jpshirley2005
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Posts posted by jpshirley2005
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Welcome back, John, glad to hear it's gone well and looking forward to not just judging your book by its cover ;-)
In other good news, my amazon.com (US) copy of Black Butterflies arrived this week, and it's just behind the new Bill Hicks book and "Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way" in my reading pile. I've dipped in and like what I see - bring on the Hellblazer novels.
Though Demons has some Hellblazery feel in places, Black Butterflies is a better sampler of my writing.
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When do we get to see the cover art? (tries not to drool, noticeably...)
And when will the novel be in stores?
Bradstreet would know about the cover art--I don't know when it's in stores but I'm told it went into production already. I will try to get a release date. I assume it's paperback, but I'll look into that too...
As for advertising and Chas, two other questions I remember from the above, I'm not sure how much advertising there'll be but my guess would be not enough. But then there's never enough for me. I'll probe gently on that too. And as for Chas, I intend to bring out the humorous (perhaps unintentional) side of him, but he'll be pretty earthy. He'll be dragged along into a hellish place and wont care for it. There's a bit of humor you may or may not appreciate in Warlord. I do something to piss off fundamentalist Muslim types that I think is funny, with the Spoink character. Who is kind of comedy relief. There are other humorous moments. But since this is a novel about war, and some of it's in Iraq, it's pretty serious. It's not so much anti Iraq war per se (though the Iraq war doesn't come off well) as it is a protest of the tendency of warmakers to be indifferent to the suffering of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.
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Done on the series John, but hopefully if you continue to write Hellblazer novels I will be your cover artist of choice. When you see Warlord you will demand it!
That would be a nice consolation. I'd love to remain even a small part of the family.
Not to suggest that the novels are a small part, just that doing one cover every once in a while would be a small contribution.
I'm really digging the book JPS.
- TB
Thanks Tim--I hope they got you the most recent version it was rewritten quite a bit since the first draft that was being looked at...
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Bah! JC is 52! It says in all the histories etc he was born in 1953.
This is important to me as I'm 52, was born in 1953. I'm also blond, and a mystic (though not a magus, really, and far from an adept). I was also lead singer of a punk band same time JC was.
I have mentioned all that at least twice before here. This probably won't be the last time!
Anyway I insist that he's 52! And we look damn good for 52, if you take into accountthe drinking, drugs and smoking (I used to smoke cigars).
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John Shirley here. So Bradstreet won't be doing covers anymore? He says HB is not selling well? I trust it's not going to be discontinued anytime soon? Anyway last I knew he was doing the cover of my Hellblazer novel Warlord for Pocketbooks and DC/Vertigo. So I hope that'll be some consolation.
I was hoping the movie'd help sales of the comic but newcomers to the comic via the movie might've just been confused. "Who's this British guy?" They might not stick around long enough to notice the comic is better than the movie.
I've quoted Jamie Delano in the beginning of the novel, in an epigraph.
The novel is done except for tweaking (I don't mean I'm tweaking, I mean tweaking the book). Besides a war-god from ancient times (which I made up but tied into known ones),the novel contains a sea elemental, gigantic, a summoning of archangels swarmed by devils, a Zoroastrian magus, a demonic possession, a possession by a 'benevolent' spirit, animated skeletons, mind control, psychic parasites, a famous Nazi preserved alive in a jar, ritual sacrifice in ancient and modern times, reincarnation, demons which might be working for a familiar Constantine nemesis, undead terrorists, an ancient secret society, psychic card playing, hypnosis, hallucinations, a dash of sex, sorceresses, telepathic exchanges, the war in Iraq, and lots and lots of ghosts. And more stuff than that too. It all comes together in one story. Oh and it also contains John Constantine, at the center of everything. I've made him as much the Constantine of HB as I knew how--in fact I feel I channeled him quite well. It felt like him, to me. He pulls some shit, for sure.
The novel is, at least, eventful. That I can promise.
