December 23rd, 2009
Hornet's Night Off, the action-packed sequel to The Hunters, has been uploaded to deviantART. It is another commission for Kilkov Masmus, again using his characters and plot. In it Hornet discovers a secret about his date that he very much wishes had been kept hidden.
December 7th, 2009
Afu Chan has created a beautiful and highly-detailed ad / poster for Spera-Comic.com, the full version of which can be found here.
December 4th, 2009
I've uploaded a new short story called The Hunters to deviantART. It was written as a commission for Kilkov Masmus, using his characters and plot. The story is in line with my more masculine works such as The Runners and the Battler stories, starring a cast of demon hunters as they work together for a rather unique hit.
December 4th, 2009
Six months in the making, the first Part of Spera -- a fantasy comic that will be presented in four large Parts -- has been published online. Each Part of Spera will be told in short sections by an incredible assortment of artists, creating a world formed and coloured by their inventive visions. The comic has been given its own unique domain at Spera-Comic.com, while news updates for it will appear here and on my blog.
The story for the comic comes from a four-part novella written exclusively for this project. It is about the adventures of two princesses – Pira and Lono – and a fire spirit in the form of a dog named Yonder. Fleeing their homelands after a cataclysmic event, the trio turn their escapist fantasies into a stranger reality, venturing into a land of which they had only ever heard the tallest tales.
The characters were given elegant designs by Sarah Ferrick, while the website was meticulously designed and coded by Joel Hentges. The Part 1 comic features the talents of Sarah Ferrick, Ray Jones, Matt Houston, Joanna Krótka, Afu Chan, Sourya Sihachakr, Angie Hoffmeister, Timothy Weaver and Bettina M. George. Marisa Williams proofread the novella. My time with the project is dedicated to the memory of Rob Williams.
We hope you enjoy the first Part of this beautiful and magical project.
August 19th, 2009
I am currently accepting commissions to write short stories. These stories will be around 3,700 words, or -- as I tend to think of it -- ten pages in Microsoft Word using Times New Roman 12pt. They will revolve around your original characters and/or the situations they find themselves in. All you need to do is provide me with their backstories, scenes you may have in mind (if any) and any particular guidelines. I will then create an original story that you can do with as you wish -- post on websites, publish in zines -- with the only stipulation being that I am given credit as the writer. Each short will take up to two weeks to write.
These commissioned short stories will be 20$ each, with payments accepted via PayPal (josh@joshtierney.com). Other payment options can be discussed. Please send an email if you're interested.
August 10th, 2009
That mechanical whir you hear is the sound of a CD ending: with Track 12: Title Track, Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is now complete. We leave Koi famous, untouched by hard drugs or women of ill repute, a steadily rising star whose only desire is to fill the blackness around him with music.
John Wilkins created both the collage piece that serves as the album cover and the collage piece that serves as the final music track, Dear Sun.
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to Radar: Dorian Hall for being Koi; Bobby Myers for reading the novel as it was being written, allowing his band to appear in Track 0 and for providing the drawing of which Track 7 is a study; Marisa Williams for editing; all of the artists, including Timothy Weaver, Beryl Chung, Maarten Donders, Jaime Herrera, Ray Jones, Joanna Krótka, Louis Roskosch, Alison Berry, Oliver Hull, Isam Prado, Maaike Verwijs and John Wilkins; and the musicians who added an extra dimension to Radar by allowing the use of their tracks, including chaosmachine, Saskrotch, the Paul F. Savage Orchestra, Dean Cherry, cucum, Mefx1 and John Wilkins.
August 1st, 2009
Still In Movement: An Investigation Into A Teenage Romance is a short story seven years in the making. It is an adaptation of the first part of a novella written with Bobby Myers when we were teenagers, a story we have both been referencing in our works ever since. In it a teenager named Eden discovers his house has gone missing. But that is only secondary to the small, seemingly-inconsequential discoveries he finds in his friend Sarah.
