Bill McSciFi's Blog

Due to the pandemic eliminating personal appearances at conventions, some things had to take a back seat. Our comic distribution agreement went belly up on the carpet and we had no viable venues to sell in anymore. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but prospects weren’t looking all that good.

But, as they say, when one door closes, open a damn window. Hadithi Sambamba Comix partnered with a couple other indies, helped assemble a list of over three hundred stores that sell indie comics, and then we met, virtually, to discuss the best method of rolling things out.

After some back and forth, we came up with a solid plan. Hadithi’s owner, Brian “Bigger Lion” Daniel has made arrangements to appear at multiple pop-ups to sell off back inventory and start ordering re-branded comics with the new, exclusive, Hadithi logo.

Plus, and this is the truly exciting part, we, once again, have new comics in the pipeline.

First up will be Bob: Sins of the Son. The story of the son of Death who wants to be a superhero in Chicago. Unlike my usual fare, this is aimed firmly at teens. So, money changed hands, concept art got approved, and this bad boy is on it’s way. Look for it around the end of summer.

Next up is Pestilent. This is more in my wheelhouse. The story is about a distant future where Earth has been abandoned and humans search the galaxy for aliens to eat since alien essences prolong human life. It’s a dirty, wild, head trip. Warren Belfield, the editor, made a note at one point that sums this up nicely; “Honestly I think the anal sex joke later in the story is much stronger than this one. I’d maybe skip it here or come up with a different act to cause the private to blush in order to not steal any thunder from that one. As a secondary note, I’m not sure I thought I’d ever write the preceding sentence.

Plus, negotiations have already begun to bring Svarozic to life as a full length comic. The story of a woman trapped inside a man and a god trapped inside a human gave people their first, true, transgender superhero. We’re letting people read it FOR FREE ONLINE in the hope of getting as many people as possible familiar with the character.

Not to worry, the cult phenomena Legends Parallel and Hybrid Zero will be adding to their, Rated “M” for Mature, multiverses as well.

After the disaster known as 2020, it’s good to see things moving in a positive direction.

That seems to be enough for today. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside. Oh, and wear a mask.

Today’s just gonna be chill. There’s stuff percolating behind the scenes but none of it is ready to be shared. Even so, there’s fun to be had. And, oddly, all of it relates to our Armed Forces. So, that’s new.

If you scroll to the bottom of this newsletter, you will be greeted by a series of pretty icons. Each is a link to one of my social media sites. In the middle is a brand new link to TikTok. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be twerking or anything like that. But, the nice people at TikTok have made it easier for authors to connect with their audiences. My page is only a couple of days old but I’m hard at work creating content that will be used to target SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY to the United States Military. Fully a third of the book revolves around Splice’s tour as a U.S. Marine. And, while the sample size isn’t the largest I’ve seen, vets and active troops really seem to like the book.

SPLICE is a non-stop thrill ride, taking the reader on an edge-of-your-seat experience through the military and organized crime worlds. Bill McCormick absolutely captures the senses of the military and combat from sight to sound to smell and leaves you only wanting more at the turn of every page. This book gets it right and keeps it coming!

Josh Grenard
Former Infantry Captain/Combat Veteran
U.S. Army

As those who follow closely know, I put a lot of research into my books. I talk to those who know what they’re talking about so I can sound like I do too. I don’t. I’m more like a cool parrot that can type, but it gets me where I need to be.

Many years ago, when I was first starting to assemble what would become The Brittle Riders I interviewed several people in the military. Former combat nurses gave me the best insights into the ravages of war. However, one man, a Brigadier General with the U.S.M.C., was kind enough to let me buy him drinks while he discussed common, and not so common, battle strategies. I gave him the technical abilities of my creatures and he gave me reams of information on how they could engage in combat. Of course, this was years before the book came out so he’d never read it.

Until now.

A couple days ago I got a brief email from him reminding me he was still active duty so I can’t use his name in advertising or promotion. Nevertheless, he’d just finished reading The Brittle Riders and had this to say about that.

So, if I get this, you’ve got lesbians, poly amorists, Muslims, sorry Muslim cows, giant Christian cockroaches, and so on, fighting for the betterment of all who live? I’ll never admit this publicly, but I’m glad we’ve got a president who thinks you’ve got the right idea. Great story, kept me buried in it, and I just ordered hard copies for the den. Some day you can sign them. You’re a strange guppy, but you do write like a pro. Semper Fi crazy stranger.

So, another satisfied customer.

That seems to be enough for today. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside. Oh, and wear a mask.

They say that life is a marathon, not a sprint. They say good things come to those who wait. They say lots of stuff. None of it’s pertinent here today.

Last year, after we got all our ducks in a row and got SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY released, the nice people at ©Watch Dog Entertainment™LLC asked me to create an audio book. That’s where the fun began.

Just for the record, I have produced audio and video at the professional level. So, ability issues were not the problem. Nope, the problem is that my apartment has reflective surfaces everywhere. I sounded like I was in an echo chamber.

Not appealing.

Finally, after several local studios couldn’t fit me in, Stan Skora from Black Parrot Music offered to record me. The only problem was scheduling. His Illinois studio is a forty-five minute drive and I don’t have a car. Or a driver’s license. So we worked it out that my fiancée would drive me. This meant we could only record on weekends since she has a job.

It’s even one she wants to keep. Nice people, good company, plenty of room for advancement, and so on. She’s not going to throw that away so I could sit in a small room and listen to the sound of my voice.

Simply put, it was slow going, but it progressed. However, as time went on my injured knee kept getting worse, as in standing for more than five minutes was painful, and my doctors couldn’t schedule “elective” surgery due to the pandemic. Toss in lost weeks due to each of us getting exposed to COVID-19, end of the year holidays, and me finally getting put under the knife, things crawled to a stop.

Post surgery I, stupidly, thought I could be back at full strength in a few days. However, when they used the phrase “here are the bone fragments we found floating in your leg” I really should have known better. It took four weeks for me to be strong enough to enter physical therapy. By then Stan was getting ready to return to his home in Melbourne. That would be too much of a commute from Chicago.

We ran some options through our squishy brains and came up with a solution. Essentially a way for me to have a home studio and not sound like the voice in a 1950s horror movie ad. Now, having completed physical therapy, as in I can stand and walk up and down stairs – not run a marathon, we are finally back in business.

In other words, this a long-winded way of saying you’re going to get an audio book of SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY later this year. Since this is a whole new process for me I don’t want to put a hard time-line on things, but please know this bad boy is getting made.

One thing I have learned from this whole ordeal is that I’ll never do something like this again. People who do this professionally will happily take my money and I’m more than willing to give it to them. Heck, if something like this darkens my doorstep again I’ll even be a little anxious to do so.

I think that’s enough for one day. I’ll be back with more good news next week. Until then, stay safe, sane, and inside.