tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58131554612402014662024-03-07T01:24:53.123-05:00Gratz IndustriesThe blog of Alan, Wendi, and Jo Gratz, and our attempts at living well.Gratz Industrieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06857642568906965743noreply@blogger.comBlogger1157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-91181661837276618522015-12-10T22:28:00.001-05:002015-12-10T22:29:42.556-05:00MST3K's Nicknames for Space Mutiny's Dave Ryder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSO1AJnmZyI8yF5ddIDkKkDPpLC28ifjPvVJdkn8OBgIhpj_q5RPIyGDVTjXorT7whVWD6AuqXCID6bD70jxry8ahfdK12uXBJUmm1WhzXDZcOhgmERv2Vu9xO-nErkdZ9CZW5ifAX9Q/s1600/David+Ryder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSO1AJnmZyI8yF5ddIDkKkDPpLC28ifjPvVJdkn8OBgIhpj_q5RPIyGDVTjXorT7whVWD6AuqXCID6bD70jxry8ahfdK12uXBJUmm1WhzXDZcOhgmERv2Vu9xO-nErkdZ9CZW5ifAX9Q/s400/David+Ryder.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Herewith, a list of all the nicknames Mike and the Bots give the character Dave Ryder in the stink-a-rific cheesy movie SPACE MUTINY:<br />
<br />
Beat Punchbeef<br />
Big McLargehuge<br />
Blast Hardcheese<br />
Blast Thickneck<br />
Bold Bigflank<br />
Bolt Vanderhuge<br />
Brick Hardmeat<br />
Buck Plankchest<br />
Buff Drinklots<br />
Buff Hardback<br />
Butch Deadlift<br />
Crud BoneMeal<br />
Crunch Buttsteak<br />
Dirk Hardpec<br />
Fist Rockbone<br />
Flint Ironstag<br />
Fridge Largemeat<br />
Gristle McThornbody<br />
Hack Blowfist<br />
Lump Beefbroth<br />
Punch Rockgroin<br />
Punch Sideiron<br />
Punt Speedchunk<br />
Reef Blastbody<br />
Roll Fizzlebeef<br />
Rip Steakface<br />
Slab Bulkhead<br />
Slab Squatthrust<br />
Slate Fistcrunch<br />
Slate Slabrock<br />
Smash Lampjaw<br />
Smoke Manmuscle<br />
Splint Chesthair<br />
Stump Beefknob<br />
Stump Chunkman<br />
Thick McRunfast<br />
Touch Rustrod<br />
Trunk Slamchest<br />
Whip Slagcheek<br />
and Bob Johnson.<br />
<br />
Wait.Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-67592990238047115942015-07-24T16:03:00.000-04:002015-07-24T16:13:03.038-04:00Launchpad - Astronomy Camp for Writers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’m looking through a telescope at a bright dot the size of
an aspirin. Spread out to either side of it in a perfect line are four tiny
specks, like a glowing ellipsis. This is Jupiter and its four largest moons,
and I’m seeing them the way Galileo first did in 1610, when he became the first
person to prove definitively that there were things in the universe that didn’t
revolve around the Earth or the Sun.</div>
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I didn’t build my own telescope, like Galileo did, and I’m
not in Italy, like he was. I’m standing on the roof of the Astronomy Department
at the University of Wyoming at Laramie on the first night of Launchpad 2015, a
week-long astronomy camp for writers. Founded by University of Wyoming
Astronomy professor Mike Brotherton in 2007, Launchpad’s goal is to teach
writers with audiences young and old about the modern science of astronomy,
with the hope that those writers will go on to educate the public and help
inspire the next generation of scientists through their stories.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p>The first day of Launchpad lifted off with lectures about
our local “neighborhood”: Earth’s seasons, the Solar System, and the phases of
the moon—with an eye toward helping writers get all those night scenes right.
The next day we talked about the electromagnetic spectrum, gravity, Newton,
Kepler, orbits, and Einstein before getting into the rock stars of
astronomy—exoplanets, supernovas, neutron stars, and black holes—later in the
week. Our last day was spent covering the cutting edge of astronomy: quasars,
dark matter, dark energy, and cosmological theory. Along the way, we took time
out for rooftop stargazing, attending planetarium presentations, analyzing the
spectrometry of different gases, and searching for exoplanets. A highlight of
the week was a trip to WIRO, the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory,
home to a 2.3 meter telescope on top of Jelm Mountain outside Laramie.</div>
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<o:p> </o:p>Since the focus of Launchpad is on astronomy <i>in fiction</i>, our instructors also took
plenty of time throughout the week to point out astronomical errors in books,
TV, and films. Asteroid fields, we learned, look nothing like the treacherous one
Han Solo pilots the <i>Millennium Falcon</i>
through in <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i>—in
real asteroid fields, the giant rocks are few and far between. You don’t <i>listen</i> to radio telescopes, as Jodie
Foster does in <i>Contact</i>, you read
graphs of light wavelengths on a computer screen. And it won’t be pleasant, but
you don’t automatically freeze or explode when you’re exposed to the vacuum of
space, as characters do again and again in fiction. All the air will blow out
of your lungs, the saliva in your mouth will boil away, you’ll get the bends, and
you’ll pass out in about 15 seconds…but you won’t explode.</div>
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When Launchpad came to an end six days later—far sooner than
the heat death of the universe, but just as regrettable—my head and notebook
were packed with astronomical facts. Even better, I had enough story ideas to
last me as long as one of Pluto’s orbits around the sun (248 years). Launchpad
was an incredible week of scientific discussion, inspiration, and camaraderie.
And incredibly, through the help of grants and donations, everything at
Launchpad is free—room, board, and instruction. They were even able to cover
some attendees’ airfare.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you’re a published author and interested in attending
Launchpad, you can find out more at <a href="http://www.launchpadworkshop.org/">http://www.launchpadworkshop.org</a>/. Like
Galileo, you might get to see the moons of Jupiter up close and
personal—without having to answer to the Inquisition for it afterward.</div>
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Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-8579100913070809152015-02-22T10:24:00.001-05:002015-02-22T10:24:46.988-05:00More Canterbury Tales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-90567153844686741972015-02-15T20:59:00.002-05:002015-02-15T21:00:55.281-05:00More Canterbury Tales<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just for you, Tanita!Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-34039267648928793122015-02-07T15:39:00.000-05:002015-02-07T16:08:01.658-05:00More Canterbury TalesFound these while clearing out some old files in the cabinet. Back in the mid-90s, I briefly had the fun idea to take medieval drawings and put funny captions on them. I give you, MORE CANTERBURY TALES by Meister Gratz:<br />
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<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-58006501249074616562015-01-19T11:39:00.000-05:002015-01-19T11:39:23.295-05:00Books read in 2014It's time for my annual review of all the books I read in the previous year! I've been recording the books I've read (not counting my own as I write them, which I read over and over and over again) since 2004, and I love going back to look at what I read in the past year! So here's my tenth anniversary list of what I've read in the last calendar year:<br />
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January (7 books read)<br />
<br />
The Black Mountain - Rex Stout<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Tarantula - Matt Wagner and Guy Davis<br />
In the Forest of Harm - Sallie Bissell<br />
Century: 2009 - Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill<br />
Death in the Clouds - Agatha Christie<br />
Katelyn's Killer - John Gordon<br />
Zatanna: Shades of the Past - Paul Dini<br />
<br />
February (8 books read)<br />
<br />
The Keeper of the Isis Light - Monica Hughes<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Vamp - Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle, and Guy Davis<br />
The Other Woman - Hank Phillippi Ryan<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Scorpion - Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle, and Guy Davis<br />
Speaking From Among the Bones - Alan Bradley<br />
Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt (reread)<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: Dr. Death and The Night of the Butcher - Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle, and Guy Davis<br />
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman<br />
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March (6 books read)<br />
<br />
Lord Kelvin's Machine - James P. Blaylock<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Hourman and The Python - Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle, and Guy Davis<br />
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman<br />
The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Manage Your Day-to-Day - Edited by Jocelyn K. Glei<br />
A Feast for Crows - George R. R. Martin<br />
<br />
April (3 books read)<br />
<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Mist and The Phantom of the Fair<br />
A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman<br />
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie<br />
(I guess April was a busy month!)<br />
<br />
May (2 books read)<br />
<br />
Grasshopper Jungle - Andrew Smith<br />
Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Blackhawk and The Return of the Scarlet Ghost - Matt Wagner, Steven Seagle, and Guy Davis<br />
(May must have been busy too!)<br />
<br />
June (4 books read)<br />
<br />
Hark! A Vagrant. - Kate Beaton<br />
Dogsong - Gary Paulsen<br />
Andre the Giant - Box Brown<br />
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library - Chris Grabenstein<br />
<br />
July (6 books read)<br />
<br />
Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie<br />
Lobster Johnson: Satan Smells a Rat - Mike Mignola and John Arcudi<br />
The Surgeon's Mate - Patrick O'Brian<br />
The Marshal of the Borgo - Joe D'Agnese<br />
Mrs. Pollifax on Safari - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station - Dorothy Gilman<br />
<br />
August (6 books read)<br />
<br />
Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase - Jonathan Stroud<br />
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Japantown - Barry Lancet<br />
The Coroner's Lunch - Colin Cotterill<br />
Hellboy in Hell: The Descent - Mike Mignola<br />
Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line - Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham<br />
<br />
September (5 books read)<br />
<br />
Promised Land - Robert Parker<br />
The Judas Goat - Robert Parker<br />
The Girl with All the Gifts - M. R. Carey<br />
Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Fringe: The Zodiac Paradox - Christina Faust<br />
<br />
October (9 books read)<br />
<br />
The Buck Passes Flynn - Gregory McDonald<br />
The Fourteenth Goldfish - Jennifer L. Holm<br />
B.P.R.D.: Vampire - Mike Mignola et al.<br />
The Killing Floor - Lee Child<br />
Tongues of Serpents - Naomi Novik<br />