Matt Houston's illustration is a perfect encapsulation of the mood and atmosphere of the story; it is a typically unique and thoughtful piece by Matt where the composition is formed by the colours, where each line is related to another.
Still In Movement: An Investigation Into A Teenage Romance was created in collaboration with Bobby Myers and was edited by Marisa Williams.
July 22nd, 2009
Much can be said about what happens in Track 11: Please Be True, the penultimate track of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, but I feel it is short enough to let it speak for itself. The album cover by Joanna Krótka is the alternate version of the cover for Track 5: A Two-Man Play to Be Performed on a City Bus; if that cover is the positive, this one is the negative. The soundtrack to this chapter is the dream-soaked raw Rec Rec by Mefx1.
As a special feature, I have posted an unused chapter on my blog that was originally intended to be Track 6.
July 12th, 2009
On An Ancient Farm (Mostly Dialogue) is a vignette in the form of an absurdist play written with Erin Harrison, who came up with the concepts in the title -- and added that there shouldn't be any talk of war or old people. Erin created the wonderful drawings depicting the major incidents of the story. The power in her art comes from the combination of simplification and elaboration, of refined ornateness teased out of the fewest possible lines.
The protagonists of On An Ancient Farm are Amitai and Vera from Memento Mori, one of my first novellas.
July 6th, 2009
Koi's first live show was a huge success, so what better way to celebrate it than getting drunk with the gang? Track 10: The First Person, the eleventh chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, features celebrations of all sorts -- one of which will either make Koi a stronger person or destroy him completely.
Maaike Verwijs renders the stream-of-consciousness sensuality of the track with cosmic colours and buzzing textures. With her two pieces she has created entire worlds of magic hour sex, worlds both temporary and eternal. The soundtrack to this track -- best listened to during the closing scene -- is thanksomekindofgodplease by cucum.
June 29th, 2009
In Track 9: Foam, the tenth chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, Koi performs his first-ever live show. The chapter itself is a decision Koi makes, and the two chapters to follow will be the consequences of that decision -- one good, one bad. But for now let's stand in the crowd and cheer him on.
The sweat-drenched and dance-fuelled album cover is by superstar artist Isam Prado, while Battleman Zero's Theme by Saskrotch is the track I imagine Koi to be playing atop the rubble.
June 23rd, 2009
The Spaces Between Things is a new short about and for imagination, a story of childhood for adults. It follows a young boy named Will and his friend Siri, a teenage girl who only exists in the family car, as they travel to a summer house on Boarshoe Lake. Siri has begun showing Will things he never knew existed -- things Will wishes had stayed that way.
Bettina M. George provides a wistful illustation of the protagonist's world changing inside him. Her art, as always, is elegant and poetic, as delicate as an autumn leaf. Marisa Williams edited the short.
June 17th, 2009
We return to Radar one month later to find that Koi's apartment building has burnt down -- these things tend to happen when you leave stories unattended. Koi's own reaction to this shocking discovery is to fall asleep, and it is in his dream that Track 8: Loose Change is formed.
The latest chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural features an album cover by Oliver Hull, depicting a vulnerable Koi weaved with fragile lines while around him various characters (and subtly nerdy references) perform a delicate dance. To complement this touching and playful art is another warmly nostalgic song by chaosmachine, Don't Forget To Hold Reset.
May 16th, 2009
Koi has missed his chance to take off with Chantal, the replimodel from Track 6. Now all that's left for him is to stand silently and pointlessly in front of a record store, a record store in a part of town he has never seen before and where nobody knows who he is. But you can't just abandon the narrative of your story like that, Koi. People are still going to find you -- people like a young girl with a particularly bad case of dandruff.
Track 7: Study of a Drawing by Bobby Myers is only the halfway point in Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, and there is still so much left for Koi to do. As the title might suggest, this track is based on a drawing by Bobby Myers of a chance encounter between Koi and a certain heroine. I have posted this drawing on my blog. Alison Berry, the Official Illustrator for the first volume of the Untitled Saga of Hana, has created the album cover for this track. The song is Riff in F-sharp minor by the Paul F. Savage Orchestra.
