It Begins...

 

And so, like the title of the post says, it begins. 

When I sat down and wrote the script that would become LEGACY #1, the first comic book I wrote and published, I didn't quite know what I was doing. I had read several thousand comic books, had done some reading of a couple how-to-write books but overall, I didn't know know what I was doing. 

Once again, I sit down at a keyboard, not quite knowing what I'm getting myself into but excited to start the journey. I've been running a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) game for the last 5 years, more or less since S17 hit the pause button on publishing comic books; it's been my main creative outlet, and more than that, my passion. Nearly every day for the past five and a half years I've worked on some aspect of the game and the setting, the world, it takes place in. Dozens of notebooks, hundreds of text files and well over 300 sessions run and now, now I'm going to try to take all of that and put it together to make a book. Specifically, a campaign guide. It will contain all sorts of great stuff- from the history of the world, to its current events, the various cultures and peoples, the lands for adventuring through and all sorts of creatures and factions that players have, or could, interact with. 

Now I've read a number of other campaign books and, while I've enjoyed them and the worlds they describe, they feel like the comics I read growing up- all very cool and full of great characters and stories but... I wanted to tell my own stories in the comics I made. But that isn't quite the way it is here. The biggest thing I learned in making comics was the joy that you get from taking ideas and working with collaborators to tell a story together; every person adding to the whole to make something more epic than any one could alone. THAT is what I love so much about tabletop role-playing games like D&D. You tell the story together. LEGACY was always about ALL of the characters; the tapestry that would be woven and intertwine to make this great narrative. 

And that's what I want this book to be. A place of stories to be told with others. 

So much of what will appear in the book exists because of the stories that we've already told. Of stories that could still come. And that, hopefully, when this is all said and written, and one day produced into an "actual real book" that is where others will come in. They'll have the chance to explore the ruins of the jungles of Kalaya, to venture into the depths of the Frozen South and to unlock the mysteries of the Central Sea... to add their stories to The Chronicles of Zaman. 

 

Until next time...

Back From the Break

So. 

I'm back. 

Not that I was gone, I was around, just... Yeah. It's been a long few years. I know a lot of folks will read this and go "yeah, so what?" and that's fine. I'm not looking for sympathy; very little of the bad of the last few years was about me; most of it was close family and friends. Some was about me and that's been the stuff that bumped my "return" back maybe a year or two longer than it was going to be but, hey, I'm back. 

Let me tell you something about "coming back," as I put it. It sucks. Big time. Stuff that you used to almost take for granted, is now three times harder than it ever was. The pandemic doesn't help. I used to get my books printed in the US; might not be such a great idea now, right? Never mind the Canadian dollar that dropped from 90something when I started publishing comics to the low 70s that it is now (some quick math tells you it COSTS an extra $1000+ to do a comic book now- on art budget alone- let aline the increases in shipping and printing costs!) it's literally been learning to do everything all over again.

Writing. Website updates. All of it is like relearning to ride a bike. I have a beautiful website designed by the remarkable Rod Salm (here's the link: https://s17.ca/) but damned if I could remember how to edit the damn thing! I gave up on the blog part and that's why I'm back here- with a new blog name and everything; it feels more appropriate anyhow to do a blog off the main S17 site since not all of this is ever going to be just about the books. Once Rod teaches me again how to link this to that site, it'll be on there too.

Writing comics scripts is unlike anything else; there's more than a few novelists and screenwriters who have struggled in making the transition and I, not having touched a script in a couple years, struggled getting back into it. Luckily (sort of but also not?) I won't be publishing any new scripts or books until next year so there is time to catch up. I was also fortunate that in the interim, many folks who were making their way as up and comers (like I'm this grizzled veteran in the industry or something, huh?) had asked me to look over scripts and provide feedback/assistance in making it a stronger script and that helped keep my toes wet, as it were. There's nothing like ripping apart someone else's work to make you see where your own needs to be shored up. 

