Well, this is a first, isn’t it? And here you thought nobody’d ever start howling in this comic. I’m looking forward greatly to drawing some Very Different Things in the next run of pages. It’s been yonks since I’ve gotten to just hunker down and do a bunch of designs and development doodles and such. Normally it’s so fun that I avoid doing it, lest I enjoy myself too thoroughly and get sucked into a deadly FunSpiral.
We are approaching Holiday Event Horizon! If you live in the US, there is still time for some last minute orders over at the store; domestic orders get a free upgrade to priority shipping this week.
Until next week! I’ll see you all on the other side of the solstice.
It’s publication day! Callooh, callay! Go order (or heck, walk into a store and outright purchase) Welcome to Bordertown. You’ll have an easy time finding the story Sara Ryan and I did together – it’s the one that has pictures!
I was very trepidatious at times about contributing to this project – not expecting to get a lot of love from reviewers (many of whom have their phasers set to “dismiss” when it comes to comics), not having a long relationship with the shared world in question, appearing smack in the middle of a prose book surrounded by genius up-and-comers in the fantasy and YA genres and some well-established creators whom I abjectly worshiped as a teen.
But now that it’s out on shelves, I’m allowing myself to feel excited and very pleased to have been so graciously invited to participate.
I should have a guest blogpost on Tor.com soon showing how I drew the story; I’ll link to it when it appears.
Scary news from Japan; I’ll cut my usual chipper update-post-convention nattering until later, since I have plenty to natter about but nothing that can’t wait until the news irons out. Suffice to say: thanks to everybody who came out to the show in Seattle.
And, finally, the Tarot prints are now available in the store:
After a week of travel, I am home, and I find that autumn has met me here. I traditionally post this poem, “Herbsttag”, by Rainer Maria Rilke, when the moment seems right – it’s a very famous one, the subject of many dozens of English translations.
C. John Holcombe has an extended online essay on the considerations that go into translating such a soft, vivid, metered-and-rhymed poem, which I think is wonderfully worth reading. Translation is a humbling enterprise, and the shifting colors of the poem are lovely and intriguing to see in variation.
I was really introduced to Rilke through the translations of Stephen Mitchell, who prefers blank verse. Here is his version.
Lord: it is time. The huge summer has gone by.
Now overlap the sundials with your shadows,
and on the meadows let the wind go free.
Command the fruits to swell on tree and vine;
grant them a few more warm transparent days,
urge them on to fulfillment then, and press
the final sweetness into the heavy wine.
Whoever has no house now, will never have one.
Whoever is alone will stay alone,
will sit, read, write long letters through the evening,
and wander the boulevards, up and down,
restlessly, while the dry leaves are blowing.
Trans. Stephen Mitchell
Photo by Jim Wallace
—-
German original:
Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr groß.
Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
und auf den Fluren laß die Winde los.
Befiel den letzten Früchten voll zu sein;
gib ihnen noch zwei südlichere Tage,
dränge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage
die letzte Süße in den schweren Wein.
Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.
Wer jetzt allein ist, wird Es lange bleiben,
wird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben
und wird in den Alleen hin und her
unruhig wandern, wenn die Blätter treiben.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Created: 26 Jan 2011 / Categories: Uncategorized
I’m easing back into Facebook and Tumblr, to give readers a way to keep up with Family Man, consolidate all those disparate accounts, and to encourage some more random creativity from myself. But I have my predictable misgivings.
As usual, Tom Gauld has the exact right thing to say about it all.