A Halloween Horror...

Mr. Jeff Swenson (who helped me get my IT Support webcomic online) recently commissioned a pulp horror story from Yours Truly as a Halloween treat for his Freethunk website.

It was a lot of fun to get back into commissioned writing again, especially something that was designed to be short and punchy like this. Entitled "Witch Fire", it's currently online for you to read here. (The illustrations on the page are mine, too.) 

While writing this piece a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that composing a decent short story (at least, in the horror and ghost-story genres) is not so dissimilar from writing a joke, or a gag. If the punchline doesn't work, nobody's really going to care how well-written and beautiful the prose is up to that point, if the final lines just unravel themselves and flop off the page in a flaccid anticlimax. I thought about the classic works by M.R James, Le Fanu, Poe and Lovecraft, where often the whole dynamic of the thing is channelled in towards the last paragraph, the last few lines, or even the last half-dozen words - the needle-sharp point at the end which pokes the reader and makes them cry "Owch!". It was one reason why I decided to go with a triple-whammy ending on this one, because it is Halloween, a season of excess. I hope at least in that respect that I succeeded.

Perhaps I had some of those classic old Hammer House of Horror episodes floating through my mind too, where the final scene is built up to have the viewer chittering over the end credits, or even a Twilight Zone quickie.

I'll have more prose up on Freethunk in the future too, it appears. More on that nearer the time...

The Secular Trinity...

After a bit of trial-and-error, I succeeded this evening in adding a new dimension to the Fenriswulf site. Take a quick glance at the top of the main page, just underneath the title bar, and you'll notice some new hyperlinks.

The first of these has just been added, leading to an information page of characters featured in Maranatha and the other forthcoming books in the Trinity Chronicles series. It also features  sneak preview of some of the illustration work which will feature in the new books. I figured that the Fenriswulf page ought to be a little more forthcoming in promoting the book (and subsequent series) which kick-started the whole project in the first place, so now the heroes and villains of Maranatha have their very own page.

Next up will be a page for plot synopses, and any other interesting trivia and bits-and-bobs that the casual browser may find to be of interest. Suggestions, of course, are more than welcome.

Spring Cleaning...in Autumn?

It's getting darker, colder, and Fenriswulf's Chaz is spending a lot more time indoors again. With that comes the availability of more time to spend on books and writing. The "Trinity Chronicles" (begun with Maranatha) is still shaping up very well, and the prequel "Venus in Saturn" now looks set for a 2011 release, with the first of half a dozen interior illustrations recently completed. The third book is being written concurrently, and that too is coming along nicely.

Somewhat inspired by a fellow writer, Chaz has also trimmed down this very Fenriswulf site with a view to adding more content relevant to books and prose. The site had begun to gain some fat, and as a result, the comic-book and more lowbrow content has migrated to its own dedicated home page, led by the scruffy kings of cutting-edge underground toilet humour, Arf & Mo.

"Surfeit of Mandrake" reviewed

Ant, over at the rather good sci-fi and fantasy book review site has just posted his review of "Surfeit of Mandrake". All in, it's a fair and balanced one, given the eclectic and wildly uneven nature of the material.

The full review is for you to read here.

Start Press

(Or, Better Late than Never?)

In between art commissions, Chaz finally found the time to query one of his clients on good sources of reviews for self-published and small press books. A fair old list was put together and not before time - in almost 2 years, neither Maranatha or Mandrake have had much in the way of publicity, apart from a few column inches in the local newspaper and some self-penned press releases back in the day (however, some kind buyer or passer-by has recently awarded our Lowbrow Pinup Art Calendar a 4/5 star rating...)

The delay was mainly due to other ongoing projects getting in the way, and Chaz's total distrust of any company or individual requesting payment for book reviews - which also happen to be the ones most likely to show up in internet searches on the subject ("Professional marketing packages for YOUR book from ONLY $499! Use your credit card NOW!" screams the typical blurb on such sites, and their associated spammy/scammy robotic emails which find their way into the Fenriswulf mailbox on a daily basis).

So, some reviews for Fenris' two full-length books ought to be forthcoming before too long. Watch this space...

Dundee Comics Conference 2010...Been there, done it...wore the t-shirt!

A long day for Mssrs. Chaz and Frang began early on Sunday morning, and involved a frustrating argument with Dundee city's increasingly annoying system of 1-way traffic and strategically-placed roadworks, seemingly engineered to make their timely arrival at the opening of this event in the Dundee Literary Festival calendar as difficult as possible. There were times when reality felt as if it had been substituted for an interactive episode of TV's "Spaced", with comic geekiness and eternal obstacles intertwining to create a rather surreal journey to the Dundee University tower building.

Chaz left Frang in charge of setting up the stand after a brief and breathless Bisley-esque conversation before dashing off to move the car to a less illegal parking spot (which turned out to be 10 minutes' walk away...)

Following this inauspicious opening, Fenriswulf eventually staked out their merchandise stand at the far end of the main entry hall, sharing space with George Cordeiro's Black Hole comics store table, and a couple of other stalls selling relevant merchandise. The main point of the event for us had been more networking than profit, as well as meeting some very interesting people, and all of the above was happily accomplished. George sold a few of his self-penned "Far Out" comics titles (with art by Frang), and also agreed to promote Fenriswulf as much as he could - by taking on stock for his shop, as well as distributing business cards to customers throughout the day.



Chaz caught up with - surprise, surprise - Neil Cunie, onetime sales manager of Dundee's Borders store, who had been instrumental in getting Fenriswulf's first products out there to the public in the earliest days of the project. Frang attended a talk while Chaz chatted happily with the chap behind the "Fine & Dandy" DC Thomson licensed merchandise stall - and in the process learned much about the complex business of licensed products.

While the event wasn't as well-attended as maybe had been hoped, all those who were there seemed to enjoy themselves and all of the talks were educational, funny, and interesting. Alan Davis gave his personal angle on drawing comic art for the American market; a very animated Dez Skinn shared many amusing anecdotes related to the birth of his early editorial projects with IPC and UK Marvel in the 70s; and Pat Mills contributed some fascinating personal details of the differences between working in the Franco-Belgian, and the British, comics markets.



Friendly books signings concluded the day, which also included a genuinely-heartfelt tribute to the late local Beezer comic artist Bill Ritchie, and everyone adjourned to the DCA art bar for after-conference relaxation. Frang and Chaz spent the rest of the evening in discussion over the next phase of the Fenriswulf campaign for independent writing and comic art, with plenty of new material on the horizon. Products haven't been mega-selling yet but then nobody expected them to be - at this still very early stage in the game, brand recognition and networking are really the prime goals. Profit is mere vanity and was never even figured into the equation, though the day will come - not before too long, with any luck - when it does become a serious goal. Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day.

The Fenriswulf Corner

Only a few weeks now 'til the Dundee Comics conference. My man Frang has secured us a spot on a local comics dealer's stall...but some serendipity came my way today when I found this rather handy rotating display stand dumped literally outside my house.



Cleaned up and customised in a couple of hours, it was pressed into service and fits the full range of Fenriswulf products really well! Also hoping that my custom URL t-shirt should attract some interest on the day.

In other news, I've this week had to renew the domain name "fenriswulf-books.co.uk". Has it really been two years since I kicked off this very website on the back of a single tentative release, "Maranatha" ? So much seems to have happened since then. In the meantime, here's to another two years of creativity and independent publishing!