A Writing Life - Congratulations!! You are an author now!!!

I am a newly minted author, my first book has just been published. What I am rapidly finding out is that the hard work has just started. I am going to write about the business work of being an author as I, hopefully, find my way into a new career.

This is the link to my Amazon page: amazon.com/author/conorhcarton

The first thing I did was to write a book. I have zero advice on how anyone else should do this. About 18 years ago during a bout of unemployment I decided to write a story as I had the time and it would distract me from my circumstances. I did write it and sent it to an agent, who returned it very promptly with any comment. Being employed again I put it aside and made sporadic unsuccessful attempts to develop it. Finally I had a thought about a better way to start the story, as a science fiction story  the whole context has to be set up for the reader. I then continued to write the story on and off for some years before I suddenly realised that I really did want to see if it had any commercial potential. Would anyone who was not me think that there was an audience who would buy the story and would they publish it? I have no interest in self publishing, I wanted to see if the story could interest a publishing company who would see the potential for it to make some money for them and  eventually me as well.
I greatly enjoy writing the story, thinking about the cast and the problems, resolving how to move the story forward in an engaging way. If I was the only person ever to read it I would be sorry not devastated. I had a brief flirtation with a publisher who then vanished. I was encouraged to continue in any case and decided that the story really should be a trilogy. I completed the first part and found a list of agents who dealt with science fiction and fantasy, researched how to submit a book to an agent and sent out my submissions.All of them declined me, some with courtesy, some with form answers and some by never replying at all.
I have never been encouraged by the stories of writers who send in a submission and instantly are embraced by agent and publisher. During the numerous times I have been job hunting in my life I have heard stories of people getting multiple job offers, leaving a job and finding a new one the following day, of piping hot job markets, companies desperate for talent. My experience has always been a long hard slog where the key is persistence. Same for finding a publisher.
I teach at a vocational education institute in Abu Dhabi and a fellow teacher just had a science fiction book published and I asked for an introduction. I submitted my story and to my shock and joy it was accepted.
Here I am, a published author with the dawning realisation that the description leaves out some critical elements. What I am is actually a micro business with a single product in search of an audience  in a market where there are a very large number of similar micro businesses all chasing the same customers. I am fantastically lucky to have a company doing a chunk of the heavy lifting. My publisher, Next Chapter are working hard to push my book, it still remains that the person with the biggest stake in finding a paying audience for my story is myself. I am confident that if I could get my story to the right people they would buy, read and enjoy it and with a bit of luck they would positively review it which would encourage more people to buy, read, enjoy and review.
I know that I am at the outset of a new career, I need to find and build an audience, write more stories and get more experience with the whole process. Mostly this is really exciting and interesting, I am having to learn a great deal and the challenge is  great. It is also overwhelming and frustrating, I know there are things I could and should be doing and I have no idea what they are. In addition having a lunch money budget means I need to be imaginative and creative in using social media. Having no previous experience or interest in social media platforms means that I am doing a lot more shouting and swearing that anything productive.
Thank you for joining me on my journey, I hope you will continue with me as I pursue my dreams.

Dear Mr. Murray. Letters to a Gentleman Publisher. David McClay (Editor). John Murray (2018)

Writers relationships with their publishers have frequently been fraught with tension and dislike. One English writer proposed at toast to Napoleon at a dinner, when England was at war with France lead by Napoleon, saying "He executed a publisher". This charming and onderfully engaging book shows that different relationships are also possible. Plenty of room for complaining, room for friendship as well. John Murray founded his publishing firm in 1768 in London and it remained a family firm for seven generations The leters are drawn from the John Murray Archive  and elswhere.
Maria Rundell wrote A new System of Domestic Cookery in 1805 and it became one of the most successful cookery books in the nineteenth-century, Maria Rundell wrote to John Murray in 1805 to congragulate him on his marriage and took the opportunity to complain about printing errors in the second edition. The letter is an mix offriendly congratulations, heartfelt complaints aboput errors in the edition and the thought it might damage prospects for a third edition and family news. it shows that the writer and the publisher had more than a business relationship, no matter how important the busines was to both.
Lady Caroline Lamb had n affair with Byron which affected her deeply. In 1813 she sent a letter to John Murray, pretending to bte Byron to get a portrait miniture of Byron the poet had gived to to Mr Murry for safekeeping. Mr murry sent the minitaure as requested and later founf from Brron that the letter had been a forgery.
Benjamin D'Israeli , aged twenry-one wasa sent to Scotland to get the the support of Walter Scott and his son-in-law John Gibson Lockhart for a newspaper he was trying to launch. Understanding the need to be careful with the information Benjamin D'Israeli managed to disguise hois news so effectively that they were completely mysterious to John Murray.
Kathleen Hale was a lithographer wo illustrated several books and leters to John Murray. Her death in childbirth lead to her husband sending the following heartbreaking postcard, "John dear, This postcard is to let you know that Hamish arrived this morning but my darling left me this afternoon suddenly. Bless you for always being so sweet to her"
The letters from the Irish travel writer Dervela Murphy to John Murrary are among the last to mark the personal relationship between a publisher and a writer. Publishers became more corporate and the room for such relationships has vanished.
This is a delightful book, David McClay probvodes sufficent context for each letter for it to be fully enjoyed without ever drowning in detail. The selection id wide ranging and thoughtful. The changing styles of letter writing is one of the many pleasures of the book.

