Lords of Kobol - Book Zero: Taking Notes

Three years ago at Dragon*Con 2009, I sat down and wrote out a bunch of stuff that formed the skeleton of my Lords of Kobol trilogy.

At Dragon*Con 2012, I did the same for Lords of Kobol - Book Zero: Of Gods and Titans:

(Not sufficiently blurry, I had to white out a few spoilery things just in case you could read my writing.)

If you haven't already, read Books One, Two and Three now.

With an outline, I can start hanging flesh on it pretty soon.

MST3K: James' Robots

As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I felt there was something missing from this year's Dragon*Con: Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Every other time we've gone, some folks from the show were there to talk about old times, Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax.  On one night, Joel, et al, would even show a whole CT episode to a room of hundreds.  Big fun.

I was disappointed when I saw none of the Brains were coming this year and I was even more surprised when I emerged from the weekend with a Satellite-of-Love-shaped hole in my heart.

There's a legit reason for this and it's all about my son, James.

When he was about two (maybe less), he toddled into the living room and saw me watching an episode.  He saw the 'bots goofing around on the bridge.  He looked at me and asked, "What's that?"  I answered, "Robots."  He said the word himself and plopped onto the floor and kept watching.  He got bored during the movie but he always perked up during the host segments.

Since I watched one episode every week at that time, he sat with me and watched with me.  He said the "La, la, la"s in the theme song, laughed at the shenanigans and said, "Robots silly."  After a couple of months, I had an idea.  I'd make a MST3K storybook for him.  We read a couple of books to him every night so why not one about MST3K?  I got the lyrics to the theme song, pulled some screencaps and made the thing.

Here it is.

I kid you not, he learned how to count to six because of the door sequence on that page.

I planned on making a Mike version, but time got away from me.  (In case you're wondering, James doesn't have a preference.)

So, you're wondering, exhaustedly, what the poopie does this have to do with Dragon*Con?

Beginning with our first trip some years ago, I took the book with me to Atlanta.  It was just me and my wife; the boy stayed with relatives given his age, natch.  But since folks from both Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax were there, I got them to sign the book.  Bill and Trace signed Crow's page; Kevin and Josh signed Servo's page; Frank signed the Mads' page; Mary Jo signed the page with the feather cannon.  (Haven't met Mike, Jim Mallon, Patrick Brantseg or Paul Chaplin yet.)

One year, Joel was there.  I had gotten a couple of the CT crew's signatures and I moved down the table.  He saw the book and immediately seemed intrigued.  He said, "Tell me about this."  I explained, in condensed form, how James first saw the show, his love for it, how he learned to count to six ... Joel smiled, nodded and said, "That's really cool."  And then he signed a page:

"To James, from your friend, Joel Hodgson"

Couple ALL of that with the fact that this year, the first of any year we went to Dragon*Con, was the first we took him with us ... I think you'll understand why I came away disappointed that nobody was there.

"'Waa, waa, waaa,' emo-Trey."  Yeah, I know.  James had fun and he's eager to go again.  Maybe next year he can meet the Best Brains himself.

Dragon*Con 2012

Got back yesterday and here are some cool pix.  I didn't take nearly as many as I had in the past and there's a simple reason for that: we took our 9-year-old son with us.  Far more stressful than we imagined it would be.  While we navigated the crowds, we were too focused on getting him through with us intact and not so much on taking pictures.

Regardless, he had fun, we did, too, and here are some of the highlights for which we managed to take pictures.

 At the parade, a slew of Ghostbusters, including Jake & Elwood Blues.

Dr. Clayton Forrester (in boxers, for some reason) and The Master from "Manos": The Hands of Fate.

A DeLorean Time Machine (with Dr. Forrester at the wheel?).

A classic Time Machine, straight outta HG Wells.  The disk spun, too.

The Dude, complete with White Russian.

A Steampunk UFO, I think.  Whatever.  It looked cool.

Stan Lee.  Excelsior!

Amidst the video game characters, there came a group of Tetris blocks.

Mr. & Mrs. Freeze.  Nice that Nora came out of the cryo tank and joined him in his life of crime.

Go, Speed Racer!

Random characters, including Marceline the Vampire Queen, Lock, Stock & Barrel, Inspector Gadget, Mr. Hat and Carmen Sandiego.

The entire periodic table was represented, as seen here.

Sleestaks!  SSSsssssSSssssssSSSSSssssssssssss ...

AMC was on the ball with their anti-DishTV campaign.  The faux campaign character was staggering through the parade and meeting people all day long.

My son as Finn the Human, poses with Lady Rainicorn at the Cartoon Network store in the CNN Center.

He also managed to pose with a couple of Fiona's.  Here's one.

Here's another.  There were more but we didn't always get pictures.  And, for some reason, he didn't want his picture taken with one particularly badass (and hot) looking Marceline.

We did other stuff, too.

He met Adam West.  We've been watching the original series and he got a big kick out of that.

I saw Gillian Anderson.

She was totally making eyes at me.

We also met (and got an autograph from) Katee Sackhoff.  So pretty.  I had her convinced for half-a-sec that my son knew her as Bitch Pudding.

My favorite autograph is still this one from the Shat back in '09:

The Star Trek: TNG panel with Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton was a riot, the Saturday Galactica panel with an unscheduled Aaron Douglas filling in for Katee was hilarious, the big Lord of the Rings/Hobbit panel was funny ... Oh, and the Masquerade.  I nearly forgot.

This to-scale Totoro captured hearts and an award.

So did this cool pair of dinosaur skeletons.  Seems to have a Tyrannosaur skull, but with three-fingered forearm claws and a raptor toe claw ... I'm a dork.  I know it.

Stuff-wise, my son got a purring Tribble and an Adventure Time map, my wife got some jewelry and I got a signed Batman print from Neal Adams.