May 12th, 2009
Last time in Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, it was still winter and a play was being performed. Now It's Summer, and Koi has to deal with a different type of play, one being performed before him on a commuter train, and one he hesitantly takes part in. Then an android from the future starts talking to him, and . . . Well, she's from space too, and . . .
Louis Roskosch's album cover captures one of the few, fleeting moments of pure beauty in Koi's world, a moment in time where everything he cares about comes together. And if Radar were a videogame, the first part of this track would be a boss battle, so it's only fitting that its theme song comes in the form of Boss Panic 1 by Saskrotch.
You only have so many lives left, Koi.
April 28th, 2009
Want to be part of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural? Do you have a printer, a friend and access to a city bus? The latest chapter of Radar is Track 5: A Two-Man Play to Be Performed on a City Bus, and by printing it off and performing it, you will have become an integral part of a project that encompasses the written word, electro-tinged art, IDM-influenced music and now stunt theatre, all for the low, low price of a piece of paper and bus fare.
Joanna Krótka's popping album cover for this chapter is an explodist piece depicting Koi's innermost -- and, quite literally, outermost -- thoughts. The play's soundtrack, provided by chaosmachine, comes in the form of the warmly nostalgic Finding Courage In A Sunset.
April 22nd, 2009
It's been five days since we last met up with Koi, and we couldn't have come at a better time -- his entire life has just been placed on its head and spun into a nauseating blur. Was he really just mugged by Architecture? Did he really just climb an unfinished apartment building, only to discover a fairy tale being completed at the top? Wait, what was the plot of this story, again? Perhaps Haskell can help us out with that, and help Koi too while she's at it. He can certainly use all the help he can get right now.
Track 4: A Sudden Loud Knocking is Radar's take on love/hate relationships. Ray Jones, the Master of Ink & Intimacy, gives us Haskell disarmed. Saskrotch's NKS2 takes these fractured emotions and brings them into an 8-bit level of uncompromising intensity.
April 17th, 2009
It's been a month since we last met up with Koi, but that's all right -- he actually hasn't accomplished a whole lot in the interim. He has his two new acquantances, Trevor Noirchild (not his real name) and Trevor's sister Haskell. He's been making tracks in the vein of the experimental electronic music that changed his life in a single night. Now, in Track 3: She had said the only words that could have affected him totally and truly, Koi is heading to Trevor and Haskell's place to unveil his latest masterpiece. But he's going at the wrong time of night, bumping into the wrong type of people, and doing something impulsive that he may spend the rest of his life regretting.
Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is about to begin making sense as a title. Joining us for this scarring occasion are Jaime Herrera, with his absolutely gorgeous depiction of Haskell, and Dean Cherry, with his lightning-struck composition Trial 2. We hope you enjoy the show.
April 15th, 2009
The blog now has a sexy design by Joel Hentges.
April 11th, 2009
I've started up a blog, if anyone is interested.
March 18th, 2009
Track 2: Playing Koi is the third installment of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, the serialised novel of an awkward young nerd who crashes the dying party of IDM. Track 2 is a chapter that focuses on the fragile beauty of certain women from the obsessive viewpoint of an obsessive nerd; replace 'women' with 'tracks' and you get the chapter's parallel focus. It introduces the characters Trevor Noirchild and Haskell, and their fates will be tied more deeply with Koi's than any of them would have wanted.
The soundtrack to this chapter comes in the form of the Paul F. Savage Orchestra's A Cruise. The album cover is by Maarten Donders, and through his linework and colour choices we see more deeply into Koi's fractured mind than anything yet put to text.
March 4th, 2009
After being torn apart and reconfigured by Architecture, Koi -- our socially-disinclined protagonist -- leaps into the electronic rabbit hole. There he finds the glitched-out, unpredictable and oft-incomprehensible wonderland of IDM. And everyone seems to be in on it, too -- even Ryan, who appears to have some connections to the genre.
