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books read in 2023: the indian lake trilogy [my heart is a chainsaw & don't fear the reaper]
Jade [...] breathes all the corruption in her lungs out. Well, not the blackness, she supposes. Not the horror. Never that.
#books#my heart is a chainsaw#don't fear the reaper#stephen graham jones#bookedit#photoshop hard#blood tw#look these books aren't for everyone even among horror fans#they're definitely a “girls who get it get it” type of book#but boy do i get it#boy does jade mean something to me#boy does stephen graham jones see something that i can see too#jade is cassandra in both books and it's a terrible fate
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give me ALL the multiples of 5 of the ship meme for Shigeo and Teru >:)
ship headcanon meme
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH CUTE BOYS WITH CUTE CRUSHES
[ Cut for length ]
5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?
Teru. These two are not even on the same fucking planet, it’s possible Shigeo has been responding positively to flirting and the prospect of intimacy for MONTHS and he doesn’t even realize what they’ve been doing counts as “gay romantic shit” before the L word comes into play. It’s not a problem he just doesn’t think decisively in the emotional realm and many of his feelings go unlabeled.
10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?
Man idk. Is this a vacation or are they stuck there?
Uh don’t put any stock into my answer bc I really dont like questions like this but here goes. If it’s not a vacation they probably both bring some books on survival skills, but let’s pretend it’s a vacation.
Songs: Shige brings Daysleeper by Dirty Art Club Teru brings idk maybe Step??? or some upbeat top 40 pop. Teru probably likes all the best niche music and all the worst overplayed music at the same time he contains multitudes.
Books: Depends on how old they are, they deadass both might bring comic books. Otherwise idk Teru brings Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. Shige brings??? Warrior cats?? Idk he’s not a huge reader imo. He likes YA books well into adulthood that’s for certain.
The luxury items are probably both something of Teru’s bc I’m not convinced the Kageyama household has much in the way of luxury items. Maybe grooming products.
15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?
Teru chooses most of the time. This isn’t to say that Teru doesn’t immediately yield to whatever Shige asks for because I think he often does, but it’s mostly because Shige rarely asks for anything in particular. It’s an entire Situation when Shigeo feels inclined to have an opinion on something. He goes with the flow on most things and tends not to feel strongly about what they watch. Teru likes a good romcom. Teru has almost certainly also put on a horror film to see if he could get free hugs out of it, though I’m not sure he’s super into horror. Shigeo likes anything with a feel good ending. He’s more into overly dramatic / emotional films than you’d expect the least emotional person alive to be. Shigeo also likes animation.
20. Where do they go on holiday?
Teru probably wants to go all over the place and visit big cities and attractions, but Shige is more of a homebody and doesn’t like all the noise. Where they end up probably depends on the length of the trip. If it’s a shorter holiday they’ll go somewhere bustling. They’ll visit a city or go to a crowded attraction, but if it’s longer they’ll visit somewhere quieter. Go be in nature or visit the countryside or something. Or they just stay home and enjoy some time in, maybe visiting a park or cafe or their favorite local spots if they feel like it.
25. Why do they fight?
I think they have a lot more fights early in the relationship than later on. For one, Shigeo is genuinely just kind of a frustrating person to deal with sometimes. He doesn’t really explain himself well and he can be very sensitive and not give good emotional feedback, which can easily lead a partner to feeling underappreciated or unheard, like their emotional needs aren’t being met, or like they just can’t do the right thing with him. Shigeo will struggle to be outwardly loving in a lot cases. It’s hard for him to feel connected to other people after a lifetime of isolating himself and shackling his own feelings. Romance does not come naturally to him. When it comes to emotion or affection, it’s very hard for him to want or give the “right” amount of things. Like, he either understands completely or not at all. He either wants a lot of physicality or none at all. There’s not a ton of middle ground with him. The lack of obvious emotional cues makes Shigeo somebody who takes a lot longer than usual to learn and understand, especially when he doesn’t have the words for what he’s experiencing. In addition, Shigeo doesn’t always read social cues well or know what’s socially appropriate, which makes him somebody you can’t really give “hints” to. His lack of opinion and lack of social skills can make him somebody who is frustrating to cooperate with during mundane, daily situations. He doesn’t read subtlety all that well. Communication can be a challenge which can lead to fights. They have their fair share of little spats over minor daily things that just aren’t going right because they haven’t learned how to function as a unit yet.