The only concession to the Constantine of the movie is that there is a holy Christian relic that is significant at one point--but there's none of that whole quasi Christian point of view, none of that pulling pieces of the One Cross out of his Utility Belt or something. I just put in the one thing about the relict because it fit into the story so welland because I thought there ought to be some little point of orientation for fans of the novelization and the movie.
This is the Constantine of Hellblazer though. Mercury is important in this story, as an adult. Rich and Chas appear in the beginning and end.
Most of the story takes place in the Middle East (some in a country I made up off North Africa), some in France. Beginning and end in Britain.
I give a model of the afterlife and the spiritual world in the novel that might (depending on who wants to argue with it) tie together the various bits we get from the comic. It's kind of, in my view, John Constantine's working metaphysical model.
The next book in the series, SUBTERRANEAN, will be all in (or under) Britain. It's going to feature Chas bigtime.
I feel good about Warlord but I feel like I'll have an even better command of the material in SUBTERRANEAN.
for those of you who missed the exchanges with me here last time:
www.darkecho.com/johnshirley
www.johnshirley.net
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Oh I wanted to tell you guys about something...because it may only be told here...I have a brief exchange in the first Hellblazer novel where JC is told by a mystical source that there are alternate universes and in one of them, he is "a man with black hair, a black coat--an American living in Los Angeles..." Constantine then swears a blue streak, hates the sound of THAT...
However the editors at Pocket may cut that. Not wanting to jeer at the movie version. But if I can get it in I will...
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John Shirley, author of the novelization of the movie CONSTANTINE and of two forthcoming HELLBLAZER novels, also co-screenwriter of The Crow and cyberpunk and horror novelist (that's right, both, live with it) will appear to sign anything
> you like, including his own books, at Dark Delicacies bookstore in
> Burbank CA:
>
>
> It's april 2 at 2 pm, i'll be signing with horror writer Craig Spector, at
>
> Dark Delicacies
> 4213 W. Burbank Blvd.
> Burbank, CA 91505
> U.S.A.
>
> and the bookstore's url is www.darkdel.com <http://www.darkdel.com/>
>
> the authorized fan-created John Shirley website is
> www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley>
> **
> *John Shirley* is the author
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jsbiblio.html> of numerous books
> and many, many short stories. His novels include Crawlers
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/crawlers/index.html>, Demons
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/demons.html>, In Darkness Waiting
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/indarknesswaiting/index.html>, and
> seminal cyberpunk works City Come A-Walkin'
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/city.html>, and the A Song Called
> Youth trilogy of Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, and Eclipse Corona
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/trilogy.html>. His collections
> include the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild award-winning
> Black Butterflies <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/bb_pb.html> and
> Really Really Really Really Weird Stories
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/really.html>. He also writes for
> screen (/The Crow/) and television. As a musician
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/hear.html> Shirley has fronted his
> own bands and written lyrics for Blue Õyster Cult
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jsmusic.html> and others.
>
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John Shirley, co-screenwriter of The Crow will appear to sign anything
> you like, including his own books, at Dark Delicacies bookstore in
> Burbank CA:
>
>
> It's april 2 at 2 pm, i'll be signing with horror writer Craig Spector, at
>
> Dark Delicacies
> 4213 W. Burbank Blvd.
> Burbank, CA 91505
> U.S.A.
>
> and the bookstore's url is www.darkdel.com <http://www.darkdel.com/>
>
> the authorized fan-created John Shirley website is
> www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley>
> **
> *John Shirley* is the author
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jsbiblio.html> of numerous books
> and many, many short stories. His novels include Crawlers
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/crawlers/index.html>, Demons
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/demons.html>, In Darkness Waiting
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/indarknesswaiting/index.html>, and
> seminal cyberpunk works City Come A-Walkin'
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/city.html>, and the A Song Called
> Youth trilogy of Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, and Eclipse Corona
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/trilogy.html>. His collections
> include the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild award-winning
> Black Butterflies <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/bb_pb.html> and
> Really Really Really Really Weird Stories
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/really.html>. He also writes for
> screen (/The Crow/) and television. As a musician
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/hear.html> Shirley has fronted his
> own bands and written lyrics for Blue Õyster Cult
> <http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jsmusic.html> and others.
