hopefully it could still be read, understood and enjoyed by Joe Shmoe if he were to walk in off the street and read it — but still, you all deserve “elite reader” awards. I applaud you. (Not that my goal is to be complex. My goal is to produce good work, which admittedly sometimes gets complex).

Someone wrote me the other day, inquiring (in a friendly manner) if Yuri was a bit of a cyborg “F.U.” at Dresden Codak. And as much as a friendly rivalry amuses me, i wanted to let you all know: unequivocally NO. Aaran Diaz is very talented and I love his work, both Dresden Codak and his blog about making comics: Indistinguishable From Magic are excellent reads.

Although…. in a fight, who would win? Kim or Yuri?…… I’ll let YOU decide.

Below is a doodle I did of Kim:

And lastly: what a day for comic Book releases! Vera Brosgel’s Anya’s Ghost (which I’ve had on pre-order since February), Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy, and Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham’s Level up. Nice!

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Today’s strip demands a lot from you, readers, but I think it reads smoothly. Oh, and for those new or who have forgotten, here’s where Dimitri met Shuar, and then here, and some follow-up scenes (and one more) (I’d point you to the Shuar tag, but for some reason i can’t get it to show the strips). The remote Martina uses to wake Yuri didn’t get nearly enough screen time but did appear in panels 9 & 10 here.

Thanks to Gini Koch (of the “Touched by an Alien” series) for the blog mention. And a blog which missed my radar: Orren Merton mentioned me before in a blog about Spacetrawler, but now has a blog post about the book #1.

So, at the Phoenix Sci-Fi Con “LepreCon,” I met Seanan McGuire. She came up to me and told me that my webcomic “Bruno” helped her get through high school. I thought that was pretty neat, and nice of her to say. And since she mentioned that she was an author, I decided to read one of her books. I read “Feed” (written under her pseudonym, Mira Grant) and holy cats. I generally find the horror genre of books and movies to be too much for me, especially zombie stuff as it is focused around gore and shooting, but this wasn’t. This was about character and the geeky details of day-to-day life in a zombie-virus world, it was emotionally moving. Maybe all the more impact because I didn’t expect that (and have just ruined it for you, now going in expecting it). This novel was marvelous. Anyhow, link to Amazon (if you want to give me a kickback) for “Feed,” and/or read my review on Goodreads.

Oh, and hey, Brian Madison: email me. I got your T-Shirt.

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Today’s strip is sort-of a post-script to book #1. Good times for Shuar and Flineous. Prepress is done for book #1, and it’s ready to be shipped off to printer first thing Monday. I am very excited. And I will now forever associate the pre-presss of this book with Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables” which I listened to on audiobook the entire time.

Dave Kellett’s in my sights today. He FINALLY created an official website for his comic Drive. Looks awesome, Dave! As well, I just finished reading his eighth collection of his comic Sheldon, and it was excellent. My favorite parts were probably the Star Wars Babies, starring Baby Admiral “izza twap” Ackbar, and Arthur the duck’s several day rant on roads not taken and lives not lived, which I can’t help wonder if it’s Dave himself thinking “I’m a cartoonist, how the hell did I end up here?” Also, having finally met Dave (at NEWW), and had several drinks with him, I also have a new perspective of the strip — the zany fun and laughter at life which in the strip really comes from who he is. Nice! :)

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