tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84614421626805803592024-02-19T04:11:42.042-08:00The Fly in my Soup is CryingSteven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-32025940368248725572011-11-01T11:04:00.000-07:002011-11-01T11:59:30.956-07:00InterimI vowed that the next post on this blog would be the memorial for our westie, Pupkin. Writing about him proved to be painful, and still is now even after a whole year (hence the procrastination). It is like having to say goodbye all over again, but with the anniversary date of his passing quickly approaching I need to do it.<br /><br />The last blog I wrote was about the loss of what we called the Bradbury Tree across the street from us. Little did we know that not long after we would be losing our Pupkin, who was named after Joe Pipkin from Ray Bradbury's, The Halloween Tree. Bitter irony.<br /><br />Rather than have two memorials back to back I thought I'd post this tidbit about something that really cheered up Becky and me when we saw it.<br /><br />Earlier this year Cody Goodfellow posted a progress report on the <a href="http://perilouspress.com/blog/" target="_blank">Perilous Press Blog</a> and included a photo he took of <a href="http://www.pattonoswalt.com/" target="_blank">Patton Oswalt</a> holding a copy of <a href="http://www.michaelsheaauthor.com/" target="_blank">Michael Shea's</a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Copping Squid</span>. Cody told me that Patton is a huge fan of Michael's work. We were stoked to see such a great comedian and actor (who is one of our all time favorites!) holding up a book sporting a cover done by me. Thanks Cody for letting me re-post the photo!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO10e18o3twwELPjQL3SJkfwBjTD2s6N1oKcEGn3lIldmjjfu9HjBWNsQUBjn7cfTDKSu7I8LWthzngd59faDPuI90g1WQvAZcH0dC9xWcsoIJW2B3flQJFEGitdo0733MhoVDue74Jzf/s1600/patton.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO10e18o3twwELPjQL3SJkfwBjTD2s6N1oKcEGn3lIldmjjfu9HjBWNsQUBjn7cfTDKSu7I8LWthzngd59faDPuI90g1WQvAZcH0dC9xWcsoIJW2B3flQJFEGitdo0733MhoVDue74Jzf/s320/patton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5670091005079985154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">© 2011 Cody Goodfellow</span></span>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-60827565175035739552010-09-22T13:56:00.000-07:002010-09-22T14:44:13.915-07:00Happy Autumn? Not so fast.We woke up this morning to the wail of chainsaws. Across the street from our home, city workers were taking down a majestic old maple tree that must have been at least 80 years old.<br /><br />The reason the workers gave Becky when she inquired was, "we were told to take it down 'cause its damaging the sidewalk".<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbco_SgR4OhMpF3ZmbVnl-nnh33PMeSD0xwBZR1d2DIvj6xpmXFN6lQzSeVApG4AkZgATVUa7iR0U9EjrjduQCZi1sRcwYZzrd2eS9Uqa4shFFUvG3_aZctMjZdJEq4c3MbdmDXFPz7SU/s1600/DSC_0003+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbco_SgR4OhMpF3ZmbVnl-nnh33PMeSD0xwBZR1d2DIvj6xpmXFN6lQzSeVApG4AkZgATVUa7iR0U9EjrjduQCZi1sRcwYZzrd2eS9Uqa4shFFUvG3_aZctMjZdJEq4c3MbdmDXFPz7SU/s320/DSC_0003+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845520989574370" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9jMgI8NUgb7OlnknKvqkwOylxsOA2llraImVj0kFB4GYRsYPtQQ08OuutQ1h3GqU2h0-I7Tui_pCeuclz64jh5Wu7SYXgCQTytAKXkd_bFqD9RM4qcxtQ5V9Htr9y_sx4ZYVom4R59-T/s1600/DSC_0002+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9jMgI8NUgb7OlnknKvqkwOylxsOA2llraImVj0kFB4GYRsYPtQQ08OuutQ1h3GqU2h0-I7Tui_pCeuclz64jh5Wu7SYXgCQTytAKXkd_bFqD9RM4qcxtQ5V9Htr9y_sx4ZYVom4R59-T/s320/DSC_0002+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845517788335810" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HfFSev7WhDvMlwrVdS7q_xUAvujNfLezXHjn37Ho0Y30fBT-9VRX5vaiB3AXY1vbzNcEjSm8XDxV43EUsXVOm6atSZXenq96YI3EmQ_nIymJ7ClW188K3vsqXNAdkCX5vQwsxbzmwaLh/s1600/DSC_0012+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HfFSev7WhDvMlwrVdS7q_xUAvujNfLezXHjn37Ho0Y30fBT-9VRX5vaiB3AXY1vbzNcEjSm8XDxV43EUsXVOm6atSZXenq96YI3EmQ_nIymJ7ClW188K3vsqXNAdkCX5vQwsxbzmwaLh/s320/DSC_0012+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845531049970226" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpiiw2g4MUTdXH7QdxqqkvFdkCyov924a1GFaQKo2aSnjy0xIcQUg7KW_2DsjW2qmm4l7yUMQMsrhmp4xOiwdtq6g7PQJlAYP2sE2V7hlP1rFV_THrYuKLl4IxdAxpBRUN9WWmPT1Bu_x/s1600/DSC_0026+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpiiw2g4MUTdXH7QdxqqkvFdkCyov924a1GFaQKo2aSnjy0xIcQUg7KW_2DsjW2qmm4l7yUMQMsrhmp4xOiwdtq6g7PQJlAYP2sE2V7hlP1rFV_THrYuKLl4IxdAxpBRUN9WWmPT1Bu_x/s320/DSC_0026+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845541345197122" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCWGOLmo-bau5EiY354oQOSgjtGjyn5O_wHhckYbV4ts2oqO4mFONTu0tRWHVb_qTyz6Vl9NcRrDmTGtlKODDpXLOxXu-wOXtRShMfEyTRB7f3zGWv2LrC7PcpAeHj27kRt932RurOFlp/s1600/DSC_0027+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPCWGOLmo-bau5EiY354oQOSgjtGjyn5O_wHhckYbV4ts2oqO4mFONTu0tRWHVb_qTyz6Vl9NcRrDmTGtlKODDpXLOxXu-wOXtRShMfEyTRB7f3zGWv2LrC7PcpAeHj27kRt932RurOFlp/s320/DSC_0027+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845835101031906" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Even in the strongest winds and fiercest ice storms the old girl never lost more than a branch or two. But what Mother Nature in her capricious moods nibbled in healable morsels, man in his hunger for imagined order devoured in whole.<br /><br />We enjoyed watching that beautiful tree revolve through the seasons since we moved here in July of 1994. It, along with the old historic homes it complimented, was one of the reasons we referred to our little area as a "Ray Bradbury Street". Water Street could perhaps have been some unmentioned side avenue in "The Halloween Tree" or a quiet lane from "Dandelion Wine".<br /><br />We'll miss the starkness of its bare branches against the winter sky, the soft pale green of its new leaves in spring, the sound of the summer winds moving through its dense foliage, and the fiery orange of its autumn cloak.<br /><br />No more will its leaves skitter madly through the streets on a windy November day, no more will squadrons of dragonflies hunt above its canopy on a bright August afternoon.<br /><br />The streetlight will now only have the sterile ground below for its mercury incandescence to illuminate, the leaves and branches that caught and softened the upward shine of its harsh glare hauled off and dumped without ceremony in some overburdened landfill.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipEY2oYZpeCU9vOTcYwvg5J4RzDM9KSH6rGfvq4mDReOwbNOkbDfAx1w7co9ut8z5IK85PzSeZwJAH5Z0OqsboHwjaesFtqkN_UlXXVilat3EDjehBlcTc1r-tnEkDyhkDKi7UE9o2QEIW/s1600/DSC_0019+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipEY2oYZpeCU9vOTcYwvg5J4RzDM9KSH6rGfvq4mDReOwbNOkbDfAx1w7co9ut8z5IK85PzSeZwJAH5Z0OqsboHwjaesFtqkN_UlXXVilat3EDjehBlcTc1r-tnEkDyhkDKi7UE9o2QEIW/s320/DSC_0019+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845841775232514" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVHcMtMFvKGxgRh2rqnZUE3-pY1YT9Jvlb7m3BcJLFNrxQW7PFjO_spbrOXVonL464QKc-HVeHfno-EYWlKwVoQ5ccSSDFsP2jUC9I3FC_7DmboKFIvTe38b3hBzm7MTFoWzVRFJTP0GJ/s1600/DSC_0022+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVHcMtMFvKGxgRh2rqnZUE3-pY1YT9Jvlb7m3BcJLFNrxQW7PFjO_spbrOXVonL464QKc-HVeHfno-EYWlKwVoQ5ccSSDFsP2jUC9I3FC_7DmboKFIvTe38b3hBzm7MTFoWzVRFJTP0GJ/s320/DSC_0022+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519846573032859538" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Some might rejoice in the passing of "a messy tree whose leaves clogged the gutters and littered the neighborhood lawns". But there are a few of us who mourn the loss of what could be equated as an old and trusted friend. Today the City of Charlestown may have become closer to model efficiency, but we feel that it has become exponentially colder in heart.<br /><br />Yes, I'm being melodramatic, but I felt the occasion called for a bit of literary decorum.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gRkCC8l5WcAwd99K7Hq8Jqo0yEq9gZuaIFA341H-p1OiV5j53xMtGFlvyYkSm3YU4h83nDuQ7DESKrgvMue57Djwiad5KjnKY4gdC5qWh3Yznh253bXlCYRX3fWtWkbm_IMdfYrmQ2oQ/s1600/DSC_0021+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gRkCC8l5WcAwd99K7Hq8Jqo0yEq9gZuaIFA341H-p1OiV5j53xMtGFlvyYkSm3YU4h83nDuQ7DESKrgvMue57Djwiad5KjnKY4gdC5qWh3Yznh253bXlCYRX3fWtWkbm_IMdfYrmQ2oQ/s320/DSC_0021+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519845839754063970" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-10801770487077556412010-09-21T17:55:00.000-07:002010-09-21T18:17:45.125-07:00And as summer comes to a close...I'm busy, busy, busy. I meant to have this blog entry posted by the beginning of September, but better late than never. I can't complain though. It is so nice having a full work schedule.<br /><br />It was a definitely a"Butterfly" summer. Simon Clark's novella "Butterfly" sold out in a heartbeat. Simon was kind enough to include some of the images I created for his Signature Series book in this wonderful promotional video. The music and photographs are by Alex Clark.<br /><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DO51r_rDQDg?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DO51r_rDQDg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />I was once again accorded the honor of working on a Gene O'Neill novel. Coming soon from <a href="http://www.badmoonbooks.com/home.php?xid=e4364fae088ed5c26dd729339eda2576" target="_blank">Bad Moon Books</a> is Gene's novel "DEATHFLASH" Here are the cover and interiors.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCqpuGPAAukQCkLDY50iXWAXQypXuM5DJDiTTAwwMl-m3i3ROV16Arhbxw1-qlUZntKkgrBmC4UDzL53-uwoeoCltSAlyegH8MBWUtcCEoGUm4AOedQR78xrd43nSOix8xBD4okQb0FrSl/s1600/Cover_sample_copy.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCqpuGPAAukQCkLDY50iXWAXQypXuM5DJDiTTAwwMl-m3i3ROV16Arhbxw1-qlUZntKkgrBmC4UDzL53-uwoeoCltSAlyegH8MBWUtcCEoGUm4AOedQR78xrd43nSOix8xBD4okQb0FrSl/s320/Cover_sample_copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519536473147529378" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj55OJmSQ-Lq_8NdPN593TwMOYmaf-oBu2FHdf2CtamC2lu2lvTMCX9jqHt649azIOLFaHLcXkvhFpCPVmOrKUl0MJnAXIkLGQtn3K5PC8W8Vodwlr4PD_6v2pFSN0AMmmqWRV8bN0h0ub/s1600/stairs_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj55OJmSQ-Lq_8NdPN593TwMOYmaf-oBu2FHdf2CtamC2lu2lvTMCX9jqHt649azIOLFaHLcXkvhFpCPVmOrKUl0MJnAXIkLGQtn3K5PC8W8Vodwlr4PD_6v2pFSN0AMmmqWRV8bN0h0ub/s320/stairs_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519536486639704114" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2gswttKoUtkfCI_oVHwbgJ-8nSQnW7qgDPOoeoSQ-OZzSOXIMi58U0uCpDmAFaTWhyskiLiJ2u5km9L5Qcatsve3mWaKTeL2I8ZgEsd668VaoLBu4hepZ919iVjs2HwBdiIOb3eY2aER1/s1600/backloader_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2gswttKoUtkfCI_oVHwbgJ-8nSQnW7qgDPOoeoSQ-OZzSOXIMi58U0uCpDmAFaTWhyskiLiJ2u5km9L5Qcatsve3mWaKTeL2I8ZgEsd668VaoLBu4hepZ919iVjs2HwBdiIOb3eY2aER1/s320/backloader_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519536475380955314" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUNUwVDzOEqZ4sThSQb0VjUTGi6Bsfjz_XimRTIMotb4y3EJ1fd0o4b109otqyxaswbinDyxXiAECiyIcBc6cO8sFERZmIxYaQ6nBJv1P3f9_2HOZ0L6sSsc-yjizFGKFViNNabXq3HtZ/s1600/hunting_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUNUwVDzOEqZ4sThSQb0VjUTGi6Bsfjz_XimRTIMotb4y3EJ1fd0o4b109otqyxaswbinDyxXiAECiyIcBc6cO8sFERZmIxYaQ6nBJv1P3f9_2HOZ0L6sSsc-yjizFGKFViNNabXq3HtZ/s320/hunting_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519536481554012914" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Our final convention of the year was <a href="http://www.contextsf.org/" target="_blank">Context 23 </a>. What a blast! Everyone from fellow guests to Context staff were just wonderful. I sold a lot of prints and the original illustration for my latest <a href="http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=471" target="_blank">Chaosium</a> assignment. And the frosting on the cake was that I scored some jobs. I love writer's conventions.