Monday, April 29, 2024

Happy Birthday, Once Upon A Time

A bunch of family members got together on Sunday to clean up/clean out my mom's garage.  For several years, many of us have kept junk down there, piling it up, and often forgetting about it.  

In an old box, my sister found a card to me, from my Uncle Jim, from 1976.  It included a beat-up two dollar bill with 1953 on it, and I was more impressed that Jim (who died in 1990), thought of me, his first nephew, than what the bill might be worth today.

If you don't know, two dollar bills, while legal tender, tend to be rare, because no one in their right mind would ever need a two dollar bill.  Some folks collect them, I suppose.  

And this one certainly looks odd.

My nephew wanted to frame it, for some reason, and I told him that I hadn't known that it existed until that moment, so it might as well be his.  Maybe not very logical, but it is to me.





 

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Only Real On Paper

One of you keeps suggesting I create a physical copy of one (or all) of my books.  I have fought, screaming, weeping, and filling my diaper the whole time.

But no more.

As you know, Clob, Big has been putting out hard copies of his books, and told me that, since he's in the middle of a publishing whirlwind lately, if I sent him one of mine, he'd do the formatting of it for me, for the bargain price of a free copy.

Having physical copies of my work hasn't seemed to be a priority for me, even though there was at least one guaranteed sale.*  

Not only did Keith buy one, but he took a selfie to announce that he'd bought one!

Well, I had just published "Female Protagonist," which was an eighty thousand-word project, which seems like a good size for a paperback, so I sent it Big's way.  And it turned out to be much more of a process than I expected, to the point where my ego hesitates to ask Big to do another one for me.  But hey, it was very generous of him to do this, and I ought to order a few copies to sell along with action figures throughout the rest of the year, or send to the people who have crossed me in the recent past.

To my surprise, Amazon asked me what I wanted the book to cost (you see, in Audible, it doesn't ask, it just stamps an arbitrary cost on there, depending on how many hours it is), and I honestly didn't know.  Maybe it's too much, maybe it's not enough.

You can buy it HERE . . . if you like your books physical, and your protagonists female.

P.S. Big messaged me today, saying I had priced the collection so low I would only make a buck or so on each copy sold, but when I initially made it available for sale, I looked to see what his collection was going for, and marked mine slightly higher than his.  Turned out, I was marking my physical copy slightly higher than his digital one.  Whoops.


*I used to print out a copy of every screenplay I wrote, as soon as I finished a new draft, so I could have a copy on my shelf.  But a few years later, I took them down and used the backs to print shipping labels on.  I just had no need for a physical copy of my own work, you know?

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Marshal & Rish Try X-Ray Specs

And you, what do you want to see?


Here's another Outfield Excursions between Marshal and me, over at his Journey Into... podcast.  

Once again, we've got a Roger Corman-directed Ray Milland film to talk about.  This time, it's THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, from 1963.  Doctor Xavier uses an experimental formula to improve his range of eyesight . . . but at what cost?   

Check out our review HERE.

Friday, April 26, 2024

Under the Covers 2 Images

These are the photos that go with Rish Outcast Episode 279: Under the Covers: The Coverage Continues.

 1.  

The damage doesn't look as bad from up here.

Big's attempt

Final version (although the chips don't quite look right to me now)
2.  
Rish's mockup . . . huh.
   
   
Rish's template . . . still weird.
   

Big's final version.

3.   
Original image version.

Image possibilities:

  

    



Final Version
4.  
This one was ALMOST right, but you can
tell I painted out the unwanted elements.


Another image--not exactly what I asked for, but pretty darn good.

The mock-up I sent Big.
   
Big's excellent final version.

5.

6.  

Not terrible, but WAY too muscular.


     
Just fine . . . except for the feet.

Big's final version.

7.  
My original cover (and the one that's been up on Smashwords/Amazon for years)

Big's finished version.


8.  
Original almost-good version.

Big's "finished" version.

9.    
Big's three elements.

Big's finished cover.
10.  
Original 2020 Rish version.

Computer-generated "weird" version.

Rish's fixed version.


11.  
Big's rejected cover.


(just gonna set this here)

Big's final cover.

12.  
Rish's original (2016?) cover, using an Unsplash photograph).  Not bad, really.

A house . . . but no fence or snowstorm.

A house I liked, and a fence I liked (but again, no snowstorm)

Rish's combined template for "Stormy Weather" (again, with no snowstorm).

Big's version, with snowstorm.

13.  
Big's original cover, using a photograph.

A.I.'s attempt at "Fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant."

More baffling "fortune cookies."

Big's final version

14.  

Oh no.

Dear Lord, no.

Get out!  Get out now!

And that's where we leave this . . . for now.