tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89184820666719651602024-03-04T22:37:02.253-08:00Sturgesiain which I type words and other series of charactersMatthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-5277683091258698652009-03-30T13:27:00.000-07:002009-03-30T13:28:35.384-07:00This Blog Is No LongerIf you were coming here via the url sturgesia.blogspot.com, you can just change your bookmark to matthewsturges.com<br /><br />If you're reading this on a feed reader, change the url to:<br /><a href="http://matthewsturges.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2"><br />http://matthewsturges.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2</a>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-31842076714557669312009-03-23T14:51:00.000-07:002009-03-23T14:55:19.663-07:00Blue Beetle is Back!So, probably not <span style="font-style: italic;">too</span> surprisingly, I'm going to be writing the Blue Beetle backups in <span style="font-style: italic;">Booster Gold</span> starting in June. I'm very thrilled about this, not leastwise because the super-amazing Mike Norton will be handling the art. Mike was on my short list of artists I wanted to work with,and you don't always get the artist you want, so this is a Very Good Thing.<br /><br />The news was revealed in DC's solicitations today, but I'm bummed because they didn't use the solicitation text that I wrote, for space reasons.<br /><br />So here is my preferred (and awesomer) solicitation text.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size: 12px;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size: 12px;">Blue Beetle<br />Written by Matthew Sturges<br />Art by Mike Norton<br />Jaime Reyes is back -- and he's got robot trouble! Giant, flying, killer <span class="il">robots</span> to be exact. Sure, they plague every city from time to time, but the El Paso variety are so big, so fast, and so deadly that only Blue Beetle has any chance of stopping them. So, who devised these technological terrors? </span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And why are they so hell-bent on killing Blue Beetle? Read it and find out -- it's a brand new chapter in the lives of Jaime, Paco, and Brenda, and it begins right here!</span></span></blockquote>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-7194973173094571542009-03-20T21:22:00.000-07:002009-03-20T21:26:12.457-07:00Midwinter Review: Library Journal<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591027349"><span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span></a> has received its second starred review, this time in <a href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6643240.html?industryid=47110">Library Journal</a> (about 2/3 down the page):<br /><br /><span><blockquote>Known for his talents as a writer of comic book series including "House of Mystery" and the Eisner Award-nominated "Jack of Fables," Sturges turns his storytelling mastery to epic fantasy. With an enigmatic hero and a supporting cast of colorful and varied personalities, his latest work breathes new life into a genre too often stunted by stereotypical portrayals of good and bad creatures of the faerie realms. Joining Neil Gaiman in making the crossover from comics to prose fiction, Sturges represents a strong, new voice in fantasy.</blockquote><br />I like anything where they mention me in the same breath with Gaiman. Even if it's like "he has lots of nose hair, just like Neil Gaiman" or something.<br /></span>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-47335679280700477002009-03-09T05:59:00.000-07:002009-03-09T09:17:20.710-07:00Midwinter Review: Fantasy Book CriticRobert and Liviu over at Fantasy Book Critic have posted <a href="http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2009/03/midwinter-by-matthew-sturges-reviewed.html">their thoughts on <span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span></a>, and both gave it high marks.<br /><br />Robert liked it in spite of a few issues. He was not sold on the interlude entitled "Conversations with the High Priest of Ulet" which is an excerpt from abstruse, Socratic-style dialogue between two fictitious historical figures about the theological implications of magic. Go figure. But he did like the Thule Man. As one ought.<br /><br />Liviu was more forgiving of the books shortcomings, though he looked askance at antagonist Purane-Es, calling him a "comic opera" villain. So fans of both <span style="font-style: italic;">opera buffa</span> and epic fantasy will find cause to rejoice!<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Edit: Liviu is a "he," not a "she." I don't know where I got it into my head to think otherwise.</span>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-67349402650299202072009-03-03T07:48:00.000-08:002009-03-03T07:53:31.803-08:00Midwinter Excerpt Available OnlineYou can now read the <a href="http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/03/excerpt-from-matthew-sturges-midwinter.html">first two chapters of Midwinter</a> online, courtesy of <a href="http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/">Pat's Fantasy hotlist</a>.