With stars to fill my dreams

Bayou Arcana: Songs of Loss and Redemption

2012-02-03T17:50:00.000Z

Bayou Arcana: Songs of Loss and Redemption
cover by Jennie Gyllblad

Bayou Arcana: Songs of Loss and Redemption is now available for pre-order from Markosia, and is being launched at Bristol Comic Expo in May, 2012.

Bayou Arcana, which features a short story by Sara Dunkerton and I, was the brain-spawn of Jimmy Pearson. A southern-gothic horror anthology, it brings together an all-female team of artists with an all-male team of writers.

This unique setup led to its mention in a Guardian article, Ker-pow! Women kick back against comic-book sexism, highlighting the portrayal of women in comics and a new trend that will hopefully lead to the end of traditional male dominance and bias in the industry. It was followed by similar stories in newspapers and online, around the world, including British Anthology 'Bayou Arcana' Aims To Focus On Female Talent on MTV Geek.

Bayou Arcana features the talents of:

The Tale of Ol’ Mercy by Valia Kapadai and Jimmy Pearson
Comfort and Joy by Davina Unwin and Darren Ellis
Irons in the Fire by Jennie Gyllblad and Corey Brotherson
True Reflections by Alex Thompson and Steve Tanner
Tohopoka by Vicky Stonebridge and Alexi Conman
Promises by Sara Dunkerton and Matt Gibbs
Small World by Dani Abram and Matthew Craig
Grinder Blues by Lynsey Hutchinson and Jimmy Pearson
Swamp Pussy and the Hanged Man by Nic Wilkinson and Cy Dethan
Six Bullets by Patricia Echavarri-Riego and Jimmy Pearson
The ‘Skeeter by Jenny Clements and Jimmy Pearson

Binary Domain - new trailer

2012-01-12T17:46:00.000Z

Sega have released a new trailer for Binary Domain, which I worked on with Antony Johnston last year. Antony worked on the development of the story and script with Sega Japan, and together we reviewed and edited dialogue for various sections of the game.

Antony's also just announced a new graphic novel project, The Coldest City, with Oni Press. It's a cold war spy thriller set in Berlin that looks and sounds cracking.

Into the Woods - Cover

2012-01-04T16:39:00.000Z

Into the Woods cover by
Andy Bloor and Steve Howard

Andy Bloor, the talented and lovely chap that he is, has done a fabulous cover for Stacey Whittle's Into the Woods anthology of fairy tales, with superb colours by Steve Howard.

Featuring a whole host of stories, re-telling and re-imagining some of the classics, as well as introducing new ones inspired by them, Into the Woods is being launched at Cardiff International Comics Expo in February, 2012.

Alongside a great line up of talent, Alice Duke and I collaborated on Samhain, which uses folklore as the basis for a modern fairy tale.

Into the Woods: Samhain

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000Z

Samhain by Alice Duke and Matt Gibbs

Alice Duke has finished work on Samhain, our contribution to Stacey Whittle's Into the Woods anthology of fairy tales, which is being launched at Cardiff International Comics Expo in February, 2012.

Alice has done a stunning job. Her art and lettering for our six page story, which is set against one Samhain night, when the veil between worlds is thin, is simply beautiful.

Stace, of Small Press, Big Mouth infamy, is the driving force behind the anthology, which is best described in her own words, "The anthology is called Into the Woods: A Fairytale Anthology and it consists of short stories - a couple of them are based on famous fairytales, like Red Riding Hood and The Red Shoes, there's a few based on local legends and a couple of brand spanking new ones. In true Grimm style a few of the stories are either quite scary or a little bit gory, but we also have humour and a feel good factor."

"The front cover is by Andy Bloor and Steve Howard. Andy is also designing the book, which is black and white. Graeme Howard has done a fabulous pin up for the book and Vicky Stonebridge has done a beautiful job on the back cover."

"The idea came about because as I am a staunch lover and supporter of the small and independent press and I understand the difficulties in getting your work seen and wanted to provide another place to do so. It's coming together really well and I think it's going to be a beautiful book."

For the anthology Stace has brought together the talents of:

Alexi Conman and Conor Boyle - Changeling
Nic Papaconstantinou, Bevis Musson and Filip Roncone - Amber And The Egg
Richard McAuliffe and Sara Dunkerton - Red Riding Hood
Scott Harrison, Lee Grice and Filip Roncone - The Madness Of The Sea
Daniel Clifford, David Wynne and Ian Sharman - The Black Shoes
Lee Robson, Simon Wyatt and Filip Roncone - The Lang Pack
Ollie Masters and Valia Kapadai - Time For A Change

Into the Woods: A Fairytale Anthology will be launching at the Cardiff International Comics Expo in February, 2012.

FutureQuake 19: Yesterday Today

2011-11-03T11:05:00.002Z

(Source http://futurequakepress.blogspot.com/
- Cover by Ben Michael Byrne)

FutureQuake 19, a regular anthology of 2000AD Future Shock-style stories from FutureQuakePress, is now available. It features a whole host of writers and artists, plus a story from James Reekie and I called Yesterday Today.

A Bigger World Than Yours by Alex Wilson and Ben Michael Byrne (and cover)
Parts Such As These by Ruaan Stuart and Crow
Neroy Sphinx by Dan Whiston and new artist Dave Thomson
Scientific Progress by Alexi Conman and Andrew Chiu
Utopious by Pardeep Singh and John Cahill
Little Things by Alexi Conman and Mike Bunt
Pak512 by Rob Burton and Rachael Stott
Jay by Terry Stock and Jim Lavery

FutureQuake 19 is available from the lovely ladies and gents behind FQP, as is it's darker sibling, Something Wicked 07, both of which will be available at upcoming UK comic conventions, beginning with Thought Bubble in Leeds on the 19th-20th November.

(Source http://jamesreekie.co.uk)

Improper Books

2011-10-26T10:51:00.002+01:00

End of last week was spent in the lovely company of Ben Read, Chris Wildgoose and Laura Trinder working on upcoming projects for a comics imprint. I've been part of the collective for a while now working as editor across the four titles currently in production, the first of which will be launching next year.

Sadly, I can't say more than that really at this stage, but I can post a peek at some of Chris and Laura's gorgeous test work for two of the books.

(Source http://christianwildgoose.blogspot.com/)

(Source http://www.lauratrinder.co.uk/)

Spirit of Hope: Wave Man

2011-09-12T10:31:00.000+01:00

(Source http://jamesreekie.co.uk)

On his blog, James Reekie has posted Wave Man, our complete story for the Spirit of Hope charity anthology.

Organised by the Comic Book Alliance, the anthology supports the victims and communities recovering from the Japanese and New Zealand earthquakes, which devastated areas of both countries this year.

Edited by Alan Cowsill, Spirit of Hope contains many fabulous and heartfelt stories and works of art, by a host of lovely and talented creators from across the comic industry.

You can see a complete list of contributors and some stunning previews via Bleeding Cool and buy the book by visiting http://www.comicbook.org.uk/spirit-of-hope/ directly from the CBA.

James quickly turned our idea around - drawing, colouring and lettering the four beautiful pages to a tight deadline.

Both of us appreciate the opportunity to have contributed to this anthology, enabling us do something positive and supportive in the wake of disaster.

You can read all of Wave Man on James' blog and, if you like it or would like to see the many other moving contributions to the anthology, please support the Spirit of Hope.

