From A Dargon to An Armadillo.
In which we move on from Atlanta to Austin and spend time amongst our people.
As expected, last weekend at Dragon Con was both overwhelming and fun. We had a great time in Atlanta. We sold some stuff, talked about stuff, pitched some stuff, but most of all caught-up with friends old & new, plus met and chatted with some amazing folks.
Highlights included getting to moderate the Comics & Rock panel with Steve Horton (Bowie), Amy Chu (KISS), Andrew Robinson (5th Beatle), and Rodney Barnes (Alice Cooper). A special note of thanks to each of them for the great conversation and stories.
The James Bond panel pulled in a good crowd to talk about Goldfinger & The Man With The Golden Gun. Kudos to my fellow panelists, Van Allen Plexico, Caro Mccully Tidwell, and Janne McKamey.
I also enjoyed The Beatles panel expertly moderated by R Alan Siler
And a tip of the hat to the audience member who asked the Ringo Starr vs Pete Best question that allowed me to plug specific episodes of the Before They Were Beatles podcast.
The chance to go bin-diving for $1 comics was an unexpected bonus that resulted in a nice selection to add to the spinner rack once we get home.
But before we head home we are making a stop back in Austin for this weekend’s ArmadilloCon Convention
As this issue of the newsletter drops I’ll be helping out as an instructor at the pre-convention Writers’ Workshop
For the convention itself, I’ll be on panels covering:
Stories on the High Seas.
Multimedia and Non-Traditional Storytelling Models.
Where Do Ideas Come From?
Telling Stories for Corporations and Public Agencies.
Marketing.
As well as catching up with Texas-based friends along the way.
Alan
Other Stuff
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Brabazon Bits
This week marked the 75th anniversary of the Brabazon’s first flight, which you can check out in the newsreel below.
The book is making great progress with copy editing almost done, plus I’m starting to get some great feedback and notes from the group of aviation industry first readers.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2024 - “Knife” by Salman Rushdie
I’ll admit I’ve never read any of Salman Rushdie’s novels, but a short extract in another book review thread made me want to read this. And I’m so glad I did.
On 12 August 2022, Rushdie was attacked on stage by a knife-wielding attacker who left the novelist with 15 stab wounds across his face and body, crippling one of his hands and destroying his right eye.
This memoir is an open and revealing account by Rushdie of his life, his healing process, and his thoughts about his young attacker.
It’s at times brutally frank and detailed about his injuries, his despair, and the struggles of his rehabilitation.
But it’s also a love letter to his friends, his family, and above all his wife.
The result is a compelling, beautiful work of introspection that I found difficult to put down.
This memoir is proof that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, or in this case the knife.
Our online bookstore at Bookshop.org is fully up to date with the books read so far in 2024, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores .
Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues as we continue our look at June 1969 with issues published in Australia, Brazil, and Denmark.
All were straightforward reprints of existing US covers so nothing really worthy of a spotlight this week.
Motor Sports In The Comics - I was surprised this week to find an issue of the British weekly comic The Valiant with a motor sports cover I hadn’t seen before. Featuring the iconic motor-cycle racing rivalry between Britain’s Phil Read and the Italian multiple World Champion, Giacomo Agostini. I was lucky enough to see both of them in action in the mid-1970s, around the time that this very comic was published.
Where on the Web is Alan?
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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