Teru also has a lot of self hatred to work through which I think contributes heavily to arguments. Early in the relationship I think Teru has a habit of putting Shigeo on a pedestal. We know from canon that Teru is trying very hard to reinvent himself and still has some not-so-nice tendencies in him. To him it’s frustrating that he can’t just have nothing but patient, gentle thoughts the way he thinks Shigeo does. And it’s very easy for Teru to get pissy and be manipulative and unfair when they argue because Shigeo just struggles to keep up with anything that’s vague, but doing that doesn’t make him feel good even if it can win him a few fights. There is definitely a period of time where Shigeo will try to voice that he doesn’t like Teru acting like he’s perfect because in his eyes they’re both commoners and not special, and Teru will have the wit to argue that Shigeo has it easy because he’s “naturally a good person” or whatever. And of course if Shigeo manages to notice that Teru’s arguing tactics are a little unfair and tries to point out, that’s just gonna make Teru double down on “fine I’m a shit person” kind of talk. If things get particular nasty I could even see Teru guilting Shigeo once or twice because “we can’t actually argue about this, you need to calm down bc of your powers”. I think Teru in particular has led a very rough life that’s caused him to develop a very dirty set of tools for winning arguments. He’s good at being manipulative which, if left unchecked over time, could cause more arguments than it solves.
30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?
Despite all the rough shit I just said, I think it can absolute work out really well between them if only because they have already canonically had the worst interaction they can possibly ever have and they are both powerfully aware of how much they don’t want to do that again. It doesn’t take much to remind that of what really matters because they both have that strong reminder. It’s easy for them to let go of smaller things when they are reminded of those large things they are moving away from.
Because ultimately, that very first fight in canon is what defines the most important part of both of them. They are both people who are working very hard to change for the better. When they get into unhealthy habits or difficult conversations, their shared history is something that reminds them both of who they want to be and why they decided to know one another. I mentioned that Teru wants to be a better person, and that includes learning the hard way that it’s up to him to recognize when he’s being unfair or manipulative. It’s gonna mean accepting Shigeo as a human with faults rather than this infallible figure who has only patience and virtue.
And for Shigeo changing means managing and voicing his feelings so that he can maintain control. It’s gonna mean having conversations he’d rather avoid. It’s gonna mean standing up for himself a little more and working harder at being honest with other people about how he feels. It’s gonna mean trying harder to understand what other people need from him.
Like as cliché as it is to say, these two have had an experience together that represents each of their core motivations as characters. That’s why I really think things can work between them even if they have some rough patches early on. Shigeo is so patient and he can help Teruki learn to find patience too. He can help Teruki learn to love himself and to take a different mindset to into the world. Meanwhile Teru’s boundless charisma can help Shigeo learn to try new things and be more outgoing. He can learn to recognize Shigeo’s needs and emotions and help him put them into words. He can help Shigeo to be more honest about his feelings and to appreciate himself despite all his shortcomings. I think they’re different in a lot of ways that can really help each of them be a good influence on one another.
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2020 in books!
the only kind of new year’s resolution i made as a naive baby last january was to try to read 40 books for the year. (i read 37 in 2019, for context.) well, with all of my commuting time eliminated and an increased need for immersive escapism, i ended up surpassing that goal three times over lmao (thanks library ebooks!)
idk how to summarize my year in books in a way that makes sense but
(f) = fiction, (nf) = nonfiction, (p) = poetry.
books that rewired my fucking brain:
braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer (nf)- GOD?!?!?! good. dr. k is right. ostensibly a book about plants, but actually a book about shut up and go outside. consumerism and capitalism are doing their damnedest to fuck you up, but you can just choose to value different things. take care of yourself by taking care of your environment. etc etc.
wasp by richard jones (nf)- lissen. when i got this book, my wasp-phobia was so severe that i had to put it away face down on a high shelf because there are wasps on the cover and i couldn’t bear to RISK even GLIMPSING them. now i am like... a wasp evangelist. (also due to the bugs 101 course on coursera it’s so good.)
