Tag Archives: fandom

Mike Friedman is not the devil

For the record, Mike Friedman is most certainly not the Devil. I suppose it’s easy enough to understand why you might think that, but it’s not true.

Granted, he does have that happy “devil-may-care” attitude and really, who could get away with that sort of thing better than the Devil himself? It’s also true that Mike was the one who came up with the idea for Crazy Eight Press, and the very first story to come from that group was a tale called “Demon Circle”. Although it’s incriminating, it’s still just coincidence.

But the thing that really gets people wondering is his publicity photo. He’s got a spread of books laid out in front of him, and he’s dressed a bit like Han Solo. Then there’s the background: It’s not a fiery pit, but it’s certainly a deep, blood red. And Mike’s got a big smile, like he knows every sin you’ve ever committed; and his face appears to be reflecting that same blood red, as though he’s surrounded by some sort of flames.

I know that photo well. It shows up on various convention web sites now and then (Shore Leave’s been using it since 2010), and recently its been showing up in “meet the contributors” emails for various Kickstarter projects he’s participating in.

But that photo’s origins aren’t at all demonic. Back in 2009, when I had just recently purchased my first-ever digital SLR, I took it to Shore Leave and took photos of a bunch of the authors. I didn’t yet realize how little I understood about photography and between that lack of knowledge, and the hotel’s rather “unique” color scheme, some of the photos came out rather deeply saturated. Mike just happened to be sitting in front of a wall covered, not in brimstone, but particularly garish red wallpaper, and the camera did the rest.

That’s really all there is to it, Mike’s not the Devil; it’s just the photographer was (and still is) a real hack.

If you’ve spent any time at all chatting with Mike, you know, he’s actually a very friendly guy, and not the Prince of Darkness. Indeed, he’d likely be quite hurt if anyone thought otherwise.

And I’m not just saying that because he’s holding my soul hostage.

They Keep Killing Glenn – You Only Hurt the Ones You Love

If “you only hurt the ones you love,” then Glenn Hauman has been loved like few others. Loved to death in fact. Repeatedly. A different way each time.
 
They Keep Killing Glenn is a collection of short stories with one thing in common, in each story, Glenn Hauman dies. One might be forgiven for thinking that this would only be entertaining for people who actually know Glenn (and there is a joke or two which make more sense that way) but overall, the stories should appeal to anyone who enjoys a bit of lighthearted entertainment, regardless of whether Glenn has crossed their path.
 
(Full Disclosure: I know Glenn, and many of the people who killed him. Through some cosmic error, my own tale of his death was also included.)

They Keep Killing Glenn

The usual rule with a scandal is that when it first breaks, you start off with the angry denials. This goes on for a few weeks, with increasingly intense press coverage, until at last you get to the next stage, the tearful confession. Well, let’s skip over all that and go straight to the part where the accused becomes the prosecution’s star witness and throws his co-conspirators under the bus in exchange for leniency….

At the 2017 Farpoint convention, I attended the panel for Crazy 8 Press. As nearly as I can remember, most of the Crazy 8 authors were present: Peter David, Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, Russ Colchamiro, Aaron Rosenberg and Glenn Hauman. Only Paul Kupperberg was missing (Mary Fan hadn’t yet joined the collective). Kathleen David was sitting in the audience.

The panel started off with comments that the group is looking for ways to boost their book sales, with some dark humor thrown in about how Peter’s book sales skyrocketed after his stroke several years ago. So naturally the question was raised of who was willing to “take one for the team” and boost book sales by having a stroke.

Somewhere in there, the suggestion came up, “Maybe we need to kill someone” to which Glenn replied, “We’re writers. We’re always planning to kill people.” My recollection is that it was Aaron who responded, “Yes, but it’s usually you.” Pandemonium ensued as one author after another took turns suggesting ways Glenn might die.

In short order, they decided to publish an anthology of short stories in which Glenn would die. Once Peter announced the title should be, They Keep Killing Glenn, I knew what I had to do. I pulled $20 from my wallet, marched to the front of the room, and offered it as my contribution to the expected Kickstarter campaign.

And that’s why Glenn says it’s my fault the book was written.


This next part kind of boggles my mind. They Keep Killing Glenn is now available, and this is the list of authors from the book’s back cover

I mean, look at that list of names:

David Gerrold – that’s the guy who wrote one of the most popular Star Trek episodes ever, The Trouble with Tribbles.

David Mack, Robert Greenberger, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Keith R. A. DeCandido – These are Big Names in the world of Star Trek writers. They’ve all been on the New York Times best sellers list. Multiple times.

Paul Kupperberg – that’s another Big Name. He’s the guy who writes the current incarnation of the Archie comics.

As far as I can tell, almost everyone else on that list has been published multiple times and most of them have authored multiple books.

And then there’s that name circled in red. Blair Learn. What’s that name doing there?

Most of what I write is software documentation, describing how the pieces fit together, explaining processes to other developers. And yet somehow, a story I wrote has been included in an anthology with all those big names.

In February of this year, they announced that yes, they really were going to publish the book. And in addition to gathering submissions from professional authors, they were also going to accept up to three submissions from fans. I’ve spent a little time chatting with Glenn over the past several years, and having a story published professionally has been an entry on my bucket list for a while… So I submitted a story titled “R is for Roadster.”

They Keep Killing Glenn will be debuting next month at the Shore Leave science fiction convention, just outside Baltimore. But you can order it from Amazon right now.

George Romero and Monroeville Mall

I’m not really into the horror genre, but in college, I do remember watching the original Dawn of the Dead and laughing at the various scenes shot in Monroeville Mall. I particularly remember watching the heroes drive cars around the lower level and thinking that must have been fun. And, of course, the scene on the ice rink – I grew up in that area and remember skating on that rink. Seeing it used for “zombie hockey” was an odd experience.

For whatever reason, the Twitters dropped a link on me today: it seems a group of fans is putting up a bronze bust of George Romero at the mall.

There’s also a mention of a footbridge from the mall being preserved at the Heinz History Center. I have some vague memories of that bridge. The article includes a link to a story KDKA did in 2015, talking about the bridge’s removal, complete with scenes from the movie and people dressed up as zombies helping to load the bridge pieces into a van. According to the news story, there were plans to put it on exhibit sometime this year.

Photo by flickr user daveynin, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans

In 1967, The Beatles ‏released the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonley Hearts Club Band.”
In 1977, Star Wars opened.
In 2017, the band Palette-Swap Ninja, released a mash up of the two.

Some of the tracks don’t do much for me. For example, although the lyrics are moderately clever, “Luke is in the desert, whining” just hits me as a boring bit of music. (The original Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds hits me about the same way.)

On the other hand, some of the other tracks are downright brilliant. I particularly like the way they managed to work some of the original music, for example the cantina band in “Being From the Spaceport of Mos Eisley.”

And if that wasn’t enough, they also put together a YouTube playlist to go with it so you can see watch story unfold and read (and sing) along with the lyrics.

(Image credit: Palette-Swap Ninja)

Cabal and Other Irresponsible Invocations of The Muse

Writer-pal Michael Jan Friedman is in the final days of a KickStarter campaign for a new book titled Cabal and Other Irresponsible Invocations of The Muse.

From the descriptions, it sounds like a fun assortment of Science Fiction and Fantasy. There’s one story, which defies classification (Mike says it belongs in every section of the bookstore): it’s a police procedural set in an alternate universe, modern-day, Aztec empire, and features a detective named Maxtla Colhua — the very same character whom Maxtla is named for.

If any of this intrigues you, please do check out his KickStarter campaign. I’d really like to read this.

(Image via MichaelJanFriedman.Net)