“Hereville” Reviewed on “A Blog About Comics”

Getting a webcomic reviewed is more difficult than I would have imagined. I even made a preview website with the entire story, so reviewers could read the whole thing before making a judgement.

When I think about it, though, it makes sense that it’s hard: There are tens of thousands of webcomics out there, and precious few reviewers. I sent requests to a lot of reviewers asking them to consider critiquing “Hereville,” but until today, no dice. (I’m still hoping, though.)

Which brings me to some news: Deniselle of A Blog About Comics has posted a review of “Hereville” — the very first review of the complete “How Mirka Got Her Sword” story that’s ever been published. I’m feeling a bit gushy about that.

And it’s a positive review (phew!), fairly lengthy with some interesting analysis. Deniselle read a preview copy of the whole first story, so she’s read some stuff regular “Hereville” readers haven’t seen yet, but don’t worry, she was careful to avoid spoilers.

Mirka’s fixation with being a dragon-slayer is unexplained, which is interesting. It seems to arise from her personality, not be some fate cast upon her (Lord of the Rings style) nor a burden she has to come to terms with. She wants to be a dragon slayer because it’s who she is. Whether or not she’s meant to slay dragons is interestingly ambiguous.

Please head on over to Deniselle’s blog to read the whole thing. :-)

Sketchblogging: Self-Portrait As Muppet

“Hereville” Comic Book Convention Banner

This is a design for the banner that I’ll be hanging behind my table at Stumptown, where I’ll be premiering the dead-tree edition of Hereville. The banner is planned to be eight feet wide by three feet high (gulp). I’ll be hanging it from a mounting device I’m building myself out of PVC pipe. It feels more than a little embarrassing — there’s nothing in the world I hate more than selling myself — but I’ve decided I really want to go all-out on this.

So the first question is, what do folks think of the design? It’s really just a variation of the webpage header.

And my second question is, how high off the ground should I get this? The plan I downloaded is for an eight foot high display, so the banner would start at five feet off the ground and end eight feet off the ground. Is that high enough, or should be using a nine foot or ten foot plan instead?

Any advice would be appreciated.

UPDATE: Here’s version two:

Podcastle Premieres!

PodCastle is the world’s first fantasy audio magazine. Each week we bring you short stories across the spectrum of fantasy from leading authors and new discoveries. Like our sister podcasts, Escape Pod and Pseudopod, PodCastle is entirely free to listen and share.

(This is a paying market, so any fantasy writers reading this, take note.)

Podcastle is edited by fantasy writer Rachel Swirsky, who is one of my best friends, and whose help and input on “Hereville” has been utterly invaluable.

The premiere podcast features one of the biggest names in fantasy fiction, and a short story I was once obsessed with: “Come, Lady Death” by Peter. S. Beagle.