What am I going to do with this blog? A little of this, a little of that. I'm going to go over some of the stuff I've published and talk about what worked and what didn't, some behind the scenes stuff (like a director's commentary), talk about some future projects, some stuff I'm starting work on and, of course, the Dungeon and Dragons campaign that I've been Dungeon Mastering for two years now.

D&D was something I was always interested in growing up but only ever got to play a handful of games, almost all of them in my late teens, and only recently, with the smashing success of the Critical Role D&D streaming show, was able to convince people of how much fun role-playing games can be. I'm extremely grateful as not only does it allow me to finally play (yes, I'm running the game as DM but it's still "playing" it well enough for my concerns) but it also very much helped me work out my creative muscles and the worldbuilding kept me sane when I had to step away from publishing. 

It may SOUND like it's fun to write a story for the sake of telling it but without SOME kind of audience to share it with, to me it's just a waste of time. Very much like making a comic book, playing a tabletop RPB is about collaborative storytelling- it's not passive, so having players to riff off of like I would the artist of a comic, made it a good outlet that had all of its own challenges and rewards; I'll get into them on another blog some time. 

Well, if you've stuck around this long, I want to say thank you for taking the time to read all this nonsense and I hope to see you stop by again sometime. The comments should be open so feel free to fire away any thoughts and/or questions you might have!

Stay safe and read comics! 😎 

 

- Andrew

Creator Spotlight: G.M.B Chomichuk

I first met G.M.B Chomichuk at the C4 comic con in Winnipeg in 2014. He was wandering around before the show started, checking out some of the other tables and talking with folks he knew and those he didn't. I'm not sure what brought him to my table but he introduced himself and we chatted briefly about my books. Behind me and to one side was a local comics podcast (The Last Panel Podcast, as a matter of fact) who started talking with him just as we were wrapping up our conversation, asking if he'd be interested in taking part in one of their shows. 

It was then that I got the first taste of what Mr. Chomichuk is like, or Greg as I've come to know him. The thing that drives him is creating art/comics. He lives and breathes it. Not only that, he loves to see others create and wants them to embrace that passion and for it to be acknowledged. At this point I had spoken to him for a total of MAYBE three minutes and he pauses his conversation with the podcaster and says "who you SHOULD be talking to is Andrew here, a local guy making some pretty cool-looking comic books."

Here was this guy I literally JUST MET promoting my books to someone else. He's being asked to take part in something and immediately he changes it into making it inclusive for a complete stranger. I will literally never forget that. They ended up buying every book I had out at the time and are always one of my supporters at C4, even having gone and reviewed the LEGACY trade paperback on one of their episodes. The odds are very good that they would never have picked up any of my books had Greg not thought to mention me. 

See at this time I was still really getting out there with my books and had no idea what the creative community was like. You hear stories of people cutting each others throats just to get that step up to expose their work and such. I had some creator friends who I'd met mainly online that were supportive but of the local community I knew very little. It was encouraging. 

Since then I've gone to a number of Greg's launches for his own work, including the stellar graphic novel, Infinitum and have found him to be a hell of an artist and writer. How this guy isn't on everyone's Must Read list, I have no idea. The art is all a style of its own, heavy on the black with a feel reminiscent of comic book greats like Tim Bradstreet but still very much its own thing. His writing is equally impressive; as layered and deep as his art, while still being entertaining. 

The thing about him that continues to impress though is his attitude and personality. His "day job" as a teacher shines through in his speaking (you must see him live at one of his launches- he's VERY good) and in his on-going pursuit of encouraging others to create and to get their creations out there for others to see. Gregory believes that the creative process is something to be embraced, enjoyed and that sharing in the love and excitement of it is essential above all else. 

Passion is what drives a creator to do what they do, both the fuel and the fire, and G.M.B Chomichuk has that in spades. To quote his website: Join the Fight! Make Comics! At the very least go grab a couple of HIS comics; they're as awesome and inspiring as the man who created them.

GMB Chomichuk on: Instagram, Twitter and his website.
  

