NEW COMIC - Full Scale War

Up now on the comics site, it's the new story Full Scale War, with art by Jelena Dordevic and letters by Marco Della Verde!

This is a fun military scifi story, in maybe a bit of a 2000AD vein. It's also the closest I've yet come to the kind of serious (if also silly) action storytelling I'd kinda like to be doing, which is nice. I'm also pretty happy with the three panel intro (above), which is why I keep posting it everywhere.

Anyway - enjoy. If you like the comic and would like to held fund the creation of more, you can sign up to my Patreon and get access to early comics, plus short podcasts where I talk about my intentions, the nitty-gritty of the comics creation process and such. Good times.

New Stock Photo Comic! About geese!

So, another comic is coming for you, only a couple of weeks after the last one. However, because I'm not made of money, this one does not have specially commissioned art. Instead, it is made of stock photos.

Specifically, as you may have seen from the image on the right, stock photos of geese.

Yes. Click here now to read my five page story about a goose having an identity crisis. Trust me, it's great.

If you particularly enjoy the story, or desperately want me to be able to afford to pay more artists so I do less weird stock photo comics, you can back me on Patreon and help make that happen. If you back at the necessary level, you even get a nine-minute podcast of me discussing my inspirations for this story.

Now, here's another sample from the goose comic.

Traitor's Hope by Virginia McClain - Review

This is part of the blog tour for Traitor's Hope, the new book from Virginia McClain. Much like myself, Virginia is a Jukepop Serials alumni who spun her webserial from that site off into a series of self-published novels.

She's good people, always very supportive of the Hobson & Choi series and her books are reliably fun (here's my Goodreads review of the first one if you like context) so I jumped at the chance to get involved with the sequel's release. Let's do this.

Traitor's Hope - a short essay

Here, then, we return to the pseudo-Japanese world of Gensokai, where lifelong friends Taka and Mishi - the heroes from the first book - are discovering that keeping the peace might be almost as hard as winning the war. Like many second-books-in-series, there's a greater focus on character-building here, a little willingness to let the people breathe and talk to each other rather than rushing headlong into the story.

It also provides a chance for more world-building and a greater sense of the wider universe, which helps contextualise some of the more out-there fantasy elements. The magic system remains one of the best parts, well integrated into the world, story and combat. But perhaps most importantly of all, it gives the author the chance to describe really cool stuff. One element that's definitely remained consistent between books is McClain's gift for a visceral action scene.

The characters other than Taka and Mishi also benefit a lot from the extra space, and supporting cast member Kusuko in particular gets a lot of interesting development - she's probably the break-out character of the series, at this stage. Certainly, I know seeing what happens next to her is probably my biggest incentive to come back for the next one.

This second-book task of expanding on the world means the plot isn't quite as propulsive as the first one, but I think that's expected. It means that when the faeces hits the fan again - and it definitely will - we care all the more about what happens to the cast. Mishi's worries over her violent nature become a little laboured over the course of the whole book, but if I had genuine reason to believe I might flip out and kill my friends at any moment, I'd probably worry about it a lot too.

In short - a strong continuation to a good series. Builds upon the strength of Blade's Edge, makes the world of Gensokai deeper and more interesting and keeps the characters moving forward. I'll definitely be back for book three.

Giveaway!

Want to win a copy of the book? There is a giveaway, and it is below. 1 winner will receive a signed paperback set of BLADE’S EDGE & TRAITOR’S HOPE, US Only. 3 winners will receive eBook sets of BLADE’S EDGE & TRAITOR’S HOPE, International.

(This is being run as part of the blog tour and not by me, just in case that wasn't crystal clear.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hot Chunky Information

Want to know more about the book and/or blog tour? Here's all the words you could possibly need, or click here to go to the website of the company running it.

About the Book:

Title: TRAITOR'S HOPE (Blade's Edge #2)
Author: Virginia McClain
Pub. Date: October 14, 2017
Publisher: Artemis Dingo Productions
Pages: 284
Formats: Paperback eBook
Find it: Amazon, Buy The Paperback, Goodreads

Traitors lurk around every bend. Mishi’s mind is betraying her, and she fears her kisō and katana will betray her next. Taka’s heart abandons her for a person she cannot possibly trust. Now that the two friends are obliged to help re-establish peace in the land of Gensokai, the only question is where the next betrayal will come from and if Mishi and Taka will have the strength to survive it.

About Virginia:

Virginia thinks dangling from the tops of hundred foot cliffs is a good time. She also enjoys hauling a fifty pound backpack all over the Grand Canyon and sleeping under the stars. Sometimes she likes running for miles through the desert, mountains, or wooded flatlands, and she always loves getting lost in new places where she may or may not speak the language.

