Tomorrow is May the Fourth, a fan holiday to recognize Star Wars. In honor of the day, I’ve been thinking about something that I’d like to share with you on its eve.

You see, there’s a picture in my head that won’t let me go. It’s a very strange image and I’m going to do my best to describe it to you. So, let’s start small.

Imagine a room filled with ten hundred people. There are boundaries around each one of them on the floor; the older they are, the bigger the circle is. Now, add rings in that circle (like a tree). Each one dates that person’s very first experience with Star Wars, then their second, their third, and so on. The area between the circles are color-coded with the emotion that viewer/reader felt during that moment. For the sake of simplicity, use warmer colors for the happier moments and cooler colors for the others. Thin lines mark when they see a particular film again. Thick lines are for new experiences whether they be movies, books, comics, etc.

That’s the two-dimensional part. The last bit, is to assess a tonal value within each ring. Take that very first experience. Was it happy? Make that ring’s shade glow a bright yellow. Now do the same for that singular fan until you reach present day. As time passes, each ring gets either brighter and brighter — or dimmer depending upon the viewer’s tastes and subsequent experiences. That first memory is crucial because it establishes the foundation for what we think of Star Wars, but also what we feel about it.

Multiply this image by a million. Congratulations, you have just now entered my head! Pretty, isn’t it?

What I see, are groups of colors associated with age groups and the different trilogies as the larger, or most well-known body of works from the Star Wars franchise. But? There are lots of other elements to the property. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, video games — the list goes on and on and on. Each iteration of Star Wars triggers a different emotional reaction. We have now reached the point where Star Wars is so saturated in our social consciousness because of the creative works produced that it can parody itself.

Mind you, there are other variables to take into consideration, because what’s really interesting is when those experiences overlap with one another. Then you get mixtures of colors or brightened tones because the shared awe or disgust is that much more powerful. It’s gorgeous!

This, moreso than any critique, is why I feel Star Wars fandom is something for us to not only recognize, but study and understand. This isn’t just fandom, this is a phenomenon — regardless of how we feel about the quality or the particular moments. Of course we’re going to have opinions, and I feel that our memory and our emotion combined affects those thoughts. We don’t remember moments with precision and the more content that’s added to any property, the greater the chance that’ll influence our original opinion. Worse, we get defensive, too, about those original feelings. Angry. Hurt. Betrayed?

But for others that moment of happiness, like the picture in my head is trying to express, came not from the first time we experienced Star Wars — but from theirs.

Somewhere, in the middle of that beautiful picture, lies the beating heart of fandom. And that, to me, is more amazing than any comment a fan can make. No, I am not saying that we shouldn’t critique the films or the books. I’m not telling you that your thoughts don’t matter. They do, because they’re yours. This is just the ten thousand foot overview of something quite remarkable — a complex set of emotions and thoughts based on an shared visual, interactive, and literary experience crossing many ages, cultures, and backgrounds. If that doesn’t blow your mind, then I don’t know what will.

May the Fourth be With You.

Mood: The dawn of summer and all its warmth and annoyances.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I HAVE WINGS!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Housework. Feh.
In My Ears: Country? WTF?
Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront
Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG

Phil Reed’s passion, as seen through www.battlegrip.com/, is infectious. It fills me with absolute glee that someone can get so excited about “X” whatever “X” happens to be — and sometimes? Well, I have to dive into the fun to see what that perfect moment of happiness is all about. So, for the second time in recent memory, I invested in something I wouldn’t normally get for myself.

Enter “Screaming for Sunrise.” I can’t really call this a toy. It’s more like a vinyl sculpture and it was modeled after the original painting by the same name, Screaming for Sunrise. Produced by Munky King, when I opened the box I was in total shock. My dragon is gorgeous! Yay! You know I’m impressed when I sit here trying to figure out how the artist Yoskay Yamamoto designed, produced and painted this. 🙂

This particular dragon is pictured without the wire-frame ribbon because I wanted to highlight the mold. It’s on him now, though!

(P.S. Huge apologies for the shots. Been having trouble with my camera and I’m strongly leaning toward hunting down a commercial photography class and better equipment. You can see Screaming for Sunrise on the toy manufacturer’s website.)

Mood: The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: No tea or tomato juice.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Walk this way.
In My Ears: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
Game Last Played: Battle Nations
Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the letter “W.” Without words, we will wither when wit weakens weary.

I haven’t written about the state of the state for some time, so I thought I’d drop in an talk about all that’s happening in my planet.

Let’s see… Well, for my day job we launched a Kickstarter for the Designer’s Edition of Ogre. You can find a list of articles and interviews about the project on the Ogre Sixth Edition web page. For John Kovalic of Dork Tower fame? He just finished Munchkin Apocalypse and had an appearance at ACD Games Day that I helped manage. I’ve edited REDACTED now and am working on another small project. Plus, we’re gearing up for a ton of goodies, but Munchkin (always) comes first. One of the best things about John, though, is his passion for all things — including gaming. A lot of old school games I haven’t played yet and he’s gleefully whipping out his own Ogre minis and games like A Ticket To Ride. Tons of fun, to be sure.

