J.B. Sommerset

John Cleese is one of my all-time favorites when it comes to comedy, satire, and writing. I love most of what he does, from his work with Monty Python to his stage roles. His commentary has shaped the world of comedy for the better part of half a century. Today's video talks about creativity- which he is something of an expert on. However, the title of this one is a little misleading, it's not about a war on "wokeism" it does talk a little bit about the subject, but it is more about the creative process and how it can be stifled or hindered. For any aspiring author, writer, or musician, it's well worth a peep. Hope you all enjoy it! Cheers!

This week's book is some reading for sure. I read this when I was a kid, but never came back and read it again. Because of it's size, I am not sure I will be able to finish this one inside the week, but I am going to try. This week, it's part fact, part fiction- "The Man In The Iron Mask" by Alexandre Dumas. This tale was based on real events during the french revolution. But the real question is: Can you make it through the whole 20 plus hours of story telling. I think it's size is one of the reasons I didn't tackle it again, but now, I think I am ready. Below I have posted all three parts.  Cheers, and keep on reading. 

This week, its another from H.G. Wells , a man who predicted the future because he understood science and was able to combine it with his understanding of the future. I read this one years ago, but then I watched the movie and blocked both of them from my memory. If it's been a while, I thought I'd give it another go. H.G. Wells can't be blamed for the literary mishap that was the  1996 movie starring Val Kimer . That masterpiece of shit was enough to turn me off the book for a couple of decades, however, I feel it's time to give it another try. This week I will be listening to it again.  Thats right... It's " The Island of Doctor Moreau ", lets hope that turd of a movie didn't permanently damage the integrity of the story. Cheers!

I was saving this one for a special occasion. The raining day read, not that there is one now, I just know that sometimes it's best to play a card when it feels right, even if there is no rain. Many of you most likely know the movie Fightclub, but the book is just as good. I, like most authors, like to read the book before I see the movie. This, however, is an exception to the "read it before you see it" mantra. I saw the movie long before I knew who Chuck Palahniuk was. I still feel the movie is as good as the book.  Needless to say, when I did read the book I was opened up to a whole new style of writing. That style is what I currently refer to as the "know the rules and break them anyway" style. From a literary stand point, nothing about this books should work- but it works wonderfully. Chuck was well aware of what he should do, he knew the rules to writing. He looked at them, and completely disreguarded them. I was so fascinated with the way that this novel...

Just a quick post, I was going through some of my old work and found a piece I thought deserved a little more credit. This was a picture I was working on that was supposed to have a second part, like a comic book pane. I never got around to the second half, I think I might work on that in in the near future. Anyways, here it is, enjoy.  Cheers!

 Sometimes it's super hard to find the time to write or make art.  Over the last two months, my posts have thinned. As I have mentioned, I have a lot of projects up in the air right now—these projects are both personal and professional. One of the largest is the construction of my future home, even though the house is very modest. The construction part isn't the problem. It's the bureaucracy surrounding it. It's the permits, the land, and site prep. The county and country where I live has restricted certain types of houses, and also construction on certain types of land. Washington state has some badass energy requirements too (they really tripped us up). We're talking triple-pane windows and radiant floor heating to meet them. It's frustrating to jump through all these hoops so that I can have a nice little place in the country. Sometimes it feels like pissing in the wind- it will leave a bad taste in your mouth. However, I still want a place where I can write ...

This should have been posted last week but several things took precedence, many of them involved coming and going from airports... and airports are always the best places to get things done, I say that with a modicum of distaste for them. Anyway, this week I decided to go back to my roots and post a collection of pulp sci-fi stories for all of you, I do hope this strikes your fancy. I find these old stories comforting in many ways, and I am sure other people out there do too and it's been a very rough week or two. This compilation has some good ones in it, from various authors. Cheers!