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"The Hard Way" reviewed by Mike Collins.
Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin takes his first steps into the world of comics with a creator owned series being published by Aspen.
Iron and the Maiden takes place in a sprawling retro futuristic cityscape where men wear 1930's suits and cars fly. It is vibrantly brought to life by pencilers Francis Manapul and Joel Gomez with colors by Danimation. The time period isn't specified but we are told a great war ended twenty years ago that brought about advances in technology but it has been subverted through Prohibition.
If the first issue is any indication this should be an entertaining series. Issue one begins with title character, Syndicate hitman Michael Iron, disrupting Sunday service to twist the arm of an obviously corrupt Cardinal. Things go from bad to worse when Iron finds half the police force waiting for him outside.
Making a daring escape Iron makes his way back to his boss, the inspired Big Daddy. Here we learn a bit more about the organization Michael Iron works for and how far their criminal reach is. This meeting also sets in motion the rest of the series. Iron and a small crew are sent to collect outstanding gambling debts from former special forces soldier John Chase, who is at home with his family, including daughter Angela and two small children.
In a manic scene everything goes to hell. Iron turns out to be a better man than either he or the reader is expecting and a whole lot of blood gets spilled. The issue ends with a seriously wounded Iron and Angela Chase, the Maiden of the title, on the run with Big Daddy's forces closing in.
I think Rubin, Manapul and Gomez deliver an entertaining first issue that shows promise for the rest of the series.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:00 PM
by Pete Goodrich
What I'd Like To Hoard
One hopes that when the zombies come and society as we know it inevitably breaks down, we would all react in the spirit of common brotherhood. We would reach deep, deep down inside and draw upon unforeseen reserves of human decency to protect and help one another stand strong against the plague of the unliving. And then when the government gets it's bearings, the armed forces will come together to scourge the zombies from the earth and then the healing can begin.
What I'm hoping for is that I'll have a chance to hoard some of the good shit before its too late. Folks, its great to think that when the shit comes down and the bodies start rising we'll all come together and all, but lets face it: if a bunch of able-bodied people won't give up a subway seat to a pregnant lady, we're not going to be sharing our batteries and multivitamins with any Joe Not-Zombie rolling during the apocalypse.
So when I get down to it, what am I going to hoard? Aside from the usual that is- I figure things like guns (with bullets!), bottled water, flashlights, canned foods, etc are all no-brainers. Basic survival items make sense. But what other stuff might come in handy? I've thought of a couple options. I will share this with you, as I figure when the apocalypse comes you won't be able to gank my list off the internet.
* Leather pants. 36 waist, 32 long. Why? Well, I figure the leather might make it harder for the zombies to bite into my tender leg flesh. Also, I figure that once the dead start walking and killing and eating my neighbors and all I might crap my pants a little. Maybe even once a day! Go ahead and judge now, but don't play like you won't shit yourself when some undead guy in a clown suit kills and eats your mailman. Okay, maybe just the first time it happens. At any rate: multiple pairs of pants will be good to have, as all uncontaminated water will have to go towards...you know. Drinking it. And if these pants offer a little extra protection: so much the better.
Snug and sexay
* Cyclone fence. It'll be difficult, but if possible I'd try to grab as much cyclone fence from Home Depot as I can get away with before the noise draws a large crowd of the undead to come eat my face. If I play my cards right and put up enough perimeter fences around some rich, dead guys phat mansion (for I will try and hole up in the nearest rich dead guys phat mansion) I like to think I'd be safe enough to start up a little garden outside. If I can steal enough cyclone fence of course.
* Cows. This is totally dependent on whether I have enough cyclone fence to secure a large enough grassy area. If I do, then I will hoard as many cows as I can get away with. I'll have milk and steak and jerky to last me as I wait for the godforsaken undead to rot to nothing. And perhaps I will manage to befriend my cows as well. No guarantees that I'll be in a position to save anybody other than myself. So I will have to make friends with the cows.
Be our friend.
