Is It Spring Yet?

As of this past Sunday, the answer to that question was: no. No, it is not (unless you consider temperatures in the 40s with occasional rain showers to be Spring). But! It was a good day for a book reading event - titled "Is It Spring Yet? - a multi-genre reading" - with a bunch of awesome local authors.

I had the pleasure and privilege to share the stage with seven of my fellow writers, including:

Elizabeth Mitchell (who organized the event. Thanks, Elizabeth!) - suspense
Debby Dodds - young adult romance
Heather Ransom - young adult sci-fi
Margaret Pinard - historical fiction
Dede Montgomery - literary fiction
Lisa Todd - literary fiction
Beth Cook - young adult/middle grade

Check out their works at the links above! Also, I highly recommend paying a visit to Urbanite, the venue that hosted us. They have all kinds of sweet vintage items, antiques, furniture, lighting, art and other neat stuff that can be used to raise the coolness factor of any space by a factor of 10,000. AND they have a huge parking lot right in back of the store, which in downtown Portland is about as rare and unique as a silvertail in Spectraland (if you haven't read the Joel Suzuki series of novels yet, trust me, they're rare and unique).

Anyway, here's a short video clip of me doing my thing:

Looking forward to taking part in more events like this one!

Quickie Status Updates

Here's what I've been up to!

Joel Suzuki, Volume Five
I submitted the official first draft of the manuscript to my editor on December 30 and received it back with her notes on January 14. As always, she had tons of good feedback and suggestions, so right now I'm deep into rewriting mode. There's a lot of work to be done, but hopefully I'm still on track for a 2020 release. Or 2021. Whatever. We shall see. As we learned in Joel Suzuki, Volume Four: Fable of the Fatewave, things will work out the way they were meant to.

Glorified, Issue #2 ("Ragged Town")
All the pages have been thumbnailed, most of them have been sketched out, and a majority of them are already inked and complete. Very excited!

Second Player Score Albums Four ("Four-D") and Five ("200BPM")
Album Four has three songs with completed music, lyrics, and arrangement, and there are thirteen more in various stages of development.

Album Five has one song with completed music, lyrics, and arrangement - in fact, it's already been recorded! - and twelve others in various stages of development.

Facebook Live
The band and I are making plans to start livestreaming portions of our Sunday afternoon practices on Facebook. We did it once before, and it seemed to get a good response, so we figured we'd try doing it on a more consistent basis.

Second Player "Store"
We're also in the process of ramping up our merchandising efforts with more cool stuff and easier ways for people to get their hands on them.

Short Films
And finally, we're considering putting into production the short films that I discussed in this previous post, although possibly in a slightly different format, like breaking them up into even shorter segments and turning them into a webseries. We shall see.

Anyway, stay tuned for more updates!

Favorite Japan-Related Memoirs

As part of my recent (or not-so-recent, anymore?) rekindled interest in Japanese language and culture, I've been reading a bunch of Japan-related memoirs. Here are some of my favorites:

Lost in Tokyo: A Year of Sex, Sushi, and Suicide in the Real Japan

The story of a British dude who becomes a teacher in Japan, it's alternately hilarious (in a very British-sense-of-humor kind of way) and poignant (in a very traditionally Japanese kind of way). The quality of the writing itself isn't exactly top-notch, but still, this is a total page-turner nonetheless.

Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries

Another story about a Westerner (this time, from the Southern U.S.) who moves to Japan and becomes a teacher, this, too, was a fun and fast read. The humor comes not only from the fish-out-of-water angle, but also because I think Japan's culture and society are just inherently amusing in the same way that cats are, like where they are so eccentrically awesome that you can't help but to shake your head and chuckle.

Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo

This time, a whole family (husband, wife, daughter) moves to Japan for a month, not to teach, but to experience what I assume to be an incredible, amazing food culture (I haven't been to Japan in thirty years, but it was good then, so I figure it's still good now). Will make you laugh, and also hungry.

Across Tokyo

Look, ma, no subtitle! Anyway, this one chronicles the journey of two Western transplants (they're from the U.S., but have been living in Japan for many years now) who "urban hike" from one end of Tokyo to the other, a span of distance that is much longer than you might think. Like all the previous books mentioned in this post, it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Not One Shrine: Two Food Writers Devour Tokyo

Back to the subtitles, I see. Seriously, people, what's up with that? Is it some kind of nonfiction style rule that I don't know about? (Come to think of it, my friend Melissa Hart's recent nonfiction book Better With Books: 500 Diverse Books to Ignite Empathy and Encourage Self-Acceptance in Tweens and Teens has what is probably the longest subtitle in literary history. Check it out, though, it's terrific.) Anyway, this one is from the same guy who moved to Japan with his family for a month in Pretty Good Number One, only this time he's joined by his chef-friend and podcast co-host (who is the same person) as they go on a food crawl throughout Tokyo.

So yeah, if you're interested in Japan and enjoy some light, fun reading, I highly recommend all five of these books mentioned above. I'm also on the lookout for more, so if you know of any, let me know!

Laurelhurst Album Release & Farewell Show

For those of you in the Portland/Vancouver area, there's a really cool show happening this Saturday. Here's everything you need to know in one picture:

Well, not everything, I guess. Like, why is this Laurelhurst's last show? For the answer to that, check out episode 16 (appropriately titled "Laurelhurst") of the Second Player Speaks podcast here.

I've known the guys in Laurelhurst for over five years now and have shared the stage with them on many memorable occasions, such as:

- the CD release party for Second Player Score's first album, Fortress Storm Attack

- a show at Shanahan's Pub where I did a drunken half-dance/half-mosh kind of thing

- Anarchy Radio's 3rd birthday party in Oak Grove

- The launch party for Joel Suzuki, Volume Two: Mystery of the Moonfire

Looking forward to one more time! Laurelhurst rocks, as does the rest of the bill, so come check it out (for those of you - like me - who might not be able to read the smaller print on the picture above, here are the details again):

Saturday, February 8
Twilight Cafe
1420 SE Powell Blvd (where there is a parking lot!)
Portland, OR
7pm, 21 and over
$8 advance tickets at kingbanana.net
$10 at the door