El Deafo - CeCe Bell<br />
Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie<br />
Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Mrs. Pollifax Pursued - Dorothy Gilman<br />
<br />
November (6 books read)<br />
<br />
Bitter Seeds - Ian Tregillis<br />
Gottland - Mariusz Szcygiel<br />
Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Plot it Yourself - Rex Stout<br />
Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist - Dorothy Gilman<br />
Choose Your Own Autobiography - Neil Patrick Harris<br />
<br />
December (6 books read)<br />
<br />
Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled - Dorothy Gilman<br />
The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic - Allan Wolf<br />
Hulk Visionaries 6 - Peter David et al.<br />
Ms. Marvel: No Normal - G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona<br />
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein<br />
As You Wish - Cary Elwes<br />
<br />
68 books read! And a hefty percentage of them were Mrs. Pollifax adventures by Dorothy Gilman. In fact, I read though the entire run of Mrs. Pollifax novels in one year! Or rather, I listened to them--each of those was listened to, rather than red. Mrs. Pollifax was my go-to audiobook of choice for car trips this year. I did a lot of driving this year!<br />
<br />
I'm already five books into the new year. Here's looking forward to next year's list!<br />
<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-6379689267009928112014-08-07T10:44:00.002-04:002014-08-07T10:54:48.124-04:00What are the odds?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-yDdkuLxGI3dISKBB0EE8vb_1sa07HrkiI8kGfqD_3ECt2brcmCfMfkz2jf_Dy71GgeRzHPnw44nMlzUhe_YtkhcgCjCsts0gLitIbQSDMLehe-JS7I7XKurMNfOsVs0lN-b0AhfmQc/s1600/cul-summer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-yDdkuLxGI3dISKBB0EE8vb_1sa07HrkiI8kGfqD_3ECt2brcmCfMfkz2jf_Dy71GgeRzHPnw44nMlzUhe_YtkhcgCjCsts0gLitIbQSDMLehe-JS7I7XKurMNfOsVs0lN-b0AhfmQc/s1600/cul-summer.png" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Before I get to the writing this morning, I wanted to post something interesting I ran across in a recent Time Magazine article. It's called "Summer Books" by Lev Grossman, and he talks about how some summers are defined by a particular book that becomes the summer "beach read" of the year. It doesn't happen every year, he argues, but when it does--like with 2012's Gone Girl or 2002's The Lovely Bones--those books define the summer. (He lists many more.) These books, he argues, deserve the title of "book of the summer" because they were unexpected hits--so he discounts books like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because that was going to be a hit whenever it was published. (<a href="http://time.com/2923533/summer-books-2014/" target="_blank">Here's the full article</a>.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">The most interesting thing about the article to me, and the thing I thought would be useful to kids book writers, is a sidebar in which he playfully "gives odds" on which new books might potentially become 2014's "book of the summer." (The article appeared in the July7/July 14 issue; I'm a little behind on my reading, as usual.) He gives odds on each book, then lists pros and cons for why it might or might not become a special, bestselling, widely-read and -discussed book. It's the pros and cons I think are highly interesting. Here are the books and their descriptions, as presented in the magazine:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One Plus One by Jojo Moyes</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Single mom plus nerdy millionaire equals unlikely romance. And there's a road trip!</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Very few killer sharks.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2-1 </span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Blind daughter of a locksmith meets reluctant Nazi engineering whiz! What more do you want?</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Complex, historical fiction may not have the necessary mass appeal.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Fever by Megan Abbott</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Small-town girls hit by mystery syndrome. Tense, erotically fraught, has Gillian Flynn blurb.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Much adolescent angst. Are the stakes high enough?</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We Were Liars by E. Lockhart</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Rich people on an island; sharp, funny-sad writing; a head-snapping fourth-quarter reveal.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: It's a YA novel, so some adults might pass.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Landline by Rainbow Rowell</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Keen psychological insight, irrepressible humor and a supernatural twist: a woman can call her husband in the past.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Relative lack of violence, perverse sex.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One Kick by Chelsea Cain</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Child kidnapping victim grows up to become ass-kicking vigilante looking for other missing children.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: A thriller but maybe not a rule breaker.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Quick by Lauren Owen</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Set in lovely, lush Victorian London. Plus: vampires, vampires, vampires.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Owen's pacing is slow and artful--maybe too slow for some.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8-1</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pros: Genius techno-thriller ala Neal Stephenson, powered by social-media info-conspiracy ala Dave Eggers.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cons: Low-key romance may not play to all quadrants.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay. Interesting stuff! But what's most interesting to me are the pros and cons. The pros work best when they have a great hook, don't they? "Single mom plus nerdy millionaire equals unlikely romance." "Blind daughter of a locksmith meets reluctant Nazi engineering whiz!" "Small-town girls hit by mystery syndrome." "a woman can call her husband in the past." "Child kidnapping victim grows up to become ass-kicking vigilante looking for other missing children." The ones that seem like they have a harder chance of striking it big are the ones with hard-to-describe plots. Although there's a lot to be said for the kind of mystery you can't explain without giving the whole book away, ala Gone Girl or We Were Liars, in which case a book can hit it big just from people saying, "You have to read this."</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The cons are really instructive too. Here they are here, with my own comments:</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) Very few killer sharks. (He's being jokey, but he's does have a point: outrageous things do sell books.)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) Complex, historical fiction may not have the necessary mass appeal. (These kinds of books win awards, but do they get the broader readership?)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3) Much adolescent angst. Are the stakes high enough? (We don't have to worry about the angst--it comes with our territory. But "Are the stakes high enough?" is a question we should be asking in every book we write.)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">4) It's a YA novel, so some adults might pass. (Not a YA-writer's problem!)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">5) Relative lack of violence, perverse sex. (Again, not a kids book-writer's problem, probably, unless they're writing high-YA or New Adult. But it does pay to give the readers what they want, no matter what the age.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">6) A thriller but maybe not a rule breaker. (Love this. Are we writing the same old book that's been written before, or are we pushing, maybe even breaking, the rules of our genres a little bit?)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">7) Owen's pacing is slow and artful--maybe too slow for some. (Pacing is more important the younger you go! Get to the main problem quickly, and then don't let up.)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">8) Low-key romance may not play to all quadrants. (True for YA: do you have some love-interest stuff in there? That will help it play to different readers. For MG, do you have an all boy-book? An all-girl book? That will limit your readership too.)</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Food for thought! I'd love to hear other opinions about all this.</span></div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-1612540678455421332014-07-08T16:32:00.000-04:002014-07-08T16:32:45.304-04:00Apply now to become the next Thurber House Children's Book Writer-in-Residence!
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Four years ago, I was honored to be the Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence for four weeks in Columbus, Ohio. I lived in the attic of James Thurber's boyhood home, led writing workshops with local students, and had lots of time to work on my then-current work-in-progress: <i>The League of Seven</i>, which comes out this August! I had a great time--and you will too!</div>
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<br /></div>
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The application period is now open for the 2015 Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence. Here are the details:</div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Qualifications:</b>
Candidates must have at least one middle grade (roughly 3-6 grade)
book published by a traditional trade publishing house, but no more
than five and one new middle grade book under contract. Must have
experience teaching/working with children in an educational setting.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b>Program:
</b>This is a 4-week residency during June, July, or August 2015. The
specific time period is negotiated with the selected author. During
the stay, the resident will teach writing-based activities to middle
grade children for eight to ten hours per week in a variety of
community settings, including the Thurber House Summer Writing Camp.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b>Past
Thurber Residents</b>: Deborah Wiles (2001), Kathryn Hewitt (02),
Natasha Tarpley (03), Laurie Miller Hornik (04), Shelley Pearsall
(05), Sam Swope (06), Lisa Yee (07), Alan Silberberg (08), Hope Anita
Smith (09), and (10), Alan Gratz (11), Donna Gephart (12), Jane
Kelley (13), Kristen Kittscher (14).</div>
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</div>
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<b>Stipend</b>:
$4,000
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Housing:</b>
A furnished, two-bedroom apartment is provided on the third floor of
Thurber House, the college home in Columbus, Ohio of James Thurber.