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMi7_906pT2wSajA7Mk6g8eVK3aVU2Oo7oERTxk-ewsa6BqHe3cG2dIYKRU77nrxr07pgRVk6KTAFGo3-k50OA3M-kNxaivzBwlIUOWJsb5RmyinBPPoItbH1D4NyZtPS1E6tIxPSVLGL/s1600/Gunfight_altered_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMi7_906pT2wSajA7Mk6g8eVK3aVU2Oo7oERTxk-ewsa6BqHe3cG2dIYKRU77nrxr07pgRVk6KTAFGo3-k50OA3M-kNxaivzBwlIUOWJsb5RmyinBPPoItbH1D4NyZtPS1E6tIxPSVLGL/s320/Gunfight_altered_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519537972457723506" border="0" /></a><br /><br />One of the jobs resulted from my highly successful art demo. More about that in a future blog.<br /><br />On Saturday night during the Shroud Publishing party the Hiram Awards were bestowed. Lo and behold I was given the award for "Unique Juxtaposition in Illustration". Written on the back of the award certificate is " For demonstrating innumerable uses of cogs and fossils in horror art". Uh-oh, this is just going to provoke me to keep painting my mechanized nightmares.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcZMDxgu8SOR-qJhogLr32dw4i31SbVf4cTNZ9-pAHqJD7ud_F2sK7ctRDDZj6bxuOohWVCjmhVfnMLj8EtnsdSZTkWdYXVJcXn84j0BHdGhH-7JpqUKIWEKy7rB4axo1D_WEkiYNA4mI/s1600/Hiram_award.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcZMDxgu8SOR-qJhogLr32dw4i31SbVf4cTNZ9-pAHqJD7ud_F2sK7ctRDDZj6bxuOohWVCjmhVfnMLj8EtnsdSZTkWdYXVJcXn84j0BHdGhH-7JpqUKIWEKy7rB4axo1D_WEkiYNA4mI/s320/Hiram_award.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519536468998787938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And just in time for the Halloween season is my cover illustration for <a href="http://www.jgfaherty.com/" target="_blank">J. G. Faherty's</a> forthcoming novel " Carnival of Fear" which will be published by by Graveside Books (<a href="http://gravesidebooks.com/" target="_blank">GravesideBooks.com</a>). It was great fun making J. G.'s vision for his cover a reality, but how can you go wrong with ghouls and ferris wheels.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNv2DLWNTwWYdcIOeaBy7FvMxhzLWuQU6jZEm1rPwYdfETQ4umQSDl1Qmw5_o9h2PGmAhhysgaNcSA3zV1QvrhSsplP8o_T48hXwncvZm3nDXN1OLWpiJoN_2uOwyJ1_NBkeHNfc3HUrQ/s1600/vr2_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNv2DLWNTwWYdcIOeaBy7FvMxhzLWuQU6jZEm1rPwYdfETQ4umQSDl1Qmw5_o9h2PGmAhhysgaNcSA3zV1QvrhSsplP8o_T48hXwncvZm3nDXN1OLWpiJoN_2uOwyJ1_NBkeHNfc3HUrQ/s320/vr2_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519537963230112882" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-76989793004745777602010-07-27T19:47:00.000-07:002010-07-27T19:51:44.777-07:00ButterflyYay! I just saw this at Cemetery Dance Publications. The limited edition of Simon Clark's <a href="http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/clark07" target="_blank">Butterfly</a> is now listed as In-Stock.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKABtgMG9JRvYiM_iaQd4MutWebJjhoS1rgEurt3XaFAeKOs6v4HZXzCbv970zumhoeQwqDvnXqUzWX89DqWdUh-Ae1ghgdsKSI_7lfUTwXG617i6Hm40BwaYPnxZuBRM8naFqmvQoAEp/s1600/clark07.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjKABtgMG9JRvYiM_iaQd4MutWebJjhoS1rgEurt3XaFAeKOs6v4HZXzCbv970zumhoeQwqDvnXqUzWX89DqWdUh-Ae1ghgdsKSI_7lfUTwXG617i6Hm40BwaYPnxZuBRM8naFqmvQoAEp/s400/clark07.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498783946369469362" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-61021063726006328692010-07-24T13:20:00.000-07:002010-07-24T13:21:13.003-07:00A Facebook test.I just want to see if Facebook will import this new entry.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-32509343864343713622010-07-24T07:08:00.000-07:002010-07-24T07:56:29.704-07:00NEEDS MORE COWBELL!I thought I'd better jot down this blog while it is reasonably fresh in my mind. <a href="http://www.campnecon.com/" target="_blank">Camp Necon</a> was last weekend. We had a great time as always. The title of my blog is in reference to <a href="http://www.cortneyskinner.com/" target="_blank">Cortney Skinner's</a> spot-on impersonation of Christopher Walken during this years talent show.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW-gVUZQZ3qMiYbF61cNPwnNedLiWf1lGe3s2FUBQRtib0DHbGTFnLkwUJDKhP8B48jjPOFEdlfmb5BTajdzSAWG8mtvcRfMdkbvo3yAg0jS4F5Cgi3aDBFLpV-hGj3dSDFs8TvDlu0By/s1600/DSC06393.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNW-gVUZQZ3qMiYbF61cNPwnNedLiWf1lGe3s2FUBQRtib0DHbGTFnLkwUJDKhP8B48jjPOFEdlfmb5BTajdzSAWG8mtvcRfMdkbvo3yAg0jS4F5Cgi3aDBFLpV-hGj3dSDFs8TvDlu0By/s200/DSC06393.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497477051920537426" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Cortney Skinner</span></span><br /><br />This was the 30th anniversary and the campus was rocking. There were two mystery guests this time around. I think everyone had an interesting time trying to guess who they might be (it would be fun if this turned into a yearly event). As it turned out the mystery guests were none other than literary greats <a href="http://www.briankeene.com/" target="_blank">Brian Keene</a> and <a href="http://joehillfiction.com/" target="_blank">Joe Hill</a>. Of course it must be noted that all the writers at Necon are either current or future literary greats.<br /><br />I have not read Joe's work yet, but I now have an autographed copy of Heart Shaped Box to start with.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGaSe09vKOhihx4Z4fxYEJe8-UeWfSp5JKfPQ7zNDmKbmTcPUMSrDh1bJ8mT_YgKW3WFj4g0oCHW35in-u-sT8OeI3kE0DV8vfoTZ7GAphsPQ23wUqUjIoFslCOqBuDh24ku-Bog61cSV/s1600/DSC06569.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLGaSe09vKOhihx4Z4fxYEJe8-UeWfSp5JKfPQ7zNDmKbmTcPUMSrDh1bJ8mT_YgKW3WFj4g0oCHW35in-u-sT8OeI3kE0DV8vfoTZ7GAphsPQ23wUqUjIoFslCOqBuDh24ku-Bog61cSV/s200/DSC06569.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497477058077591410" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, and Joe Hill</span></span><br /><br />Poetry extraordinaire <a href="http://www.cith.org/linda/index.html" target="_blank">Linda Addison </a> was in attendance. I have to give her a nod for introducing us to St. Germain Elderflower liqueur. We brought a bottle of this potent nectar and had great fun in sharing it. We plan on bringing a bottle with us next year in addition to some other interesting spirits. It is after all a horror writers convention.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliT5ILEPgdtE-wK97BaqVC0ggv0NDhBwOi8aHdm95giOvN6ytCsMatHoCKHfBe7znf-cXiqlJAEotU4aSA7F1CDOPi5Uep2QL7FY8PVKPcEZqpAZlF-gMbX3bB0NIDYLW7gVzD0TU_KXF/s1600/DSC06581.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliT5ILEPgdtE-wK97BaqVC0ggv0NDhBwOi8aHdm95giOvN6ytCsMatHoCKHfBe7znf-cXiqlJAEotU4aSA7F1CDOPi5Uep2QL7FY8PVKPcEZqpAZlF-gMbX3bB0NIDYLW7gVzD0TU_KXF/s200/DSC06581.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497482088543630114" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jill Bauman, Linda Addison, and Becky.</span></span><br /><br />During a round table discussion at the gazebo in the quad <a href="http://www.rickhautala.com/" target="_blank">Rick Hautala</a> posed the question to everyone "Who would you drive 500 miles to meet?". The answers included such greats as Ray Bradbury, Rachel Maddow, Angela Lansbury (Becky's answer) and guitarist Steve Howe.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2vWQ0G0ejLEsr_w_q99pd7IvmZ2Q8ah1IDn0PMC0RPXsPw583YvOqw4viwQCl-yMC10xi2SlM43zEBSiS0L0aUiohkdlUS1nXSjW19XnbsyoLQ8aK4CazfPpJ7DKYCR34du1-rGsTYXo/s1600/DSC06742.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2vWQ0G0ejLEsr_w_q99pd7IvmZ2Q8ah1IDn0PMC0RPXsPw583YvOqw4viwQCl-yMC10xi2SlM43zEBSiS0L0aUiohkdlUS1nXSjW19XnbsyoLQ8aK4CazfPpJ7DKYCR34du1-rGsTYXo/s200/DSC06742.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497477060467240594" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I was preoccupied taking pics with the old Sony so I did not give an answer that night, but here it is now. Necon as a whole is my response to the question. Since 2005 I've been driving over 500 miles to meet some of the <a href="http://www.campnecon.com/camp2010.htm" target="_blank">greatest folks</a> in the world. I'm constantly learning new things at Necon, I continuously meet new and fascinating people at Necon, and getting to the nitty gritty of things, I get paying jobs at Necon. And while I'm projecting (hopefully) the appearance of a professional artist, inside I'm the biggest geek fan of all these extraordinary people. I know this might sound sappy, but it is true.<br /><br />Now to a bit of Necon news I've been sitting on for a year. I now have something in common with such artistic greats as Omar Rayyan, Cortney Skinner, Alan Clark, Jill Bauman, Mike Mignola, and Richard Sardinha to name a few. In 2011 I will be the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Artist Guest of Honor for Necon 31</span>. All I can say is wow. Well, that is all I can say at the moment. But really, WOW!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHh94hITRUhr3zcOuEMXnyH86OP9P1EzJbeAtCvDRekmjoBH-RUcMht9cMXPnxOSbJ-YIFleoPLlCkhB5PFkRtVpbYZOFJl9p24wpUx8sT2brJzm7XNh7roeNWCng7njGQkfwvUk9VAdhr/s1600/Necon_30_gazebo_lo_rez.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 57px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHh94hITRUhr3zcOuEMXnyH86OP9P1EzJbeAtCvDRekmjoBH-RUcMht9cMXPnxOSbJ-YIFleoPLlCkhB5PFkRtVpbYZOFJl9p24wpUx8sT2brJzm7XNh7roeNWCng7njGQkfwvUk9VAdhr/s200/Necon_30_gazebo_lo_rez.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497477047170018098" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >A special thanks to Dallas Mayr for pointing out the sweet spot for this wonderful shot. Click on the picture to get the full sized image.</span>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-32995245258176324442010-06-17T12:15:00.000-07:002010-06-17T12:32:56.711-07:00"Mechanizing the Chimera" and other news fit to print.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfu9bu57rrGMVfm59O-jWlyP2G9Yf890ZbK1m8BIpKRM2gSP1HGkp_wI17_AxxR4VRxZIus4mtHfpaBGzX7CLILxgzipcBI9EyjOGzy-AhBNBve4-CF618oDoWTxdZXpPvOzDV65Zsg4U/s1600/three_up.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfu9bu57rrGMVfm59O-jWlyP2G9Yf890ZbK1m8BIpKRM2gSP1HGkp_wI17_AxxR4VRxZIus4mtHfpaBGzX7CLILxgzipcBI9EyjOGzy-AhBNBve4-CF618oDoWTxdZXpPvOzDV65Zsg4U/s200/three_up.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483826131861633602" border="0" /></a><br />My show "Mechanizing the Chimera" is currently up at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8461442162680580359" target="_blank">The Tim Faulkner Gallery</a>. Consisiting of twelve new 16" x 20" paintings on canvas, this show explores some of my older illustrating ideas (some dating back to high school) and revisiting them with the current concepts and techniques I've been working with.<br /><br />The show is up through the month of June, and if you find yourself in Louisville tonight please drop by the gallery for my "private" reception.