Many things Charm School! (maybe not that many, but . . . )

A book review of Charm School Graphique Vol 1! My thanks to Vanessa Clark, aka V.C., author of LGBTI, glitterotica, and wicked romance. V.C. sez:

"The style and theme of Charm School is Archie meets manga, meets Betty and Veronica, meets Monster High, and so many other doses of teenaged comic goodness . . . "

Check out the review, here: http://vcerotica.blogspot.com/2014/07/book-review-charm-school-graphique-vol-1.html?zx=86311cd0776d25d2

Also, people's pre-orders are arriving in their mail boxes, pictured above! I'm very happy that everyone is enjoying the books and their bonus extras. Hope Barrett of North Door 37 Publishing sez over at Facebook:

"Last night's reading: Elizabeth Watasin's Charm School, featuring vampires, witches, and the very hot Fairer Than (see pic attached). Originally published by Slave Labor Graphics, this edition has been re-inked and touched up by Elizabeth. I have no idea what the first edition was like, but the current 2014 publication has a beautiful cover ~ to look at and touch; the storyline is quirky and just a touch loopy.

The best line: "I've encountered this gorgeous faerie and now I can't eat, sleep, or understand what people are saying! Whatever could be wrong with me, Doctor??"

A delightful addition to the LGBT comic collector's library, especially wonderful to see Elizabeth's artwork in print again."

Loopy?? I'll have you know, madame, that I was entirely sober whilst composing Charm School! ;D

The 'hot Fairer Than' pic Hope refers to is, I believe, the 'inking in progress' pic I posted at Facebook.

Charm School Graphique Vol 1 is available only in print currently, mostly because I have to figure out if I have to process the whole book again just to make it digital. And because there's an animated flip corner for 'real space', not 'digital space'. Bah. But anyway, it's at Barnes & Noble and you can see it at any Amazon in the 'verse via this geolink:  getBook.at/charmschoolgraphique1 

Huzzah! And now on to more things~~~

all the best,

~~eee

I'M VERY PLEASED to announce that my indy, paranormal romance comic book, Charm School, is finally on Kindle, and more to be released, per week (issue no. 4 releasing this Friday!).

It had been out a while, just waited until the info aggregated to BookLikes' library system. :D I also have the issues available as PDFs via Gumroad: https://elizabethwatasinscharmschool.com/

When I can figure out how to make a digital comic in Epub format, I want them up at B&N as well, and then figure out iBookstore, and so forth. Panel enlargements with the Kindle Comicbook Creator requires that I test each issue thoroughly (as seen in me screenshots!).

Until I get Charm School into ComiXology, I think the Kindle will be the only place I can have panel enlarging.

There is also a *print* version, size 8.5x11, 72pp: Charm School Graphique Vol 1, which I have offered for Pre-Order whilst I add 8 more pages of new content:

https://elizabethwatasinscharmschool.com/

If interested in a paper version, definitely take a look, as this offer is with goodies, such as a 3x5 sticker, bookmark, and 1" pinback button. :D

But more on that later. I've been juggling lots of stuff. LOTS. I saw an author pair post a pic of their whiteboard and thought: geez, why didn't I think of that? Because I keep thinking I'm forgetting something, besides the fact that Wondercon 2014 is only 2 weeks away. MEANWHILE. . . I did read a book! Something about Victorian sexuality, which I extensively tabbed (I'm not an underliner or highlighter, and yes, it was a paper book). I guess it's okay to have the next Dark Victorian novel brewing in my head whilst I do All The Things.

I guess. :-p Hope everyone is enjoying all their books!!

~~eeee

Another year of FOGcon, Friends of Genre fiction, has come and gone, and I still haven't been present personally. :-P I thank writer friends Janice T (who provided these pics), and Emily Thompson for exhibiting my books with theirs! Gratitude!

If there were two of me, one to run about and promote and (finally) squeeze in workshops and panels, and the other to Write and make books, that would be cool. I think. I've yet to think through the ramifications of being cloned or split in two.

But since it's not possible for me to be in two places at one time (in my ignorance of dimensional manipulation), doing entirely two different things with great passion, sincerity, or whatever passes for obsessiveness (and selfishness), I must CHOOSE!