* Breakfast Cereals. I just like the stuff is all. And I figure that as everyone else raiding the supermarket goes for the canned goods, I'll be able to sidle in and lift all of the Raisin Bran. Now, this is all contingent on whether I'll be able to get the cyclone fence and the cows. Cereal without milk, you say? Sure, I could eat the cereal dry. But I could also wipe my ass with my hands. Come on, now. Just because society as we know it has fallen does not mean we immediately become barbarians.
* Hammers. Imagine: some poor, heroic but doomed volunteer fireman is cornered in an alley. Four or five half-eaten zombies shamble towards him, intent on eating his head. His hands will be empty, and as he frantically presses back against that alley wall in abject terror, in the back of his mind he'll be really, really pissed off that I managed to steal every hammer in town. Sorry, random dude. Maybe you could have hoarded less of the Powerbars.
* Porn. Not just for me, but for bartering. Just the magazines of course, as since the electric company will likely be eaten by zombies there'll be no way to watch it on DVD. I figure I won't be the only cold and lonely dude in the zombie-filled night. With the right periodicals, I might be able to barter me some of those Powerbars I missed out on. And if all else fails, I can burn it for warmth.
This is not the cereal I mean
So if I manage to avoid being eaten long enough to hoard some goodies, I'll be pretty well set up for the lawless wasteland that post-zombie America will become. You may laugh, and you may mock; but me and my army of cows will laugh last as we feast upon delicious Life cereal behind our protective fences while you get chewed on by your Aunt Rita. I just hope that the cows overlook the leather pants.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:15 AM
You wanna make money in evil?!!! Sure, we all do! But how? What should you be buying... RIGHT NOW? YMB is here to tell you which evil corporations will be lining YOUR pocketbook and which ones will just be lining your coffin!
Extensive Enterprises
These guys have their fingers in everything. Military hardware, home construction, biochem, cloning. You name it, Extensive Enterprises does it. That diversity of product means they're set to ride out the lulls in any one industry.
And with the financial backing of Arbco Industries, there's little that Extensive can't do. Sure, the flashy twins who run Extensive get more press than the company sometimes, but just imagine if Virgin had two Bransons running it and you get an idea about how good Tomax and Xamot are for business.
And Extensive Enterprises' military ordinance has always been on the cutting edge, you might not think an army needs a giant, rolling jeep where the front splits in two, but Extensive thinks that the new STUN will be stunning the competition come January. And a giant robot suit that mind controls enemies into fighting for you? If the SNAKE's not forward thinking in the War on Terror, I don't know what is.
Big buy, here. Don't miss out.
Lexcorp
Sadly, this towering juggernaut of evil has fallen on hard times after 52 straight weeks of weak, ill-advised moves (a new Infinity Inc? Great call.) And now it seems ot be counting down to even worse times ahead.
Lexcorp has plummeted in terms of it's evil quotient, divested itself of ignominy, and sold off its shares of malevolence and seems lately to practice nothing more evil than the occasional 'shady real estate deal.' Once a major player in the field of Evil Business, Lexcorp is about as dated as the purple butterfly collar disgraced CEO and former President Lex Luthor has been sporting in recent photo ops. And what's with the tears, Mr. Luthor? There's no crying in Evil!
For God's sake man, you were once the Evil President of America! What the hell are you doing?
It's sad to see a giant of Evil fall on hard times, but it's even harder to lose money on it.
Always sell when the evil quotient falls under 34 EAPY.
Umbrella Corporation
Despite an outbreak of mindless genetically engineered killing machines at one of their satellite facilities early in the year, the Umbrella Corporation has made strong gains, and shows no sign of slowing down.
While their pharmaceutical and medical equipment research supply Umbrella with a solid foundation, the real star is its biological weapons development branch. It's a growth industry, but one few companies are prepared to get involved in due to potential ethical concerns (not to mention the high risk due to the occasional inevitable mishaps). Thankfully, the Umbrella Corporation refuses to let morality get in the way of profit and has emerged as a leader in the field.
BUY!
OCP
A solid DOWN to investing in OCP. Let's face it, they talk a good game but they're clearly incompetent. Top of the line cybernetics? Well sure, if you like cyborgs that either:
1) pull their own heads off
2) run amuck in an uncontrollable, bloody massacre
3) run amuck in an uncontrollable, bloody massacre of justice.
And when investing in Evil, the last thing you want is something that might suddenly develop a sense of heroism. Couple all of the above with OCP's utter failure to subjugate Detroit? No sale, OCP. No sale.
Wonka Chocolate
Here's what you've gotta know about Wonka... no labor costs. No union. None of that. Just a cheap, endless supply of slave labor. And we all know what slave labor means... slave labor equals "ca-ching"!
So this is a big buy right now. Wonka's outperforming all his competitors right now, Nestle, Slugworth, all of them. And he's always inventing new crap for kids to shove in their mouths.
And don't let that class action lawsuit that's on the horizon scare you, if kid's don't get that exploding bubble gum explodes, that's not Wonka's fault!
Roxxon Oil
Once a big player in the 80's, the 90's Evil Corporation boom blew this once-giant (and it's Evil Subsidiary the Brand Corporation) out of the water. Repeated efforts to use super-villainy to further the cause of natural fossil fuels proved fruitless, as the quality of super-villains were always subpar.
Let's face it, guys with metal whips and guys who shoot magma from their hands really only have very limited potential in the marketplace.
But, now with Bush II in the White House, look for Roxxon Oil to make huge leaps back into the energy game (who do you think met with Cheney's Energy Task force after all?) with new initiatives designed to reduce our country's reliance on fossil fuels- such as ETHANOR- the Ethanol Man! He Will Horrify Your Hybrids!
CAUTIOUS BUY. Our fingers are crossed.
Cyberdyne
Much like Roxxon, this property hasn't been a big player since the 80's. But unlike Roxxon, it seems like Cyberdyne isn't moving anywhere but down. Their last model was almost something special, but they didn't market it properly instead choosing to again focus on their older 84 edition. The phrase "one-trick pony" comes to mind, and considering how lame that pony really was in it's last appearance...well, you get the gist.
They never really recovered after their headquarters was attacked in the early 1990s. Apparently, they lost a lot of important data an proprietary equipment that day. Still, a huge government contract telecommunications networking contract is never that far out of reach.
But, for right now, SELL.
Weyland-Yutani
Weyland-Yutani could be a big mover. Rumors are that they're about to acquire something big, moving them out of the "world building" business, which, let's face it, is a pretty slow money maker with big start-up costs. Insiders are a buzz over a leaked internal memo:
"Will find suitable host. Likely Newt. -Burke"
Yep, it looks like W-Y is moving into the entertainment business. Acquiring a cable network, perhaps? A daily talk show, maybe? Hosted by Newt Gingrich? W-Y giving Fox News a run for its money?
Buy now while W-Y is still undervalued.
Soylent Corporation
With obesity concerns on the rise in the US, what better way to capitalize and profit on these concerns by investing in the Soylent Corporation? The kid-friendly (children love green!) squares are all the rage, low in cholesterol and high in protein. And they're people! They're made out of people!
And that's evil. But you know what would make the processed remains of the dead even more palatable to kids? Frosting packages. Or sour candy dip. Much as healthy oatmeal has been subverted to include frosting, corn-syrupy-sweet 'jams,' and even chocolate; one could do the same with Soylent Green. What's more evil than to fool people into thinking they're enjoying a healthy snack treat when they are in fact just fattening themselves with more and more sugar? And people!
Strongest UP to investing in Soylent Corporation! Soylent Green is PROFIT! BUY! BUY! BUY!
Edna's Edibles
What kind of monster would employ a girl who suffered from an eating disorder for a half and hour and another girl who clearly suffered from weight issues in a business selling food? None other than Edna Garrett, former housekeeper, matron, and now food entrepreneur. And with her delicious baked goods, she's got her hand on the pulse of every major business across the world. She's Martha Stewart, but with a less obvious, yet more insidious, evil.
Amazingly, all the most Evil Corporations in the world all stem from this one: Edna's Edibles. Who do you think invented the recipe for Soylent Green? Edna Garrett. Who is the muse of billionaire super-villain and industrialist Lex Luthor? Blair Warner. What emotionless, blank personality were the killer robots and cyborgs of both Cyberdyne and OCP based on? Jo. What inspired Extensive Enterprises' POGO attack craft? Tootie's exuberance.
If you can get your hands on this stock, buy it.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 12:00 PM
by Pete Goodrich
Lets face it: I'm a thirtyish office drone who has just quit smoking after ten years, and has been out of shape for even longer. I'm chum. Zombie chum. I'm the guy that will be left behind with a twisted ankle plaintively begging my fellow survivors "Wait! Don't leave me! DON'T LEAVE MEEEEEEE!" ...I fully intend to let my voice trail off like that too, just to haunt their dreams a little. I am not above a guilt trip.
So yeah, I've got three, four, maybe more!- of the undead set to feast on my prone body. Escape is an impossibility as I am trapped beneath a tangle of their unfeeling limbs. How shall I handle this?
1) SCREAMING PLAINTIVELY
Perhaps like a little girl, perhaps just some guttural grunts of pain and shock. Man, I hope I go into shock. I'd make some futile attempts to defend myself with my outstretched arms and hands, but I suspect as they start to gnaw on my outstretched arms and hands I'll give that right up. I figure I may opt to pee myself, and perhaps shit myself as well. But hey, I will take some small solace (very, very small) in that I am not alone in this likely fate. Whether you're a 30ish office drone like myself or Nitro of the American Gladiators, having the flesh stripped from your arms by a pack of ravenous ghouls will make anyone crap themselves like an infant in the crib.
It is very hard to Google Image Search for American Gladiator Gemini
2) PRETEND I'M BRAVE
I like to think I'll have it in me to bust out some false bravado as they get me. Like Captain Rhodes, in Day of the Dead. "Choke on them!" he croaked, as they did presumably choke on his steaming guts. I admire that. He was able to reach down deep, deep into the very guts and nerve that they were eating and shout out a last defiant insult at his attackers. Perhaps I'll try that if (when.) my time comes. If I'm not too busy crying.
Captain Lunch
C) FAMILY TIES?
I wonder how it would be if I were to be attacked and devoured (whether partially or totally) by people that I know. Would the shock of my loved ones trying to eat me be enough to send me gibbering into insanity? Or would my natural, innate dislike of my extended family give me the strength to fight back, at least with words? "Fuck you, Aunt Clara! Argh! Fine, go ahead and eat my foot! I finally admit it you cow, I pissed in your ficus plant! It was I! Choke on my truth filled toes, you zombie bitch!" Oh, that'd be sweet. It might even make up for the being eaten, or at least take some of the sting out of it.
But I think that the best course of action would of course be: Do everything and anything in my power to avoid being eaten by zombies.
Ever since I first saw the original Dawn of the Dead in 1992, these are words that I have lived by. Not a day goes by when I don't stop and think about how to best avoid being devoured by the living dead. How to defend myself, what to defend myself with, lotting the best refuge, planning escape routes to said refuge, what items to hoard, what the best makeshift bludgeon is, and so on. I run the full gamut of ways to avoid a zombie-related death in my head on a daily basis, when on the subway, in the car, at rest or in line at CVS. I am constantly on guard.
Actually, not one of the best things to use in the event of a zombie attack.
You may say "Well, Pete. That's just a little bit of crazy." To which I say feh! If that's crazy, then you can lick my balls! Which is to say: I'm not hurting anyone in planning so.
If anything, one day my knowledge could save your very life. Furthermore, I'm not actually planning for when the zombies come. I don't actually live my life in fear that one day the dead will rise up and kill the living. No, these are just the idle thoughts of an overactive imagination that has been steeped in zombie lore- fiction, comics, movies- for as long as I can remember. It's just that when I'm on the subway, what am I going to let my mind wander off to? Thinking about work, or thinking about what the best makeshift zombie bludgeon might be? But please, I'm not mad. I do not actually believe that the zombies are actually coming for you or me or any of us.