Goosebusters. Chris Allen (Writer, Letters & Colours), Juan Fleites (Art). Swampline Comics (2018)

A smart and funny parody of Ghostbusters. A ghostly outbreak at the public Library interrupts Dr Beaker Peckman's hitting on a student and starts the search for paranormal activity by Dr Eggon Sprckler, Dr Laymond Stance and Dr Peckman. The story starts as it means to continue by taking key scenes from the film and using  fowl based jokes.
Chris Allen manages the difficult task of spoofing a film that was already a long way to spoofing itself. As much as carefully compressing the story so that it fits comfortably into a single issue comic, he has managed to preserve the character of the original human cast. The essential story is followed and all of the highlights are delivered. Chris Allen is not afraid to be a bit meta as the cast uses the fact of being in a comic to excellent effect, it does not break the story and give the project a nice extra push.
The film rested heavily on Bil Murray and the comic captures his charachter's spirit and some of his key line from the film. This gives the comic, as it did with the filnm, a necessary sarcastic heart that pulls in the reader. The climactic confromtation is really well staged.
Juan Fleites art is friendly and a pleasure to read. The cast are not copied from the film, they are clearly animated by the human cast and that makes the story and the jokes work. The cast are given vivid energy and life. The action is great fun, the slimimg at the hotel is great and the version of the agent of destruction is both funny and actually a threath.
Chris Allen's bright colours are exactly suited to the story, they support the comedy atsmophere and  bring out the details of the art.The sound effects are big and bold, they add the necessary crackle to the action.
Goosebusters takes a funny film and makes it a funny comic on its own terms.
Chief Wizard Note:This is a review copy I was very kindly sent by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a good fun comic, a sure way to a happier life
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The Nomad No. 1 Bill Stoddard (Writer), Stan Yak (Artist), Robert Nugent (Colours), Dave Sharpe (Letters), Ed Lavalle (Designer). Vulture Comics (2019)

Very engaging and enjoyable dystopian science comic. After The Altering, worldwide event that destroyed nature, unleashed monsters and left humans to survive, the battle for survival is relentless. On the edge of the Hotspot, the Vultures, an outlaw motorcycle gang have a significant problem. A new power player has disrupted their supply agreement and they have decided to attack his train to get what they need. The assault does not go well and the consequences are ferocious.
Any first issue for an series has a lot of work to do in a very short space and The Nomad 1 manages to do it all and make it look easy. The context is briefly set up and then expanded in action as the assault on the train gives a chance to give vivid details about the state of the world and introduce some of the cast.
Bill Stoddard writes with wonderful confidence and economy, the story moves very fast without ever being rushed. There is enough detail and time taken with the cast to make sure that the cliffhanger confrontation has impact.The cast have tremendous energy and a vivid life about them, the struggle to survive is hard and they are determined. The problems the human cast face are genuinely life threatening, the fight is going to be a bitter and engaging one.
The design of the Altered world is pitch perfect, the story is partly an updated classic western, robbing a moving train, a lone storekeeper and a man coming in from a desert. The motorbikes replace horses seamlessly and it gives the story a nice familiarity. When the residents of the Hotspot are introduced  a equally classic science fiction framing is used to great affect. The creatures are suitably monstrous, the leader is  clearly a force to be reckoned with. The confrontation between they two elements is handled beautifully, both merge perfectly to create a tremendous outcome.
Stan Yak's art is superb, he delivers ferocious action, close up hand to hand combat managed by smart panel placement and organization, big reveals and quiet moments with equal conviction. The cast fit into their context and move through it with natural ease, the mix of humans and monsters never seems out of scale or awkward, both are clearly inhabiting the same space.
Robert Nugent's colours are a joy, they capture the western and the science fiction undertones of the story with ease and held bind everything together when they clash. The colours bring out the subtle details of the writing and the art, they give the emotional context of the story a chance to be heard without ever stopping the action.
Dave Sharpe's lettering is a pleasure to read, the narration boxes are framed smartly, the dialogue is shaped to the character of the cast.
Nomad 1 succeeds as a first issue, it introduces the reader to an engaging story and finishes on a compelling cliffhanger. What a fun read.