In Track 1: The Nerd Wave -- which is, in fact, the second installment of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural -- Koi begins making tracks, simple wav collages formed from the marriage of a total lack of musical understanding and a wealth of geeked-out imagination. 8-bit legend Saskrotch has allowed the use of his No Hard Feelings for this track. He should be familiar to anyone who has ever typed 'nintendo breakz' into Google.
The quietly barbarous, silently ferocious album cover is by Beryl Chung, of whose intense 'Fights with Girls' series I have long been a fan. Her artwork is a steady source of inspiration, and this piece is no less of a treasure.
February 22nd, 2009
Welcome to the world of IDM. It is a world of bearded musicians hiding behind computers on a darkened stage and a world of the nerds and dorks who worship them. Koi -- wearing his baboon-fur jacket and listening to K-pop on a battered walkman -- is one of these nerds, and Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is his story. Radar is a novel for adults that will begin serialisation today, with 'novel for adults' meaning the story includes drugs, sex, violence and swears. Parents, beware! Senstive creatures of the day, beware! Lovers of IDM and tales of nerdery, set up camp! Each chapter -- to be called a 'track', as the novel is an IDM album in the same way Hana was a Saturday morning cartoon -- will include art in the form and shape of a CD cover, and will also include a free song to be listened to alongside the story.
Track 0: Uh is the first chapter of this project, and includes album art by Timothy Weaver. His art, drenched in neon, houses the atmosphere of the story, a megamix of bright and dark and tangled skies, of half-formed cityscapes and cold, razor-sharp synths, all with a certain menace lurking beneath the surface. chaosmachine's To Live As If You Were Dreaming acts as the theme song for the novel as a whole. It is one of my favourite pieces of music, and I am grateful that chaosmachine has allowed its use here.
Marisa Williams will be editing while Bobby Myers has provided insight and support. Bobby has also let me use a few of his characters, including the fictional dance-punk group Pornographic Cabbages. I hear they put on a good live show.
Please press Play to begin.
January 18th, 2009
So James defeated Brussel and Hana's sister defeated Brussel's minions -- as fitting an end as one could hope for to the Untitled Saga of James and Hana's Sister. Wait, that's not right. Wasn't this supposed to be Hana's story? And why is everyone wearing fake moustaches?
The Savage, Unforgiving History of Fake Moustache Day brings Hana's saga to its close. I am forever indebted to those who worked with me on this project, many of whom served as inspiration, and all more valuable than they might imagine. I thank Marisa Williams for editing and Bobby Myers for his opinions and suggestions. I thank the many talented and kind and patient artists, particularly Victoria Assanelli, who has done a perfect job as the official illustrator for the volume. I thank, in order of appearance, Afu Chan, Alison Berry, Bettina M. George, Ramon Sierra (Cocor), Danielle Estefan, Maaike Verwijs, Angie Hoffmeister, Nina Fides Garcia, Cinanti Astria Johansjah, Lo Ning Wong, Timothy Weaver (Timo!), Jake Hill and Olivier Pichard.
Olivier Pichard's masterful illustration for the volume serves as the illustration for Episode 15. His art is the ultimate encapsulation of Hana: determined, making things out of dandruff and about to save the world from the grossest monsters imaginable.
January 4th, 2009
With the dandruff bear tamed, Hana and James venture into the sewer for the final showdown with Brussel. The sewer is filled with all the disgusting things that James had been expecting, things more disgusting than even Hana's dandruff, making getting to Brussel possibly worse than Brussel himself.
Commercial Break is the fourteenth and penultimate episode of the Untitled Saga of Hana: Volume 2. Olivier Pichard's lively sketches serve as preparation for the masterful piece that will be used to illustrate the final episode and Volume 2 in general. Marisa Williams edited the episode.