From surviving earthquakes in Japan, to putting out a small forest fire in Montana, Virginia has been collecting stories from a very young age. She works hard to make her fiction as adventurous as her life and her life as adventurous as her fiction. Both take a lot of imagination.

She recently moved to Winnipeg with her husband (a Manitoba native) and their dog.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Tour Schedule

Week One:

10/9/2017- Two Chicks on Books- Interview
10/9/2017- Blushing Bibliophile- Review
10/10/2017- Arvenig.it- Guest Post
10/10/2017- Bibliobakes- Review
10/11/2017- Kati's Bookaholic Rambling Reviews- Excerpt
10/11/2017- Ashley M. Delgado- Review
10/12/2017- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt
10/12/2017- Don't Judge, Read- Spotlight
10/13/2017- BookHounds YA- Guest Post
10/13/2017- Adventures Thru Wonderland- Review

Week Two:

10/16/2017- Novel Novice- Excerpt
10/16/2017- Nick Bryan Dot Com- Review
10/17/2017- Books at Dawn- Guest Post
10/17/2017- YA and Wine- Excerpt
10/18/2017- Fire and Ice- Spotlight
10/18/2017- A Gingerly Review- Review
10/19/2017- My Nook, Books & More- Excerpt
10/19/2017- Jena Brown Writes- Review
10/20/2017- Seeing Double In Neverland- Interview
10/20/2017- Ramblings From An Alternate Reality- Review

New comics! New Patreon! New!

Yes, after a sparse year on the blog, I'm back with new fiction! And it's more comics, which should tell you something about where my head is this year.

But this time, it's not a comic story in an anthology - we now have a new 'Comics' tab at the top of this site, or you can just click here, where I'll be posting a few short stories I've been working on with some very cool artists. We've got three in progress, a fourth hopefully joining them soon.

As someone who likes his comics a lot - you may have noticed - I'm pretty excited. The very first story is called Transcendental Rental, with fun art by Chris Caesar (sample panel above, yes) and features a wizarding mishap. Basically, it's a short comedy bit. Subsequent stories will have beefier plots, but this seemed a fun start.

P-P-P-Pick Up A Patreon

All of which brings me on to our second bit of news - like many an internet creating person, I have now started a Patreon page, to help me hire still more artists and draw still more comics. I've got a few up-front to get us going, but if you'd like to see more without along wait - or if you just particularly like me and my work and want to chip in - there is now a way.

Patreon, for those who don't know, is basically a way of 'subscribing' to a creator you like, paying a monthly amount of your choice. In return, they provide a few perks - I've listed a few on the site, including a short commentary podcast about the process of making each comic. The first is up now!

But yeah, obviously, this is a service I'm providing, so if there's any further perks I can (reasonably) provide to encourage patreonage, do get in touch.

Or if you'd rather stick to a one-time donation than a full patreonisation, there is also this PayPal thingy.

Anyhow. I don't want this site to become a constant beg, but just FYI, the Patreon option now exists, there are perks available. If you enjoy the free comic stories especially, it will definitely make it much more likely that there will be more of them. We'll see how it goes.

"The Half-Baked Sacrifice" - new comic anthology story out now in print and digital!

My latest venture into comic writing is out now! It's called The Half-Baked Sacrifice, with art by Lukas Kowalczuk and features in the new anthology Something Wicked 2016 from Futurequake Press!

Basically, it's a four page story about a slightly unstable toaster and its important mechanical religious beliefs. There's also a rodent. I think the story's pretty fun by itself, but the the art by Lukas is absolutely excellent.

Seriously - buy the comic, look at it. Or there are a few small samplers available in this very post! (Yes, they are quite small samples, but it is a four page story. I don't want to give away the farm.)

And if you wish to buy it in print, you can go to Futurequake Press's website here for £6.50 (plus postage)!

Or, for digital comic readers, it's also up on popular digital comics platform Comixology for the knock-down price of £1.49.

My bit starts on page 74, if you wanted to know.

So yes, check it out. It may not shock you to learn that writing comics is a long-held dream for me, and seeing it realised in such a beautifully drawn way has come close to making my entire 2017 even though it's only just started.

Oh, and if you want to see more art from Lukas Kowalczuk (and fair enough), his website is right here. Cheers to Futurequake as well, for making the whole process fun and painless. If you're an aspiring creator and the chance comes up to work with them, absolutely do it.

Top Ten TV Shows 2016! (Up now on the MFV website!)