Some Days (Beware, This Is A *Whiny* Rant)

Some days I hate my life. Don’t get me wrong, I know people all over the world have less and are happy. It’s not about having for me. It’s about doing. It’s about feeling like I’m not doing enough, like what I am doing isn’t what I am meant to and it’s certainly not what I want to.

Again, this is nothing new or unique.

I never claimed it to be.

Overall I have a fairly good life- love, family, a job that pays (some) of my bills. Things that some people would kill for; things some may never have. Does that make me ungrateful? Maybe. Do I care? Not especially.

I know I’m grateful for the things I have and the people that are in my life- if anything the awesomeness of those things is what makes it that much more frustrating.

Before I started making comic books I worked a shitty job, much like the (less) shitty job I work now. Working as an auto parts person in a dealership means you’re never right, it’s always your fault and doing two or three things at once is never enough. I know you’re thinking “yeah, right”.  Tell you what, you go do my job for a week and tell me it isn’t like that. For the most part that doesn’t bother me; I’ve got a solid enough ego and the pay is decent for a fairly reasonable amount of work- there’s some heavy lifting but far from what one would call back-breaking. Stress, sure, but lots of jobs have that.

No, what gets to me is that I started making comic books and discovered a whole new world a world that I want to live in, not the drudgery of the one I do now.

It’s a world where people, at least the ones I have worked with, are extremely talented and even more humble than that about their gifts. A world where working together as a team is a must but more than that, it is a pleasure. One where everyone works towards the same goals and gives it their best effort and always wants the next job to be even better. It’s a world where, although the pay is low or even non-existent, the rewards are immeasurable.

You can’t put a price on what it means for a group of people to bring to life a story that didn’t exist before- to birth new ideas and new characters and situations. Pulling that off is amazing. And, much like the birth of a “real” person, it is not without its perils and pains. But it is ALWAYS worth it. Even when things don’t turn out the way you expected or wanted to, it is worth it. 

Until you’ve worked the hundreds of hours that it takes to put together a comic book it’s really hard to appreciate fully- I was a fan for almost 30 years and still never really understood how harrowing and elating it is to create a story in this medium. 

As a writer, you live with these characters in your head for days, weeks, years; they become as real as to you as the people you walk past on the street. You can hear their voices as you type; you understand the things that motivate them, the things they fear. Despite this knowledge, they still surprise you. They make decisions or take actions that seem so against what you had planned for them- not unlike a child might do to a parent. 

As an artist- whether it be pencils, inks, colors or letters, you create the world that these characters inhabit as much, if not more, than the writer who wrote the story. You fill in all those little details that make it come alive. The way a character holds themselves as they deal with a stressful situation, their body language, their expressions, the way the lighting strikes their face. Artists do all this as they toil away for hours and hours. They get to know every facet of each page, building and erasing, adding and taking away until the art of the page, of the book is done; so much of it subtle enough that only THEY know everything that went into it. 

There lay the problem- these are the things that I love and the people that I love doing them with- artists and storytellers, creators of worlds that are fictional only in the sense that they do not exist unless we create them, and once we do, they become real- to both ourselves and our readers. We cheer them, we boo them, we witness the rise and fall of both heroes and villains. With every page we experience we invest some of ourselves into it- both creator and reader. 

So how can one NOT want to live in that world? A world where people care, where they want nothing but the best of results and support each other in doing so?

Clearly there are many reasons one cannot do so- chief among them is the financial costs- putting these sorts of stories together are not cheap and we all have bills to pay. Comic books, even at their height, are unfortunately not a large money medium. One cannot hope to invest a few months of work and see the sort of returns that you would from a feature film- and even though some charge such, good luck getting ten bucks per head for a comic. 

Like the majority of independent comic book creators I know, that means I have to have a day job- some are lucky and have ones that they love doing, others… Well we do what we need to get by just like anyone else. We use the time we steal from friends and family to pursue what we are passionate about- telling stories and sharing them with others. We stay up and pull all-nighters to finish inking a page, we write dialogue in the shower, we letter on our lunch breaks and color the moment our kids go to bed. We work on birthdays and anniversaries, on days off and after long shifts. 

