Roberson's Interminable Ramble

A little over two years ago, I raved on the Ramble about a one-shot comic entitled Hector Plasm: De Mortius. Here's what I said then:

Written by Benito Cereno with art by Nate Bellegarde, the comic is 48 pages of ghost-busting goodness. Hector Plasm is a benandante, accompanied by a beatnik devil and an avenging angel who could just have stepped out of a Sergio Leone western, and together they ramble around fighting ghosts and exorcizing demons. Well, appparently Hector does all the ghost fighting, for the most part, but you get the idea.

[snip]

Having looked forward to Hector Plasm: De Mortius for months, I was amazed to find that it's even better than I'd anticipated. One of the best comics I've read in recent months, and a tonic when faced with the never-ending events of the Big Two, I can't recommend it highly enough. Buy lots, so Cereno and Bellegarde won't have any choice but to keep churning out follow-ups.

Well, it took a little over two years, but the first of those follow-ups is now on its way.

Behold...

HECTOR PLASM: TOTENTANZ

Written by Benito Cereno, art and cover by Nate Bellgarde.

The creative team behind Invincible Presents: Atom Eve return to their original creation, a modern-day member of an ancient cult whose duties dictate that he roam the earth to protect the living from the dead...and occasionally to protect the dead from the living. It's the follow-up to the book WIZARD MAGAZINE called one of the top 200 comics released during its publication history.

48 pages, $5.99, in stores on Nov. 5.

Who doesn't want that? So get down to your local comic shop and order a copy, already!

Now, if we could only get Cereno to do more Tales from the Bully Pulpit...

Hey look, internets! A meme! (I haven't done one of these in a long while, so...)

Look up your birthday in Wikipedia. Pick 4 events, 3 births, 2 deaths, and 1 holiday.

EVENTS
1609 - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1768 - James Cook begins his first voyage.
1835 - The New York Sun perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax..
1944 - World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.

BIRTHS
1819 - Allan Pinkerton, American private detective (d. 1884)
1930 - Sean Connery, Scottish actor
1954 - Elvis Costello, English musician

DEATHS
1688 - Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer
1900 - Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (b. 1844)
1984 - Truman Capote, American author (b. 1924)

HOLIDAY
Roman festivals - Opiconsivia held in honor of Ops.

Longtime readers of the Ramble may recall that Geoff Johns was responsible a while back for the return of my Fortress of Solitude. Not "my" Fortress, that is, but the Fortress of my Superman. (Who is pals with my Batman, in case you didn't know.) And now Johns is about to bring back an even bigger set-piece to Superman continuity.

I've fallen in and out and in love again with Johns's work over the years, but I have to agree with Dean Trippe when he says that Johns appears to have "leveled up" the last couple of years. Between his work on Green Lantern and his run on Action Comics, Johns is all aces in my book these days.

And while he's been gradually rebuilding the Green Lantern franchise from the ground up (using as a framework the contributions of Alan Moore to the canon), he's been refurbishing Superman as well, gradually reworking the character and his continuity with an "include and transcend" approach that is more than a little reminiscent of the Superman 2000 pitch worked up years ago by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Mark Millar, and Tom Peyer (more about which here). In the current arc he's busy reinventing Brainiac, but as soon as that arc is through he'll be moving onto a storyline called "New Krypton."

Here are Alex Ross's covers to Superman #681, Action Comics #871 and Supergirl #35 (parts 2-4 of the nine part "New Krypton" storyline):


Talk about "include and transcend"! There are characters there from damn-near every interpretation of Krypton I can think of, in comics, television, and film. Right there in the center? That's Nightwing and Flamebird, the "Batman and Robin of Kandor" (though they don't appear to be exactly any version we've seen before). And on the right there, in the red, white and blue? That looks an awful lot like the Kristen Wells Superwoman, who was teased early in Johns's run on Action.

My favorite Superman of the moment remains Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman, but Geoff Johns's run on Action Comics is running a very close second.

I'm back at my desk after ArmadilloCon, and trying to get my brain back up to speed. No more cons for me, please, at least not until my liver's had a chance to regrow a bit.

ArmadilloCon was low-impact, as it usually is, and I had a great time as always. Lots of great conversations with terrific folks. In one of those meandering discussions, Jayme Lynn Blaschke told me about a YouTube "viral video" featuring Jemaine Clement (of Flight of the Conchords fame) as a science fiction writer. He couldn't remember any more detail than that (Blaschke brews his own beer, so we have to make certain allowances for him), but a bit of Googling yesterday turned this up.



For more about Dr. Ronald Chevalier, author of such works as The Cyborg Harpies Trilogy and Brain Cream, check out his website (or web-sanctum, as the intro puts it) at ronaldchevalier.com (or you could wait for Jared Hess's Gentlemen Broncos, due out next year...)

There's no rest for the weary...

This weekend I'll be a programming participant at ArmadilloCon 30, here in sunny Austin, TX (and for "sunny," read "ungodly hot"). If you're in the area and planning to attend, here's where you might find me (or might want to avoid if you don't want to find me... and you know who you are).

Sa1300DZ Cartoon Network
Sat 1:00 PM-2:00 PM deZavala
B. Foster, Martinez, Roberson*, Rosen, Salvaggio
Our panelists discuss recent highlights from this essential cable channel.

Sa1400R Reading
Sat 2:00 PM-2:30 PM Robertson
Chris Roberson

Sa1900DW Book Covers
Sat 7:00 PM-8:00 PM deWitt
Denton, Picacio, Hart, Roberson, Rosen, Spencer*
What makes a great -- or not-so-great -- cover? How much difference can it make to the success of a book? How can the artist and author collaborate?