<br /><br />I'm woefully behind in my blogging duties (as usual) and up to my ears in assignments, so I'll quickly wrap this blog up with a role call of books currently available that feature my art on the covers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBuVIzU1aPZSsfNMi3QzEaU52IkWI7ENqp0lwl1TXuKgYygssTMDXWfP9VsutzT4fXIrz01QCooHJ1QMwFyrXJ22LFeRN2qjPFn67Xfd0NTrwGVSqJFxPNtDJDiPJpEhulxo3klua0D9H9/s1600/TETD_front2_grande.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBuVIzU1aPZSsfNMi3QzEaU52IkWI7ENqp0lwl1TXuKgYygssTMDXWfP9VsutzT4fXIrz01QCooHJ1QMwFyrXJ22LFeRN2qjPFn67Xfd0NTrwGVSqJFxPNtDJDiPJpEhulxo3klua0D9H9/s200/TETD_front2_grande.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483825730488319058" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.apexbookstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/to-each-their-darkness-by-gary-a-braunbeck" target="_blank">To Each Their Darkness by Gary A. Braunbeck</a> is currently available from Apex Book Company.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1VL6XbHq05QTFhFMwALJ8YrhX8WmpmrMAAvZxEj0TjcqpDbd8_ZEmTMViFjCVg_0v4mZVEOks3aL0zsJ9_ogkAhn1IaLhyzKbZCctMqqwG1KmgDVohO4gZS2ld8z_kpDCWwe4XE9hf2Y/s1600/jade_lg.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy1VL6XbHq05QTFhFMwALJ8YrhX8WmpmrMAAvZxEj0TjcqpDbd8_ZEmTMViFjCVg_0v4mZVEOks3aL0zsJ9_ogkAhn1IaLhyzKbZCctMqqwG1KmgDVohO4gZS2ld8z_kpDCWwe4XE9hf2Y/s200/jade_lg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483826837446477426" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://www.horror-mall.com/badmoonbks/product.php?productid=20552&cat=0&page=1&featured" target="_blank">Jade by Gene O'Neill</a>, published by Bad Moon Books, is available at Horror Mall<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PZADPTKPoLq0dxWaBrBSRyOpwwPlBqKCnFMN9yk2k_dxreF0WwkGp5XQ4I2Xg_cIhCAeoKN3HuBOG-A63jkK5g4UFDJncAb11BBIujbofrYMsXCkNEaZlkVCOrkfdALpd49Ie5pyDh3K/s1600/CHA6047web.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PZADPTKPoLq0dxWaBrBSRyOpwwPlBqKCnFMN9yk2k_dxreF0WwkGp5XQ4I2Xg_cIhCAeoKN3HuBOG-A63jkK5g4UFDJncAb11BBIujbofrYMsXCkNEaZlkVCOrkfdALpd49Ie5pyDh3K/s200/CHA6047web.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483825723018051842" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=444" target="_blank">The Yith Cycle, edited by Bob Price</a> is available from Chaosium Inc.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjar6SunFrMAb9c00fwc_NZGTAJFspdS3a7p2Le7K73Gyz5ZjaoGkiwNxeObJPCFyAx3kh1KeKdTcCa9xILTnkwe24yZweiS_5ehtfhnxuu00qB1NCupsJOCTLfxaTrA0Yc60Lk0HRPLguQ/s1600/prentiss01.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjar6SunFrMAb9c00fwc_NZGTAJFspdS3a7p2Le7K73Gyz5ZjaoGkiwNxeObJPCFyAx3kh1KeKdTcCa9xILTnkwe24yZweiS_5ehtfhnxuu00qB1NCupsJOCTLfxaTrA0Yc60Lk0HRPLguQ/s200/prentiss01.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483825709571737282" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/prentiss01" target="_blank">Invisible Fences by Norman Prentiss</a> is available from Cemetery Dance Publications.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcpzlIasRmY9B1ASnK-Fw4uNskbJ4TWM0lJADD9MQyowzCltEX9r_OWCq2T8tacthrBfqTm4QLgle04S8MeopGg-g2H6eIYmafgEsxEzKMG63gPASQ5m5pSi95uQOO1zEVNZ6JSA1yEJn/s1600/Lost+in+Cat+Brain+Land.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifcpzlIasRmY9B1ASnK-Fw4uNskbJ4TWM0lJADD9MQyowzCltEX9r_OWCq2T8tacthrBfqTm4QLgle04S8MeopGg-g2H6eIYmafgEsxEzKMG63gPASQ5m5pSi95uQOO1zEVNZ6JSA1yEJn/s200/Lost+in+Cat+Brain+Land.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483825728139191042" border="0" /></a><br />And sporting a cover created by Alan M. Clark and myself is<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Brain-Land-Cameron-Pierce/dp/1936383047/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header" target="_blank"> Lost in Cat Brain Land by Cameron Pierce</a>, published by Eraserhead Press and available through Amazon.comSteven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-89956573690601814122010-03-29T17:40:00.000-07:002010-03-29T18:04:53.147-07:00The Bram Stoker AwardsThe Bram Stoker Awards ceremony was held this past weekend at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, England. I'm pleased to report that Gene O'Neill won the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Award for Superior Achievement in a Collection</span> for <a href="http://www.apexbookstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/taste-of-tenderloin-by-gene-oneill" target="_blank">Taste of Tenderloin</a> which I did the cover for. Congratulations to Gene and publisher Jason Sizemore!<br /><br />Also congratulations to Norman Prentiss for winning the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction</span> and Michael Knost for winning the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction</span>.<br /><br />The complete list of winners can be seen at the Horror Writers Association's blog <a href="http://hwadarkwhispers.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Dark Whispers</a>.<br /><br />I have had the pleasure of working on a number of Gene's projects. I owe an eternal debt of gratitude to William Jones for choosing me to illustrate Gene's story "Invasors de Suenos" for <a href="http://www.darkwisdom.com/tocIssue6.htm" target="_blank">Dark Wisdom</a> back in 2005. This brought my work to Gene's attention. Most recently I illustrated his chapbook <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jade</span>, published by Bad Moon Books (available for pre-order at <a href="http://www.horror-mall.com/JADE-by-Gene-ONeill-signed-limited-trade-softcover-edition-p-20552.html" target="_blank">Horror Mall</a>).<br /><br />Congratulations again Gene, and I look forward to our future collaborations.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0BUaeMAwqm4WfYLGdHqy_oES-UowOGHX5_abSgZr-QmUPEYTrxKBLyDISvOIu09uHDyzGpOUWX2GX8ybMZuQ0zUhPi_4lTqlb9T7tZYDC7rfCObQfDvMhht56iV8DHk-V4CZDJbE6dyD/s1600/Sweet+Dreams.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK0BUaeMAwqm4WfYLGdHqy_oES-UowOGHX5_abSgZr-QmUPEYTrxKBLyDISvOIu09uHDyzGpOUWX2GX8ybMZuQ0zUhPi_4lTqlb9T7tZYDC7rfCObQfDvMhht56iV8DHk-V4CZDJbE6dyD/s200/Sweet+Dreams.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454222597607038738" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kDihb67hTAYlscN743FLobNYirD5UgqmN73Dlb47hCCC1CouLt_eZoGWCJog2lzcvNKXcx0JYq0pWWMLoXEK2JCqKMteWVwsHaQGsIqdjQWoGYV1-HjmHzwqeXNC1O9tXRWrmpyC5VSA/s1600/CSZ-cover-sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kDihb67hTAYlscN743FLobNYirD5UgqmN73Dlb47hCCC1CouLt_eZoGWCJog2lzcvNKXcx0JYq0pWWMLoXEK2JCqKMteWVwsHaQGsIqdjQWoGYV1-HjmHzwqeXNC1O9tXRWrmpyC5VSA/s200/CSZ-cover-sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454222608711543570" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGswozIDb-scnSQJ-YbqX1cuRkq7L9aCVbVMYKnBLhq_EPFizYGlMWGJJGbu4ZNbUyV2BaTGoJasgaIGTQQQV_I6MOvYz_YYUyvjKogH1HCir3AReB9uTVAnu8R-IyEyysdYToGd1Eit-K/s1600/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGswozIDb-scnSQJ-YbqX1cuRkq7L9aCVbVMYKnBLhq_EPFizYGlMWGJJGbu4ZNbUyV2BaTGoJasgaIGTQQQV_I6MOvYz_YYUyvjKogH1HCir3AReB9uTVAnu8R-IyEyysdYToGd1Eit-K/s200/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454222800445771746" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9AH9CUkHSOueeSz8SAUlho8AGwXlJPPj7ctvbugfCO3jCsGkclau96avrNtQQT7m4fetkk7LQ3M6e9xI1oJvUsscsAYjArltDnR7log8CuzFmvfpNQRf3HqWRYWPD1xnm6ti8VS6VwfR/s1600/cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl9AH9CUkHSOueeSz8SAUlho8AGwXlJPPj7ctvbugfCO3jCsGkclau96avrNtQQT7m4fetkk7LQ3M6e9xI1oJvUsscsAYjArltDnR7log8CuzFmvfpNQRf3HqWRYWPD1xnm6ti8VS6VwfR/s200/cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454222621663122002" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviqYXFdxhBPeR0-6sv1fV9F7pU4C5MsmSexD_qhEY_30OkvOtEwJN1dYZSQnheSmIFPwPQGhWQry3U4KSuw2eMwqC6wrodioUAeSCbDu0qQ-s0Uw9lZhPl1-OPuYHTTn8POf4AoD38a9-/s1600/lizard_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviqYXFdxhBPeR0-6sv1fV9F7pU4C5MsmSexD_qhEY_30OkvOtEwJN1dYZSQnheSmIFPwPQGhWQry3U4KSuw2eMwqC6wrodioUAeSCbDu0qQ-s0Uw9lZhPl1-OPuYHTTn8POf4AoD38a9-/s200/lizard_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454226221554418946" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-63048277970758993072010-03-02T18:52:00.000-08:002010-03-02T19:13:35.220-08:00<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRizQC9N3LI10IO2wx2rk3KsixosHbyTswGyCZfKHMKIGZY7bVH8Tk5AewjRFOWHa4cr_xDPR9JNONiZxXbhWm6N-qaOeFfJ62CI_1KD_3J3CPfl_NZZeOWvOYKGOB8DpCwbJvgkDpI3PB/s1600-h/Will-o-wisp.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRizQC9N3LI10IO2wx2rk3KsixosHbyTswGyCZfKHMKIGZY7bVH8Tk5AewjRFOWHa4cr_xDPR9JNONiZxXbhWm6N-qaOeFfJ62CI_1KD_3J3CPfl_NZZeOWvOYKGOB8DpCwbJvgkDpI3PB/s200/Will-o-wisp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444237415108415346" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />The year started out on a sad note for us. We lost our cat Will-o-wisp. She would have been 18 this coming June. She died of feline kidney failure, which, if I'm correct in understanding, is fairly common in older cats. She had a pretty good life aside from having to deal with our younger cats, and being nearly 18 is admittedly a good milestone for a feline. Nonetheless, I wish we could have had more time with her. I miss her rattling the door knobs on my studio doors and sitting behind me in my chair while I painted.<br /><br />In news of my trade, my first assignment for the year was an <a href="http://www.eldersignspress.com/" target="_blank">Elder Signs Press</a> project. I was very pleased with how the painting turned out. I'll post that as soon as I'm given the go-ahead. Likewise with an interior illustration for Allen K's magazine INHUMAN.<br /><br />Gene O'Neill's anthology <a href="http://www.apexbookstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/taste-of-tenderloin-by-gene-oneill" target="_blank">Taste of Tenderloin</a> (published by Apex Digest) has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award (the complete list is available <a href="http://horror.org/news/2009stokernominees.htm" target="_blank">here</a>) . Congratulations Gene! This is the first time that a publication with one of my covers has been on the nomination list.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhNbXzq5Z7r5TGTAvnA0qVzvkIb5JDkQZIIpWPAvxtjCveAoXF2lAmcAdQ7WpxeKMZVU_MFIhhnU9ud7Dp2MkZ2NncJY7dcDxfd5R-YICCucX9u_6CtGOYf9p-KzWWFrZy7u7qipNbfTL/s1600-h/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYhNbXzq5Z7r5TGTAvnA0qVzvkIb5JDkQZIIpWPAvxtjCveAoXF2lAmcAdQ7WpxeKMZVU_MFIhhnU9ud7Dp2MkZ2NncJY7dcDxfd5R-YICCucX9u_6CtGOYf9p-KzWWFrZy7u7qipNbfTL/s200/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444238955773219538" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A limited edition chapbook <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dark Faith: Last Rights</span> is available from Apex Book Company. And of course I'm mentioning it here because the cover is by me. This is part of a promotion for the anthology <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dark Faith</span>, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon. Ordering info is available at at this <a href="http://www.apexbookstore.com/collections/books/products/dark-faith" target="_blank">address</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozEbHNJZD9AvLl-hg7soVbsdrDEEToDX7LN6FMFqSla8ChIw0Skdy5KGxWRujCRP-dfUIg_hKZnhwRyFjEebsp2q4eqQ-Y1JAhbxXmao580ZAsG8bq6nRt7giRoPrkIwEACj3CF3uVcx1/s1600-h/Angels_of_Venice2_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgozEbHNJZD9AvLl-hg7soVbsdrDEEToDX7LN6FMFqSla8ChIw0Skdy5KGxWRujCRP-dfUIg_hKZnhwRyFjEebsp2q4eqQ-Y1JAhbxXmao580ZAsG8bq6nRt7giRoPrkIwEACj3CF3uVcx1/s200/Angels_of_Venice2_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444238336710153074" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And back to Gene O'Neill. I had the pleasure of illustrating his new chapbook "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Jade</span>" which will soon be available from <a href="http://www.badmoonbooks.com/home.php?xid=44843827b9fb15f1cc9b006d82804248" target="_blank">Bad Moon Books</a>. Here is the cover and interior illustrations.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafo1W_n5nbM93dmEG0ZU96D8YXJtzkp6hc_KaDOlirQkYm7eFf_D5Mjq_wkiikf1Fh352khdlGAq9_cExBwaxtXd9FYqnpg5A8XWJnu5Z9kk2NQoWYbrDEE3KcPpG4rkxZhM8QCIu1naZ/s1600-h/cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafo1W_n5nbM93dmEG0ZU96D8YXJtzkp6hc_KaDOlirQkYm7eFf_D5Mjq_wkiikf1Fh352khdlGAq9_cExBwaxtXd9FYqnpg5A8XWJnu5Z9kk2NQoWYbrDEE3KcPpG4rkxZhM8QCIu1naZ/s200/cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444236649020448018" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHL0D-EbHPmpQ6IjhnzR5K0j3s_AD6ObwtiXiO_TKShGdt1PLMjvPyzF8X4a7sLBW9KeY5ddBPURiYXHQv7J6x6w4edY-bBW3ZpPR93HI3CNS4ZME_a-C9nGGAUmYmo7FYb6rKmoGCEL1/s1600-h/signature_page.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAHL0D-EbHPmpQ6IjhnzR5K0j3s_AD6ObwtiXiO_TKShGdt1PLMjvPyzF8X4a7sLBW9KeY5ddBPURiYXHQv7J6x6w4edY-bBW3ZpPR93HI3CNS4ZME_a-C9nGGAUmYmo7FYb6rKmoGCEL1/s200/signature_page.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444236647505077186" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmHSnEtuCsbrm3-Ho6K06KjKFcRZ53kkikdWSCvp6CSSp6t3hxa4uNoOP_x1ihdgUbCZNCLz5feA-D7fp9aD1WLqV6MfMLy677xA5cbS0hAHKBJc4LjZsdODzbWJTa46RF6XrZDx8wLN-/s1600-h/lizard_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTmHSnEtuCsbrm3-Ho6K06KjKFcRZ53kkikdWSCvp6CSSp6t3hxa4uNoOP_x1ihdgUbCZNCLz5feA-D7fp9aD1WLqV6MfMLy677xA5cbS0hAHKBJc4LjZsdODzbWJTa46RF6XrZDx8wLN-/s200/lizard_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444236637753888482" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1i0OXYzXoScsj1xPFtk0LymFOVQIuQ81MNZPZdn1MxHWNykmsdyPkYBgNptNejFxQerTOwXEdrXn1vbDJT-wiTrufAWhIZF6XKkqsRzimFUXOOYHp6bPzcVFHZtz1utVZXopoPXs-thV/s1600-h/hanged_if_I_know+_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx1i0OXYzXoScsj1xPFtk0LymFOVQIuQ81MNZPZdn1MxHWNykmsdyPkYBgNptNejFxQerTOwXEdrXn1vbDJT-wiTrufAWhIZF6XKkqsRzimFUXOOYHp6bPzcVFHZtz1utVZXopoPXs-thV/s200/hanged_if_I_know+_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444236634881343762" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIqc5nIcn7jE7_VoMejrTQQZi1zEqd77FDrLEsZonXkXn0ygOdvsIH_mUpgWrs6BvhbqilgIoW6VCoTJSsszuV12IZJFFjwYX6zq58Y1rHNIm0ymJRWjEJqpeQFYZkx9QyylR32Ws80qc/s1600-h/bee_careful_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIqc5nIcn7jE7_VoMejrTQQZi1zEqd77FDrLEsZonXkXn0ygOdvsIH_mUpgWrs6BvhbqilgIoW6VCoTJSsszuV12IZJFFjwYX6zq58Y1rHNIm0ymJRWjEJqpeQFYZkx9QyylR32Ws80qc/s200/bee_careful_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444237101736881778" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-43047412140737266362009-12-02T11:08:00.000-08:002009-12-02T11:22:25.215-08:00"Inside The Jack-In-The-Box"This friday (December 4th) is the opening for the December show "Inside The Jack-In-The-Box" at the <a href="http://www.timfaulknergallery.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tim Faulkner Gallery</span></a>. Some of my paintings will be among the fantastic work on display and for sale.<br /><br />Here is the official announcement:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Tim Faulkner Gallery will be marking it's 2nd anniversary with "Inside The Jack-In-The-Box", a Xmas group show. To celebrate this holiday season, I have gotten together with some of the city's top artists and they've produced smaller works that will be very affordable and make great Xmas presents. This will be an opportunity to own works by artists such as Steven Gilberts, Quincy Owens, Terry Tapp, Barbara Crawford, Margaret Spivey, and Jeremy Dixon at a more than reasonable cost. Please plan on attending and supporting the local arts. This should prove to be our biggest show of the year, so needless to say you don't want to miss it!" </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Date: Friday, December 4, 2009</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Time: 5:00pm - 11:00pm</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Location: Tim Faulkner Gallery</span><br /><br />The show will be up through December, so even if you cannot make it for the opening I hope you will be able to drop in sometime this month.<br /><br />And don't forget, the gallery has moved. The new address is:<br /><br />632 E. Market St. Ste. 1<br /> Louisville, KY 40202<br /><br />and the phone number is (502) 381-1314.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-14001456744785805342009-11-24T06:44:00.000-08:002009-11-24T06:53:59.724-08:00Ghosts and ToastsWe had a blast this past weekend. <br /><br />Saturday night we hung out with the great folks of "The Old Dark Clubhouse" gang at the <a href="http://www.wonderfest.com/welcome.html" target="_blank">Wonderfest</a> reunion. As the level of a $100 bottle of special Woodford Reserve steadily decreased the conversation ran from episodes of SCTV to old movies (I've got to see Stairway to Heaven) to tales of the fortean. At everyone's urging Troy Guinn broke out his guitar and regaled us with music from his old band The Secret Commonwealth. Later in the evening he sang a tribute song to the late, great, Jack Hunter Daves that he and Linda Wylie co-wrote which was followed by a toast in memory of Jack. There was not a dry eye in the house. Thanks again Dave and Randy for inviting us.<br /><br />Sunday found us at the monthly Sunday Salon at <a href="http://www.timfaulknergallery.com/index.html" target="_blank">The Tim Faulkner Gallery</a>. The current show is Shoe Gazer Dream Pop, a showing of recent work by phenomenal artist Jen Goodell. It was good crowd. I brought some work for the upcoming December show and had my ego boosted with wonderful plaudits. And thank you again Margaret for giving me the moniker "Mystic Steve".<br /><br />Among the scary subjects discussed Saturday night were ghosts, and among the scary subjects discussed Sunday was health insurance. The insurance conversation was by far the scariest of the weekend.<br /><br />In other news, <a href="http://perilouspress.com/" target="_blank">Perilous Press</a> is running the NOVEMBER COPPING SQUID SWEEPSTAKES! .<br /><br />Here is the info from the Perilous Press site: <span style="font-style: italic;">"STEVEN GILBERTS showered a treasure trove of darksome COPPING SQUID art upon us, and we're passing it on to you. Everyone who purchases an exclusive limited edition COPPING SQUID by MICHAEL SHEA from our site between now and Thanksgiving Day, 2009 will be entered to win a full-color, signed, limited (#1 of 500) print of eye-popping Copping Squid art by the phenomenal Steve Gilberts. The lucky winner will be notified by e-mail, and receive their print early enough to decide not to give it away for Xmas.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />If you've already pre-ordered a copy, you're already entered to win. If you haven't, ORDER NOW! The limited edition of COPPING SQUID has been delayed by printing complications, but to make up for it and cover everyone who didn't win a print, we're throwing in an 11X17 poster print of OCEAN'S DAUGHTER, a Gilberts masterpiece painted for the trade edition cover, with every order.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">And CONGRATULATIONS to ZAK JARVIS, the winner of our first Steve Gilberts drawing, at the World Fantasy Convention."*</span><br /><br />Well, back to the easel. I'm still getting acclimated to my new studio, but it is great having everything in one place. Now if I can just solve the mysteries of Photoshop CS4 my life will be complete.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-17783764534749030852009-10-20T20:32:00.000-07:002009-10-20T21:05:20.666-07:00-Insert Witty Title Here-Good gosh what a hectic October. Among our recent misadventures was the aforementioned repair of our rain damaged bedroom ceiling. They had to pull down all the plaster from the ceiling and replace it with drywall. Fortunately all of the wood was intact (and the bare lathe strips looked pretty neat). Mark Robinson of Robinson LTD did an excellent job of renovation.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-LOruT8c0g_yorBCSaGNx77A3Mb0jDVsGM78SWKTjQYIgT50qI2rbzmXQo3qUXGJJ5jVwe6OCsagZ-8VSJclJPPLnDX3-DEso-5uDAjqkwVpVJVKFQX2-YSfwZCmwxP5PZTf3WHVO8X2/s1600-h/DSC04417+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-LOruT8c0g_yorBCSaGNx77A3Mb0jDVsGM78SWKTjQYIgT50qI2rbzmXQo3qUXGJJ5jVwe6OCsagZ-8VSJclJPPLnDX3-DEso-5uDAjqkwVpVJVKFQX2-YSfwZCmwxP5PZTf3WHVO8X2/s200/DSC04417+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394891935724228018" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZBcmZcpwgt8KPFsq4rc2drzfcGxaTTtFe6qXYanj_g2ccVgNwfkGIzT7YVW7TnKPe1_qSPlTThj-ul0ENQbYHkt783KbTkKcVoVofYrTDBJrI3bIVxZLmENg0tviuGfMfRwy6VqFs8d7/s1600-h/DSC04427+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPZBcmZcpwgt8KPFsq4rc2drzfcGxaTTtFe6qXYanj_g2ccVgNwfkGIzT7YVW7TnKPe1_qSPlTThj-ul0ENQbYHkt783KbTkKcVoVofYrTDBJrI3bIVxZLmENg0tviuGfMfRwy6VqFs8d7/s200/DSC04427+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394891937587201042" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AKyjQim1_s5G7EI88CFAuk8cUM9OC1U1sgdVrt8FVYDFApUC1f7g-EpsabLu1uFqd8-e5KF4ICKn7TYNTEdN5yMgTxBRCqZb5qIWJt8CBkeocL9yMT7XV-v57vqTNvm-srKohET-dv4E/s1600-h/DSC04497+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AKyjQim1_s5G7EI88CFAuk8cUM9OC1U1sgdVrt8FVYDFApUC1f7g-EpsabLu1uFqd8-e5KF4ICKn7TYNTEdN5yMgTxBRCqZb5qIWJt8CBkeocL9yMT7XV-v57vqTNvm-srKohET-dv4E/s200/DSC04497+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394891942540262370" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This past Saturday Becky and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. The weather was bright and sunny just like the day we were married. The afternoon was spent getting our bedroom back in order, but we made up for it that evening by going to one of our favorite restaurants, <a href="http://www.jeevesandcompany.com/historyjay.asp" target="_blank">Jeeves and Company</a>, for a superb gourmet dinner. As we dined we watched the setting sun illuminate the fall foliage of the court house trees across the street to fiery reds and oranges. Couldn't ask for a better day.<br /><br />In other news I've restored two online galleries lost in the January server crash and also added a new one.<br /><br />You can find my cover art and interiors for David Lee Summers' "Vampires of the Scarlet Order" <a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=5" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />My gallery for the cover art and interiors for Simon Clark's "Butterfly" is at this <a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=7" target="_blank">address</a>.<br /><br />And this is the <a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=6" target="_blank">home</a> for the new gallery of my cover and interior art for Michael Shea's anthology "Copping Squid and other Mythos Tales".Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-35592470084458114292009-09-30T14:16:00.000-07:002009-09-30T14:30:44.274-07:00Goodbye September, Hello October.Sorry for ducking under the radar as of late. September has consisted of home owner dilemmas, starting with the bottom of the house (some plumbing issues) and finishing with the top of the house (multiple leaks in a two year old roof). The roofing issue created damage to our bedroom ceiling, so that will be our October adventure.<br /><br />Fortunately the roof is under warranty and has now been (hopefully) repaired, insurance (sans the deductible) will cover our bedroom ceiling repairs, and in looking over our homeowners policy we discovered some gaps in coverage that have now been corrected. Whew!<br /><br />So on to other news. This weekend Cody Goodfellow, Michael Shea, and S. T. Joshi will be attending the <a href="http://hplfilmfestival.com/" target="_blank">H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon</a> to promote <a href="http://perilouspress.com/index.html" target="_blank">Copping Squid</a>. A great start for October (and much more fun than home repairs).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yrUhyphenhyphenE8J5rCYHCc1WLS1C1ynmlcWApz6VTvNkJhiMbFTFbtybjkQaa0OfKP160tS2FtOkuH4soUGw6Zvu41QENkb25auK2in7FZ_razX9hR698zgXGRhWJwHQQwwKUq78u5dCpQbmqTu/s1600-h/version_2_colorsample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 198px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yrUhyphenhyphenE8J5rCYHCc1WLS1C1ynmlcWApz6VTvNkJhiMbFTFbtybjkQaa0OfKP160tS2FtOkuH4soUGw6Zvu41QENkb25auK2in7FZ_razX9hR698zgXGRhWJwHQQwwKUq78u5dCpQbmqTu/s320/version_2_colorsample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387374121565186338" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Cover art for the limited edition of Copping Squid.</span>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-47250976822502652122009-09-02T08:17:00.000-07:002009-09-02T08:22:54.657-07:00Off and running for SeptemberBecky and I attended Context this past weekend and had a blast! The main reason I attended was for the release party of Gene O'Neill's Taste of the Tenderloin from <a href="http://www.apexbookcompany.com/" target="_blank">Apex Book Company</a>, but I also participated in the big <a href="http://www.shroudmagazine.com/" target="_blank">Shroud Publications</a>-<a href="http://www.meadowhawkpress.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/" target="_blank">Meadow Hawk Press</a> extravaganza.<br /><br />Meeting Gene O'Neill and his son Gavin in person was the highlight of the convention. We also had the pleasure of meeting such wonderful folks as Gord Rollo, Gary Braunbeck, Michael Knost, D. Harlen Wilson, Sheldon Higdon, and Danny Evarts, along with reuniting with the Broaddus family, the Larsons, Tim Deal, the Gambor family, Michael West, Chris Golden, Brian Hatcher, and Grace Welch (of course this is an incomplete list).<br /><br />I'm not attending Dragoncon, but some of my artwork will be there via <a href="http://poeticlicenseprinting.com/" target="_blank">World of Strange</a>. They will be in the Artist's Alley at Bob Burden's booth. Of course they will also be featuring the work of such greats as Billy Tackett, Donato Giancola, and William Stout to name a few. Please drop by and purchase some shirts.<br /><br />That is all I have time to write for now. I have to take our Honda in for a driver's side airbag recall, attempt to replace the wax ring on our toilet, and finish three paintings. What doesn't kill me will make me stronger (and perhaps a little smelly).Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-25569028985350144562009-08-24T07:04:00.001-07:002009-08-24T07:12:01.706-07:00I'm Awake!The roofers that have been working on the house of our neighbor up on the corner got an early start this morning, so as consequence I got an early start also.<br /><br />A reminder to all, I'll be a guest at <a href="http://www.contextsf.org/" target="_blank">Context </a>this coming weekend. The Apex Book Company's release party for Gene O'Neill's "Taste of Tenderloin" will be at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.<br /><br />Work is progressing on the Michael Shea project. The <a href="http://perilouspress.com/" target="_blank">Perilous Press</a> site has been updated, and this <a href="http://perilouspress.com/pages/books.html" target="_blank">link</a> will take you directly to the page for "Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5noaeOvEDcA7jTno_rbSfCyzy-6gE-NDV9XNijVSdgTaV9demTVgkkXUydMBBI8XFSNFM1uQlYrwpxq3_v1U_I7ARk8uqfeZis1roI0SdVgsnXhX5pOAg2Bi0NSeA8UZ_bCkDds9oNr0/s1600-h/shea_cover.01.copy.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 228px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ5noaeOvEDcA7jTno_rbSfCyzy-6gE-NDV9XNijVSdgTaV9demTVgkkXUydMBBI8XFSNFM1uQlYrwpxq3_v1U_I7ARk8uqfeZis1roI0SdVgsnXhX5pOAg2Bi0NSeA8UZ_bCkDds9oNr0/s320/shea_cover.01.copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373531319337160098" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Wee, my work is on the cover of a Robert Bloch anthology! <a href="http://chaosium.com/" target="_blank">Chaosium.com</a> now has the reissue of Robert Bloch's "The Mysteries of the Worm available. Ordering information is available <a href="http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=3745" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOe_Pb2i0rmWPe1VV6H-y8p66xQQNKV6ioifgT7suGZzkhRxr4yk-zptfy6WA8Qe_f_Hr7cEKqP0l7pkXlWXkMBafzXR_AFyHBSpQMBQXjavpN1UP4qZYp6uW5LJLEINTePzZjk71Hzb1Q/s1600-h/CHA6037b.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOe_Pb2i0rmWPe1VV6H-y8p66xQQNKV6ioifgT7suGZzkhRxr4yk-zptfy6WA8Qe_f_Hr7cEKqP0l7pkXlWXkMBafzXR_AFyHBSpQMBQXjavpN1UP4qZYp6uW5LJLEINTePzZjk71Hzb1Q/s320/CHA6037b.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373531325681556290" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And now I'm off for a ride on the exercise bike before locking myself into the studio.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-69136341906518029912009-08-17T16:40:00.000-07:002009-08-17T17:13:11.756-07:00August Mayhem.I'm hopefully moving towards the end of a nasty summer flu bug. It has made for some sleepless nights, but on a positive note being awake at 1:00 a.m. means I've been able to catch up on my Venture Brothers episodes.<br /><br />In other news, first up is my latest cover. Here is my painting for "Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales" an anthology of World Fantasy Award Winner Michael Shea's mythos stories.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3RQuPouHydVYJK1JR5wwLoWlso-Y91mcxBgzaZq_Zwldjw_v_fyhKyi9gVN7cYRW3lsEU-zxkSQcgXu3wAQiXE-sTBG0c1IpQCxUMn74slZwtToW9nv47QJ1Pmh6uIBORyyAK_a_51-sF/s1600-h/darker_eyes.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3RQuPouHydVYJK1JR5wwLoWlso-Y91mcxBgzaZq_Zwldjw_v_fyhKyi9gVN7cYRW3lsEU-zxkSQcgXu3wAQiXE-sTBG0c1IpQCxUMn74slZwtToW9nv47QJ1Pmh6uIBORyyAK_a_51-sF/s320/darker_eyes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371082947656793538" border="0" /></a><br />This will be available from <a href="http://perilouspress.com/" target="_blank">Perilous Press</a> this October. Cody Goodfellow presented me with the intriguing concept and I took it from there. I'm in the process of finishing up the interior art for the project.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7j5gdXUN_zDjjCR_A11NIsWaMvoJoiDAQukz6PTuZobG-LBO4qF82W-NUpSYFSwzQWK6fqwPH7Da5eM452rouxd986rcna7HoFP-DqYNIjWstcHEfeqcbAmLu3Uz307eLyTpyffsCFQhX/s1600-h/wos-banner.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 85px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7j5gdXUN_zDjjCR_A11NIsWaMvoJoiDAQukz6PTuZobG-LBO4qF82W-NUpSYFSwzQWK6fqwPH7Da5eM452rouxd986rcna7HoFP-DqYNIjWstcHEfeqcbAmLu3Uz307eLyTpyffsCFQhX/s320/wos-banner.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371089810288713058" border="0" /></a><br />My art is now wearable! At this years Hypericon I had the great fortune to meet Ben and Tracy Eller. Ben and Tracy run <a href="http://poeticlicenseprinting.com/" target="_blank">World of Strange Fantastic Apparel</a> and asked me if they could offer my work on their attire. Of course I said yes. Click <a href="http://poeticlicenseprinting.com/artists/gilberts.html" target="_blank">here</a> to see my page on their site, and by all means buy something. Also available thru their site is apparel sporting the fantastic art of such artistic luminaries as Michael Whelan, Donato Giancola, Billy Tackett, William Stout, and Cyril van der Haegen. Suffice it to say I'm stoked about being listed along with these folks.<br /><br />I've updated my <a href="http://stevengilberts.com/shop/" target="_blank">shopping</a> site finally. Thank you very much Deborah Jones for creating the tutorial for me. Please drop by to see what I've added (and of course to buy something). For some reason the site takes a few moments to load, so my apologies on the wait.<br /><br />Last but not least, I'll be attending <a href="http://www.contextsf.org/" target="_blank">Context 22</a> in Columbus Ohio for the release party of Gene O'Neill's "Taste of Tenderloin", published by <a href="http://www.apexbookstore.com/products/taste-of-tenderloin-by-gene-oneill" target="_blank">Apex Book Company</a>. I'll also be doing some book signing for <a href="http://www.shroudmagazine.com/" target="_blank">Shroud Publishing</a>. I hope to see you there.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmwfb99XJdb1z-qiIWXkmiFNLyabL99pfQqYVo5AAKJ9oXbXp5XfbWG56voR-JBZyUnbV_-ClLv-wRvxXwjlDqfeTjHp_1-ocO3UBMUaK51ugfIMUkoIw0J8PzBBlw6UZV0TX0hiraHmG/s1600-h/taste-tenderloin.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmwfb99XJdb1z-qiIWXkmiFNLyabL99pfQqYVo5AAKJ9oXbXp5XfbWG56voR-JBZyUnbV_-ClLv-wRvxXwjlDqfeTjHp_1-ocO3UBMUaK51ugfIMUkoIw0J8PzBBlw6UZV0TX0hiraHmG/s320/taste-tenderloin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371082937746217666" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiev9X4ZsvfeqrANIgNfHIMq1xCS4LY92zKHVVCIzdoTkTRNdbRvOma4GJeVSmy6ItqWRe4RnE1XlpVCKGsv-dE8Y0kEw1KnYCxmCO-81ypM9hPj0N4kmVWD4QbX4COEeVQ7J_-L8oq8_KF/s1600-h/yhst-13511586845920_2067_477742.jpeg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiev9X4ZsvfeqrANIgNfHIMq1xCS4LY92zKHVVCIzdoTkTRNdbRvOma4GJeVSmy6ItqWRe4RnE1XlpVCKGsv-dE8Y0kEw1KnYCxmCO-81ypM9hPj0N4kmVWD4QbX4COEeVQ7J_-L8oq8_KF/s320/yhst-13511586845920_2067_477742.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371086753182773266" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCYIPdhUPavembD5P8NcT56VlhdQF8WZ6CINrs1PAQTMFT5bv03ETfMIDh99z6ZKMYEQaLMQKZvgVKeTkJ3n0YCoQdRsYjtMTVOi8u3hZqF0Yb43Epwd9wB3lQL9f1tFtq3d-PbHfmJ8M/s1600-h/yhst-13511586845920_2064_3061553.jpeg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCYIPdhUPavembD5P8NcT56VlhdQF8WZ6CINrs1PAQTMFT5bv03ETfMIDh99z6ZKMYEQaLMQKZvgVKeTkJ3n0YCoQdRsYjtMTVOi8u3hZqF0Yb43Epwd9wB3lQL9f1tFtq3d-PbHfmJ8M/s320/yhst-13511586845920_2064_3061553.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371085554990038370" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-7473962487387876962009-08-04T08:34:00.000-07:002009-08-04T08:44:30.090-07:00Dilation Exercise for August 2009So this is the Dilation Exercise for August 2009.<br /><br />I hope this will be a fun work out for your imagination and I encourage you to participate with comments. If you come back to the blog and can't find this post, look for it in the "Dilation Contest" category.