wag by zazie todd (nf)- i have a dog, but i am NOT a Dog Person (i.e. i love my dog, but please keep yours away from me, thanks.) this book helped me understand my little guy better, plus it gives actionable tasks and activities to do with and for your pup! plus, y’know, learning about things you’re scared of helps to lessen that fear. i’d recommend this to anyone who has, wants, or regularly interacts with a dog.
a closed and common orbit by becky chambers (f)- is this series complete fluff? absolutely. am i fundamentally different after reading this one? maybe.
the best we could do by thi bui (nf)- this is so far outside of my personal experience but somehow still made me come to peace with my relationship with my mom?? and it’s barely even about that?? idk. this is probably objectively the best book i’ve read this year.
books that were just fun as hell:
mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia (f)- this book made me YELL out loud
death on the nile by agatha christie (f)- i grew up on agatha christie shows, but never actually read her before this year! she really was That Bitch. read this before the movie comes out
cosmoknights by hannah templer (f)- i read this in one sitting through the worst headache i’ve had in years. it is a goddamn DELIGHT. this book has everything: spaceships. mech suits. fighting the patriarchy. a perfect otp. fun art in bright colors with clean lines. onomatopoetic WAPs from before the song gave that hilarious context. 800 lesbians. this is an antidepressant in graphic novel form.
stiff by mary roach (nf)- ms. roach is like the 4th most represented author on my bookshelf because she 1. stays writing about shit i’m interested in and 2. manages to talk about gross and ridiculous things without resorting to sensationalism. it takes skill to write a hilarious book about corpses.
black sun by rebecca roanhorse (f)- excellent sexual tension between a horny siren pirate and a hot doomed... monk, kinda? set in the pre-columbian gulf of mexico with magic and shit.
cuisine chinoise by zao dao (? n/f)- this graphic novel about chinese food history/mythology is BEAUTIFUL.
the color of magic by terry pratchett (f)- you’d think a hardcore douglas adams stan would have gotten to this sooner, but no, i had to date a nerdy white boy to get here. it’s fun though! i’m not gonna read them all, but this one was good. bonus: contains one (1) great himbo.
gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir (f)- like 500 pages of action and mystery and jokes and space necromancy. harrow the ninth gets a special mention bc it has a meme reference that took me out so hard i had to close the book, lie down, and groan for an entire minute before continuing.
other minds by peter godfrey-smith (nf)- i love octopuses. on one tma bonus ep, jonny sims says that if a creature can choose to do evil, then it’s a Person. octopuses are People. but anyway frfr this has an explanation of the evolution of consciousness that is cool af. (this one is much better than the other recent popsci octo book which i will not name out of politeness.)
the perfect predator by steffanie strathdee and thomas patterson (nf)- i read this bc my microbiology prof recommended it and it’s cool as heck! it’s got adventure, drama, mystery, Science-with-a-capital-S. i’m biased bc i’m a bit of a microbes nerd, but i had a blast with this. (but only bc we know going in that everything works out okay; if i hadn’t known that, i would have been TOO stressed!)
books that were a little less fun but still very readable:
my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite (f)- i couldn’t find this as funny as other people bc i, too, have a beautiful sister who’s an insufferable narcissist, so it hits a little too close to home, but. it is a wild ride.
piranesi by susanna clarke (f)- idek what to say! i went into this one blind just bc it had a cool cover and title, so i guess i’d recommend that for other people too.
the sixth world series by rebecca roanhorse (f)- monster hunting! a post-apocalyptic take that doesn’t feel tired.
the shades of magic trilogy by v.e. schwab (f)- easy escapism. some ideas feel a little first draft-y, but idk, it’s also a pretty simple premise (which isn’t a bad thing). it’s a decent urban fantasy set in ~georgian?-era london. very actiony. suffers from a bit of i’m-not-like-other-girls disease, but i didn’t even notice until book two or three, so.
the only good indians by stephen graham jones (f)- starts off a little ??? (and reeks of being Written By A Man) but picks up. the pacing’s great and there’s just a super fucking cool monster.
