In which I again attempt to carve one of the world’s most famous silhouettes.
Jack-o’-lantern carving is a newly established annaul tradition in our house. Last year, I attempted to carve the famous silhouette of Sailor Moon. It proved too much for my modest skills, and the result was a total loss. This year, despite my wife’s derisive laughter, I made a second attempt.
I gather my tools and my beer and prepare.
We got our pumpkins earlier this month. Like last year, we bought them at the local “Pumpkin Patch,” which is not actually a pumpkin patch but an annual event, like a miniature theme park, where pumpkins are showcased and sold. I didn’t post photos of the Pumpkin Patch this year because all the photos I have include my daughter, and I’m trying to keep pictures of her on the internet to a minimum.
At the start of the jack-o”-lantern making process, I cut a stencil out of paper, a process that probably took an hour. I didn’t save the stencil I used last year, but I was able to find it again with a quick internet search.
Cutting out the stencil.
Applying the two-dimensional design to the pumpkin’s surface is always a challenge. It’s important to maneuver the paper to keep Sailor Moon’s limbs and the crescent moon from getting distorted.
The stencil applied to the pumpkin.
Once I got started carving, I realized that I would be better off doing this as a two-tone design. Someday, I may be able to cut this intricate design all the way through the pumpkin, but not this year. Instead, I picked off the skin and much of the meat so the light could shine through.
I picked out the figure first.
After I finished Sailor Moon’s figure, I cut out the moon shape. This was the most dangerous part as the long curve of the moon weakens the pumpkin considerably.
The design is complete when the moon is carved out.
Here, you can see my finished jack-o’-lantern alongside my wife’s. She chose a simple design, but she had a good reason: We were having a party that evening, and she had a lot of other tasks to complete while also pumpkin carving.
My latest novel, Rags and Muffin is now available for predorder! This is a rough, tough vision of the magical-girl concept that brings together a wide range of influences from the kumari veneration of Nepal to the film noir tradition of American cinema. Bone-crunching action blends with a brooding meditation on the concept of the child hero. Rags and Muffin is Fancy Nancy as written by Rudyard Kipling after binging on mecha anime while tripping on acid.
And I have to give a special shout-out to the team at MiblArt, which knocked it out of the park with the book’s cover art. This is an incredible interpretation of Rags and Muffin, compelling enough to change my own vision of the characters. I’ll likely review their services in the near future.
Since I just got the cover art near the end of October, I’ve decided to push the release date back to early December because I want to run some promotions that require a preorder window. But I recommend ordering now to lock in the low preorder price.
Sometime back, I wrote a largely enthusiastic review of Vivid Strike!, which I consider the best series in the maddeningly inconsistent Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise.
As far as I have been able to discern, the series is only legally available, at least in the U.S., on Amazon Prime—and I recently saw that the series is slated to disappear soon. At the time of writing, Amazon has posted a notice that it disappears in nine days. Assuming I can count, that means it will be gone on October 1st.
The rest of the Nanoha shows have previously disappeared from Amazon and are, as far as I know, not available anywhere else to the English-speaking audience.
Despite its problems, I do think ViVid Strike! is one of the best encapsulations of the magical girl warrior concept. If you’ve not seen it, you might consider watching it before it disappears. It doesn’t require knowledge of the other titles in the franchise.
Tomorrow, , begins the book launch of Jake and the Dynamo, first volume in a new series full of adventure, laughs, and lots and lots of magical girls.
Upon release, the book will be available as a DRM-free eBook with unlimited lending. It will also be available on Kindle Unlimited and as a paperback.
This is the last day of the low, low preorder price of 99 cents.
Read the novel that fans already call “hilarious, insightful, poignant” and “a great story for anyone who likes humor, adventure, and a truly unique setting.”
The eBook will be an Amazon exclusive for three months. I will announce when additional purchase options become available.
I think it’s time to bring back this classic. Merry magical-girl Christmas to all!
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the town, Lots of girls were a-stirring, to beat monsters down. So they stalked all the baddies that threatened mankind, For to blast them with magic and kick their behinds.
They crouched in the dark by the chimneys with care, Or slipped across rooftops—villains beware! One might wear a kerchief, and one has a cap, But they all got short skirts, what you think about that?
Then at City Hall, there arose such a clatter, That Plum Fairy Lyssa soon checked out the matter. A monster showed up with a roar and a flash, So Lyssa transformed and got ready to bash!
When what to her wondering eyes should appear, But a slavering, fanged, and bloodthirsty deer? ’Twas Rudolph! Whose terrible, powerful nose, Had at last warped his mind with its horrid bright glow!
Our Lyssa, however, so eager to brawl, Quick leapt like a gymnast atop of a wall. “Stop there, evil monster!” she said with a scoff, “You’ve attacked us on Christmas, and that ticks me off!”
The Moon Princess blest her with power and might, That she might be quick to kick butt in a fight, To halt evil crooks in the midst of a crime, Or to battle vile creatures beyond space and time!
