Headed up to Seattle tomorrow for the Emerald City ComicCon. I'll be at a table with Jen and mercuryeric. I'll have some books to sell, stories to tell, and if it goes well, all will be swell.

I'm very sorry about that last sentence, and I beg your immediate forgiveness.

There's a DC Nation panel on Saturday, from 1 to 2 pm in "Panel Room A," which I suspect I'll be asked to sit on. Dan DiDio is out for the show this year, so if nothing else, he'll be endlessly entertaining as he frustrates fans. As for my part, I've actually got no idea if I'll be up there, because just about everything I'm doing for DC is still under information embargo at the moment, which inevitably leads to me repeating, over and over again, "I can't answer that." So maybe I'll be the one who's endlessly frustrating.

Oni Press will be well-represented at the show, as well, and Sunday from 11 to 12, again in "Panel Room A," they'll be having their Quiz Show. Apparently, I'm on that as well, along with Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Jennfer Van Meter, who, for those of you who still haven't figured it out, is the same Jen from Paragraph One, above. Bryan's very talented wife, Hope Larson, will be at the show, as well.

I like this show; Jim Demonakos has done a terrific job with it, and it's one of my favorite of the circuit, one of the few I actually get excited about attending every year. The Portland Crowd tends to be pretty thick in attendance, as well, including most -- if not all -- of the Periscope Studio crew. I'll also get to see Matthew Southworth, which is great, because Stumptown is inching its way ever-closer to a release; we're hoping for the first issue in September.

Work is continuing apace. The novel has reached a crossroads. Should know which direction I'm taking it in the next two days, and once that's decided, then it's just a matter of typing the draft as fast as I can. I'm running about two weeks behind (according to my personal schedule), and I'm eager to make it up, as other work (primarily comics works) is back-burnered for the time being.

Philip Tan -- who will also be at the show this weekend! -- is continuing to deliver amazing pages on FC:R. I get leery of posting stuff without permission, but if you've checked out his blog, you can see some of his work-in-progress.

Back home after Calgary. Very nice show. Figured out how to solve a problem I was having with the new novel, and in the process discovered a new character who I quite like. Not sure how she'll play out, but she's fun to write, and she's keeping Atticus on his toes.

The Russia/Georgia thing is continuing to get virtual ink. kali921, thoughts?

And then there's the big event this weekend, what Gabo herself calls "the happiest day of the year", Free Comic Book Day. Bride, myself, and the children will be at Gabi's Olympic Cards and Comics from noon until...until rather late, I expect. Dashiell and Elliot are both intending to come in costume. I may post pictures. I may not. I may dare to eat a peach.

Along with a slew of other local Portland crime and mystery type writers, I'll be at the Powell's Books in Beaverton this evening, from 7:00pm until around 9:00pm or so. It's looking to be a very relaxed signing-slash-Q&A, with questions moderated by the Very Tall John Walsdorf, of Friends of Mystery, an Oregon mystery fan association. Friends of Mystery give out the Spotted Owl award. I've never won, but I like John, anyway. Couple of my favorite local writers will be there, as well, including Ed Goldberg and Lono Waiwaiole, amongst others.

I know it's short notice -- I've been remiss in promoting this (hell, I haven't said ANYTHING about my participation in this new anthology published by the MWA and edited by the terrifyingly good Michael Connelly).

Anyway, for a write-up of the Powell's event and a full list of attendees, take a clicky-click here.

Which means this bitch of a ride is half over. It has not been a good week.

But the end of it will certainly be better than its start, for two immediate reasons.

First -- The last issue of The Crime Bible: The Five Books of Blood, "The Parable of the Faceless," comes out tomorrow. I'm very happy with the issue for a number of reasons, but in particular, Manuel Garcia did a fantastic job on the art, and where he was allowed to ink himself, the work is, in my opinion, outstanding. Timing on this is good, as I'm just about finished with the first issue of "the next thing" that the Question is appearing in, and the progression from CB into this new project is a good one.

