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Catastrophic Failure ImminentIf you have to ask, I have to kill you |
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| Relevant websites Art for sale: Graphic Descriptions My netzine: Anthro The book of my netzine: ANTHROlogy One Advice for authors: Quentin's List Stuff I’ve written: Cubist's story archive My ex-netzine: TSAT G. Howell's book (which I edited): The Human Memoirs |
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| Mar. 8th, 2008 @ 05:05 am It's my private little affectation... | |||
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Mood:
http://anthrozine.com -- the zine proper accomplishedhttp://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 http://www.lulu.com/cubist -- ANTHRO Press: We got books! http://www.zazzle.com/cubist* -- Graphic Descriptions: We got posters and t-shirts, too! The title of this here blog entry refers to my netzine, Anthro, whose latest issue (sweet 16!) I just uploaded. Yay! Also good news: My attempts to convert the ANTHROlogy TWO Quark file into a PDF, a necessary part of Getting the Damn Thing Published, were all futile; I was using Acrobat -- a legit copy, yet -- to do the conversion. Okay, I was trying to use Acrobat, except it kept on giving me static about "limitcheck" and "invalid font". Frump! Well, the silly thing had always been cantankerous, so when this new quirk showed up, I decided it was time to Do Something: Namely, switch to InDesign, which can do PDFs all by its lonesome. It can also open up Quark files, too! QX and ID do some things differently, which will take a bit of getting used to, but I think the relatively minor hassle will be worth it... At any rate, the latest Anthro is online for your reading pleasure. This issue's cover is SLUMBER PARTY, by the estimable Heather Bruton. I thought "Dang, that's good" at first sight, and I'm sure you will, too! And what's on the *inside* of this issue? Well... = STORIES = SOMETHING ABOUT HAWKS, by David R. Addleman (illustrated by Cubist): Whether by birth or by acts, greatness is greatness. THE DESTROYER, by Bill 'Hafoc' Rogers: Prophecy, like gods, moves in mysterious ways. THE WARRIOR, a TBP tale by Felix Sagittarius: Good men *can* triumph over evil. A LETTER HOME, by Kris Schnee (illustrated by Cubist): One should always choose one’s profession with care. = COMICS = ZEBRA GIRL, by Joe England: Date with a demon. SANDUSKY, by John Pergaman, Jr.: Awakenings (rude and otherwise). = POETRY = THE LAST ONE, by Kristine Ong Muslim: Longevity is not always a boon. = COLUMNS = THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, by Michael W. Bard: It’s the personal touch that does it. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, by Phil Geusz: How bad *do* you want furries? REALITY SOUNDBITES, by Keith Morrison: A fascinating topic indeed... THE RED KING'S DREAM, by Wanderer Werewolf: An introduction to medieval law. = REVIEWS = SEEN WHILE PROWLING, by Fred Patten: The CFO's founder reviews JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL, by Richard Bach; CLOSER TO THE VOID: OZY AND MILLIE, 2006-2007, by D. C. Simpson; A MARRIAGE OF INSECTS, by Bard Bloom; NEW TECHNICOLOR DREAMS, by Will A. Sanborn; KOCKROACH, by Tyler Koch; A DOEMAIN OF OUR OWN, VOL. 2, SHIFT HAPPENS, by Susan Rankin; THE HERO, by Teiran; and THE CAT MASTER, by Bonnie Pemberton. = EDITORIALS = FROM THE EDITOR'S MAW, by Quentin Long: A usually-ignored wellspring of drama See you next issue! |
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| Jan. 30th, 2008 @ 04:38 am After the Con | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Randomness...Met a few people I'd previously only interacted with via IRC: Dratteroo, Nikon Raccoon, Tarathene, and Shailin (prolly misspelled, sigh...). Nikon snapped a couple pictures, and claimed that the camera's auto-focus couldn't quite keep up with me... Tried that Rock Band thingie a second time. My current theory is that the game's pitch-tracking gets confused when the ambient noise level is too high -- which it definitely was in the gaming room. [shrug] Had some trouble with Last Train to Clarksville. For me, the game's arrangement of that song really ought to be transposed a fourth or fifth, it matters not which way; said arrangement was too high for me to sing comfortably in the key provided, and when I dropped down an octave, it was uncomfortably low. Ah, well. The price I pay for being a baritone, I s'pose. On Friday, the first day I was there, I posted a minor swarm of flyers -- for Anthro, ANTHROlogy One, The Human Memoirs, and ANTHROlogy Two (this last one being a Special Pre-Order Offer). Each flyer had its own set of tear-off bits so that people could take a written copy of the relevant URL. On Monday, I tried to collect 'em all so's I could tell how many of the tear-off bits actually did get torn-off. Alas, all of the posted flyers had been taken off the walls by the time I showed up; all I could do was rescue a few of mine from trashcans. The ANTHROlogy Two flyers were a bit nonstandard, in that each one's complement of tear-off bits included two "Golden Ticket N"s, with a unique value of 'N' on each. The backside of each GT had a little message: "Show Quentin your ticket number -- at the con, or via email". This was an experiment, really; I wanted to see if anybody would notice, and if they did notice, whether they'd go along with the "show Quentin your ticket number" schtick. Here's the data; again, I didn't manage to collect up all of my flyers, but some data is better than none...