<br /><br />Please look at the picture and imagine for it a one sentence caption of dialog and a one sentence caption of narrative. Write these down and transmit the sentences to me via the <em>comments</em> option at the bottom of this post. Try to produce captions that compliment the image without overly defining what's going on in the picture. It helps if the captions suggest something beyond the picture plane. For examples of these captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI5_dK6oxbJjvvIF2xpVnPdhTnIDJs3ysEJHYkOkUgXg3N50zZzFbnH6WLcUoO-HkGxm7qzWMPsmpZsb1mK8uVhT8WtGumkRzZXWRLlwu9z-tQteB0xhQezc1sHDmWksNtMscnDVL_Lzk/s1600-h/Blubbery.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI5_dK6oxbJjvvIF2xpVnPdhTnIDJs3ysEJHYkOkUgXg3N50zZzFbnH6WLcUoO-HkGxm7qzWMPsmpZsb1mK8uVhT8WtGumkRzZXWRLlwu9z-tQteB0xhQezc1sHDmWksNtMscnDVL_Lzk/s200/Blubbery.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366134460506076162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The title of this painting is not important here. More important is what happens in your imagination when you view the image. What's going on here?<br /><br />I will choose my favorite of the captions offered for the August '09 Dilation Exercise and declare a winner on or about the 31st of August, 2009. The winner will have the image with his or her caption and name entered into the “<a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=4" target="_blank">Dilation Exercise</a>” album in the coppermine gallery on my web site. The winner will win an 8" x 10" matted print of the contest image. It will be necessary to have the winner's shipping address in order to deliver the print. Sorry, but the print prize will only be delivered to an address within the continental United States.<br /><br />For examples of captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-85662515673216720212009-07-23T15:09:00.001-07:002009-07-23T15:21:04.705-07:00Ouch! Stop! It Hertz!I'll start out on the positive. Necon was wonderful as always. This was our five year anniversary and Necon 29 was every bit as fun as Necon 25. We reunited with old friends, made new friends, and I received great feedback on my paintings. Next year's Necon 30 is going to be like Necon 25 where past Guests of Honor are invited to return, so that will be blast. And there will be some interesting things in store at Necon 31.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3VsL3vTQJn5BmfcKSUOs6YGSA_R9dRRoZ26cN-5I2ww2lUQ_P2ni33oz6gvg-98iove0yRvJCFc4kEsXx0XAyYj4jYgsMFKE8f5ywN8eNLd9wUY6M04pS3oefKg4XunXI7Q8_HAa-b2I/s1600-h/DSC04226+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3VsL3vTQJn5BmfcKSUOs6YGSA_R9dRRoZ26cN-5I2ww2lUQ_P2ni33oz6gvg-98iove0yRvJCFc4kEsXx0XAyYj4jYgsMFKE8f5ywN8eNLd9wUY6M04pS3oefKg4XunXI7Q8_HAa-b2I/s200/DSC04226+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361782604146024226" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBDqbw22hm2xe6vzyWIKpUhrVyAUu9yaoC4c4S8rUOKgvR0xI9dP1urYwwaxK7JkdkdTPLF7UPaQsptr6wFbFMMI6Ryl0yYioOvVAsgENJPoxqJIaGZ_egxG-DBa4N4ZN2tQrtUNFdLtZI/s1600-h/DSC04233+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBDqbw22hm2xe6vzyWIKpUhrVyAUu9yaoC4c4S8rUOKgvR0xI9dP1urYwwaxK7JkdkdTPLF7UPaQsptr6wFbFMMI6Ryl0yYioOvVAsgENJPoxqJIaGZ_egxG-DBa4N4ZN2tQrtUNFdLtZI/s200/DSC04233+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361782437547306786" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvh1MnD69V7fAUAgmhQoJTzcqP02ZR48948FjFz19jSMpOC6-n_rs-gD5ZPfkaEhMwvr1_hTHkvXltmpaRhZ5Yaoe26-b5BW9CJ618PGE0ATJLkYvRbeqnCJfi6nm7C1mfAyTG62Wl88qi/s1600-h/DSC04224+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvh1MnD69V7fAUAgmhQoJTzcqP02ZR48948FjFz19jSMpOC6-n_rs-gD5ZPfkaEhMwvr1_hTHkvXltmpaRhZ5Yaoe26-b5BW9CJ618PGE0ATJLkYvRbeqnCJfi6nm7C1mfAyTG62Wl88qi/s200/DSC04224+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361782431058003506" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4htqJQn2DyaJId72Q4XOfnDU9R_Zgk8pOX-hIoaDtmxidDC9yAJLVQogUBnx8PUVA94bd8BCrx-uFITefSNKXXunkIkbgEohnTeXVBG4YP0maRZ76ZO7GNW2dWuGFxf8u7xGBKIQ4Kpj/s1600-h/DSC04221+copy.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB4htqJQn2DyaJId72Q4XOfnDU9R_Zgk8pOX-hIoaDtmxidDC9yAJLVQogUBnx8PUVA94bd8BCrx-uFITefSNKXXunkIkbgEohnTeXVBG4YP0maRZ76ZO7GNW2dWuGFxf8u7xGBKIQ4Kpj/s200/DSC04221+copy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361782427476968850" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />And now to the title of the blog. Since 2006 Becky and I have been driving to New York City for the first day of our Necon journey. We stay at Jill Bauman's apartment overnight and the following day the three of us drive up to Rhode Island. This year was no different in that respect, but what an obstacle course we had to traverse.<br /><br />There is always road construction of course. It's summer. But this year New Jersey proved to be quite a bear. Bumper to bumper mile upon mile. We finally made it to the George Washington Bridge and thought our troubles were over.<br /><br />How naive we were.<br /><br />We went to the upper deck because we thought that would be quicker. When we got to the toll booth the traffic was nearly at a standstill. We crawled through the booth and then came to a complete stop on the other side. Six or seven lanes of traffic was being condensed into three lanes.<br /><br />There was a solid wall of semi-trucks on either side of us. As we sat there the wall of trucks slowly began to move, right towards us! We were in an automotive trash compactor! As our lives flashed before our eyes I made a desperate crawl towards an opening that suddenly appeared. Somehow we made it through in time and unbelievably the traffic all began to move. The traffic thinned out so abruptly that I wondered if maybe we had been crushed to death (the whole Jacob's Ladder, Owl Creek Bridge thing you know).<br /><br />We made it to Jill's without too much further trouble. Jill was able to get us a spot right in front of her building. We thought that was great.<br /><br />During the night the flashing lights of a police car caught our attention. I looked out to see that the constables had stopped a woman for some nefarious traffic violation. Silly New Yorkers always breaking the law. She had pulled in right behind our car. After she pulled away the police car, with its lights shining upon our Hertz rental car, sat. And sat. And sat. Not a wheel budged. We assumed that the gentlemen were simply doing their paperwork for the traffic ticket. Eventually they moved on.<br /><br />The next morning we got everything packed and ready to go. I had been putting things in the trunk and right rear seat, so it was not until we were ready to go that I saw the envelope sticking out from the drivers door. Ah ha, now I knew why the determined officers had been so long in departing. Miscreant that I am, I had crossed the boundary from law abiding citizen to common criminal. But how you might ask?<br /><br />It was a parking citation of course. Correction. A $65 parking citation. So I must have been blocking a driveway. No. Perhaps I was blocking a hydrant? No, this was where Jill usually parked. Out of state plates are illegal in New York City? Of course not, but we're getting warmer.<br /><br />Seems the citation was for parking overnight in a residential area with a commercial license plate. A commercial license plate? Yes, sure enough our trustworthy Hertz office in Clarksville IN had provided us with a car with commercial license plates. In all the years we have been renting from Hertz we had never been given a car with commercial plates, and had the woman not parked behind us the officers would probably have been none the wiser about the transgression on parking laws of New York. Obviously though, this was an error on the part of Hertz and they would take care of a loyal customer of 14 years.<br /><br />Right?<br /><br />We immediately called the Clarksville office about the problem. The manager told us that we would have to call the 1-800 Hertz Customer Service number. About four hours later as we were nearing our destination in Rhode Island my wife was finally able to talk to a customer service representative. The representative explained that we would have to take the matter up with the office that we had rented the car from. Yes, this is were the story is going.<br /><br />Despite reassurances by our friends that Hertz would take care of this, I was apprehensive. The specter of our AT&T misadventure still clung to my mind like cat piss odor in carpet (quick side note, when we got home there was yet another junk letter for the mysterious <a href="http://cryingflysoup.blogspot.com/search/label/Billing%20Fraud%20Part%202" target="_blank">Gary Stevens</a> who seems to reside with us at our address). But as I mulled over the whole situation it became obvious that Hertz would not throw away 14 years of customer loyalty for $65 dollar error on their part.<br /><br />"Huh, I've never encountered this before and everyone I've talked to is just as baffled. But it is not our fault. We only have to check to make sure the plates are up to date. We get cars from all over the country so we don't know what kind of plate is going to actually be on our cars".<br /><br />That is what we were told when we returned the car to the Clarksville IN location. The office manager said he would look into the matter and see what he could find out, but consistently reiterated that Hertz was not at fault for what plates are on their cars. I finally had to say "so if it is not the fault of Hertz Car Rental, than you are saying it is our fault". "No no", he said. "It is not your fault, but it is not our fault either. Maybe the police made a mistake".<br /><br />Thank goodness we had established that nobody except maybe the police were at fault. I could sleep easy now.<br /><br />But wait a minute, there was still the 2000 lb. $65 parking citation sitting in the room.<br /><br />Nobody within "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Hertz Corporation, a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HTZ), the world's largest general use car rental brand, operating from approximately 8,000 locations in 147 countries worldwide</span>" knew how to handle this problem. It had just never happened before. Ever. Never. Not in the history of all mankind. This just couldn't be. But maybe somehow someway someone within the lofty Hertz hierarchy would deign to call the Clarksville office to answer the burning question, (and maybe even provide the answer to the meaning of life). The manager had me write down my name and phone number on a tiny Post-it note and said he would be in touch.<br /><br />Now I know it is just $65. You are thinking "you cranky old fart, why not just pay the damn thing and be done with it?". But it is the principle of the situation that is so frustrating. Since 1995 we have been using Hertz. We've never had a problem. But when we did have a problem instead of hearing "Mr. Gilberts, you are a valued customer and we will get this problem resolved" we basically hear, "now that's weird, but it's your problem, not ours".<br /><br />The citation was not given because I had been using the car in an illegal manner. It was given because the company I trusted to provide us with a safe and legal automobile had in fact not. And we were given absolutely no reason by Hertz as to why they have cars with commercial plates. Obviously there is not any kind of a discount for using a car with them (and obviously it was costing us more to have them).