Hello universe!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and other such exclamations. Usually around now, I post my Top Ten TV Shows of the year gone by, but since the Moderate Fantasy Violence podcast is now my main outlet for the pop culture chat, it's up on that blog instead.

Still, hopefully that won't discourage you from clicking here and having a look at what I liked (and in what order) in the year gone by!

And if you want even more year-in-review type action from me, we also did a full-on 2016 talk-down podcast episode where we met up in person for the first time in MFV history and chatted about our favourite films, television and other recommended stuff from the year.

And that's all this year's recaps! See you in 2017, when I imagine I'll do a fuller blog post about the fact you can now buy this comic anthology I contributed to on Comixology.

Ben Reilly And Me - New Spider-Man Clone Saga blogging!

After a too-long pause with no new writing on the internet, I have written a post about my childhood enjoyment of the Spider-Man Clone Saga and Ben Reilly, which you can find over at the Moderate Fantasy Violence website.

Moderate Fantasy Violence, in case you've forgotten, is my fortnightly podcast about pop culture type stuff which I do with my friend Alastair JR Ball. It's still going, our new episode just came out covering The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch(the new Rivers of London book), new Top Gear copy show The Grand Tour, Doctor Who spin-off Class and me finally watching Taxi Driver. You can search for it on iTunes (and hopefully most other podcast providers), or get it directly from the podcast website.

Hobson & Choi v4 - Blood Will Stream - OUT NOW!

Today is BWS day! No, not "beers, wines and spirits" (my friend Paul used to work in Sainsburys BWS section), it's Blood Will Stream!

The fourth Hobson & Choi book is out today, featuring our heroes investigating the locked room murder of a YouTuber. Who did the deed, and can Hobson and Angelina find the killer without making the whole situation much worse? For once? Maybe?

I could type a lot more, but since I'm doing YouTube videos at the moment to tie in with this YouTubey book, I'll embed a video instead. Here are my release day thoughts. Ready yourselves.

(Or if you just want to buy the damn book, there's a grid of buy links just below the video. Go for it.)

There we go. Hope that stirred something in you. Aside from the thought "Man, that guy needs to stop waving his hands around."

Anyway, down to business: here are all the places you can buy Blood Will Stream in print and digital! Check it out! Hope you like it! Tell your friends! Etc! Release day woooooooo!

Blood Will Stream Video #3 - Five Favourite Books I Had On My Bookshelves

So, my attempt to do some authentic YouTubing to promote my upcoming book about a YouTuber being murdered continues! First, I filmed a broad intro to the book, then I unboxed my print proof.

Now my third video is here, and I thought it'd be fun to talk about some authors other than myself this time. So, in the end, I decided to do the my five favourite books I have on my current bookshelves! So excluding all ebooks and everything I've left at my parents' house for space reasons!

An odd criteria, maybe, but I'm pretty pleased with the five I found. Click the video below to see what they are and what I said about them, including a brief anecdote about the one time I met Neil Gaiman. (Yes, he's on the list.)

And, video messing aside, today marks one week until the release of Blood Will Stream! So that's pretty nerve-wracking. Pre-order now to make me feel better about it all! Links to available pre-orders can be found in its entry on the main Hobson & Choi page!

Blood Will Stream video #2 - proof copy unboxing!

My second YouTube video promoting Blood Will Stream is up now! I attempt to perform an "unboxing" (as seen across YouTube!) on my print proof copy!

If you missed the intro video, you can see it and some general chat here!

Blood Will Stream introduction video - up now on YouTube!

So, since launching the cover and details for the fourth Hobson & Choi book the other day, I've been kicking around the idea of doing some YouTube videos to promote it - since the book is about a YouTuber being killed, it didn't seem like the worst idea.

With time running down before the all-important 4th October launch date, I've decided to get stuck in and do an intro video to explain what the book's about and what the big differences are between this one and the previous three. Hopefully if you're on this website, you might be just the target audience for such a thing.

And yes, I also nervously fidget with my hands a lot. I know.

Anyway, here it is:

Hope you enjoyed that. If it's enticed you to pre-order the book, I've added all the available pre-order options to the main Hobson & Choi page! (Not print, I know. They won't let me offer pre-orders for print. Sorry.)

It was somewhat fun to do. I have plans for at least one more, which should be with you within the next week, and then... I don't know, ideas welcome. Tweet me at @NickMB with things to talk about! Or ask random questions and I'll do a Q&A maybe!

Hobson & Choi - Case Four: Blood Will Stream - COVER AND PRE-ORDER DETAILS

Hello.