And what does it all mean? Well... um... I'm not sure... |
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| Jan. 26th, 2008 @ 11:38 pm At the Con | |||
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That’s ‘Further Confusion’, aka FurCon for short. I am posting this blog entry from FurCon's 'cyber alley'; it's about 11:40 PM, and I'm killing time until the Eye of Argon reading, which (as per tradition) starts at midnight. I showed up on Friday; I managed to chat with Dark Natasha (good artist that she is) in the Dealer’s Room, and also Alex ‘Bad Dog Books’ Vance. Mr. Vance normally hangs out in Amsterdam (see also: ‘the Netherlands’), so I was pleasantly surprised to see the guy here, in San Jose, California. I’ll be talking with Mr. V. again tomorrow, God willin’ an’ the crick don’t rise… and after typing that phrase, it occurs to me that ‘the crick don’t rise’ is actually a valid concern. It’s been raining heavily, and at least one local highway onramp was flooded earlier in the day. Yes, folks, ‘it never rains in sunny California’—not! The usual suspects also showed up, those being SpiritWalker and Coleen Savitzky (aka ‘the other half of Steve Savitzky). Hmmm... 11:58 PM now. Time to post this thing and enjoy the spectacle of lithe, opaque noses. 3:35 AM addendum: The Argon reading went well, and ended around 3 AM, more or less. Afterwards, I went cruising the various event rooms to see if anything was happening, and found only some gaming. In particular, the game Rock Band, which goes Guitar Hero one better by accommodating drums and vocals. What the heck; I tried vocals on Black Hole Sun (Medium difficulty) and did okay, in spite of the game’s somewhat quirky pitch-tracking. Dunno if I'll bother to try it again, but at least this one exposure was not a waste of time. |
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| Jan. 6th, 2008 @ 01:51 am ANTHRO #15 (the latest issue)! | |||
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http://anthrozine.com -- the zine proper http://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 http://www.lulu.com/cubist -- ANTHRO Press: We got books! http://www.zazzle.com/cubist* -- Graphic Descriptions: We got posters and t-shirts, too! Quentin 'Cubist' Long here to let you know that ANTHRO #15 is up on the net for your reading pleasure! Our cover this time is HIGH PRIEST DOMIN, by Carmen Welsh. You may recall that Welsh wrote WHITE MINISTRANT in #12; who knew she could also draw? *She* did -- and now, all of ANTHRO's readers will know, too! = STORIES = LIKE THE UNFOLDING PETALS OF A DREAM, a Xanadu story by Michael W. Bard: Be careful how you wish… MADDIE, by Kody Boye: Life is hard for a single mother-to-be. THE LANGUAGE OF EMOTION, by Hafoc: Making connections is what it’s all about. THE SECRET, by Felix Sagittarius: He found he wasn’t the top of the food chain. = COMICS = ZEBRA GIRL, by Joe England: Vamping until ready... SANDUSKY, by John Pergaman, Jr.: Collect call of the wild. = POETRY = GOING DOWN, by Cubist (illustrated by Cubist): The second great tragedy of life? = COLUMNS = THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, by Michael W. Bard: The good, the bad, and the wonderful. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, by Phil Geusz: Furdom’s *real* primary activity? REALITY SOUNDBITES, by Keith Morrison: Originality is *so* overrated. THE RED KING'S DREAM, by Wanderer Werewolf: Why there weren’t many tourists in medieval times. = REVIEWS = SEEN WHILE PROWLING, by Fred Patten: The CFO's founder reviews SIRIUS, Olaf Stapledon's classic tale of love that transcends biological reality; ROAR Vol. 1, edited by Ben Goodridge; FELICIA AND THE CULT OF THE RUBBER NOSE, by Chas. P. A. Melville; ODE TO KIRIHITO, by Osamu Tezuka; NIP AND TUCK: GONE HOLLYWOOD, BACK LATER, by Ralph E. Hayes, Jr.; COYOTE SEASON, by Michael Bergey; DARKWING, by Kenneth Oppel; and CAT DECK THE HALLS, the 13th Joe Grey Mystery by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. = EDITORIALS = FROM THE EDITOR'S MAW, by Quentin Long: It's as easy as A... B... *Z*!? See you next issue! |
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| Nov. 24th, 2007 @ 03:15 pm ANTHRO subscriptions: Phase II | |||
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My initial thought for subscriptions was, set the price real low—as in, low enough to qualify as an 'impulse buy'—on the theory that a massively low price would attract mass quantities of customers. Nice theory… which, alas, failed to work in practice. Oh, I did get some takers for the "über-low price" subscriptions… but they've been around for two years plus change, and the total number of subscribers is still a single-digit number. Conclusion: The "über-low price" paradigm doesn't work, and is generally bogus. Thus, Phase II. The deal is, there are four levels of subscription, each offering greater benefits (for a higher price) than the one before. Specificially:
