GATEWALKER goes live!

Several months ago, RC came across a craigslist ad for a nifty-sounding literary website called JukePop Serials. Their goal was to revive the age-old tradition of serialized fiction on the web (ironically, only a few months before Amazon/Kindle had the same idea).

JukePop invited writers to send in the "starts" -- ie. first chapters -- for their proposed serial novels, and if accepted, they would be paid for that first chapter. After that, each subsequent chapter would have the potential to earn cash prizes every month. 

Since I was just starting to poke and prod at my prose writing again for the first time in years, she threw this ad at me and said, "SUBMIT!" And, since I submit to just about anything RC demands of me, I dusted off an idea I'd been slow-cooking since 1999, and gave it a go. 

It was accepted, and this week, it went live.

Cover art & layout by Kerry Ellis.

Heir to a legacy he never imagined, hunted by an enemy he cannot see, one boy’s only hope for survival rests in the hands of a powerless wizard and the blades of a master assassin.  

GATEWALKER 

Brian Donovan never knew his real parents. He’s never seen his true home. He leads the life of an ordinary New York teen; riding subways to and from school, exploring worlds of fantasy through books and art, and trying to muster up enough courage to talk to that one girl...  

When a random act of violence brings that reality crashing down around him, the veil is lifted and Brian’s true destiny is revealed. Now on the run from an otherworldly threat, Brian must endure physical, emotional, and psychological trials as he uncovers the secrets kept from him his entire life. 

For in this new world of danger and magic, sacrifice is only the beginning.

You can read Gatewalker for free HERE. 


But that's not all! 


RC also submitted a story, and she was also accepted!

Cover art by Kuroi-kisin, 

Layout by Kerry Ellis.

TO EMBRACE THE SUN 

Taj has been a slave for as long as he can remember. He dreams of something more, and through his adventures and YOUR choices, he may learn the hidden truths behind who and what he really is.

You read that right; it's a Choose Your Own Adventure-type story. At the end of each chapter, she will present you with several possible choices the main character can make. The readers have one week to cast their vote in the comment section (which is not the same as clicking the "+ Vote Chapter" button -- more on that later). 

At the end of the week, the winning choice decides the direction the story takes next... and these choices could change EVERYTHING. The character's relationships, successes and failures, even the resolution of his story, are all at the whim of the readership. You don't want to miss this. 

You can read To Embrace The Sun for free HERE. 


...but THAT's not all!!! 


Our buddy KC ALSO submitted a story and was ALSO accepted!

Cover art & layout by Miranda Taff.

DAGGERS 

A dark fantasy saga of revenge and redemption unfolds as the children of the Blackstone - born with otherworldly gifts, stolen from their homes, and schooled in the art of killing - seek to break the bonds that hold them in captivity.

Remember two years ago, I wrote a post about the D&D game my friend was running that was so immersive it traumatized us all and became one of the most rewarding creative experiences of my life? 

This is that story. Only told now in KC's own world, with characters loosely based on the ones we played in the game. This is a story thirty-some-odd years in the making, and it's damn exciting to think that other people will finally be able to experience it. 

You can read Daggers for free HERE. 


...BUT THAT'S NOT okay yes that's all. 


Ain't that enough? 

Now, a word on voting: 

It's your civic duty.

Now, a word on voting on JukePop: 

You can read all of these stories for free, without having to sign up for anything. But you're only able to vote them up and leave comments if you register. 

I usually hate having to register with a website or social network just to interact with it, but at least with JukePop, there's a good reason for it.

Infographic courtesy of JukePop Serials' About page. 

You see, every time you click the "+ Vote Chapter" button at the bottom of the story page, you're boosting that story's chances of winning the money at the end of the month. You can up-vote as many stories as you want, but you can only up-vote a particular chapter once. Which is only fair.

Infographic courtesy of JukePop Serials' About page. 

So, by making everyone register to vote, the top 30 stories can be rewarded based on their actual merit, rather than how often a person can click the vote button in an hour. 

Signing up is a quick, painless process, and casting your vote will help us continue to be paid for our writing, which is always a nice thing. 

So, read to your heart's content, vote to ours, and enjoy this new adventure in serialized fiction!

Hear me out... Movie Adaptations

I have a fondness for movie adaptations that make fantastical or cartoonish source material "work" by adding darker, more "realistic" elements.

The two prime examples I can think of are Bryan Singer's X-Men movies:



And Super Mario Bros. The Movie:

(stay with me...)

Now, that doesn't mean I don't love a good 100% faithful adaptation -- I do! Sin City, 300, the (first two) Spider-Man movies, even the recent Marvel-produced movies are largely, with only slight exceptions (or in some cases, none at all), committing the comics page to screen, and I love that!

But, I also love the idea of breaking things down to what they are at their core.

For example, my favorite of the Punisher movies (relative to each other) is the first one, because it felt like what the Punisher would really be like in the real world. He's not a dude in black spandex and a skull logo spouting poetic verse about how the guilty must be punished, he's a dirty, greasy, disturbed, dead-eyed headcase who lives in the sewers and only comes up to murder criminals.

(while spouting poetic verse about how the guilty must be punished)

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•

•

(technically, my favorite Punisher movie is Man on Fire...)

(...but that's neither here nor there.)

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"What would the X-Men be like if they existed in the real world?"

Well, they wouldn't be brightly colored superheroes beating up supervillains, they'd be a paramilitary force dressed for combat, fighting a secret war against a ragtag group of terrorists.

Because, here's the thing... when I look at a comic -- and primarily, I'm talking about superhero comics here -- I'm seeing the real world cast through a fantastical lens. And I enjoy it! It stimulates the imagination to contrast these things against what I know to be true.

So, conversely, taking the fantastical and casting it through a realistic lens has much the same effect. It's taking one thing and shaping it into a different kind of thing, while still keeping what made the original thing distinctive.

And it's the same for Super Mario Bros!

"What would Super Mario Bros. be like if it existed in the real world?"

(and I love this part)

"It would be FUCKING BLADE RUNNER!!!"

Of course it would!

Seriously, what an act of sheer invention. To take this nonsensical world of castles and mushrooms and evil dragon/turtle/monster kings and heroic plumbers, and turn it into a gritty cyberpunk dystopia where the meteorite that supposedly killed the dinosaurs actually split the Earth into two parallel dimensions and oh fuck it, just let the movie explain.

I can honestly say that a 100% faithful adaptation of the game to live action would not have been anywhere near as interesting as the film that was made. Yet it still had all the little elements that made it distinctly Mario Bros. They were representations and approximations, but they were there. It felt like this crazy little Elseworlds version of the video game.

And that's really the point, I guess. Movies can be that, because they'll never be the original thing. And sometimes it's better to invent (or reinvent) rather than adapt, because ultimately, all the latter means is that you're being told a story you already know -- and the first telling is usually better.

Movies that aren't afraid to change things up may very well end up crap...

(cough)

...or they may end up showing you your favorite thing from a new angle.

And as long as it's still about a group of outcasts protecting a world that hates and fears them...



...or a couple of stalwart plumbers saving the princess from a tyrannical king...



...then it still maintains what's special about the original.

And despite what many may convince themselves of when trying to win arguments on the internet, that's really all that matters.

After all, I can think of another series that follows this pattern...