After many Twitter mumblings and late-into-the-night formatting sessions, I'm excited to report that the fourth book in the Hobson & Choi series is happening! It's called Blood Will Stream, it's about the locked-room murder of a YouTuber and it should be with you on 4th October 2016, just under a year after the third one.

Which is exciting in itself, but also means another cool part of any Hobson & Choi book launch - a new cover by Design For Writers! As you can see, they've very much taken the online streaming theme and run with it.

To go alongside that, here's a nice sales blurb:

“I used to think knowing people just by online handles was totally cool, but these internet murders might be changing my mind.”

After YouTuber GrazGrim is found dead in his locked bedroom-studio, the police are ready to write it off as a suicide.

The online fandom only have one chance for justice: John Hobson and Angelina Choi, internet detectives!

But can Angelina persuade Hobson to take the case on? And will anyone like what they find?

Blood Will Stream is the fourth book in this darkly comic London crime series. The detectives are back in whodunnit territory, revisiting their love-hate relationship with the internet.

Hobson & Choi has been #1 in Dark Comedy on Amazon, broken records on Jukepop Serials and now returns with an all-new mystery never seen anywhere else!

So there we go. This is really happening. As the blurb implies, this is the first H&C book written specifically for book format, rather than forged from rewritten webserial chapters, and I think it's the best yet. Although it does mean I haven't had any pre-validation from online comments.

Still, if you want to validate me, you can always pre-order using the links below! (Seamless...)

• Amazon UK!
• Amazon US!
• Kobo!

And it's also on Goodreads here for those of you who go there. If you have a blog, YouTube channel or other book reviewing outlet and want a review copy, email me at nick@nickbryan.com and we can probably work something out.

Probably some more stuff to come - it has been pointed out that one suitable promo campaign for this book would be to do some YouTube videos, so you might get to see that over the next few weeks. You lucky, lucky people.

Now, as has become tradition, it's 3D time...

Thinkin' About Social Media - Two guest posts elsewhere!

Hello!

A rare bit of blog content between podcasts now, as I've been doing some more guest posts to drum up more interest in my Hobson & Choi self-published crime series. On this occasion, whether by coincidence or because it's a cunning PR strategy (I don't actually know), they are both about the demon Social Media.

First to go up was "The Benefits and Disadvantages of Social Media to an Author" on Linda's Bookbag. In this post, I attempt to distill everything I have learnt and observed about using social media over the years - mostly as an author, but sometimes just as a human being.

Second, I try to explain "How Do You End Up Writing A Book About Social Media?" on Emma's Bookery. It's a good question - I sometimes wonder myself - and I know some people act like it's the death of dramatic tension, but I think I can justify its appeal to me. You'll have to read it yourself to see how I did.

And those are my guest posts! Hopefully a few more of these popping up in the coming weeks as we start ramping up for the H&C4 launch - I've got a cover completion date in early August confirmed, so hopefully we should get the book out before the third quarter of 2016 is over. I can but dream.
And in the spirit of Social Media Strategy, obviously do not forget to follow me on Twitter.

Moderate Fantasy Violence #10 - Orphan Is The New Black

Hello! My podcast Moderate Fantasy Violence has reached double digits and here is that tenth episode. It is another good one, I think - particularly pleased with the Outcast discussion - and I hope you like it and tell your friends. You can download the MP3 directly here.

Today, of course, is also the "Brexit" referendum in the UK, in which we decide whether to leave the EU. That is not mentioned in the podcast at all, as we didn't feel it really fitted in, but do make sure you vote if eligible. I personally am voting remain, because no-one has convinced me there's a good reason to leave or a strong plan for what happens if we do that, and broadly I feel we're better off more connected to the rest of the world, not less. But you do you.

Anyway, Enough politics. Here is the episode description and website player for MFV #10. Enjoy! (And if you do enjoy, consider reviewing us on iTunes or something, it helps.)

We hit double figures, and taking the zero in the number far too seriously, cover three different TV series beginning with O. But first, Nick rates his superhero shows and Alastair has loftier viewing tastes.

And then down to business: Netflix's Orange Is The New Black begins its fourth year behind bars (4:18), new possession horror show Outcast reaches out for us (21:26) and we look back at Orphan Black's penultimate season of clone chaos (38:27). Then end up running a death bet.

Finally, Alastair recommended Richard Linklater's Philip K. Dick adaptation A Scanner Darkly to Nick last week - is he okay with its heady mix of animation and drugs? (55:35)

Moderate Fantasy Violence #9 – Prisoner Of Warcraft

New podcast episode! And I think one of our best ones yet, despite it being beset with minor technical issues during the recording. You can see the episode on the dedicated MFV website here, or below lurks the description, including download link and a nice embedded player..