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| Nov. 11th, 2007 @ 09:50 pm Site update: ANTHRO #14 is live! | |||
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Mood:
http://anthrozine.com -- the zine proper tiredTunes: LINUS AND LUCY, by the Vince Guaraldi Trio http://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 http://www.lulu.com/cubist -- ANTHRO Press: We got books! http://www.zazzle.com/cubist* -- Graphic Descriptions: We got posters and t-shirts, too! Quentin 'Cubist' Long here, once again announcing a new issue of ANTHRO -- #14 -- to the world. If you think I've finished #14 a heck of a lot later than usual, well, you're right; let's just say that Real Life (mostly in the form of job-hunting, and temporary employment) *really* got in the way. Do you think it's unfortunate that mundane financial considerations can get in the way of my working on the 'zine? Me, too. Do you want to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again? Great! You are cordially invited to check out the selection at ANTHRO Press [ http://www.lulu.com/cubist ], the ANTHRO Mall [ http://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 Anywho... Although this issue is the latest ANTHRO has ever been, its contents are such that I think you'll agree it was worth the wait! Item: SNOWFLAKE! Specifically, Kacey Miyagami's nifty artwork by that name, which the divine Ms. M. was kind enough to allow us to use on our cover. Yay! Item: Santa Fox! No, we didn't incorporate Santa Fox himself into the ANTHRO website -- sorry, but we just can't figure out how to squeeze a living, breathing person through an Internet connection -- but what we've got instead is almost as good. First, we've got an interview with Santa Fox, said interview being conducted by Phil Geusz! Second, we've got the true story of Santa Fox, as told to (and by!) the Fox himself -- and who'd know better, eh? = STORIES = FORK IN THE ROAD, by Michael W. Bard: (part 3 of 3) Actions have consequences, whether you like it or not. RUNNING WILD, Day 5: Day 5, Feline 101, by Duncan Cougar & Quentin Long: At long last, the completion of the sixth chapter in this TBP serial! "This above all: To thine own self be true" -- but what if you *don’t know* your own self? THE STORY OF SANTA FOX, by Santa Fox: Who brings the gifts that Santa Claus doesn’t? SHEPHERD'S SONG, by Bannwynn Oakshadow: In which a life-or-death decision has lasting consequences. = COMICS = ZEBRA GIRL, by Joe England: The truth is way out there. CASTLE HORSETOOTH, by Oren the Otter and Eala Dubh: The denouement of the pilfered posies. SANDUSKY, by John Pergaman, Jr.: Kitty’s first vet appointment. = ARTICLES = THE FUZZY STORY, by Fred Patten: The untold saga of H. Beam Piper and his most popular novel. = INTERVIEWS = 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE VULPINE: Phil Geusz interviews Santa Fox. = POETRY = THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING, by Cubist: What some folks *really* want for Christmas. = COLUMNS = THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, by Michael W. Bard: In which a canary is in danger of keeling over. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, by Phil Geusz: Please, can’t we all just get along?. REALITY SOUNDBITES, by Keith Morrison: Where people live—and *why*. Part 6 of Morrison's series on worldbuilding. THE RED KING'S DREAM, by Wanderer Werewolf: A modern-day version of a medieval custom. = REVIEWS = SEEN WHILE PROWLING, by Fred Patten: The CFO's founder reviews TAILCHASER'S SONG, the classic feline novel by Tad Williams; DIGGER Vol. 3, buy Ursula Vernon; YO MOMMA, the twelfth Kevin & Kell collection by Bill Holbrook; WHITE CRUSADE, by Ben Goodridge; THE PIG WHO SAVED THE WORLD, BY GRYLLUS THE PIG, by Paul Shipton; PETAL STORM, by Paul Kidd; SWORDBIRD, by Nancy Yi Fan; TRANSMUTATION NOW!, by Phil Geusz. = EDITORIALS = FROM THE EDITOR'S MAW, by Quentin Long: A rumination on the art of different species. See you next issue! |
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| Sep. 27th, 2007 @ 01:13 am You, too, *did* save ANTHRO! | |||