Ducky. Kim Roberts (Writer), Pramit Santra (Art), Chris Allen (Colours & Letters), Swampline Comics 2018

A very enjoyable re-working of the Chucky horror film with a cast of ducks and hens. When a serial rapist is trapped, deserted by his accomplice and fatally wounded by the police he does not die quietly. A widowed mother buys a doll for her son from a peddler and trouble and lashings of gore follow from there. Exactly as it should do.
Kim Roberts has nicely avoided playing the story for laughs, it needs a serious intent to come off. The change of cast and the very smart compression of the story into a comic refreshes the story nicely and gives it a happily grim edge. The plot is good fun and the story makes the most of it, it solves the perennial problem in horror, people acting stupidly in order to get into trouble. The child and an evil doll give every adult an opportunity to be disbelieving and credible at the same time.
Pramit Santra's art is great, the cast are very expressive and suitably humorous at the same time. He carries the need to be humours, a cast of barnyard fowl is always going to be ridiculous, at the same time they are given weight and intent. The art captures the writing to give Ducky in particular a tremendous energy and nasty life, he is threatening and unpleasant no matter what he looks like. The rest of the cast move out of their stereotypes to be individual and that gives the story more weight and impact. No one is an anonymous victim, they have a chance to be someone and their encounters with Ducky develop into real confrontations.
Chris Allen's colours give the context, action and in particular the gore force and impact. The colours pick out the details of the story and add greatly to the atmosphere of the story. The lettering is unobtrusive and natural to read in the panels, the low key sound effects work a treat
Ducky takes a ridiculous idea , makes it more ridiculous and finishes with an good fun horror story, impressive work by very talented creators.
Chief Wizard Note:This is a review copy I was very kindly sent by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a smart comic, a sure path to sparking joy.

Arthur Blackfrost. Justin V. Gray (Writer), Laura Rimaszombati (Art). 2019

A wonderfully engaging and enjoyable fairy story. Arthur Blackfrost lived with his mother in the village of Gull Harbour on the island of Yorn. It was a hard place to live, the people of Gull Harbour could harvest enough fish to liver not enough to thrive. The Blackfrost family suffered under a curse that made them isolated within the families of Gull Harbour. Arthur's father had left them and Arthur was desperate to break the curse. He does get a unexpected gift and success for him the Gull Harbour follows until disaster strikes. Arthur set out to solve the problem and he finds that there is much more going on than he had ever imagined.
Justin V. Gray writes with confidence and care, he takes the whole structure of a fairy tale deeply seriously and uses it with great effect to deliver the story. There is no ironic winking at the audience, the reader is allowed to sink into the story and enjoy if to the full.  The reveals are very well staged, the plot moves smartly and the whole story is very satisfying. The cast are very engaging, Arthur is determined, overconfident and openhearted when he should be. He is never a puppet, he is a young man trying to take control of his life and willing to do the work needed to achieve it. Arthur's mother is the classic fairy tale mother, loving and hardworking, accepting of her fate and trying to protect her family. She is never a cliche, there is a happy life to her that draws the reader to her. The citizens of Gull Harbour are a happy or miserable mob as required. The other major cast members are all given the opportunity to shine and they do, they bring the extra elements that a fairy story needs to be successful.
Laura Rimaszombati's art is jaw dropping beautiful and captures the story and the nuances with elegance and precision. The whole cast, including the walk on players, are all individual and wonderfully expressive. They interact with each other and their context naturally and ground the story in a tremendous physical sense of place. The action scenes are full of energy and force, the domestic scenes are quiet and effective. There is no sense of naturalism in the art, it is utterly fantastic, it delivers a fairy story with a flourish. The colouring is a joy, it captures and emphasises the emotional tones of the story with subtle care that bring out the concerns of the cast without shouting at the reader. The panel layouts are great, they control the pace and focus of the story in a understated way that never draws attention to the considerable craft that underlies it. The lettering is a pleasure, the differences between the narration boxes and dialogue supports the framework of a fairy story.
Arthur Blackfrost is an unmitigated pleasure to read, highly talented creators making a wonderful comic, a wish come true.