Driver San Francisco

2011-09-02T09:00:00.004+01:00

Ubisoft Reflections' Driver San Francisco is out today. It was the first games writing job I worked on with Sidelines and led to my representation by their agency.

A group project, it was headed by James Worrall, and was focused on creating characters and dialogue for the myriad passengers John Tanner would meet through shifting.

I wrote over forty of the passengers, from the comedic and tongue-in-cheek to the serious and downright creepy. If you get to play the game, I hope you will enjoy driving with them.

A demo is available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the game has been getting good, solid reviews:

CVG 8.5/10
Eurogamer 8/10
Gamespot 8/10
IGN UK edition 8/10
OXM 8/10

Bayou - In the darkness of the night

2011-08-29T12:03:00.002+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Work on Promises, our story for the Bayou Arcana anthology, continues. Unfortunately we can't show too much of the final three pages without spoiling it, so instead Sara's posted some panels, both B&W and colour, that don't give the game away.

Into The Woods

2011-07-06T10:38:00.003+01:00

On her blog, Stacey Whittle of Small Press Big Mouth has announced the title and full list of story contributors to her fairy tale anthology - Into The Woods.

I love fairy tales and jumped at the chance to propose a story for the anthology. It's a completely new story, set against a modern backdrop and borrowing elements from British folklore, but hopefully maintaining those ingredients that make fairy tales so engaging and fun.

I'm delighted that Stace accepted it for the first volume and equally to be collaborating with the very talented Alice Duke.

(Source http://www.alice-duke.com/)

Before learning I'd be working with Alice, I'd seen her work on Dagon with Dan Lockwood for SelfMadeHero's The Lovecraft Anthology Vol. 1. It's a stunning piece and the whole book, Lovecraft fan or not, is well worth checking out. So, when Stace suggested that we should work together I was over the moon. Alice's work is rich in detail and atmospheric, and perfect for our fairy tale story. Thankfully, she also liked the script.

We're in fantastic company too. Stace has got together a very talented anthology of writers and artists for Into The Woods. I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with.

Overload #1

2011-06-23T11:56:00.002+01:00

I'm happy to say, I'll be working with the talented James Reekie on a contribution to Martin Conaghan's Overload #1, called Otherworld Sailor. It's a historical piece in a sense, featuring Vikings.

About Overload, Martin said, "I started up my own company a few months ago, The Copydesk Ltd, with a view to publishing some of my own projects, and I'm starting with a US-format black and white anthology title called Overload. It'll be short run stuff, but will hopefully build.

"Issue #0 comprises my old six-page stories, previously published in Negative Burn and some other places, but it helps me get it off the ground. Roy Stewart did the cover for me.

"I've started gathering a roster of names for issue #1, which I'm aiming to have done by October, in time for Leeds' Thought Bubble convention, and then I'll work on a schedule from there." (source Small Press Big Mouth)

James and I will be in great company; Martin has got together Gordon Rennie, James Peaty, Vito Delsante, Cy Dethan and Martin Hayes for the first issue.

Copies of the launch issue, Overload #0, are available from Martin's site.

Bayou - Disappearing into the night

2011-06-15T16:51:00.021+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Over on her blog, Sara has posted the last full page preview of Promises that we will be showing. We might post the odd panel here and there in the build up to Bayou Arcana launching, but the complete pages would give too much away.

Like the first two, this page looks fantastic. Sara's work is simply gorgeous. I love the mood of the night scenes, how the lights glow in the darkness and the fireflies dart about the banks of the river.

A busy time for games

2011-06-06T17:03:00.005+01:00

Over the last month or two I've worked on several different games, two of which I can talk about.

I've been working with Lightning Fish writing dialogue for Adidas and THQ's miCoach, an athletic and personal trainer for PlayStation Move and Xbox 360 Kinect, covering sports such as basketball, football, running and tennis.

It was an interesting and fun job, requiring a fair amount of ~~stalking~~ research on the net to marry the scripted dialogue with the real life speech patterns and mannerisms of the sports personalities involved.

Returning to Binary Domain, I've been working with Antony Johnston on Sega's sci-fi shooter, which is being directed by Toshihiro Nagoshi.

Antony has been working closely with the studio throughout the development of the story and I've pitched in, helping to review and edit the sheer volume of dialogue Binary Domain boasts.

Spirit of Hope

2011-05-31T11:03:00.022+01:00

The brain child of the Comic Book Alliance, Spirit of Hope is a charity anthology raising support for the survivors of the Tsunami and Earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand.

As well as the CBA website, you can keep up to date with news and details on facebook, and your support spreading the word would be greatly appreciated.

Featuring 50 pieces of donated art, from 92 international creators in the comic book industry, the anthology features mainly sequentials or comic strips and stunning single page pin-ups.

Edited by Alan Cowsill and Tim Pilcher, Spirit of Hope is available with alternate covers, one by Jimmy Broxton (above), the other by Mike Allred (below).

Copies of the book can be ordered in advance and will be £14.99 + £3.00 p&p (UK). Anyone ordering should state their preference of cover. Advance orders will hopefully include three small limited edition prints of the covers and an extra picture, and be available from June 18th, 2011.

You can place advance orders by visiting http://www.comicbook.org.uk/spirit-of-hope/ or by sending Cheques or Postal Orders with your delivery details to: The Comic Book Alliance, PO Box 165, Marple, Cheshire SK6 7BL. Cheques and Postal Orders should be made out to 'The Comic Book Alliance.'

James Reekie and I worked together on a story called Wave Man for the anthology. Special thanks to Alan, Tim and the CBA for organising this effort, enabling all of us to do something positive to help in the wake of the disasters.

Bayou - Layering colour

2011-05-25T17:40:00.002+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

I twisted Sara's arm to blog about the process behind her gorgeous colours for our Bayou Arcana story. It's a great guide to how she uses texture, blending and highlights to create such rich colours and depth in her work.

Bristol 2011

2011-05-24T12:13:00.003+01:00

I'm a little late with this, but better late than never.

Vicky and I had a fantastic time at Bristol Comic and Small Press Expo, and - as always - it was the people who made it special. It was lovely catching up with friends and meeting people from the land of blogs and twitter. Thanks all, for a great weekend.

There's too many people to list, but it was delightful meeting Sara Dunkerton and seeing Corey Brotherson and Jennie Gyllblad share their first table, showing off Corey's Magic of Myths, Jen's Skal and their collaboration Butterflies and Moths.

With everything ticking along nicely, I had no projects to pitch at Bristol. Apart from catching up with co-conspirators on our graphic novel plans and the Bayou Arcana gang about the anthology, it was a busman's holiday for me.

On the subject of graphic novels, Seb Antoniou was on the Markosia stand throughout the weekend, sketching and selling some of his fab prints, and showing off the first few pages of our Sun Moon project.

(Source http://www.sebantoniou.com/)

With the weekend going in a blur of meeting and catching up with people, I only managed to attend three panels - the excellent and strangely hilarious Lovecraft panel hosted by Dan Lockwood, the Slaughterman's Creed creators discussing their creative process and Bryan Talbot's fantastic talk on the anthropomorphic tradition in comics and literature.

Vicky and I picked up quite a few books we'd had our eyes on. As well as our pre-order of Slaughterman's Creed, we couldn't resist several titles from Cinebooks and SelfMadeHero, Bryan Talbot's beautiful Grandville, and Paul Duffield's gorgeous Signal.