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As I often say, the nice thing about being a pessimist is that all your surprises are pleasant ones. Case in point: The response from furdom-at-large to my cry for help. Thanks to the generosity of many people I've never met face-to-face, I'm no longer in danger of being evicted for want of rent! The problem was fundamentally a case of lousy timing. I actually did (do?) have other money coming in; it's just that it wasn't coming in soon enough. So now that the immediate crisis is over, there shouldn't be any re-runs thereof! Alas, the crisis just past is not without lingering repercussions. For one thing, I've got to figure out what I want to do to honor the people who donated at least USD $100 ... and yes, there are several of those guys. It's all good, however, as that's a problem I'm downright pleased to be wrestling with. Yee-hah! And thank you very much! |
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| Sep. 25th, 2007 @ 11:10 pm You, too, can help save ANTHRO! | |||
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Quentin Long here with some bad news... and how *you* can help to make that bad news go away. You'll recall that when I announced the uploading of ANTHRO #13, I mentioned that I was in danger of going homeless, *real* soon. The support this brought was welcome... but it just isn't enough. And here's how bad things are now: I need USD $500 in the next five days, or I *will* be homeless. The people who have *already* donated and bought advertisements, they've done their part... but there's only, like, 20 of them. 20... out of a grand total of about *ten* *bleeding* *THOUSAND* people who read and enjoy every issue of ANTHRO. And tho I don't want to appear ungrateful, it really does seem like their support (as welcome as it was!) is a case of "too little, too late". So here I am again, exhorting furdom-at-large to open your wallets on my behalf, so that *I* can continue to do something which has been a distinct asset to *you*. I'm not exactly enthused to be going all "PBS pledge night" on y'all, but if it works, it works, okay? So here's the deal... ANTHRO on PDA! I've reformatted ANTHRO #1 so that it'll fit nicely on a 240-pixel- wide screen -- which means it will work nicely on Palm Pilots or Blackberrys or whatever other PDA you might happen to have. Cross my palm with $2.99 in good USA silver, and it's yours! http://store.kagi.com/?6FEMN_LIVE&lang=en Art commissions! Would you like me (Quentin Long, aka Cubist) to do a portrait of your character? I will -- for a mere USD $15. Or USD $10, if you want a con badge. I won't do spooge, but beyond that, pretty much anything goes. Send me an email containing a description of what you'd like me to draw -- the address is cubist@aol.com -- and PayPal the money to me, and you're good to go. And leave us not forget all the other options: Donate or subscribe: http://anthrozine.com/site/support.h Buy copies of ANTHROlogy ONE and/or THE HUMAN MEMOIRS and/or the FREEDOM CITY typeface: http://www.lulu.com/cubist Buy ANTHRO ad space in two-month blocs: http://anthrozine.com/site/ad.policy.ht Buy ANTHRO ad space in arbitrarily small chunks: http://www.projectwonderful.com/adverti Buy furry fiction (with ANTHRO getting a small cut of the purchase price): http://anthrozine.com/site/support.book Buy T-shirts, posters, and other things with ANTHRO art on them: http://anthrozine.com/site/support.omni Check out a wide range of furry-type goods selected from Amazon.com's vast inventory: http://astore.amazon.com/anthrozine-20 Buy other art-type things I've created (not necessarily furry, but still good): http://www.zazzle.com/cubist* USD $500 in five days. If furdom-at-large can inject $2,000,000 into the Pittsburgh economy via Anthrocon, is $500 in five days *really* too much to ask? |
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| Sep. 4th, 2007 @ 12:49 am So far, so good... | |||
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Mood:
As of yesterday, Anthro #13 is uploaded and open for business. As per my habit, I sent out an update notice to all the usual suspects; what was not as per my habit was the shameless "Send money or ANTHRO gets it" plea/demand I started said notice with. Okay, it wasn't quite as blatant as that... but I did mention that (a) barring a Significant Infusion of Cash, I was going to run out of money sometime within the next six weeks; (b) if that happened, it's a pretty good bet that I'd be homeless; (c) living on the street would make it real difficult for me to produce new issues of my zine; and, finally, (d) anybody out there who would miss Anthro if it went away, really oughtta consider... like... availing themselves of any of the different ways to send me some shekels. expectantFor the record (and because the running-out-of-money thing is a very real concern), here's the range of options: Donate cash.In all honesty, I didn't really expect anything to come of it; all of the above options have been 'live' for quite some time now, and they're been good for a collective total of maybe $10-$20 a month. But remarkably enough, in the first 24 hours after I sent out the update notice, I've received one new subscription and two donations! Will this continue? Dunno, but I sure hope so. It's good to be a pessimist, for all your surprises are pleasant ones... 6 September addendum: Total of two new subscriptions and five donations since the update notice were sent out. Yay! |
