Working Confused

One problem that I've had over the years is looking too far ahead into a project. The one story I'm working on gets multiple sequels and then story-arcs occur to me and this and that and pretty soon my energy to write the first story fades because the third story seems more interesting. Soon nothing gets done.

I'm fighting that urge right now, in a much more limited way than previously. A story idea has occurred to me for the character I've been focused on of late: El Hombre de Silla. For the past couple months, I've been working on collecting a few shorter stories together in order to have enough text to generate a book. I want to mark that off my list as a thing that's done.

I'm not sure this story will fit in this book. It might be best served in the next collection, or possibly on it's own, I'm not sure yet. It will involve research to do properly. I found a book that will likely assist me with that yesterday.

I'm concerned all this will distract me from the goal of finishing the current work. So far, I've still been making progress on the current story, both in my head and on 'paper'. It just seems... weird to be using my creative powers and trying to fight them down at the same time.

It makes my head hurt a bit. Nothing new there I suppose.

A Few Thoughts on Comics from This Week

Very few thoughts this week as I got very few comics. Very light week.

Transformers - All Hail Megatron #8 (of 12) continues to keep my attention as have the earlier issues in the story. The art is clear, clean, and crisp. Characters are easy to identify by their appearance and their actions are well defined. The story progresses nicely here, apparently resolving a mystery or two and sets up more things to be concerned about. I've really been enjoying this as it's not just the standard Autobot/Decepticon battle that's been portrayed over the years. New York is in ruins and is in Decepticon control. It's a heady political thriller with action and robots. Mmm, robots.

Punisher (MAX) #68 - part three of the 'Six Hours to Kill' storyline. Frank has been poisoned and is expected to die in 6 hours. Rather than take on the mission and get the 'antidote' that he doesn't believe exists at the end, he's just decided to take out as many bad guys before he drops. The criminal element in the city, including corrupt politicians, try to stop him before he can do too much further damage. Action and gangster intrigue. So far, so good.

Invincible Iron Man #11 - part four of 'World's Most Wanted' storyline. Tony Stark (Iron Man) is on the run, a wanted criminal after failing to foresee the recent Skrull Invasion and protect his technology from this invasion. The story is making clear that Tony foresaw possible failure, perhaps not this specific failure but a failure, and took steps to prepare for what to do next. This is good business. A lot of little things happen in this issue. I'm still not sure if this is going to be a short-term storyline or if this is setting up the new setting for the book's foreseeable future. A few minus points to the artist, who's normally quite good, for making Norman Osborn look nothing like how the character is normally drawn. I didn't recognize him until the dialogue identifed him. Not good.

Besides that, I got an Index and two magazines. Very light week.

If there's a Third World, where's the Second World?

I don't like to complain about the physical comforts around me as I know that, relatively speaking, I have it very nice in America. Grousing about the availability of hot water at any given moment seems petty when compared to people in countries just looking for some clean water with which to help stay alive.

That said, you get used to things being a certain way. Certain cities are a bit different from others and certain states are vastly different from others. At the same time, living in a prosperous nation like America is, even at this specific economic point, you begin to expect certain things.

Like power. Energy.

I've lived in this neighborhood on the Northwest side of Milwaukee for almost fifteen years now and it's odd how frequently the power goes out. In the past five years, this has been especially the case. I imagine some of it is due to the new construction in the area. Not long after I updated the blog last night, the power dropped for four hours. I know when it came back on because I forgot to turn off the light switches (the lights were off, my brain didn't connect that the switches were still on because I had no light) and was woken up when the power, and lights, came back on. I think the last outage was in last December. It was morning so at least there was light to read by. Luckily it wasn't too cold a day but it was chilly by the time the power kicked back in.

It just seems odd that this is becoming more frequent. It was a minor outage and could have happened at worse times and at least my computer doesn't appear to be damaged but still.

And don't get me started on the pothole riddled roads!

Stinker from U.N.C.L.E.

I hate to criticize something that was quite possibly done as a last second thing but the last book I have in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. series, book #21, sure was a stinker. It could have been repurposed from the juvenile line of books and meant for a simpler audience. It may have been written in a weekend to fulfill a deadline for a book that didn't come through. It could have been heavily edited at the last second. Forty years later, who am I to say?

I just know it didn't read very well.

Awkward dialogue on a regular basis. The bulk of an early chapter is the standard U.N.C.L.E. organizational details that may have been slightly written from the series bible. No real transition from scene to scene or location to location. Loads of characters that get titles but no names.

Perhaps the author was young? If I had written that at 18 or 19, I would have been quite proud of myself. At my age, all I could do was edit it in my head. It lacked a lot of the wit of the other books, the well described locations, the clearly delineated characters.

I suppose, I paid my dollar years ago and took my chances. Only one didn't pan out. That's still not bad.

Brief Encounter

There had been enough walking for the moment. There was a bench around the corner, just past the escalator, in at the tail end of the 'Rocky Mountains' exhibits that would be a nice place to sit. As the bench was unoccupied, this would make my sitting easier. The whole area was quiet apart from the tape playing the sound of bears yelling and water crashing. I sat, leaned against the nearby replica tree, and started fiddling with my phone, responding to text messages. It was relaxing.

"Mind if I sit here too?"

It wasn't a squeaking voice but it had a squeaky quality to it. Sort of. It was hard to describe really, certainly unique. Momentarily annoyed that my peace had been broken, I looked up to observe the individual that had joined me.

There was no one there.

Before I could become too confused, there was a gentle cough. Looking down slightly, I could see the ... creature that had approached me. He was only a couple feet tall, green, and slightly fuzzy. He smiled. "Hi ho!"

I nodded towards the open end of the bench. "Sure. Go ahead."

He hopped up, literally, onto the bench and worked to make himself comfortable. "Thanks. Walking takes a lot out of the old flippers."

He raised a flipper attached to a skinny leg. "I can see that." This was an opportunity that couldn't be passed up. My phone could wait. "You're not from around here are you?"

"Nope. Just passing through. What gave me away? The accent?"

"Not really," I noted. "Just a passing familiarity with the Felt-Americans living in the area."

This got his attention. "You're a Friend of the Felt?"

I tried not to overstate my position. "In passing. I've met Albert at a few parties and we're friends on Facebook. It's not like I'm that close to the scene."

He grinned. "I've met the Alleycat before. Nice guy. Good deal."

"Do you want a tour? I've been coming here for years. I'm pretty familiar with some of the subtle details of the place."

"That would be swell."

I got up and gestured towards the main area, towards the Bison Hunt diorama. "C'mon, I'll show you where the rattlesnake button is hidden."

The green fella cheered, a "Yaaaaaaayyyy!" of pure enthusiasm.

Good times.