On the plus side, being tardy with this quick summary of Bristol lets me link it to others:

Slaughterman's Creed Panel: An Outsider Looking In (Cy Dethan)
Post Bristol - the weekend of win (Corey Brotherson)
Bristol '11: a White Knuckle Ride (Cy Dethan)
Bristol Comic Expo (Vicky Stonebridge)
I went to the Bristol Comic Expo and all I got was... (Down The Tubes)
Stace SFX blog: BICSPE 2011 (Stacey Whittle)
Bristol Expo 2011! A weekend of awesome! (Jennie Gyllblad)

Bayou in colour

2011-05-06T17:31:00.002+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Following on from her page roughs and layouts, Sara Dunkerton has posted the first full colour page for Promises - our Bayou Arcana anthology story.

I may be biased, but I think the page looks gorgeous, the rich colours Sara's used bring both the characters and bayou to life and give them a magical quality. It's beautiful work and I couldn't be more happy with it.

Bayou - Building Promises

2011-04-28T10:03:00.003+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Sara Dunkerton has posted some of her page roughs and a peek at her layout process and gorgeous pencil work for page one of Promises - our contribution to the Bayou Arcana anthology.

An anthology of Southern Gothic/Swamp Thing-like tales, Bayou Arcana is being helmed by Jimmy Pearson, with the support of Stacey Whittle and Lee Grice of Small Press Big Mouth.

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Set in the 1890s, aboard an iconic riverboat of the era, Promises is a tale of young romance and dark bargains being struck. Intended to be a mood piece for the anthology, as well as the springboard for further adventures with the young lovers, Promises also introduces a malevolent and reoccurring character in the swamps mythology.

Salute 2011 - Would you like some tea?

2011-04-19T15:31:00.005+01:00

Both Vicky and I had great fun at Salute this year. 7TV, Crooked Dice's new tabletop miniatures game, went down a storm. Not only did the rulebook and supporting miniatures sell like hotcakes, but it won the Best Participation Game award for You Only Live Dice.

It's the second year in a row that the Crooked Dice team have won the award; last year they earned it for the very popular Doctor Who Miniatures Game Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Daleks.

I was Ross' plucky assistant throughout the day, helping him run Victory of the Daleks, which featured the 'tea offering' fiends squaring off against Churchill's finest with the aid of the Doctor and Amy Pond.

Just want to thank the Crooked Dice team, Graeme, Karl, Chiara (our extra from Foyle's War), Helena, Matt H (our 10th Doctor impersonator), Morgan, Paul, Ross, Tom and Vicky; all those who took part or watched the chaos unfold; and the organisers, South London Warlords, for a great day.

Salute this weekend

2011-04-14T09:33:00.006+01:00

After having great fun last year, Vicky and I will be attending Salute again with our friends at Crooked Dice. This year they're launching 7TV, their new tabletop miniatures game inspired by classic sci-fi and action TV shows of the 60s and 70s. 184 pages of hardback joy, the book will be on sale all weekend, plus accessories and miniatures supporting the release. If you can't wait, a 15 page preview of 7TV is available to whet your appetite.

We'll be running two participation games this year; You Only Live Dice for 7TV on table #GA12 and Victory of the Daleks for the Doctor Who Miniatures Game on table #GB11.

Not giving too much away, You Only Live Dice will feature some spies and faceless henchmen, while Victory of the Daleks is inspired by Mark Gatiss' Doctor Who episode of the same name and features Churchill and Allies facing Daleks and Fiends. RAF reconnaissance suggests the latter may look like this:

If you can make it, look forward to seeing you on Saturday at Salute.

Kapow! 2011

2011-04-11T22:42:00.014+01:00

As is only proper with these things, Kapow coincided with the most gorgeous weather of the year. With sunny skies outside, I spent all of Saturday under hot glass and in dark rooms enjoying a good helping of geekery.

It was fantastic to catch up with Seb Antoniou, Kev Levell, Barry Nugent and Will Pickering. Like everyone who uses twitter or blogs, it was equally as nice to have that deja vu feeling of meeting people you follow in person. Seb introduced me to many people he knows and it was great meeting them all, and later spending time with Andy Diggle, Ellie, Jock and the Titan crowd in the pub.

Although as the day went on the rooms warmed up considerably, the three panels I caught - 2000AD, DC Creators and Mark Gatiss - were all interesting and entertaining.

The 2000AD crowd discussed common ground, what drew them to the magazine and how they began on the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, and Jock discussed what he could of the upcoming Dredd movie, which sounds as if it is shaping up to be something special.

Frank Quitely, Peter Milligan and Paul Cornell regaled a large crowd with the trials and tribulations of working for DC and their own creative processes, which differed greatly.

To a packed auditorium, Mark Gatiss enthralled us with his charming wit, discussing everything from Doctor Who and Sherlock to Horror films and Lucifer Box. A Scandal in Bohemia, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Final Problem should make for a cracking series two for Sherlock, while sadly it seems Mark has no intention of returning to his Lucifer Box character anytime soon, as he wants to concentrate on and enjoy writing for film and TV.

(Source http://talesofthespiffing.blogspot.com/)

I resisted, and I have no idea how, buying a swathe of the comics on offer. Instead I settled for the very excellent Tales of the Spiffing, represented at Kapow by two of its contributors Ashley Boddy and Andy Janes, Fallen Heroes #1, a spin-off of Barry Nugent's novel of the same name, and finally the hilarious Fetishman, issues #12: Old Mother Fetishman's Fairly Filthy Tales of Folk and Fairies, and Fetishman #13: The Moral Outrage. In a small bit of karmic balancing, I even stood in for Will at the table he shared with Barry and sold several copies of Fallen Heroes and Burke & Hare.

All in all, it was a grand first outing for Kapow. I'm looking forward to 2012. Sorry to everyone I missed on the day, hope to see you next year?

Bayou character concepts (part 3)

2011-04-04T16:19:00.001+01:00

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Sara Dunkerton has posted the last of the main character concepts for our Bayou Arcana story over on her blog.

The Captain and Morgan McKenzie finish off the last of the human cast, while the Riverboat they travel on, arguably a character in its own right, completes the set.

Next stop for us is roughing out the pages.

Binary Domain

2011-03-18T14:07:00.004Z

Last month I was part of Sidelines' writing team working on Sega's upcoming Binary Domain, which is being helmed by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the director behind the acclaimed Yakuza series.

Under the guidance of Antony Johnston, who has worked on the development of the story with the studio, I reviewed and edited dialogue for various sections of the game.

Sidelined

2011-02-21T09:27:00.001Z

I'm delighted to announce that I'm represented for games writing by the Sidelines agency and my agent is Sini Downing, the agency director.

An offshoot of Side, who specialise in casting, recording and directing audio, motion and performance capture, Sidelines was founded in 2008 to meet the growing need for scriptwriting and narrative design in games.

It was through Sidelines that I worked on Driver San Francisco for Ubisoft and, alongside my comics work, made the jump from working as a writer and producer for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to freelancing.

After finishing work on a project through Sidelines earlier this month, Sini asked if I would like to be officially represented by the agency and I of course said yes.

Representation will open up opportunities, but it is down to me to capitalise on these by showing prospective publishers and developers how I can collaborate with them to meet and exceed their requirements. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Bayou character concepts (part 2)

2011-02-10T12:31:00.013Z

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Sara Dunkerton has posted some more awesome character concepts for our Bayou Arcana story over on her blog.