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| Aug. 31st, 2007 @ 11:41 pm My Latest Invention | |||
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Mood:
This bad boy is the latest thing to emerge from my twisted subconscious... creative If you like it, you can buy it on a T-shirt; just click on the picture, which is a link to the online storefront what sells my art and the art of Anthro. Share and enjoy! And by all means, pass the URL(s) along to anyone you think might appreciate it. Thanks! |
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| Aug. 20th, 2007 @ 08:10 pm Your Master Commands... | |||
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Heh! "Your master commands". As if. Nevertheless, I'm going to ask a favor of all you folks out there reading this thing, and we shall see how many people choose to go along with it... Background: I've been jobless since 2001. Maybe I need to put more effort into looking for work; maybe I need to turn off the undiagnosed mutant power which has caused me to submit so many job applications to businesses that simply will not deign to so much as acknowledge my job-application, let alone say "Can you come in for an interview" or (heaven forbid!) "You're hired"; maybe something else. Whatever's going on, the upshot is, to repeat, a continuing absence of gainful employment on my part. This is why I've put so bleeding much effort into my netzines (first TSAT, and now Anthro); in theory, my audience should be willing to pony up some money in the form of donations or subscriptions or buying books or whatever, just as the respective audiences of webcomics The Wotch and Sluggy Freelance have been willing to do. "In theory". In practice... not so much. TSAT was always a complete and utter bust, from a purely financial perspective; ANTHRO has been good for a grand total of $10-$20 per month, give or take a little. But while my income has been close to nonexistent, my expenses have been very substantial indeed. And it's now reached a point where I may very well be homeless by October, if not earlier. Which brings me to the favor I mentioned earlier. According to ANTHRO's webtraffic stats, the zine gets several thousand readers every month; according to my income, the vast majority of those readers only read the zine. This, even though I've got things set up for people to donate money, to click through to any of four online booksellers that will slip me a few-percent 'kickback' when someone does click through to buy books, to buy posters and t-shirts and such with ANTHRO art, and a few other things as well. So here's the favor I mentioned earlier: What I'd like you to do, once a month, is check out what ANTHRO has to offer... and buy something. Just one thing, be it one of the hundreds of ANTHRO-recommended books you can get from any of those four online booksellers, or a copy of ANTHROlogy ONE or THE HUMAN MEMOIRS, or an ANTHRO-art poster or t-shirt, or something. I'm still going to keep on trying for conventional employment, of course. But if that continues not to work, well, it sure would be nice to have a Plan B... |
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| Aug. 7th, 2007 @ 09:56 pm ANTHROlogy One gets price cut! | |||
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Mood:
Quentin 'Cubist' Long here with the latest news from Anthro. In honor of our upcoming second anniversary issue, I've permanently slashed the price of ANTHROlogy One, the zine's first printed collection! Starting today, you can buy your very own ink-on-paper copy of almost everything from the zine's first six issues for USD $19.99 -- which is a full 20% price cut. And if you'd been hoping for an eBook version, hope no more, because we've got a downloadable PDF version for a mere USD $4.99! How can you resist? accomplishedIf you feel like taking advantage of this price drop, just surf on over to the ANTHRO Press website and do what comes naturally. We'll keep the light on for you, as the saying goes... |
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| May. 29th, 2007 @ 03:02 pm ANTHRO wants *you* -- to subscribe! | |||