All utilities except telephone are included. Internet access is
available. Furnishings include all basic household items. No
allowance is offered for travel or moving expenses; employment
benefits are not provided.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><b>Deadline
for receipt of application materials is November 1, 2014</b></u>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.thurberhouse.org/childrens-writer-in-residence.html" target="_blank">Click here for the application materials.</a></div>
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</div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-81106538303444325482014-06-24T16:13:00.001-04:002014-06-24T16:15:30.863-04:00Of Shakespeare, Rayguns, and Independent BookstoresIn 2007, I learned an important lesson about independent bookstores.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgtgxM4g6H4g8dwimcVxD_0QPnK7AUMTN4-YrFl5L5L41DAYMmACn1hYIIYCC4FWmvEoJ_A8wX9pstsOxJDaAyfKeE5zHbfWFqwk2LdTeWWGyAZlhZjLinztgQ3Q5fT3Hdg8WOdOQTIOP/s1600/image_cover_rotten_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgtgxM4g6H4g8dwimcVxD_0QPnK7AUMTN4-YrFl5L5L41DAYMmACn1hYIIYCC4FWmvEoJ_A8wX9pstsOxJDaAyfKeE5zHbfWFqwk2LdTeWWGyAZlhZjLinztgQ3Q5fT3Hdg8WOdOQTIOP/s1600/image_cover_rotten_large.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
My second novel, <i>Something Rotten</i>, a contemporary young adult mystery based on Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>, came out that year from Penguin. I expected that it, like my first novel, would be carried everywhere—by independents and chains and online. But a few months away from the publication date, my editor e-mailed to tell me the bad news: Barnes & Noble wouldn't be carrying my new book. The <i>one person</i> who chose what books all six hundred-plus Barnes & Noble stores would carry had decided that mine wouldn't be one of them. “We don't do well with Shakespeare adaptations,” Barnes & Noble's book buyer said. And that was it.<br />
<br />
My second book was saved by independent bookstores like Malaprop's. With separate book buyers at each bookstore across the country, they each made the decision about whether or not to carry my book. And most did. Independent booksellers made <i>Something Rotten</i> a success, and for that and everything they've done for the five books that followed, I'm eternally grateful. As thanks, and to help make sure that every book and author and reader get a chance to connect, my family and I have committed to buying our books only from independent booksellers like Malaprop's, our local indie.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8fCprnKxN2gJhbYdzjrXK4TJZqsEckELJXKAn6pWGS0TXuenMS6tzERAY0m2XWag1o7WtRiFQobyvi6Yd3KTfy4gAEIAnW9XSUP-B3ezOb6a0v-isd0OVMW8tZZ9WE6lnVSNtD5MQ91N2/s1600/web_league_of_seven_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8fCprnKxN2gJhbYdzjrXK4TJZqsEckELJXKAn6pWGS0TXuenMS6tzERAY0m2XWag1o7WtRiFQobyvi6Yd3KTfy4gAEIAnW9XSUP-B3ezOb6a0v-isd0OVMW8tZZ9WE6lnVSNtD5MQ91N2/s1600/web_league_of_seven_cover.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
So when the time came to promote my eighth book, the first in a middle-grade steampunk fantasy trilogy called <i>The League of Seven</i>, I wanted to find a way to not only sell books, but sell books <i>through Malaprop's</i>. I'd seen online retailers offer digital short stories that download free with the purchase of ebooks, and thought, why can't Malaprop's and I do the same thing with my good-old-fashioned print book and a specially-printed short story? So that's just what we're doing.<br />
<br />
<i> The League of Seven</i> is the story of seven super-powered kids who use rayguns and airships and steam-powered machine men to battle giant monsters called the Mangleborn. (If your kids like Scott Westerfeld's <i>Leviathan</i>, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, or the Justice League and the Avengers, this is right up their alley.) The trilogy is set in an alternate 1870s America where all contact with Europe was lost in 1770, forcing New England's European population to join the Iroquois League, becoming the seventh “tribe” in what becomes the United Nations of America. One of the architects of that union, Benjamin Franklin, is the star of the prequel short story I've written, called “Join, or Die.” In “Join, or Die,” Franklin battles sea serpents with the help of a young monster expert and a group of Mohawk warriors during a (greatly) re-imagined Boston Tea Party. It's lots of fun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnig6s0F2tEBY_6KAwc4dMH-P3DAGJmEKETO9p050BEEmIyqyDkA0CXFH0dcOM0tjgky13d9kf2XliANO2pUzkvAvBDksmbMbsRr41s2vBt0r85re4ENYzPeZYFi6Vlgm4EPKP2ttReg/s1600/join+or+die+flag.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnig6s0F2tEBY_6KAwc4dMH-P3DAGJmEKETO9p050BEEmIyqyDkA0CXFH0dcOM0tjgky13d9kf2XliANO2pUzkvAvBDksmbMbsRr41s2vBt0r85re4ENYzPeZYFi6Vlgm4EPKP2ttReg/s1600/join+or+die+flag.gif" height="137" width="200" /></a></div>
Malaprop's is printing up “Join, or Die” as a limited-edition chapbook that will be given away for <i>free</i> to anyone who pre-orders <i>The League of Seven</i> from Malaprop's between now and August 19th, the book's publication date. I'm really excited about this chapbook—it's being specially-printed and numbered, the binding is being hand-sewn, and it will be available exclusively through Malaprop's. And the story's pretty great too, if I do say so myself. :-)<br />
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I'll also be signing and personalizing all the pre-orders and chapbooks, which can be picked up at the store or shipped to you at home. You can pre-order your copy of <i>The League of Seven</i> in person at Malaprop's, <a href="http://www.malaprops.com/book/9780765338228" target="_blank">online here</a>, or by calling Malaprop's at 1-800-441-9829. I hope you'll pre-order a copy of <i>The League of Seven</i> and the limited-edition chapbook “Join, or Die” for a young reader in your life, and continue shopping at your local independent bookstore to ensure that every good book has a chance to find its readers!Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-43229452745384723182013-10-10T12:00:00.001-04:002013-10-10T12:00:22.810-04:00Me, podcastedIn which <a href="http://readingandwritingpodcast.com/alan-gratz-interview/" target="_blank">I am interviewed on the Reading and Writing Podcast</a>.Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-37713148683342590062013-09-09T00:51:00.002-04:002013-09-09T00:55:46.745-04:00The Lady Doctor!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Meet the Youth Best In Show winner from the 2013 DragonCon Masquerade contest: The Lady Doctor and her steampunk companion K-9!<br />
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Jo loves watching <i>Doctor Who,</i> so she designed this Lady Doctor costume for herself. There's lots more about how she made it herself over at Wendi's <a href="http://www.shinyhappyworld.com/2013/09/dragoncon-2013.html" target="_blank">Shiny Happy World blog</a>.<br />
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Jo was especially proud of the vest, which used all different brass buttons. The coat is pretty great too. You can just see the really spacey lining here, on the lapels. Her hair is dyed TARDIS blue.<br />
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I helped her with the rocket boots. She still did all the spray painting and the drilling and gluing but I was there as the technical advisor. One of her Monster High dolls has rocket-powered boots, and so Jo wanted a pair too. The silver rockets are actually upside-down plastic things you put on chair legs to keep them from sliding. We glued them on with Gorilla glue, which held surprisingly well. The boots were thrift-store finds, spray painted with a really super copper color Jo picked out.<br />
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The whole ensemble, before she went on stage in the Friday Night Costume Contest! This was a fun costume for Jo--and one she could walk around in afterward without too much trouble! She did trade the rocket boots in for a pair of red Converse high tops for roaming the hotels though...<br />
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Congrats, Jo! So proud of you!<br />
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For more pics of the steampunk K-9, and to see how I built it, check out <a href="http://gratzindustries.blogspot.com/2013/09/steampunk-k-9.html" target="_blank">the next post</a>.Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-82363583155075993232013-09-09T00:40:00.002-04:002013-09-09T11:41:01.890-04:00Steampunk K-9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For this year's DragonCon, I built a steampunk K-9 to accompany Jo's Lady Doctor costume in the Masquerade. Together, we won Best in Show in the Youth category!<br />
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As a model, I used this tiny scale model <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ed66/" target="_blank">K-9 from ThinkGeek</a>, which I got Jo to go with <a href="http://gratzindustries.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-barbie-tardis.html" target="_blank">the Barbie-sized TARDIS I built her</a>. Despite being just a couple of inches long, it's all to scale, which allowed me to do the math and extrapolate a larger version.<br />
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I started by building a mock-up out of foam core. I got it mostly right from the start, but this allowed me to mess up and not waste wood. (And time!) The foam core is just held together with masking tape and straight pins. I designed it to fit on a remote controlled car base I bought, and ended up making it almost 1:1 scale with the original K-9...<br />