On the heels of my recent appearance at OddCon, where I read excerpts from Redwing’s Gambit for the first time, I was attacked vigorously by con crud. It lasted for about two weeks and forced me to stop drinking diet soda. I’m now trying to quit that completely, but it’s very, very hard. I would like to have that cut completely out of my system by the time I appear at Balticon. (Note: they do not have me listed on the website, but I am appearing on panels and doing a reading there.) The side effects so far are very strange and involve changes in hunger pangs, anxiety, and an abrupt shift in (of all things) breathing. Weird.

During this time, I had three really cool things happen. The first was that the anthology dubbed Don’t Read This Book debuted. It includes “Don’t Ignore Your Dead,” which is a very dark, gritty story penned by yours truly.

The second, was that Brennan Taylor asked me to be part of my first Kickstarter for the Have Blaster, Will Travel Bulldogs! anthology. Yay! Not only was I part of a successful stretch goal, but readers got to pick what Fang blows up in the story! Hoo-ray! Of course, one of the best side effects of this project, was that more readers became aware of Redwing’s Gambit. This is such an important novella for my career because of the way it was structured and designed. I also got a rejection letter for a short story, but I’m waiting to hear back about two others, both of which I’m *very* excited about.

The third is a publishing milestone. One of my stories will appear in an anthology with none other than George R.R. Martin, Joe Lansdale, Nancy Collins, and a variety of other amazing authors!

More updates as I get them, but those are the highlights. Due to a number of factors outside of my control, I am behind, but I am FIRED UP. Also, I wish I wasn’t so sensitive to diet pop, but the benefit to breaking myself of that addiction, is that I’ll spend more time on other healthy things. Just call me zen. 🙂

Mood: Contemplative. As in contemplating hunger.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Ice tea. Three glasses. Shaken and stirred.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Cleaned. MORE SUCKAGE.
In My Ears: Nox Arcana
Game Last Played: Battle Nations
Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG

The past two weeks have been a fun adventure in con crud-land. I am now, officially, behind on my master plan. Fortunately, I did manage to spontaneously combust only once. I now have a list and that’s what I’m sticking to. Yay for lists! 🙂

Mind you, my mental state is rapidly changing. I have stuff to do, but I’m not freaking out about it. For some bizarr-o reason, I am now convinced that I am now more sensitive to soda than ever. It’s been three days and while I should be back on the OH MY STARS THIS TASTES SOOO GOOD wagon — I’m sticking to coffee and tea, because pop causes some weird effect that I’m probably imagining.

Yeah, we’ll see how long this lasts.

The problem with having a to-do list is that there’s no shortage of things to create. This time, though, I’m going to barrel right on through so I can get to some really cool things I have planned for you. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA.

*coughs* Hairball. *coughs*

First, I have to blow something up for my readers. Watching the results come in for my poll about Fang and laughing. Oh, and I really need to paint one of my cats. That’ll teach him to go after my brushes. Right? RIGHT?

Mood: Con Crudness. It’s a state of being.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two cups of coffee. I want MOAR.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Cleaned my office. Yeah, that sucked.
In My Ears: Final Fantasy playlist. I may or may not have added some from iTunes. $10!
Game Last Played: It’s a haze.
Movie Last Viewed: Total blank.
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG

Back when I first started in online marketing, legislating the internet was just a glimmer in the public’s eye. Even on that side of things, we took for granted the pioneering spirit of the internet, because so many of us thrive on the internet as it is. Hard to imagine it any other way! Those days are long past. It’s inevitable something will pass, the question is what?

Earlier this year, SOPA was introduced and defeated. Many well-meaning legislators tried to put forth a law that greatly affected avid users, but weren’t well understood by those who don’t rely on the internet for their livelihood or other reasons. Internet experts were easily dismissed, which blew my mind when I watched the hearings!

CISPA, which some say is much worse, was just passed a day ahead of schedule in the House with amendments. Here’s a breakdown of how the representatives voted.

I want to point something out in this bill, because I think it’s something that a lot of people don’t keep in mind when they post on the internet. This is a very good quote from TechDirt:

The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a “cybersecurity crime”. Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could do whatever it wants with the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened—again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government’s power. — Source: TechDirt

What does this mean? This translates to the legal authorities’ ability to profile you based not only on what you post, but when, and to whom. Every post in anger? Threaten someone bodily harm but not really mean it?

This bill also supercedes any privacy doctrine or guidelines on the web. Eventually, there will be other internet options that will pop up, but when they flourish they’ll likely be illegal at first before the internet splits. What we’ve experienced for so many years is changing and the so-called reckoning is just beginning.

I don’t want to sound conspiratorial or doom-and-gloom here, but I do want to continue to warn you, my dear readers, that the internet is not the free-for-all so many would have us believe. There’s this thing called a “digital footprint” wherever you walk. Something to think about as more legislation comes to bear. Everything — and I mean everything — is being tracked.

I would like to thank Joshua Kubli from for pointing out that the fate of this legislation has not yet passed the Senate, nor has Obama weighed in. I know many of you may not be politically active, but if you have an opinion, now would be the time to express it.

Mood: Con Crudding
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Giving up soda. Hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Housework.
In My Ears: A playlist titled “She-Ra POWAH”
Game Last Played: Memory foggy.
Movie Last Viewed: Total blank.
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG