This weekend � August 11th and 12th � my bride and I will be attending in Seattle. This is the second year of a show that was stunningly successful last year, and one that I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced for this year.

If you’re in the Seattle area and are still undecided about attending, I urge your to come off the fence and dive into the pool, so to speak; this isn’t a comic book show nor a Whedon Celebration nor a cosplay extravaganza; this is all of those things and more. Programming covers discussion of the to the Myth of the Female Perspective in Video Games to a Q&A with and the list goes on and on and on.

Odds are you’ll find me (and Jen) at our table in Artists Alley � Table 400. We’ll have lots of our books for sale, including Lady Sabre shirts and posters, as well as comics, novels, and etceteras. If we’re not there, we’ll be returning shortly. Or longly. But eventually.

You will also find us at the following panels:

JENNIFER VAN METER

Saturday August 11th

Capes and Canes � Room 301/302 � 10:30am to 11:20am.

Chicks Dig Comics � Room 301/302 � 12:30pm to 1:20pm.

Signing � Media Table w/ Chicks Dig Comics Crew � 3:00pm to 3:45pm.

GREG RUCKA

Saturday August 11th

Capes and Canes � Room 301/302 � 10:30am to 11:20am.

Sunday August 12th

Writing with a Y-Chromosome � Room 303 � 10:30am to 11:20am.

Signing � University Bookstore Table � 11:45 to 12:30pm.

Hope to see you there.

Hold fast!

Greg

The wonders of the digital age. I am, as this post goes live, participating at the Image Comics Panel at San Diego ComicCon International 2012. And, roughly as this post goes live, I’ve announced that I’m doing a new book with Michael Lark and Elizabeth “Bettie� Breitweiser that will debut in 2013, called LAZARUS.

Here’s the promo art that Michael and Bettie prepared.

Promo poster for LAZARUS.

I’ve been describing the book in shorthand as �The Godfather meets Children of Men,� but that’s terribly vague. In a nutshell, the idea is this:

Set in a near-future dystopian society where the economic woes of the early 21st century continued, then exploded exponentially, resulting in a world where a handful of Families control everything. Having divvied up the world into their own kingdoms, they now spend their days jealously guarding what they have, and coveting what they do not. But for those living without wealth, collectively referred to by the families as “the Waste,� the future is desperate, with day-to-day survival as much the result of the ruling Families as the weather.

Endeavor Carlyle is the youngest daughter of the near-immortal Carlyle Family. She is their Lazarus, a position common to all the Families: part bodyguard to her family, part intelligence director, part military general, she has been genetically modified to defend the Family at all costs, with unwavering loyalty.

But Endeavor Carlyle is beginning to ask questions, and her Family will do everything they can to keep her from finding the answers�.

This is called “copy,� you see.

Anyway, yes, LAZARUS. Myself. Michael Lark. Bettie Breitweiser. . Early 2013.

Hold fast!

Greg

It’s called ALPHA, and you canÌý, over at Facebook, if you’re so inclined. The book releases (official-like) on May 22nd!

This is, in no small part, responsible for the delays in getting the rest of “Merrimount Orde� finished and up. You are all very patient, and for that, I am grateful. It should be ready by a week from this Friday (there are three scripts and another short story to write between now and then, just so you know what it is you’re being so darn patient about!).

For those of you interested, there will be an abbreviated ALPHA tour:

I’m signing in Portland on May 22nd, the day of release, atÌý.

On the 24th, I’ll be up in Seattle, signing atÌý.

The 30th sees me in Scottsdale, Arizona, signing atÌý.

The 31st sees me atÌý.

If it’s June 1st, it must beÌý, and the 2nd sees a special event in Dallas, atÌýÌý(more details to follow).

If you’re interested in getting a signed (and/or personalized) copy of ALPHA, I would urge you to contact any of the above booksellers. They would be � sincerely � delighted to take your order and record your specifics for how you’d like the book inscribed, and they would be just as happy to make certain said inscribed book reaches you in a manner that would surely be called “mint� or, at the worst, “near mint.�

Hope to see/meet/chat with some of you, at least, in the coming weeks!

Hold fast!

Ìý

Greg

This was one of the easiest things I’ve been asked to do in the entirety of 2011, frankly.

You can read it . Better, you can get the books and read them, because they truly are wonderful.

Cheers!

Greg

CaughtÌý piece on NPR this morning, Renee Montagne interviewing John Orloff regarding the movieÌýAnonymous. And aside from theÌývery many reasons to stick a thumb in the eye of the Shakespeare Didn’t Write Shakespeare debate, one thing was savagely clear to me. It’s apparent at the end of the piece, if you read or listen to it â€� Orloff doesn’t stick to his guns. He’s claiming de Vere wrote the plays, but at the end of the interview, he claims authorship isn’t the issue â€� it is, he says, “What we’re really doing is having a question about art and politics and the process of creativity.ÌýAnd that’s what the movie is about. It’s not about who wrote these plays; it’s about how does art survive and exist in our society.â€�

I haven’t seen the film, I have to declare that right off, here. Thus I write with willful ignorance on the matter, and the limb upon which I stand creaks and bends and may well break. But it seems to me that you can’t have it both ways, here. You can’t proffer something claiming to be historical revision and then back away from it at the same time. And if you’re going to put forth the argument, at least, for God’s sake, have the courage of your convictions.

Which are apparently absent, here.

The response to the following really set me off.Ìý“Historical and literary inaccuracies abound in Anonymous â€� ­Christopher Marlowe, who is a character in the film, was dead by the time it takes place, and the screenplay suggests that Oxford wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he was a green youth. But Orloff points out that Shakespeare himself collapsed time in his history plays.

“Real life doesn’t unfold in three acts,� he says, “but a movie has to.�

So his basic argument for theÌýinaccuraciesÌýare that the guy who didn’t write plays did the same thing?

There are two things that really stick in my craw about this whole thing. The first is the basic premise that Shakespeare didn’t write the plays; an argument â€� in this context â€� that is entirely contingent on the conceit that only a nobleman could have developed the literary chops to create such enduring works of art. I find this, at its root, a classist argument, a reductive argument, and an inherently snobbish one, to boot (and was hardly surprised to discover that Antonin Scalia is another supporter of the argument â€� he practically makes my point right there; that Mark Twain would believe the same I find much harder to swallow, but, asÌý, “Pluto’s not a planet anymore, either.â€�) I find it petty. This is the same kind of argument that extends today, in variation, to declare that genre fiction isn’t “realâ€� literature, or that, God forbid, someone who never attended college cannot possibly write a work of merit.

Wonder what Orloff would think about someone coming along fifty years after his death and claiming he couldn’t have possibly written any of his works, because he didn’t have the right parents, or go to the right school, or because he never even visited theÌý. (If that’s too oblique, I’ll explain â€� Orloff wrote the screen adaptation for the second Legends of the Guardians motion picture.)

That’s one.

The second is I find the whole thing incredibly crass. Because I don’t believe that Orloff believes what he’s selling. Rather, I suspect this isÌý. After all, books and films purporting secret histories have been doing pretty well of late.

Haven’t seen it, like I said. Could be a brilliant film. But that damn, “real life doesn’t unfold in three acts,â€� defense of deliberate misinformation in a story that’s purporting to reveal aÌýreal truth?

You can’t have it both ways. Either argue your facts within the fiction or admit that it’s fiction and be done with it. But the whiff of scandal over this smacks of a whore’s perfume.

I love Shakespeare’s works, his plays particularly. And one can argue that, even if he didn’t write them, the works remain and retain their beauty and power. The text is the text, after all.

But to a writer, it’s more than that. It’s what they leave behind.

It’s a legacy.

Hold fast.

Greg

Getting in under the wire, but, yes, IÌýwill be at the NYCC this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday. Schedule is as follows:

SATURDAY:

SIGNING â€� From 12:00pm until 12:45pm -ÌýOni Press

SIGNING â€� From 4:00pm until 4:45pm -ÌýOni Press

SUNDAY:

SIGNING â€� From 1:00pm until 2:00pm -ÌýMarvel Comics

SIGNING â€� From 2:00 until 2:45 -ÌýOni Press

I will happily sign any of my work, and � as ever � there’s no charge, and no limit on items. I ask only that you exercise common sense and courtesy if you have a large stack of my works for me to sign and there are others also waiting.

In addition,ÌýI will have a limited number of Lady Sabre t-shirts for sale, both the Unisex and Women’s cuts, primarily Large and X-Large sizes. These are for sale for $20/each. If you’d like one, I ask you bring cash; I am unable to process credit card purchases at this time in person.

There is theÌýoutside chance that I will be at the Spider-Man panel on Friday evening, as well, though this is schedule dependent.

Hope to see you � yes, you, I’m looking at you right now � there!

Hold fast!

Greg

As stated, am attendingÌý this Saturday and Sunday (8th and 9th of October, if you’re in some sort of time loop). Schedule is as follows:

Saturday the 8th -

Panel -Ìý â€� EMP JBL Theatre â€� 12pm to 1pm.

Signing � University Book Store Booth (308-309) � 1:00 to 1:30. I’ll be late for this, fair warning.

Sunday the 9th -

Signing â€� Media Table (307) â€� 11:00am to 1:00pm withÌý.

It is unclear to me at this time if I’ll have a table or be free-floating. If I’m at a table, you can reasonably expect to find me there, or at least know that I’ll be back shortly. If not, I’ll be at the afore-mentioned locations at the afore-mentioned times. I’ll have some books to sell, and some Lady S swag, and of course, I will always happily sign any work of mine that you care to bring. I do not charge for signatures, and never have, and I impose no limits on how many books I will sign. I ask only that you use common sense â€� if there’s a line and you have every issue ofÌý, it might be best if you let me sign them in batches, y’know?

As to the NYCC, I’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday next week most definitely, and possibly on Friday, as well. Will post that schedule as soon as I have it.

Hold fast!

Greg

The MWA is a Good Thing, and its history is one of which I am proud, and I am � when I look at its list of members past and present � frankly dubious of my right to count myself amongst their company. But they let me in, and I’m not leaving until they pry my cold, dead grip from the doorframe, splinters and all coming with me. If I’m honest, I barely make it through the door � my skill at The Mystery is feeble at best, in my opinion; Suspense I’m pretty darn good at, and I know my stories well, I believe. But I have never mastered the intricacy and elegance of the well-plotted mystery, at least to my satisfaction.

But this is neither here nor there. This is not what brings me writing. What brings me writing is that, as I look over the list of categories for this year (and years past), I find an omission. The Edgars are â€�Awarded by the Mystery Writers of America, for distinguished work in the mystery genre: novels, television, and motion pictures.“ÌýBest Novel (congratulation to ), Best First Novel by an American Author (kudos to , which I confess to having not yet read and will seek to immediately rectify the situation), and the list goes on and on. Best Fact Crime, Best Paperback Original, Best Critical-slash-Biographical Work, Best Juvenile, Best Young Adult, Best Stageplay, Best Television Episode, the naming of the new Grandmaster (pretty much the highest honor our community can confer, this year granted to the amazing and ground-breaking ).

No comics.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so many years to really recognize this omission, but this year, I did. This year, I found myself thinking about and and and all the others out there who write mysteries and crime fiction and police-slash-investigative procedurals in the comics medium� and I’m wondering why we do not have a category for works like these. Works that are certainly just as legitimate and capable of the same elegance and power that novels and teleplays can achieve.

The mystery, as a genre, has suffered from much the same ghettoization, slight, and ridicule as comics. It’s been called anti-literary and � gasp! � popular, where “popular� means “read by many people and therefore cannot possibly have merit.� Mysteries have been accused of pandering, sensationalism, being overly lurid, of corrupting our youth. The mystery and the comic share a parent in the form of the pulps.

Sound familiar? Sound like any other medium? (Well, aside from � and � and yes, �)

So, an open question: why isn’t there an Edgar category for Best Comic Book Story/Graphic Novel?

And in lieu of a compelling answer to that question, I’m thinking maybe next year, maybe for the 66th Annual Edgar Awards, there ought to be one.

Just a thought.

Back to the novel�.

I’ve not much to say. The Punisher news broke. The Eisner news broke, and came as much as a surprise to me as I’m sure it did to Matthew Southworth and Michael Lark. The pleasure of comics is the collaboration, for me, and I continue to be blessed with outstanding collaborators. Other projects are developing that I Am Not Allowed To Talk About Yet.

In the spirit of attempting to put some utility to this blog, I’m posting the following � the complete script to the story “Post Mortem,� which appeared in I Am an Avenger, Issue #2. It’s in PDF, and I provide it mostly as a curiosity, so one can see � first of all � how I script, and � far more importantly � that in the realm of comics, I am one but cog in a much larger machine. The machine, in this instance, included not only myself and Michael Lark, but crucially Stefano Gaudiano, , Travis Lanham, Alejandro Arbona, and Steve Wacker, and those are just the credited names.

That’s what you can’t see in reading a script, and what is so often overlooked in reading a comic book. That is, to me, the magic of the medium; the alchemy that allows the creation of a story, of a piece of art, that can genuinely become more than the sum of its parts.

It goes without saying � but I’ll say it anyway � that the characters herein are copyright of Marvel Comics, etc, etc.

Make with the right-clicky-download-here-yada-yada if you want a copy of theÌý.

And then, Houston on Monday, for . Tuesday morning, heading up to Dallas, and Tuesday night, we’ve got a special event planned, thus:

November 9th, from 5 to 6:30, at , we’re having a Happy Hour signing. This is open to the public, and we will be selling copies of the new novel, as well as � hopefully � comics, too. This is looking to be a laid-back, fun time to just socialize and chat, and � again � it’s open to the public. Hope to see you there!

And once again, if you’re looking to get a signed and/or personalized copy of the new novel, but are unable to attend any of the signings, I urge you to please contact one of the stores listed on the . They’ll be happy to take your order, and I’ll be sure to sign your book (and include your numbered bookplate) when I’m at the store.

Also worth repeating, my signing policy: Yes, I am happy to sign comics and earlier novels!

Last (at least for the moment), a HUGE thank you to everyone who’s come out to the signings thus far. I sincerely cannot thank you enough for your support!