Beautiful Bounce from BoingBoing, Pirate Pugs and Progress

Greetings folks! Happy 2015! I hope the new year is treating you well so far. I have finally gotten over a case of the plague, and after 17 Penny Dreadful-level days of coughing and dreck have passed, the upside of being a living, breathing, non-sicky person has finally kicked in.

It hasn't hurt that Friday, a social media friend let me know that There Goes the Galaxy had been reviewed (and positively!) by BoingBoing. I do believe it's my first review by an online entity that actually has its own Wikipedia page! Anyway, you can check out the cosmic review here:

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/09/there-goes-the-galaxy-by-jenn.html

Otherwise, I have polished off the draft of chapter 16 of the third and final book in the TGTG trilogy, Tryfling Matters. I'm aiming to have the first draft done by spring. And I've had some fun doodling some pugs and other furry creatures doing things pugs and other furry creatures tend not to do. Like piracy and picnics.

It started because one of my Facebook friends, who loves bright colors and pugs, was feeling a bit down and I wanted to cheer her, if briefly. I came up with Captain Pugnatius Pugwash of the pirate ship Pugquatica... Y'know, as one does.

Then I had this need to see what the rest of his crew might look like. Thus, the mateys below.

The little doodle below is actually based on my two cats, Harry and Alice. I didn't like how the sky turned out, so I cut it out and replaced it with a French toile type scrapbook paper. Their costumes are loosely based on the famous paintings of Pinkie and Blue Boy.

Anyway, that's what's going on here in my part of the Greater Communicating Universe. I hope you all are doing well and that the various Victorian-era plagues going around have missed you and your families.

--Jenn

Go, Go Power Ponchos, Ancient Alien Meme-tasticness and Doodly Fun

I keep seeing the above image on Facebook, in an ad for an online fashion site. And each time I do, my brain automatically comments: "Mighty Morphin Power Ponchos."

Clearly, someone needs to get a group together to wear these garments-- one color of each-- and strike ninja poses in the various open spaces around Pittsburgh. Y'know, to liven things up between Furries Conventions.

"Go, go, Power Ponchos!"

(And um, no, I am not volunteering. I'm the Ideas Person. Implementation is free for someone else. :) )

Speaking of ideas, there's this meme going around where you go to Google Images, you type in your first name and the word "meme" and see what images pop up related to it. I decided to try it for my lead alien character Rollie.

This is what came up for that.

For folks here who are familiar with my books, I am open to any and all suggestions of what exactly Rollie did to the Ancient Aliens guy. Go ahead! Be creative. Because with Rollie, it really could be pretty much anything.

Speaking of Rollie, I've been doing a few little doodly illustrations in the evenings from the books-- just for my own entertainment. Below is Bertram and Rollie at the Lunch-n-Launch Diner from The Purloined Number.

Bertram does enjoy digging into the alien chow!

Below is Rollie on Altair-5, from the perspective of an Altairan Carnivorous Daisy. Yup, them's some big angry posies!

And the last drawing is also from The Purloined Number-- my character Meena showing her sculpture at the art gallery on the planet Gwash. Meena's art is done in backspace materials, like paper mache, architectural salvage and despair. Oh, and she'd want me to tell you, she accepts commissioned work! :)

Anyway, that's it from me. I've got various holiday tasks to do this weekend, including trying to find gifts for people who don't want anything, and clumsily taping pretty colored paper onto non-conforming objects.

I swear, if anyone at this time of year ever asked me what superpower I would like, I'd say: to make wrapping paper bow to my will and not cause every present to look like some kindergartener hepped up on sugar plums wrapped the gifts.

---Jenn

The Mawwidge of Pwincesses, Pencils and Paypah

Now that I've finished the main, non-baddie cast, I thought you folks might enjoy seeing the character drawings from the movie The Princess Bride that I did this week. I started with Pwincess... er... Princess... Princess Buttercup. This is from the scene where she dreams she married Prince Humperdinck and gets booed by her royal subjects...

And here is her true love, Wesley (in Dread Pirate Roberts mode). He's only lying there because he's been Mostly Dead all day.

Of course I had to do my personal favorite character, Inigo Montoya... (say it with me, folks: "Hello: my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.".... Ah! Feel better now? I do.)

I also thought it would be fun to draw the ever-nefarious Vizzini-- as inconceivable as that might be...