Joining the others aboard the Charon are Theodore Jackson, Edwin P. Waldrip, Margaret Belmont, and William and Eleanor Brockridge.

Interactive fiction

2011-02-01T22:57:00.030Z

Game Theory on interactive fiction.

I agree with the points raised, but I also agree with John Walker on Rock, Paper, Shotgun that there has always been examples of good storytelling in games.

Like the film industry, technology and current trends, both in technique and style, have an influence on how and what stories are told. In mainstream movies this is 3D in the wake of Avatar (and the tyranny of teal and orange), while in games it's arguably the sandbox deserts of Fallout and Grand Theft Auto.

Audiences are and will only become increasingly more literate and intuitive with all forms of storytelling. Comics, books, films and games are no longer made in ivory towers, the walls are glass, fans can see, examine, criticise and understand the processes and tricks at play.

Far from a bad thing, changing technology, trends and audience understanding shows there's no lasting formula and we constantly have to reassess the how and why of storytelling to challenge and entertain.

My friends have been getting up to...

2011-01-28T21:03:00.013Z

...some awesome things.

Released yesterday on Comixology and today on the official site for the Coen Brothers' movie, TRUE GRIT: MEAN BUSINESS is a free comic adapted from the novel by Charles Portis. It's a superb piece of work and the team behind it, Dan Light, Benjamin Read, Christian Wildgoose and Jim Campbell, should be very proud of what they've achieved.

Pre-orders are now being taken for a convention edition of SLAUGHTERMAN'S CREED, which is being launched at the Bristol Comic Expo. Published by Markosia, Slaughterman's Creed has been devised by the talented gestalt entity of Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Vicky Stonebridge and Nic Wilkinson.

Two more of Cy's books, the excellent Cancertown and The Indiffernece Engine, also became available this month on Sony's PSP comic store.

Bayou character concepts

2011-01-28T17:31:00.003Z

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

Sara Dunkerton has been creating more magic, working up concept sketches this time for the characters in our Bayou Arcana story.

Alice Coulson-Swift, loosely based on Deborah Ann Woll, is looking superb, while one of the swamps more notorious critters has taken shape.

Down on the Bayou

2011-01-10T11:23:00.004Z

(Source http://saradunkerton.blogspot.com/)

On Friday and over the weekend Sara Dunkerton posted some amazing sketches exploring the look and feel of our Bayou Arcana story. You can check out her following blog posts to see what I mean: Bayou Arcana, Fireflies and Dusk.

Bayou Arcana is an anthology of Southern Gothic/Swamp Thing-like tales being helmed by Jimmy Pearson. All the stories are currently at an early stage, with the teams going over first drafts of scripts and working on concepts, but already it's shaping up to be something special. More details can be found over at Small Press Big Mouth.

I first saw Sara's artwork when I attended her degree exhibition in London. I'd been invited to the showing by the talented Jennie Gyllblad and was blown away by the high standard of work on display. Jen, Sara and Richard Partridge's art particularly grabbed my attention.

Good. Bad. Great.

2011-01-04T19:21:00.006Z

That pretty much sums up 2010 for me, and also in that order. It started well, things went crazy, and it turned around after summer.

At the start of the year, creating forty characters for Driver San Francisco and over 8,000 lines of dialogue in a couple of weeks was a challenge that, masochist old me, greatly enjoyed.

Then things went bad with my graphic novel publisher. It was however fantastic to see creators coming together, dusting themselves down and pushing on with their projects after Insomnia ceased trading. Many have since found new publishers or are working with people they met during both Insomnia's good and bad times.

On the comics front, I'm delighted to be working with the very talented Seb Antoniou, Sara Dunkerton and James Reekie. Sun Moon is underway with Seb and Markosia; Sara and I are teaming up to work on an anthology; and James and I have started sending out our pitch for The Ionmonger's Daughter.

I've worked on several drafts of Everything Ends with Tito Sacchi, each closer to what we're trying to achieve. I also worked with Tito on From the Cellar, which was one of the twelve Virgin Media Shorts finalists, while two shorts, Georgie Boy with Toby Coughlan and Winding Up with James Reid, are now scheduled for this year.

Looking forwards, I'm hoping to get another graphic novel project underway and drafts for two films I've been planning. I'm also keen to find myself more editing work, having enjoyed turning my hand to comics, novels and roleplaying games throughout the year.

So, when all is said and done, I'm feeling very positive and looking forward to 2011.

Pitching Ionmonger

2010-12-20T12:33:00.006Z

(Source http://jamesreekie.co.uk)

Over the last week or so James Reekie and I have been sending out our Ionmonger's Daughter pitch to publishers. Fingers crossed it will fire their imagination and prove to be a promising prospect.

Wish us luck.

Over the moon

2010-11-08T17:49:00.023Z

Sun Moon, which I'm working on with the talented Seb Antoniou, has been signed up by Markosia. I'm thrilled to be working with Seb and such a supportive, well respected publisher.

We're currently working out a schedule and exploring the look and feel, with Seb creating some fantastic concepts and thumbnailing the first issue. In the coming months I'm sure we will have plenty to share with you.

I'm also working with James Reekie, the gentleman illustrator, on The Ionmonger's Daughter. Over the coming weeks we'll be putting together a pitch and, fingers crossed, will be launching the project to new heights. The pages James has produced so far are absolutely stunning.

(Source http://jamesreekie.co.uk)

BICS on blogs

2010-10-22T17:30:00.004+01:00

With so much happening and being announced at BICS last weekend I thought I would link to a few friends' blogs:

BICS Sticky Notes by Nic Wilkinson; about Cancertown, The Indifference Engine, and Ragged Man being signed to Markosia, and much, much more.

Jen's personal account of BICS 2010 by Jennie Gyllblad; illustrated account of a fabulous weekend, including watercolour sketches of the burlesque show.

The residents of Kronos City have a new home by Andrew Croskery; about the signing of Kronos City to Time Bomb Comics.

Survival by Lauren Anne Sharp; covering the success of Survival Stories and the launch of The Sleepless Phoenix blog.

BICS 2010

2010-10-21T13:23:00.002+01:00

This was the first time that Vicky and I attended BICS, and we had a fantastic experience. It was great catching up with everyone and getting to meet Internet friends for the first time.

For me the biggest positive of the weekend was hearing that so many talented, ex-Insomnia creators have found new homes for their projects or are working towards pitching them or self publishing. Whatever happened with Insomnia, it brought together many lovely and passionate people.

This was evident with the success of Survival Stories, an anthology of shorts on that subject, which has already sold around 250 pre-orders and 100 copies at the show. Special thanks must go to Lauren Sharp and Alex Willmore, who battled against nightmare Birmingham traffic to setup and run the table and, with Michael Moreci, bring the book to life. You can follow what's happening next with Survival Stories at The Sleepless Phoenix blog.

As well as picking up a copy of the anthology, Vicky and I spent a little too much and returned laden with new comics from Markosia, Cinebooks, Accent UK and various independents. Fighting a post-con cold, I've already been greatly enjoying the Norse/sci-fi blend that is the beautifully illustrated Thorgal.

I only managed to catch two panels over the weekend, the first was with Bryan Hitch hosted by Geek Syndicate's Barry Nugent and Stacy Whittle. It was an enjoyable insight into his career and comics; you can listen to the Live panel with Bryan Hitch over at Geek Syndicate. Following the Hitch was Tim Pilcher from the Comic Book Alliance, hosting an informative panel on the state of the UK comics scene.