But just in case, I have made some sensible plans for just such an event. Check back for updates.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 03:31 PM
by Mike Collins
For people not familiar with your debut novel, Echelon, can you give a description of it? It's a hard book to classify. It's part near future thriller, part conspiracy and part Six Million Dollar Man...
I think you described it perfectly!
In one line, Echelon is a near-future spy thriller, dealing with the NSA's eavesdropping network. It's Jason Bourne meets cyberpunk.
I'd classify Echelon as spy-fi. I'm a big fan of spy fiction (Ludlum, Forsythe, Le Carre) and sci-fi (Card, Gibson, Stephenson, Morgan). Mash the two genres together, and you've got Echelon.
On the spy side, Echelon delves into a global conspiracy from the eyes of Ryan Laing, an operative who's suddenly being hunted by his own organization. Echelon deals with how a Big Brother could rise from our current actions – and how it might then unravel.
The Six Million Dollar Man aspect comes out of Laing's interface with technology. With our current advancements in genetics, robotics, info-tech and nanotechnology, we are quickly entering a world where our interaction with technology will happen on a more visceral, internal level. There's a lot of sci-fi about cyborgs and far future man-machine integration. I'm interested in what the experience would be like for that first guy in line. What would it really be like to have technology invading your body and mind?
My hero, Ryan Laing, is that guinea pig.
This being your first published novel, what was the process like for you?
Short answer – it was fantastic. I also write for Hollywood and while I love writing for the screen, my real passion lies in literature. For years, the idea of writing a book was just too intimidating. Then, I found an idea that captured my imagine enough to give it a shot. So, I sat down and started pounding away. On finishing, the book sold very quickly.
Working with my editor, Betsy Mitchell at Del Rey, was a ton of fun. Betsy really helped me find the driving story within my work. My copy editor, Deanna Hoak, then helped hone that story. It was a lot of work, but great, great fun.
Now, I've just finished Echelon's sequel, EMPYRE which comes out in October. Actually, this is the first time I've discussed EMPYRE publicly. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Echelon revolves around intercepted electronic communication. What is "the flow"?
The flow is my conception of what the internet will look like in the near future. More and more, I think the internet can be seen as an ocean of information, with its own tides and pressures. The flow plays on that idea.
My characters live in a world where much of their interaction takes place in virtual. The flow has drawn their world together and opened new avenues for communication. It is also the vehicle Echelon uses to control and manipulate world affairs. By its clandestine control of the flow, Echelon controls the world.
Did you try and base the novel in some sort of reality or just let
your imagination run wild, particularly with things like "the flow"
and the sub Laing uses early in the book?
It's a combination, I guess. With larger concepts like the flow, I used my imagination to extrapolate a possible future from what we have today, but all the tech in Echelon is in existence or being developed today.
So, to take your example, the sub Ryan uses in the beginning of the book is based on fact. It uses supercavitation to attain incredibly high speeds underwater. Basically, a bubble of air is generated around the sub, reducing drag and allowing it to fly through the water. Russia and China currently have weapons utilizing this technology and DARPA is evaluating the technology for use in American weapons and subs.
Though I base my future technology on current work and trends, my real interest lies in how my characters will deal with these technologies – in what the on-ground experience of the future will be like.
Ryan Laing is an interesting character. Between being killed in the first chapter and then resurrected full of nanotechnology, he doesn't have an easy start. Did you know where his arc was going when you started writing the novel?
When I started writing, I knew that Ryan's issues would mirror the book's larger geopolitical crisis but wasn't sure how either would resolve.
I always knew that Ryan had to die in the first chapter. No better way to kick of a story, right? And I was interested in how Ryan deals with becoming the first true cyborg. He is a man intent on maintaining control. As an Echelon agent, he works to control humanity's violent tendencies. As a man, he's equally obsessed with maintaining total control of his emotional life. So what happens to a guy like that when Echelon begins to topple just as he's undergoing this massive internal shift?