Now punch him, now bludgeon! Now blast him with pow’r! And yet his eyes glowed with a menacing glow’r! Now kick him, now stab him, now strangle and blitz ’im! That deer is no match for this young doe-eyed vixen!
At last Rudolph gasped and lay dead at her feet, As his bright ruby blood ran out into the street. “I’ve vanquished the creature,” the Plum Fairy mused, “But why then do I feel as if I still should lose?”
In leapt Marionette, the famed robot girl, With her magical pencil, which she gave a twirl. “Young Lyssa, my dear, you have fought well and brave, But killed poor Rudolph, whom you know you should save.”
“Well, no one has once taught me any of that,” Said Lyssa, perplexed. (On the ground she now spat.) “To fight off the monsters that threaten our world, Is the constant hard job of a magical girl!”
“We fight for mankind, that is certainly true,” Said Marionette, whose cold fingers turned blue. “But always remember that we serve the Light— Merry Christmas to all, and to all a clean fight!”
Miraculous Ladybug, Season 3, Part 1, directed by Thomas Astruc. Written by Nicky Baker et al. Zagtoon, 2019. Rated TV-Y7. 13 episodes.
I have previously reviewed the first and second seasons of Miraculous Ladybug, the surprisingly entertaining magical girl show out of France. At the time of writing, the first half of the third season is available on Netflix, with the second half presumably coming soon.
At least so far in this season, the show appears to be trying to revert to the formula that made it popular in the first place: While the second season introduced a slew of new animal-themed superheroes, the first half of season 3 puts the focus back on the two main characters, Marinette and Adrien, who are also the heroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, and their increasingly complicated love triangle.
This video by VirgoX Flow is an unusual depiction of the history of the magical girl genre. Foregoing commentary or discussion, it simply shows excerpts of major titles from 1966 to the present day, so the viewer can easily see how the style in art, the themes, and the appearance have evolved over time.
This video also shows me just how many series I still need to see. Yeesh, so many magical girls and so little time …
Over Labor Day Weekend, I traveled again to Memphis to visit my magical girl. After I arrived, I took her to the Overlook, which is a cozy but reasonably classy restaurant in the top floor of the Pyramid downtown.
The Overlook boasts glass-floored balconies overlooking the city. I managed to arrange things so that we were there at approximately sundown. We we were early enough that we could go out on the balcony and see the city light up before we went to our table.
Freestanding elevator in the center of the Pyramid.
While the sun was setting, I proposed on the balcony. So we’re now engaged. It was more crowded up there than I expected, so we got an applause. My magical girl was somewhat embarrassed, but overall pleased.
I don’t have any good photographs of the incident. This is the best I’ve got:
My magical girl shows off her engagement ring.
The next day, we hung out, went to Mass, ate a big brunch, watched Sailor Moon, and so forth.
The place we went to for brunch, Another Cracked Egg, served one of the best bloody Marys I’ve ever had, and I say that as someone with certain strong opinions about bloody Marys.
It has bacon. So that’s a win.
It is made with a pepper-infused vodka, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about the culinary arts to know how that differs from a bloody Mary to which pepper is added after the fact. I usually prefer my bloody Mary with gin instead of vodka, but this was very spicy and very good.
Altogether, it was a really fun weekend.
Whenever There is Lightning
A few days before my trip, we had a major lightning storm that fried my cable modem, so I was without internet. I purchased a new modem and tried to get it working on my return, only to find that my service provider was going through a bunch of updates that lasted days, during which they couldn’t make my new modem operable. The internet only came back on today.
Smash
Also, in keeping with my string of bad luck stemming from my trips to Memphis, I had to replace my windshield. While I was driving home, a rock hit the windshield, and the crack instantly ran, making it too large to repair.
I’ve been driving rather than flying to Memphis with the idea that it’s cheaper, but having had to replace first a whole car and then a windshield, I’m coming to realize that I would have saved more money if I bought plane tickets.
But I’m engaged, so I’m pretty much just laughing this all off anyway. Also, there was a two-hour delay on the freeway due to a semi-truck hanging over an overpass; I really can’t complain about anything, because almost nothing could make my drive as miserable as that guy’s. I hope he was okay; I heard little about the accident and only caught a glimpse of it as I drove onto the detour.
Books
On other fronts, I have no new information on either Dead to Rites or Rag & Muffin. Both are with my publisher, but my publisher was at Dragon Con at the same time I was plying my suit, so there is a reason my projects have been delayed. Now that Dragon Con is over, I hope to hear some updates soon.
In the meanwhile, I am continuing my work in Son of Hel. At present, I’m creating the world bible by giving myself a crash course on Santa Claus and fairy lore.
Reviews
On the matter of reviews, the magical girl and I were considering seeing the live-action Dora the Explorer this weekend, but then we ended up just loafing around instead. I’m still working my way through Sailor Moon Super S and will discuss it when I’m done, but I’ve been watching it slowly because been I’ve busy with work, often taking it home with me, which is why the blog has fallen into neglect.
In fact, when I’m done writing this, I’ll probably go back to one of my work projects.