<br /><br />Here's an excerpt from the excerpt, which is the brief text piece that opens Part One:<br /><br /><div></div><blockquote style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Winter comes to the land only once in a hundred years. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">When it comes, the always blossoming cherry trees close their petals and turn away from the chill wind. The animals of the forest come down from their trees and rocks and burrow deep into the ground for warmth. The Channel Sea grows angry and gray. The sun shines less brightly, hiding its face behind clouds rough as granite. When the River Ebe freezes over and a man can walk from Colthorn to Miday over the ice, then Midwinter has officially begun. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Midwinter is the darkest season. It is a time of repentance and of somber reflection during which even the Queen will wear black. In the mountain temples of the Arcadians, the icons are covered with dark cloth and the ancient censers are unwrapped and burned; they swing dangling from the fingers of silent monks who walk the frigid stone floors of their temples barefoot. Around lakeside villages and in certain city shops where gaiety is the order of business, signs are hung reading simply, "Closed for Midwinter." </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">There is a rumor in the court of the City Emerald that during Midwinter even Regina Titania’s powers ebb, that the Queen herself becomes pale and cold to the touch. But this is only a rumor, and a treasonous one at that. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">It lasts until the ice cracks and the first new fish is caught in the Ebe. The lucky fisherman who catches it becomes Lord of Colthorn for the day, and so for months before they have any chance of succeeding, the peasantry bring their poles and lines to the water’s edge, waiting for Firstcome to return. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">Firstcome is the time of rebirth. Every city in the land, from the tiniest hamlet to the City Emerald herself, has its own centuries-old tradition for celebrating the coming of the new summer and the greens and yellows and blues that accompany it.</span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size:85%;">But until then, the trees will wear a wreath of white around their heads and the hills will be capped with reflective ice. From the farthest north expanse of the land, the snow will creep southward, stirring hurricanes in the Emerald Bay to lash at the city folk. Even the desert gnomes will feel a chill in their mud homes in the far south, but the snow will melt over the swamplands and its inhabitants will suffer a year or more of icy rain before Firstcome rescues them. </span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Until then, it is Midwinter.</span></blockquote><br /><a href="http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/03/excerpt-from-matthew-sturges-midwinter.html">Read the rest</a>.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-49196117490479275402009-02-16T21:07:00.000-08:002009-02-17T05:53:25.304-08:00The Top 10 Comcs ContestI ran a contest on Twitter this week asking people to list their top ten favorite comics series of all time. The one that most closely matched my own won a free, signed book.<br /><br />After reading over the contest entries, I saw some things that, in retrospect, I really should have put on my list, like All-Star Superman and Starman, but what's done is done.<br /><br />So here's my list, with a bit of explanation about each:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Geoff Johns’ JSA</span> -- Going back and rereading this phenomenal long run shows what a gifted storyteller Geoff Johns is (with props to David Goyer, as I have no idea how many of the ideas are his).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Grant Morrison's JLA</span> -- Morrison here, seemingly effortlessly, shows us how to take stalwart characters and make them fresh and exciting again. Big, explosive, larger than life. As good as mainstream comics gets.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Astro city</span> -- more than anyone else, Kurt Busiek took the ball that Alan Moore hiked in Watchmen and is still carrying it down the field. More genial and less of a deconstruction than Watchmen, but a much bigger canvas to paint on. And Brent Anderson and Alex Ross make it look so damn good.