Finders is here! (finally)

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

Back several months ago, fellow Adventure Worlds writer, Ben Van Dongen, had an idea for a web comic. We talked about it for a bit and eventually came up with Finders. Ben handling most of the scripting, and me, the art.

It took way longer than it should have to actually produce it (my fault), but we did it. Finders 001 first appeared in the Adventure Worlds zine and is now available to all right here: http://adventureworldsblog.com/2014/09/15/finders-001/

So read it and marvel at the fact his this tiny little thing took like four months to make lol.

New Story!

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

Hopefully if you are a frequent viewer of my blog, then you also take some time to check out Adventure Worlds. If not, don’t worry, you can also start now lol.

There is a new post every Monday and guess what? This Monday was my turn. The story is called Relict. It is a horror/thriller story and, fun fact, was written almost entirely on my phone.

So head over to http://adventureworldsblog.com/2014/08/25/relict/ and give it a read.

Let me know what you think.

 

Advenutre Worlds Zine available now!

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

The very first Adventure Worlds zine is now available. The zine features four stories from the Adventure Worlds blog, as well as a brand new comic strip. Look for it at these fine locations across Windsor:

The Squirrel Cageawoo1

Milk

Phog

Dr. Disc

The Coffee Exchange

Pause Cafe

Villains

Rogues Gallery

Border City Comics

Paper Heroes

Game Cycle

Mondo Café

Biblioasis

Walkerville Artist Co-op

Make sure to get your copy today, before they’re all gone!

 

 

Summer’s Friend published on DM Du Jour

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

Way, way, way back in January I submitted a short story (Summer’s Friend) to an online horror magazine, called Danse Macabre. I had all but written off a reply from the magazine, since it had been SEVEN MONTHS!! but to my surprise, I was contacted late last week with an email from the magazine’s editor-in-chief. My story had been accepted and went up on one of their three websites, DM Du Jour, just now.

So without further ado, follow the link to Summer’s Friend on DM Du Jour

http://dmdujour.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/christian-laforet-summers-friend/

007: Updates

/ Christian Laforet / 3 Comments

When I started this blog all the way back in the very distant past (January of this year) I laid out a list of work that was in the pipeline. I figured, it being about mid-year, now would be a very good time to go back to those things.

I had mentioned four specific projects that I was toiling away on and even went so far to give a few tentative release dates for some of them. Well, as time does its annoying march, some of those projects have hit a snag and others are rolling along nicely.

Let me begin with Adventure Worlds. Not much has changed on this front, except that the site has gotten bigger. It’s because of this growth that I feel myself pulling back a bit from working on it. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m leaving it behind, quite the contrary, I’m more dedicated than ever. What it means though, is that since we are starting to get submissions more often from other writers, there isn’t a huge need for me to always have a story ready for posting. I love the site and will keep pushing it for as long as I can, but it has already somewhat served its purpose and it’s time for me to look ahead at other things.

space coverNext, I spoke about two different projects. The short story collection and the comic mini-series. Since I already talked about the former last month in pretty great detail, I’ll jump right to the comic book. Continue reading →

006: The Space Between Houses

/ Christian Laforet / 5 Comments

Hello loyal readers! We have to do some more time travelling this month. Nothing as extensive as blog post 003 mind you, but still, you might want to bring lunch.

333058_10150487425101892_1669362473_oA few years ago two big things happened to me. One was the birth of my first daughter, Lelaina Blue. The second, very much connected to the first, was starting a blog call The Space Between Houses. The blog was connected to my daughter in that up until that moment, I was too lazy to try and make a career out of writing. Sure I liked it, but my laziness knew no bounds. What this meant was that even though I hated working in a grocery store, I was probably going to be doing so for the rest of my life. But then here was this amazing baby girl. She was everything I ever wanted and more, and I couldn’t stand the thought of her knowing that her dad never strove for anything.

Before I get too much into the Space Between Houses stuff, I have a confession to make. I’m a huge quitter. I quit everything. When I was a kid I quit karate, beaver scouts, saxophone, guitar and other things I’m sure I’m forgetting. This trend continued into adulthood where I quit jobs and even school (although the Tradigital Animation program at St. Clair was a joke so don’t judge too harshly for that one). The truth is, I like to quit. In fact, I would say I’m about as good a quitting as a person can be without being pro.

