Help a brother out. And win a free t-shirt!

by john | Jan 4, 2013 | Real Life

There is a contest attached to this post, I promise. But you have to read all the way to the end of the post to enter. Deal with it, this shit’s important.

I’ve met Peter David once. For about ten seconds. I’m sure he doesn’t remember. Hell, I barely remembered until I sat down to write this. It was one of those con meetings, before I had any success or could get conventions to give me badges and spots on panels. I had watched him on a panel talking about his new self-published venture, and at the end of it I went up to grab a card for the new book and mentioned to him that I really loved his work on X-Factor and particularly his run on The Incredible Hulk, which to this day is the only run on Hulk I really got into. He said thanks, and we both moved on.

So let’s be totally clear – I don’t know the man other than as a fan. I’ve sat in rooms where he’s been on panels, and I don’t always agree with everything he’s got to say. For a while there he got a little Joe Konrath-esque in his lambasting of traditional publishers as he championed the cause of self-publishing, but most folks go through that. If we’re lucky, we do it quietly and very few people notice. If we’re best-sellers, we draw a little more attention to ourselves.

But I digress. Longtime comic fans got that joke, I promise. The point of this is not whether or not Peter David is my friend, which he isn’t, or whether or not I am still a fan of Peter David, which I am. The point is that right now, Peter David is my brother, and he needs your help. Peter had a stroke on December 30th, and is currently recuperating in the hospital. He is getting some movement back on his right side, and he can speak, but he has a long road to get back to the level of mobility and health he was accustomed to.

And it’s going to be f’n expensive. According to his wife Kathleen on Peter’s website, they have insurance, but getting hospital sick right around New Year’s bones you twice. It’s not like getting sick in July, where you deal with deductibles and copays ’til you max out for the year, then you’re done. Oh no! Peter did it up right. He got a couple days’ worth of hospital care knocked out under 2012 deductibles and copays, then stayed right on through until the insurance reset three days ago. So double the out-of-pocket for the Davids. If that’s not kicking a fellow when he’s down, I don’t know what is.

But thanks to Davey Beauchamp, who’s been keeping his Facebook updated with Peter’s situation, now I know how to help. And I’m going to share that information with you.

Buy his books.

Not his tradpub stuff, although those books are awesome and we want those to sell, but the Davids won’t see any money from any of his licensed property work or graphic novel work for months, if not a year or more.

No, this is one time when the quick payment of the self-pub world can really make a difference in an author’s life. Go to PeterDavid.net and read the post from Kathleen. Then buy one of his self-pubbed books. The money from those books will be in Peter’s bank account by the end of March, and that’s going to be a huge help for someone who is racking up thousands of dollars in healthcare costs every day. And that’s with insurance.

I don’t mind telling you that this is a couple of my greatest fears. Strokes run in my family, and my mother started having small strokes about the time she turned fifty. She has full-blown Alzheimer’s now, and it’s terrifying to watch. Since I turn forty this year, it’s on the list of things I worry about. And an extended hospital stay would be horrific to my financial situation right now, since I’m just making ends meet by hustling as hard as I can. So I feel for Peter, and I’m going to go buy some of his books.

And they’ll be awesome, because the man made me weep over an issue of The Incredible Hulk, so how can his other fiction now be amaze balls?

Your mission today – go buy a Peter David book, then come back here and click the little Rafflecopter thingy. You can get entries for every book you buy – but don’t bullshit me, I’ll find out somehow! You can also get entries for sharing this link on Twitter or on Facebook. One winner will receive a free “Read Recklessly” T-shirt in awesome black, and something cool autographed. I dunno what, maybe a neat Magic card or something. Drawing is Monday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks

by john | Dec 19, 2012 | Real Life

For keeping the discussion civil on my last post. I got a lot of comments from people I know, some from people I don’t know, and at least one from a guy I’ve known since elementary school! Everyone agrees that we have to do something to prevent another tragedy like what happened in Newtown.

So, since we need to be the change we want to see in the world, I’m going to start doing my part to work against the glorification of the gun in my own work. I’m not sure exactly what form that’s going to take – it’s not like Bubba is suddenly going to stop carrying a gun. That would be silly, and out of character. But he might solve a few more problems with brains than bullets, and maybe Jimmy won’t be carrying a shotgun on the cover of the next Black Knight Chronicles book.