Jennie Gyllblad has done an illustrated post about BICS, including watercolour sketches of burlesque performers in which she was ably assisted by Vicky.

Thanks to everyone for making it a fantastic weekend.

A few things before BICS

2010-10-14T17:33:00.006+01:00

Rising from the ashes is Survival Stories, an anthology of shorts from ex-Insomnia creators on the wide and very apt theme of survival. Lauren Sharp and Michael Moreci have been instrumental in bringing this book together and throughout the weekend Lauren will be running a table at the British International Comics Show promoting it.

Black and white, weighing in at 192 pages, it features content from creators such as Martin Conaghan (Burke & Hare), Ben Bates (Sonic the Hedgehog), Jim Boswell (KiCk!), Peter Forbes (Oz: Fall of the Scarecrow King), and many other talented creators. Mike Carey (Lucifer, The Unwritten, and X-Men Legacy) says the book is, "a kaleidoscope of graphic stories, mostly in the darker colours of the horror palette, but all the better for that" which is a great endorsement. Wael Naguib and I have contributed a short, The Last Man, to the mix and, if you pick up a copy, we hope you enjoy it.

Corey Brotherson and Jennie Gyllblad will be showcasing the first chapter of Butterflies and Moths. I've been lucky enough to read the full script and already had a peek at some of the watercolour pages, both of which are excellent. If you get a chance to waylay them, do so, and have a look.

Russell Norris, a former colleague of mine from back in the day at Sony, and Lee Robson have strips appearing in FutureQuake, Zarjaz and Dogbreath. Russell is responsible for Generations with David Frankum in FutureQuake #16, while Lee has gone crazy with Dunk Nimmo and Bolt-01 creating the first ever Zarjaz/Dogbreath crossover featuring Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha in issues #10 and #23 respectively.

Finally there's been good news concerning two former Insomnia projects. Cancertown (from the twisted gestalt mind of Cy Dethan, Stephen Downey, Melanie Cook and Nic Wilkinson) has entered into remission with Markosia and Babble (by Lee Robson and Bryan Coyle) has found a new home with Com.X.

Cancertown is excellent, if you haven't already, do snag yourself a copy when it's re-released on PSP and in print by Markosia, and definitely keep an eye on Babble, I had the great pleasure of editing it while volunteering at Insomnia and it's a superb project.

If you're going to BICS, hope to see you there.

From the Cellar Virgin Media Shorts finalist

2010-09-03T14:31:00.003+01:00

Tito Sacchi's From the Cellar has made the shortlist for this year's Virgin Media Shorts competition. As one of the 12 finalists it will be screened in 214 cinemas across the UK and, from September, on TV and mobile phones too.

I'm thrilled that the hard work of cast and crew is going to be available to such a large audience and pleased to have been involved, if only in a minor fashion, as a script editor.

Voting is now open for the People's Choice award, so if you enjoyed the film please vote for it at From the Cellar Virgin Media Shorts. Registration and voting only take a minute, plus you get the chance to win an iPad.

Waking up to the light

2010-08-22T13:49:00.001+01:00

Weeks of uncertainty came to an end on Friday when Crawford Coutts confirmed the dissolution of Insomnia Publications and released creators from their licensing contracts, including my own project The Ionmonger's Daughter.

That Insomnia was facing dark times was evident to many after the publisher's last minute absence from the Bristol Comic Expo, leaving creators and volunteers speculating even after public reassurances on The Red Eye blog.

As to the details of why all of this has happened I'm still none the clearer. After resigning from my four month stint as a volunteer script editor, I've heard many conflicting stories and theories. I'm unsure what the truth of the situation is or whether it will ever come to light.

I want to thank The Comic Book Alliance for advising and representing us, the creators instrumental in this latest turn of events, and everyone involved for the support we've all shown each other. It's been heartening to discover that the family feel, which first attracted me to Insomnia, continues to be strong.

This is best illustrated by the Survival Stories anthology, which is currently on a fund raising drive on Kickstarter. It contains work by former Insomnia creators and all profits will go to supporting the CBA in their excellent work.

I hope in the coming months, that the talented creators connected with Insomnia find new homes for their projects or ways to self publish their work.

Kicking in the water

2010-08-12T15:31:00.005+01:00

Details are still ropey, but on June 30th 2010, Insomnia Publications filed to Cease Trading with Companies House. None of the artists and writers working on creator owned projects or volunteer staff were informed.

Since then nobody has been able to reach the publisher. Like the Mary Celeste she appears unmanned and abandoned, leaving about sixty or so creators who had contracts with Insomnia treading water, their work left effectively in limbo.

Remaining buoyant, we've banded together and approached The Comic Book Alliance for advice and representation. Our aim, to lobby for the release of creator owned projects that are still under contract.

We're also publishing our own anthology, Survival Stories, to raise awareness and help the CBA in their work. All profits will be donated to the CBA to help support their endeavours, not only on our behalf but for others in similar situations in the future.

Over on Kickstarter are details of how you can pre-order a copy of Survival Stories, with many different ways to get hold of the anthology and original artwork. It contains stories by many up-and-coming artists and writers, and your support would be greatly appreciated.

From the Cellar

2010-07-05T08:11:00.002+01:00

Tito Sacchi, a good friend and director I've worked with, has submitted a short film to Virgin Media Shorts. From the Cellar is a beautifully shot dark comedy, written and directed by Tito.

Tito and I have worked on a couple of short films together. We co-wrote Not Yet and I moonlighted as a stills photographer on Il Silenzio del Mare, both of which are doing the film festival circuit. Unfortunately I couldn't make the shooting dates for From the Cellar, but I contributed in a very minor way as a script editor.

If you can spare a couple of minutes, please watch From the cellar and, if you enjoy it, please vote.

Driver San Francisco

2010-06-16T12:30:00.005+01:00

Ubisoft have unveiled Driver San Francisco at E3 2010.

I was part of SideLines' writing team, headed by James Worrall, developing characters and scripts for the game. Hopefully some of the 40 plus passengers I worked on will be taking a ride with you/Tanner later this year.

For a Driver San Francisco hands on shift over to Eurogamer.

Bristol Comic Expo 2010

2010-05-27T10:15:00.006+01:00

This was the first Comic Expo that Vicky and I had attended, and we were delighted by how friendly and welcoming everyone was. On the Friday night and over the following two days we met many talented and passionate people.

It was striking how intimate the comic industry is. Everybody knew everybody. This seemed especially true of the Small Press Expo at the Mercure hotel. If small press comics is a cottage industry it is not made up of isolated dwellings on bleak, wind swept moors but a thriving rural village.

Vicky and I would like to say a big thank you to Nic Wilko, Cy Dethan, Lauren Sharp, Alex Willmore and Martin Conaghan for not only looking after us at our first expo but introducing us to many of the people we met over the weekend.

We walked away with a small horde of reading material: Burke & Hare, Cancertown, Fetishman, Jack Staff, Phonogram... At the rate we're enjoying it, I'm not sure it will last very long.

Over the weekend I caught a few panels, including Comic Writing for Dummies and Image's Creating Creator Owned Projects. Both sessions were informative and funny, the panelists discussing the trials, tribulations and benefits of producing creator owned material.

No matter what stage you're at in your career, I can't stress how useful attending such panels are. I firmly believe any creative endeavor is a continuous learning process, that if you think you've mastered everything you're probably not trying hard enough. Right, stepping off my soapbox.