So here I am, starting a new life as writer and wouldn’t you know it, I want to quit. Writing’s hard. It takes time and patience; these are things I don’t have (those video games weren’t going to play themselves). But once again, here is this little girl who looks at me with huge blue eyes and in them I see the reflection of the person I can be, not the one I am. So, I turn off the x box, mute the television, put down the comic books and get to writing. Continue reading →

005: Comic Books; fun to read…horrible to make.

/ Christian Laforet / 4 Comments

I can still remember the moment I fell in love with comics. I was about eight or so and had just come back from the corner store with my grandma. Since I was a spoiled child, I had gotten a comic book while there (and also since I was a fat child, probably a few chocolate 5-1bars as well). Now, it wasn’t my first comic book (and lord knows it was very far from my last) but for some reason this one changed me. So what’s the comic you ask? It was Fright Night #5 published by Now Comics. Basically it was a comic series based off the rad 80’s vampire movie of the same name. The comic was set after the movie and it followed the main characters as they hunted various monsters. Anyway, this book was unlike anything I had ever read before in a comic, it was dark and violent and great.

After that day I was convinced that I was going to be a comic book artist. I carried that dream for the next twenty years or so. The problem with all that though was that I really hate drawing. It’s something I’ve always been pretty good at, but I’ve grown to hate doing in so much that I could never put the time in to go from pretty good to really good. Continue reading →

004 : Size Doesn’t Matter (I Hope)

/ Christian Laforet / 1 Comment

1094456-Clipart-Carnival-Clown-Standing-By-A-Height-Sign-With-You-Must-Be-This-Tall-Text-Royalty-Free-Vector-IllustrationWelcome back. As you can tell by the title of this post, I’m going to keep things short. This isn’t entirely because I’m lazy (although I am, oh boy, I sure am), but rather because I’m gonna talk a spell about writing short stories.

When I first got into this whole being a writer thing, I envisioned myself writing for only two different mediums: comics and novels. When my first attempt at writing a novel, it was called The Sands of Al-Hajarah, resulted in an unreadable mess, I knew I was going to have to cut my teeth a bit first before I jumped back on that horse. So I set to work on my first short story.

The process of writing the short was wholly enjoyable for me. I really didn’t have to worry about all the detail needed in a novel, instead I could just focus on the good stuff. Continue reading →

003 : I’ll have a double scoop of Horror in a sugar cone please!

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

Hi there. If you know me at all, you know that I likes me some horror stories. It’s pretty much all that I write, if you head over to Adventure Worlds (http://adventureworldsblog.com/), you can see for yourself. It’s not that I don’t like other genres, I dabble in sci-fi (though I usually leave that stuff to Ben) and occasional try my hand at crime stories, but my bread and butter is horror. So the question that is being asked by no one is, why? Why do I love writing horror so dang much? Well, for the answer to that, we have to do some travelling. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my hands to myself—for the most part. We’re heading to a crazy little place called the 1980’s.

New_Coke_(advertisement)In case you’re unaware of this period in time, let me refresh your memory. New Coke swept the nation, Pogo Balls were awesome and the best show on television (in my child sized brain) was Double Dare.

Picture me, floating somewhere in the 6 – 8 years of age range. Go ahead, take your time, I can wait. Okay, can you see me, I’m the one with the florescent headband and slap-bracelet. I was an impressionable young chap with an already over-active imagination. Now picture me sleeping over my dad’s house on the weekends (as my mom was given a much deserved break). Picture my brother, he’s five years older than me and probably already grooming his hair to one day emerge as a glorious mullet. Picture my dad taking me and my brother to the movie store (if I remember correctly the options were, Eye on Video, Reruns or, later, Jumbo video) and picture my brother—remember, he’s in his teens—wanting to rent the newest horror movie. Continue reading →

002: A Novel Approach

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

As I said in my first post (don’t worry, you don’t have to read it), I’m working on several projects this year.

mr-busy-webFirst, and the most immediate, is Adventure Worlds. I am constantly working to bring new stories there (at least one a month) and have actually managed to get a few ahead. Horror is my forte but as you will see, I like to dabble in other areas as well.

Secondly and thirdly, is a book of short stories and a comic mini-series. The book is almost done and is comprised of several short horror stories I’ve written over the last couple of years. The comic is also horror (I told you, it’s my bread and butter), and should be coming out sometime this year as a three issue mini-series. Continue reading →