robopocalypse by daniel h. wilson (f)- this reads like a tv miniseries so much that i can’t believe it isn’t one yet.
confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg (f)- not my usual cup of tea, fiction-wise, but still compelling. a fresh take on the white-male-english-professor-self-insert? but not insufferable. gets weird!
spinning silver by naomi novik (f)- rumplestilstkin, but make it interesting! a great, richly-told fairy tale, but like, large scale. good to read on a cold day while you’re wrapped up in a blanket with some hot tea.
interior chinatown by charles yu (f)- compulsively readable. a couple things bugged me, but not enough to make me dislike it. a fun companion piece to how to live safely in a science fictional universe. i like this guy’s style.
cannibalism by bill schutt (nf)- COOL. mostly covers the animal kingdom (fun), spends too much time on the donner party (less fun), ends with a SPICY take on prions that i cannot get out of my head!!!
buzz, sting, bite by anne sverdrup-thygeson (nf)- BUGS! broad but not overwhelming, neither dumbed down nor overly scientific, short enough to finish in a day or two. recommend this to literally everyone.
books that made me want to read everything else in the author’s ouevre:
the time invariance of snow by e. lily yu (f)- this FUCKS but it’s too short!!!
an unkindness of ghosts by rivers solomon (f)- okay this book is SO good and so well-written and interesting and blah blah blah all the good things, but... the whole time, i was just like?? why???? why is this what you’re choosing to write about??? (i did also read the deep and blood is another word for hunger after this one, and i did like them both, especially the latter, but i think they can do better! like i think they could write a perfect book and i am gonna be *eyes emoji* until then.)
the space between worlds by micaiah johnson (f)- a fine debut novel, but i want to see her do something a little more... idk, refined? i think she overreaches here, like it’s a little... idk looper? this is how you lose the time war? there’s a better comparison, but i can’t think of it, but you get the idea. and then halfway through it shifts gears to mad max. there’s something weird about one of the central relationships, like it’s not complex enough to take as long to resolve as it does. idk idk. there are just a lot of little nitpicky things. it’s not bad! but i think she can do better and i look forward to finding out.
postcolonial love poem by natalie diaz (p)- thinky! like i tried to read this before bed, but it’s not the sort of thing to parse out while you’re falling asleep, it requires more attention than that.
books that Learned Me Somethin:
smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty (nf)- i am a self-professed death obsessed weirdo, fascinated by death and mourning, but i didn’t know all that much about what happens to a body between the dying and the funeral! this book isn’t big, but it covers a lot and doughty’s writing style is engaging and honest. it’s very memorable.
queer by meg-john barker and julia scheele (nf)- i’m gonna be totally honest and say Queer Theory is above my intellectual pay grade, but this book takes you by the hand and explains the basics.
vitamania by catherine price (nf)- LMAO my fellow americans, never take a supplement. this book is great and well-researched, but normal folks don’t need to read it, just listen to season two of the dream podcast, which definitely cribbed from this.
vegetable kingdom by bryant terry (nf)- this is a fine cookbook, my favorite of his that i’ve read so far. gets a special mention bc i had a religious experience just reading one of his kohlrabi recipes. absolutely gutted that i didn’t have an opportunity to try it this year, since the pandemic put the kibosh on all family bbqs.
the best american food writing 2020 edited by j. kenji lopez-alt (nf)- this really is just a great collection.
are prisons obsolete? by angela y. davis (nf)- yes.
i moved to los angeles to work in animation by natalie nourigat (nf)- before reading this, i had basically zero knowledge of how the animation industry works. now i know like three things.
the secret lives of bats by merlin tuttle (nf)- BATS! okay this book is more about the adventures of being a bat scientist than it actually is about bats, but there are bats in there. insectivorous bats basically shit glitter, you should know this.
books from valuable perspectives:
hood feminism by mikki kendall (nf)- a breakdown of who’s getting left out of feminist spaces, why that’s happening, and why it shouldn’t be happening.
all you can ever know by nicole chung (nf)- a (transracial) adoptee’s take on adoption and learning more about her birth family. the personal storytelling of this one really stuck with me.
motherhood so white by nefertiti austin (nf)- a single-mom-by-choice’s take on the foster system/adoption process. walks you through some things i always wondered about and some things i wouldn’t even have thought about.
