· awesomeness

WORLD DOMINATION, KIDS!

February 21, 2014 in awesomeness, kickstarter, storykiller, the novel | Permalink

Just a quick shout out to all of you that were so instrumental in helping us fund STORYKILLER, and more than that, be absolutely DOMINANT in doing it.

THANK YOU! And for posterity, and bragging rights (for all of us, cause this is a community win!) here’s the final page screencap:

I hope the novel meets (nay, exceeds!) your expectations, though to be honest, both are going to be tough given the incredibly talented artists that lent themselves to the project – and the general success of the campaign – but I’ll try my best.

If you’re anxious for more on Storykiller and haven’t checked out the website in full, make sure to do that, there are lots of hidden pages and fun things to find like bios and an “official Storykiller Playlist.”

If you’re not already following STORYKILLER on Facebook – please consider doing that. And DEFINITELY add us on Goodreads!

Thanks again, everyone. It takes a village and all that. So thank you, my village!

xo
kelly

Tags: kickstarter, storykiller, Tessa Battle, things made of awesome

Wow!

January 23, 2014 in artists, awesomeness, badassery, The Girl Who Would Be King, the novel | 2 comments

An avid collector and THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING superfan purchased everything available from THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING book and Kickstarter campaign down to the last sticker and had it all mounted together into this amazing 90″ frame that has plates identifying each print and object, as well as a plate I signed for him.

Absolutely incredible.

Check out these pictures he sent me!

Just, wow.

It’s hard to believe that because of all the artists I have on board for my next book, STORYKILLER, its frame would be even more massive – as there will be probably double the number of signed prints alone!

Tags: The Girl Who Would Be King, things made of awesome

Sometimes Things Go Awesome…

July 17, 2013 in announcements, awesomeness, badassery, comics, writing | 2 comments

I’ve been super stressed out lately (I can’t say why, it will all come out soon enough…probably) so some awesome little surprises yesterday made it all seem worth it.

First, fellow blogger Keith Silva named me in Comics Bulletin’s “10 Of Our Favorite Comics Critics”

Pretty shocking to be in such great company – and thank you Keith so much!

And then, more bizarrely, and possibly not what I think it is, but I’m running with it anyway, Google Alerts gave me a heads up to this review of Red Sonja #1 on Newsarama.

In the review the writer refers to “she has no head” syndrome – check it out:

So…yeah, I’m sure you guys get how huge that is. The idea that you’ve made enough of an impact that others are picking up on it and using it as a definition…well, it warmed the cockles of my cold dead heart, it did.

Tags: comics!, things made of awesome

More THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING Fanart!

June 16, 2013 in art, artists, awesomeness, bonne braverman, fan art, The Girl Who Would Be King, the novel | Permalink

Google alert is sometimes good to me, so is twitter! It brought me this past week, two lovely pieces of THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING fan art, both for the Bravermans.

This Bonnie by Briana Mora (she did a gorgeous Lola LeFever for the fan art contest too) is gorgeous – looooove the eels as a framing/portrait device:

Bonnie Braverman by Briana Mora

The other, from the lovely Rachael Stephen, is of Bonnie’s mother, Scarlett Braverman, who nobody has drawn yet, not even Stephanie, Ross, or Meredith, so that is awesome!

Scarlett Braverman by Rachael Stephen

Tags: Bonnie Braverman, The Girl Who Would Be King, things made of awesome

Game Of Thrones Fun

June 15, 2013 in awesomeness, game of thrones | 1 comment

So, I don’t really talk about it much here (in part because I have been painfully MIA from the blog – sorry!) but I am just fanatical in my love for GAME OF THRONES (and no, I have not yet read the books. Yes, I probably will, but likely not until the television series ends, don’t hassle me!)

Anyway, so I came across this awesome Game of Thrones tumblr post thanks to a friend, and got a good laugh. A little odd/sad that his dad doesn’t seem to know ANY of the female character names (save Gilly and Sansa – weird!) but still, it was fun and funny.

My answers to one of the sheets

More importantly, it left me wondering how I’d do. Even a fanatic for the show can have trouble with the names. Considering the large cast, the fact that some of the names are very complicated with uncommon (for my American brain) spellings, and since I’ve never read the books (seeing things in print, and seeing how they’re spelled, really helps my ability to recall) I didn’t figure I’d do great, but I wanted to try anyway.

I took some time to rework the original images (hope Mr. Gabe of Thrones doesn’t mind I used his sheets as a basis?) and I added five characters to that the last card (which previously had only 4 characters now has 9 like the rest). And then I tried my best. Spelling errors be damned! I mostly took it seriously, but couldn’t resist a few jokes (although already forming in my mind an all-joke version – made from love!).

I’ll also put the blank one up here in case you also want to try it yourself at home. And those of you who already read the book – I expect you to get like 98% – and really accurate spelling!

Click through to see all of my badly spelled answers as well as the blank version to download. Enjoy! Oh, and POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: badass, fun, funny, Game Of Thrones, hbo, novels, television shows

10 Comics to Read in 2013

January 15, 2013 in awesomeness, badass, badassery, brian wood, rogue, x-men | Permalink

Sorry for the absence, kids. I’ve been down with the monster flu that’s been devouring the east coast. While I was down however, a new 3 Chicks Review Comics went up, which included our Best and Worsts of 2012 as well as an interview with Batman writer Scott Snyder. Also, my piece about “10 Comics to Read in 2013” went up on Lit Reactor. You can read that piece here.

