Archive

Melancholy Holidays

by Nathan Marchand 
December 2, 2016

grumpychristmasHolidays are often melancholy times for me. Not just Thanksgiving and Christmas, but most holidays throughout the year. The only one that had managed to avoid this stigma was Halloween, but as of this year, it has now been tarnished—my grandmother, Ruth Sitton, died at age 94 October 31, 2016. She was my last grandparent, so, you could say, I’m a “grand-orphan” now. You can read my tribute to her here on my own blog.

Sadly, holidays have either been the days marking tragedies in my life or they serve as reminders of what I don’t have. When I was 12 years old, my Grandfather, Max Sitton (Ruth’s husband, obviously) died suddenly two days before Christmas. He and Grandma Ruth had just finished eating breakfast at a restaurant before coming to visit me and my family, as they always did, before having the big family gathering on Christmas Day. For many years, my Mom had difficulty celebrating Christmas because she associated it with her father’s death. She kept expecting other tragedies to befall the family around Christmastime. Unfortunately, that did happen. Five years ago, I was dumped by my then-girlfriend over the phone two days before Christmas. She was the first girlfriend I’d had close to the holiday season. (more…)

Join Us at Fantasticon Fort Wayne!

by Nathan Marchand
October 27, 2016

s4-ep10-imageI’ve written several blogs about my annual trips to Gen-Con in Indianapolis, especially when I started selling Children of the Wells books there. This weekend I’m going to a local, smaller convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana, called Fantasticon. I’ll be selling all my books, including CotW volumes, but what makes this special is I’ll be joined by my partners in crime, Nick Hayden, Eric Anderson, and Jarod Marchand. With it being Halloween weekend, I may as well wear my Captain America costume and say, “Avengers assemble!”

Yes, that’s right—my cohorts will be with me. Nick will be selling his own books, including The Unremarkable Squire and a new short story collection, as well as Children of the Wells. Eric will be promoting his ministry Nerd Chapel and selling our devotional, 42: Discovering Faith Through Fandom. My brother Jarod will be selling his artwork, which includes some illustrations he’s made for my stories. This will be Nick and Jarod’s first times as vendors. Previously, Nick and I have gone to author fairs together and Jarod has been my assistant at Gen-Con. We’re all getting tables next to each other, so you can easily get autographs from us.

Fantasticon is a traveling convention that’s gone to several locations in Michigan (where it started) and Ohio since February. Fort Wayne is its first and only stop in Indiana. It’s being held at the Grand Wayne Center in downtown this Saturday and Sunday from 10am-6pm and 10am-5pm, respectively. Guests will include film directors Scott Russo and Scott Spiegel. A replica of the 1966 Batmobile will also be there.

According to the con’s website:

Fantasticon is a mid-size show created for true comic book and pop culture collectors and fans. The fans that come to our shows are true collectors that are looking for those rare items for their personal collections. Most leave very satisfied as we pride ourselves on having great dealers and artists at our shows. If you collect it, you will find it at a Fantasticon Show.

Fantasticon is proud to have a presence in multiple cities throughout the mid-west. Currently we are in five different cities, in three different states including Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

We also, are very proud of the fact that our admission price is the lowest of any other comparable shows. And the cost for being an exhibitor or artist at the Fantasticon is far less than any comparable comic cons out there.

Be there or be square!

 

The Burden of Loneliness

by Nathan Marchand
June 24, 2016

I could write a progress report on Bron & Calea #5, but the pertinent lessons I’ve been learning are summarized pretty well in the latest blog I posted on my own website. I also hinted at a few things in my previous blog here. Ironically, in that same blog I joked about how my fellow CotW creators were getting personal in their latest posts, but I wasn’t. Well, now it’s my turn to be a bit vulnerable since most anything else I could blog about I’ve done elsewhere.

My birthday is June 29. I’ll be 33 (going on 19, according to some—I look young). As Tim said of himself in his most recent blog:

“I’m still unmarried, unsettled in my career, and not nearly as financially stable as I would prefer. At times, it’s hard not to look at where I’m at this far after graduation and not consider myself a failure.”

While I, too, feel the weight of all of these things, the first is where I’ve been hurt the most and worst. (more…)

Meme Machine

By Nathan Marchand
May 20, 2016

For the last few weeks, my fellow Children of the Wells creators have been sharing from their hearts in some very personal blogs. That makes my blog this week a…

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Which leads me to my actual topic. No, it’s not Killer Instinct or fighting games (though I could easily rant about them). I’m talking about this new “role” I’ve taken upon myself with the CotW staff: meme generator. (more…)

Coming Soon to a TV Near You: ‘Children of the Wells: The Series’!

by Nathan Marchand
April 1, 2016

After months of secrecy, I’m proud to announce on behalf of all of us here at LocoNotion Media that Children of the Wells will be adapted into an epic TV series—once we choose one of the three offers we’ve received.

How’d this come about, you ask? Well, I get to rub shoulders with lots of people in showbiz whenever I go to Gen-Con and other conventions (did you think I just sold books and cosplayed at these events? Pshaw!), and since my networking skills border on being superpowers, I managed to get word around about our premiere contemporary post-apocalyptic fantasy series. Interestingly, I’ve been approached by three producers, who all came to me because they love our books. (It might also be because Nick is awesome). The only problem is…they all have some crazy ideas about how to adapt them to screen. (more…)

Halloween: A Scary Good Time

By Nathan Marchand
October 30, 2015

Me as Captain America blocking an attack from Catwoman at a Halloween dance party last week.

Me as Captain America blocking an attack from Catwoman at a Halloween dance party last week.

I love Halloween.