We do it not only because we love to but because we are driven to. 

Something compels us to keep chipping away at the ideas that call to us while we wake and even while we sleep. Characters whose stories need to be told; stories that resonant with us and perhaps with some of you; stories that can have great depth and meaning and some that are just meant to be fun and taken at face value. 

If you are one of those brave souls who have embarked on this path with us, as a reader or fellow creator, I must thank you. Your words of encouragement and excitement are the shoulders that we lean on when the story just isn’t working out right, when it seems like the page will never finish being drawn, that the colors seem off or the words just won’t fit. It propels us to greater heights as we strive to one-up the story we did before to excite you as much as scare ourselves that perhaps we might have over-reached or pushed so far that our reach exceeds our grasp. Just because we are driven to do something doesn’t mean it’s easy, but you all make it that much easier. 

Even on the days where we hate everything for being so damn hard. 

The days where it seems nothing will ever work out, that we’ll never get ahead or get that break that allows us to do what we love as our sole occupation. It’s a double edge sword, once you fall down that rabbit hole of creating comics- it can cut you with a harsh reality of mounting bills and low sales, but it can cut away all the troubles in the world with a simple, “that was a really great read, dude.” 

 

That’s my rant, thanks for being there- I’ll keep plugging away at these books if you’re willing to stick it through with me- it’s no fun when you go at things alone. I don’t want fans, just friends along for the ride.

Novel Writing Journal Entry #1

So.

I'm writing a novel.

No, not right now. This is just the first instalment in a series of journal entries that I'm going to write chronicling my... Well, my journey. After all, that's why they call them journals, right? I seriously have no clue but it sounds right so let's run with that.

As I said, I am writing a novel. If you subscribe to the S17 Newsletter, not only are you already aware of this, but you've read the rough draft for the first chapter. So far all the feedback I've received has been positive. I'd write the book either way, but it's nice to hear other people think the story so far is interesting.

I have begun several novels but so far have yet to finish any of them. This one, Formerly Known As the Indestructible Kid, will be the first. It might kill me in the process but by damn it will be finished. Even if it has to be published posthumously. The reasons for not finishing them all pretty much come down to losing interest. It's probably why I'm suited better for writing comic books- a typical S17 comic book script clocks in at under 5000 words. A "typical" novel is usually in excess of 120,000.

Quick math will show that to be like writing LOTS of comic scripts. My attention span is to the point that, while I'm writing those 5000 words my brain has already gone off on three different NEW ideas that I'd like to work on. It's not that what I'm working on (novel or script-wise) is by any means boring, I just naturally run to the shiny new idea. Self-discipline and I are not exactly the tightest of friends. 

To sit at a keyboard or with a notebook (but let's face it sooner or later the damn thing needs to be typed up anyhow) for the amount of time to write a novel, even if it's the thing that you're most excited about in the whole wide world EVER? That takes a LOT of willpower.
Like A LOT.

So, yeah. Lots of other shiny ideas and sitting there hammering away at the same thing day and day out. That's a couple of reasons I have a hard time with writing novels. Pacing was also an issue for the longest time until I realised a chapter is just like a comic book page. You have to have something at the beginning to draw people in, some cool stuff that happens in the middle, and an ending that makes people NEED to keep reading; early mornings and obligations be damned. Once I figured that part out, pacing was no longer as tricky.

The other problem I have is once I know an ending for a story, I start to get bored with it. I read because I want to know the story- from start to end. Once I've read it, I'm good. I don't have to go back to it again. I do, but that's because of habit more than anything. So when I plot out a story, it's essential for me to get to it as quickly as possible before other ideas pop up, ones I don't know enough about just yet, and take over.

I started FKA sometime back for National Novel Writing Month (a pretty neat event where you try to write 50,000+ words of a novel within the month of November) and I've more or less picked up where I left off, adding a few thousand words to where I had stopped a couple years back. Getting back in the groove of writing the character, Jared Rayburn, was not quite as easy as I had hoped but I figured a little rust was to be expected given the length of time between writing sessions. The more of it I write, the smoother it becomes so I take that as a sign I'll be back in tune with him before long.