this place by kateri akiwenzie-damm et al (? n/f)- i, like a lot of non- native americans, only know that history in broad strokes. getting this many highly specific stories in one dense and beautiful book felt like a lucky find. and taking that perspective into the future in the context of that history is v good.
empty by susan burton (nf)- eating disorder stories are important to me bc i care about food so much. this one is so relatable- not in its specificity, but rather its generality. it’s easy to empathize with her perspective because it’s like, Oh, i don’t have that exact problem, but i struggle with different problems in a very similar way. (feels like the opposite of roxane gay’s hunger, in a way.)
obit by victoria chang (p)- this exploration of grief is... woof.
short story collections are hard to evaluate bc you’ll never read one where every single story hits but i generally enjoyed these:
a thousand beginnings and endings edited by ellen oh and elsie chapman (f)
how long til black future month? by n.k. jemisin (f)
her body and other parties by carmen maria machado (f)
books i revisited:
the broken earth trilogy by n.k. jemisin (f)- i read the series backwards this time and like... i can’t really find any faults in these books, man. they’re just the best.
everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by jomny sun (f... but is it really?)- half of this book’s sales are from me buying it for other people bc it’s the only way i know how to say i love you. i reread it every time just to make sure it still feels right and it always does.
other honorable mentions:
white is for witching by helen oyeyemi (f)- not to pit two bad bitches against each other, but this book does what akwaeke emezi’s freshwater was trying to do. it’s a little weird, a little haunted, a little of a lot of things. read this only in the dead of winter. (and with stephen rennicks’ score for the little stranger playing in the background.)
homie by danez smith (p)- there’s a lot going on here, but this just made me crack a smile a couple times in a way that no other book of poetry has ever done.
the murder of roger ackroyd and murder in mesopotamia by agatha christie (f)- That Bitch!
blues by nikki giovanni (p)- she sure has some Things To Say
the three-body problem by cixin liu (f)- interesting concepts, but... idk something’s missing? felt weirdly soulless to me. i’m probably not gonna read the sequels. but it did make some points!
the sisters of the winter wood by rena rossner (f)- i’m a slut for shapeshifting, okay. but this is a good fairy tale, it works!
parable of the sower by octavia butler (f)- i read this in march, when the pandemic was just kicking off and boy that was not the right time. def my least favorite of hers so far, but an octavia butler i don’t love is still better than a hell of a lot of other books. no idea when or if i’ll get to a good enough headspace for the sequel.
faves:
saturnino herrán by adriana zapett tapia (nf)- i got to learn new things about my mans and see some of his paintings i’ve never even seen online! GOSH.
on food and cooking by harold mcgee (nf)- yeah yeah, i’ve already mentioned this book half a dozen times on here this year, but i don’t care. this book lives off the shelf in my home bc i reference it like every other fucking day. this book is a part of me now.
#long post#final total for the year will be 120 by the end of the day!#and i had a pretty good hit rate. would probably recommend at least half#and only outright hated four
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Hex Publishers, Denver’s horror and sci-fi house, brings an end to its grand, national experiment
Joshua Viola has good reason to be excited for Denver Pop Culture Con this weekend.
“I sold more books there than I ever thought I would,” the 36-year-old said of the convention formerly known as Denver Comic Con. “We sold out of everything we brought last year and left the show early.”
Viola, the founder of Denver-based Hex Publishers, and author Warren Hammond have a new sci-fi book to push — “Denver Moon: The Saint of Mars,” a noir-ish, co-authored sequel to 2017’s “Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars” — and plenty of anthologies, graphic novels, young-adult books, soundtracks, T-shirts and other Hex product to sell.
Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
Warren Hammond, left, and Joshua Viola stand before a wall of movie props and memorabilia Viola has collected over the years at his house in Westminster on Monday, May 20, 2019.
But despite his success over the last five years, Viola is using the May 31-June 2 convention to bring an end to Hex. Mostly, anyway.