>
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Tom and James - you're right, I've given thought to that same dilemma...I want to have *some* reference to episodes in HB but only a little, so we have a feeling of connection (which should be pronounced anyway as I'm trying to make the JC of my novel be solidly representative of the one in the comix)...and yeah Tom, I pretty much decided to not have much in the way of continuity from specific comics. However I figure Mercury is a really *useful* character and no one knows what happened to her so...I am planning to use her in the first one. Chas will appear briefly in the first scene of the book and briefly at the end. However he will be there a lot in the second one, Subterranean. He does seem to be needed for Hellblazer to be Hellblazer...
But *mostly* both books will be stuff that has no direct connection to the plots of any given episodes. You won't have to read the comics to get the novels, hopefully. At the same time they won't contradict the comics. Hopefully. I do feel empowered to innovate where HB is concerned, to some extent, but not to change John or to change what's happened...
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It may be that demons and their offspring can come back again and again ...
qv Anton Arcane, Nergal and MANY MORE !
But let's see what happens !
Oh that's right, they're demonic offspring. I haven't read those yet. But I will...I swear it BY THE PURPLE BALLS OF CHARLES!
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I wonder if John will lose these offspring he had (though it was in the course of a day it seemed like years to him) - that'd be horribly traumatic. What a can of worms that'd be for me to get into...but I may reference it. We'll see how it comes out. I'll get all those.
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as a matter of fact this board and the url appear on the book's acknowledgements page.
Methinks Mr. Shirley should give a shout out to the Straight to Hell Message Board in his book dedications.
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I'm sure I read a storyline where Ellie had a baby with an angel and then became a human--unless that wasn't Ellie, but some other demoness. But perhaps I misinterpreted something.
Right, Astra is dead, I mixed her up with another character. Though dead is not necessarily dead in these books.
Mercury was a psychic girl, in 40--but that would've been years ago. She'd be an adult now...a psychic adult, no?
Anyway I'm not going to use Ellie. But Mercury maybe...I'd like to use one of the female characters in the story (I'm already several chapters in)...someone John is concerned with...
I'm going to use The Cutter as if I use a real place I'd have to get a description of that place, but if I use the Cutter I can just make it up and besides, one of my pen names is John Cutter so it's, like, a sign...
Vertigo is helping me with missing issues, as per a conversation I just had with them...thanks though!
I see that John had a child with a demoness not so long ago - but I take it this is an 'alternate history' or a dream or something and didn't really happen?
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An adept is someone well trained, initiated, practiced. John is that--he knows his stuff. But he may also have some talent. I won't make any great issue of it in the books.
NEW QUESTION: Isn't it the case that you can't legally smoke in pubs in the UK anymore?
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I'm pretty sure I have read several references to John having innate supernatural abilities in the HB continuity, but I'm not prepared to cite chapter and verse. Besides, it's my experience that some people are more apparently gifted this way than others--I say apparently because it's not necessarily genetic (though John does have magician ancestors somewhere no?). It can have to do with spiritual power built up over past lives. If you believe in that. I don't know as reincarnation is a thing in the Constantine universe. My own metaphysical model includes it in a way--but there are also afterlife paradises and hells, depending on how you're oriented to the Absolute. You can reincarnate, you can stick around in the afterlife, if you're drawn a certain way, you can attain in a way that prevents further reincarnations. And reincarnation for most people doesn't involve a discrete soul but instead a kind of relationship between manifestations of the shared one soul. The development of a discrete soul that retains identity after death is possible with spiritual work but relatively rare. So Constantine would be one of these latter.
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James and Adrian - oh I was just thinking aloud, I probably wouldn't do anything that would 'revise' the continuity as it exists. I'll leave Nergal out of it. Demon blood, may not get into it at all. But I do think --I've seen references to it in HB--that John has inherent magical talent that would make a spell he would cast work more easily than if someone else did it. Why he has this could be something I might bring up in a third novel if we get that far. I'm so far only hired for two.
Anyway I've read all your comments, James, relevant to my questions and posts - even that longish one you said no one would read. It's all been quite helpful.
