...or maybe it will be the next, next big thing, depending on publishing schedules. Enough crypticality: If you'd like to take a sneak peek at an upcoming book, head on over to Maris Wicks' blog and, well, sneak that peek.

The book will feature The Peak, too, in case the above wasn't cryptic enough.

I just got back from Heroes Convention, where I hobnobbed with my betters, met many excellent people, and enjoyed myself from beginning to end. Thanks Dustin! Thanks Shelton! 

The only fly in the ointment, missing piece, exception that tested the rule of excellence, etc. etc. was the absence of this book and its creators:



Understandable, since it's not out yet, but still.

But. All is not lost! You can find out more about the book at the Underground site and you can place your order for it right now. It's by Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber. There, see, I saved you a mouse-click -- with those two involved you know you'll like it and re-read it until the cover falls off. But click anyway, enjoy the very generous preview, and order one for the home and one for the office.

I remember when this book was just a twinkle in Steve's eye, and then when that twinkle appeared in his other eye too, and one of Jeff's. I can't wait to get my hands on it. 

I had a great time at Heroes last year, so I look forward to attending again this time! At the show I'll have T-Minus and limited edition books and a smile on my face and a song in my heart. See you there. 

(I may be a little late to arrive on Friday the 19th, though, so if you were thinking of getting up early just to see me, well, don't. But with a guest list that includes Liz Baillie, Brian Michael Bendis, June Brigman, Ed Brubaker, Fred Chao, Danielle Corsetto, Guy Davis, Matt Fraction, Dick Giordano, Stephanie Gladden, Tony Harris, Adam Hughes, Chris Kemple, Matt Kindt, Roger Langridge, Alec Longstreth, Jason Lutes, David Mack, Laura Martin, Bob Mcleod, Carla Speed McNeil, Phil Noto, David Petersen, Eric Powell, MK Reed, Don Rosa, Craig Rousseau, Chris Schweizer, Thomas Scioli, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jeff Smith, Richard Thompson, Mark Waid, and Drew Weing, well, get there early and get in line anyway!) 


Updated: I'll be at table 423, right next to Carla Speed McNeil!

This Friday and Saturday I'll be in beautiful Chelsea, MI for the first Kids Read Comics event ever, held at the Chelsea District Library...which is within shouting distance of a few of my favorite places in southeast Michigan: The Purple Rose Theatre, The Common Grill, and Jiffy Mix World Headquarters.

On Friday I'll be joining the fabulous Tara Tallan of Galaxion fame for a discussion of non-fiction comics -- she just did a book on astronauts too! And on Saturday afternoon (I may get there a little before noon, but it won't be by much!) I'll join a whole bunch of other great folks set up to show their books and talk comics with whoever stops by.

I hope that includes you!

For your viewing enjoyment (via Kat):

Breaking news: I will exhibit at MoCCA this year, held in the (ominous-sounding) 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street in New York City. This is always a great show, so I hope to see you there!

Update: My location on the show floor will be table #109.

Wow, I sure do like to talk about T-Minus, don't I? Tom Spurgeon always asks good questions, and you can read my answers to them here.

Cory Doctorow just said nice things about T-Minus on Boing Boing. Thanks for making my day, Cory!  

In about an hour the countdown clock at G.T. Labs will go to a string of zeroes ("all balls," in Apollo lingo) and you'll be able to get a copy of T-Minus. I'm as excited as can be about this, and to celebrate I'll share with you a short story.

We're not an overtly (or overly) sentimental couple, so one of the ways Kat and I spent our tenth anniversary was to put our car up for sale on craigslist. This meant we got a lot of calls, but none from people wishing us well or congratulating us that Friday afternoon.

(It sold to a person who contacted us within 1/2 hour of said posting, and he drove it away 18 hours later. Who knew 1994 Saturns were in such demand? The downside was we were without a car in SE Michigan -- heretics! -- for a couple weeks while our hybrid Civic gestated somewhere in Texas.)

I start the story this way because it's unusual for her to actually pick up the phone, or even look at it when it rings, but given the car thing that's what she was doing. I was working on a draft of the T-Minus script when the phone rang, again. She looked at caller ID, and yelled

"Aldrin, Buzz!"

Actually, it was more like "ALDRIN, BUZZ!!!!!!!"

So, palms sweating, I picked up, and his assistant Kathryn was on the line: "Buzz is in the office today -- is now a good time?" She was picking up right where we'd left off a few months back, when I had contacted her about my asking him a question or two about Apollo technology. I had forgotten about it since.

OK, I lie. I hadn't forgotten at all, but had assumed that this was so low a priority that I'd never hear from them. So wrong! And so, in what was probably a very high-pitched voice, I replied "Yes. No. Yes... Um, can I have a few minutes and call you back?"

"Sure, I understand. You need to set up your recording equipment. Give us a call when you're ready. How much of Buzz's time do you need?"

"5-10 minutes would be...wow. Great."

"Well, Buzz is on a roll today, so you may need to set aside a little more than that."

"Hey, I'll listen for as long as he wants to talk."

So I did set up my recording equipment, stopped hyperventilating, and then called back. They were on speaker-phone when Kathryn picked up, and they were arguing. ("No, you have to put in the trash first." "I don't think..." "Put it in the trash, and then you click." etc.) She asked if I could hang on for a moment, and I said sure. This interlude helped more than breathing into a paper bag and wiping my palms on a succession of towels all over the house had done -- he's a person dealing with a recalcitrant computer. That's good...I'm not sure I know how to talk to someone who's walked on the moon, but I know how to talk to someone who's having computer trouble.

And then he's on the phone and I stammered and said thanks and asked if I could record and he said no.

"First let me ask you some things."

We talked about what I was doing and whether I'd had a history of success with other books (Success? Well...) He knew what graphic novels are, and wanted to know how I might use what we talked about. He asked if I'd spoken with anyone else and I mentioned that I'd exchanged email with Neil Armstrong. "Substantive?" Yes, I'd had a specific technical/historical question for him, and he answered it. "Well, OK then." In other words, I was lucky with timing, because getting an answer from his colleague helped, I think -- it also helped that I wasn't writing something akin to a celebrity cookbook. As he put it, "You know, they want to know your favorite food and then all of a sudden your name is on the cover..."

All of the above is paraphrasing, by the way, since I wasn't in fact recording, but then he gave me permission to start and off we went on orbital mechanics. I've typed up the transcript, and it's surprisingly good -- except for the part where I'm talking, of course. He's focused and intense, and really interesting to listen to. It was great and I learned a lot. And I laughed a couple of times, the last time an inward silent one, since as we closed with the usual pleasantries and thanks-for-your-time bits, it was clear that he'd forgotten my name. He made the save (or his assistant did) though, and said "You're very welcome...ahhh...Jim."

Very little from the conversation made it directly into the story, but if you read it and wonder why there's a focus on rendezvous, and why computing technology comes up repeatedly, it's because of this conversation and that brief email exchange with Neil Armstrong. They were generous and helpful and I'm grateful to have had the chance to talk, however briefly, with two legends. They're just the type of people you'd hope they were, and that makes me smile.

I hope you like the book.

Boy, do I regret this one not coming to fruition...and what I wouldn't have done to earn a mission patch for it... Ah well, let's go to Mars instead!