“It’s been very hard trying to balance my time and my personal life over the last couple years, so that’s why I’m slowing down,” said Viola, whose day job revolves around Frontière Natural Meats, a growing north Denver business he runs with father, James, and brother Cody. “Hex developed a following of people who know our stuff, and it’s rewarding when we have them come back for more. But I’ve never been doing it for money. It certainly didn’t pay for what we’re sitting in here.”
Viola is referring to his $2.1 million, custom-built house in a luxury development just west of Interstate 25 in Westminster. The upper levels are contemporary chic, with wood and metal sculptures, minimalist furnishings and work/sleep spaces. The basement is where Viola plays, with a home movie theater, vintage video-game arcade, artist studio, wine room and bar — all decorated with an enviable array of movie, video game and comic-book memorabilia.
“I love it, but I’ll sell it in five years or so,” he said as he poured beers for himself and author Hammond from one of the basement taps. “This is a ridiculous amount of space.”
With a converted vintage-Camaro pool table in the garage and a literal, two-story bridge connecting the main house to the guest quarters, Viola has his playboy affectations. But Hammond, the author of the “KOP” sci-fi series (which won a Colorado Book Award in 2013) and the novel “Tides of Maritinia,” wouldn’t be working with a playboy.
Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
Josh Viola’s arcade room is pictured at his house in Westminster on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Viola had the space custom built to fit a wide range of retro arcade machines, including driving games and pinball.
“I tend to blow off most of the people who approach me in the local scene because I don’t really know them,” Hammond, 50, said. “But there are a few things that set Josh apart, and the first one is that he pays.”
Viola has invested more than $100,000 of his own money into Hex over the years, from clever marketing such as PlayStation 4 dynamic themes (yielding 30,000 paid downloads) to just-plain-fun events, such as a screening of “Total Recall” and a bespoke, themed beer release at the Alamo Drafthouse (to promote the first Denver Moon novel). He’s sold about 30,000 total copies of Hex’s 20 releases — not including two locally sourced, nationally marketed kids books under his Jam Publishers imprint, or Hex’s online zine, WORDS, which has published short stories, interviews and movie reviews.
Hex has never held an open submission process for any of its works. That means sourcing short stories, novels, art, music and design from a smaller pool of established — and definitely more expensive — creative types. But that’s OK, Hex’s contributors have learned over the last five years, because Viola pays everyone on time. Lately, he’s been paying about twice the genre-fiction industry’s standard rate of 6 cents per word. Viola shells out 10 cents per word.
“I had no idea our first big anthology (‘Nightmares Unhinged’) would be mostly local writers,” Viola said. “Most of what you read is garbage, and I was planning on national contributors for that. But it ended up being only two nonlocal writers, and I have to give Dean Wyant credit for that.”
Wyant, the acquisitions editor and co-founder of Hex, connected Viola to a deep network of local authors and booksellers. That led Viola to working with Hammond, Jason Heller, Mario Acevedo, Angie Hodapp, Stephen Graham Jones and other national-quality talents hidden among the stacks of Denver’s bookshops and literary groups.
Through Hex’s anthologies such as “Nightmares Unhinged” and “Cyber World,” graphic novels and even the odd cyberpunk soundtrack, Viola has made a strong argument that Hex is more just than a vanity project — despite the fact that everything on the imprint reflects his personal tastes.
“People talk about genre tropes like they’re bad things,” he said, shaking his head. “And we just embrace the hell out of them.”
Photos by Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
From left: A dragon replica, A model of The Joker from Batman, a replica of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Michelangelo and a replica of Abe Sapien from the movie Hell Boy are all on display at Josh Viola’s Westminster home on May 22, 2019.
People have taken notice. “Nightmares Unhinged” was licensed by AMC for promotional use in “Fear The Walking Dead” Season 2. “Cyber World,” “Blood Business” and “Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars” were all nominated for Colorado Book Awards while topping local best-seller charts. “Metamorphosis,” a gorgeous comic drawn by Hex’s shy-yet-vital visual force, Aaron Lovett, made the 2018 Bram Stoker Award preliminaries for superior achievement in a graphic novel. And there’s the aforementioned custom beer — Red Fever, by Black Shirt Brewing — which was produced for the first Denver Moon novel.