The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre. Chris Allen (Writer, Colours & Letters), Juan Fleites (Art). Swampline Comics 2018

Highly enjoyable anthropomorphic parody of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A set of young chickens travelling in a minibus pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be unsettling weird and is pushed from the van. He leaves a threatening message on the van. When the group arrive at their destination, one of them decides to explore an old house. This proves to be a fatally bad decision, followed by more fatally bad decisions from the rest of the group.
Chris Allen has managed to solve a difficult problem with considerable with and flair. The beating heart of the film is the violence committed by a deranged family, turning everyone into chickens goes a low way to removing the impact of the story by making it ridiculous. This would be funny, it would also lack the edge that the parody needs to be successful. The writing reduces the impact of the chicken cast by being deliberately aware of being a horror film parody, the well placed use of chicken jokes and a whole hearted commitment to gore. The creepiest scene in the film is barely less creepy in the comic, the writing is strong enough to support a jokes and chills.
Juan Fleites is friendly and inviting and brings the story to gory, funny life with a wonderful cast that are exactly the chicken characters that they should be. The cast are wonderfully expressive, the deranged family have the advantage as they are deranged. They get to be flamboyant and driving the action in the story. The group of victims are limited as their purpose is largely to be slaughtered. They do go to their fate with good jokes and a post Scream awareness of horror film rules. Leatherface is as iconic as he should be. The real star is the youngest member of the family, he is drawn to be very strange, just at the acceptable limits of strange, not quite frightening. His range of expressions and actions are big enough for him to emerge as much more of a character.
Chris Allen's colouring is a joy, it is bright and cheerful, it never gives a horror film sense. This gives the story a great contrast for the reader, it supports the parody and gives the gore an added boost. The lettering is quiet and never draws attention to itself. The sound effects are nicely muted, they support the action without distracting from it.
Unexpected, clever and very enjoyable The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre is great fun. It is a pleasure to see talented creators making smart comics.
Chief Wizard Note: I was very kindly sent The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a smart comic, a sure path to sparking joy.

The Crimson Deathbringer. Sean Robins. Creativia (2019)

Hugely enjoyable and engaging space opera. Alien invasion of Earth with a twist sounds like a lot of other stories, the execution makes all the difference. Sean Robbins has the confidence to have big ideas and a huge cast as well as the craft to balance them. The narrative shifts across aliens and humans and to give each the space to engage the reader, everyone has a motive and a context and when they clash the action has weight and consequence. The plot mechanics are ruthlessly efficient, Sean Robbins pushes the story at a considerable pace and no one gets to escape unscathed. Victory for anyone is hard won and harder to maintain, everyone learns from their mistakes and has to make new ones to keep alive and in the struggle. The action is intense and beautifully staged, the reveals are cunningly timed and move the story forward with force and increasing momentum. The cast are hugely engaging, the leading characters are determined and individual, they drive the plot and are driven by the plot in a wholly satisfactory way. The walk on cast give depth and flavour to the story, Sean has a gift for very quickly introducing a character who is fully fledged in a short space, there is nothing impersonal about this conflict. Aliens and humans are given scope and motive so that the struggle between them has depth and engagement. 

Sean Robins' control of the narrative is impressive, there are a huge number of shifting viewpoints, including a first person narrative, none it is is confusing. The structure gives the room for a widespread look at the conflict and moves from the global to the specific with ease and impact. It opens the scope of the story very nicely, placing Earth in the middle of a galactic struggle naturally and effectively. You do need a high tolerance for pop culture references and jokes, they never get in the way of the story, they do not quite come off cumulatively as Sean Robbins might have intended. They hide the character who indulges in them the most a little more than they reveal him.

I do have a concern with the attrition rate in the cast. Not the fact that it is high, rather that it does not bend the story the way it should. The reader is encouraged to have an investment in some of the cast, they take up enough story space to become significant and their demise does not have the following impact that I would have expected. 

