Without Fear

Ryan K Lindsay – Writer

Month: May, 2021

Where My Thinking Efforts Lie

I do a lot of thinking. I recently got to thinking about where I let these efforts lie, because I think it’s mostly on twitter, and in my newsletter.

If you don’t follow either, you might consider me without thoughts. If you know me better, you’d know that thoughtless is probably more accurate.

I leave my thoughts in those two locations because those are the two places I like to get them from other people. I sub to twitter/newsletters of everyone I admire. But it made me think – when you put your work into platforms you don’t own, then they can disappear. I am the generation that lost every midi-file haunted MySpace page of hard, curated work.

So what happens if twitter eventually shuts down? It sounds like a silly thought, as if it could ever happy, but not every titan stays on top. Cycles come and go, and things get spat out all the time. You stick around long enough, you see it all, and while Geocities or Snapchat or Tumblr or Bing or Ello or Mastodon feel like the future living in the now, everything passes.

I started blogging years ago as a form to feed my writing addiction. It gave my writing a home otuside of my head, and a possible audience of peers and enemies who might enjoy it. It was fun, and it still is – though I do it less frequently. With comics to write, a twitter presence to maintain, a newsletter to launch evey week, a class to teach, a family to be in the moment with, I have found this site lacking.

Now, this isn’t a post where I make a claim to start blogging daily/weekly/regularly. It’s just a thought out loud – why not use this resource as the public housing of my brain that it is? Instead of A+ High Quality Thoughts farting into the wind of social media, why not give them a home here, too? Why not own a little of what I’ve done – well, I’ll share ownership with WordPress, I guess. But at least things can be exported from here easily [right?].

As such, I just need to rethink my longterm strategy – and make my work discoverable, and searchable, and everlong – by housing some on this site. I don’t have the energy, or the charming intellect, to make it frequent or enjoyable. But I can make it not transient. I think/hope.

As such, I’ll try to sometimes send stuff here like that warehouse in Raiders. Maybe I’ll leave something pretty, ricvh, or rare here. Maybe you’ll open a post and your face will melt off [metaphorically speaking]. Maybe.

For now, enjoy my notebooks in progress, this is the other place where my thoughts live, and they are not public – and won’t be until the stories get told. May I be buried with these monstrosities one day.

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BLACK BEACON launches in Heavy Metal #306

Today is the day, race to your comic shop right now to get your hands on my latest sci fi masterpiece with Sebastian Piriz – BLACK BEACON!

Just nab a copy of HEAVY METAL #306 – with two separate covers, I dig that B cover!

JAN211381 - HEAVY METAL #306 CVR A LURK (MR) - Previews World
the A Cover
Heavy Metal #306 (cover B - Carpenter) - Westfield Comics
the B Cover

Why?

Well, Seb and I have the first chapter of our latest collaboration contained within the filthy hallowed halls of the world’s most awesome sci fi and fantasy magazine! BLACK BEACON is a huge sci fi story that’s playing with two lead characters on the largest scope we could possibly conceive of. There’s an intergalactic space station out there bigger than our solar system where someone wants everyone to come along and meet up. The beacon made it sound like a utopia, but what Niko finds upon her arrival is a lawless expanse where everyone is out for themselves and she’s so late she doesn’t even have a seat at the table. A story of survival, truth, and experience lies in front of Niko if she can figure out who to trust and what to do before the secret of her journey catches up with her.

I like to say – what if CONTACT led us to SAGA?

And we go big with that thought. We open on Niko crash landing on the sphere, and things going sideways instantly. From there, we try to find her a home, some safety, but the worlds that have combined to make this central meeting ground are clashing, and it’s all in a pretty depreaved and iniquitous state.

I gotta tell you, though, Sebastian Piriz has gone HUGE for this book. His alien designs, his technology, his emotion – all are on display in a masterclass of art meets discovery meets creation, meets epic.

I am incredibly in love with what he’s brough to this world, and every issue he seems to level up. Page layouts and beats within scenes and character thoughts all shine in just the right sequence. This book is The Piriz Showcase, and don’t you forget.

I’ve loved writing this story/world for the past year, and I’m hugely looking forward to showing people what we’ve got in the full 6 chapter plot. But it all starts here, finally, and I hope you dig how we kick things off. It’s going to be a wild ride, but hopefully we strap you in tight enough to stick around, but maybe also tight enough so you gotta work for each breath.

HEAVY METAL #306 is in stores from May 12 – pick up your copy now for the launch of BLACK BEACON, the new wild frontier of sci fi.

A sneaky peek at Page 1 – enjoy.

It’s time you had a chat with your LCS this week.

This week has two very important things going down straight outta RKL HQ:

EVERFROST #1 – FOC is Monday!

The Final Order Cutoff is the date where retailers lock in any tweaks to their orders, so you still have a chance of securing your copy for June 02, when we land on shelves.

Please tell your comic shop you want this comic preordered and waiting for you because then you are guaranteed it, and won’t be subject to possible sell outs on the day. Retailers tend to order less indie comics than they do the latest X-Event [I know, insane business model] and every preorder tells the shop it’s a winner, so they’re more likely to order an extra 1-2 for the shelf. Every preorder actively helps to move our initial sales much higher than just your 1 order. Here’s what you can say, or email:

“Hey [INSERT SHOP NAME, or employee name if you’re really something special], can I please preorder a comic, it looks amazing. It’s called EVERFROST, from Black Mask Studios, the order code is APR211533 – I’d like all 4 issues set aside, please.”

Yes, in fact, tell your shop you want all 4 issues, because this is a 4 issue mini, and you don’t wanna get started and then get shorted on future installments of this, trust me. Here’s a look at the first 2 covers from Sami Kivela:

And also…

BLACK BEACON is in Heavy Metal #306 – THIS WEEK!

I have a shelf debut this week, my sci fi collaboration with Sebastian Piriz lands this week in the pages of Heavy Metal Magazine – pick up #306 when it lands from Wednesday and find the opening 22 page chapter of BLACK BEACON!

This is a huuuuuge sci fi story, and we’ll be in the next 5 issues of the magazine. Here’s a look at the first page:

You can pick up a copy this week, or tell your LCS to put it aside for you while you are talking to them about EVERFROST :] The cover looks like this:

Or, if you really wanna commit: BLACK BEACON is also getting a single issue release later in the year, and the first issue is up for preorder, so you can tell your comic shop to preorder BLACK BEACON #1 for you, it’s from Heavy Metal, with order code MAY211491 – here’s the cover:

It’s a lot to remember – maybe keep this newsletter open while you have the chat, if you need the support. I am, if nothing else, always here for you.

To summarise, here’s the date list rundown:

Here’s the rundown, because the list is bigger now:

May 12 – HEAVY METAL #306 – sees the start of BLACK BEACON with me and Sebastian Piriz

June 02 – EVERFROST #1 lands – this miniseries starts here from me and Sami Kivela

June – HEAVY METAL #307 – the second chapter of BLACK BEACON lands in this issue, I assume, at this date

July 14 – EVERFROST #2 lands

July [insert number here] – BLACK BEACON starts to get a solo single issue release here, so if you missed the magazine, you can get our first chapter, with some back matter, right here.

EVERFROST runs for 4 months, BLACK BEACON will run for 6. Really excited about both of these, so hope you find your copies, set aside time to read, and know that I appreciate your support an insane amount.

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