I’m not going to link to it, because that means I’d have to say something meaningful.  Even in my wildest dreams, I’m not nearly as eloquent as Terry Pratchett…

11th December 2007

AN EMBUGGERANCE

-o-

This response is similar, I think, to Robert Jordan’s in that it is both heartfelt and upbeat.  I know, were I forced to consider the possibility of going through what Terry Pratchett likely will (or RJ had to) I might very well consider ending it.  But I’m a coward.

and the site completely changes O_O. Luckily, I think that this change is a rather nice one… so yay!

Normally today would be a day of webcomic-y shenanigans but alas, I think I have nearly killed myself by fighting nigh impossible odds to complete a literally 6 foot+ tall webcomic for Megalo Life to complete the 4 part Xmas Special mini-series ( parts 1 2 3 )… I had to wrastle things, dive through poison dart spitting ancient corridors, out run, out smart and out last voracious executive elements that breathe the foulest smelling air hidden within the deepest dungeons of the day-job fortress. Within these slime-coded catacombs, where eldrict era cobwebs constantly wafted into my eyes, nostrils and mouth I did valiantly venture forth, my trusty wacom, Goliath, in hand to complete this unruly quest.

But now, the quest is complete, I am rewarded with a message far better than, ‘Sorry, your princess is in another castle, fuckwit.‘ And I can at last relax… needless to say, this horrendous and gargantuan project has tried to not only eat my soul over the last four week spanning episode releases, it has also invariably been gnawing away at what precious time I have… but now, time is mine once more, and so I shall use it to sleep.

In the meantime, I think that the webcomic will be returning next week, and in the interim I am preparing something special for the Holidays. Until then, when I see you once more, after a long shower to wash away the slime, crusted blood and other unthinkable detritus brandished upon me in dying gasps and fountain like spurts from my nearly human, but ultimately fallen, combatants.

This is not madness, this is Normality Restored!

–Aleister D D Gilgrim

Hello to all!

I was planning on putting together something a bit more festive for today in honor of the winter celebration of the western sun god’s birth tomorrow. Unfortunately, I got hit with some less than stellar news today which made the whole idea of scribbling something festive-y not so attractive anymore. This makes the second piece of weird or bad news that I’ve been handed in the last 2 days. If the old rules still hold true then I’m sure I can expect one more piece of emotional-psychologically-draining-or-physically-debilitating shit to hit me square in the face before everything is said and done, and things start going back to a more enlightened form of multiverse-cosmic balance.

That said and in honor of my current feelings, here is a little something for the season of traitors and wrongdoers…

In special honor of those who seem to have spent the better or at least latter portion of this year trampling on trust, destroying a record of unrequited devotion, sacrifice, honor and basic civility. To those few who seem to have made it a special mission to attack and or endanger my family, my self, my work and my livelihood, as they say, ‘this one’s for you!’. It is my sincere holiday wish that Krampus was real and that he would show up individually to your doors tonight, flatulent you repeatedly, and painfully with his fist full of switches and carry you away sobbing, beaten, broken and bloody. He’s ready, he’s happy to do his job and he has no problem showing you what I think about you miserly, fucktards of despair, spiteful retaliation and selfish ghettoized sense of community responsibility. To you, slobbering, rancid cunts, Happy Krampus, may you receive nasty staph infections, IRS audits and street walker born STDs all!

To everyone else, you’re awesome, please do enjoy this winter holiday and unlike the previously mentioned twats, may you find happiness and comfort in your honorable deeds, the company of your friends and family and in the reflection of another year gone by!

I love you all (or at least those who shouldn’t have Krampus coming after them tonight),

–Aleister

I’m just going to start by excerpting a very large chunk of text, care of Neil Gaiman’s blog:

My 12-year old daughter chose Stardust for a school book report. We purchased it in paperback at Barnes and Noble. From the packaging, it looked like an appropriate fantasy story for her age and her 6th grade teacher approved it. We were very offended to find that it had an explicit sex scene and the word “fuck” in it. The marketing of this book was misleading. Were you intending to mislead children into reading it? Why would you do this?

