2008 is the National Year of Reading here in Britain, and earlier in the year the government commissioned the School Library Association to produce a list of books specifically aimed at encouraging young boys to read (as in America, boys here lag quite a way behind girls in their reading habits and frequency).
Well, I’ve just discovered—by way of a short article about the report in last week’s TIMES—that the POINT BLANC graphic novel is on the list.
It’s categorised as “older primary” level, and is in some damn good company—Charlie Higson’s YOUNG BOND and Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL graphic novel, for example. You can see the specific listing here, or browse through the whole report online.
I’m dead chuffed about this. Not just because, hey, it’s one of my books, but also because this is another step towards erasing the stigma that has traditionally surrounded comics for so long in this country. Onward and upward.
[ Alex Rider / Links ]
Any creator who says they don’t care about winning awards is lying through their teeth. We’re creatures of ego, and awards do nothing but bolster that.
But there are degrees of caring, and you can’t pay your gas bill with a nice statuette, so it’s not really something I think about. Most of the stuff I write is far too niche and obscure to show up on award lists. (On the other hand, it does pay the bills.)
Imagine my surprise, then, when I read that WASTELAND has been nominated for Best New Series in the 2007 Harvey Awards. We’re up against 52, CIVIL WAR, THE SPIRIT and NECROMANCER - a bizarre cross-section of the medium if ever there was one - but the nice thing about the Harveys is that they’re nominated and voted for entirely by other creators. The comics equivalent of beard-stroking muso awards, if you will. And never let it be said that I’m not somewhat of a beard-stroking muso type.
Well, this is quite bizarre. In episode 6 of the new superhero TV series HEROES, about 5 and a half minutes in, an establishing shot of Micah’s bedroom shows… a copy of WASTELAND #1 in his reading rack! The shot pulls back from the bedroom mirror, but there’s no mistaking Ben Templesmith’s cover.
(Click for larger version)
Not exactly the first book I’d give a ten-year-old…
Two quick items for you:
Issue #4 of WASTELAND goes on sale this week. This is the second part of Descend The Shades Of Night; wherein Michael and Abi make a disturbing discovery about Sultan Ameer’s caravan, and Marcus’ proposed solution to the growth of the Sunner cult in Newbegin racks up the tension between him and Primate Heddor.
There’s a six-page preview of the issue at Comic Book Resources.
On a more general subject, Neil Kleid is guest-blogging all this week at Newsarama, and to kick today off he and I had a conversation about the recent changes in comics graphic design. Pretty interesting, if you enjoy that aspect of the medium.
[ Wasteland / On Sale / Links / Musings ]
Another podcast feature on WASTELAND today, but one with a difference - this is Variant Edition, the first (and I think only) regular video podcast about comics.
VE #13 has the first installment of a new monthly feature segment on books currently being solicited, and this month’s entire segment is about WASTELAND #1 - complete with shots of the preview pages and cover, and VE producer Kevin’s own thoughts on the book. Very cool.
You can download the episode through iTunes or direct from variantedition.com.
Just a quickie - the website for Abaddon Books, publishers of STEALING LIFE, is now live. And very pretty it is too.
[ Novels / Stealing Life / Links ]
Do you play videogames? Of course you do. Who doesn’t, these days?
Which is rather the point of a new feature starting on PC Gameworld, The Future Evolution of Games, to which I was asked to contribute. It’s a big feature asking what, exactly, will games be like in five or ten years’ time? How will they work? What will we play them with, or on? And so on.
There are seven other panelists besides me, all of them far more knowledgable about the reality of the games industry than I am. Which is fine, because it means I can ramble on about interactivity, high concepts and other such pet topics of mine without getting in anybody’s way.
The feature is going to run in parts over the next couple of weeks, starting tomorrow. But if you can’t wait, there’s also a direct link to my responses in full.
[ Videogames / Links / Musings ]
I know it’s just a database cribbing from Amazon, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
[ Links ]
More FOUR LETTER WORLDS news: Eric Stephenson has posted Steven Griffin’s lovely cover design, and the full details of the book (including ordering details) on his website. It’ll be solicited in next month’s PREVIEWS, due out January 2005, so I’ll repeat the solicitation info here closer to the time.
[ Pre-order / Links / Anthologies ]
Thanks to the efforts of OPi8.com’s new editor Travis Anderson, AFTER DAYS OF PASSION is back online after a rather long hiatus. I’m still quietly proud of this work - even three years on, it remains one of the few medium-specific webcomics out there. The direct link is here.
(If you need any more incentive to read it, I should probably mention that it was drawn by Ben Templesmith, back before he became a Comic Book Horror Rockstar Type Person.)
[ Links ]
Archives
RSS Feed