I bought this book to support a colleague, I read it because I love science fiction, I greatly enjoyed it because Sean Robbins has delivered a great story that pulls the reader into the action with tremendous skill and confidence. I strongly recommend it because the benefits of reading excellent science fiction are clinically proven to improve your joy in living. Do yourself a favour, get the benefits of first rate space opera that The Crimson Deathbringer so happily delivers.

Scapula. Doubly Dark and Deadly! Aidan Casserly (Writer & Artist). www.scapulacomic.com (2019)

A wonderful collection of comics that are very funny, unexpected and thoroughly engaging featuring Scapula-The World's Worst Villain.
Rawkum Nawkum Punks. Nazz the Nazi, leading member of Scapula's gang decides to skip work in favour of a Battle of the Bands. There is an unexpected problem, if the crowd does not approve the band are killed. Nazz has to move fast to survive.
Aidan Casserly takes a smart idea, a literal battle of the bands and executes it with increasing absurdity and urgency as the competition gets more and more dangerous for Nazz. The story moves in unexpected ways before coming to an entirely satisfactory conclusion.The art is a deep pleasure to read, he cast are given vivid life and the emotional tones of the story and the atmosphere are brought forward with care and subtle craft. The story wildly overblown and never looses its balance, the big events sit with the smaller tense moments and combine perfectly to pull in the reader.
Jemini's Copycat Counterattack. Jemini is a two headed gang leader and sworn event of Scapula. With the assistance of Dr Mira Mira who has developed cloning techniques she has risen to being a fearsome criminal. Dr Mira has conducted an experiment on Dio, a teenage relative sent to stay with her. The experiment results with Dio duplicating when they are killed, Jemini quickly sees the possibilities. Jenini overwhelms her enemies with her army of Dios until she encounters a serious problem, her own clones, none of who would be willing to share or surrender. Her solution is severely complicated by the arrival of Scapula and it unravels superbly.
Aidan Casserly has an extraordinary level of control over the story that is bursting with ideas that demand the readers time and attention and never distract or derail the momentum of the story. From the opening sequence when Dio is ruthlessly sacrificed by Dr Mira and Jemini to the final astonishing confrontation Aidan Casserly's invention never flags. The possibilities inherent in the story set up are explored with great enthusiasm, variety and humour. The story work so well because of the discipline that is carefully exercised, the ideas are all strong enough to take over the story in their own right, they all serve it and make it better. The art is friendly and inviting, the cast are individual, forceful and wholly themselves. Dio is the closest to a stereotype, a slightly dim teenager who delivers a stream of verbal non-sequiturs, increased by duplication. Dio is neither malicious nor unpleasant which means that they are ultimately likeable.
The art takes everything offered by the story and gives it wonderful form, full of life and energy, the cast are full of life and determination. The body language is as eloquent as the great jokes and set pieces are staged with great confidence and superb detail. The colouring brings out all of the detailed, tomes, nuances of the story and the art.
Dominion shows the breath and depth of Aidan Casserly's talent. A short story that could very easily have been a horrible mess manages the extremely difficult task of being funny, heartfelt, and a little touching. The art and the colouring gives the close focus of the story the required intensity to bring out the uncomfortable aspects, the humour gives the reader some welcome distance and the conclusion sidesteps nothing. What a great story.
Aidan Casserly letters his own work with subtle skill, they are clear and easy to read, enhance the story and art without ever drawing attention to themselves.
Scapula is the work of a joyously talented creator who has developed a individual creative voice that is just a pleasure to read and enjoy.

The Sleepless Ones. James Marrison. Penguin Books (2016)