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Late in the process, we realized that a key would make a brilliant tail for a steampunk dog. Originally, I was just going to buy an antenna and spray paint it brass. I think the key turned out much cuter.<br />
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When I was finished, I cut all the taped joints apart and used my foam core pieces as pattern pieces. I traced them on a very thin plywood, and cut them out with a Skill saw and jigsaw.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">I don't have very many pics of me actually building K-9, strangely. I love process pics, but so often I did the building later in the evening while watching TV, and the light was always terrible for taking pics. I always said, "Oh, I'll take a picture tomorrow in the good light." And then I never did. But here's me using a vise to hold together the tricky angles of the face while I screwed it together. In the back of the head, you can see the small square dowel I used in the corners to give my something to screw into besides the thin plywood.</span></div>
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And here's the finished product! It took me a few nights to stain him brown, but I love the result.</div>
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The TV K-9 has colorful buttons on his back. For the steampunk K-9, I used two great brass faucet knobs we found at the Home ReStore in town. I think they were maybe $2 each. The joiner pipe is actually a piece of wood dowel I spray painted brass. The keyboard (in lieu of colorful buttons) is made up of individual wooden keys. I found a person on Etsy who laser cuts them out of wood, then applies pictures of antique keys to them. They look like authentic typewriter keys, but they're fake! They're a lot lighter--and a whole lot cheaper than real typewriter keys, which go for a pretty penny on eBay.<br />
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The tail is wood, spray painted to look brass. Again, much lighter! And there was no way I was going to be able to make something like that out of real brass.<br />
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The neck is dryer tubing spray painted brass. It took the spray paint really well! And I didn't have to attach it--all I did was bend it around the head, and the angles did all the work. The collar is a brass hand towel ring with the mounting piece cut off of it. The bone tag is wood, again painted to look brass. A rule I've heard that I'm trying to live by is "looks great from six feet away." I think all this looks great close up, but it all passes muster six feet away, which is really the level of detail we want on our costumes.<br />
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The nose was a real score at the Home ReStore, which is a Habitat for Humanity store that recycles old fixtures and building materials from torn down houses and renovations and resells them. This faucet was an awesome find. Jo and I spent a very happy couple of hours rooting through the plumbing bins at the store, looking for treasures like this. I hadn't planned on putting a faucet on the nose, but it was too good to pass up--and ended up sort of making the whole thing.<br />
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We had a lot of options for K-9's ears. I almost went with another pair of faucets made of wood and brass, but these curtain rod ends won out in the end. They were just too cool looking. They're plastic--about the only plastic thing on the whole dog, except for the remote controlled car underneath him--but they look brass, and they have the added benefit of being lightweight, which was an issue on the head.<br />
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K-9's eye bars are wood, painted brass. The eye itself is of course the knob off a garden hose bib. I loved it--particularly as the original K-9's eye is a red circle. I left the maker's ring on there too. It was too awesome.<br />
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The big "K-9" on the side are wooden letters from A.C. Moore, again spray painted brass. I screwed them in from behind, so you can't see the screws. You'll see screws everywhere else though. My original plan was to cover those with "brass" trim, which was going to be a brass duct tape I found. In the end, I loved the look of him without all the brass trim. I think going without was a good call. He's already pretty blinged out as it is!<br />
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The other side had a door. This served two purposes. One was practical--it gave me a way to reach inside and attach the cotter pins to the posts that connected the K-9 unit to the remote controlled car. The second was part of the show: we put a tea cup and saucer in there, and at a certain part of Jo's performance, K-9 raced over to her and she took out the cup and pretended to pour tea from his nose! It was a real hit. This space also, coincidentally, made a nice storage area for his controller, spare battery, charger, etc.<br />
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For the curious, here's the R/C car I used as the base. It's not your cheapo mall-bought R/C car. I got this at HobbyTown USA, where they know their machines. At first, I was worried it wouldn't be strong enough to move the wood and brass K-9 I built--but I ended up having to take it in to the shop to have them help me slow it down! It's a beast of an R/C car, and it worked great.</div>
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The steampunk K-9!</div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-43683575053048644012013-08-04T23:02:00.000-04:002013-08-04T23:02:30.341-04:00The Barbie TARDIS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Meet the Barbie TARDIS!</div>
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I built this for my daughter Jo, who is eleven years old and super into Doctor Who. (As she should be.) She has dressed up one of her dolls in a Who-esque costume, and calls her the Lady Doctor. I couldn't let the Lady Doctor travel without a TARDIS of her own!<br />
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The TARDIS is made out of scrap plywood of different widths I had lying around from previous projects. The windows are a thick frosted plastic, with the casement lines drawn on with a Sharpie. They let in a soft light, which I like, and Jo likes putting electric tea candles inside and letting the windows glow from within. With both doors open, you can see inside where I glued the windows in.<br />
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The "POLICE BOX" signs at the top were found online (thanks, Who-builders!) and glued on with Spray-Mount. The blue paint was chosen by Wendi and Jo on one of their trips to Asheville--I think they nailed the TARDIS blue!<br />
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The sign on the telephone door was printed out from a larger image I found on the web. In this picture, you can also see the teeny-tiny handles I bought from <a href="http://woodvictoriandollhouse.com/">woodvictoriandollhouse.com</a>. They came in brass, so I spray-painted them black. The handles, the paint, and the hardware for the light on top were the only things I had to buy for the project.<br />
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I should also point out that though I like to call this "The Barbie TARDIS," that doll is not a Barbie. She is, in fact, a Monster High doll, which Jo much prefers. This is the Robecca Steam doll, who is steampunk-themed. The clothes, however, are homemade--they are pieces from the <a href="http://gratzindustries.blogspot.com/2007/12/project-barbie-04-zoot-poodle.html" target="_blank">Project Barbie</a> challenge Wendi and I did together years ago, when we made Barbie clothes to match the challenges on a season of <i>Project Runway</i>. Jo likes the colors because she feels they are very Doctor Who.<br />
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While I was building the TARDIS (which took MONTHS, much to Jo's chagrin) I saw this little K-9 advertised on <a href="http://thinkgeek.com/" target="_blank">ThinkGeek</a>, and I had to get it for her!<br />
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And look--the scale is perfect! I surprised her with it (and the finished TARDIS) when she got back from sleepaway camp last month. The TARDIS itself is pretty large--about 16.5 inches tall and 8.5 inches wide. Jo likes it because her Lady Doctor can fit a lot of companions in there with her, including K-9.</div>
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I'm really pleased with the look of the signage, and the slightly mottled look the plywood took on when I painted it. It looks like a weathered and used TARDIS.<br />
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I decided to add the St. John Ambulance logo, which is on the 11th Doctor's TARDIS. Here again you can see one of the super-tiny handles.<br />
