A Round of Words in 80 Days and HEAP

quiet sort of check in today as I've slowed down a bit since I finished editing Out of the Water and sent it out to readers.

I try not to think about what they might be doing to the MS with their red pens and their eyebrows raised in disbelief...

Let's not think about that. Remember MAD Magazine? The really old ones from the 50s and 60s? Does anyone remember HEAP? The full colour version is available on Dr Hermes. I learned a bit of the background from that post:

"The two main elements giving basis for this story are the old time radio show, INNER SANCTUM, with its famous creaking door and its sepulchral-voiced host Raymond (his ghoulish puns and wisecracks were obviously a big influence on the hosts of EC's horror titles like TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

But the story presented by "Ramon" here is interesting in itself, in that it does a take-off on the Heap. You can read more about the Heap by clicking on the tag below. He was a long-running character in a back-up strip in AIRBOY COMICS. Inspired by Theodore Sturgeon's great story "It," the Heap is the source for every stinky shuffling muck-beasts like Swamp Thing and Man-Thing. And although there have been any number of odd Swamp Thing stories, I don't recall any where he fell in love with female garbage heap and started wearing a Zoot Suit...!"

Here's a sampling of the black and white version. I took photographs of all the pages in my parents' copy, since they're crumbling and I'm always afraid I'll find they've been reduced to dust one day. This story never fails to make me laugh (if you'd like the whole story, try to squint and read the colour version or e-mail me and I'll send you all the black and white images).

And oh yes, A Round of Words in 80 Days. I've been tweaking my query and synopsis. Now to draw up a list of ideal agents... Wish me luck! I've also returned to writing a regular column for the Bizim Anadolu newspaper (follow the link, scroll over the bar down the left-hand side of the page until the names appear, and click on my name) - latest column is on tasting exotic fruit.

 Dragon fruit, anyone?