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Hornet's Night Off, the action-packed sequel to The Hunters, has been uploaded to deviantART. It is another commission for Kilkov Masmus, again using his characters and plot. In it Hornet discovers a secret about his date that he very much wishes had been kept hidden.
December 7th, 2009
Afu Chan has created a beautiful and highly-detailed ad / poster for Spera-Comic.com, the full version of which can be found here.
December 4th, 2009
I've uploaded a new short story called The Hunters to deviantART. It was written as a commission for Kilkov Masmus, using his characters and plot. The story is in line with my more masculine works such as The Runners and the Battler stories, starring a cast of demon hunters as they work together for a rather unique hit.
December 4th, 2009
Six months in the making, the first Part of Spera -- a fantasy comic that will be presented in four large Parts -- has been published online. Each Part of Spera will be told in short sections by an incredible assortment of artists, creating a world formed and coloured by their inventive visions. The comic has been given its own unique domain at Spera-Comic.com, while news updates for it will appear here and on my blog.
The story for the comic comes from a four-part novella written exclusively for this project. It is about the adventures of two princesses – Pira and Lono – and a fire spirit in the form of a dog named Yonder. Fleeing their homelands after a cataclysmic event, the trio turn their escapist fantasies into a stranger reality, venturing into a land of which they had only ever heard the tallest tales.
The characters were given elegant designs by Sarah Ferrick, while the website was meticulously designed and coded by Joel Hentges. The Part 1 comic features the talents of Sarah Ferrick, Ray Jones, Matt Houston, Joanna Krótka, Afu Chan, Sourya Sihachakr, Angie Hoffmeister, Timothy Weaver and Bettina M. George. Marisa Williams proofread the novella. My time with the project is dedicated to the memory of Rob Williams.
We hope you enjoy the first Part of this beautiful and magical project.
August 19th, 2009
I am currently accepting commissions to write short stories. These stories will be around 3,700 words, or -- as I tend to think of it -- ten pages in Microsoft Word using Times New Roman 12pt. They will revolve around your original characters and/or the situations they find themselves in. All you need to do is provide me with their backstories, scenes you may have in mind (if any) and any particular guidelines. I will then create an original story that you can do with as you wish -- post on websites, publish in zines -- with the only stipulation being that I am given credit as the writer. Each short will take up to two weeks to write.
These commissioned short stories will be 20$ each, with payments accepted via PayPal (josh@joshtierney.com). Other payment options can be discussed. Please send an email if you're interested.
August 10th, 2009
That mechanical whir you hear is the sound of a CD ending: with Track 12: Title Track, Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is now complete. We leave Koi famous, untouched by hard drugs or women of ill repute, a steadily rising star whose only desire is to fill the blackness around him with music.
John Wilkins created both the collage piece that serves as the album cover and the collage piece that serves as the final music track, Dear Sun.
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to Radar: Dorian Hall for being Koi; Bobby Myers for reading the novel as it was being written, allowing his band to appear in Track 0 and for providing the drawing of which Track 7 is a study; Marisa Williams for editing; all of the artists, including Timothy Weaver, Beryl Chung, Maarten Donders, Jaime Herrera, Ray Jones, Joanna Krótka, Louis Roskosch, Alison Berry, Oliver Hull, Isam Prado, Maaike Verwijs and John Wilkins; and the musicians who added an extra dimension to Radar by allowing the use of their tracks, including chaosmachine, Saskrotch, the Paul F. Savage Orchestra, Dean Cherry, cucum, Mefx1 and John Wilkins.
August 1st, 2009
Still In Movement: An Investigation Into A Teenage Romance is a short story seven years in the making. It is an adaptation of the first part of a novella written with Bobby Myers when we were teenagers, a story we have both been referencing in our works ever since. In it a teenager named Eden discovers his house has gone missing. But that is only secondary to the small, seemingly-inconsequential discoveries he finds in his friend Sarah.