The Comic Book Alliance panel was another highlight for me. Being a newcomer to the industry I expected it to be similar to the WGGB and in many respects it is. Their aim is to promote the comics industry and support the development of it. Of the panels I attended this was probably the most positive and definitely the most forward looking.

Finally, it has probably not escaped your attention, being announced on Insomnia Publications' The Red Eye blog, that I've chosen to resign from my position as a volunteer script editor. It's been a pleasure working with my fellow creators at Insomnia over the last four months. Thank you all for making me feel very welcome.

Jelly Baby anyone?

2010-04-25T10:25:00.007+01:00

Recovering from a grand day at Salute 2010 helping Messrs Graeme and Karl from Crooked Dice, and fellow plucky assistants, run participation tables for the Doctor Who Miniatures Game. Both scenarios went down a storm, and we were delighted when the DWMG won the Best Participation Game award at the show.

Photo by Karl Perrotton, painting by Lee Birch.

For younger gamers we were running Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Daleks, featuring Cybermen, Daleks, Preachers and Torchwood, inspired by the 10th Doctor episodes Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, and using Jelly Babies for luck points. For the matured gamer there was Classic Who with A Rig Too Far, pitting the 3rd Doctor, Jo Grant, UNIT and their Boffins against the Master and his Sea Devil allies, inspired of course by The Sea Devils, and most of them had some Jelly Babies too.

It was my first experience of Salute and it was a good one. Although the setting itself was very spit and sawdust compared to other events I've attended at ExCel, it was by far the most friendly and fun. Hours of preparation had been put in by the exhibitors to bring their games to life. The hall was filled with stunning demonstration and participation tables, covering thousands of years of history, alternate worlds, realms of fantasy and far flung sci-fi.

Just want to thank the Crooked Dice team, Graeme, Karl, Ross, Morgan, Tom, Paul, Hayden, Vicky and Matt H, our 10th Doctor impersonator; everyone who stopped by to play or watch; and the South London Warlords for a great day.

New projects

2010-04-19T19:01:00.009+01:00

Not sure where the last couple of weeks have gone. I've finished a draft of a feature script, which is now with the director, had some promising talks about short film scripts, and started two new comic projects, pulling my ideas and notes together into something hopefully cohesive and compelling. All early days, but hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be able to share more details as they develop.

So, with everything ticking along nicely, I thought I would point you towards...

Corey Brotherson's site, where he's posted an amazing preview of Butterflies and Moths, written by his good self and watercoloured by Jen Gyllblad. I've been lucky enough to read the full script, it's dark, thought provoking stuff, and I can't wait to see how Jen approaches the later chapters in watercolour.

Cy Dethan has posted a preview of The Ragged Man over on his blog. Neil Van Antwerpen's artwork, Peter-David Douglass colours and Nic Wilkinson's lettering look superb, and there's also a link to an interview on SciFi Pulse radio.

24 hours until...

2010-04-02T18:20:00.024+01:00

I've a childish love of Doctor Who and I don't see that as a bad thing. I've grown up with the series on television and was saddened when the show ended in 1989, arguably when it was starting to turn around with episodes such as Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric.

When Russell T Davies resurrected the show I was delighted. He orchestrated one of the most incredible comebacks in television history and I'm grateful for what he, the actors and crew have achieved through their hard work.

I'm also glad that they stopped when they did. Towards the end of the fourth season some of the stories didn't sit well with me, they begun to feel self indulgent, swan songs that went on for far too long.

Change can be a good thing. I'm excited that the show runner mantle has been taken up by Steven Moffat, the writer behind some of my favourite episodes, The Girl in the Fireplace and Blink, and that Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will be crewing the Tardis.

On the Guardian website there is a great interview, Steven Moffat: The man with a monster of a job, that reassures me the show is in safe hands.

Moffat says he doesn't have an agenda for how his Doctor Who will differ from Davies' but "these things happen as a matter of instinct" and his instinct led him towards a more "storybook quality". "For me, Doctor Who literally is a fairy tale. It's not really science fiction. It's not set in space, it's set under your bed. It's at its best when it's related to you, no matter what planet it's set on."

Safe hands that will push the show's unique concept - a character that can go anywhere, to anytime. A concept that lets it stride across genres, thrilling us in different ways, while never hanging around too long to become trapped or bogged down in any one.

As Moffat says, it's a storybook romp. Here there be monsters...

8,000 lines later...

2010-03-12T14:20:00.013Z

Finished three intense weeks of work on the game scripts for Ubisoft. Worked out that I've written well over 8,000 lines of dialogue in that time. Hopefully all coherent and in equal measures of being funny and at times disturbing.

Trying now to get back on top of all my editing work for Insomnia. Thankfully everyone has been very patient and understanding, and to be honest because the standard of scripts is very high it should not take me long.

Everything else has been on hold with the volume of game writing work recently, so it will be good to get back to my own projects. Work on the feature with Tito is my main priority right now. In the background I'm working up two new comic pitches, alongside work on The Ionmonger's Daughter and Sun Moon.

A couple of weeks ago, I responded to a script call on Shooting People for, "a simple script, based in the genre of magical realism (e.g. Amelie) that would come in between 5-10 mins." The director has gotten back to me and it's good news, they're interested in making it. Will be meeting up next week to discuss the script and our next steps.

White rabbits

2010-03-01T21:21:00.014Z

Pinch, punch, first of the month... White rabbits. February went in a blur, but hoping a little superstition will bring the momentum of the last few weeks through into March.

Thanks to SideLines, I've been working with a team of writers on a game script for Ubisoft. Four days of sample writing landed us the gig and now we're well into the project. Can't say too much about it. Enjoying it and, touch wood, it will lead to future work.

Not Yet has been accepted by ECU The European Independent Film Festival and Bradford International Film Festival. This takes the number of festival acceptances to five so far.

And on the subject of white rabbits, can't wait to see...

Writing, where did I begin?

2010-02-15T18:33:00.011Z

I've been reading Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, after several Insomnia creators recommended it on the forums, and it got me thinking about what inspired me to write and when.

Certainly books such as Day of the Triffids and Dune, films such as Alien and The Shining, and shows such as Buffy and Doctor Who, have all had an influence, but the desire to tell stories I think runs much deeper in all of us.

Alongside exposure to these different mediums, as kids we all play make believe games. Create and enact our own stories to understand the world and our place within it. Most of these games hinge around one simple question, 'what if I...'

After the playground the next step taken is in the classroom, learning to tell stories with either words or pictures, and sometimes both. Luckily, at school, my writing was very much encouraged by my teachers. One story that stands out from my early scribbles in Junior school was about two Civil War Royalists fleeing a battlefield, who hid out in a barn haunted by a poltergeist. It was awful, but I was still exploring 'what if...' questions.

As we get older books, films, television, etc, take on this important role, letting us explore a variety of 'what if...' and more complex questions, expanding it beyond the self, and enabling us to explore our emotions, beliefs and values.

Roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and Call of Cthulhu, enabled me to continue the story and myth making activities of childhood into my teens and beyond. It is a bit like improvisation in the theatre, but within parameters setup by and played out in the imagination of the participants. It sated my desire to not only experience 'what if...' stories vicariously, like at the cinema, but also to create and express them myself.

Then I stopped. Real life took over and the 'what if...' questions ceased to be ideas to be explored and became instead decisions needing to be made. I still consumed books, films and shows but didn't create my own stories, apart from the very occasional roleplaying session for old time's sake.