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I struggled with how to do the light at the top. I trolled the dollhouse aisles at our local hobby shops and surfed around online looking for a sort of hurricane lamp I could appropriate for a light on top, but never found anything. Then I had the idea to use a test tube--and we just so happened to have a tiny one already, which was being used to hold beads! The test tube is inserted upside-down through the three layers at the top, and held in place with a swinging hatch made out of the window plastic, so I can replace the little light bulb if and when it blows out. The light bulb was bought at a hobby shop--it's meant to light streetlamps and homes on a model train layout.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSNjkmiXcNLpdNg4bkfB003yiPn4JjR10BfcXpu9gZVUA5PChilVZhNDYHDaXwzWOF9QLiwtgp6m6FGDmB6rySVbE5bgmv6nkf_S-qperVaKdx99wAtTYOWSb5x7CfFlHTse5hGlTfMM/s1600/DSCF0109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSNjkmiXcNLpdNg4bkfB003yiPn4JjR10BfcXpu9gZVUA5PChilVZhNDYHDaXwzWOF9QLiwtgp6m6FGDmB6rySVbE5bgmv6nkf_S-qperVaKdx99wAtTYOWSb5x7CfFlHTse5hGlTfMM/s400/DSCF0109.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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The light is strung to a 9-volt battery on the inside, and then to a little switch I acquired at Radio Shack. Because who doesn't love flipping switches!? The light switch sticks out the back corner of the TARDIS, and is pretty unobtrusive. I had dreamed of attaching a sound chip to it with the sound of the TARDIS taking off and landing, but alas, that's beyond my very limited technical abilities. As it is, the TARDIS goes "WERRRN-WERRRN-WERRRN" only when you flip the switch and say "WERRRN-WERRRN-WERRRN" at the same time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeGPHdY-lbzOhjWuVNSB86KZv1n6n8L5OhX_Qt2znbj7NLtaG49gMZk1kdhVS1t0F32tr4ZhY2HPg8PSqd2Y3Jt6d0BchGUd3tGp-DC8c3RTaqa5ulhMQh89fn5dNcd5JhR3Qtj7aZW4/s1600/DSCF0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjeGPHdY-lbzOhjWuVNSB86KZv1n6n8L5OhX_Qt2znbj7NLtaG49gMZk1kdhVS1t0F32tr4ZhY2HPg8PSqd2Y3Jt6d0BchGUd3tGp-DC8c3RTaqa5ulhMQh89fn5dNcd5JhR3Qtj7aZW4/s400/DSCF0003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's a pic of one of the unpainted panels. I used a coping saw to do the windows, and ended up using a chisel to hack out the top layer of plywood to create the panels. When my chiseling got rough, I smoothed it with wood putty, as you can see in that top right panel, then sanded it flat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK60wCeHRMpY2uDCsG8u0cUzhCFjHiYcmUUyNzfaPUQuCS-eqGeyrueGkrj-g_8UWlHSBFSnugT6WcTnq0GLfiKeRwUTRm3f676LNlHsr_iqMtRdT4T5nEScwKdBFqSx3ZI5ciIBKPlrA/s1600/DSCF0009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK60wCeHRMpY2uDCsG8u0cUzhCFjHiYcmUUyNzfaPUQuCS-eqGeyrueGkrj-g_8UWlHSBFSnugT6WcTnq0GLfiKeRwUTRm3f676LNlHsr_iqMtRdT4T5nEScwKdBFqSx3ZI5ciIBKPlrA/s400/DSCF0009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Barbie TARDIS, exploded view, during the painting phase.</div>
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I'm thrilled with the result, and so is Jo! <i>Allons-y</i>, Lady Doctor!</div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-50672733680514206102013-06-28T16:36:00.002-04:002013-06-28T16:38:54.349-04:00The Strangest Writing Retreat I Have Ever Heard Of<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Last night, I got an e-mail through Facebook from a guy who says he met me at a SCBWI Carolinas conference three years ago. He's putting together a writers retreat near Charlotte next March, and he's having trouble getting guys to come, so he's inviting me. Okay, so that's not why I want to be invited to something, but I sympathize, because I also can't get guys to come to my kidlit writing retreats.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He doesn't tell me the date, or how long it is. Also, he says it will be a "combination writing retreat/Spartan Race." He says this like I am supposed to know what "Spartan Race" means. I have no idea what a Spartan Race is, so I write back: what is the date, how long is it, and what is a Spartan Race?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He writes back that the retreat will be over a particular weekend, that there will be a craft talk on Friday night, and then "the Spartan Race Saturday morning." And in case I don't know what that is, he says, here's a link.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I follow the link. A Spartan Race is a sort of traveling Iron Man Obstacle Race, a four mile run through the mud where you do things like crawl on your stomach under barbed wire, jump over burning fires, climb greased pyramids, and get beat on by very large men with padded sticks.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5rw19vR-BiBg91PF1ybQW8Z9kLlGF3-63R5O-SfO80PFNS5KJMYgP4Au-5iuHxfuorDN_-DdZJx3m_Vzql_wB_pHk4D4IQl8Q_aymbFSStJPBOe0vb6szoOmSXwiaHpd-hmxTBTWNlFM/s720/spartan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5rw19vR-BiBg91PF1ybQW8Z9kLlGF3-63R5O-SfO80PFNS5KJMYgP4Au-5iuHxfuorDN_-DdZJx3m_Vzql_wB_pHk4D4IQl8Q_aymbFSStJPBOe0vb6szoOmSXwiaHpd-hmxTBTWNlFM/s640/spartan.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then in the evening we will probably do a first pages critique.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wrote back to the man and told him that I was sorry, but I couldn't attend because YOU COULD NOT PAY ME TO RUN A SPARTAN RACE.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But thank you very much for the invitation.</span></div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-61850662983549342712013-05-01T06:00:00.000-04:002013-05-01T10:53:54.986-04:00Flashes of War<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzQccvzmJ5DuXMV8qwR4Ge3h8vd9YZWNgARpecAywEHVsfqUnh5ck9EAf6jRG_RpPElNH_X3bVpv2gLQrtwyk4r3hRLOrp2buNinLkPLHY0KP9ZlsZfm14D0KUJbtiPIc4C0q_GNNWao/s1600/flashesofwar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzQccvzmJ5DuXMV8qwR4Ge3h8vd9YZWNgARpecAywEHVsfqUnh5ck9EAf6jRG_RpPElNH_X3bVpv2gLQrtwyk4r3hRLOrp2buNinLkPLHY0KP9ZlsZfm14D0KUJbtiPIc4C0q_GNNWao/s400/flashesofwar.png" width="266" /></a></div>
My friend Katey Schultz has a book of flash fiction stories about the recent and on-going wars in the Middle East coming out soon, and I took time recently to ask her a few questions about it:<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">1)
Why flash fiction? How does the form fit the material?</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Flash
fiction stories are typically 1-3 pages long. They are very short
snapshots or moments captured on the page, often showing characters
in response to a situation that out-sizes them. (Here’s a recording
of one example, titled <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmk1_k_B2Ks">“Poo
Mission.”</a>) At first, I began writing about war using the flash
fiction form because I knew very little about how we were actually,
physically fighting the wars and how civilians in the Middle East
were interpreting our actions. So the size of the story represented
my limited knowledge, because I couldn’t imagine much more than a
scene or two at a time with much accuracy. </span></span>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
more I learned, the more I was able to refine my word choice in these
stories, and really build momentum and energy on the page. At that
point, I still stuck with the flash fiction form because intense,
dramatic, or traumatic situations are often remembered only in
snapshots—so that seemed right and realistic to me. It was only a
year and a half or so into my work writing about war that I had
amassed enough information and confidence to begin writing
full-length short stories on this topic.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">2)
How did you research the experience of the soldiers before, during,
and after the war in the Middle East to be able to write so well
about it?</span></span></b></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
all started by making lists of words. I was very interested in the
language of warfare and the Global War on Terror in particular.
Giving a writer a new word is like giving a painter a new shade of
green. I really wanted to play around with things and see what I
could do. It felt empowering…but I also knew I needed to be careful
with these words, because they came with certain contexts that I had
to become familiar with. The stakes felt very high, and that made me
even more diligent in my research and also my precise imagining. If I
wrote something and it didn’t “feel” true…if I couldn’t put
my heart behind it…I deleted it. There was a lot of back and forth
of my cursor across the screen, at least initially. Eventually, I
found my way in.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">To
extend my research beyond using the right words, I read twenty or so
nonfiction books about 21<sup>st</sup>
Century warfare and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This was in
early 2010, so there weren’t nearly as many contemporary fiction
authors publishing about Iraq and Afghanistan as there are today; and
that was fine. I wanted to start with the facts. I watched countless
DVDs (mostly documentaries) and clips of head-cam footage on YouTube
from soldiers in ambushes or civilians in daily life. I really only
interviewed 2 soldiers in my research—one, to discuss the
day-to-day operations of life on a Forward Operating Base, and
another, to talk about the process for enlisting in the Army.
Information from the former helped me write “The Ghost of Sanchez,”
and information from the latter helped me write “Deuce Out.”</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally,
I looked at many, many photographs using Google Images searches. I
printed these and hung them on my walls, or downloaded the images and
used them as a screen saver. In other words, I surrounded myself with
the words, images, and sounds of war as much as I possibly could
without going there…then I began to write.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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</span></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">3)
You not only tell stories about Americans, but about people of
Afghanistan/Iraq. How did you learn about their experiences enough to
be able to write about them?</span></span></b></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
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</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
took a healthy balance of research and imagination. I didn’t speak
to any Afghan or Iraqi civilians while researching the book, though I
would have liked to. I did, however, spend three weeks on a self-made
writing retreat with former foreign war correspondent Karen Button.