Matt Houston's illustration is a perfect encapsulation of the mood and atmosphere of the story; it is a typically unique and thoughtful piece by Matt where the composition is formed by the colours, where each line is related to another.
Still In Movement: An Investigation Into A Teenage Romance was created in collaboration with Bobby Myers and was edited by Marisa Williams.
July 22nd, 2009
Much can be said about what happens in Track 11: Please Be True, the penultimate track of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, but I feel it is short enough to let it speak for itself. The album cover by Joanna Krótka is the alternate version of the cover for Track 5: A Two-Man Play to Be Performed on a City Bus; if that cover is the positive, this one is the negative. The soundtrack to this chapter is the dream-soaked raw Rec Rec by Mefx1.
As a special feature, I have posted an unused chapter on my blog that was originally intended to be Track 6.
July 12th, 2009
On An Ancient Farm (Mostly Dialogue) is a vignette in the form of an absurdist play written with Erin Harrison, who came up with the concepts in the title -- and added that there shouldn't be any talk of war or old people. Erin created the wonderful drawings depicting the major incidents of the story. The power in her art comes from the combination of simplification and elaboration, of refined ornateness teased out of the fewest possible lines.
The protagonists of On An Ancient Farm are Amitai and Vera from Memento Mori, one of my first novellas.
July 6th, 2009
Koi's first live show was a huge success, so what better way to celebrate it than getting drunk with the gang? Track 10: The First Person, the eleventh chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, features celebrations of all sorts -- one of which will either make Koi a stronger person or destroy him completely.
Maaike Verwijs renders the stream-of-consciousness sensuality of the track with cosmic colours and buzzing textures. With her two pieces she has created entire worlds of magic hour sex, worlds both temporary and eternal. The soundtrack to this track -- best listened to during the closing scene -- is thanksomekindofgodplease by cucum.
June 29th, 2009
In Track 9: Foam, the tenth chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, Koi performs his first-ever live show. The chapter itself is a decision Koi makes, and the two chapters to follow will be the consequences of that decision -- one good, one bad. But for now let's stand in the crowd and cheer him on.
The sweat-drenched and dance-fuelled album cover is by superstar artist Isam Prado, while Battleman Zero's Theme by Saskrotch is the track I imagine Koi to be playing atop the rubble.
June 23rd, 2009
The Spaces Between Things is a new short about and for imagination, a story of childhood for adults. It follows a young boy named Will and his friend Siri, a teenage girl who only exists in the family car, as they travel to a summer house on Boarshoe Lake. Siri has begun showing Will things he never knew existed -- things Will wishes had stayed that way.
Bettina M. George provides a wistful illustation of the protagonist's world changing inside him. Her art, as always, is elegant and poetic, as delicate as an autumn leaf. Marisa Williams edited the short.
June 17th, 2009
We return to Radar one month later to find that Koi's apartment building has burnt down -- these things tend to happen when you leave stories unattended. Koi's own reaction to this shocking discovery is to fall asleep, and it is in his dream that Track 8: Loose Change is formed.
The latest chapter of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural features an album cover by Oliver Hull, depicting a vulnerable Koi weaved with fragile lines while around him various characters (and subtly nerdy references) perform a delicate dance. To complement this touching and playful art is another warmly nostalgic song by chaosmachine, Don't Forget To Hold Reset.
May 16th, 2009
Koi has missed his chance to take off with Chantal, the replimodel from Track 6. Now all that's left for him is to stand silently and pointlessly in front of a record store, a record store in a part of town he has never seen before and where nobody knows who he is. But you can't just abandon the narrative of your story like that, Koi. People are still going to find you -- people like a young girl with a particularly bad case of dandruff.
Track 7: Study of a Drawing by Bobby Myers is only the halfway point in Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, and there is still so much left for Koi to do. As the title might suggest, this track is based on a drawing by Bobby Myers of a chance encounter between Koi and a certain heroine. I have posted this drawing on my blog. Alison Berry, the Official Illustrator for the first volume of the Untitled Saga of Hana, has created the album cover for this track. The song is Riff in F-sharp minor by the Paul F. Savage Orchestra.