This is the year of making All The Books. I've finally laid out Charm School Graphique Vol One and I need to draw 3 more illustrations to round out that book plus receive the Foreword, graciously provided by Trina Robbins, a wonderful woman, cartoonist, and living historical figure. The digital comics version is up to 7 issues in DRM-free PDF format and 4 issues (still) in Kindle format. I'm still in the process of making the PDFs available (website hijinks), and I ought to start uploading the Kindle versions, even if they're all not converted yet (for review purposes). I've made the first submission to ComiXology but 'twill be a long while before I learn if I'm accepted into that selling venue.

Isn't the business of Making Books FUN? It beats emptying trash cans. Now whenever it pays more than panhandling on the street, I shall be doubly happy about this sick, sick passion. ;)

all the best,

~~eee

The *new* advert page for Charm School, to be included in the Charm School Graphique books. The first one I'd made (back in Oct) was errm, quite boring. So this is the snazzy one, full of digitally realized prettiness!

More! To be! Made! And then I actually have to draw, just for the front matter of the book.

Many Things: Immediately after LosCon I learned I needed 2nd foot surgery to take out the hardware that had kept my wee, formerly smashed bones together (just did that---am on the mend), had a slew of contacts/projects to follow up on and maintain, received the new SUNDARK: An Elle Black Penny Dread e-book cover :D, which you can see in the pic included (it's LIVE at all e-book venues, but hasn't aggregated to BookLikes just yet), and I continue to work on the latest manuscript, secret for now, because keeping it so is just one way for me to get it done. I see a wrap-up by end of December, with apologies to my poor editor, who should have had the doc weeks ago.

The latest manuscript is my Charm School series in fiction (WAIT, WASN'T I SUPPOSED to keep that SECRET?), and I'm finding that because I'm writing in a contemporary fantasy setting, the writing is Faster. No need to check too many historical facts, except for correlating when the Norman invasion in what was England happened and what time period the Huns overran the eastern Roman Empire (500 yrs earlier). Chinese dynasties and dress styles were researched too, but not to the extensive, obsessive depth I'm usually capable of (FREEDOM). No need to run to Etymology Online to find out if I've written dialogue that would not have been heard in 19th c. Victorian London. I'm happy, Ecstatic I tell you, to be able to write the story and get it done, when as a graphic novel I'd probably be only on page 4---and looking at another year or so of drawing something people would finish reading in 5 minutes.

This story I'm working on was the one I'd always meant to follow "Hotroddin' To Hell And Back!", which still needs to be wrapped up in the comic book series. When there was a very low period in my life where I had to give up being an artist (long story having to do with hand injuries), I really saw no way for the story to ever be brought to life. I was only practicing writing fiction at the time, when my thumbs cooperated, and it was very hard to 'see' the story as something other than sequential art. Very hard to let go, shall we say, of my old injured self and become something unknown and new. I also could have offed myself during my Black Period and then we'd have never seen any of what I wanted to tell. :-p But I didn't, we are here today, it is being written, Words Alive to more depth, knowledge, and exploration far different from Drawing, and the girls, Bunny, Fairer Than, and Dean are living, speaking, doing, and making the story quite amazing. To me. And this is why I am thankful and happy.

Which means I may be hit by a truck in an hour or so, when I visit the doc, so let's hope that doesn't happen. The rest of the story hasn't been sent to the beta-reader yet. :-p

Now why did I link to Nabokov? Because I'd just bought the book on mp3 CD, seeing as I never give myself leisure time to really Read, not even to pause and look at the Kindle. Which is why I've unfinished reading commitments, though I'll always read a non-fiction work for research purposes. Theodora Goss shared this on her FB (and certainly feel free to Friend her there or at her Tumblr):

"There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines these three—storyteller, teacher, enchanter—but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes him a major writer … The three facets of the great writer—magic, story, lesson—are prone to blend in one impression of unified and unique radiance, since the magic of art may be present in the very bones of the story, in the very marrow of thought … Then with a pleasure which is both sensual and intellectual we shall watch the artist build his castle of cards and watch the castle of cards become a castle of beautiful steel and glass."

—Vladimir Nabokov

Someone in the thread recommended "Ana or Ardor", and after reading what it's about, I felt it fitting to give myself a break and listen to it when it comes in.

I hope you too are in the midst of building such things, or enjoying them. :)

all the best, ~eee ^v^