I realized after all was said and done that I missed something.  No, not a thing that was there and I missed but something that just plain wasn't there.  I knew going in it wouldn't be there but I didn't expect it to dampen my enjoyment as much as it did.  What was it?

The lack of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Seriously.  This was our fifth trip to Atlanta for Dragon*Con and for every other trip, there was some contingent of MST3K vets there to talk about the show, present some Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax stuff and sign things.  In a day or two, I'll post the thing that really made me appreciate their coming.

In the meantime, Dragon*Con 2012.  It was fun.

I'm a Goodreads author now!

Click here to see my author profile and the seven (!) books I've written.

You can rate the books and leave a detailed review, too.  I'd really appreciate it if you guys did that.  Seeing other people's thoughts on my books encourages me to write and it encourages other people to read them, too.

Also, you can apparently become a "fan" of mine.  That'd be cool.

What's Next: 'Lords of Kobol'

If you've been following along on my Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr accounts, you've seen that I've been re-reading all of my Lords of Kobol books.  And taking notes.

First off, I aim to do some slight editing.  "Slight," meaning "spelling, grammar, etc., corrections."  Yes, even though I read these things a dozen times before they were published, I still missed some punctuation and such.

Secondly, I plan to insert color versions of the maps.  I used black-and-white versions because I thought it would be most fair for people who had plain Kindles.  I see from my download stats that most people are downloading it for laptop reading or iPhone/iPad reading, so that concern is nigh moot.  (Also, on a graphical note, Smashwords wants me to increase the size of the covers, so they will have to be redone.  Sigh.)

Thirdly, I may do some pruning.  I found some chapters of Book One to be a little redundant so I may shift some things around and delete a chapter or two.  I'm still reading Book Three, and it's the longest one, yet I don't recall much that could be considered chaff.

So ... what else am I planning?

You may recall that I said some time ago that I would delve back into the BSG-verse after I finished my foray into erotica.  I said I would write Lords of Kobol - Book Zero.

Well, I might not write Book Zero.

Maybe Book Five.

Same thing?  Sure.  But why the odd numbering scheme?

My greatest concern is that a newbie would see all the books and download Book Zero first, thinking it should be read in that order.  Sure, I could include a forward to warn against such foolhardy actions, but it may do no good.

Eh.  I don't know.  Maybe I'll stick with Zero.  Let me know what you think.  Should I just stick to Book Zero and hope the n00bs figure it out before they get spoiled?

"Sexcalation": DOWNLOAD NOW!

Greg's just a guy telling his story. His marriage to Kelly and the years they enjoyed together. The great sex they had. The neighbors that moved in ... and joined them.

How involved can a couple become with another? Very, apparently. It starts off simple, with sex next to each other. Then there's swapping. Then fourways. And then Victor steps in.

What started off as a "male romance novel; all sex, no romance" is now a little more. Yes, "Sexcalation" is very much loaded with scenes of eroticism and blunt sexual talk, but there is also humor. It's funny. Ladies, if you're looking for some clues into the male mindset, this will help. Guys, there are even a few lessons and some sage advice, too.

"Sexcalation": lots of porn and lots of funny stuff, with some other things thrown in there, too.

Download from Amazon HERE
Download from Smashwords (multiple formats) HERE
Download from iTunes HERE
Download from Barnes & Noble HERE
Download from Kobo HERE
Download from Inktera HERE

Price: $4.99

REVIEWS:

4.5 out of five stars on Goodreads
5 out of five stars on Kobo


"Thank you for writing that story! It's not often adult fiction has a plot or is written intelligently, with humor. I stumbled upon it on probably the first day it was released on SmashWords and it was a pleasure to read. ... While I see you plan to work on similar tales, I'm concerned that as short stories they won't allow for decent character development. I also feel short stories just don't build properly, which Sexcalation happily did. Finally, I applaud your choice of pricing the book reasonably. Too many extremely short works are priced foolishly high. I've got to give you credit where credit is due. Good luck with your upcoming projects. If they are in a similar vein, I definitely plan on reading them."
-- RichSz

"This is an excellent book and my review is far overdue. It's light and humorous in places yet can get heavy when necessary. Loved the ending!"
-- Lazlow

"It's f***ing hot."
-- My wife

A Few Batman Tidbits

Don't worry.  NO spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises follow.  I haven't even seen it yet.

First up, a really sweet Nolan trilogy desktop.  It's 1920 X 1080:

Here's a little something for your "out-of-office" emails tomorrow:

Next, here's an observation I made after seeing an episode of The Twilight Zone:

This is a still from the 1964 Twilight Zone episode “Caesar and Me.” Jackie Cooper plays a down-on-his-luck ventriloquist with an evil (maybe possessed) dummy named “Little Caesar.” Obviously modeled on gangster Al Capone, the dummy even has a scar on its face. The dummy talks the man into committing crimes.

This is a still from an episode of the fantastic Batman: The Animated Series. The man is The Ventriloquist and he first appeared in print in 1988. The dummy is named “Scarface.” Obviously modeled on gangster Al Capone, the dummy even has a scar on its face. The dummy’s personality derives from the cracked psyche of the operator and it convinces him to commit crimes.

Watching Twilight Zone recently, my mind immediately went to pitiful Arnold Wesker. Twenty-four years separate TZ and Batman and I can’t help but think that a seed was planted …



Next up, here's Jill St. John, who played one of the Joker's hench-people in an episode of old school Batman wherein she doubled for Robin:

And here's Carrie Kelly, from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns:

Coincidence?  Maybe.


Next, here's a great little video:

That's Jimmy Fallon providing the voice of Pee-Wee Herman.


And one last thing:

And I'll see you at the movies!