<br /><br />As we were leaving the office we did finally get a "sorry for the inconvenience this has caused", and later in the day the manager did call us. He said The Hertz Corporation hierarchy was not returning his inquires, but a regional manager had given him permission to deduct the $65 from our rental bill. A quick fix as he put it. Not exactly the response I was looking for, but probably the best we were going to get. I called the manager the following day and inquired if it would be okay if my wife stopped by on her lunch break to get a receipt for the corrected amount. In a dispassionate tone he said that would be fine but we would be receiving a receipt in the mail within a few days.<br /><br />I did file an online complaint through the Hertz website the same day. Oddly enough they did not respond.<br /><br />So mind you, I'm quite aware that I'm on a rant. But use my rant for your own benefit. When you are renting a car, check the plates to make sure you don't qualify for a "winning ticket" when you get up the next morning.<br /><br />Check your phone bills for unusual charges.<br /><br />Drink your Ovaltine.<br /><br />And keep watching the skis. I mean skies.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-19296430422005866522009-07-03T18:47:00.000-07:002009-08-04T08:33:41.691-07:00Dilation Exercise for July 2009So this is the Dilation Exercise for July 2009.<br /><br />I hope this will be a fun work out for your imagination and I encourage you to participate with comments. If you come back to the blog and can't find this post, look for it in the "Dilation Contest" category.<br /><br />Please look at the picture and imagine for it a one sentence caption of dialog and a one sentence caption of narrative. Write these down and transmit the sentences to me via the <em>comments</em> option at the bottom of this post. Try to produce captions that compliment the image without overly defining what's going on in the picture. It helps if the captions suggest something beyond the picture plane. For examples of these captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QOvM55PN2N0JcW8Up8pYpk9cq9sa3paDSNMdnzbwNTq5hw-a71jbHMXv_XNG5Q8jvQqfyl9duXeW3Ohsg5t3fZF7Y7AsiU8S5dzz4pmXQHQmM4A9FtuvOcwYZGbme7xlO10RwwTHoJYE/s1600-h/There+is+a+Smell+About+Him.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QOvM55PN2N0JcW8Up8pYpk9cq9sa3paDSNMdnzbwNTq5hw-a71jbHMXv_XNG5Q8jvQqfyl9duXeW3Ohsg5t3fZF7Y7AsiU8S5dzz4pmXQHQmM4A9FtuvOcwYZGbme7xlO10RwwTHoJYE/s400/There+is+a+Smell+About+Him.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354419120075092754" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The title of this painting is not important here. More important is what happens in your imagination when you view the image. What's going on here?<br /><br />I will choose my favorite of the captions offered for the July '09 Dilation Exercise and declare a winner on or about the 31st of July, 2009. The winner will have the image with his or her caption and name entered into the “<a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=4" target="_blank">Dilation Exercise</a>” album in the coppermine gallery on my web site. The winner will win an 8" x 10" matted print of the contest image. It will be necessary to have the winner's shipping address in order to deliver the print. Sorry, but the print prize will only be delivered to an address within the continental United States.<br /><br />For examples of captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-65881467368737811122009-06-11T10:30:00.001-07:002009-06-11T10:42:42.130-07:00My 30 Minutes of fame.Becky and I had a fantastic time at Hyperion 5 / DeepSouthCon 47. We were able to meet up with old friends and made some new ones as well (I'm not about to name off folks because I know I'll forget someone and feel like a cad). <br /><br />The art show run by Jamie Herron was stellar as always, and the art demo by <a href="http://www.melissagay.com/index.html" target="_blank">Melissa Gay</a>, <a href="http://www.deenawarner.net/" target="_blank">Deena Warner</a>, <a href="http://www.jdavidsonartworks.com/" target="_blank">Judi Davidson</a>, <a href="http://www.spiralunwinding.com/" target="_blank">Sarah Frary</a>, Scott Webb (who needs to get another website!) and myself went swimmingly.<br /><br />And because I'm pooped out from doing yard work and digging up the backyard for a garden / photo prop (more on that later if my idea works), I'll let some of our photos from the convention do the rest of the talking.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_4EF2ZGL6dasRUwkhnPJoQ3gR3ajxy6sTWlUK-PX5pR6N6KS6B4wmlSf3Tor22ZECOwnm3XD-USv2-f8l6xnRgEJbvNRVPNZwVyvRlEfCbEOkDD51yC_gl0Faq67zlOplGRl-A-6QGMv/s1600-h/DSC04029.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_4EF2ZGL6dasRUwkhnPJoQ3gR3ajxy6sTWlUK-PX5pR6N6KS6B4wmlSf3Tor22ZECOwnm3XD-USv2-f8l6xnRgEJbvNRVPNZwVyvRlEfCbEOkDD51yC_gl0Faq67zlOplGRl-A-6QGMv/s320/DSC04029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346125680160164178" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBX5kr9gq1-21qg51iCPsD5-GoxTOIWF5IHFRL7B7cZbfoJKhKlOKZ_t4aSfvINVCfQ0jwrzB8mBKoj2WkfJa3dJAjKNZpWNWJjqPWKz3MD5BSz-rvVMaAI3HCjPa84zyJcwoFB_AXVP8s/s1600-h/DSC03964.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBX5kr9gq1-21qg51iCPsD5-GoxTOIWF5IHFRL7B7cZbfoJKhKlOKZ_t4aSfvINVCfQ0jwrzB8mBKoj2WkfJa3dJAjKNZpWNWJjqPWKz3MD5BSz-rvVMaAI3HCjPa84zyJcwoFB_AXVP8s/s320/DSC03964.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346126028480334882" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0cIHj0EZJ7wXEsk6I-f7dexCDeO4GItqrmLBB2g5t9efAPzZ7u7eCR1SASO60RpA7kUJcuZQL4HUhF5MBwqse6NanF1I2Pecu-N8vM2DBI-TwHuqY16aPocTefa0oCN9ZxcdVF71w3h6/s1600-h/DSC04028.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ0cIHj0EZJ7wXEsk6I-f7dexCDeO4GItqrmLBB2g5t9efAPzZ7u7eCR1SASO60RpA7kUJcuZQL4HUhF5MBwqse6NanF1I2Pecu-N8vM2DBI-TwHuqY16aPocTefa0oCN9ZxcdVF71w3h6/s320/DSC04028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346124981196750434" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBY8VfWQzVQ25T1ztZz58t3Ls0Ie7bVDaNjwpYZDMsVj9aOnxOzONtMvetgdwClow_BRhIkntTAjas5Q_9ypblY3qLyrJBewrMOHsGRQtq01hNr7ATxs052XZxxVXSvBmnY-ItmCrNbZ5I/s1600-h/DSC04031.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBY8VfWQzVQ25T1ztZz58t3Ls0Ie7bVDaNjwpYZDMsVj9aOnxOzONtMvetgdwClow_BRhIkntTAjas5Q_9ypblY3qLyrJBewrMOHsGRQtq01hNr7ATxs052XZxxVXSvBmnY-ItmCrNbZ5I/s320/DSC04031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346125680242229298" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0t05yWFJcdiV8gJsyR5zkcR2a6vT8dtAwSIx_0kwABx96Tp8wGOeg_OoKhQyV2d4U3HboPyJJjXNB2hg6NrUZfPK0jMrmQiHvooXMGLjj8trl5qDUKLhItmuoCkmTWYVtp878hV-UYPad/s1600-h/DSC03971.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0t05yWFJcdiV8gJsyR5zkcR2a6vT8dtAwSIx_0kwABx96Tp8wGOeg_OoKhQyV2d4U3HboPyJJjXNB2hg6NrUZfPK0jMrmQiHvooXMGLjj8trl5qDUKLhItmuoCkmTWYVtp878hV-UYPad/s320/DSC03971.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346124976377696466" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkAvvyUoN_ua_hYiTnLPd-I6tIRtXkrlzZn9HmZgjoZgHh9OpdIxIIxvG6D-FKZgybOgyLc9xWTSEL9tssH0AWYuGmUktzdzPxHP1MiBwA-pL8BrGFk5LLDN_jKZ4j_r5GG9VmpoRpwSn/s1600-h/DSC03956.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkAvvyUoN_ua_hYiTnLPd-I6tIRtXkrlzZn9HmZgjoZgHh9OpdIxIIxvG6D-FKZgybOgyLc9xWTSEL9tssH0AWYuGmUktzdzPxHP1MiBwA-pL8BrGFk5LLDN_jKZ4j_r5GG9VmpoRpwSn/s320/DSC03956.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346124972166678402" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92o6fjkLQRmaOpx9o48dZmIkmeYLmAHW7IgXP47naQ_nlS9KMVwoM9qlfDE81QqoKmyWirhovqWHhYsZb214yQioDK4XOv9SlpRyUQraaoedS8LkaxoBWLNXG4l8DkMssGXUQKNMr4k84/s1600-h/DSC03950.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh92o6fjkLQRmaOpx9o48dZmIkmeYLmAHW7IgXP47naQ_nlS9KMVwoM9qlfDE81QqoKmyWirhovqWHhYsZb214yQioDK4XOv9SlpRyUQraaoedS8LkaxoBWLNXG4l8DkMssGXUQKNMr4k84/s320/DSC03950.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346124972774689026" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD2JfKnyFVezge-j6WRGELzb1yTVRe1q_FwiZpcYMtrFb7KGtJtLq07JKLzuny4LhS0njEY68ijyX6Ss3E3yDqnamk78NyWm0sY_j9Evrv0Umi-RyINL2n9-0SARrd3HuDtJmrNztJkLp1/s1600-h/DSC03985.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD2JfKnyFVezge-j6WRGELzb1yTVRe1q_FwiZpcYMtrFb7KGtJtLq07JKLzuny4LhS0njEY68ijyX6Ss3E3yDqnamk78NyWm0sY_j9Evrv0Umi-RyINL2n9-0SARrd3HuDtJmrNztJkLp1/s320/DSC03985.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346124970367200626" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-32159649796175110782009-06-04T18:12:00.000-07:002009-06-04T18:57:07.328-07:00Dilation Exercise for June 2009So this is the Dilation Exercise for June 2009.<br /><br />I hope this will be a fun work out for your imagination and I encourage you to participate with comments. If you come back to the blog and can't find this post, look for it in the "Dilation Contest" category.<br /><br />Please look at the picture and imagine for it a one sentence caption of dialog and a one sentence caption of narrative. Write these down and transmit the sentences to me via the <em>comments</em> option at the bottom of this post. Try to produce captions that compliment the image without overly defining what's going on in the picture. It helps if the captions suggest something beyond the picture plane. For examples of these captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUp05N7CIdadsvLnxrPwS6W45Gtm7jDUkXrgFISz8-VkdjCzMFXvv5SBpnrQMjpRUFRgPaXK7eRVjJpPaBbVYUttmkR9JoTbZi_qx2eF0HeYd3HWyBIGRDT_OKI57RM7vD7Xz0QGrnqh6/s1600-h/Vacation+Destination.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUp05N7CIdadsvLnxrPwS6W45Gtm7jDUkXrgFISz8-VkdjCzMFXvv5SBpnrQMjpRUFRgPaXK7eRVjJpPaBbVYUttmkR9JoTbZi_qx2eF0HeYd3HWyBIGRDT_OKI57RM7vD7Xz0QGrnqh6/s320/Vacation+Destination.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343646915905356530" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The title of this painting is not important here. More important is what happens in your imagination when you view the image. What's going on here?<br /><br />As Alan does with his contest, I will choose my favorite of the captions offered for the May '09 Dilation Exercise and declare a winner on or about the 30th of June, 2009. The winner will have the image with his or her caption and name entered into the “<a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=4" target="_blank">Dilation Exercise</a>” album in the coppermine gallery on my web site. The winner will win an 8" x 10" matted print of the contest image. It will be necessary to have the winner's shipping address in order to deliver the print. Sorry, but the print prize will only be delivered to an address within the continental United States.<br /><br />For examples of captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-90251979314473760202009-05-28T12:37:00.000-07:002009-05-28T14:58:16.841-07:00Countdown to HyperiConFirst up, as a result of all the fun and great times we had with AT&T, we are now with Insight Cable. As consequence there was no need to continue with Earthlink, so my old email address is no more. My new one is steve@stevengilberts.com. At some point I promise to recount our exploits with the communications giant. What a convoluted mess. Of course we still haven't received our final bill from them, so it ain't over till the corpulent female intones. And we continue to receive junk mail for the ubiquitous Gary Stevens.