And because I like the cover so much, I'm sharing it again:

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is that on Saturday myself, JVM, and Matthew Clark will be heading up to Lacey, WA, to join Eric Trautmann (mercuryeric and Brandon Jerwa (sd6) celebrate the grand opening of Olympic Cards and Comics' new home, which, conveniently, is just across the street from its old home. The new address is 4230 Pacific Avenue, in Lacey, just north of Olympia. Honestly, OCC is one of the best comic stores I've ever had the pleasure to spend inordinate amounts of money in, and if you're even remotely close to the area, I urge you to come by. We'll be signing, and I have it on reliable authority that there may be a grand-opening freebie for the first 100 or so who make it in. Ribbon cutting is scheduled for noon.

Edited to complete the list of those in attendance.

I'm sitting in the "recharge zone" at McCarran airport, waiting for my flight. It's been delayed, presumably due to weather in Portland.

I've been sitting here for an hour already, which, I suppose, isn't as bad as all that. I'm frankly more annoyed at the thought of getting home at 2 in the morning, and having to be up and out with the kids by 8. But that's as may be, and certainly nothing I can control.

The Comics Fest was, by all accounts, a rousing success. Andrew Kaplan, responsible for organizing the whole shebang, told me they'd expected 500 hundred people and hoped, optimistically, that there might be as many as 1000 who showed up. There were 1000 who showed up.

Very nice time, very nice people. If the worst that this trip offers is a delay getting home, I've really got nothing to complain about.

Edited at 02:28 am, Sunday morning, to add:

Home. Wired for sound. Scotch in hand.

Took these pictures of the Monte Carlo Hotel, when I arrived on Friday, as the cab was taking me to my hotel. Post the fire, obviously, but I thought I'd share, for those interested in casino-hotels that catch on fire. ( Pictures below the cut! )

Odd week. Lots of pre-writing work. Read all of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass for reference, and the frustrating thing is that I can't even tell you why I did this, nor can I show you any of the fantastic art that's been coming in on the nameless project.

See, if I'm going to be frustrating, at least I have the courtesy of being consistently annoying.

Leaving for Vegas in a couple of hours. The piece that I mentioned being interviewed for is up, should anyone be curious. I'm quite looking forward to the Comics Fest, even if the trip will be a short one--arrive today, depart tomorrow night. That's hardly enough time to enjoy Vegas.

Looks like several other projects all took steps forward this week, as well, some large, some small. At least one of them I'll get to start writing next week, after I finish the next issue of Stumptown.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

1:00 - Creative Perspectives on Exploring Graphic Novels
Learn about the diversity of genres and stories to be found in graphic novels from the people who create them. (Greg Rucka, Jimmy Gownley, Steven Grant, Josh Elder, Chris Staros)

2:00 - Artist Showcase: Greg Rucka (I actually have no idea what this is, but I suspect it will be something like a Q&A panel.)

4:00 - Where Do We Go From Here? What does the future hold for graphic novels, readers, and libraries? Our guests offer their ideas. (Greg Rucka, Steven Grant, Michele Gorman, Yen, Dark Horse, Viz)

Minor hype.

First off, I'm going to be in Las Vegas next Saturday, the 26th, at the Sahara West Library, from 11am to 5pm, for Comics Fest. Looks to be a fairly small gathering, with panels and opportunities for discussion.

If you're in the area, please stop by. I'm packing my signing pens!!

And in the interest of continuing to pimp Crime Bible, a nice page from the upcoming Issue 4, "The Lesson of Murder." It's been something of a challenge for me, trying to pick a piece to preview, here, because there's an element of mystery to the issue in question, and I don't want to spoil anything for those who actually, y'know, like to be surprised.

So instead I offer this -- Renee and Tot. For those fans of Denny's run, please note that Tot is both in his bathrobe, and armed with a cup of coffee. Art and inks by Diego Olmos.

(I'd actually wanted to do a riff in 52 with Tot complaining about the lack of good java to be found in Nanda Parbat.)

Here ya go! Enjoy!

I'm going to be in Anchorage for Bouchercon from the 27th to the 30th of this month. If there's a comic book store I should know about to drop in on, and someone wants to share that information with me, I'd love to try to arrange it.

Leave it to Trautmann to find the video of my appearance on local AM television.

Let the mockery begin!