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Planetary</span> -- One of the few books I know of in which the both the art and the writing match each other in terms of sheer brilliance. If that last fucking issue ever comes out, I'm going to sit down and spend an entire weekend contemplating it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Miracleman</span> -- If there's an earlier attempt to thoroughly deconstruct the superhero as a literary genre, I don't know of one, and if there is one, it isn't as good. Using an old British Captain Marvel ripoff as a vehicle, Alan Moore creates a metatextual explosion of ideas that not only functions as an examination of superheroes themselves, but also manages to be one of the most thoroughly engaging and gripping superhero stories ever written.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Love and Rockets</span> -- Words don't do it justice, so I won't bother trying.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Alan Moore's Swamp Thing </span>-- Brilliant, scary, disturbing, sometimes funny, Moore just ran full-throttle on this thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Hellboy</span> -- Mike Mignola is a fucking force of nature. 'Nuff said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Sandman</span> -- the book that made me fall in love with comics. Probably my most BELOVED series. If it weren't for Sandman, I wouldn't be writing comics today.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Watchmen</span> -- I've read this book so many times and I never stop being blown to bits by it. It's just so unassailably brilliant. So brazenly ingenious. It truly is the Citizen Kane of comic books. Hell, issue 4 of Watchmen may be the single greatest issue of any comic book ever.<br /><br />That's MY list -- and the winner is: @robcaplis:<br /><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content"></span></span><blockquote><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">1Watchmen 2Sandman 3Swamp Thing 4Starman 5Criminal 6Astro City 7Kick Ass 8JLA 9NewFrontier 10CaptainAmerica</span></span></blockquote><br /><br />Clearly I need to break down and read about this "Captain America" character everyone keeps talking about.<br /><br />So congrats to @robcaplis, and check back in a couple of days for more contest fun.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-58516755679325396322009-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:002009-02-14T11:55:27.717-08:00Working All This Stuff OutI find that I'm much more likely to use twitter or facebook to post things, making this blog pretty much obsolete. So I'm going to turn it into a "Here are the books I have out, and where you can buy them" thing, and a "contact me" thing, and a "bio" thing, and list of links to things like the clockwork forums, the Pyr blog and my twitter and facebook pages.<br /><br />Here they are, by the way:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Twitter</span><br /><a href="http://twitter.com/matt_sturges">http://twitter.com/matt_sturges</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Facebook</span><br /><a href="http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725811787&ref=profile">http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725811787&ref=profile</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CWSB Forums / Blog</span><br /><a href="http://www.clockworkstorybook.net">http://www.clockworkstorybook.net</a><br /><a href="http://clockworkstorybook.blogspot.com/">http://clockworkstorybook.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">PYR Blog</span><br /><a href="http://www.pyrsf.com/blogpage.html">http://www.pyrsf.com/blogpage.html</a><br /><br />You can see why I don't need one more thing. Look for me on Twitter -- I'm tweeting all day long.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-28391864406650091492009-02-06T13:41:00.001-08:002009-02-06T13:42:29.349-08:00Contest!New contest -- there's a message in code hidden in Salvation Run #7. The first person who contacts me via this website with the message gets a free, signed Salvation Run TPB. <br /><br />Go to it!Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-76616743465803511362009-01-26T08:44:00.000-08:002009-01-26T08:49:22.114-08:00Midwinter Review: Publishers WeeklyI don't normally post reviews of my books, but this one was too good to let pass. Here's Publishers Weekly's brief write-up of <span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span>:<br /><br /><blockquote><img src="http://www.publishersweekly.com/contents/images/tstar.gif" /><span><span><strong>Midwinter</strong></span> <span>Matthew Sturges</span>. <span>Pyr</span>, $15.98 paper (320p) ISBN <span>978-1-59102-734-8</span></span><br /> <p>Comic book writer Sturges (<i>Jack of Fables</i>) makes an impressive debut with this superb low fantasy. During the titular cold season, the imprisoned soldier Mauritane is offered the opportunity to earn his freedom if he undertakes a risky mission for Seelie Queen Titania. Mauritane brings along a motley crew from the prison, including a gorgeous foreign warrior elf, a disgraced guard and a human scientist trapped in their world. Their Dirty Dozen–style exploits are interwoven with political intrigues at both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Sturges deftly works in superb character development, solid action sequences and engaging heroes and villains, as well as an original and fascinating mythological backbone for the Fae world. Although there is certainly room for the planned sequel, this tale stands nicely on its own. <i>(Mar.)