LitStack.com: Our Favorite Fictional Friends

 

This week's LitStack Pick is "Who is Your Favorite Fictional Friend?" Again, based on the photo, I'm pretty sure you can guess what book I chose, but if you care to read my full entry, click HERE.

GUEST BLOG: Armand Rosamilia Talks Miami Spy Games

 

Who is this goateed badass that makes Kerry King look like the bassist in a Nickelback cover band? He is Armand Rosamilia and he is responsible for some of the best zombie fiction in the genre over the last few years. His extreme zombie novella, Highway to Hell, was reviewed on this very blog a while ago and now, he is promoting his latest endeavor, Miami Spy Games. As a fan of both the artist and his work, I'm gladly giving up some blog real estate to talk about his new offering.

Miami Spy Games

Questions About The Serial with Armand Rosamilia

I love getting questions from readers, whether they are good or bad. I've compiled a few of them here and decided to answer them for everyone. Just because I wanted to. I kept the names off of them but privately answered these already. The Miami Spy Games: Russian Zombie Gun twelve-part serialization has just been put together in one massive release, and I am quite proud of it.

Where did the idea for Miami Spy Games come from?

It was technically a gift. AK Waters came up with the concept and got in touch with Hobbes End Publishing to find the perfect writer to put his idea into words. That's where I came in. I'm sure they tried 147 other authors before they chose me, lol…

Who are the main characters based on?

From what I understand, the three main characters (Jennifer Sanchez, Mike Martin and Mark Kostas) are named after real people, but I've never met them or been given any real information about them. Which is probably good, because it allowed me to write them the way I wanted to and not based on real people in my mind. Conversely, Dale Comstock is based on a real American Bad Ass, so I had to tread carefully with his character. Plus, he could crush me like a grape.

Are there plans for another season?

I sure hope so. Right now it is in the hands of The Powers That Be, but it looks pretty good. Sales are steady and the buzz is growing. Besides that, I love writing these characters and this story was so much fun. We already have a tentative idea for the next one, and I even foreshadow it in this book if you are paying attention. And I hope you are paying attention!

Did you write this with a television series in mind?

I wrote it with the thought it would make a good one, and I would hope the publisher also had the idea, but we never sat down and wanted to do it this way. It just organically happened. Would it make a great TV series? Of course! And not just saying it because I wrote every brilliant sentence of it, either. Well, maybe that had something to do with it. We'll see what happens.

If Miami Spy Games was made into a movie, who would play the main parts?

I pictured Michelle Rodriguez (Resident Evil, Girlfight) as Jennifer Sanchez, Mark Wahlberg (Three Kings, Shooter) as Mike Martin and a young Steve Buscemi (anything he's in is great) as Kostas. And Dale Comstock will play himself.Since I won't ever tell him no for anything.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into the Miami Spy Games world, enough to go out and grab a copy… and make me super rich so I can finance this bad boy myself, and have a huge Hollywood blockbuster movie and merchandise like action figures and McDonalds Happy Meal toys… and anything Dale Comstock wants, of course.

If you have any questions about the Miami Spy Games series, I'd love to hear them: armandrosamilia@gmail.com

Miami Spy Games on Amazon Kindle only $3.99!

INTERVIEW: Best-Selling Harlequin Romance Author Michele Dunaway

I've known Michele for awhile and in addition to being a good friend, she's a great writer who has been an invaluable resource to me in my own writing career. I was thrilled to be able to chat with her about her career and her thoughts, as a romance writer, on 50 Shades of Grey. For the Walrus Publishing article, click HERE.

LitStack.com: Lines We Wish We'd Have Written

One of my latest writing ventures is with LitStack.com, an amazing site featuring contributors who love the art of writing and the artists who do the writing. My first piece with them is their weekly LitStack Picks, where a literary-type question is posed. This week's was: What line do you wish you'd have written? Based on the photo, you can probably get an idea where I went, but for the full piece, click HERE.

