Ah, at last --
At about 4 PM, our favorite carpenter/contractor Olivier Flagollet of Rise Up Builders wrapped up work on the office/studio/library.
The shelves are all in, and they are mighty and plentiful; the new wall-mounted computer work station/desk is in, and it's a beaut and large enough for my needs; the drawing table will tuck neatly by the doorway, with room for a pegboard above (and a two-shelf unit just above that is already in place).
I'll be preoccupied for the next couple of days -- I have wall touch up and painting to do, and some other odds and ends. The carpet measurements are being taken tomorrow, and Sunday my stepson Mike Bleier (without whom this project would never have approached completion as yet) will be in to install the lights and electrical fixtures.
The space is about the size of my old 1940s trailor studio, wherein I worked in the late '80s to 1993. That's where Taboo, Aliens: Tribes, We Are Going to Eat You, the 24 Hour Comic, and portions of 1963 (primarily the Hypernaut) and the initial pages of Tyrant (some of which saw print in Tyrant #3) were created.
This new space feels marvelous: it smells of wood, which I love.
The sole window in the room faces out onto our side lawn, right where a black bear occasionally passes. I've found deer tracks out there, too, though I've never seen the deer themselves; they no doubt pass in the night.
Here, much new work will take shape.
Here, many long-in-the-works projects will be completed.
Here, things I can't as yet imagine will emerge.
Wish me luck!
At about 4 PM, our favorite carpenter/contractor Olivier Flagollet of Rise Up Builders wrapped up work on the office/studio/library.
The shelves are all in, and they are mighty and plentiful; the new wall-mounted computer work station/desk is in, and it's a beaut and large enough for my needs; the drawing table will tuck neatly by the doorway, with room for a pegboard above (and a two-shelf unit just above that is already in place).
I'll be preoccupied for the next couple of days -- I have wall touch up and painting to do, and some other odds and ends. The carpet measurements are being taken tomorrow, and Sunday my stepson Mike Bleier (without whom this project would never have approached completion as yet) will be in to install the lights and electrical fixtures.
The space is about the size of my old 1940s trailor studio, wherein I worked in the late '80s to 1993. That's where Taboo, Aliens: Tribes, We Are Going to Eat You, the 24 Hour Comic, and portions of 1963 (primarily the Hypernaut) and the initial pages of Tyrant (some of which saw print in Tyrant #3) were created.
This new space feels marvelous: it smells of wood, which I love.
The sole window in the room faces out onto our side lawn, right where a black bear occasionally passes. I've found deer tracks out there, too, though I've never seen the deer themselves; they no doubt pass in the night.
Here, much new work will take shape.
Here, many long-in-the-works projects will be completed.
Here, things I can't as yet imagine will emerge.
Wish me luck!
posted by SRBissette at
7:59 PM
2 Comments:
Still no photos here or on the still-under-construction website; I've had to keep the focus on the real-life construction at hand. But soon, soon!
As I mentioned in my earlier response to your query (see comments on whatever-post-that-was, Jim), I haven't been picking up the Aliens novels. When top-notch novelists like Chet Williamson were seeing their Dark Horse Aliens comics miniseries being "novelized" by other novelists, when Chet could have done the job with panache (and could have used the venue, gig, and royalties), I simply disengaged from the whole Aliens franchise.
But my decision shouldn't in any way impact your own enjoyment of the book and series. I hope it's a good read nevertheless -- enjoy!
Howdy, Jim -- hey, no "hissy fit" here. Life is short, and I have to use some kind of reductive process to regulate my constant intake of pop culture and reading (I am a voracious reader, usually juggling three or four books per week and completing two in that duration, just to start two more). The overload of Dark Horse Aliens stuff did me in years ago. It's no prejudice per se, just describing for you the juncture point at which I said "ah, OK, enough Alien for me," just as I eventually gave up Doc Savage as a teenager after devouring about a dozen of the paperbacks. It is a bit different after you've been on the creative side of the fence: the parameters I had to straddle while writing Aliens: Tribes were so arbitrary and bizarre, I have no illusions about the illusory 'integrity' of the Aliens franchise as a whole, but that's neither here nor there.
Plenty of folks did "block out" my own humble addition to the Alien canon, as personally testified by fans back when I still did comic cons -- and no offense was taken.
We all have our respective filters/screens and preferences, our own diets, if you will. There just isn't time to read everything. I know for a fact most comics readers haven't laid eyes on a single one of the books I've illustrated and/or done covers for since 1989; they're interested only in what I might have done or might do in comics, and only comics. So it goes...
I don't as a habit continue indulging franchises I worked within. For instance, I've barely read the Swamp Thing comics since Rick Veitch and Nancy Collins left the character: I've sampled a few issues of each new resurrection, but it's not caught or kept my interest. Since DC has never, ever had me on their comp list (contrary to what most fans fantasize), I'd have to seek out and purchase whatever followed, and it's just not been something rewarding enough for me to pursue, Jim.
This doesn't mean I'm passing judgement or belittling whatever followed: I haven't an informed opinion to offer, really, on whatever followed because I haven't read 'em with any real attention or devotion necessary to judging what followed. It's also just, well, different once the characters have lived in your head a while and you played a part in dabbling in that universe. I feel no obligation per se to read every incarnation of every character or property I creatively engaged with -- besides, you can rest assured I read/indulged every single incarnation that pre-dated my involvement, and that too contributes to a decision to let whatever follows remain unread or unseen. (I'm sure some good work has been done in the Species comics that followed my own humble effort, but I've no interest really in maintaining an obligatory attention span for whatever Species spun off whatever production line afterwards -- it was all I could do to wade through the atrocious films that spawned the franchise, which were perversely entertaining for their sheer maladroit idiocy.)
Anyhoot, appreciate the enthusiasm for the new Alien novel (well, sort of enthusiasm -- you did write that the "new novel isn't bad"), Jim, and you never know: if I see it on the racks, I may now pick it up based on your recommendation. All it takes usually is a strong recommendation, and I'm sampling something anew or for the first time.
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