Shoujo Manga and Me

ShoujoPenguin recently posted a cover and details about my next book with manga-ka Tomoko Taniguchi: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Manga: Shoujo, Illustrated. This should be in stores on June 3. Before I started work on the book, I hadn’t dealt with a whole lot of shoujo manga (Japanese girls’ comics), mostly because as an American male narrowing in on middle age, I don’t really fit the target demographic.

Still, I had a great time digging into the genre and working with Tomoko on this book. She taught me a lot about shoujo in particular and Japanese culture in general, and she’s a talented and versatile artist who knows the subject cold. If you enjoy shoujo manga and drawing–or know someone who does–be sure to check it out.

Blood Bowl on the Game Screen–and Issue #2

Bloodbowlkillercontract 02AThe folks at Cyanide have a site up for the upcoming Blood Bowl computer game. There’s a slew of screen shots there, plus if you dig a little you can find a document that explains how the game works in more depth. I’m especially geeked by the fact you can play the game in two very different ways:

  1. A real-time video game.
  2. An exacting, turn-based simulation of the board game.

Combine this with the comic-book series I’m working on for BOOM! Studios, and you have a bloody great year for Blood Bowl. Speaking of which, here’s the cover for issue #2.

Local (National) Politics, Set to Music

A group of locals here in Beloit got together and made a music video for the Barack Obama campaign called “It’s Our Time Now.” Rob Tomaro–music director of the Beloit-Janesville Symphony Orchestra–wrote the song, and Nicole Waters of the cover band the Orphans performs it.

The song was originally created for a documentary, but when Obama spoke here at Beloit College before the Wisconsin primary, the song was performed as part of his introduction. Tomaro called his friend Annie Potts to show it to her over his phone, and she encouraged him to make a video for the song. They wrangled her husband Jim Hayman into directing it.

They shot all the live scenes on location here in Beloit. If you’re a local, you might recognize some of the faces. If not, it’s still lots of fun–no matter your personal politics.

An Avalanche (of Fun) in Stockholm

If you noticed it’s been quiet around here, that’s because I just spent the last week in Stockholm, working on a new video game for Avalanche Studios. I can’t say much more about the game than that at the moment, but I’m having a ball working on it, and most of that has to do with the hospitality and creativity of the excellent people at Avalanche.

I spent a week in Sweden, and I was out with a different group of people every night. Much of that has to do with the fact that some of my earliest writing gigs were for Target Games, working on the various Mutant Chronicles games, and the people who were part of that now-defunct company have formed many new companies of their own in a kind of creative diaspora.

I’ll try to post more on this later, but right now my body is running seven hours ahead of schedule. That was only compounded by the fact that Sweden (and most everyone else outside of the US) still does their Daylights Savings Time the old way, so I had to “Spring forward” for a second time this year this morning.

Still, I had such a wonderful time that the only thing I can complain about is how tired it made me. That’s not bad at all.

Egyptians

Images Covers Large 1402762429LSterling has a full listing for the Lost Worlds: Egyptians book I’m working on right now. It currently lists a different name for the author, but that should change soon I believe.

I’m having fun working on the book. Researching a subject and then writing all about it reminds me of writing papers in school. This time, though, I’m doing it for pay rather than a grade–and the end result will be much longer and read by many more people.

Do you have a favorite element of ancient Egypt you think I just have to include in a book like this? I’m open to all sorts of suggestions, especially if they make for fun reading.

Next IGDA Madison Meeting

Igda-Poster-2The next meeting of the IGDA Madison chapter will be April 1, 2008, at Herzing College (5218 East Terrace Drive), starting at 7 PM. Despite being one of the board members, I’ve not been able to attend the last couple meetings, but I’m planning on making this one.
We have three speakers scheduled for the event: Ben Geisler of Frozen Codebase, Tim Gerritsen of Big Rooster, and Chris Rhinehart of Human Head Studios. After that, we’ll walk over to Erins Snug Irish Pub (4601 American Parkway), just around the corner from the school, to continue the conversation.
If you’re interested in computer game design and how developers work, this should be worth your while.