Her advice and knowledge were crucial as I began my first forays into
writing from a completely different cultural perspective. I think
that watching the DVDs and documentaries was also helpful to me
here—they enabled me to study gesture, tone of voice, clothing,
physical setting, and gendered interactions that I could then bring
to life in my stories. Typically, I saturated my mind with
information until the only thing left to do was start putting things
together and inventing characters that could move around and react
within the imagined spaces I was creating in my head.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
are still so many perspectives and viewpoints that I was not able to
write. For instance, one of the stories that I chose not to publish
in the collection was written from the perspective of a suicide
bomber. Try as I might, I just never felt I could bring that piece up
to par. It was too far for my mind to go and I didn’t believe my
own words as I wrote them. So I cut the story out.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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</span></span>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">4)
You often write about children. Is there a children's book writer
inside you trying to get out? ;-)</span></span></b></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
has honestly never occurred to me. Wow. I do this? I suppose it takes
a strong YA author such as yourself to notice! Thank you! In another
life, I was a teacher for five years, so I’m sure that has trickled
into my writing some (as well as my work as a waitress). I will say
that I find the appearance of children in short stories to be a great
source of relief, and when you’re writing about war, it’s only
natural to want relief from that. For example, when I wrote “Into
Pure Bronze” about two, young Afghan boys playing soccer in
downtown Kabul, I was trying to write my way out of the wars. I had
been researching and writing about war for two years at that point,
maybe longer. I needed to believe my stories would have an end…and
that the wars would, also. So I specifically wrote about “the next
generation” of Afghan children and tried to imagine what their
impressions of their own country and of America would be, given all
that has taken place in their lifetimes thus far.</span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">5)
You say in your epilogue that you chose to write about war--and this
war specifically--because you wanted to understand it better. To get
to know what it was like from the inside out. What did writing
Flashes of War teach you? What answers did you find?</span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
me, every story begins with an unanswered question. Why else would I
want to write it? Because of this, I did learn a lot while writing
<i>Flashes of War</i>.
Personally, I changed my views on the military’s recruitment
practices, on why an individual may or may not choose to enlist, on
our nation’s obligation to our troops while they serve and once
they come home, as well as on the use of force in general. There was
a time when I didn’t understand why anyone would sign up to serve
in the U.S. Military. There was also a time when I believed that
problems could be solved without military action. But the more I
looked at these wars, the more I understood and became open to the
diversity of reasons for serving. I also became supportive of the
U.S.’s initial—very early—acts of war in Afghanistan. (Doug
Stanton’s incredible book, <i>Horse Soldiers</i>,
played no small part in informing and persuading me of this.)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the end, however, writing <i>Flashes of War</i>
was never about who was for or against anything. I felt genuinely
interested in examining what those of us alive today could do to help
relieve the suffering and bring awareness to the myriad impacts of
war. Winning or losing, Republican or Democrat, Sunni or Shiite,
Taliban or U.S. soldier—our tax dollars are still funding
everything from Taco Bell deliveries on base, to drone strikes, to
the rebuilding of schools for Afghan girls, to destroying weapons
caches, to providing prosthetic limbs to any one of more than 50,000
U.S. soldiers who are now amputees. As Americans and as citizens of
the world, I think that’s worth looking at and responding to.
<i>Flashes of War</i> is my
response.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks, Katey!</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Flashes of War</i> officially pubs on May 27th, but pre-o<span style="font-size: small;">rders begin today. <a href="http://www.kateyschultz.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">Click here</a> to learn more about pre-ordering the book.</span></span></span></div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-13266027190581648262013-02-14T14:17:00.000-05:002013-02-14T14:17:31.901-05:00Nancy Drew in The Tomb of the Cybermen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSsj0jUVTv1P_78HalFc7F1EcSnVqq3ahyvte_-MyKCLIuKkLL0N7AJnhPt4tAvyMmkKNDuWxmxAF0Vc5HYwCfLwqG0LjToCLH9Vt7TlsGyvEeaHK1kE0zocowmhigEqMkfglelF7W3c/s1600/Nancy+Drew+-+The+Tomb+of+the+Cybermen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSsj0jUVTv1P_78HalFc7F1EcSnVqq3ahyvte_-MyKCLIuKkLL0N7AJnhPt4tAvyMmkKNDuWxmxAF0Vc5HYwCfLwqG0LjToCLH9Vt7TlsGyvEeaHK1kE0zocowmhigEqMkfglelF7W3c/s640/Nancy+Drew+-+The+Tomb+of+the+Cybermen.jpg" width="408" /> </a></div>
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I made this. From an idea by my friend Wes Stitt. Kind of a hack job on GIMP, the Linux freeware Photoshop, but I'm pretty proud of it. The number in the corner is the year the original Doctor Who serial <i>The Tomb of the Cybermen</i> debuted.</div>
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That's a mash-up I'd love to read!</div>
<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-79447685690357547172012-09-12T11:32:00.000-04:002012-09-12T11:40:05.111-04:00Totoro Pics!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNy-7sj2PbAu8QOeW_6CoJ3g4sVtetoNSL2zruLh9YfegxO5FwAx6a-G9tLw1M7UED7YA9JU5AJbD2XJfl64rfAoYsUfKv5o0OzpAw4mjuet0o0CXBi_QFonhZO4uRLSSy35Ri_Hkdo0/s1600/Totoro+winner+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNy-7sj2PbAu8QOeW_6CoJ3g4sVtetoNSL2zruLh9YfegxO5FwAx6a-G9tLw1M7UED7YA9JU5AJbD2XJfl64rfAoYsUfKv5o0OzpAw4mjuet0o0CXBi_QFonhZO4uRLSSy35Ri_Hkdo0/s400/Totoro+winner+cropped.jpg" width="367" /></a></div>
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Okay! By popular demand, pics of our Totoro and Satsuki costumes! I've been holding off because we don't have too many--I was inside the thing all night, after all!--but people have been asking, so here are a few pics to whet your appetite. First up, a picture of Jo and me (inside Totoro) with Grant Imahara, star of Mythbusters, and host of this year's DragonCon Masquerade! He was really cool--and really appreciated the scale of Totoro! We were too tall for the photographer's set and lighting here, which is why there's a big lamp above Totoro's head. Jo is holding our award for Best Animated Character--our second award in that category. (Our first was for <a href="http://gratzindustries.blogspot.com/2009/09/presenting-gratz-industries-dragoncon.html" target="_blank">Samurai Jack and Aku</a>.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBto-0QUB1qX2VUIb5FnyiBZ_FlasXqPaHFlkIooNIAtGO4bzDdYz0zS1hxeYHXi-r-4OTv1sXbU7mG88AN9SMUL8W5BDBllrH-WYEUDqrm5Rw-qtaHvT8cNqcvLlvEXH-8DWSffB2cU/s1600/tumblr_m9yjmrntnp1qhbjbuo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBto-0QUB1qX2VUIb5FnyiBZ_FlasXqPaHFlkIooNIAtGO4bzDdYz0zS1hxeYHXi-r-4OTv1sXbU7mG88AN9SMUL8W5BDBllrH-WYEUDqrm5Rw-qtaHvT8cNqcvLlvEXH-8DWSffB2cU/s400/tumblr_m9yjmrntnp1qhbjbuo1_1280.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Here's a shot I yanked off someone's Tumblr. After the Masquerade, we set up Totoro on one of the floors in the Marriott, where a number of people got their picture made with him. He was so tall (over ten feet) that his head was hitting the ceiling (and a sprinkler!) in the first place we set him up. This place had a bit taller overhead.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbDSiJfKPSFgzatid3oyMWBn3PzJ3CSWUr-zKyyFhCnRF0igXQ77iHrWe91tHk6fQFKBJR6h_sb3xr3Nqk2ianRA1tWFj2HsvLnX0zZCyrn90LIcNeQj-tL85hByzmHTTLoQ48flaJP4s/s1600/Totoro+ready+to+go.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbDSiJfKPSFgzatid3oyMWBn3PzJ3CSWUr-zKyyFhCnRF0igXQ77iHrWe91tHk6fQFKBJR6h_sb3xr3Nqk2ianRA1tWFj2HsvLnX0zZCyrn90LIcNeQj-tL85hByzmHTTLoQ48flaJP4s/s400/Totoro+ready+to+go.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Getting Totoro to the con was a bit of a challenge, as you might imagine. We had to rent a mini-van for the purpose, and stuff him in the back. We built him to be collapsible, but we were careful with his face. :-) I had hoped that people would see Totoro peering at them out the back of our van on the highway, but all the van's windows were tinted, so I don't think anyone actually saw him.<br />