Right now the goal is to finish the first draft by the end of April/beginning of May. Looking at my word count and how far along I am, that may be a bit optimistic, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to do it. After all, I've already announced a release date of September 1 and there's a lot to do after just one draft- more drafts, editing, putting it all together for release- tons of work. I'm going to do a few more of these journals to update my progress (or lack there of) and the struggles involved in writing this book (hopefully they are far and few between) to not only keep track for myself, but so anyone else who is thinking of writing a novel sees that they aren't the only ones going through this- because there are certainly times where it feels like that.

Thanks for reading and we'll talk again soon.

Andrew

One More Down, Lots More To Go!

Today I wrote the script for the six page preview of Daughters of Darkness, a series that I'm looking forward to writing in 2016. It features five female protagonists, all of whom possess supernatural abilities, and their stories- which I'm not going to give away just yet. 

Why not? 

Well part of it is that I do not have an artist as of yet and I don't want to get you all excited for something that is most likely a year off from seeing print. So why bring it up at all, you ask? 

The script I just finished marks the twenty-third completed script (LEGACY #9 and New Guard #4 are 2/3 done so they don't count) for the S17 Universe. Nearly two dozen stories written with, to date, only half seeing print. The rest are coming, it'll just take some time for the art to catch up. 

When you work (regularly) for one of the larger comic book companies, you can expect to release a dozen or more books per year. Indie? Well that's all about budget- both dollars and time. Most indie folks have a couple releases per year at the most.  

So why write so far out? 

Why not? One of the things I like best about the world I'm creating for S17 is that i can tell any type of story. Horror, sci-fi, historical, whetever. All of that and more has a place within the pages of S17 comics and novels. 

LEGACY was always viewed as a weekly drama/action show, The Sentries as a big blockbuster movie, Troubleshooters as something akin to The X-Files or Fringe meets The Authority. While those titles are mainly science-based, titles such as Daughters of Darkness, Arcane and Magistrate deal with the magic side of things- each in their own way. 

Metal Monk scratches any sort of marital arts or post-apocalyptic itch you might have while Auroraman, in conjunction with Jeff Burton, is the perfect call-back to the Silver Age zany adventures of comic books past. 

So why bring up Daughters of Darkness? Because I just like throwing it out that there that while you may THINK you know all the cool stuff we're doing at S17, that we've only just begun to show you what we have lined up. There is much, much more to come. 

-Andrew

Cool Canadian Creators Part 1: My Local Scene

So the other day I posted on my Facebook that S17 has had a crazy amount of support from other Canadian creators and that I wanted to take some time to recognize them and their efforts to promote our books. 

As I sat down and started making a list it became very apparent that there were too many people to cover in one post and that breaking it down to my local scene (Winnipeg and surrounding area), Western and Eastern Canada was the only way to keep it short enough but still give everyone a fair shake at hearing about how great they are and why they are. 

Of course I cannot just stick to Canada, as there have been a number of American creators that have been just as great and that will be the fourth such post. 

It's only fitting that we start with the guy who showed me that a local guy could actually make his own superhero stuff and get it published and out there for folks to read, Mr. AP Fuchs. His Axiom-man series was one of the (as I've mentioned before in several posts) influences on me going the whole self-publishing route and still remains one of the books I look forward to with each new volume. AP has been extremely encouraging as S17 has grown and not only have I been lucky enough to have his support, but also to count him among my friends. On my first Free Comic Book Day as a "pro" I was seated next to AP and he was cool enough to sketch out Paragon (from LEGACY) and write a little blurb to "keep the stories coming", something I fully intend to do. That sketch is now framed and hanging on my office wall. Find out more about AP Fuchs here: http://canisterx.com/

 Rod Salm was a guy who's book I came across when he ran a Kickstarter for it and was drawn in by the title, Death At Your Door. The quick pitch on it is Death decides to... Well, here, check out the very first strip for yourself: 

