Welp, today’s the day! The Wicked Wishes anthology is officially out now. If you haven’t already, check it out here: https://books2read.com/wickedwishes
And I had meant to have this comic done a few days ago, but this new job has been draining the hell out of me and reminding me that I REALLY need to find some way to make money off of my own work…but here’s a “Meet The Characters” group interview that was pretty fun to work on.
Alright, y’all, buckle up, because this post is gonna be a big one.
See, I had gone into this year with the intention of doing as much artwork as possible. After finishing the main Hell Bent series, I started to feel kind of lazy and needed to create SOMETHING. Which led to this year’s creative plans…
ANYWAY, the daily pics:
So, a few days unaccounted for: 1 was the sketch for the anthology story promo, the other 2 were thumbnail sketches for a comic. Also, got some vintage comic brushes and played with those quite a bit.
And before I wrap this up, the doll pics. Some PA-6 shots, some Slinoan.
Hey, all! Just here to spread a bit more of the word about the Wicked Wishes anthology, releasing on May 4. Have you preordered your copy yet? It’s only 99 cents and all proceeds go toward the World Literacy Foundation.
Just finished approving the edits for my story, so now I can share a little bit of it with you all.
Gemmy headed straight for the kitchen once she arrived home with her brother. She’d dropped him onto the couch as soon as she hauled him inside
,and now needed to replenish the energy used from speeding through town. The monkey-woman’s red hair was damp with sweat. It was one thing to run through the city in a blur but doing so with a grown man of 180 pounds took extra effort.She wasn’t entirely unused to her brother having to be retrieved from various scientists. Trav’s regenerative abilities were a marvel to behold, and that had unfortunately made him a target all too often. She honestly wondered if testing the limits of Malone’s healing was a rite of passage for newly minted biologists. But this time, it looked like they hadn’t done much damage to—wait a second.
Where was his left foot?
Gemmy knew there was blood everywhere when she picked him up earlier, and she saw that they’d cut into his ankle somewhat. But she had not anticipated that his foot was that close to coming off. Thinking about it, she decided it would be a good idea to grab something extra from the fridge for him. After all, when they were kids, Travis was always looking out for her, keeping her safe. She took a moment to put together two sandwiches. One had plenty of meat and cheese stacked between the slices of bread. The monkey-woman took that out to her brother and set it on the table beside him
,before washing the meat-based contamination from her hands to make her own. Her brother may have been one to eat meat, but she certainly was not.Once Gemmy had her own snack situated, she took it out to the living room and settled in her favorite chair. By then, Travis was sitting up. He was still a bit groggy, but there was food to be had. So focused was he on the sandwich in his hands
,that he hadn’t even noticed that he was missing a foot just yet.“How’re you feeling?” Gemmy asked her brother as she noticed him.
He finished his current mouthful of food. “Head hurts…guessing it was a lab again?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks for bailing me out again.”
“Not a problem at all.”
He reached up with a foot to rub his aching head. However, Trav’s inclination was to use the left foot for such a task. And once he realized that there was something missing, he paused mid-chew. Slowly, he finished that mouthful, swallowing it before letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Yeah, sorry,” his sister said. “I thought I got all of you out of there, but….”
He chuckled. “It’s not your fault…kinda hope nobody’s doing anything fucked up with it, though.”
“Like what?” she asked, almost amused at the thought.
“I dunno. Like trying to clone me, cannibalism, using it as a fu–”
“Okay, okay, forget I asked!”
He chuckled. “Sorry to freak you out, there. But yeah, I don’t really like the idea of people having parts of me to use for whatever…I mean, that happened with my blood and hair once, and things got kinda freaky, and this dude’s hair ended up eating people….”
He noticed the confused look in her eyes
,before he remembered something.“…Oh, yeah, Spence and I kinda agreed never to speak of that.”
She almost pressed further
,but decided she’d just ask Spencer about it later. It wasn’t that she liked when her husband and brother hid things from her, but at the same time, it was understandable. They also knew that she didn’t need more stress in her life. Besides, whatever had happened, they’d come out of it okay, so there was no real use in prying now.Before they could discuss things any further, the door opened. Travis and Gemmy both looked up at the sound of heavy metal footsteps. Their aunt Beast stood there, feline ears folded back in slight concern. And she wasn’t alone, either. Ivy and Yvette had shown up along with her, the twins staying closer to the door.
“Another lab, Trav?” she asked. “Ivy could pick up on your brainwaves earlier.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Lost a foot somewhere in the process.”
A laugh came from the doorway. “I figured that would happen eventually,” said Yvette, brushing a few strands of black and blonde hair behind an ear. “I just always thought it’d be from the way you eat.”
Travis rolled his eyes, picking up his remaining foot and raising the middle toe.
“Anyway,” Ivy interjected, brushing off her sister’s mean-spirited comment toward her boyfriend, “I think we could get that back for you. I know that’s what you’d want, right?”
He nodded. Damn, it was nice to be with someone that could read minds. That made communication so much easier.