Episode nine, we're doing fine! Or are we? After a brief opening chat about iZombie and the recent Captain America controversy, we plunge comics newcomer Alastair into the swirling heart of the latest DC superhero relaunch with the DC Rebirth and Batman: Rebirth specials (5:09), stare in fantastical bafflement at video game orc movie Warcraft (25:14) and develop crushes on Matt LeBlanc while covering the BBC's Top Gear revamp (38:17).

Then our recommendations feature (51:48) goes on a bit longer than usual as we're covering one of Nick's favourite superhero comics ever: Black Panther (1998) #1-5 by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira.

As ever, we spoil all our topics pretty egregiously. Use the timestamps to avoid any you're sensitive about. Also, we suffered a few technical sound problems while recording it, but hopefully Nick has edited the bulk of them into oblivion. Get the mp3 download here! And if you want to leave us a review on iTunes, we'd like that a lot.

Oh, and if you want to hear us talk more about the promotion and purpose of DC Rebirth, we did that a bit back here in MFV #2.

Moderate Fantasy Violence #8 - A Wave Of Your Massive Blue Smurf Hand

I'm going on holiday very shortly so can't spend too long endlessly talking about myself on the internet, but the eighth episode of my pop culture talky podcast with my friend Alastair is up now and you can see more info on the podcast website, or I'll paste the description and an audio player in below.

Or if you want to just cut to the chase, download the file here!

Right, I'm off to York. Probably some pictures on Twitter or Instagram or something if you like that sort of thing.

It's our eighth episode, the fourth to feature a major superhero movie! But at least there isn't another one until Suicide Squad in August! We start with X-Men: Apocalypse (3:22), then move on to cape-free TV comic adaptation Preacher (23:34). After all that, we finally watch an all-original film, namely horror-thriller Green Room starring Patrick Stewart as a Nazi (43:21).

And then we leave the realm of narrative entirely for our recommendation feature, as Alastair suggests the Cammell Laird Social Club album by irreverent post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit (53:27).

Spoilers abound, especially for the X-Men movie. Beware! And if you enjoy the show, do review us on iTunes or tell your friends!

Love Interests of Flash/Arrow - an essay elsewhere!

Today, another link to a blog post I've written somewhere else - this time on the Moderate Fantasy Violence website about how Flash and Arrow have dealt with introducing new TV love interests whilst working on a pre-destined comics canon. How have they done? What can other properties (such as Captain America: Civil War) learn from it?

All that and... well, that. Basically, no deleted scenes from the podcast this fortnight, so I'm doing this instead. Enjoy, hopefully! First long-form bit of pop culture writing in a while, must admit I quite enjoyed it.

How To Write A Hobson & Choi Book In 50 Easy Steps - GUEST POST ELSEWHERE

Because I am the best at internet, I've only just realised that a guest post I wrote a while back has been on the internet since December! It's a choose-your-own-adventure style list post on how to write your own Hobson & Choi book in 50 easy steps, and it's hosted on the Music, Books & Tea blog! Click on this paragraph to activate it!

This only came to light when I was emailed by Faye Rogers (the nice PR person who gets me these guest post gigs) to talk about future commitments and I realised I'd never actually promoted this one.

Whoops. Still, I think it's pretty funny and deserving of attention. More stuff like this probably coming up as we move ever closer to the release of H&C4!

Moderate Fantasy Violence #7 up now!

The seventh episode of my podcast is up now! Myself and Alastair JR Ball this week discuss Orphan Black season 4, upcoming indie scifi film Tourbillon, the ending of Daredevil season 4 and we take a look back at Sports Night. So go ye to the website here and get more info about that.

Or you can just download the episode directly from this link or listen to the embedded player below. Both would also work.
Tomorrow, hopefully, a link to some actual new blog content by me. You have been warned.

Moderate Fantasy Violence #6 - Black Panther's Trailing Entrails

It's been just over two weeks and that must mean it's podcast time! And also time to mark my failure to do a real blog! Sorry - although Hobson & Choi v4 is now off with the external editor, so some form of contentful blogging on here will probably have to happen.

In the meantime, full details about MFV #6 over at the dedicated podcast website, but we're talking in full about Civil War, the return of Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul season 2 and Blue Velvet, plus a brief exchange about the new Doctor Who companion. Wow.

There should also be a short bonus episode going up (in two chunks) during the coming week talking about the Civil War ending and implications of same, with full spoilers. If that floats your boat.

You can download the episode here, or you can go here to get it for your iTunes. Last but not least, here is some kind of in-line audio player...