A grim, engaging and very enjoyable crime story. Two murdered men are found in a remote farmhouse in the Cotswold's in England. One of the men was violently tortured, DCI Guillermo Downes leads the investigation which starts to gain traction with the discovery of some mysterious photographs. Of themselves the photographs are not sinister, they are still disturbing. The investigation moves forward and starts to uncover a very brutal history that a great deal of powerful people have a strong interest in keeping hidden. The investigation is pursued with thoughtful intelligence, DCI Downes and Seargent Graves are competent professionals. They find that the threads of the investigation lead to a unexpected story of revenge and lives damaged beyond repair or redemption. The reveals are cunningly staged and the move the story in unexpected directions and go further and further in darkness. The final sour conclusion is fitting and satisfying.
The plot mechanics are excellent, the roots of the story are revealed steadily and they provide a strong context for the violent action in the present. The scale of what is at stake is slowly revealed and the impact is powerful.James Marrison moves the narrative around in a very effective way, the first person narration by DCI Downes brings the reader into the story and the investigation. The story directly follows other cast members which creates the opportunity for greater scope in the story and provides a deeper context fopr the investigation. The cast are engaging and individual, they act with determination and energy, none are just walk on parts, the shifting narritive structure gives everyone the time and space to establish themselves in their own right.
James Marrison follows a reasonably well worn path in the story, the heart of the story is a well used idea. It is not the plot itself that counts, it is the execution and that is wonderful. The construction of the story draws in the reader further and further into the secret lives of the cast and the terrible actions they take. They layers of brutality and exploitation that are revealed are gripping, as the hidden springs of the events that lead to the horror in the farmhouse are revealed. The investigation is never helped by miracles or has to rely on coincidence, working with the evidence hard work and competent professionalism the secret history behind the photographs is pulled into the light.
James Marrison's confident writing captures the reader, allows the changes of narritive vioewpoint to work seanlessly with other without ever losing control of the thrust and force of the story.
Great crime fiction.

Knocked Out Loaded. Michael Jantze (Writer & Art). Jantze Studios Publishing (2018)

A very enjoyable, engaging and very funny Comic Art Novelty. Norman Miller is very stressed and frustrated with his life, his wife has had a miscarriage, his best friend is going out with Norm's ex girlfriend after a bitter divorce. Trying to evade his problems Norm goes skiing and has a collision with a tree. Coming to he finds that he has gained a new perspective on his life and starts to re-consider his life.Michael Jantze takes the idea of a man stepping freshly into his life and sidesteps reader expectations with deft skill to allow his wonderful cast speak for themselves.
The plot mechanics are deceptively simple, Norm and Reine are getting an opportunity to recover from the miscarriage and make decisions about their life together without the fear and frustration that was crowding them out. Ford, Norm's best friend and boss at work takes an opportunity to satisfy an urge to settle a old score. they way these two story lines wrap around each other and draw in the rest of the cast as they respond and react to the events is deeply engaging. Norm's parents-in-law respond unexpectedly, complicating Reine's relationship with them even further. Ford's actions have consequence at work for himself and Norm and draw in Norm's ex girlfriend. The action is driven by the natural and credible responses of the cast as they all try to find an equilibrium in rapidly evolving circumstances.
The cast are full of energy and life, they all demand attention from the reader and have developed personalities that shape their responses and actions. Everyone is a credible mix and mess of hopes, fears and intentions. They bring their history with them and cannot evade it. Norm causes confusion because he has stepped away from his history and others respond to this is funny and unpredictable.
The art is a joy. Michael Jantze takes full advantage of the formal framework of a comic strip and the possibilities that it has to play with the conventions. The relationship between the cast and the panels that they inhabit are managed cunningly to shift the story and the cast in very smart ways. The fact that it never feels arc or pointedly meta is a tribute to Michael Jantze's skill, Norm can break the fourth wall and still be wholly immersed in the context.
The visual jokes and set ups are executed with understated skill and superb timing, they give a depth and force to the story by delivering ideas that capture ideas in clever ways. The action is the small change of living and working, vital to those engaged it it, irrelevant to everyone else. Michael Jantze makes the detaiuls of living feel as important to the reader as they are to the cast, the emotional weight is delivered with a light touch that makes it all the more effectiove.
Knocked Out Loaded is a great comic, clever, superbly drawn and thought out, vey funny and with something to say about the importance of the ordinary.

The Emperor. Ryszard Kapuściński (Writer), William R. Brand, Katarzyna Mrczkowska-Brand (Translation). Penguin Classics (2006)

