Long Lungs and One Degree from Lin-Manuel Miranda
Feeling the winter today.
- matt frac--THE SNAKE PIT -
Snake here filling in for Matthew this go around. There's been a great sickness which he's just about fought off and, in the process, found out he has a remarkable chest:
EXTRA-LONG LUNGS! Who knew?
To business!
TODAY, 12/7/16, at long last, the ODY-C Cycle One Hardcover makes its OFFICIAL debut, two weeks after its original on sale date of 11/23/16. It is a gorgeous labor of love from Matt & Christian with beautifully designed back matter from Laurenn McCubbin and loads of essays from Dani Colman.
400 PAGES OF AWESOME. This IS the gift you are looking for.
"Why was it late?", you might ask, and, for some, "How did certain folks get them early?" might have crossed your mind. Given our history of myriad production hijinks, one might think this book was...cursed.
It all started with us turning in all of the production files, yes, ALL 400 PAGES, on time. (We were astonished too!) We did the usual back 'n forth with production and fixed little errors, etc. And then, after our traditional send-the-book-to-print-at-the-last-minute+extension, the aforementioned hijinks ensued:
We received our comps...damn, are they stunning...and promptly realized that the giant gatefold, the monster centerpiece from the first issue, was not next to page 16 as requested and approved...but at SIGNATURE 16 near the middle of the book. facepalm
We hatch a scheme with the printer to have all of the books returned, the gatefold fixed and then reintroduce them to the wild...however, since they HAD shipped and WERE in the wild already, the turnaround time meant we would miss our original on sale...we were bumping to 11/30.
As we geared up for the new on sale (11/30!), news started coming in that some of the books had actually made it into customers' hands at the original on sale (11/23!)...and in the unrepaired state. "How does this happen?" you may ask. Turns out not all of the books were returned to the printer...in fact, for one reason or another, the message didn't actually get all the way down the line to those who would be responsible for returning said books.
STILL WITH ME?
SO, with a few books actually having gone out to customers and many of those needing to be repaired not having quite made it back to the printer yet...we bumped one more week to accommodate.
And here we are, at long last, OFFICIALLY (and relieved-ly) offering the magnificent ODY-C Cycle One Hardcover for sale on
Wednesday, December 7th.
Available at fine retailers (almost) everywhere.
More information here.
collapses on the floor
- kelly sue deconnick -
Hullo, beauties. I've got a pilot script due on Monday, so I'm deep in that place where I have no idea how I'm doing, just moving forward. THINK GOOD THOUGHTS.
What has transpired since we last sent one of these? Hm.
Well. There was that election, I guess. I have nothing profound to say in that regard. Frankly, I'm still processing. The morning after, trying to name what I was feeling I landed on "grief." I grieved for my own expectations. For the moment of hope I had planned to share with my daughter. I grieved for the nation I thought I knew, and what I thought united us. Maybe I grieved for my naivety, I don't know.
For whatever reason, at that moment Robert Kennedy popped into my head. And so I've been connecting a bit with Aeschylus and RFK's favorite verse: “And even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” (Agamemnon.)
I find it has a resonance for me in my middle years that it didn't have when I was young. (The links above are to my favorite RFK bio, and the complete works of Aeschylus. They are the best comfort I have to offer right now.)
I was lucky enough to spend last weekend in the company of a group of rather amazing women at the Tiptree Symposium in Eugene, OR. This year we celebrated the work of Ursula K. Le Guin. What an honor it was, just to be in their company. Even more than before, I'm looking forward to Wiscon. (And even more than before I'm freaked the fuck out about delivering a keynote there! "It's not like there's a high bar or anything," laughed one of luminaries -- Vonda McIntyre, I think. My head was spinning.) Good to see EJ Fischer too. He was a teenager when Fraction and I first got to know him on the Warren Ellis Forum. (Same place we met each other. And Antony Johnston, Kieron Gillen, Sam Humphries, Jamie McKelvie, Dan Evans, Charlie Chu, HQD, Laurenn McCubbin and so many others. That place was a treasure.)
What else?
Tallulah and I both had our first Tae Kwon Do belt tests last night. We both passed. Yellow belts, huzzah! Here's baby girl demonstrating her one-step self defense... and her utterly badass war face:
(Speaking of self-defense, Team Milkfed just discovered that the training I took about 20 years ago in NYC is offered in Portland. We're talking about taking a workshop as a group some time next year.)