May 12th, 2009
Last time in Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, it was still winter and a play was being performed. Now It's Summer, and Koi has to deal with a different type of play, one being performed before him on a commuter train, and one he hesitantly takes part in. Then an android from the future starts talking to him, and . . . Well, she's from space too, and . . .
Louis Roskosch's album cover captures one of the few, fleeting moments of pure beauty in Koi's world, a moment in time where everything he cares about comes together. And if Radar were a videogame, the first part of this track would be a boss battle, so it's only fitting that its theme song comes in the form of Boss Panic 1 by Saskrotch.
You only have so many lives left, Koi.
April 28th, 2009
Want to be part of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural? Do you have a printer, a friend and access to a city bus? The latest chapter of Radar is Track 5: A Two-Man Play to Be Performed on a City Bus, and by printing it off and performing it, you will have become an integral part of a project that encompasses the written word, electro-tinged art, IDM-influenced music and now stunt theatre, all for the low, low price of a piece of paper and bus fare.
Joanna Krótka's popping album cover for this chapter is an explodist piece depicting Koi's innermost -- and, quite literally, outermost -- thoughts. The play's soundtrack, provided by chaosmachine, comes in the form of the warmly nostalgic Finding Courage In A Sunset.
April 22nd, 2009
It's been five days since we last met up with Koi, and we couldn't have come at a better time -- his entire life has just been placed on its head and spun into a nauseating blur. Was he really just mugged by Architecture? Did he really just climb an unfinished apartment building, only to discover a fairy tale being completed at the top? Wait, what was the plot of this story, again? Perhaps Haskell can help us out with that, and help Koi too while she's at it. He can certainly use all the help he can get right now.
Track 4: A Sudden Loud Knocking is Radar's take on love/hate relationships. Ray Jones, the Master of Ink & Intimacy, gives us Haskell disarmed. Saskrotch's NKS2 takes these fractured emotions and brings them into an 8-bit level of uncompromising intensity.
April 17th, 2009
It's been a month since we last met up with Koi, but that's all right -- he actually hasn't accomplished a whole lot in the interim. He has his two new acquantances, Trevor Noirchild (not his real name) and Trevor's sister Haskell. He's been making tracks in the vein of the experimental electronic music that changed his life in a single night. Now, in Track 3: She had said the only words that could have affected him totally and truly, Koi is heading to Trevor and Haskell's place to unveil his latest masterpiece. But he's going at the wrong time of night, bumping into the wrong type of people, and doing something impulsive that he may spend the rest of his life regretting.
Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is about to begin making sense as a title. Joining us for this scarring occasion are Jaime Herrera, with his absolutely gorgeous depiction of Haskell, and Dean Cherry, with his lightning-struck composition Trial 2. We hope you enjoy the show.
April 15th, 2009
The blog now has a sexy design by Joel Hentges.
April 11th, 2009
I've started up a blog, if anyone is interested.
March 18th, 2009
Track 2: Playing Koi is the third installment of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural, the serialised novel of an awkward young nerd who crashes the dying party of IDM. Track 2 is a chapter that focuses on the fragile beauty of certain women from the obsessive viewpoint of an obsessive nerd; replace 'women' with 'tracks' and you get the chapter's parallel focus. It introduces the characters Trevor Noirchild and Haskell, and their fates will be tied more deeply with Koi's than any of them would have wanted.
The soundtrack to this chapter comes in the form of the Paul F. Savage Orchestra's A Cruise. The album cover is by Maarten Donders, and through his linework and colour choices we see more deeply into Koi's fractured mind than anything yet put to text.
March 4th, 2009
After being torn apart and reconfigured by Architecture, Koi -- our socially-disinclined protagonist -- leaps into the electronic rabbit hole. There he finds the glitched-out, unpredictable and oft-incomprehensible wonderland of IDM. And everyone seems to be in on it, too -- even Ryan, who appears to have some connections to the genre.