A remarkable, engaging and astounding book about the way the Emperor of Ethiopia ruled and fell from power. After the revolution that removed Halie Selassie from power, Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński sought out the surviving staff from the imperial place to hear their stories about imperial life and its decline and fall.
Their description of a closed world is vivid, detailed and full of insight into the mechanics that sustained and finally doomed it. Halie Selassie never leaned to read or write and that was probably a strategic decision, it created degree of ambiguity which he exploited to the full to control and govern. The whole system of government was a series of interlocking pieces that all depended on him and kept those around him in a perpetual state of enmity and faction which prevented anyone combining against him.
The survivors understood deeply the mechanics of the Palace and how power was maintained, they agreed with the process and actively participated in it. They had to, their own position on the ice flow of the Imperial household depended on how successfully they engaged with and supported the process.
The description of the start of a regular day as the Emperor strolled about while being briefed by the three people who were responsible to finding out what everyone else was up to is a classic of managing power by ensuring that everyone was wondering what the other had said to the Emperor. By remaining the only one who knew everything, Halie Selassie kept all off balance and clinging to his favour.
The most extraordinary job in the household was held by the man who had to place the pillow beneath the feet of the Emperor when he sat on a throne. There were a multitude of thrones all over the country, one in every place the Emperor might visit, all were slightly different and so required a different pillow to ensure the imperial dignity was correctly maintained. This man knew the exact height of each throne and had a pillow ready for each one and the skill to put it in place at exactly the right moment. This was not done with any sarcastic intent or recollection, the absolute necessity of the pillow and the timing are explained and the joy in his expertise is evident.
The description of the effect on the neck of anyone honoured by the Emperor is a gem capturing the absurdity of seniors with humour and sharp detail, the impact of being thrown out of favour is equally caught with sharp wit.
The slow disintegration of the regime is detailed by those who knew it was happening and found themselves cling ever more desperately to the Emperor as they saw no future outside of the palace. They understood that the fatal problem was that the rule of the Emperor had to be absolute, it could not manage compromise or accommodation, the first crack was the last one. It would just be a matter of time and the details of the slow demolition are full of rueful hindsight and reflection.
There is very little nostalgia in the accounts, they miss the work and structure of their work, work they understood and took pride in. 
Ryszard Kapuściński places the interviews in the context of post revolutionary Ethiopia with deft skill and telling detail.The translation from Polish by William R. Brand,Katarzyna Mrczkowska-Brand is transparent, the voices of the survivors are individual and clear.
Simply put, a brilliant book.

Afterglow. Pat Shand (Writer), K.Lynn Smith (Art), Jim Campbell (Letters). Space Between Entertainment (2018)

An enjoyable and engaging comic. An event called The Glowing devastated the human population of the earth and fundamentally altered the animals. The world now glows with dangerous beautiful colours. The survivors have gathered together in settlements to try reestablish themselves in the changed world. Lacey, a young woman, lives in a settlement, Lacey's mother had seen the beauty in the Glowing and the new world and Lacey does the same. This puts her at odds with the rest of the settlement who see danger not beauty. When Lacey sees the sign of an impending new event she finds the conflict with the settlers grows more intense. Lacey leaves the settlement with her enormous cat, Afterglow and heads into the woods outside  the settlement. Her adventures develop nicely and come to a satisfactory conclusion.
The story has a big awkward problem that Pat Shand resolves as much as possible, he is severely limited by the story framework he has chosen. The problem is that being right is not enough in fiction or real life. Afterglow takes a position that being right is enough and that seriously undermines the dramatic tension and force of the story. Lacey is right about the impending problem and she is very quick to tell everyone both, she is also an almighty pain in the head. Whiny and deeply self righteous she has no time or space for anyone else, they have no room or right to have a different opinion from hers because she is right. The rest of the people in the settlement are dowdy , ungrateful  foils to her colourful righteousness. If being right is enough it is a justification for being as selfish as Lacey is, as unwilling to make any effort to understand a different point of view and as willing to flout the rules and norms of the settlement with a vocal disapproval and angry resentment. Unfortunately this reduces the potential for drama as there is only one character and a bunch of props.
When Lacey leaves the settlement the problem follows along beside her as she arrives at the anti-settlement full of wisdom and colour where she is recognised as being right which is as problematic in dramatic terms as the situation she left behind.
It is the writing that takes place away from the core problem of being right and unwilling to recognise the fact that yelling is a very poor way to convince anyone that Pat Shand's talent shines and the story quietly and deeply engages the reader. Lacey's relationship with Afterglow is warm, loving and heartfelt. Off her soapbox Lacey is an engaging character who has space for someone else. Her crush on one of the girls in the settlement is understated and a nicely done. The rest of the cast are pretty functional, they serve a purpose without ever being someone. The plot mechanics gives everyone enough action to justify their place in the story.
K.Lynn Smiths gorgeous art brings the reader into the story and smooths over the rough edges of the plot nudges to allow the more engaging aspects to the story shine. Lacey is given a tremendous energy and life that do a lot to counterbalance her selfishness. The new colourful world is realised with subtle skill, the colouring creates emotional tones that lifts the story, capturing and bringing out the details of the location and the cast.
Jim Campbell's letters are understated and fit so naturally into the flow of the story they never call attention to themselves.
Afterglow has a beating heart, it is a bit hidden but well worth reading to feel it.