 Anyhow, I was intrigued and I finally got to meet the man behind it at one of the single day comic cons we have in Winnipeg. Right away I could tell Rod was a great guy- friendly, out-going, quick to show an interest in what I was doing... Just a really cool dude. I was able to get to know Rod a bit more and, when I knew I was going to need a letterer for Canadian Corps, he was my first and only choice; I wanted to find some way to work with him and luckily he agreed. Because Rod is such an awesome fellow, not only did he join as letterer, he took it upon himself to put together a new, fancier website for S17, and it's going to be SO COOL when we go live. Who puts together a wicked website for someone else without even being asked? Rod does because Rod rocks. 

Donovan Yaciuk was introduced to me by Canadian Corps penciller/inker Justin Shauf as someone that he had worked with and said was a "good guy" who might be the solution for our search for a colourist for the book. I was hesitant at first because I'd had a few people in mind for the job already but once I met Donovan... One of the best things ever to happen to S17. His enthusiasm for creating comic books in incredibly infectious and I've always believed passion sells people on projects- with him I expect C.Corps to hit the New York Times Best-Sellers List. Whether it's him chatting up people on the digital colouring process or saying far too kind things about me, Donovan is really one of the good ones. Much like Rod, Donovan has gone above and beyond the call of duty several times as a member of the S17 creative team and when he's not rocking the pages of C.Corps or The Sentries, he's busy being a great dad (a common them among the C.Corps crew) and doing his own fantastic book, Spacepig Hamadeus.  

Speaking of people that I met at conventions, GMB Chomichuk was a gentleman that I met at the same show as Donovan, when he came around to my table and introduced himself. He was very friendly and asked about my books and, while not in the same vein as what he created, he seemed quite happy to listen as I stumbled over my "elevator pitch" about the books. While we were talking, a local podcast interviewer came up and asked him if he'd be able to be on their show- without missing a beat, this man who had just met me, who had plenty of his own works to promote, turned to them and said "It's new local creators like Andrew here who you should be interviewing". I was floored. This guy had literally JUST met me and was pushing my books? But that's what GMB is about. He lives for the community of it all. When the Canadian Corps Kickstarter happened he quickly volunteered some of his art to be used in any way I saw fit. Like I said, he is a true gentleman and I appreciate the things he has done when he has not had to. His website has a ton of cool stuff on it- you can find it here: http://comicalchemy.blogspot.ca/ 
As James D. Miles said, "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who cannot do anything for him". Mr. Chomichuk is a pretty classy guy, indeed. 

Lytwyn Studios is a local comic studio that, once again, I met at that very same comic con (hint, those are a GREAT place to meet cool people) and since that time I've gotten to hang out with a few of them and talk comics and such. Matt Lytwyn, the head honcho there, has been a very vocal supporter of S17 and he and I have developed a sort of one-upmanship that I quite enjoy as I think it's pushed us both to do more and be better. Jake, one of their artists, was the guy who first came up to the S17 table at the con, and besides having a beard of epic nature, is a super friendly guy with whom I love talking comics. I'm excited to see their books when they are ready to launch them- once again, very different from what I do, but they still sound pretty cool. And, as per Matt's repeated demands (it's not even requests anymore, he's sending goons to my door) I will be working on a few projects with them in the next year. It's very exciting and flattering when people dig your stuff enough that they ask to work with you. Their website is still under construction but they are on the Twitters, as the kids say. http://lytwynstudios.ca/

Now for a couple folks that I "met" while doing the Canadian Corps Kickstarter and have since met 2/3 of in person- Chadwick Ginther (author of the FANTASTIC Thunder Road trilogy- if you dig urban fantasy or Norse mythology you HAVE to check it out), Sean Trinder (also an author, his book The Guy Who Pumps Your Gas Hates You is a must read for anyone who has ever worked in that, or any, customer service industry- it's easily one of the best standalone books I've read) and Greg Waller (creator of the comic book Magnitude, a cool book that came out from Ape Entertainment in the mid 2000s). 