In Track 1: The Nerd Wave -- which is, in fact, the second installment of Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural -- Koi begins making tracks, simple wav collages formed from the marriage of a total lack of musical understanding and a wealth of geeked-out imagination. 8-bit legend Saskrotch has allowed the use of his No Hard Feelings for this track. He should be familiar to anyone who has ever typed 'nintendo breakz' into Google.
The quietly barbarous, silently ferocious album cover is by Beryl Chung, of whose intense 'Fights with Girls' series I have long been a fan. Her artwork is a steady source of inspiration, and this piece is no less of a treasure.
February 22nd, 2009
Welcome to the world of IDM. It is a world of bearded musicians hiding behind computers on a darkened stage and a world of the nerds and dorks who worship them. Koi -- wearing his baboon-fur jacket and listening to K-pop on a battered walkman -- is one of these nerds, and Radar Doesn't Believe In The Supernatural is his story. Radar is a novel for adults that will begin serialisation today, with 'novel for adults' meaning the story includes drugs, sex, violence and swears. Parents, beware! Senstive creatures of the day, beware! Lovers of IDM and tales of nerdery, set up camp! Each chapter -- to be called a 'track', as the novel is an IDM album in the same way Hana was a Saturday morning cartoon -- will include art in the form and shape of a CD cover, and will also include a free song to be listened to alongside the story.
Track 0: Uh is the first chapter of this project, and includes album art by Timothy Weaver. His art, drenched in neon, houses the atmosphere of the story, a megamix of bright and dark and tangled skies, of half-formed cityscapes and cold, razor-sharp synths, all with a certain menace lurking beneath the surface. chaosmachine's To Live As If You Were Dreaming acts as the theme song for the novel as a whole. It is one of my favourite pieces of music, and I am grateful that chaosmachine has allowed its use here.
Marisa Williams will be editing while Bobby Myers has provided insight and support. Bobby has also let me use a few of his characters, including the fictional dance-punk group Pornographic Cabbages. I hear they put on a good live show.
Please press Play to begin.
January 18th, 2009
So James defeated Brussel and Hana's sister defeated Brussel's minions -- as fitting an end as one could hope for to the Untitled Saga of James and Hana's Sister. Wait, that's not right. Wasn't this supposed to be Hana's story? And why is everyone wearing fake moustaches?
The Savage, Unforgiving History of Fake Moustache Day brings Hana's saga to its close. I am forever indebted to those who worked with me on this project, many of whom served as inspiration, and all more valuable than they might imagine. I thank Marisa Williams for editing and Bobby Myers for his opinions and suggestions. I thank the many talented and kind and patient artists, particularly Victoria Assanelli, who has done a perfect job as the official illustrator for the volume. I thank, in order of appearance, Afu Chan, Alison Berry, Bettina M. George, Ramon Sierra (Cocor), Danielle Estefan, Maaike Verwijs, Angie Hoffmeister, Nina Fides Garcia, Cinanti Astria Johansjah, Lo Ning Wong, Timothy Weaver (Timo!), Jake Hill and Olivier Pichard.
Olivier Pichard's masterful illustration for the volume serves as the illustration for Episode 15. His art is the ultimate encapsulation of Hana: determined, making things out of dandruff and about to save the world from the grossest monsters imaginable.
January 4th, 2009
With the dandruff bear tamed, Hana and James venture into the sewer for the final showdown with Brussel. The sewer is filled with all the disgusting things that James had been expecting, things more disgusting than even Hana's dandruff, making getting to Brussel possibly worse than Brussel himself.
Commercial Break is the fourteenth and penultimate episode of the Untitled Saga of Hana: Volume 2. Olivier Pichard's lively sketches serve as preparation for the masterful piece that will be used to illustrate the final episode and Volume 2 in general. Marisa Williams edited the episode.
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