Let’s be clear – I don’t think urban fantasy novels are big contributor to gun violence in America. But we may be a tiny part. And maybe that butterfly effect is real. Maybe a small change in my books can create a large change in my world. I have to think so. I have to hope so. Because my ranting on Facebook isn’t enough. Victor Cruz writing on his shoes isn’t enough. Tom Brady wearing a sticker on his helmet isn’t enough. Bob Costas talking isn’t enough. President Obama tearing up on camera isn’t enough. We as a nation have gotten to a place where life isn’t precious to everyone anymore. And I don’t just mean the lives of the children and teachers that were lost. I mean the shooter, too. The mentally ill young man who didn’t get the help he needed.

We failed them all.

That’s why it hurts so much, because you failed them too. I did. I failed my society because I haven’t done everything I can for people who need my help. I’ve turned away from people who are mentally unstable because they make me uncomfortable, without doing everything I can to help. I’ve done my part to make guns “cool,” by putting them in the hands of my wisecracking characters and showing little to no consequence for their reckless handling of heavy weaponry.

Now look, I don’t want everybody to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.” For the first point, I don’t know where your hands have been. But I do think that this is an opportunity for every one of us to look at the issues in the world around us and see if we’re doing anything to make them better. We bitch a lot. I know, I’m on Facebook, so I know exactly how much some of you bitch. And I bitch a lot, too. Now’s the time to stop bitching and make the world better.

This is a ramble, but it’s my blog, so get over it. But I think I may have meandered around to a point. Here’s my promise to you – I will be a more responsible writer in the future, and I will continue to use my writing to try and change my world for the better. Bubba will still be armed, and Jimmy will still have a shoot-first, ask questions later attitude, but I can show more consequences, and I can make it clear that I understand that I don’t live or work in a vacuum. I have already used my bully pulpit to try to subtly advance the cause of marriage equality and gay rights (and if you missed that in Back in Black, then you really weren’t paying attention), so this isn’t really a new thing for me.

What are you going to do? How are you going to be the change? Let me know in the comments, so I can hold you accountable. Because I know for damn sure my readers will hold me to it.

Facebooking

by john | Dec 15, 2012 | Real Life

In the wake of the tragic events in Connecticut yesterday, my heart goes out to the parents and families of the children, teachers and school personnel that lost their lives. I’m not a parent, so I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have my heart and soul ripped out like that. But it brings a lot of emotions to the forefront, a lot of fear, a lot of anger, and a lot of helplessness. And in America, when we feel helpless, we lash out blindly at whatever is nearest, even if they’re our friends. So you’ll see a lot of wide-ranging things on Facebook over the next week or so that will piss you off, hurt your feelings, and make you re-think people you thought were your friends.

Please don’t.

Don’t be the person that refuses to be friends with someone because they are blind on one issue, or because when they feel that an important part of their lifestyle is under attack, that they respond in kind. Take a step back, remember why you’re friends with that person, and see if there’s more than one reason. There probably is. If there are more reasons to be friends with them than there are reasons not to, then you should still be friends.

A very personal example of this is my friend Special K and I. I consider K to be one of my best friends in the world. He’s one of the guys that no matter what I need, I know I can call him and he’ll be there as soon as possible. We disagree politically more than pretty much anyone else I associate with. There’s almost no point in a political discussion that we come down on the same side on. In today’s world of wall posts, de-friending and snap judgements, there’s no way he and I should still be friends. But we are.

Because our friendship is real, and exists outside of a computer program.

Now I’m not saying that simply because you’ve accepted a friend request from someone that you ride the elevator or subway with each morning and have never spoken three words to outside of your commute, that you should listen to any kind of craziness that they’re spewing. But I am saying that if there are people that you’ve broken bread with, drank a beer with, laughed with, and had meaningful contact with – you should maybe not have a knee-jerk reaction to something they spew out on Facebook in a time of high emotion.