Ivy glanced at Yvette, then Beast, before bringing out her flask and taking a long swig. “All right, so…figure out where the foot is now, get it back. Simple enough, right?”
Beast nodded. She didn’t especially like it when someone harmed a member of her family, and when she found out who had hacked off one of her nephew’s limbs…
She was ready for the hunt to begin.
Curious about more? Check out the rest of this story, and the fourteen others in this collection of tales of wishes gone wrong!
You can find the anthology at: https://books2read.com/wickedwishes
Hey, all! So, I come bearing news about a new charity anthology due out by Fiction-Atlas Press. The release date: May 4th. And who benefits? The World Literacy Foundation!
So many awesome authors here…and somehow, me. I look forward to what everyone else came up with.
As for mine, it was definitely written while dealing with immense stress and burnout and I pantsed the hell out of it…hell, even two of the characters (two major ones) came from usage of the Behind The Name random name generator and much ass-pullery.
So, what’re you waiting for? Preorder now (it’s 99 cents), and when Star Wars day rolls around, you can have a lovely collection of wishes gone horribly wrong AND help promote literacy!
Long time, no post. I’ll put another one up later involving some plans for this year and a general update. But I’m planning an 8 page (probably) comic. I’ll finish the pitch for the anthology I hope to include it in soon, but wanted to post a couple of pics for it.
The anthology itself involves the veil between the paranormal world and the normal world that we know being lifted.
My plan for it still needs a title. But the idea itself entails a normal day at the hospital, medical professionals going about their business…when they have their first ever encounter with a pair of Grim Reapers. The Reapers had been operating behind the veil since the dawn of humanity, so to be seen by normal humans (that they AREN’T escorting to the Afterlife) is new to them as well. What’s more, the two Reapers–PA-6 (stationed in Pennsylvania, handles victims of abuse) and NJ-4 (New Jersey, deals with alcohol-based fatalities)–are having a teensy bit of a jurisdiction dispute over one particular patient. All just part of the New Normal.
And so, been playing with a tablet/pen I got a few months ago, Clip Studio Paint, and a few brushes, I hashed out a pic with PA-6 and NJ-4. Also, a sketch of them arguing.
Will this get in? I don’t know for sure, but we’ll find out! And if not, I’ll add it to the list.
So, I’ve seen another author friend do this, and it felt like a good idea. This year, I managed to finish 3 projects I’d started years ago: 1) a 12-book series, 2) a prequel to that series, 3) a deck of tarot cards based around the series.
So, what’s next?
Welp, I’ve taken the first steps toward adapting all of my short stories from anthologies into comics. NaNo was spent mostly creating the scripts for them all. There’s also a sequel to “The Struggle Is Real” in the works. It’s called “So, What’s Next?”, and I have yet to draw a cover for it. I’ve gotten a new computer and have since been upgrading it to have plenty of space for 1) comics and 2) music.
Also happening right now? After a hiatus, my friend C.C. Naughton is getting back to working on Twinkle Dingle-related stuff. I’m still the official artist, and now there’s an Etsy link! https://www.etsy.com/shop/TwinkleDingle
Hey, y’all! So for the 11th year in a row, I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo! It’s been different for me each year…first year? Started about halfway into the month and panic-wrote for that second half. Second: Sequel to the first year’s novel, and perhaps the one time I did a traditional NaNo (50K on one novel in a month). Other years have involved scripts, short stories, multiple projects at once, last year I tried all 50K in a day (only managed 25K in a day, and about half of that was coherent).
So what’s this year’s plan?
No idea how I want to break it all up, but the intent is to reward myself with some Hero Forge figures at the end of the month if I happen to win.
Wish me luck (or at least caffeine)!
So, once again, I threw my hat into the 24 Hour Comic ring. This time around, I decided to take the pitch for a comic I’d hoped to get into an anthology (but it was rejected; the pitch can be found here: Plans For This Year.
The work for it started at 7:30PM on Saturday, and was completed at 5:57PM Sunday. It’s something of a mess, but I’m still kind of proud of it.
Anyway, here’s “Did Not Get The Memo” (which may one day get a digital remaster).
A note: Yog’s body was portrayed by orbs drawn in highlighter. Which didn’t get picked up by the scanner, and it seems a bit of text also got cut off. But either way, the comic’s done.
It’s finally here: the release day for the anthology “From The Deep”. Which can still be found: https://books2read.com/fromthedeep
And since I’ve been doing author showcases for the past few days, it’s time to go into mine. So here’s a little excerpt from my entrant into this collection.
Somewhere In The Atlantic Ocean
If Travis was being honest with himself, this wasn’t the first time he’d woken up wondering where he was. No, this was a sensation that came to him far too often for his liking. In his teens, there was a point where he was unnerved by it, but he became used to it by his mid-twenties. And now, in his early thirties, he had shifted from “getting used to” to “Alright, whose fault is it this time?”.