Nope, not trying to mislead anyone, and I’m sorry you were offended.

Stardust was written and published as an adult novel. In 2000 it was awarded the Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award given to adult books that young adults enjoy. Because of this, and because of the demand from schools, Harper Collins decided to bring out a Young Adult edition of the book as well. That would be the “Stardust Movie Tie In Teen Edition” up on Amazon these days.

While I’m sure there are many twelve year-olds who would qualify as Young Adults and who can happily read books intended for and marketed for teenagers, just as obviously many of them wouldn’t and can’t, and if you feel yours doesn’t I’m sure you’re right. I’m not as convinced as you are that the sex scene is “explicit”, although the word fuck is definitely there, printed in very small letters. But Stardust is definitely not one of my children’s books, like Coraline or Interworld, or (when I finish it) The Graveyard Book. It’s an adult book, with, in the US, a Young Adult edition as well.

I have to say that Neil’s response was much more evenhanded than mine would have been, were I in his place. I’m not going to argue that the person does not have a right to be offended, because everyone has the right to be offended by anything…that’s just the way things work.

What I take exception to is the fact that this person seems to have assumed that writers have some power over how their books are marketed, packaged, and sold in this country. Newsflash: THEY DON’T. Think I’m wrong? Consider that Harry Potter and the Philosphers Stone was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the US because the publisher believed it would sell better here with that title, regardless of the fact that the Philosopher’s Stone is an actual item from the mythology of alchemy. The fact of the matter is, even someone like Stephen King probably has little say in how his books are marketed. Publishers are in the business of selling books, and if a publisher thinks he can sell more copies by marketing something as YA when it probably isn’t, he’ll do it, even if the author were to object.

And more importantly, to think that someone would purposefully write a book to mislead children into reading an “explicit” sex scene (and, by the way, Neil’s correct, it’s not explicit unless, I don’t know, you’ve been living in Victorian England for the last decade or two) is probably the most asinine thing I have ever read on the interwebz.

Another thing that seems obvious to me is that this parent is totally unfamiliar with what constitutes “Young Adult” reading these days because in light of some other stuff, I’d say Stardust is mellow.

I’m willing to grant that some of my anger stems from the fact that Neil Gaiman is my personal lord and savior, and I don’t take kindly to anyone attacking him or his work.

But, come on people, if you have a 12 year old who hasn’t ever heard/read/seen/spoken the word “fuck” then either 1. you are in total denial, or 2. your kid leads one terribly sheltered life. Certainly, it is every parent’s right to shelter his or her child. As a parent, however, I question such a decision. I hope to god that when my daughter reaches the age of 12 she can read “fuck” and understand that it is simply a word, it’s power (or lack thereof) is derived completely from how people choose to treat it. It is merely the combination of phonetic sounds that we as a society ascribe some meaning to. And I really hope that she understands that just because society has placed a certain meaning on a certain word does not mean that you must react to that word in the same way.

This was completed last Thursday, and seems to have finally gone up today… all in all I was surprised by the cancellation of the series, but the reasons for the cancellation are, well, not evident at this time. However, I was lucky enough to be able to put together one final strip in order to say goodbye to all of the wonderful readers who stuck it out and came back week after week for the 30+ installments. To all that have been reading the series and allowed me, April, Wednesday and even our son, Salem, to be a part of your lives - and to all of those who enjoyed the strips, thank you, very, very much.

So here it is, the final installment of Megalo Life - for Trickster Online Revolution.

And so 2007 closes today, and with it this weekly webcomic serial. Thank you again to everyone who showed their support, if you would like to leave comments for the series itself, please do so in the actual comments section for the Megalo Life series at the bottom of the URL link as I will be reading them there.

See you all next year!

–Aleister