First of all, Shag – the artist whose work I adore – wrote me that he’d like to contribute to my giant monster book. At the convention, we had talked about commissions, which he doesn’t do, but he had said he had a piece he could give me permission to publish. I had told him my books were black and white, but now, in his email, he said he wasn’t sure that he had time to revamp his art in a way it would republish in black-and-white. He said, if I wouldn’t mind using an image for a cover, that would be fine, because that way he could just send me the color image as is. So I’m going to have a SHAG COVER for my next monster book! I was thrilled. I couldn’t believe my luck. Unbelievable! I absolutely never imagined such luck.
He emailed me FOUR options (!!!). Did I mention I couldn’t believe it? Here I assumed we would maybe take one of his old tiki paintings, maybe crop it down so that it was just the tiki, or something like that. But he sent me FOUR paintings, full on compositions. Giant monster compositions! Attacking towns, dragging screaming women into the jungle, stomping through a villa. This guy has DRAWN GIANT MONSTERS! I had no idea he’d already contributed so thoroughly to my h’ouvre. Or is it ouvre?
THE SKEPTICS SOCIETY
My contact at the Skeptics Society emailed me out the blue, after my baby came, that they have an official podcast, that was the number one independent podcast online for a while, before they had to take an unforeseen break. But they’re just about ready to fire it up again, and want me to be a guest, hyping Dr. Debunko and talking about being a younger-than-fifty-year-old Skeptic trying to spread the word of Skepticism. On top of that, he said he got word from the man in charge and my idol, Michael Shermer, that they want to be sure and talk me up in one of their e-mailers. What great support! What great news! When my first comic was going to come out, they mentioned me on their e-mailer, and my website got over a thousand additional hits. This time I have to be sure and be ready, and have plenty of info up, and my books and t-shirts available to buy.
STAN “THE MAN” LEE
Next on the list of unbelievable excitement: I called Stan Lee’s representative (whose contact info I got at the con) and told him who I was, and he assured me that he had gotten my book into Stan’s hands. I asked if there might be any chance to get a blurb from Stan, and at first he said he didn’t think so, but then he rethought it, and by the end of the conversation he was asking me, So if Stan called me and just said something about my book, could I use that? I was dumbfounded. I told him, Well, you could just email me a sentence or two, if that would be easier. He said he’d check with Stan and get back to me.
I assumed I would need to call back in a couple weeks, but before I had a chance to even think about it, I got a call saying Stan would do a blurb for me, and could I please send an email with an idea of what I might like Stan to say, and then Stan would rewrite it in “his own inimitable style.” Uh…okay… He wanted me to just send a couple sentences. Man, what a lot of pressure. So let me get this straight, I’m just going to write whatever I’d like Stan to say about my book, and then he’ll change it so that it sounds like something Stan said.
At first I thought maybe they had actually just lost the book or thrown it out without looking at it, and that’s why they wanted me to give them a sample of what to say. Upon looking at what Stan wrote, though, I see he must have seen the book.
So I thought over my dilemma for a while, then I finally sat in front of my computer and basically just brainstormed a bunch of outrageous, self-congratulatory, pretentious, pompous compliments about myself. I ended up sending a full paragraph of what I thought Stan “The Man” Lee should say about my work, and here’s what I wrote:
“Quirky, kitschy, hilarious, odd, full of Lee-Kirby energy…and I know! A loving homage full of bizarre and random characters, plot twists that don’t make much sense, kooky giant monsters, and a whole lot of exclamation points and fun! Takes me back. Kirby and I did giant monsters better, but Chris’s “Doris Danger Giant Monster Adventures” are next up on the list. A great package, full of pin-ups by all my favorite artists, in a gorgeous over-sized format that makes me feel like a kid. The truest, most heartfelt homage I’ve seen to my work.”
Oh, man, it makes me gag to think Stan “The Man” Lee, my idol, saw me write this stuff about myself and knew I wanted him to say these things about me. But the following week, I had a blurb from my idol, and the man who wrote the stories I grew up with and loved so much that I dedicated a book to ripping off his style…Stan “The Man” Lee wrote me a blurb about my monster books!
Sometimes, I feel like I’m on the cusp of really big, really great things that are just about ready to tip in my favor. But then other days… (See next exciting entrée, fans)!