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That's your teaser! More pics of the construction, and hopefully of Totoro around the con, to come!<br />
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(Click the pics to see them bigger and better.) Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-74530186715497830972012-09-04T19:28:00.002-04:002012-09-04T19:28:34.743-04:00We Survived DragonCon 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbhZly8lb2YgdJPKLVnH85u2UeruD1ousKutgsDX2JnYVoB82XlLxoTenn0qLEVdwlbJRVDeNgHAUOmucdh-u9itVggC781aXLMpFrYSRY0cWLkckLND-JNXCAvo7s1Xmp1NdH6X9B8Y/s1600/jo_goggles01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbhZly8lb2YgdJPKLVnH85u2UeruD1ousKutgsDX2JnYVoB82XlLxoTenn0qLEVdwlbJRVDeNgHAUOmucdh-u9itVggC781aXLMpFrYSRY0cWLkckLND-JNXCAvo7s1Xmp1NdH6X9B8Y/s400/jo_goggles01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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DragonCon 2012 was intense. Still recovering. More pics to come.</div>
Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-36950411482888758912012-07-14T11:18:00.001-04:002012-07-14T11:19:30.872-04:00Letters to Camp<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
While Jo is off at summer camp for three weeks (!) Wendi and I write her a letter a day, alternating days between us. Wendi's tend to be crafty, while mine tend to be silly. Here's one I sent to Jo with a couple of <i>Mad Libs</i> books during her first week at camp. I was pretty pleased with it. :-)</div>
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<img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oCosGfI530Ns7g24B3r2gFrVRd8QnBMB3drjjFI9ZyO8NqMQR29y4i9jeITFftpamDv9IjR9xZeossecKZsD4AJH5urBBqSnhyphenhyphenPduatB8m8_BVv6jrpRwd_sx4vA8Gbxto-OXyY_dbE/s640/letter+1.jpeg" width="491" /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOrjnRsyL6TAzA_G59-v31vmPE1hg6f4gqIX5pZpRbeW9gkJwAqf6ctTqvQ-9yVOZDgO19Gvg31wl0Wsc23l9_V9BZgP8KKqZ2LUdpTcAV8bAbefHwkaIE0K1pF3rddmavvKmBCPodIY/s1600/letter+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnOrjnRsyL6TAzA_G59-v31vmPE1hg6f4gqIX5pZpRbeW9gkJwAqf6ctTqvQ-9yVOZDgO19Gvg31wl0Wsc23l9_V9BZgP8KKqZ2LUdpTcAV8bAbefHwkaIE0K1pF3rddmavvKmBCPodIY/s640/letter+2.jpeg" width="491" /></a></div>
<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-61393078018281999022012-06-26T16:48:00.003-04:002012-06-26T16:58:06.551-04:00Now on sale: my Star Trek novel!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxL8oV3KJBuUXHQ9mt9JXPkXnC5pRZCIyF2Scpk3j8lJ7qqwnQCjX8cdoFo5jVNZLddtjRdpZEQ7lSbIMrMKkBFob6llyUUBHeCLSM2J4QkcmPKI32tZT6VARIqWQ0id7-0_TDvUU85k/s1600/theassassinationgame003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcxL8oV3KJBuUXHQ9mt9JXPkXnC5pRZCIyF2Scpk3j8lJ7qqwnQCjX8cdoFo5jVNZLddtjRdpZEQ7lSbIMrMKkBFob6llyUUBHeCLSM2J4QkcmPKI32tZT6VARIqWQ0id7-0_TDvUU85k/s400/theassassinationgame003.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Let's check the old Alan Gratz bucket list. Visit Machu Picchu: Not yet.
Master the Force: Still working on that. Write a Star Trek novel: Done!<br /><br />It really has been a longtime dream of mine to write a Star Trek novel.
Don't tell anyone, but about 17 years ago, back before we were married,
Wendi pretended to be my literary agent so we could submit a Star Trek
novel I had written to Pocket Books. We made up a letterhead for her
"agency" and everything. Pocket Books didn't go for it and soon after I
focused on writing books for young readers, but that submission
officially represented my first real attempt to sell a novel.<br /><br />Cut to a year and a half ago, when I learned that Simon Spotlight was
publishing a series of young adult Star Trek novels set in the universe
of the recent movie reboot. Trek? YA? That long-lost dream of writing a
Star Trek novel wasn't looking so hopeless after all! I got on the phone
with my agent, Barry, he got on the phone with the editor of the series
at Simon Spotlight, and a month later I had a gig as Star Trek's newest
author.<br /><br />Today I have come full circle. I'm happy to announce the publication of <a href="http://www.alangratz.com/" style="color: darkred; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: maroon;"><b><i>Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game</i></b></span></a><i>!</i><br /><br />The rules are simple: Draw a target. Track him down and “kill” him with a
spork. Take your victim’s target for your own. Oh, and make sure the
player with <i>your</i> name doesn’t get to you first. No safe zones. No time-outs. The game ends when only one player remains.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> <br /><br />James T. Kirk is playing for fun. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is playing to
get closer to a girl. But when a series of terrorist attacks rock the
usually placid Starfleet Academy campus, it becomes clear that somebody
is playing the game for real. Is it one of the visiting Varkolak, on
Earth to attend an intergalactic medical conference? Or could it be a
member of a super-secret society at the Academy dedicated to taking care
of threats to the Federation, no matter what rules they have to break
to do it?<br /><br />Find out in <i><a href="http://www.alangratz.com/" style="color: darkred; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: maroon;"><b>Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game</b></span></a>,</i> on sale now at your favorite bookstore!<br /><br />Live long and prosper,</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: maroon;"><b>Alan</b></span></span></div>Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-58890563202783511972012-05-31T13:27:00.001-04:002012-05-31T13:27:43.194-04:00Where's Waldo? On the US Men's Soccer Team<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvno1LFevmKjdbKtlmqx7CU1m9TZggUsRHAce0QCl7-QrJLGGC8fYiu_XhqRZTRctz2xzxBLsYKr3yd7hey32I6WyLhd0dtOxZ4CmeuM49UMGpXMF7JJqmD7iVsHQdJMD4yLb9qY1sT5s/s1600/waldosoccer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvno1LFevmKjdbKtlmqx7CU1m9TZggUsRHAce0QCl7-QrJLGGC8fYiu_XhqRZTRctz2xzxBLsYKr3yd7hey32I6WyLhd0dtOxZ4CmeuM49UMGpXMF7JJqmD7iVsHQdJMD4yLb9qY1sT5s/s400/waldosoccer.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I think I found Waldo during last night's US v Brazil friendly...Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-33771293864074672372012-05-20T15:09:00.003-04:002012-05-20T15:13:34.837-04:00Help us decide what DragonCon Masquerade costumes to make this year!We're stuck.<br />
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We don't know which costumes to attempt for this year's DragonCon Masquerade, and time to build is running out.<br />
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The top three candidates are below. Each has its particular challenges and drawbacks, but each is equally worthy and awesome. Tell us what you think in the comments!<br />
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<b>Candidate #1: Peanuts/Watchmen mash-up</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMjUfbuHub12pToJphlQ1sfnO0cTkENySlxf5NTjWyrz-EiYiaKwcNAsNgB6MIbPTapDDt14HtwJ6oNAhaYBzTeqw-UYQ5fG6ivXGHCic1j7NFNa_py43TZK99eF7frb8muTGwnhUfqc/s1600/Watchnuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMjUfbuHub12pToJphlQ1sfnO0cTkENySlxf5NTjWyrz-EiYiaKwcNAsNgB6MIbPTapDDt14HtwJ6oNAhaYBzTeqw-UYQ5fG6ivXGHCic1j7NFNa_py43TZK99eF7frb8muTGwnhUfqc/s1600/Watchnuts.jpg" /></a></div>
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This is the work of the awesome illustrator <a href="http://www.evanshaner.com/2009/03/super-secret-watchmen-peanuts-re-color.html" target="_blank">Evan Shaner</a>, and though he's tired of seeing it, we never tire of it.<br />
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Pros:<br />
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Costumes are complex, but the legs are easy. (Trust us on this one.)<br />
Could bring the house down. (Particularly if you can see what Snoopy/Rorschach's hat is hiding there on Dr. Manhattan/Charlie Brown.)<br />
Character costumes are basic shapes, and hide a lot of building rough spots. <br />
AWESOME.<br />
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Cons:<br />
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Well, we need six people, and we're only three people. (Volunteers, anyone?)<br />
That's six (!) costumes to make by September.<br />
Jo has to wear a full-body suit. <br />
Transportation issues.<br />
Technical issue: we're not sure yet how we would see out of them.<br />