“Having done four books with major publishers, I can say Josh has done more to promote ‘Denver Moon’ than all four of those together, by a larger margin,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to quit my day job (as a network engineering instructor), and I don’t want to dog my other publishers, but Josh brings a certain passion to everything he does. It’s allowed me to do some things publishers aren’t really doing anymore these days.”
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That includes the latest Denver Moon book’s July 20 signing at the Tattered Cover, and appearances at Denver Pop Culture Con or Denver Indie Comics & Art Expo (DiNK), among other fan and industry events. Viola suspects he’ll keep the Hex flame burning for years to come, even if his new, co-authored novel with Hammond is Hex’s last major promotional push.
“We’ve still got Jeanne Stein’s 10th novel in the Anna Strong series coming out later this year. We were also hired by the Colorado Festival of Horror to do an anthology for their con coming out in the fall of 2020,” he said of the new event, which was hatched by the minds behind StarFest, HorrorFest and DiNK. “That’ll be exclusive to that con, and the theme is ’80s horror drive-ins, which is right up my alley.”
As colorful, surprising and winding as that alley has been for Viola, it’s always been his space. The perfectionist artifacts he’s left along the way were always for him, even if other people enjoyed them, too.
“When you don’t have something you want out in the world, you start to create it to fill that void,” he said. “That’s what Hex is for me. When your nutrition’s not good, you start eating it because your body demands it. I want people to enjoy and respect what I’m doing with it, but ultimately, I’m creating something that I crave.”
from Latest Information https://www.denverpost.com/2019/05/29/hex-publishers-josh-viola-denver-moon/
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Hex Publishers, Denver’s horror and sci-fi house, brings an end to its grand, national experiment
Joshua Viola has good reason to be excited for Denver Pop Culture Con this weekend.
“I sold more books there than I ever thought I would,” the 36-year-old said of the convention formerly known as Denver Comic Con. “We sold out of everything we brought last year and left the show early.”
Viola, the founder of Denver-based Hex Publishers, and author Warren Hammond have a new sci-fi book to push — “Denver Moon: The Saint of Mars,” a noir-ish, co-authored sequel to 2017’s “Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars” — and plenty of anthologies, graphic novels, young-adult books, soundtracks, T-shirts and other Hex product to sell.
Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
Warren Hammond, left, and Joshua Viola stand before a wall of movie props and memorabilia Viola has collected over the years at his house in Westminster on Monday, May 20, 2019.
But despite his success over the last five years, Viola is using the May 31-June 2 convention to bring an end to Hex. Mostly, anyway.
“It’s been very hard trying to balance my time and my personal life over the last couple years, so that’s why I’m slowing down,” said Viola, whose day job revolves around Frontière Natural Meats, a growing north Denver business he runs with father, James, and brother Cody. “Hex developed a following of people who know our stuff, and it’s rewarding when we have them come back for more. But I’ve never been doing it for money. It certainly didn’t pay for what we’re sitting in here.”
Viola is referring to his $2.1 million, custom-built house in a luxury development just west of Interstate 25 in Westminster. The upper levels are contemporary chic, with wood and metal sculptures, minimalist furnishings and work/sleep spaces. The basement is where Viola plays, with a home movie theater, vintage video-game arcade, artist studio, wine room and bar — all decorated with an enviable array of movie, video game and comic-book memorabilia.
“I love it, but I’ll sell it in five years or so,” he said as he poured beers for himself and author Hammond from one of the basement taps. “This is a ridiculous amount of space.”
With a converted vintage-Camaro pool table in the garage and a literal, two-story bridge connecting the main house to the guest quarters, Viola has his playboy affectations. But Hammond, the author of the “KOP” sci-fi series (which won a Colorado Book Award in 2013) and the novel “Tides of Maritinia,” wouldn’t be working with a playboy.
Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
Josh Viola’s arcade room is pictured at his house in Westminster on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Viola had the space custom built to fit a wide range of retro arcade machines, including driving games and pinball.
“I tend to blow off most of the people who approach me in the local scene because I don’t really know them,” Hammond, 50, said. “But there are a few things that set Josh apart, and the first one is that he pays.”