We need our friends. We may not need everyone that the computer tells us is a friend, but the real ones are worth more than just a button-click whenever they say something to piss you off. A real friend is someone like me & K, who can argue vehemently opposing positions, but still drink a beer together, watch a football game together, and be there for each other. Friend is a word that has a lot of meaning to me, and it’s used too lightly for my taste, but it’s one of the most important jobs that you can have. Don’t fire a real one over a political disagreement. Real friends argue.

This was not what I planned to write about. At some point in the next few days I’ll polish up my nascent idea for reforming gun control laws in the US that will likely make no one happy on any side of the issue, but I think is fair to everyone. I’m not quite ready to put that out there, and it still feels a little too soon, so I’ll let it percolate for a couple more days. For now, hug somebody you care about.

Oversharing

by john | Oct 8, 2012 | Real Life

I has it. I’ve been called on it more than once in my internet life, but it’s too late to stop now, methinks. So if you’re not interested in learning way too much about the mental state of your favorite redneck urban fantasy author, you should click over to something else.

Still here? Sick voyeurs, aren’t you?

Well, here’s the reason my word count has sucked for the last six weeks – I’ve been depressed.

Simple as that.

Nope, no good reason, no inciting incident, nothing has gone off the rails terribly, in fact a lot of things have gone right for me lately.

It doesn’t matter.

You see, for those of you who haven’t dealt with it, depression isn’t sadness. Sadness typically has a reason behind it. “My cat died – I’m sad.” “I lost my job – I’m worried and sad.” “A schoolbus ran over my foot – I’m cursing in pain and I’m sad because now there’s blood all over my new shoes.”

Depression doesn’t need a reason, it invents them.

I only sold two thousand books last month, I must be worthless.

I didn’t get the lead in the play I auditioned for, I’m a terrible actor.

I only brought in an extra thousand dollars working crew for the DNC, I’m a terrible provider.

Please note that all of those statements are actually good things – but depression takes the good things in your life and spins them into crap.

Instead of thinking “I got cast in a play in only my second audition this year. The cast is great, the parts I got are awesome, and I’m having a lot of fun working with this team.” I got spun into other crap. For the record, I am in a play. The cast is great. I didn’t get the lead, but I’m the wrong age and race for the leads, and the parts I have are awesome and I’m having a blast in the show.

But depression lies. It’s a lying liar and it lies.

I know this. I’ve battled depression since high school. And I’ve always won. You know how I know I’ve won?

I’m still here.

My uncle battled depression. He lost. I miss him.

So I’ve spent the last month or so in a funk of not much activity, not much writing, not much promotion, not much of anything except going to a few rehearsals, teaching a few classes, and generally muddling through. I managed to shower most days. I managed to not fight with my wife more than once most days. I managed to do the bare minimum to keep moving forward and meet most of my responsibilities most days.

Which means that I won. Again. I started to feel myself pulling out of it a few days ago, and I can only imagine that it’s like getting pulled out of quicksand. The huge sucking weight of it wants to pull you back in, but you fight it, and you pull. I’m not back to normal yet, but I’ve had enough practice dealing with this bullshit that you’ll never know it on the street or hanging out with me in a bar.

I’ve dealt with my depression this way for most of 25 years now. I muddle through until eventually it passes. This was a medium-length episode, about six weeks. The longest one lasted for most of 2002. The worst ones were back in high school, when it felt so dead inside that I cut myself to remind me what feeling something felt like. I’m happy to say I haven’t done that in two decades.

I deal with my depression by reading. I deal with it by talking about other crap on the internet to people. I deal with it my way, but mostly by just putting one foot in front of the other.

I didn’t post this to be some kind of inspiration to others. Most folks with depression have it way worse than me. And if you’re feeling bleak, like nobody gives a shit and nothing matters, if you can’t hear the truth of the world through the lies that your mind is telling you – get help. Find somebody that makes it worth moving forward for. Find the person or thing that makes it worth putting one foot in front of the other for.

Mine’s cooking lunch right now, so I’m going to go be with her. Because I won. Again. And I’ll keep winning.

And my prize for winning this time is a trip to New York Comic Con. Come out and say hello at Booth #2167. I’ll be there all weekend!