Greetings and salutations. Today I kicked off my adventures among the living by going to Raymond Olejniczak-Illarde’s First Communion. Life had gotten in the way when he was young, but now that he’s fifteen, he jumped at the chance to embrace the ceremony. I’ve been friends with his mom for a long time and was honored to be invited. Simply put, the universe is getting a fine young man, and it could surely use one.
See? I do normal stuff, too.
In more traditional McSciFi news, I recently did two interviews. The first, with Gabriel Carcia a/k/a The Wandering Scribe covered a lot of ground. As he said, “Bill ‘McSciFi’ McCormick is an award-winning and critically acclaimed science fiction author, publisher, and raconteur celebrated for his vivid storytelling and unique blend of sci-fi, humor, and social commentary. Known affectionately by fans as “McSciFi,” Bill has carved a niche in speculative fiction with works that challenge conventional narratives while exploring complex characters and futuristic worlds.” It’s nice being interviewed by someone who is knowledgeable about your work.
However, the inverse can be equally true. I was just interviewed by Jenil Vyas (English with Jenil). As you may gather by the title, it is about learning English. This was my second interview in India, and it was a blast. He was more interested in me as a person. So, it wasn’t until about halflway through that we steered into, “From there, we ventured into more speculative territory, chatting about aliens and the role of extraterrestrial life in both fiction and pop culture. Bill’s take on how science fiction addresses humanity’s hopes, fears, and curiosity about the unknown was both enlightening and thought-provoking.” My writing was an afterthought, and I found it refreshing. If you want to know my opinion on Tom Cruise, and who doesn’t, then this is the interview for you.
As many of you know, we’ve been offering free pub for any cosplayers who cosplay a character from any of the novels set in The Brittle Riders’ universe. Some folks were a little overenthusiastic. Their submissions would be in line with stuff my buddy George would use at Hustler Magazine. Others were perfectly fine but the models had neglected to tell their spouses they were doing this and I ended up in the middle of discussions I don’t need to be involved in.
Nowhere in my CV does it say “Relationship Counsellor.”
All that being said, here are McSciFi’s McCosplay McRules. Simply put, if you’re under 18, don’t send any pics that will get your favorite Mr. McSciFi thrown in jail. If you’re over 18, make sure your family won’t threaten to kill me, or sue me, or both.
Along those lines, we have been trying to get more realistic versions of the characters to the people who are trying to make my scribblings into a movie or streaming offering.
That’s STREAMING, not steaming.
To accomplish that, I have been working with an AI artist. You can’t just plug my characters into an AI engine and expect anything useful. Trust me. Some very smart and talented people have tried.
What we do, instead, is create one part, let’s say, the tentacles for the Pearl character. Then we create the jewelry, the torso, the face, and finally add a bindi. Only then do we assemble everything into a single character.
So far, everyone involved has been pleased with the results. The hand-drawn images, below, are excellent introductions, and I love them dearly, but we need, as one artist so delicately noted, “to smell the fur, taste the fear, and want to sleep with at least two of them.”
We’re getting there. Until next time, stay safe and sane.