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Now I've done something new: I've commissioned a song from Tom Smith, and I'm making this song available only to Anthro's subscribers. The basic idea is pretty simple; subscribe, and I send you a mini-CD -- that's its label just to the right -- containing Smith's excellent tune Brothers Under the Skin. For those of you who are curious, I've got a listenable sample of the song up on the Anthro site; check it out! Just remember that if you want to hear the whole tune, there's only one way to get it... subscribe to Anthro. |
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| Mar. 9th, 2007 @ 04:34 pm Here's one I prepared earlier... | |||
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  There's a website called Slide, whose reason to live is putting together slideshows. Like the thing you see immediately above, which happens to be a compilation of a whole bunch of art from my netzine, Anthro. I figured some of the folks who read this here LJ thingie might find it to be of interest... |
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| Mar. 3rd, 2007 @ 03:03 am ANTHRO #10 is online | |||
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Mood:
Like the title says -- I just finished and uploaded a new issue of my netzine, Anthro. Here's the cover image, Tyger Burning Bright, by, er... me: satisfiedTunes: AFTERBURNER (a song I haven't finished writing yet)  Surf on over, check it out, all that good stuff. And if you maybe feel like supporting this effort, why not subscribe or donate money? Subscriptions are cheap -- USD 50¢ per issue, which works out to about the same as 1 (one) Big Mac over the course of a year… |
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| Jan. 14th, 2007 @ 04:20 am Spread the Word, by Jasper! | |||
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Two items.Item numero uno: The First Great Anthro Art Contest. When I killed my other netzine, TSAT, there were a couple of serials running that I didn't want to just cut off in mid-stream -- so I moved 'em both over to Anthro. Of course, these serials didn't have any art, since TSAT was always graphically minimalist... which means that I needed illustrations to accompany the various chapters. I decided to make it a contest, open to any aspiring artist-type; read the existing serial-bits on TSAT, and submit art based on what you've read. Alas, I've not yet recieved any entries -- and it's been more than two months now. So here's your change to be a published artist; read Running Wild and/or The Downward Spiral, create appropriate illustrations for what you've read, and send 'em to me. Item numero two-o: A New Cover For The Human Memoirs  This nifty piece of art exists because G. Howell, author of the book, wrote to me saying that he wasn't all that impressed with the cover I put together. I wrote back, explaining why I'd done it and what I was aiming for, and I asked if he had any better ideas.He did -- and you're looking at the best of the better ideas he had. Click on the cover, and you'll be sent to Anthro Press, where you can read every page of the book on screen (for free!), and once you've read enough to know that you like it, you can buy a copy of your very own. |
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| Jan. 4th, 2007 @ 01:49 am ANTHRO Press strikes again! | |||
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ANTHRO Press, the publish-on-paper arm of my nascent media empire, now has two -- count 'em, two -- books: In addition to ANTHROlogy One, the 602-page compilation of All That Is Right And Good In The Furry Community... okay, it's really just a collection of nearly everything that appeared in Anthro #s 1-6... Like I said: In addition to ANTHROlogy One, I now have The Human Memoirs, by a gent named G. Howell; this is a pretty darned good novel about a man thrust into an alternate timeline where humans never evolved, which was released on 31 December (yes, as a matter of fact this was a blatant attempt to get the thing out in time to qualify for the 2006 Ursa Major Awards)... and it's sold 3 (three) copies in the first two days. Not bad at all. ANTHROlogy One only sold two copies in its first two days! I'm going to take this as an auspicious omen, and I'm also going to continue my quest to make Anthro my primary income source. |
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| Dec. 31st, 2006 @ 07:14 pm New and improved! | |||