And this morning, I put the finishing touches on the beloved strong man Fezzik, as played by the late Andre the Giant. ("My way? What's 'my way'?")

So now? I must close the book on this post. May your weekends all end up "happily ever after!"  --Jenn

Doodles, Details and Dayjobs

With the dayjob sucking a lot of my writing brain away lately, I've enjoyed a replenishing break doing some doodling. Lately, this has gone from more simple, static figures, to actual scenes from There Goes the Galaxy and The Purloined Number.

It's always surprising to me what I learn from doing this. For instance, when I decided to draw Bertram in the discount souvenir crap he picks up at the Lunch-n-Launch diner in The Purloined Number, I had NO IDEA he'd gotten himself the questionable orange and green logo pants he seems to be wearing here. He just needed something extra, and they APPEARED. (I'm sorry, Bertram. I'm really sorry. But at least you look happy about it.)

Rollie below was fun because I finally got a better bead on those heavy-treaded boots he's always clunking onto things. I liked adding the little frayed bits to the bottom of the coat, too. I don't imagine Rollie bothers with having many wardrobe options in his closet.

I wanted to draw Xylith, who's integral in both books, here doing a little pick-pocketry... her speciality. Here, I knew about her very strange feet, but I wasn't aware until I started trying to design the boots and clothes that her people may well be amphibious.

I also wanted to try to draw Rozz, the other main Earth person in the series. From comments online, Rozz apparently looks like a fuchsia-haired Felicia Day. I would have liked this drawing better if it wasn't limited by my crappy handwriting. Missing those first grade penmanship classes--- it still haunts me! :)

On the plus side, I have a better idea of what the Print Liberation Lounge logo and company colors might be.

One of my friends at work, who'd been following along with my drawing projects, requested a scene from the first There Goes the Galaxy, wanting to know what the Seers' Tower on Rhobux-7 looked like. I wasn't sure if I was up for doing such a complex scene, but it was really fun to try to figure it out!

That got me thinking about that big lime green eyeball (The Receptionist) inside the Seers' Tower. I was pretty happy with little details like the sweep of Rollie's coat, and the hole in poor Bertram's sock.

I also thought it would be fun to see what the Peace Guards on the planet Podunk-17 looked like. I knew they were lizardoid. But I didn't expect they would be inspired so much by tropical aquarium fish.

So, that's where I am currently. I'm working on the picture below today.

This is in Vos Laegos, in The Purloined Number where Bertram and Rollie visit with Rollie's snitch acquaintance, Skane. Here the challenge will be in doing Rollie's high-tech camo. It's supposed to be visible but not visible, so it's an interesting balancing act for me. I don't know if my drawing skills are up for it. But I'm preparing for takeoff anyway. :)

If any of you have suggestions for a scene you'd like to see doodled, I'd be happy to hear it!

--Jenn

Dusty Doodly Disasters, Googley Groupy Goodness and Snowy Sequestering

In my hand, I have a mixed bag of stuff to share-- sort of like when I help out at the grocery checkout and hastily stuff the eggs and leaky shampoo in the same bag as a crisp, sparkly greeting card.

I'll start with the informative stuff first. For any of you folks who are on GooglePlus, my There Goes the Galaxy series now has its own page:

google.com/+JennthorsonThereGoestheGalaxy

Circle it there, and you'll get regular updates on book progress, general story and character discussions... whatever propels your Intergalactic Cruise Vessel.

Second item: I bet you're wondering what the heck that image is up at the top of the page. That is an illustration I'd tried to do about 15 years ago, by drawing with a mouse on my computer in a paint program. It was for a There Goes the Galaxy sequel book that was SO BAD-- ("How bad was it?")-- it was SO BAD it had to be stabbed, shot, hung, drawn, quartered and dragged behind a horse in little bits just to make sure it was dead.

BUT I figured some of you might enjoy getting to see my inept renderings of Bertram (featured in his borrowed Popeelie cloak), Xylith and Rollie. So happiness and purpose abide!

Lastly: given the crappy weather predicted to descend upon us this weekend, I plan to hide away working on the last book in the trilogy. The benefit to it being so cold even the SnowMiser buys a ticket to Miami is that I can actually get some fiction work done. (Read that as: "My cats can sit between me and the keyboard and edit me.")

What are you folks up to this weekend? Anything good?
--Jenn