Like a lot of lead characters Laing is damaged emotionally. Why do you think that's such a prevalent theme in fiction?
It's hard to start with a hero who's happy and well adjusted - to begin a story with 'happily ever after'.
There's no doubt Ryan is damaged goods, but I think that's what makes him interesting. I mean, we all have our issues, right? And when a man is willing to push the limits, to live on the razor's edge, his issues are usually more pronounced. Something has to drive him to that edge.
I guess there is another possibility though. Maybe the real reason
fictional heroes are so messed up is that most writers aren't exactly
running on an even keel – and we're just writing what we know.
Did you set out to create a hero in some ways similar to James Bond?
Totally. I'm a huge fan of Bond – both the books and the films. I was also influenced by Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity. So there's certainly an aspect of wish fulfillment in my creation of Ryan Laing. He's bad ass – a guy who can handle any situation. But he's also a man that I can relate to – he has weaknesses. I guess I wanted to create a superhero with all the flaws and issues that a normal guy might have.
Ryan works for a secretive agency, is an agent who gets his hands bloody and has his own tech designer in Dave Madda?
Ryan works for Echelon – which is basically a clandestine Big Brother manipulating world affairs. He is part of the conspiracy and believes in it thoroughly. That is until Echelon turns its eye on him and Ryan finds himself running for his life.
In the process, he comes into contact with Sarah Peters, his handler, whom he has never met in the flesh. Her skill lies in pattern recognition, in tracking geopolitical trends. Laing also meets up with Echelon's tech guru – Dave Madda. It's only with Sarah and Dave's help that Ryan can prevail.
Can you talk a bit about Ryan's "drones"?
The drones are my conception of what nanotechnology will become. They revive Ryan at the beginning of the novel and are cutting edge, untested technology. They course through Ryan's body and even attempt to integrate with his mind. The drones give Ryan superhuman abilities – which come at a price. Through the book, Ryan both needs the drones to survive and fights the evolution they force upon him. I'm interested in how the drones affect Ryan on a personal level, and in what it means to be human if you're so
meshed with technology.
While all this might sound out there, I think there's a good chance this type of man-machine integration will happen in our lives. Cyborgs aren't that sci-fi anymore.
Ryan's handler, Sarah Peters, is pretty much the exact opposite of her agent. He's a man of action, she's a thinker. He's out in the physical world while she's constantly surfing the flow. Sarah also becomes a fish out of water as the story progresses. Can you talk a bit about her?
That's exactly right – Sarah is Ryan's counterpart – the thinker behind his action. The conspiracy within Echelon pulls her into the field and forces Ryan and Sarah together. While she's not a field operative, Sarah is certainly more stable than Ryan. As such, the two balance each other out. It's Ryan's relationship with Sarah that allows him to accept both the new world that develops through the story, and his new drone-enhanced experience of it.
Echelon is pretty packed with action scenes and interesting technology aside from the dense plot. Was there anything you weren't able to fit in?
Honestly – that's my main frustration. I have hundreds of pages on new technology, ideas, and storylines that I couldn't cram into Echelon. Doing the sequel has been great – but I just keep finding more topics. I think the fact that I'm constantly finding new stuff for Ryan and Sarah means that the two characters continue to draw my interest. Hopefully, my excitement will carry over to my readers, because the more stories they clamor for – the more I get to write.
You have sprinkled in some highly cinematic settings in Echelon. From Ryan's partially flooded Venice, CA home, to Madda's lab in the abandoned LA subways to Elysium, a hackers sanctuary, in the middle of a dead zone. Did you write this with an eye towards it becoming a movie?
Yes and no. I think that my experience in Hollywood gives me a visual writing style and keeps me connected to the location of each scene. As with the technology, all of the locations in Echelon are based on reality. I have spent time in each of the book's locales, from Venice Beach, to the Highlands of Scotland, to the far reaches of Nepal, to the beaches of Thailand.