All that said, if the official announcement had been out on Brian Wood and Oliver Coipel’s all ladies “X-Men” debuting in April 2013, it would have been #1 on the list, guaranteed.

Brian Wood and Oliver Coipel’s all ladies X-Men

Tags: comics!, things made of awesome

New TGWWBK Fan Art is UP!

January 3, 2013 in art, awesomeness, The Girl Who Would Be King | Permalink

Two amazing pieces of Fan Art are up on TGWWBK.

The first, a gorgeous piece of Bonnie and Lola by Thomas Branch.

The second, an update of Meredith McClaren’s awesome Lola Motorcycle illustration so it can work as a CD cover for a fucking amazing Lola Lefever fanmix by Whitenoiseblackknight!

Check them out!

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And you know where to buy the book, right? HERE and HERE.

Tags: Bonnie Braverman, Lola LeFever, The Girl Who Would Be King, things made of awesome

2012 Wrap Up!

December 31, 2012 in announcements, awards!, awesomeness, books, lists, The Girl Who Would Be King, the novel, writing | Permalink

Image from THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING hardcover illustrated edition. Illustration by Stephanie Hans

So I already gave you guys some DC Drunk Solicits to help ring in the New Year (look for Marvel to show up on January 1st – it’s the way to start the year off right! Or at least help you nurse that hangover).

I also already gave you my comics Best and Worsts for 2012 over on She Has No Head!

And I promised to stop ignoring the blog…so what else is there to say?

Well, I’d love to give some love to all those people that have been so supportive of TGWWBK over the past months. First and foremost to those awesome folks that gave me awards. You people rock especially hard:

James Whatley over at WhatleyDude says THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING is one of the three best books he read this year. YES!

James and Brandon over at the awesome Comics! The Blog give THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING “Best Novel Our Friend Published”

And Seeley James gives THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING “Most Innovative Thriller for 2012”

All high praise indeed…even if I was possibly the only nominee in James and Brandon’s category! 😉

You can check out excerpts from all sorts of reviews on the updated TGWWBK website, including perhaps my favorite quote ever “… Lola is a hungry conqueror, claiming her title by force and seeking out further fortune like a would-be Ghengis Kahn in a catsuit.” (courtesy of January Hooper on Amazon).

I’ve also started up a TGWWBK Fan Art Page which already has some gorgeous submissions (submit directly to me at: 1979semifinalist[at]gmail[dot]com) to get yours up on the website.

Of course there’s also the store, where you can buy limited edition hardcovers, all sorts of swag, limited edition prints, and even the mysterious “blue envelope.” If you prefer the ease of Amazon you can buy a digital version there, or a paperback edition there. You can also get the paperback version on Lulu (I actually think it’s a bit superior in quality to the Amazon version even though the thumbnail on Lulu is really blown out and saturated for some reason).

OH, and TGWWBK finally has a Facebook page. Please check it out and like/follow/whatever to keep up with all the news that’s fit to print…er…type.

What else? I’m still writing for Lit Reactor, doing reviews for CBR, and of course doing She Has No Head! for CSBG. 3 Chicks is still ongoing of course (in fact, our big “end of the year” episode full of bests and worsts will go up on Monday). I’ve also picked up another freelance gig doing comics reviews for Publishers Weekly, so I’m a busy busy girl. There has been some development on my first comic book mini-series (Heart In A Box) but nothing solid yet. Cross ’em if you got ’em!

Perhaps most important and relevant for 2012 is that I got a new agent and I feel really lucky that I was able to leave an agent and also get a new one within the same year. My new agent is amazing and I’m working on revisions to my new book (unrelated to TGWWBK) now, so stay tuned for development there. I’m still out of work, but I feel like the universe is actually taking pretty good care of me right now…thanks in large part to all of you. SO THANK YOU.

So I’m off to eat a bunch of cheese and crackers and probably some fruit, and drink far too much Veuve as I ring in the New Year, so Happy New Year to you all and here’s to an even better 2013 – for all of us!

May all of our days in 2013 be filled with the three C’s. COMICS. CAKE. & CHAMPAGNE. Gods, wouldn’t that be AMAZING?

Tags: Bonnie Braverman, comics cake and champagne, comics!, Lola LeFever, The Girl Who Would Be King, veuve

Things about things!

April 12, 2012 in announcements, awesomeness, books, comics, lit reactor, publishing | Permalink

Big news this week, as the book Chicks Dig Comics, which I was lucky enough to be a part of, released this week.

You can buy it online at Amazon & B&N and it should be available in some comic book stores as well.

My piece called “I am Sisyphus and I am Happy” is about how I came to comics, how I came to writing about comics, and specifically how She Has No Head! came to be. It’s a deeply personal piece, and I hope you all enjoy it. I am sandwiched in there with SO MANY amazing ladies including Gail Simone, Marjorie Liu, Amanda Conner, Carla Speed McNeil, Jen Van Meter, Colleen Doran, Jill Thompson, Jill Pantozzi, and of course, my partner in crime, SUE. And that’s just the beginning…there are plenty of other great female contributors as well as a few fantastic gents like Greg Rucka, Terry Moore, and Mark Waid.

Huge thanks to Sigrid Ellis and Lynn M. Thomas for letting me part of such a great book

I also have a new piece up at Lit Reactor that is the continued story of my path toward publication. Retweets, likes, and comments are (as always) much appreciated!

Thanks everyone for all the support!