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I managed to stop over at my apartment to do some work, but I forgot to tell everyone I’m over at my parents to babysit their pets. I’ll be back around the weekend, although I’ll be trying to get in touch with people through a dail up connection. Of course, dial up doesn’t give me much options.

That’s the words Dr. Ombacain, the surgeon who attached the cyborg arm to Eric Krockett at the opening chapters of Blood and Metal, said about the Presidency of Barack Ombama (who even gets a bit role). It’s something I was thinking, or at least hoping, is more of a general opinion than what I think it would be.
Barack (I’ll try not to make any Dwayne Johnson jokes, emphasis on ‘try’) winning the election could be the most surprising event in recent history, since the time of the Equal Rights Movement where the Reverend King and Malcom X fought for a time where people can get behind racism. Even up to this past November, America has gone a long way since the times of Slavery, Segeration, and Jim Crow; and what happened last week, where Barack and his millions (See? I knew I’d fail) met on the Washington DC mall to see him get sworn in, (Yeah, yeah, I know the judge fsked it up and had to do it over) it became very clear that the America of 2009 is not the America of 1959, or even the America of 1859 for that matter.
But are we at the fabled ‘Promised Land’ that the Reverend King preached about?
Some might say that we are. We have people holding up a picture of the new President and cry out “How in the Blue Hell can we be a Racist Nation?! Look at who got elected, for Christ’s Sake! Can we now get over the shame of the past and move on with our fsking existence?!” And there are others who at the very least would claim that the nation is ‘less racist’ at most, and still hasn’t moved far from the Jim Crow years at most.
I have a middle road in this: I grant you, there’s still going to be assholes out and about. The Klan still exists, the WASP’s version of a inner city getto gang, if you ask me. And they are always people who I talk about from time to time who considers anyone capable of sunburn to be just as bigoted as they were when their fathers were kids. As if they will not clam that they have true equality between the races until they throw Whitey to the back of the bus, or even when they get to own white slaves, according to my own ‘worst case scenarios.’ Just like there’s still white guys that use slurs, there’s always going to be guys who want to find the nearest white guy they find and rip off a pound of flesh from his hide.
Much like what happened to pre-story Eric Krockett.
However, it should be crystal clear by now, in a generalized sense, we are no longer a Racist nation. How can we be? You smell what Barack is cooking? (Sorry about that, can’t resist.) The America of 2009 is far and above beyond the shame of the past. But now we need to ensure that we keep the general racial equality and strengthened it further for the future.

What I had in my mental image is that, we have a track of land, but there’s nothing built on it. There’s trees and wild shrubs that need to be cleared away, and then we have to build a place to stay on it. There’s a foundation to dig into the bedrock, a framework and structure to build up, wiring to string through, walls to put up brick by brick, doors to hammer in place, a roof to tile in, I can go on. We’ve made it to the location, now we have the work of building a place on it what will last. In my mind, that’s what I was thinking about where we are as a country, race wise. We’ve arrived to the point where it is possible to have a post-racial America. Now we have to make sure that this post-racial America is viable, not just for our generation, but all of the future ones.
So that we can finally be able to put the shame of the past where it belongs. In the past. We’re not the America we were. Now we concern about the America we can become.

It’s been a pretty eventful couple months. Not only did I managed to snag some commissions–while reality barged in and stretched me too many places at once–but there was also my first National Novel Writing Month attempt, for which I’m glad to say that I’ve shattered the goal of 50K words in 30 Days. Blood and Metal Book 1 is past it’s first draft and–knock it off you EDiots–is in the group of books which I’ll be editing within the next months.

As for “Red Cat International,” which I’ve been off and on of for several months now with a friend, I’ve heard that Hunan Great Dreams has already started with it’s next Red Cat series, and doesn’t have the time for any new ideas at this time. So instead of a “Fail,” which I’m used to, this is considered to be an “On hold.” I’ll let the project age gracefully until the opportunity comes up. (Nevertheless, I’m not completely leaving Johnny Briz flapping in the wind. He’s the subject of the coming Script Frenzy project in April!)

So focusing on one single task at a time seems to be working. Scarlet PI Comic #1 is coming next, and with luck, someone might even come up with another commission for me. I could use the money. And in other news, I’m going over my collection of old comic books, dating from the 80s and 90s, and I’m considering ways to sell them on E-Bay. Grab Bags perhaps, or would anyone be willing to buy a whole slue of issues from any choice publisher or genre. They’re pretty much in Good condition, sometimes more, and I’m willing to sell in bulk. Anything to get rid of them all; not only to get some more space in my apartment but also to get some money for a new laptop.

I knew that I could keep to the NaNoWriMo goals once I get enough practice in, and I have to say that I’ve exceeded my expectations. There’s still nine days to go, but not only did I cross the 50,000 word goal for November, but I also managed to cannonball it for the rest of the day an get to the end of the story. I hit the finish line at 7:45PM with a file of 52,668 words. My only disappointment was that it’s just 52K, I was expecting somewhere around 60K, but I’m not complaining. I can always embellish anything I’ve missed in the second draft, can I?

For all those who were waiting for other stuff while I was doing this, I thank you very much for your patience. With this nagging thing out of my head, I can go on to more important things, such as commissions and side stories that were being neglected while I was undertaking my first NaNo.

The article: https://www.nerve.com/CS/blogs/61fps/archive/2008/10/01/a-long-scorned-sonic-fanfic-writer-seeks-redemption.aspx

My Response, since I can’t seem to put in any comments. Whatever or not they would let anyone except me do them is up in the air. As always, comment in the message board, if you have any balls.