All three of the aforementioned gentleman were names that were familiar to me before I launched the Kickstarter but their support and kind words for a fellow local creator was very very cool. They had no reason to invest in the book (beyond all being comic book fans themselves) but they did and I appreciate that. Mr. Ginther even took it another step and interviewed the C.Corps team about the book during the Kickstarter. Greg and I spoke on Facebook about his time and some of his experiences creating Magnitude and I'm looking forward to meeting him in person at the C4 Comic Con later this month. Sean and I got to speak at (because it IS a small world after all) Chadwick's recent book launch and I am pleased to report that he is a super nice guy. How nice? He went straight home and read Canadian Corps after the signing and tweeted about his love of the book. That's pretty nice, I'd say. You can find out more about Mr.Trinder on his Facebook page and Mr. Ginther on his website here: http://chadwickginther.com/  I strongly encourage you to buy their books- both guys tell great stories and I am a fan of whatever they do next. Greg has sworn me to secrecy but I would say you will hear more from him in the future. 

I'm going to lump two more people together because, well I'm the one writing this damn it, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides those reasons, I'm doing it because they are both Young Adult authors who are, to my knowledge, some of the sharpest ladies you'll meet. Seriously they are both a hoot (ya, I said it) to talk to and while I've only met one face to face, the other and I have engaged in many a conversation online and found her to be quite fun.  

Melinda Friesen and I first met when she (along with AP Fuchs and S17 editor Christine Steendam and myself) embarked on a writer's retreat this past June. Here's a fact you need to know about her: she is a writing machine. Not only did she beat the rest of us word count-wise, she DESTROYED us, cranking out a ridiculous amount of words. Another fact: she is FUNNY. You know that friend you have, that quiet one that just seems to pick their moments to give a friendly shot or wry observation? Ya, that's her. She's always quick to support a fellow creator though- and has always been good enough to share all my posts and tweets and stuff, as well as that of many other local talents. Her novel, Enslavement, is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me to have some free time to read it (I've read the first 40 pages but haven't had a chance to continue yet) and you can find out more about her on her website: http://melindafriesen.com/ 

The other lady is Jessica Gollub, author of the Hummingbird series, of which I have read the first of the trilogy, The Mark of the Hummingbird. If you like post-apocalyptic style stories this will be up your alley- but it's not like anything you've read before in that sub-genre, or at least nothing I had read. Check it out and you'll see what I mean. What you WON'T see, at least not just yet, is Jessica at a launch or book-signing. Despite being a hilarious and fun person to talk to online, she informs me that is where she prefers to interact (or maybe she's just worried I'll show up and start literally singing her praises in public) but we're working on that. Signing or not, Jessica has become part of this little writer's collective that I am fortunate enough to be part of as well and every one of them is talented and supportive of each other. Even if that support sometimes reaches harassment levels in the vein of DO A SIGNING ALREADY, JESSICA!

Last, but certainly never least, is Christine Steendam. Christine and I have only known each other a few short years but have quickly become close friends and I admire her talent and knowledge to the degree that I hired her as editor for S17. Don't hold it against her for agreeing to such a terrible task; she's very generous that way. As I mentioned, Christine and I are good friends, and because of that friendship (one based on brutal honesty and lots of jokes at each other's expense) she has always been one of my biggest supporters and I hers- with each book she turns out I can see her writing getting better and better (I hope the same can be said of mine!) and I am excited to see where she will be five or ten years from now. Here's a hint: get to know her name- I fully expect it to be gracing the Best-Sellers lists for some time. I always have said that the S17 books are good because of the artists I work with and that rings true of Christine as well as editor and, for the first time ever for me, co-writer, as she joined me on New Guard #2. There's no one else I'd rather work with to make the stories better in S17's books. 

Christine's website is http://christinesteendam.com/. What's with these writers having such unoriginal sounding websites? Get CREATIVE, people! 

Seriously though this is but a fraction of the talented and supportive people that I have met since starting out on this comic book writing journey. Tune in next time to find out about all the cool Canadian creators West of Winnipeg! 

-Andrew