October was busy, with a visit from friends and three convention trips, which means it was a light month for dreams. Travel and visiting, whether from or to friends, leads to exhaustion, which in turn leads to fewer dreams. But still, I managed to have many guest stars and strange occurances while I slept.

Let’s see, as usual, whether poetry is made when they rub up against each other like this …

October 2013

I dreamt that while I was on the phone with my father, I accidentally shot myself. But don’t worry — it was only a flesh wound! 30 Oct

I dreamt my girlfriend and I were living with a cult, supposedly happy, but talking to each other in code about our plans to soon escape. 28 Oct

I dreamt friends had a baby that — though he was chubby and healthy — was only the size of a hardboiled egg. I was scared to feed him. 27 Oct

I dreamt I lent Eastbound & Down‘s Guy Young a sweater — he put it on inside out, and it immediately started unraveling, trailing threads. 27 Oct

I dreamt there was a problem at the Neb banquet: Someone had forgotten the red noses! So @ColleenLindsay leapt on horseback to save the day. 27 Oct

I’ve lost the details of my dreams. But there was one about BBQ. And one about dumping leftover pain meds. And one about a con suite. Sigh. 25 Oct

I dreamt I ran to the roof of an apartment, feeling hunted. Then mercury oozed up though my feet, bursting out the top of my head. I woke! 24 Oct

I dreamt I took my son to see “On the Twentieth Century,” but though the curtain rose and the actors came out, no one ever started singing. 24 Oct

I dreamt I watched an episode of Dr. Phil in which viewers had to ID a superhero from art — I scrawled Barry Allen/The Flash on a postcard. 24 Oct

I dreamt I was a walking corpse, showing the disfiguring signs of my death, standing in a line with similar others waiting to be judged. 23 Oct

(more…)

I took a redeye out of Dulles Wednesday night, arriving at Heathrow earlier than I usually wake up at home … and exhausted. My United flight was deserted, with only two people in my nine-person row, and most of the cabin similarly empty, so we were all able to stretch out. But even so, I didn’t really sleep well. The flight, which was meant to take seven hours and 15 minutes, arrived early, and with drinks followed by dinner at the front end, and a breakfast snack at the other end, not much time was left to even try to snooze. So by the time I got to Brighton via bus, even with a bit of napping along the way, it felt as if I was running on fumes.

Not a good way to begin a con, particularly when I had a panel and a reading as some of the first programming items!

I couldn’t access my room early enough to take the nap I’d planned, which meant that when I finally got in, I only had time to dump my bags, take note of the ghostly remains out my window of a pier which had burned down (setting the proper mood for a World Fantasy Convention, I thought), and then rush off to my panel “Thanks for the Memories,” on which I was to reminisce with Kim Newman, Gary K. Wolfe, Roz Kaveney and Rodger Turner on all those we lost since last year’s WFC in Toronto.

Unfortunately, through a combination of exhaustion and the labyrinthine nature of the hotel, I didn’t arrive for the panel until 12 minutes in. There was still plenty of time to remember fallen friends, including one I’d entirely forgotten about until Geoff Ryman prompted us from the audience as to whether there was anyone in comics to celebrate, and I remembered the great Carmine Infantino. In retrospect, I realize we spent too much time on the superstars, that is, those with whom the audience was probably already familiar, the Ray Harryhausens of the world, and so ended up leaving out those not quite as famous, such as Rick Hautala and David Silva. Sorry! But remember them anyway, OK?

And then it was time for my reading. Were you there? Because I wasn’t! (more…)

I love it when comic books pop up as props on episodic TV. Over the past few years, I’ve spotted copies of Justice Society of America on Alcatraz and The Eternals on Law & Order: SVU. (Meanwhile, an episode of Mary Tyler Moore featured an unidentifiable comic which I think was probably mocked up specifically for the show. At least, I’ve never been able match it up with any real cover.)

I watched Revolution today—an episode from October 30, which means I’m still one behind, so no spoilers please. In “Dead Man Walking,” computer genius Aaron Pittman is trying to figure out (and duck, ’cause here comes one of those spoilers) why his dreams/visions/angry outbursts/whatever are causing people to burst into flame, and so researches his troubles by reading …

… a comic book about the Human Torch. Specifically, Saga of the Human Torch #4, dated July 1990. (more…)

Before continuing with any World Fantasy Convention impressions …

While wandering over the weekend from the University of Brighton (where I took in the Jan Švankmajer exhibit) to a Pizza Hut (where I hoped to track down the infamous cheeseburger crust pizza), I heard the beating of drums. I turned toward the sound, and when I saw police motorcycles approaching along Stanford Avenue, pulled out my Flip camera.

What was up? A protest march in support of the National Health Service.

On a weekend during which a friend visiting the UK had been hospitalized and apparently received good care, I felt supportive of the NHS, too.

Arrived back home late last night from a fun and exhausting World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. There’s lots to tell you about good times with good friends and good food, but I’ve no time for that now, as I’ve got to leap into the work which allows me to go to places like Brighton and have those good times eating good food with good friends.