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<b>Candidate #2: Incredible Hulk/Maurice Sendak mashup</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlS1AhA9sOxaTtDC68CaTfPVNGyhDOYQhcSsMbxGNvzMO4U2Rwo4LXSTH6i3h9fTrelZc5PiKUD2xI6DqtU3Qx5jhDhvuApT5ktplHzRPfkhkjNQlrxoUtBMIEJNimIsokuOeJ8R2Oes/s1600/INCREDIBLE+HULK+Kaare+Andrews+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlS1AhA9sOxaTtDC68CaTfPVNGyhDOYQhcSsMbxGNvzMO4U2Rwo4LXSTH6i3h9fTrelZc5PiKUD2xI6DqtU3Qx5jhDhvuApT5ktplHzRPfkhkjNQlrxoUtBMIEJNimIsokuOeJ8R2Oes/s400/INCREDIBLE+HULK+Kaare+Andrews+1.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
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This is an incredible <i>Incredible Hulk</i> comic book cover done by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaare_Andrews" target="_blank">Kaare Andrews</a>. We like this one so much we have it framed and hung on our wall. It's a fantastic Where the Wild Things Are/Hulk mash-up, with all the Hulks following Max/Bruce Banner. Very apropos this year, what with Avengers in theaters and Maurice Sendak's death, yes? We agree.<br />
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Pros:<br />
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Jo doesn't have to have a full-body costume on. (She'd be Max/Banner.) That's mportant, as she wears out by 11 pm and has less patience than us overall.<br />
Timely.<br />
AWESOME.<br />
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Cons:<br />
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Whew. Where do we start? Do we cover them in fur, or in fleece we dye or paint?<br />
Will people get it without the background?<br />
Do we make the Hulks look a little more Wild Things?<br />
Transportation issues. <br />
That's three full-body Hulk costumes to make by September. (We would make the third either the Red Hulk, Nerd Hulk, or another Green Hulk.)<br />
We're only three people, and we'd need a fourth. (Volunteers, anyone?)<br />
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<b>Candidate #3: Duck Dodgers in the 24th and 1/2 Century!</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o_j2Kk4y8zQF5RKQPwiYT-2wxEK-GlCK4OgB8cE2PUd_RlvwNqTuxeCLdemjZHnKWiDj8TcC-xNoiZI4H-J_spNSV4rIVSZI_7Mu89gNxhznB0Drc5HalsLvjGvf_EajDwDQRCSgzwg/s1600/duckdodgers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o_j2Kk4y8zQF5RKQPwiYT-2wxEK-GlCK4OgB8cE2PUd_RlvwNqTuxeCLdemjZHnKWiDj8TcC-xNoiZI4H-J_spNSV4rIVSZI_7Mu89gNxhznB0Drc5HalsLvjGvf_EajDwDQRCSgzwg/s1600/duckdodgers.jpg" /></a></div>
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Duck Dodgers is a fan favorite at DragonCon, and here in the Gratz house. We would do Duck Dodgers, Space Cadet Porky, and Marvin the Martian. Pretty much don't have to do much more than come out on stage and get the audience to yell "Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half century!" with us to be a hit.<br />
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Pros:<br />
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Just the three of us!<br />
And only three costumes to make!<br />
Marvin's the easiest build, and Porky's not too hard. <br />
Duck Dodgers will bring the house down!<br />
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Cons:<br />
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Jo has to be in a full-body suit.<br />
Dodgers will be a nightmare to build. The head is a full foam sculpt, and Alan is no Michaelangelo. Porky's face is a full-sculpt too. <br />
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<b>What say you?</b> Which is your favorite? Help us decide! Leave your vote/thoughts in the comments.<br />
<br />
(And we're not kidding about volunteers. We'll build it, if you'll wear it. Let us know if you're interested.)<br />
<br />Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-7177120883025640962012-04-04T16:44:00.001-04:002012-04-04T16:46:17.272-04:00Now in paperback: Fantasy Baseball!<a _cke_saved_href="http://alangratz.blogspot.com/2010/01/fantasy-baseball.html" href="http://alangratz.blogspot.com/2010/01/fantasy-baseball.html" style="color: forestgreen; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;"><img _cke_saved_src="https://d2q0qd5iz04n9u.cloudfront.net/_ssl/proxy.php/http/gallery.mailchimp.com/5cbd80cde7da9b1f2999ed00b/images/fb_paperback.JPG" align="left" alt="Fantasy Baseball" height="460" src="https://d2q0qd5iz04n9u.cloudfront.net/_ssl/proxy.php/http/gallery.mailchimp.com/5cbd80cde7da9b1f2999ed00b/images/fb_paperback.JPG" style="-moz-border-bottom-colors: none; -moz-border-image: none; -moz-border-left-colors: none; -moz-border-right-colors: none; -moz-border-top-colors: none; border: 0; display: inline; height: 460px; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 10px; outline: medium none; text-decoration: none; width: 300px;" width="300" /></a><a _cke_saved_href="http://alangratz.blogspot.com/2010/01/fantasy-baseball.html" href="http://alangratz.blogspot.com/2010/01/fantasy-baseball.html" style="color: forestgreen; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;"><i>Fantasy Baseball</i></a>
is now out in paperback with a new cover, just in time for opening day
of the new Major League Baseball season! The new cover is spooky and fun
at the same time, just like the story inside. I recommend buying them
in batches of nine--one each for every player on your baseball team.
That's a totally unbiased recommendation, of course...<br />
<br />
<i>Fantasy
Baseball</i> is available online or at your favorite local bookstore, and
signed copies are in stock at my favorite local bookstore, <a _cke_saved_href="http://www.malaprops.com/alan-gratz-autographed-copies" href="http://www.malaprops.com/alan-gratz-autographed-copies" style="color: forestgreen; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;">Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe</a>! Follow the link to find out how you can get a signed (and personalized!) <i>Fantasy Baseball</i> sent your way.Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-22688125855460793952012-03-27T10:28:00.001-04:002012-03-27T10:29:14.923-04:00Naked Came the Leaf Peeper<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEBTnQdxkXWtLl2DVUeZ_TUTnXsiCXTeAl8FtYHi1poYIp2fpY68eXUsHimts118ilbBOCxv33yxjAh0QBPPY0m67DViKQWaUSxPlmyadzcNctVgB7RZof__AqxMSkJEPLoYw6-IXSeA/s1600/leafpeeper02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEBTnQdxkXWtLl2DVUeZ_TUTnXsiCXTeAl8FtYHi1poYIp2fpY68eXUsHimts118ilbBOCxv33yxjAh0QBPPY0m67DViKQWaUSxPlmyadzcNctVgB7RZof__AqxMSkJEPLoYw6-IXSeA/s400/leafpeeper02.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
To help celebrate the 30th anniversary of my favorite indie bookstore,
Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe in Asheville, NC, I was invited to be a
part of a collaborative mystery novel called <a href="http://www.malaprops.com/naked-came-leaf-peeper" style="color: forestgreen; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><i>Naked Came the Leaf Peeper</i></a>. Published by Malaprop's itself, <i>Naked</i>
features twelve regional authors each writing a chapter of a madcap
mystery, in the tradition of legendary collaborative novels like <i>Naked Came the Stranger</i> and <i>Naked Came the Manatee</i>.<br />
<br />
Billed as "a zany Southern Appalachian take on <i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i>," <i>Naked</i> is already a best-seller at Malaprop's, and has gotten raves from authors who clearly ought to know better, like Ron Rash (<i>Serena</i>), Elizabeth Gilbert (<i>Eat Pray Love</i>), and Charles Frazier (<span style="font-style: italic;">Cold Mountain</span>).<br />
<br />
Now Malaprop's is throwing a <b>Naked Author Jam</b> to celebrate the book. <b>Join me and eleven other <i>Naked*</i> authors at the University of North Carolina-Asheville Humanities Lecture Hall on Friday, March 30, at 7:00 p.m.</b> as we read from, discuss, and laugh about our work. The event is free and open to the public.<br />
<br />
Joining me on stage will be Tony Earley, Brian Lee Knopp, Linda Marie
Barrett, John P. McAfee, Susan Reinhardt, Vicki Lane, Tommy Hays, Wayne
Caldwell, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Gene Cheek, and Charles Price,
reading for Fred Chappell. Come on out and get <i>Naked!</i>**<br />
<br />
<b>For more information, call Malaprop's bookstore at (828)254-6734.</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><i> * "Naked" in a literary sense, not a literal one, of course.<br />
** Again, clothing is <u>not</u> optional. </i></span>Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813155461240201466.post-32968332400284690132012-03-23T07:00:00.000-04:002012-03-23T07:00:02.447-04:00Awesome Minimalist Lego PostersCan you name the TV characters represented in these terrific, minimalist Lego ads?<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
via <a href="http://ht.ly/9Oz71">Apartment Therapy</a></div>Alan Gratzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15528858793775172285noreply@blogger.com4