Something was missing and I realised it was something I very much enjoyed.

Over the last few years, I've returned to creating stories, hopefully richer in ideas and material for having made a few decisions, both good and bad in the intervening years. Not that I now profess to know the answers to the big 'what if...' questions, but hopefully I've at least gained a greater perspective with which to entertain and engage others, while exploring those questions anew.

Mythspent youth

2010-02-08T22:44:00.011Z

While talking about UK comics and writing with a fellow Insomnia creator, they reminded me of the brilliance of Ray Harryhausen.

Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad films have a lot to answer for.

Screenwriting reality

2010-02-03T09:13:00.001Z

Best get a move on, if you want to become a ten year overnight success as a screenwriter.

Editing through the night

2010-01-28T09:31:00.005Z

Along with Lauren Anne Sharpe and Alex Willmore, I've joined the team at Insomnia Publications as an Editor. Lauren and Alex will be handling the art side of production, while I'll be applying myself to the writing.

It's a great opportunity to work with a host of talented people and push myself forwards at the same time. Writing is a craft you have to work at, with a degree of life experience and natural talent mixed in for good measure. You're always learning. Through helping others make the most of their stories hopefully we'll all benefit.

Right now I'm getting up to speed with everything, but can't wait to get going.

For the latest from Insomnia, please visit The Red Eye.

Doctor Who Big Finish opportunity

2010-01-25T19:05:00.027Z

Have been somewhat sidetracked from working on my feature script by Big Finish's writing opportunity. Who would not want the chance to develop a 25 minute audio adventure for Doctor Who, and the 5th Doctor and Nyssa at that? Well, if twitter is any yardstick, nearly every Who fan and writer is working up an idea.

Peter Davison was my Doctor. I have strong childhood memories of Kinda - well, the snake at least; Enlightenment - sailing ships racing through space; and Resurrection of the Daleks - recorded off the telebox on Betamax tape, which I almost wore out.

So over the last week I've been jotting down any ideas and watching old Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton episodes for inspiration and insight into their characters. Today I settled on a rough storyline, which developed from some of the ideas - a coin toss, an observatory and schrödinger's cat. Most of the bare bones are there, so - fingers crossed - I'll have something I'm happy to submit before the deadline passes.

Joined in #scriptchat on twitter for the first time. Character development and how it relates to plotting was the topic up for discussion, sparked by @filmutopia’s blogpost on the subject - Character Development and Plotting.

Twitter is an interesting and lively forum for #scriptchat, with several streams of discussion running at once. Although a little chaotic at times to follow, it certainly has its merits - a source of writing tips, book recommendations and links to further resources and discussions. If I'm free next Sunday at 8pm will definitely join the debate again.

So? What now?

2010-01-18T11:32:00.008Z

With a list of projects and goals for the year, what's the next step?

Well, hopefully not paralysis. The answer is really about focus, identifying what you want to do and what you need to do, prioritising these and coming up with a plan.

One thing that's helped me is Adrian Mead's Making It as a Screenwriter. It describes the steps you need to take, a plan of attack, to become a professional screenwriter. Packed with honest truths, it's a great tool to focus your ideas and ambitions. Geared towards British screenwriting, many of the ideas it puts forward apply equally to any writing endeavour.

Adrian did a great series of podcasts for the Scottish Book Trust, which give a taste of what Making It as a Screenwriter entails, including the mantra, "If I keep on doing what I'm doing, I'll keep on getting what I'm getting."

On top of this you get the warm feeling of knowing that all proceeds from the book will go to ChildLine, to support children in danger and distress.

Not a bad way to start your year.

Year that was

2010-01-11T14:25:00.014Z

I'm late to or maybe from the party, but Happy New Year all.

Last year, as the cliché goes, was a real rollercoaster for all aspects of my life but overall the ride was a great one. Hindsight can be both a blessing and a curse, especially for a Cancerian who clings to the past, and I'm not sure weighing up the year as good or bad is positively constructive. As long as I learn from my mistakes and keep pushing the things I did right, I'll be happy.

This year has been tough for me emotionally, coming to terms with the death of my grandparents, who raised me. I just didn't have the capacity to deal with it all and my full time job was the area that I choose to cut out. It has given me the space and time to come to terms with their deaths and brought me closer to my parents.

Insomnia Publications signed up two sci-fi graphic novels, first was The Ionmonger's Daughter, the second Sun Moon. Script work on both is very advanced. Ionmonger's Daughter is finished. Well, as finished as a script can ever be, as it is bound to change, will be tweaked to work with the final art. Sun Moon is well underway.

Sadly, Larry Watts has had to drop out of working on The Ionmonger's Daughter. Financial commitments have meant he has had to, and quite rightly, put his family first before the project. So the year begins with the hunt to find not one but two artists.

A short film, Not Yet, I wrote with the director, Tito Sacchi, made it into a number of film festivals through the year. More importantly, Tito and I have continued to work together on our feature idea. Our aim this year is to produce a trailer/short film, with which we can attract funding for the film.

Not yet - 30sec Teaser from Tito Sacchi on Vimeo.

Outside of writing, the big news is that Vicky and I are now homeowners together. It is the main reason for the tardiness of blog updates of late. Who would have thought house hunting, buying and moving would be so utterly time consuming and stressful? We're settled in now, if not unpacked, and have begun decorating. For someone who has lived in the beige world of rental accommodation for years, I've finally been released with any colour paint I can imagine. Vicky though, isn't keen on orange.

As for the year ahead? I've spent the last week or so fleshing out the personal projects I would like to work on and the goals I'd like to achieve. There is the continued development of the two graphic novels with Insomnia and the feature with Tito. Additionally, there are two more graphic novels, a second feature film, radio drama and a novel, all of which I would like to explore. All of these projects sit happily in the sci-fi and horror genres, covering areas from archaeology to werewolves and genesis to nuclear war. Not sure yet why werewolves are at the other end of my scale to archaeology, but who knows hey?

Alongside my personal projects, attending conventions and festivals, both comic and film, is one of my main goals this year. I follow a great network of artists, directors, writers and other creators on twitter, but 140 chars. is no substitute for meeting face to face. So, less of being the recluse buried in my work and more of... well, of... not being the recluse buried in my work.

Finding an agent is another. Not sure if that should be a goal itself? It's something I can't technically make happen, but I can expand and refine my portfolio, research where and to whom to present it, and do so. If it is good enough and the works catch someone's interest, who knows. My goal is to try and keep trying.

There are other minor goals, ones which I have direct control over, such as taking a film script editing course, revamping mattgibbs.net, keeping my CV up to date, and, last but not least, posting more blog entries.

There is a lot to do there. Prioritising, scheduling and keeping focus on projects will be important, but hopefully I won't be too blinkered to miss opportunities while trying to make them.

Anyway, I've well and truly rambled on now.

Hope you all have a great year.

Not Yet screening in Spain

2009-10-09T12:35:00.005+01:00

If you happen to be near Barcelona tomorrow and fancy going to the SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, Not Yet is being screened at the Auditori.

Not yet - 30sec Teaser from Tito Sacchi on Vimeo.

I co-wrote Not Yet with director Tito Sacchi, helping him refine his story and producing several different dialogue tracks, internal monologues for Simon, the character portrayed by Michael Gilroy. From the start I was convinced that the piece needed no such explanations, that it would stand up on the visuals alone. In the end we went with just the haunting, original score, composed by Peter Godfrey, and the strong visual storytelling that Tito is so remarkable at.