Viola has invested more than $100,000 of his own money into Hex over the years, from clever marketing such as PlayStation 4 dynamic themes (yielding 30,000 paid downloads) to just-plain-fun events, such as a screening of “Total Recall” and a bespoke, themed beer release at the Alamo Drafthouse (to promote the first Denver Moon novel). He’s sold about 30,000 total copies of Hex’s 20 releases — not including two locally sourced, nationally marketed kids books under his Jam Publishers imprint, or Hex’s online zine, WORDS, which has published short stories, interviews and movie reviews.
Hex has never held an open submission process for any of its works. That means sourcing short stories, novels, art, music and design from a smaller pool of established — and definitely more expensive — creative types. But that’s OK, Hex’s contributors have learned over the last five years, because Viola pays everyone on time. Lately, he’s been paying about twice the genre-fiction industry’s standard rate of 6 cents per word. Viola shells out 10 cents per word.
“I had no idea our first big anthology (‘Nightmares Unhinged’) would be mostly local writers,” Viola said. “Most of what you read is garbage, and I was planning on national contributors for that. But it ended up being only two nonlocal writers, and I have to give Dean Wyant credit for that.”
Wyant, the acquisitions editor and co-founder of Hex, connected Viola to a deep network of local authors and booksellers. That led Viola to working with Hammond, Jason Heller, Mario Acevedo, Angie Hodapp, Stephen Graham Jones and other national-quality talents hidden among the stacks of Denver’s bookshops and literary groups.
Through Hex’s anthologies such as “Nightmares Unhinged” and “Cyber World,” graphic novels and even the odd cyberpunk soundtrack, Viola has made a strong argument that Hex is more just than a vanity project — despite the fact that everything on the imprint reflects his personal tastes.
“People talk about genre tropes like they’re bad things,” he said, shaking his head. “And we just embrace the hell out of them.”
Photos by Kevin Mohatt, Special to The Denver Post
From left: A dragon replica, A model of The Joker from Batman, a replica of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Michelangelo and a replica of Abe Sapien from the movie Hell Boy are all on display at Josh Viola’s Westminster home on May 22, 2019.
People have taken notice. “Nightmares Unhinged” was licensed by AMC for promotional use in “Fear The Walking Dead” Season 2. “Cyber World,” “Blood Business” and “Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars” were all nominated for Colorado Book Awards while topping local best-seller charts. “Metamorphosis,” a gorgeous comic drawn by Hex’s shy-yet-vital visual force, Aaron Lovett, made the 2018 Bram Stoker Award preliminaries for superior achievement in a graphic novel. And there’s the aforementioned custom beer — Red Fever, by Black Shirt Brewing — which was produced for the first Denver Moon novel.
“Having done four books with major publishers, I can say Josh has done more to promote ‘Denver Moon’ than all four of those together, by a larger margin,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to quit my day job (as a network engineering instructor), and I don’t want to dog my other publishers, but Josh brings a certain passion to everything he does. It’s allowed me to do some things publishers aren’t really doing anymore these days.”
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That includes the latest Denver Moon book’s July 20 signing at the Tattered Cover, and appearances at Denver Pop Culture Con or Denver Indie Comics & Art Expo (DiNK), among other fan and industry events. Viola suspects he’ll keep the Hex flame burning for years to come, even if his new, co-authored novel with Hammond is Hex’s last major promotional push.
“We’ve still got Jeanne Stein’s 10th novel in the Anna Strong series coming out later this year. We were also hired by the Colorado Festival of Horror to do an anthology for their con coming out in the fall of 2020,” he said of the new event, which was hatched by the minds behind StarFest, HorrorFest and DiNK. “That’ll be exclusive to that con, and the theme is ’80s horror drive-ins, which is right up my alley.”
As colorful, surprising and winding as that alley has been for Viola, it’s always been his space. The perfectionist artifacts he’s left along the way were always for him, even if other people enjoyed them, too.
“When you don’t have something you want out in the world, you start to create it to fill that void,” he said. “That’s what Hex is for me. When your nutrition’s not good, you start eating it because your body demands it. I want people to enjoy and respect what I’m doing with it, but ultimately, I’m creating something that I crave.”
from News And Updates https://www.denverpost.com/2019/05/29/hex-publishers-josh-viola-denver-moon/
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