Bitch Planet, Pretty Deadly and Parisian White are all with their artists/co-creators at the moment, humming along. More news as I have it. Bitch Planet anthology and Compliance Guide are in production. Possible essay collection is still in the decision phase, however.
Humanoids put out a new edition of my Barbarella adaptation in time for Christmas and it's just lovely. The copy they sent me has pink on the cover? Doesn't match the image up on the Amazon site, but I think this is the same one.
I wrote a new intro to the soon-to-be-released Small Favors: The Definitive Girly Porno Collection. For all your girly porno needs. (Not being cute here: this is pure porn, folks. The link is fine, flipping through the book in the wrong work environment will likely get you fired.) I wrote about going to church with Dylan Meconis, Katie Lane, Nick Shadow and Erica Moen. Because what's better for opening a porn collection than an essay about church?
I know y'all have nothing but time on your hands this crazy holiday month, so I'm sure you all want to take this readership survey. I'll leave the link here:
Milkfed readership survey!
(That survey was put together by Intern Sasha, for whose work we continue to be grateful. Intern Jenny is closing out her internship this week, and we will miss her something fierce. Thanks for being a part of the family, Jenny. We hope you learned a lot.)
Oh, and hey -- Bitch Planet was shortlisted for Pacific Northwest booksellers Association award. You'll notice that I am listed and artist/co-creator Valentine De Landro is not. We caught that too and wrote to explain I am not the sole creator on the book. Turns out because it's the nature of the award, only Pacific Northwest authors are eligible. I wrote Valentine to say I'd happily withdraw the book from consideration and he responded: "Please don't withdraw on my account. I take pride in seeing our book get accolades of any sort. And that pic of you is badass. And it's the only comic book on the list, which is cool. I appreciate the sentiment, and I accept their explanation." I am incredibly grateful to have him as my partner. Even if the website doesn't say so, this is an honor we share. (And with the rest of the team as well!)
Finally: did y'all see the news about Pat Rothfuss and Lin-Manuel Miranda? HOW COOL IS THAT?! Well, scroll down a bit and you'll see on a level still pretty cool, but not, like, Lin-Manuel-cool, that Pat's given us the opportunity to participate in his Worldbuilders initiative. You can read how it works here, and you can donate $10 for a chance to win two Milkfed naming rights prizes here:
- Donate $10 here for a chance to name a prisoner on Bitch Planet and the nature of her crime.
- Donate $10 here for a chance to name a sex move in Sex Criminals. (You name it, Chip and Fraction will define it.)
Team Non-Compliant has currently out-raised Team Brimpers. Brimpers, you gonna stand for that??
xo,
Kelly Sue
- #icymi -
HEY PALS WERE YOU EVER LIKE "MAN I WISH I COULD HAVE A SEX MOVE IN A COMIC NAMED AFTER ME, AND ALSO DONATE MONEY TO A GOOD CAUSE"?? (Just kidding, of course you've been there, who HASN'T been there.) Kelly Sue and Matt are both offering naming prizes for the Worldbuilders Fundraiser for Heifer International this year!
Every $10 donation to TEAM NON-COMPLIANT (here) gets you a chance to win the naming rights to a BITCH PLANET character and the nature of her crime!
Every $10 donation to TEAM BRIMPERS (here) gets you a chance to win the honor of having a new sex move on the pages of SEX CRIMINALS named after you!
Bidding closes on December 19th!
The WIRED Book Club reads BITCH PLANET and talks non-compliance, intersectional feminism, and poop.
Guess who was embarrassed to read SEX CRIMINALS in public? Also the WIRED Book Club!
NPR dubs the ODY-C Cycle One hardcover: "A Greek Hero Worthy of Women"!
Bloomberg gives us The Pessimist's Guide to 2017
We highly recommend subscribing to Pen America's DARE: Daily Alert on Rights and Expression
Stephen King's Top 20 Rules for Writers on Open Culture.
On Kelly Sue's article reading list:
A DIY Guide to Feminist Cybersecurity
World's Growing Inequality is 'Ticking Time Bomb': Nobel Laureate Yunus
Trump Sets Private Prisons Free - The New Yorker
tl;dr
Dec. 6 - Dani V's birthday.
Dec. 7 - official on-sale date for the ODY-C: CYCLE ONE HC, which has been PROWLING AROUND ON SHELVES for a HOT MINUTE ALREADY but RELEASE DATES ARE BANANAS! COMICS!
Dec. 20 - Kit's birthday.
Milkfed Logo by Rian Hughes.