Hollow Testament: A Supernatural Noir Crossover Comic Book. Luke Cooper,Frank Martin(Writers) Matt Shults, Stamatis Tzatzakis (Art) Kicksterter

There are never enough good comics and the opportunity to help get one is very welcome.  Hollow Testament is a live campaign on Kickstarter now that I am backing and I hope will get enough support to be completed.

A deeply enticing mash up of two superb comics, Modern Testament by Frank Martin and Hollow Girl by Like Cooper. Hollow Testament has found a deeply intriguing point between the two stories that moves both forward in an very engaging way. The Hollow Girl is the willing vessel for spirits who have unfinished business with those who ended their lives on Earth. Modern Testament takes another look at the the Biblical cast and gives then a new context to shine brightly in.
The Hollow Girl becomes the temporary home for the first ever murder victim, Abel, Death finds that the Hollow Girl is uncomfortable competition, and a spirit wants to prevent a tragedy. All deeply engaging ideas in their own right, Frank Martin and Luke Cooper have a history of excecuting great ideas with confidence and flair.
I love mash ups, well done you get a new view on the individual stories and cast and the pleasure of a new story as well.  Good comics are clinically proven to increase your happiness in living and to improve your life.

www.ModernTestamentKickstarter.com

Good Cop Bad Cop. Jim Alexander. Planet Jimbot (2018)

A griping and deeply engaging story that is a grim and bloody pleasure to read. Detective Inspector Brian Fisher is assaulted while interviewing a suspect at a police station, the outcome is brutal, unexpected and the start of a chain of events that lead to a deeply satisfying, bitter conclusion.
Jim Alexander has deftly sidestepped the problems with the idea of a human containing two distinct personalities, one relatively mild manner and the other a walking pulse of rage with such confident ease that the reader  never has a reason to fall out of the story.
The writing is lush, there is never one word where two or more could do the job better and not a single excess word among them. The language creates the room for the context and the cast to develop and expand, pulling the reader deeper and deeper into the events as they unfold. The jet black humour lacing the story lives and breaths in the play of the words and the extraordinary energy they contain and deliver.
The cast are a joy, the DI Fishers do not dominate the story, they are articulate an, murderous, rageful and considered. They are clearly distinct and equally obviously related to each other. The way that they transition is perfectly staged and frequently unexpected. Jim Alexander carefully sets up readers expectations and then sidesteps them in the most satisfying manner, nothing can be taken for granted. Detective Sargent Julie Spencer, assigned to work with the DIs Fisher has a sharp and determined view of the work she is doing and the events that she becomes involved in. She pulls the story in a different direction giving it scope and room that it needs to bloom its its full glory.
The context for the story, a hellscape of Glasgow full of people busy doing terrible thing to each other is vital to the story, it groans everyone in a location that is utterly suitable for them. No one is too violent or horrible for this city.
One of the best things that Jim Alexander does is to avoid completely a staple of the crime genre , none of the cast are overly stupid. Some of the cast are severely limited in their thinking and problem recognizing and solving skills, their whole lives reflect this. No one is strategically stupid as required to drive the plot, there are a lot of very competent people in the story who act competently to achieve their aims. The lack of stupidity gives the book an increasing edge as it unfolds, the cast are very much doing what the intend to do and their actions can be brutal.
Jim Alexander has the confidence to take on an established idea and discover why it has become established, to develop and execute a griping story. The technical skill of the writing is unforced and an easy to glide over exactly as designed creating a grip on the reader as the story moves smoothly into darker and darker tones.
God Cop Bad Cop is a dark and deep pleasure to read.
Chief Wizard Note:  This is a review copy very kindly sent by Jim Alexander. Should you want to purchase GodCopBadCop, and it would be a very smart thing to do to ghive yourself the unlimited pleasure of a good book, it is avalible here:

UK

Amazon (print & digital): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916453503

Blackwell’s (print): https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781916453500

Kobo (digital): https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/goodcopbadcop

US

Amazon (print & digital): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1916453503

Barnes & Noble (print & digital): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1129823698

Kobo (digital): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/goodcopbadcop