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The latest thing I've done in my continuing attempts to make a living off of my netzine: A paperback edition of The Human Memoirs, by a New Zealander name of G. Howell. The Human Memoirs is about a human who is thrust into an alternate timeline where humans never evolved to sentience because cats beat 'em to it, and it happens to be the first serial I presented in Anthro. Strictly speaking, Memoirs really ought to have been included in ANTHROlogy One... but seeing as how Memoirs is more than 580 pages by itself, I think it should be rather clear why I only put a small excerpt into the collection, rather than the whole bleedin' thing. As ever, we shall see how it all works out... |
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| Dec. 19th, 2006 @ 12:31 pm Good omens (I hope) | |||
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Item: One of the other basses in the St. Bede's church choir told me he'd checked out Anthro, and he liked it & was impressed by it. Yay! And he liked the TBP serial, Running Wild. This is better news than just the bare facts of the matter might suggest, because the guy's a novice -- no previous exposure to furdom, outside of what any 'mundane' might reasonably be expected to have (i.e., stuff like seeing Tony the Tiger in commercials). I am particularly pleased that he understood what was going on in Running Wild; I always try to write TBP so that it's accessible to any reader, without any assumption of previous TBP knowledge on the reader's part, and I'm glad it worked this time!Item: A paid advertisement for Anthro! The good folks at Wyrmkeep Entertainment, who make the furry computer game Inherit the Earth, have placed an ad for their Inherit the Earth webcomic! This ad will appear in Anthro issues 9 and 10. |
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| Dec. 12th, 2006 @ 12:17 am A Joyful Noise Was Made | |||
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Like I wrote in a previous entry, Schola Cantorum performed a concert with the Menlo Brass Quintet (and a tympanist, who apparently isn't part of the MBQ's standard complement) on 10 Dec 2006 -- yesterday, since I'm writing this entry on the 11th. Here's the program… First half: Schola and the Brass were rigidly separate. They played a few tunes where we were silent; otherwise, we sang while the Brass was silent. The Brass' typanist was silent regardless Christmas Day, by Gustav Holst. Yes, the same guy who wrote The Planets. The Holidays are Here, by Dawn Reyen. This is a secular Xmas tune, in the same general ballpark as, say, Chestnuts Roasting in an Open Fire. Dawn is Schola's accompanist; she plays piano real good. And she also ain't bad at composing, either! Where is Santa?, also by Dawn. This one is written in 1950s 'doo-wop'-style, and it cries out to be done as a Broadway production number. Silver Bells, performed by the Brass. Instrumental. Lord Jesus Hath a Garden, also a Brass instrumental. Baby It's Cold/Let It Snow, a Dawn-arranged medley of two old standards. She can play music, she can write music, she can arrange music… Winter Wonderland, another Dawn arrangement. Joy to the World, a Brass instrumental. We Three Kings, a Brass instrumental. Star Carol, by John Rutter. Shepherd's Pipe Carol, by John Rutter. This was published in 1967, which makes it one of Rutter's very earliest works. The most notable thing about it, for me, is the bit at the end where the altos, tenors, and basses all do a seriously blatant there-and-back glissando between two notes. Away in a Manger, a Brass instrumental. O Holy Night, a Brass instrumental. The second half (after a short intermission): This half of the concert consisted mostly of Now is the Time, a suite of Christmas carols written by Brian Holmes of the Brass. The two groups worked together, the Brass (and their typanist, yay!) accompanying Schola on each piece. Sir Christimas Now is the Time of Christmas Oh Man, Be Merry Herrick's Carol Four Carols (Let me sing of a Maid; Who will come to Bethlehem; There is no Rose; I saw a fair Maiden) Good Day Sir Christimas (reprise) After the Sir Christimas reprise, we got the audience to sing along for four carols: Deck the Hall, Silent Night, the First Nöel, and O Come, All Ye Faithful. And the very last piece, which Schola performed as an encore, was also Deck the Halls -- in an arrangement for 7/8 time. On the whole, it went pretty good. the Menlo Brass Quintet is supposed to be one of the best brass quintets in the SF Bay Area -- but I have an uncomfortable suspicion that's like being the best flamenco dancer in Montana. There were a number of points at which it sure sounded to me like one of those horns got a note slightly wrong... ah, well. I wasn't in top form myself, either. |
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ecstatic
worried
hopeful