…thank YOU.

‘Wilks’ Wilkinson by Matt Kyme — Tales to Admonish #3

You know what?

There are far too many people that I need to thank.

And you know how I’ve realized this? The acknowledgements sections in my books run for pages on end, even when I reduce the font-size and you need a magnifying glass.

You should try writing your own, whatever your lot in life, and when truly nutting it over you’ll likely find the exact same thing. Not the eyepiece, but the list-size. I’m not complaining here — far from it, I’m indebted, hugely appreciative, and am in turn inspired by these people.

And sometimes we forget to, well, acknowledge all that they have given to us — so this is my posting to go somewhere toward rectifying the issue.

I wrote this before, a few days ago, when I was especially moved by the support and encouragement I’ve been getting from a wad of remarkable people. WordPress promptly “lost” the post and all that was written, albeit gushing.

Now, however, it’s humid and sweltering in Tokyo and hard to get all excited about anything except the refrigerator (my new best friend). Obviously, I cannot wait for the Melbourne trip coming up in less than a couple of weeks in order to chill down — though I’ll prob’ly whine about the weather there too, the moment I set foot off the plane.

Huh. Wasn’t this posting supposed to be all about saying cheers?

OK, so here we go.

Bullet Gal #1 [Aug. IF? Commix]

I’m going to start with some recent luminaries who deserve special praise not only because they’re fresh to mind, but because they’ve proved to be very cool cats — and I don’t use that term lightly, as archaic as it might sound.

Recently, I hooked up with Galo and Erin @ Project-Nerd. Galo has proved to be vibrantly enthusiastic about the new books and comics, and I had a fun chat with Erin here. Meanwhile, fellow author Dan Wright — who’s been supportive of my fiction from scratch — put together an interview for his Pandragon Dan site.

Meanwhile, comics-wise, I cannot thank enough Shawn Michael Vogt for his series of reviews of the new Bullet Gal comic book I’m writing and illustrating.

This guy seriously understands the stories better than me, and while the comic is not actually launched until next month (the IF? Commix jaunt on August 17th in Melbourne), you should check out his crits of the ongoing issues I’ve finished, over at his website Weird and Wonderful Reads: #1, #2, #3, and #4.

Along the way, Shawn and I have developed a remarkable camaraderie that’s itself even more of a treat.

There’s also been incredible support for the noir comic — herself a loose homage to golden age comic book character Bulletgirl, and based around the character in my novel Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? — from Paul Bowler @ Sci-Fi Jubilee, Steven Alloway @ Fanboy, Matt Morrison @ Kabooooom, and John Kowalski @ Word of the Nerd.

Artwork by Kmye Chan.

I also yesterday officially published fourth novel Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth via Perfect Edge Books in the UK, and will be launching that in Melbourne too, at Brunswick Bound on 13th August.

The recent reviews from fellow author Jonny Gibbings, Ani @ The Bookbag, Steven @ Fanboy (again! Ta, mate) and Ellen @ ComicBuzz have been very cool to read in return — though I think I’m luckier since these were exceptionally positive (whew) and also far shorter than the novel I coerced these people to read.

And Benoit Lelièvre recently swam back to my second novel One Hundred Years of Vicissitude (2012) to put together a review for his cool blog/website Dead End Follies.

Jeez, who and what else?

There are all the insanely cool Kickstarter people (100-odd) who weighed in financially behind the Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat graphic novel — which will be launched alongside Bullet Gal on August 17th @ Classic Comics in Melbourne. You guys are mad, bad and wonderful sods. TSMG simply would not exist if it weren’t for you!

There’s Matt Kyme, my partner in IF? Commix, and with whom I’ve been doing the Tales to Admonish comic book series.

Somehow Matt finds the time outside his series That Bulletproof Kid and drawing other people’s comics, and I can never thank him enough. He’s my co-conspirator, my foil, a healthy compass, and my moral back-up when the engines fail. The same role the inestimable Phil Jourdan has played at Perfect Edge Books over the past three years.

TTA #3, Aug. 2014

Incidentally, Matt and I have Tales to Admonish #3 ready to launch on Aug. 17th alongside Bullet Gal, Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, Carmen, and That All Star Bulletproof Kid.

Music is a whole other kettle of fish, so let’s stick with the written work here.

There are literally hundreds of individuals I’d like to personally thank here, all of them deserving of the gratitude, and simply cool people in general. Most of them are open-minded, willing to try new things, and show support where appreciated. These cats are bloody brilliant, and I know I never can say cheers enough. Friends, family, acquaintances, strangers — you’re all amazing in my opinion.

Even the cranky types that read my books, listen to my music, or flick through my comic books, and then declare “…blah!” — well, at least you gave it a shot and I appreciate that too (if not your somewhat sad taste!). Heh-heh.

So, I think one word best captures what I’ve been struggling to say throughout this rambling diatribe.

And, yep, I’m going to stoop to Japanese since today marks my thirteenth anniversary living in Tokyo:

A R I G A T O  ありがとう

IF? Commix launch, 17 August.

Oh, and one more thing.

I figure if you waded through all the above, you deserve some kind of reward for the achievement. Those that ejected or passed out with dismay prior to reaching these final lines are going to miss out.

So, to all of you who have (a) just finished reading this self-indulgent diatribe, or (b) have supported, encouraged, and helped me in any way possible, here a couple of downloadable prezzies to pass on a modicum of thanks.

One Hundred Years of Vicissitude was the novel I published in 2012, and it’s still actually probably one of my favourite things I’ve written, mostly for the banter between Kohana and Wolram and all the references to Japan — a country I’ve lived in for 13 years as of today, and I love the place. You can grab the gratis .epub/.mobi/.PDF versions over the next week (just click on the formats).

Bullet Gal, as I mentioned above, is my brand new comic book. We’re launching it at Classic Comics in Melbourne on Sunday, August 17th, but you can grab the free digital copy of the #1 mini-comic before anyone else in the world. Just click “mini-comic”.

And cheers again.

ALL of you.