It was a great project to be involved with. Ben Mourra, the producer, and Tito assembled a fantastic crew, creating an atmosphere that was passionate, yet laid back, and always professional.

Jim Campbell has joined Larry and I working on the Ionmonger's Daughter. He will be lettering Larry's artwork in the coming months. Fingers crossed my dialogue won't be too much of a pain to work with. You can see Jim Campbell's lettering samples over at ComicSpace.

I'm still happily hacking away at the typeface, taking the nuggets I find and building them into my scripts.

I've just begun work on Sun Moon, I'm about halfway through the second chapter and currently discovering, inventing the characters voices and refining their personalities. I already have a very detailed outline to follow but until you begin writing the characters they don't really come alive. When I'm happy, I'll no doubt begin altering my plan, as the found voices will subtly change the outline, suggest new scenes and ways of approaching existing ones.

Doing exactly the same with Everything Ends, the feature film script I'm working on with Tito. I'm just about at the midpoint and desperately resisting the temptation to go back and revise, when I should be pushing on to the end. There's too much of the perfectionist coming out in me, at least for these early stages of script development.

On a different note, Insomnia Publications had a fantastic weekend at BICS, see the BICS and Pieces blog post over at The Red Eye, while Cy Dethan's The Citadel Of Comics - A Fantasy Convention In Which YOU Are The Hero! is worth any old school adventurer's time for another perspective.

Sun Moon signing

2009-07-21T10:00:00.003+01:00

I’m really excited and grateful that Insomnia Publications has signed Sun Moon. I’ve been kicking around the idea in one form or another since before The Ionmonger’s Daughter and the opportunity to realise it now, as a graphic novel, is fantastic.

It is great keeping Sun Moon in the family, so to speak. Working with Larry and Insomnia on The Ionmonger’s Daughter has been a delight. Chatting with people on Twitter, reading people’s blogs, it is obvious everyone who is part of Insomnia is doing work they love, and it shows in the atmosphere and attitude of all involved.

Sun Moon
One ageing, one eternally young, two lovers must overcome the growing gulf, as their differing social classes remain locked in an endless cycle of oppression.

Sun Moon is the story of star and time crossed lovers, set against a backdrop of environmental disaster.

One of the underclass, Leto is the son of a cryogenic engineer and destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. A member of the ruling elite, Selene is a young and gifted scientist and one of Leto’s cryogenically frozen charges. Against the conventions of their segregated society and the counsel of their friends and peers, they fall in love.

Together they journey aboard a city-like spaceship towards the promise of a new world and a new beginning. They leave behind an overexploited, polluted and no longer habitable world, which Leto and generations of his class have never known.

Not Yet and IMDB credit

2009-06-24T11:35:00.020+01:00

Not Yet is being screened at the 2009 Palm Springs ShortFest on Friday, June 26, as part of Tales of the Unexpected. Working with everyone on this film was an absolute pleasure and I’m really glad that it now starting to hit the festival circuit. This also means I have my first credit on IMDB.

Not yet - 30sec Teaser from Tito Sacchi on Vimeo.

I’ve finished a complete draft of the Ionmonger’s Daughter. There is still a long way to go yet, and collaborating with Larry is suggesting new ideas and ways of presenting the story, but I’m pleased with how it is coming together. The draft is now with my editor and a couple of trusted writing friends for their critique.

It has been an interesting journey so far, hopefully one that will do justice to the themes of honour, obsession and war. Finding a way to keep the protagonist in charge of her destiny opposed to becoming just a victim of her circumstances has proved to be the hardest balancing act. It has already taken a lot of planning, plus writing and rewriting to work out how to pull this off.

So, what next? Well, I’m going to step away from the Ionmonger’s Daughter for at least a couple of weeks if not more, apart from collaborating with Larry. In the meantime I’m going to be working on a feature film script with Tito, which was born out of a short film script we had been working on together. A bitter-sweet ghost story, we’ve boiled down all the elements we liked and have mixed them back together with many new ideas and elements to create a new story. In the coming few weeks I’ll be putting these together and writing a first draft. In the background, I’ve also got another graphic novel pitch and horror film script to work on.

And now to plug another Insomnia graphic novel...

Burke And Hare
Writer: Martin Conaghan
Artist: Will Pickering
Letters: Paul McLaren
Cover: Rian Hughes
Foreword: Alan Grant

Over a 12 month period from 1827-1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland, two Irishmen by the names of William Burke and William Hare murdered 16 people and disposed of their bodies to the eminent dissectionist Dr Robert Knox at 10 Surgeon’s Square. Delve into the murky, misquoted history of Scotland’s most notorious serial killers with a research-based graphic novel that unwravels a ghoulish story of medicine, murder and money.

You can pre-order Burke and Hare from Amazon.

Ion curtain is lifted

2009-06-02T10:35:00.008+01:00

Insomnia has posted about The Ionmonger's Daughter, A Peep Behind The Ion Curtain, on their blog The Red Eye.

Nic has posted up some of Larry's concept sketches of Victoria and a couple of the page roughs, as well as Larry and I waxing lyrical about the project.

I'm excited how this project is coming together. Larry is great to collaborate with, while the support of Insomnia is helping us create something I hope will be quite special.

There is lots to do yet, but enjoying the journey so far.

Erratum in print

2009-05-12T18:24:00.014+01:00

Insomnia had a fantastic weekend in Bristol; you can read all about it on their blog.

Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth by Cy Dethan and Stephen Downey, was in great demand. So was Layer Zero: Choices, featuring Erratum, a short sci-fi story written by me and drawn by Des Langford.

Des worked incredibly hard on Erratum, finding the time when he was facing many external trials and tribulations, and I’m very grateful for his dedication.

Il Silenzio del Mare

2009-05-05T16:05:00.013+01:00

Il Silenzio del Mare from Tito Sacchi on Vimeo

Taking a break from writing, I worked with Tito Sacchi on this music video, helping out on set and doing stills photogrpahy.

Not Yet teaser video

2009-05-01T16:00:00.010+01:00

Not yet - 30sec Teaser from Tito Sacchi on Vimeo

Currently being submitted to film festivals, I co-wrote this film with director Tito Sacchi. Starring Michael Gilroy, it was produced by Screencult, in collaboration with Mash Mosh Films.

Ionmonger's Daughter artist

2009-04-23T20:01:00.005+01:00

Larry E. Watts has signed on with Insomnia to do The Ionmonger's Daughter. I'm thrilled, Larry was my first choice of artists after seeing his sketches and sequentials.

Ionmonger's Daughter signing

2009-03-16T17:53:00.011Z

Insomnia Publications has accepted my pitch for a graphic novel, The Ionmonger’s Daughter, I'm over the moon...

The Ionmonger's Daughter
A woman’s obsession to travel the stars causes
her to slip further and further from the light.

Victoria Cross wants to see the stars. Against her father’s wishes, she leaves the family business to embark on a journey to her mother’s homeworld. Robbed, ensnared by the criminal underworld, arrested and conscripted into the army as a convict, her bad choices turn her dreams into a nightmare.

The Ionmonger’s Daughter is a bitter-sweet story about how obsession can blind and destroy you. As Victoria’s life spirals deeper and deeper into the abyss, it is her own desire and pride that propels her.