There are some Christians who might stone me—proverbially speaking, of course—for saying that. Many believers won’t have anything to do with the holiday because they can’t get past its occult origins. I can understand that…and yet I can’t. See, if you dig into the history of any major holiday, you’ll discover that it had unsavory beginnings until the Church “Christianized” it. Even Christmas and Easter, which Christians love.

But I digress. (more…)

My Overdue Gen-Con 2015 Report

by Nathan Marchand
September 11, 2015

It’s been over a month since I attended Gen-Con 2015, yet I haven’t written about it until now. Writing is a busy life.

Regardless, I attended Gen-Con and sold books in its Authors’ Avenue for the fourth year in a row. For those who don’t know, Gen-Con is a long-running gaming convention that takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana. It has a strong writer/literary presence, hence why it has a Writer’s Symposium and the Authors’ Avenue, where independent authors can sell their books.

Coming up with a new blog for Gen-Con when I wrote a four-part series on it for my own website will be a challenge. If you want the full details, check out my website. With this blog I will focus more on Children of the Wells and give a few noteworthy highlights. (more…)

The ‘Dream Cast’ of a Children of the Wells Movie (Part 2)

By Nathan Marchand
June 4, 2015

June at Children of the Wells is sequel month, so all of our blogs the next few weeks will be continuations of last month’s blogs. Since I wrote about the actors I’d love to see play the then full cast of the Jaysynn saga characters, I’ve decided to do the same for the rest of the major characters, including the new ones introduced in The Call of the Watchman by Nick Hayden. Hopefully, this’ll beat the trend of the sequel not being as good as the original.

Lights! Camera! Nerd out! (more…)

The ‘Dream Cast” for a Jaysynn Movie

By Nathan Marchand
May 7, 2015

Believe it or not, I’ve been meaning to write this blog for several weeks, but it kept getting delayed by either computer problems or book releases or what not. Anyway, hello again, Wellsians! (Okay, not my best attempt at creating a name for our fanbase).

I decided I’d have a little fun with this blog. When I studied professional writing with Dr. Dennis E. Hensley at Taylor University Fort Wayne (where most of us Children of the Wells creators met, by the way), he suggested that fiction writers should “cast” their characters, i.e. select photos of actors they could see playing the character(s) if their story was made into a movie. I’ve done this with several of my projects over the years, and it’s helped me to keep an image of the character in my mind (I’m a visual person, anyway).

It shouldn’t surprise you that I did this when I wrote The Fall of the House of Kyzer, which I’ve talked about before. However, since then with the help of Tim (who created several new characters), I’ve “cast” most of the major players from the first trilogy of Jaysynn novellas. It won’t take you long to notice a bit of a pattern with my selections (as in, a nerdy one). Also, these are only how I (and Tim) see the characters. You are free to picture them however you like.

So, without further ado… (more…)

Visiting Nick Hayden’s ‘Isle of Gold’

by Nathan Marchand
March 24, 2015

My apologies, dear readers, for this late blog. There are a couple reasons for this. First, my family has been dealing with the death one of my uncles. This, among other things, aggravated the second reason: it delayed my reading of the book I wanted to write about for this good reads blog. I very much wanted to discuss this particular book because 1) it’d been sitting unread on my shelf for too long, 2) it’s an amazing piece of literature, and 3) it keeps things in the Children of the Wells family.

That book is The Isle of Gold by none other than our very own Nick Hayden.

isleofgoldThe tagline for this book says, “He sailed into unknown seas to discover wonders, women, and wealth. Now all he wants is a drink of water.” Some may think they’ll be getting a Pirates of the Caribbean-esque adventure story or perhaps a fantastical take on Robinson Crusoe. In truth, it’s a bit of both. It begins with a shipwrecked sailor—who has a silver arm—awaking on the beach. He explores the island to quench his extreme thirst only to discover a beautiful living statue of a woman whose curse he tries to lift.

While it’s full of fantastic creatures and characters, this story is more about philosophy than plot. The narrator, much like Nick himself, is always espousing and evaluating ideas. He asks questions, but he doesn’t always answer them. In the hands of most writers (perhaps even me) this might’ve been a simple, straight-forward, though creative, adventure story, but Nick elevates it to what is arguably literary fantasy. Many plot points, characters, and settings are rife with symbolism. Someone could easily re-read this book just to mine the plethora of multilayered ideas. Like most classic literature, these ideas are understated and must be discovered through careful reading.

The style reminded me of C. S. Lewis and to a lesser extent J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis because of the densely layered philosophies and ideas injected throughout. The story itself is very Lewis-ian. Perhaps equal parts Perelandra and The Great Divorce with some Narnia sprinkled on top. Actually, it might be more accurate to say it draws from Till We Have Faces. The prose itself is beautiful and articulate. However, there aren’t many big and/or obscure words to daunt some readers. Like Tolkien, Nick in this book takes small words and fills them with meaning. The protagonist speaks frequently of “the Sea,” often comparing it to a woman, and the wonders he’s seen traveling it. A simple word—“Sea”—is given a greater significance than any polysyllabic word. Only great writers can accomplish such feats.

What’s more impressive is he does this in only 60 pages. You read that right. I didn’t forget a “0.” This book is a breezy read that can be finished in one sitting.

Yes, I’m fanboy-ing Nick writing this. Nick is also a friend. More people should read his stuff. Nick is a gifted writer, but he’s a terrible promotor. So, I’m doing him a favor by endorsing this book. I’m an admitted shameless self-promotor, but often I use my powers for the good of others. 😛 (This isn’t the first time I’ve done this for him.)

So, when you finish reading Nick’s next Children of the Wells novella, go buy this book! You’ll enjoy the journey.