Most of the time this had happened, there would be a cold metal table against his bare back, leather straps holding him down. But this time, he felt weirdly free…for the most part. His legs felt like they were stuck together, and he couldn’t feel his prehensile tail. He tried to grab at his arm with it but couldn’t feel it respond. He reached to grab ahold of the tail and nothing.
He waited for his vision to return, as everything had been dark even after his consciousness kicked in again. And that was when he saw it.
A school of fish passed him. Well, this was new. He was entirely underwater. It wasn’t his first time being underwater, but for some reason, he didn’t feel any sense of urgency to get above the surface. He scratched at his neck, finding a few slits that weren’t there before.
“…When’d I get gills?” he muttered to himself.
Well, that certainly explained the lack of drowning on his part. He looked down to see what his leg situation was, his green eyes becoming even wider than their usual. He no longer had legs as he knew them. Rather, it was a huge, scaled fish-like tail with a fin at the end, all of it the same red as his hair.
Well, damn…
This certainly explained why he couldn’t feel his usual monkey tail. Of course, he still lacked an explanation as to how, exactly, he became a merman. He had some idea. There was likely a scientist involved in this whole thing.
But that was just the thing: he was from the city of Hell Bent, PA. If one were to throw a rock in that city, they’d likely hit either a lab or someone that worked in one. So just to say that there was a scientist at fault in his current predicament did absolutely nothing to narrow things down.
With a sigh, he decided to start moving. His natural inclination was to walk, but with the current lack of legs, that wasn’t going to happen. He did manage to move himself forward a bit with the new tail, though.
Something he noticed right away was that he was able to move quicker underwater than he ever could on land. Running on both legs could be a hassle sometimes. Running on all-fours, perhaps a bit less so. But down here, he was able to cut through the water like butter.
Travis may have been curious about why he was the way he was now, and where he’d ended up. But even more than that, he was wondering what capabilities this new form would give him.
Want to see where this goes? Just click that link at the top (or go for the universal link here: books2read.com/fromthedeep)
My Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/k-matt
One more day before the anthology goes live! If you haven’t pre-ordered it yet, check out the universal link https://books2read.com/fromthedeep and you can find it just about anywhere books are sold (might have a few issues with Amazon, just as a heads-up, that may or may not be resolved by the time this post is live).
Anyway, today’s featured author is Lisah Walden, with a story that sounds like one hell of a read!
A Breaking and Crushing of Your Bones
Blurb:
Jonathan’s ultimate desire is to be a best-selling author, and he will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Perhaps kidnapping his muse was not a wise decision. Afterall, what belongs to the sea must return to the sea.
Author’s Note:
I have always been intrigued by fairies, especially those from the sea. Two of my favorite creatures are the Leanan Sidhe and selkies. This anthology provided a wonderful opportunity to weave a tale regarding them. My particular niche is in the horror genre; however, I am branching out to other genres and hope to put together a collection of short stories involving fairies and other magical creatures.
Meet the Characters:
Jonathan is an aspiring American writer who just can’t seem to get out of the writer’s block funk. He travels to Ireland for inspiration hoping to craft his first novel. It is there that he encounters a beautiful woman who emerges from the sea. Jonathan knows full well that this is no ordinary woman. Will he accept her influence of inspiration for the exchange of his life or will he outsmart her and keep her as his personal muse?
The Leanan Sidhe is a water fairy who inspires artists while draining their life force. These artists may create the most amazing works but are always doomed to die young. In this tale the Leanan Sidhe is ensnared by the writer she sought to drain. Will she be able to escape his prison, or will she be trapped and bound to him in servitude?
Once Jonathan enslaves the Leanan Sidhe his appetite grows for more mystical creatures. He becomes a collector of these creatures. Meet Katie, a selkie, who with her daughter are forced into servitude. As mild-mannered Katie is, her and her daughter have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Ian was once a handsome fisherman who crafted beautiful songs of the sea. The Leanan Sidhe did cross his path but chose not to bring him to an untimely end. So smitten by him she allowed him to live. Their souls being so tightly bound together, Ian felt her disappearance and started his journey into the fairy realm to find his lost lover—a taboo which brought a swift punishment. His handsome looks were stripped from him, and poor Ian was transformed into a Fir Darrig. The Fir Darrig resemble rat-like creatures possessing snouts and long tails. They are covered in rags and smell of the sewer. Should a Fir Darrig cross your path asking for a favor, one should oblige them. Should one refuse, the repercussions could be dire. Ian persisted in his quest for the Leanan Sidhe bringing him to the front door of Jonathan’s estate.
Other Works:
About the Author
Lisah Jayne Walden resides in upstate New York with her two children and three cats. She received a double BA in History and English from the University of Rochester and an MA in English from the College at Brockport. She is also a judge for the Portland Horror Film Festival and the Portland Lovecraft Film Festival. Her hobbies include reading and writing horror, watching movies with her kids, and gardening.
Find Lisah on Social Media
https://facebook.com/lisahwalden73
Welcome to Hell Bent 