<br /><br />Mo*Con was a blast! Thanks again to Maurice and Sally Broaddus for being the ultimate host and hostess. We had the honor of meeting Tom Piccirilli and his wife Michelle Scalise, Wrath James White. We also reunited with our Necon pals Linda Addison and Gerard Houarner. The panels were wonderful and on Saturday night we were treated to a reading of the epic murder mystery CLOWN courtesy of Doug Warrick.<br /><br /><a href="http://hypericon.info/" target="_blank">HyperiCon </a>is a week away. Aside from running off a few additional prints I'm all packed and ready. That does not happen often. We look forward to seeing all our convention and Nashville buddies. If you are attending please stop by on Saturday to watch the art demo by me and the other artists.<br /><br />My friend <a href="http://www.michaelrmorris.com/" target="_blank">Mike Morris</a> snapped some shots of me in my native habitat last week. Despite the subject they turned out great. Here are a few of the pics.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWOHomwEXc9Li8uHRc-5OkUWwZZCI9eZAMDnStANGqj4NDJxJbhapO-B5vIu2-fPKJlS3W521opPF4HG0fP9C54TU9qpDj3PxXNw9XoD9jwl3k-OQs5uIcgPne0n-CAra074bamS6UwJAU/s1600-h/_DSC0034_toned_b%25w.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWOHomwEXc9Li8uHRc-5OkUWwZZCI9eZAMDnStANGqj4NDJxJbhapO-B5vIu2-fPKJlS3W521opPF4HG0fP9C54TU9qpDj3PxXNw9XoD9jwl3k-OQs5uIcgPne0n-CAra074bamS6UwJAU/s320/_DSC0034_toned_b%25w.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340963701136350914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gbV7BCFqeAXixRXL0iDRvs46R1iEmzFgebS6q4XfEH2b-3vzZmhQNOUf3xL7dcu5VCb0JYkzrsI0lnxsKXnlY3BfpN_eZPlaXoCDw-a5DVrsO9ov_iBh6M4PXoR8hhCzOnCKimFv6OFo/s1600-h/_DSC0006_toned_b&w.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gbV7BCFqeAXixRXL0iDRvs46R1iEmzFgebS6q4XfEH2b-3vzZmhQNOUf3xL7dcu5VCb0JYkzrsI0lnxsKXnlY3BfpN_eZPlaXoCDw-a5DVrsO9ov_iBh6M4PXoR8hhCzOnCKimFv6OFo/s320/_DSC0006_toned_b&w.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340963691062710178" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulWjbv-11NTedOwZPGLIrrq9lIdhDkYpCZukSgKvd30o0viWsb1mKuUc2ag5aCwKw8Mf-URgpjj-w2MYO2-z0mvwZO2HLOT4qG3S0V9IKyLZlPfR_sYoJoLyG5lfskxc6OV5CwyFRS1Wf/s1600-h/_DSC0026.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgulWjbv-11NTedOwZPGLIrrq9lIdhDkYpCZukSgKvd30o0viWsb1mKuUc2ag5aCwKw8Mf-URgpjj-w2MYO2-z0mvwZO2HLOT4qG3S0V9IKyLZlPfR_sYoJoLyG5lfskxc6OV5CwyFRS1Wf/s320/_DSC0026.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340963699196008418" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">All photos © 2009 Michael R Morris</span></span><br /><br />And this is my cover illustration for Gene O'Neill's upcoming anthology from Apex Publications, <a href="http://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/2009/05/taste-of-tenderloin-by-gene-oneill-available-for-pre-order/" target="_blank">Taste of Tenderloin</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsB1xOsY9bnu8qVxh0_GxLr5cgXvo2FAawHBvn_rqY3SL2mQuJpd1f7q8ytAS4x-icFprkXrW059OwvKrDvcNg492LlQnPEjst1CeEf0dIkRhcMKoNTTI-YaqYBqmAsMC3yEPmgWeBaRhT/s1600-h/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsB1xOsY9bnu8qVxh0_GxLr5cgXvo2FAawHBvn_rqY3SL2mQuJpd1f7q8ytAS4x-icFprkXrW059OwvKrDvcNg492LlQnPEjst1CeEf0dIkRhcMKoNTTI-YaqYBqmAsMC3yEPmgWeBaRhT/s320/Tenderloin_cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340963703242835010" border="0" /></a>Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-2172037995522097822009-05-09T18:35:00.001-07:002009-05-09T18:47:16.117-07:00Putting the joy of AT&T aside for a moment, I thought I'd go to my happy place and remind folks about my two upcoming 15 minutes of fame (a whole half hour if you can believe it).<br /><br />Next week of course I'm Artist Guest of Honor at <a href="http://www.mauricebroaddus.com/2009/01/mocon-iv-new-hope" target="_blank">Mo*Con</a>.<br /><br />And June 5th thru the 7th will find me as Artist Guest of Honor at <a href="" target="_blank">Hypericon 5 (DeepSouthCon 47</a>.<br /><br />Adding color to this blog entry, here are two of my recent cover projects.<br /><br />I was given the distinction of providing the cover for the summer issue of <a href="http://spaceandtimemagazine.com/wp/" target="_blank">Space & Time Magazine</a>. There were some very nice comments about my painting in the Editor's Blog.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgghUYkFR5CLGX6fOGNWwYObLdhG4tYrmzcI_9GBS3UIPyD-HIQSWryp0UuZLfzCIYWIxhalovnw6_p6iWHSe_vgOVhhBvvnHL9xfSh6Qp9FGx-glbPoYXibz1pBZ1shhiUAWiC6w7-q4F6/s1600-h/cover_sample.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgghUYkFR5CLGX6fOGNWwYObLdhG4tYrmzcI_9GBS3UIPyD-HIQSWryp0UuZLfzCIYWIxhalovnw6_p6iWHSe_vgOVhhBvvnHL9xfSh6Qp9FGx-glbPoYXibz1pBZ1shhiUAWiC6w7-q4F6/s320/cover_sample.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334004045539022322" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And this is my illustration for the cover of Devil's Marionette by <a href="http://www.mauricebroaddus.com/" target="_blank">Maurice Broaddus</a> and published by <a href="http://www.shroudmagazine.com/" target="_blank">Shroud Publishing</a>. It is a remarkably fascinating and disturbing tale.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeco2lun-LY3Tky-n2xIgHY3d6NWx_z7LUtTYjoug2oVg1NFdv3yC61vr4PHqzcFd4frDJgxbgpLf4ylG2dTMDZPQAAOQxgmlADP5pgSYAdJlcTeAz6d4j_vHqMV2nCuANgAdDVQoJ6FR/s1600-h/Mr.+Nobody+sample"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeco2lun-LY3Tky-n2xIgHY3d6NWx_z7LUtTYjoug2oVg1NFdv3yC61vr4PHqzcFd4frDJgxbgpLf4ylG2dTMDZPQAAOQxgmlADP5pgSYAdJlcTeAz6d4j_vHqMV2nCuANgAdDVQoJ6FR/s320/Mr.+Nobody+sample" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334004233146271458" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'll be back to regaling you about my telecommunication woes within short order. The recent turn of events have been nothing less than a journey into the bizarre.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-91552859633672239982009-05-06T20:53:00.000-07:002009-05-06T21:03:07.019-07:00A Terrible ThingA Terrible Thing. ATT. Yes, this is a followup to my previous blog about the joy of being a customer of AT&T.<br /><br />As I've said before, I'm sorry to use my blog as a complaint forum. I prefer to keep my posts on a positive note. But friends have pointed out that it is a good thing to let people know what is going on. Kind of a "duty to warn" situation I suppose. <br /><br />If you know a copperhead snake is in the backyard you have the responsibility to warn those who might be walking there. <br /><br />Actually I shouldn't malign copperhead snakes.<br /><br />If you have just seen a drunk person urinate in a pool, you have a responsibility to warn the kids that are getting ready to jump in. Right? Though maybe it would depend on if they were the same kids that toilet papered your yard, but I digress.<br /><br />Anyway, last Friday I received an envelope in the mail for a "Gary Stevens". The name seemed familiar. A neighbor perhaps? The address was ours though. Then I remembered something I'd heard over the phone about a month ago, "the account was opened by Gary Stevens and he must have punched in your phone number by mistake". Residential Email LLC had once again reared their ugly head.<br /><br />The envelope turned out to be stuffed with items that an email spam filter would block in a second. Viagra advertisements, pyramid schemes, pleas from millionaires from Ethiopia. Unfortunately having no postal spam filter, I suppose I'll have this kind of crap to look forward too from now on. Thanks AT&T.<br /><br />But this was just the beginning of a delightful weekend. On Saturday our AT&T statement arrived, and as usual it did not disappoint.<br /><br />Now, the problem with the Residential Email LLC charges had actually been resolved during April after I'd threatened to report AT&T to the proper authorities. Supposedly, we even now had the elusive "Third Party Billing Block" whose existence was spoken of in hushed whispers. <br /><br />Indeed the the credit for the $14.95 charge shined like a beacon of hope from the statement.<br /><br />But the Past Due Charge of 35.02 shined even brighter.<br /><br />Yes, in addition to the current bill we were also being charged the amount for the last statement (sans the 14.95 credit) plus a $7.10 late charge. AT&T was saying that we had not sent them our last payment.<br /><br />What were we thinking not sending in our payment? How could we do something so vile and despicable to a company whose only thought was to provide us with safe and efficient communications services?<br /><br />Or perhaps we did send the payment in on time, <span style="font-style: italic;">and there were witnesses</span>?<br /><br />Be sure to drink your Ovaltine and tune in for the next installment of my adventures with AT&T, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Strange Case of the Purloined Payment</span>.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8461442162680580359.post-57333253507069147472009-05-06T08:28:00.000-07:002009-05-06T08:37:17.411-07:00Dilation Exercise for May 2009My apologies for skipping the April Dilation Exercise. What a month April was.<br /><br />So this is the Dilation Exercise for May 2009.<br /><br />I hope this will be a fun work out for your imagination and I encourage you to participate with comments. If you come back to the blog and can't find this post, look for it in the "Dilation Contest" category.<br /><br />Please look at the picture and imagine for it a one sentence caption of dialog and a one sentence caption of narrative. Write these down and transmit the sentences to me via the <em>comments</em> option at the bottom of this post. Try to produce captions that compliment the image without overly defining what's going on in the picture. It helps if the captions suggest something beyond the picture plane. For examples of these captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0Ltp3zNNCWPGA2pp6lzwXvz9Je7XQU931-ZHos7fmFHTjNrJFMjieIyPSPQjDXXnrF5DC1QiriDVPofE7WKgD3jgpYmoMHfyMtjk1F1Udqe88BW66z3gZm72Ryo8HuHJJtJCfgKwGZ6f/s1600-h/Foreboding.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0Ltp3zNNCWPGA2pp6lzwXvz9Je7XQU931-ZHos7fmFHTjNrJFMjieIyPSPQjDXXnrF5DC1QiriDVPofE7WKgD3jgpYmoMHfyMtjk1F1Udqe88BW66z3gZm72Ryo8HuHJJtJCfgKwGZ6f/s320/Foreboding.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332734520143219794" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The title of this painting is not important here. More important is what happens in your imagination when you view the image. What's going on here?<br /><br />As Alan does with his contest, I will choose my favorite of the captions offered for the March '09 Dilation Exercise and declare a winner on or about the 31st of March, 2009. The winner will have the image with his or her caption and name entered into the “<a href="http://stevengilberts.com/copperminegallery/thumbnails.php?album=4" target="_blank">Dilation Exercise</a>” album in the coppermine gallery on my web site. The winner will win an 8" x 10" matted print of the contest image. It will be necessary to have the winner's shipping address in order to deliver the print. Sorry, but the print prize will only be delivered to an address within the continental United States.<br /><br />For examples of captioned images and more information about this project and contest, go to <a href="http://alanmclark.com/blog/?page_id=89" target="_blank">Imagination Work Out and Contest</a>.Steven Gilbertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06449692722707812711noreply@blogger.com6