I'm going right now with "The Cutter near Wapping".
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Thanks for your help everyone. Yes I'd figured the best way to deal with British dialogue was to keep to neutral language, mostly, only occasionally using something I was sure of. I would never use innit except in dialogue and not much.
The ideal way to write the book would be first person, John's point of view, but I don't feel I can do that well, as I'm not English, also it limits my storytelling tools. But I'm going to have little passages that are in his voice.
I have read Critical Mass and really liked it.
The Crown is in Ireland! Do'h! As homer Simpson says. That's right. I'll use the Cutter as the local, right.
I really like the Rich character and will use him briefly in the first one and more in the second.
What if JC finds out that he actually had demon's blood in him all along. Nergal was fucking with him, or just sort of topping him off. The reason he's got demon's blood having to do with a witch ancestor who coupled with something she summoned. I don't know how it's significant in my story though.
I will in fact put someone somewhere saying 'by the purple balls of charles' in a novel.
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Sean Bean. That's all. He's the coolest. Loved him as sharp. He should play Constantine in some British tv movie about him maybe...
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No - I've got my mind made up. It just hit me. SEAN BEAN should play Constantine!
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Glad you're enjoying DEMONS.
Yeah I need to find more about the Demon Constantine - I've read the issue where he sent him to Hell. I might use him in the second novel.
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John's "home" pub is The Crown isn't it? Or is it the Crown and...something? I have been looking through the huge heap of comix I have to confirm the name...and failing to. Also, what part of London is it in?
RIch--is he alive or dead? Last I knew alive. But the comics they sent me weren't quite complete. I've read scores of HB's but I'm not sure. What condition's he in now?
Does John currently have Demon's blood? I thought he had it then lost it--but do I understand he got it back again?
I was thinking of asking for help with contemporary Brit slang but I have a fear you guys'll think it's funny to make up things so they'd get in the novel and then you could say, "See--I got Shirley to believe there was a popular expression here that goes 'By the Purple Balls of Charles!'"
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I'll have to check this out - Sonic Crackpipe and Punch Drunk Gutter Slut are great names...both made me laugh...
FANS OF ELECTRONIC MUSICIn the course of recording each spiderlegs release, I usually compose a handful of songs that don't fit thematically or because (as is mostly the case) they are too electronic for the overall sound being cultivated for the release, as spiderlegs is an analog/guitar band that utilizes electronic/digital music instead of being an electronic band. That's where my side project--BIG CITY GANG BANG Productions--came from. And wouldn't you know it? My throw away, electronic songs have been as well received (if not moreso) as far as numbers of downloads and purchases and dance chart rankings than the stuff I put me heart and soul into...which does sort of make sense now that I think of it.
Anyway, this is the 4th BIG CITY GANG BANG Productions effort: Punch Drunk Gutter Slut, following , Waterbed Blow-up Dolls, Sonic Crackpipe, and Drag Queen Porn Star. The songs are available for free download off an Australian MP3 site. They are instrumentals.
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Spiderlegs really hit it right on about Keanu's sheer discomfort on screen...
I thought that Stormare Lucifer was good. Not genius but good.
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Paul Bettany isn't bad...Ewan MacGregor...dye his hair...
That new Obi Wan played the exact visual replica of Sean Philips's COnstantine in Young Adam (along with Tilda "Gabe" Swinton)
publication info on Hellblazer all-prose NOVEL
in Hellblazer
Posted
"JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER--WARLORD will be a mass-market paperback original and is scheduled for a February 2006 publication (on-sale date is 1/31/06). Cover art is by the great Tim Bradstreet [which I've seen and it's really good - js], ...he did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the book. As for upcoming advertising/publicity, that's something still be ironed out with DC, so we'll keep you posted. As an FYI, we plan on attending and/or having booth space at the recently announced NY Comic-Con in February 2006, which coincides with the publication of WARLORD, so we'll be planning on promoting the book in some way at that as well (besides next year's San Diego Comic-Con)."
www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley
www.johnshirley.net