So for now, let these nine photos stand in until I’m oriented back to life in the U.S. and am able to fill you in on the details …

Stephen Jones’ Psycho-Mania! anthology—which contains a story of mine—launched with a book signing at which I was told 23 contributors were on hand to autograph. (more…)

I’ve been rereading my late ’70s run of Captain Marvel this weekend (for a reason which will eventually be made clear) and noticed something I should have spotted at the time, but never did. (Or maybe I did, but forgot that I had. I’m leaning toward the former, though.)

A couple of years ago, I told you about a page of George Tuska art intended for Captain Marvel #54 which was at the last minute replaced by a Dave Cockrum splash page. Well, as I took a look yesterday at Captain Marvel’s origin story, first published in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 way back in 1967, that proverbial lightbulb went on over my head.

I suddenly saw that in his replacement page, Dave had done an homage to the cover which had started it all—

—and I’d never noticed!

Cap’s walking down a city street toward the reader, filling the page, right foot forward, people pointing, the background crowd mere silhouettes … it was obviously meant to be a tip of the hat to the Gene Colan classic.

How did I not see that immediately when the art was handed in back in 1977?

A third of a century for the scales to fall from my eyes. Wow.

Surely you had all noticed this a long time ago. Why didn’t any of you tell me?

Moments ago, Grant Achatz teased one of Next’s 2014 menus by tweeting a pic.

This pic.

Whoa!

I can take a hint. Can you?

When I realized I’d have a free evening in Manhattan Friday night, as Irene would be busy attending the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, I decided it was long past time to check out Wylie Dufresne’s Lower East Side restaurant wd-50. I’d heard a great deal about it over the years, both from those who absolutely loved it and from those whose reactions were far more … mixed. But whether people responded positively or negatively to the experience, their reactions always seemed passionate. Which meant—time to find out for myself!

And so I used social media to put out a call for a friend who was enough of a foodie to also be willing to pay $155 for the restaurant’s twelve-course tasting menu. Fellow zombie author Kris Dikeman was the first to respond, and so at 7:00 p.m. we met at wd-50 for what turned out to be a mind-blowing meal. Amazingly, there was only a single dish we were not absolutely in love with … and it was the same dish for both of us.

The first thing to come to the table was a wooden box of extremely thin baked sesame crisps. They proved so light that in addition to enjoying them before the courses began arriving, I also used them as a palate cleanser of sorts between each course.

First up was a tiny sandwich of saffron-coconut ice cream, caviar, and poppy seed. A surprising way to begin a meal, but the mix of sweet and salty was a major wake-up call for my taste buds. You wouldn’t think the flavors would work so with each other, but they did. It was like eating ice cream by the ocean! (more…)

My wife attended the New Jersey Romance Writers convention this weekend, and as I’ve done many previous years, I tagged along … but then split immediately, making a beeline for Manhattan on Friday and Saturday for good food and good friends. (About which more later.) The highlight of the trip wasn’t any of that, though—it was what occurred Sunday, when we trekked out to Long Island and spent the afternoon with the person we love most from our time in comics (other than each other)—Marie Severin.

If you know anything about comics, you already know and love the public side of Marie. But Irene and I, from working with her in the Marvel Bullpen, got to know Marie in a more personal way. She’s warm, friendly, and one of the funniest people we’ve ever met. (more…)

I’ll be heading off to Brighton two weeks from today for the World Fantasy Convention, the first time it’s been outside of North America since 1997. My first WFC was—yikes!—a third of a century ago, and took place in Providence, Rhode Island in 1979.

Here’s where you’ll be able to find me … officially anyway. Because I’ll of course spend much of my time schmoozing in the bar and lobby as well.

Thursday, 31 Oct., 3:00–4:00 p.m.
Thanks for the Memories
It’s been a brutal year for losing people from the genre. With input from the audience encouraged, the panel recalls the lives and works of a number of writers and others who made significant contributions to our field, including Iain M. Banks, Basil Copper, Harry Harrison, Ray Harryhausen, James Herbert, Jack Vance, Frederik Pohl and of course, our own Guest of Honour, Richard Matheson.
with Roz Kaveney, Kim Newman, (mod) Rodger Turner, Gary K. Wolfe.

Thursday, 31 Oct., 4:00-4:30 p.m.
Reading
I’ll probably read bits and pieces of my short story appearing in Psycho-Mania, as there’ll be a launch party for the book at the con.

Friday, 1 Nov., 8:00-10:30 p.m.
Mass Signing

Foodie that I am, I’ve also arranged some good eats, so I’m also looking forward to the “Roast Partridge, Spätzle, Braised Leg, Creamed Savoy, Fig and Thyme” at Gingerman and the “Braised pork belly, black pudding and fig roll, fresh fig, watercress, vanilla celeriac puree” at Graze.

Look forward to seeing you all on the other side of the pond!