While the article can be described as neutral, I’m very glad that
you given me at least the shadow of a doubt. While I’m sure that
turning that Sonic fanfict into a more traditional series of novels
(Novels, instead of comic books or crappy fanficts; and let’s be
honest, fanfiction and crappiness kinda goes together, don’t you
think? I’m just the buzzing fly on that pile of hedgehog doo.) will
raise a lot of stink from parts of the internet community, especially
those who only know about me from sites like the Encyclopedia
Dramatica and the like but thinks that logging onto my own site
would give their computers the Ebola Virus and cause their monitors
to bleed. My only request is that you hold off any judgment about
the new BAM series until you actually get the book in your hands,
and not go “I don’t have to read the God Damned Book to tell you
how much I want to see Gonterfaggot become an hero!!!11!!,” just
as I sent the thing to a publisher. You may be completely surprised
how much I’ve progressed from my not-so-humble beginnings.

I am very well aware that naming this project after my fanfiction would give it a lot of built-in publicity…or rather noteriety..and that there’s a bunch of people who would claim that the entire book is a waste of time and effort and that the writer should just forget about even considering having a normal reputation for the next several lifetimes, but that might also put the new book out there in the open, have other people who have never heard me want to actually read the book with new eyes, and find out for themselves whatever or not I deserve to live as a human, much less a writer.

I mean, someone gave me good reviews for “Murder in Main Street USA” and people are praying to God that Disney sues my ass. Just so they can have their recomended daily allotment of LULs on their life.

Just because someone told me that they’d buy them, I made “Gonter Nation” T-shirts:

http://www.cafepress.com/GonterNation

I got this review of “Murder in Main Street USA” by Futaba2 @ DeviantARTs. The first of many, I hope:

I just finished the first Scarlet P.I novel and think that it was even better than i could of imagined.

The story deals with a living micro chip costume who like the black Spider-man suit is like a living symbiot. Though while Venom became a super villian, Scarlet became a super cop. While Daveykins refer to her as a furry Daisy Duke I personally see her more as a Fox version of Bunny Rabbot from Sonic the Hedgehog [SatAM] what with the way she speak, her sweet manner and kick buck attitude when push comes to shove.

The story itself is a roller coaster ride of drama and comedy as besides her host side enjoy doing police business her costume sides enjoy having fun with the costume characters she meet in the park on assigment like trying to arrest Captain Jack Sparrow for being drunk.

The book itself actually consists of two or three plots depending on how you look at it. The first plot of the book being the murder that the Vixen detective is trying to solve. The second plot being Scarlet and her bunny boyfriend Pippin trying to track down HFL (Happy Fun Land) who created the costumes and turn human beings into mindless amusement park dolls instead of real cast members. It would be up to the reader if you consider the part of story dealing with new lives of Princess Aria and the others who escape HFL a third plot and merely part of the second. Especially if you consider the fact that the castle and the possible start of new park that the escapees are living in might be just park of HFL over all goal that Scarlet and Pippin aren’t even aware they’re helping with.

The book is fast paced with well described details and character and plot development. The way it ends the mystery of HFL has grown even larger and makes one hope for more books to continue Scarlet fight against their creators.

Last post I told you about my plan for a NaNoWriMo book (Book 1 of the Blood and Metal series, to be precise. QUIT YER FSKING GROANING YOU /B/CHES I CAN’T TAKE YOUR BUTTHURT!!!111!!!) for next month, and over this week I found out that they have Kick off parties for the event, one for St. Louis and one for Southern Illinois. So I made plans for both, for nothing else but for networking and the rare social contact. (It’s easier for one to be sociable over something that he’s interested in, right?) Here’s a list of the parties I’ll be going to:

Sat October 25 (NaNoWriMo St. Louis)
Saint Louis Bread Company in Clayton
3-5pm

Sat November 1 (NaNoWriMo Southern Illinois)
Riley’s Coffee and Fudge in Belleville
12-4:15pm

I’ve been keeping myself busy over the past month, although most of the work consisted of compiling notes in my ’skines (Moleskine Notebooks; keeping them offline for safe keeping. I’ve also got a couple paying commissions. Special thanks go for ZeroZero and Mdowns for buying them. Zerozero’s commission is already in the DA page, and expect to see “Ballet Mice” this month.

And in November, I’m finally going to get into the National Novel Writing Month. You seen me use NaNoWriMo as a term I use for hunkering down and hammering a draft of a book within a given timeline, but I haven’t actually mustered the courage to get into the official program until this year. The reason is the lack of a plan; I can’t do that “No Plot No Problem” approach. I need a chart of my course before I do the keyboard Cannonball Run, and for November I’ve constructed a 58 card Plot Deck that will be used for writing the first draft of the first Blood and Metal book.

I’ll kindly ignore the facepalming I’m hearing from some people, and now that I got ED’s server to dump their page on me I can get on with my fricking life thank you so much. I’ve done a lot of research on the world building and the plotline, and I can proudly say that this series will be very different from what I wrote back in the day. All I need is enough people to withhold their judgement until the book is actually released, and I’m sure that the majority of you all will do so. You’ll be quite surprised in what I’m tenatively titled “Messenger.”

Today’s paycheck left much to be desired, and I’ll be needing some help to stay afloat. So I’m offering commissions:

$10 for Black and White
$25 for Color

Can be anything within guidelines (No XXX rated porn) and I need the payment up front. I can accept paypal or mailed checks.

Please E-Mail or Message me so we can discuss any details.

Thanks in advance.