William Harms

Earlier this week, the first script for my next big project was approved by the publisher. It was a lot of work (rewrote the first issue at least two full times and did several other in-depth editing passes), but in the end it was worth it. I’m super stoked about this and can’t wait for it to be announced.

Writer Steve Gerber passed away today. For those of you who don’t know who he was, he’s most famous for creating Howard the Duck and Thundarr the Barbarian. My brothers and I were big fans of Thundarr and watched it every chance we got, usually over at our grandma’s.

Gerber’s recent work included a Dr. Fate story for DC Comics, which was quite good. According to his blog, he continued to write until the very end from his hospital bed. His work brought me a lot of enjoyment over the years.

I’m a sucker for southern literature. When done properly (Faulkner or McCarthy), there’s a rhythm to it, a cadence that draws you in. It’s like long-form poetry.

Recently, I read William Gay’s novel Twilight, which definitely falls within that southern tradition. The book is about a brother and sister who uncover a mortician’s obscene habits and then need to run for their lives when the mortician hires a psychopath to prevent the siblings from blackmailing him. As is often the case with stories like this, the body count starts to go up and humanity’s horrors and perversions, which normally stay hidden, rise up to the surface.

The interesting thing about Twilight is that the actual plot isn’t that complex nor does it offer any real surprises. When Tyler (the brother) discovers a well as he flees across the countryside, it’s obvious that the well is going to play a major role in the story. (And it does.) And the usual oddball characters that populate stories like this are on full display, odd to the last man.

Normally, those things would turn me off. But in the case of Twilight, any weaknesses in the plot and structure of the story are made up for by the great dialog. Sutter (the psychopath) spews some real gems, including this bit, when he’s telling Tyler that things are going to be rough:

“I’m going to lay some folks out to cool if I have to, and I don’t particularly care who. But what I want you to think about is the worst thing that can happen. You know when somethin bad happens, how folks kind of console each other? They say, well, it could of been worse. This or that could of happened. Well, not this time. Believe it. I am absolutely the worst thing that can happen to you.”

If you enjoy this kind of fiction, you should definitely pick up a copy of Twilight. And I’ll definitely be getting copies of his other works.

Art for the Marvel project has started to trickle in. I don’t when it’s coming out (or will be announced), but the art is fantastic. There are a few pages I’m definitely going to have to buy.

My buddy Mark Bloodworth (who drew my graphic novel ABEL) recently released a horror anthology called Midnight Mortuary for free, via his website. It’s in the style of the old EC Comics and is a lot of fun.

Gamespot finally announced its Readers’ Choice awards, and Supreme Commander cleaned house. The original game won strategy game of the year, and Forged Alliance won best expansion pack. The latter is especially surprising given the competition–Burning Crusade, the expansion for World of WarCraft, and Shivering Isles, the expansion for Oblivion.