All that said, the great thing about writing a book is that I don't have to worry about a production budget. I can let my imagination roam and throw my readers into any scene that comes to mind. That's a tremendously freeing experience.
So, yes, I've thought a lot about Echelon as a movie, but I wrote it to be a great book.
Speaking of movies, if Echelon were to be made into a movie who would you like to see cast as your characters?
I'm going to plead the fifth on that one. Echelon is getting a lot of interest in Hollywood right now and I don't want to play favorites.
What's your stance on surveillance of "private" electronic communication?
I'm conflicted. Though I write about surveillance run amuck, I understand the need for our government to keep track of those that threaten us. Finding a balance between privacy and security is no easy task.
My book takes an eavesdropping system in existence and looks at how it might evolve and grow as technology advances. While the real ECHELON and systems like it cast a wide net, our intelligence services can't fully analyze the catch - yet. But, processing power will catch up to systems like ECHELON and then we're in for interesting times.
So, the question becomes how much freedom are we willing to give up for our security? Finding a balance between privacy and security will be a central issue in the 21st Century. My hope is that Echelon will foster debate on the subject.
Your next novel, Empyre debuts this fall. What can you tell us about it?
As I said, this is the first time I've talked publicly about EMPYRE. It takes place about five years after Echelon ends and continues to follow Ryan and Sarah.
Basically, EMPYRE looks at a post Big Brother world. There are a lot of stories about bringing down an oppressive system. EMPYRE looks at the fallout of such an event. How would a world that has only known peace, react to real violence? To war? And how would my heroes deal with the fact that they threw the world into this mess?
Like Echelon, EMPYRE is a thrill ride. I'm not big on down time in my books.
You've also worked in television and film, most notably as the chief consultant on HBO's ROME. Can you talk a bit about what you did on that show?
For Rome, I co-wrote what's called the story bible. That's the 70-some page document outlining the series, characters, episodes and larger arcs.
I often get asked how I could go from ancient Rome to writing a sci-fi thriller. My response is that they're not that different. For any project, I try to come up with an interesting world and then populate it with characters and a storyline that's relevant and meaningful today.
What else do you have coming up Josh?
Publicity wise, I'll be heading down to Comic Con in a few weeks to do some panels and signings – which should be a blast.
Book wise, I'm sifting through my vat of ideas for a new stand-alone novel.
I am also developing the next Ryan Laing book. Oh, and I've been toying with taking Ryan Laing into the comic book world. I think the character and his world would make a killer comic book.
On the film side, I just finished writing a thriller. It's a modern day
adaptation of Dante's Inferno set in Los Vegas.
So, I'm staying busy.
You can check out my website (www.joshconviser.com) for the full update and excepts of Echelon.
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Posted by YourMomsBasement at 02:19 AM
Your Mom's Basement is doing an anthology of original fiction.
Starting July 10, we will be reading submissions for our first ever anthology, It Came from the Basement. This will be an online anthology linked from our front page (www.yourmomsbasement.com). We may also decide to produce a print version if one makes sense.
The theme of this anthology is, simply, "the basement". Your story can be about anything but should include a basement or something in a basement or something that came out of a basement or anything relating to a basement. In an effort to provide enjoyable content for our audience, we will be reading with an eye toward genre fiction, however non-genre work will be considered. The bottom line is, if it's good, and our readers will like it, we'll take it.
The details:
Stories of 1000-8000 words.
Reading period will begin July 10 and go through August 31.
Submissions should be sent to "submissions AT yourmomsbasement DOT com".
Because we have a limited budget, we can only pay $5 per accepted story*. It's not professional rates, but it is better than nothing. And to sweeten the pot, one story will be chosen as our feature story and the writer of that story will be paid $50.
Anything sent before July 10 will be deleted unread. The same for anything received after August 31.
*We ask for exclusive web rights for one year. After that time you are free to submit the story elsewhere, however we reserve the right to keep the story up on our website.
Posted by YourMomsBasement at 01:17 AM