Andrew Asberry: The Gateway Gothamite

 

As a fan of the Dark Knight Detective, one of my favorite websites is Batman-News.com. Great stuff and excellent reviews. Having said that, I was more than a little surprised to find that one of the writers for the site, Andrew Asberry, is a fellow St. Louis native. As such, I tracked him down, had a chat with him, and wrote up a piece for Walrus Publishing. Click HERE for all the creamy goodness that is the story of another follower of the Goddamned Batman.

May The Joy Be With You

 

May you all be happy and safe and content in the coming year(s) and may your pages never be blank and your inner muse never be blocked.

BOOK REVIEW: Patriot No. 1 by Bleeding Ink Productions

(Patriot issue No. 1 of 4.)

To paraphrase Bruce Wayne's praise of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, I believe in Jesse Grillo. I believe enough in the work I have seen from him and his comic book production company, Bleeding Ink Productions, that I helped fund Patriot, a four-issue miniseries he marketed on Kickstarter. Obviously, since I was funding a product that had not been completed, I was going on Grillo's past work and the premise of Patriot.

I was not disappointed with the results.

Patriot follows the story of the titular character after he discovers he has but weeks to live after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He decides it is time to stop simply capturing and imprisoning his enemies only to see them escape and commit the same heinous crimes again and again. He decides it's time to put an end to their murderous activities...permanently. The plan does not go over well with his teen-aged son and is accepted with even less approval from his teammates in the Union of Superheroes.

The book overall is strong, especially from an independent with very little funding. Grillo handles the writing and does it capably. Jeff Slimmons' pencils and inks have a very pulpy feel to them (imagine some of the horror comics from the 40s and 50s) and Melissa Martin Ellis' colors complement the artwork perfectly. Together, it all has a very personal feel, not like many of today's comics, especially from Marvel, that feel as though they are generated by a computer graphics program.

The premise itself is interesting, especially with the "Death of the Family" story arc featuring the Joker currently taking place in the Batman titles. It has been said for years (decades) that Batman's strict adherence to his code of never taking a life has, in fact, cost hundreds if not thousands of lives. By allowing the Joker to live, Batman has indirectly caused the deaths of every victim who has been killed at the hands of the Clown Prince of Crime. The same can be said of Two-Face, the Penguin, et. al., but the Joker is easily the most diabolical and purely evil of Batman's Rogue's Gallery.

Patriot's bailiwick is unique in that his decision to turn to murder is a result of his own impending mortality. We've seen comics such as The Punisher that have been cut and dry from the very beginning: do evil and be killed, period. Patriot, based on the reactions of those around him when he reveals his plan, was very much in the mold of Superman -- a god-like being who chose to simply stop criminals and allow the proper authorities mete out justice. It is a familiar storyline with an added twist that provides the reader with a What Would I Do In That Situation? scenario.

Another unique aspect of the book is the lack of thought balloons and the third-party narrative the vast majority of comics employ. Not using thought balloons is becoming a topic amongst comic creators and fans on social media such as Twitter and while many believe the tried-and-true use of internal monologues should continue, not using them provides a more in-the-moment experience. It provides the reader an opportunity to consider for themselves what the characters could be thinking and what their motivation could be rather than having it spoon-fed to them.

As with any new comic, hero and villain names can be clunky and hard to process and Patriot is guilty of this in certain instances. However, if you take the names of heroes that have been around for decades such as Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, Spider Man, Mr. Fantastic, and the like, the names of the new heroes don't sound as awkward.

The other thing to consider is that Grillo is working mostly alone with a shoestring budget. The bigger the budget, the bigger the staff and the more people to assist with editing and to bounce ideas off of. Considering that Grillo has little name recognition among mainstream comics fans and the aforementioned next-to-nothing budget, Patriot, along with his other titles, should stand out as a triumph of David versus the Goliath of the Disney-owned Marvel and Warner Bros.-owned DC Comics. Grillo has talent and a strong portfolio; brands like Dark Horse, Radical, Vertigo, and others would be well-advised to grab him while his price is still low.

For more information on Bleeding Ink Productions or to check out its line of comics, visit them at their official website.