</i></p><p>(<a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6631453.html?industryid=47159">link</a>)<br /></p><p><i><a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6631453.html?industryid=47159" target="_blank"></a></i></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></p>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-39394900072623685562009-01-19T10:07:00.000-08:002009-01-19T10:32:40.227-08:00Midwinter -- Final CoverThe <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff25/vraxoin/Midwinter_FullCoverSpread.jpg?t=1232389020">final cover</a> for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591027349?ie=UTF8&tag=louandersbook-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1591027349"><span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span></a> is complete -- this is what the book will look like in stores. Very snazzy.<br /><br />The cover painting was done by <a href="http://www.christianmcgrath.com/">Chris McGrath</a>, and the cover design is by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger.<br /><br /><center><a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff25/vraxoin/Midwinter_FullCoverSpread.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff25/vraxoin/th_Midwinter_FullCoverSpread.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a></center><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(click image to embiggen)</div>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-1745795411130264052008-12-22T11:53:00.000-08:002008-12-22T11:56:50.097-08:00The Office of ShadowSince it's been announced elsewhere, I guess it's safe for me to announce that I've sold a sequel to <span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span>, which is tentatively titled <span style="font-style: italic;">The Office of Shadow</span>. I pitched it as "a spy thriller set in Faerie" and I think that's actually one of the most accurate elevator pitches I've ever come up with. It follows directly from the events of <span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span>, and will hopefully be released sometime around early 2010.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-36848796296522957372008-11-18T12:07:00.000-08:002008-11-18T12:08:58.166-08:00Midwinter has its own page nowThe kindly folks at Pyr have created a page for <span style="font-style: italic;">Midwinter</span>. It says nice things about me, by people who know me personally. Which is not to say that those nice things aren't actually true. But they are <span style="font-style: italic;">suspicious</span>. You decide:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pyrsf.com/Midwinter.html">http://www.pyrsf.com/Midwinter.html</a>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-58917746849115057492008-10-29T11:04:00.001-07:002008-10-29T11:10:21.979-07:00I Voted TodayI voted today. The polling place was doing a brisk business, but was by no means crowded. I highly recommend the early voting experience.<br /><br />If you are in America, and you are a registered voter, go vote. Don't wait. You get to decide the fate of your country, plus you get a sticker.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-90753074710009916512008-10-28T06:07:00.000-07:002008-10-28T06:10:34.802-07:00New Blogs Are FunNow I'm settling in, and despite my proclamation that I'd never write php again, I found myself writing php again in order to redirect the rss feed from the previous blog over to this one. If you're reading this in an rss feed reader and feel like you want to update to the new rss feed, you can subscribe to <a href="http://sturgesia.blogspot.com/rss.xml">http://sturgesia.blogspot.com/rss.xml</a>. But the old url should work forever, so it doesn't matter one way or another.Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8918482066671965160.post-59113408148182570012008-10-27T13:30:00.000-07:002008-10-27T13:35:04.871-07:00I've MovedHaving formally ditched my career as a web developer, I've now decided to formally ditch all of my attempts at web development. Which is to say, I'm sick of digging around in php code and trying to coax mySQL databases to do whatever it is that they're supposed to do. I'm tired of digging around for the root password to my server and tired of worrying that I'm going to accidentally format the hard drive once I've foolishly su'ed myself into a position of authority.<br /><br />So to hell with it! My career as a web developer is officially over. Now it's somebody else's problem!<br /><br /><?php<br /> exit();<br />?>Matthew Sturgeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08955173278935986450noreply@blogger.com4