Comicpalooza! This banner event is finally upon us. Are you ready? Am I ready? The agreement for our artist alley table finally arrived last week, and the first fact that leapt from the text is that is going to be an endurance test for vendors. According to the agreement, artist tables must be set up, staffed and ready for business from (1) 11:30 a.m. Friday until 2:00 a.m. Saturday, (2) from 9:30 a.m. Saturday until 2:00 a.m. Sunday, and (3) from 9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Sunday. With windows of opportunity this large, there is no excuse for you slackers in Kansas or Alabama not to drive in for a few hours of shopping the artist tables and dealer room. Just think of the talent and personalities coming together for the event, get yourself into the gas hog and on the road. Ms. Kimmerly and I shall be working shifts at our table, #48. We’ll have books, dice and all manner of things Stikmantic, PLUS news about the coming release of our Dvarsh primer/glossary AND plans for the first collection of Amanda’s fiction. It would be wonderful to see you there.

Here I’ve been remiss again. Almost two weeks after BayouCon III, and I’m just now getting around to a recap. The good news is that I have reasons for letting my attention fix elsewhere. The bad news is, so what? I haven’t been updating this site. “Yeah,” the other voice answers, “but I’ve been productive”—and I have, at least a little.

Part One of Rose Moon, the paranormal romance I am writing for serial publication by a new ‘zine launching in coming months from Zarathustra Publishing. Piloted by editor in chief and publisher Jeremiah Griffin, Zarathustra Publishing is the agency behind The Sorcerer’s Scrolls, the gaming magazine that featured my story, “Death on the Toilet,” in issue #47. I believe Mr. Griffin waits only for me to finish an illustration for the cover before scheduling the new venue’s launch, and that is the OTHER thing I’ve been working on instead of updating this site. As soon as final revision of “Part One” shot into the queue, the bulk of my attention shifted to illustration mode and detailed rendering of a scantily clad woman referenced in the narrative. Failure to blog is worth the sacrifice for such a return to the roots of (male) fantasy.

CONFABULE, rendered in DVARSH

Apart from these lonely pursuits, my collaboration with Amanda  in the field of reperiolinguistics has continued to move forward. We are up to elbows in development of the Dvarsh primer. Last I checked in with Ms. Kimmerly I think we inclined toward calling this initial work, The Way it Grows, an introduction to Dvarsh. The eventual title will be in that ball park. The ball park itself will be set in a wider complex. Take this as a pre-announcement of expanding horizons. Coming together around our Dvarsh language project, Amanda and I are in advanced stages of forming a company to bring to market all manner of Dvarsh cultural materials that have emerged as elements of backstory to The Hidden Lands of Nod. With Amanda as editorial director, the new entity, Confabule LLC, will produce these items and such other creative expressions as we jointly see fit.

Good and well, but what about BayouCon III? Lake Charles was muggy and damp, and the crowds were small. Although we managed to sell a few books, the real dividends were in new friends. Special mention goes to Kimberly Richardson and Allan Gilbreath, of Kerlak Publishing, neighbors in the dealers room. Besides being wonderful people, Kimberly and Allen are accomplished authors and editors. Kimberly, at least, is also a reviewer, and has graced Prelude to a Change of Mind with a kind review. In a beautiful parallel, Amanda posted a review of Kimberly’s book, Tales from a Goth Librarian. Doubly nice about Amanda’s review is that she has passed Kim’s book back my way for MY turn. In other notice, we also made the local paper, The American Press.

Looking to the future, Comicpalooza manifests at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, May 27-29. Blue Moose Press will have a booth in the dealers room, augmented by a Robert Stikmanz table in artists alley. We return to the Houston area one short month later for ApolloCon 2011, at the DoubleTree Hotel Houston Intercontinental Airport, June 24-26. Our arrangement there will be the same: Blue Moose Press in the dealers room, and a Stikmanz table in artists alley.

P.S.: Check out the new Blue Moose Press website.