Su1300PN From Agent to Editor to Publisher to Store
Sun 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Phoenix North
Finn, G. Haldeman, Leicht, Roberson, Rosen*
We examine the process and decisions between an author finishing a book and it showing up on store shelves.

I'm informed by reliable sources that the omnibus Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions, which includes my short novel Brave New World, is now available in stores. In the last week or two that I've been on the road, a few reviews and related pieces have appeared online about the book.

The site TrekMovie (which also features an interview with me on the story, Star Trek, and sf in general), has given my contribution a fairly glowing review:

In quite possibly the most though provoking of the six Myriad Universes tales, Chris Roberson explores the practical and philosophical implications of the proliferation of both mechanical life forms (in the wake of Dr. Noonien Soong’s wildly successful android program) and the ability to migrate the consciousness from the organic to the positronic mind of an android.

Roberson makes effective use if the work of TNG’s pioneers of artificial life (Soong and Dr. Ira Graves) to create a storyline replete with plenty of action and an unparalleled depth of thought that brings the volume to an effective conclusion. Throughout the story we meet many new and interesting android characters, each of them playing a role in exploring the questions of existence on their own terms.

Brave New World presents many ideas that are somewhat foreign to the various Star Trek television series. While Trek is often used as a lens to examine the human condition, Roberson attempts to drill down to the essence of sentience, and where it is to be found. When the examination is complete, nothing is ever the same again.

While the story itself is fast paced, interesting, and surprisingly humorous for the subject matter, the real payoff of Roberson’s work is the epilogue, which ends the tale in a manner that can only be called pure science fiction at its best.

Another Trek site, TrekWeb, has also weighed in with the following review:

Chris Roberson proves he should be writing more Trek stories with Brave New World. Doctor Soong was successful in his experiments and now cybernetics is common throughout the Federation. Several years before, Data mysteriously disappeared and the crew of the Enterprise has always wondered why he left. When Picard receives a mysterious message from him asking the Enterprise to come into the Neutral Zone, he must decide if he can trust his former officer. And, is it really Data? The epilogue is unnecessary, but the rest of the story provides excellent character arcs and surprises.

And a fan blog, Musings of a fandom geek, has done an overview of the omnibus, and seems to have enjoyed my story as well:

Closing out this second volume, newcomer Chris Roberson weaves a tale of a more personal nature than the others that have gone before, which takes its place as my favourite story from the book. Here, Noonien Soong’s research proceeds ahead of schedule, leading to his creating Data long before the Crystalline Entity arrives to interrupt his work. The Soong-type android is unveiled to the Federation, and more are soon created. The story picks up in 2378, with androids now recognised as sentient beings, although with some limitations on their rights. The technique used by Ira Graves in the TNG episode “The Schizoid Man” has been developed here, too, and people have been permitted to transfer their minds to android bodies in the event of bodily deterioration.
[snip]
The questions of morality, spirituality, and science raised are extremely thought-provoking, as is the spotlight thrown on the role and impact of technology, which forms the heart of the story.

Has anyone here had a chance to check out the book yet? I'm curious to hear the reactions of readers with a prior familiarity with my work, as well.

Hello, internets. Remember me?

I've been to two conventions in the last two and a half weeks, and will be at another in three more days. Last night was the first time I'd slept in my own bed in a week in a half, and only the sixth time I'd done so in nearly three weeks. My brain and body (and especially the long-suffering liver and lungs) are beaten, but I've had a great time and seen lots of terrific people. Now I have loads of work to get done before the end of the month, and have to try to remember how this whole typing thing works.

I'll share a bit more when I'm a little more cogent, but thought I'd chime in so no one suspected I was dead or anything.

I'm not dead.

So, how are you, internets? Hear any good news lately?

Here's my scheduled program items for next week's WorldCon in Denver, in case anyone is interested.

And, as always, at all other times I can most likely be found either wandering around the dealer's room or else flying the flag in the hotel bar in the "party hotel".

(Note: My travel plans have changed a bit, and I'll be getting in a little later than planned. I should be able to make it to my Wednesday at 1:00pm panel, lord willing and the creek don't rise, but if there's any snags along the way I might not make it there in time.)

Wednesday 1:00PM
14 Has there ever been a good movie adaptation of an SF book?
CCC - Room 507
From War of the Worlds to the adventures of Harry Potter, some people love the movie adaptations and some hate them. What makes the movement from page to screen worth watching? What literary devices have to be cut or changed for the transition to the silver
screen? Are there any really good movie adaptations out there?
Chris Roberson, Craig Miller, (m) Matthew Rotundo

Thursday 2:30 PM
173 Kaffeeklatsch
CCC - Korbel 4E
Charles Brown, Chris Roberson, David Gerrold, Ed Bryant

Thursday 5:30 PM
228 Swashbucklers in Space
CCC - Korbel 1C
Not as evil as pirates, but twice as much fun! Swashbucklers, whether in space or on the high seas, are often found fighting on the side of the good guys - but in quite non-standard ways!
Chris Roberson, Darlene Marshall, (m) Karl Schroeder, SM Stirling, Tobias Buckell

Friday 10:45 AM
286 Signing (45 minutes)
CCC - Hall D
Bill Patterson, Chris Roberson, Jody Lynn Nye

Friday 5:30 PM
427 Sidewise Awards
Sheraton - 2nd Level, Tower Court D
Chris Roberson, Evelyn Leeper, Jay Lake, Jo Walton, John Scalzi, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Michael Flynn, Sheila Williams, Stephen Baxter, Steven Silver

Saturday 1:00 PM
496 Battlestar Galactica
CCC - Room 505
Who did it best and why? Was it really the same story told a different way, or was it something altogether different with a few familiar names?
Chris Roberson, (m) Edward Muller, John Joseph Adams, Randy Smith