The Comic Book SyndiCon and Twisted Studio

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The Comic Book Syndicon is coming (Sunday, Aug. 16th, to be precise). It is being held at St. Clair college in conjunction with their own family fun day event. It should be a great day for the whole family (comics, collectables, cosplay and more!). The best part is, it’s free admission!

I’ll be there selling copies of my book, but I won’t be alone. I’ll be sharing a table with comic writer Dave Rocha (The Underground and Tecumseh) from Twisted Studio!

Check out the poster below for the con, and for more on Dave, hit up his website right here: http://www.twistedstudio.ca

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From the Page to the Stage…again

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A couple months ago (May 12th to be exact) I was privileged enough to have one of my stories, Relict (found here: http://adventureworldsblog.com/2014/08/25/relict/  ), preformed by the theatre group Sho Art, Spirit and Performance. Although people are always reading my stories, it is quite rare to hear one read back to me, especially in a theatrical sort of way, so as you can imagine, it was a real thrill for me.

I guess my twisted tale left an impression on the group as they have decided to tackle another one of my stories. This time, they are doing one of my favorites, Summer’s Friend, which can be found in the Space Between Houses collection.

So if you are free on Tuesday, July 14th at 8pm, then head over to 1078 Drouillard Ave and be entertained. (Also, just an fyi, they serve wine and beer!)10997282_10153232997512556_2357815467399740737_n

Cover Contest!

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

No Light Tomorrow needs a book cover!

From June 17 – Aug 1, 2015, Authors Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen will be accepting submissions for the cover art for their newest book, No Light Tomorrow. No Light Tomorrow is a collection of five speculative tales. Space travel, strange visitors, technological nightmares, unexplainable phenomenon and new worlds await within its pages. To Enter:

  • Create an original and interesting image built around the name and ideas of the book. The artwork must be the property of the submitter.
  • Upload a clear picture of your cover art design and send to adventureworldsblog@gmail.com by the deadline date.

The winner will:

  • Have their cover published.
  • Receive explicit acknowledgement in the book.
  • Receive complimentary copies of No Light Tomorrow
  • Win $50 cash

By submitting any design for the cover of the book titled “No Light Tomorrow”, you automatically agree to the following. (Please don’t submit anything if you don’t agree).

  • I acknowledge that there may be many cover designs submitted, and that the final choice may be similar to that which I submitted.
  • I acknowledge that the final book cover may include concepts that appear similar to those that I submit.
  • I acknowledge and accept that if my design is chosen, the authors can use the design in any way in the promotion and sales of the book.
  • I acknowledge that my image (if selected) may be altered to better fit the needs of the cover.
  • I acknowledge that even if my image is selected, it may not end up being used as the final cover for the book. In this instance, I will still receive the cash prize of $50
  • I waive any claims that I may have against Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen with regard to the design I have submitted to illustrate the cover of the book “No Light Tomorrow”, including any claims of invasion of privacy, violation of right of publicity, libel or copyright infringement.

Hey, I’m Writing a Novel (pt. 3)

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

“Technology can be our best friend, and technology can also be the biggest party pooper of our lives. It interrupts our own story, interrupts our ability to have a thought or a daydream, to imagine something wonderful, because we’re too busy bridging the walk from the cafeteria back to the office on the cell phone”

-Stephen Spielberg

Like my good friend Steve says, cell phones are not always the best thing in the world, and when it comes to writing horror, they are pretty much the worst.

Imagine if you will, what some of our favourite horror stories would look like with the simple addition of a cell phone.

Cujo.

“Hello, animal control? Yeah, this is Donna Trenton calling. So, listen, I’m at the Camber house…yeah, that’s them, and anyways, there’s a big ass dog running around out here. Oh, good! I was worried there for a minute. I’ll just stay in my car until you get here. Thanks.”

Nightmare on Elm St.

Tina: It was so scary, Nancy. He was all burned up and had knives for hands.

Nancy: Cray cray! Let me look that up.

Nancy googles it on her phone.

Nancy: Well, when I put in all that stuff, I got a bunch of newspaper articles about some creepy pedo that used to live around here. It says he disappeared or something when we were just little kids. Hold on, maybe my mom knows something.

Nancy texts her mom.

Ma do you know a guy named freddy kruger????

OMG I haven’t heard that name in years. Me and the other parents killed him 🙂

Thx TTYL

Nancy: Yeah, our parents totally killed him. I guess he found a way into our dreams. Hold on, I’m gonna look up dream therapy.

The Blair Witch Project

“I threw that fucking map into the river!”

“No worries, my phone has GPS.”

—

That’s just a few. But basically, every classic horror story would be radically different if they had cell phones in them. Part of what makes horror stories great is that nothing is convenient for the protagonist. And if there is one thing that cell phones are, is convenient. The other thing cell phones are, is plentiful. You can’t throw a stone these days without hitting a person talking/texting/surfing/tweeting/snap-chatting/etc. on a cell phone.

While planning my novel, I quickly realized that the story wouldn’t work if there was even one operational cell phone (seriously, the story would end at chapter 2!). Luckily, there was already a plot point in place that could easily explain why the cell phones in the story would be rendered useless.

Still though, this whole cell phone thing had weighed on my mind so much that I even considered (for a short time) changing the time period of the novel to take place in the 80’s. It would be very easy to do and wouldn’t change the overall story that much. But, on the flipside, having it set thirty years ago wouldn’t do anything to serve the novel either (other than not having to deal with modern technology). So, after a bit of consideration, as well as getting the opinion of fellow writer Ben Van Dongen (who is hard a work on his own debut novel. Check out his trials and tribulations here: https://benwltp.wordpress.com/ ) I decided to just deal with the damn things, because the fact is, we can’t put the cellular genie back into the bottle.

Novel: Untitled

Word count: 11400

Chapters: 10

From the Page to the Stage

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I’m happy to announce that my short story, Relict, has been chosen as one of the featured stories to be preformed by the theatre group Sho Art, Spirit and Performance this coming Tuesday (May 12) at 8pm.

Besides my own work, there’ll be stories from other writers as well. I’ve meet most of these other writers and believe me, they’re fantastic.

So if you’re in the Windsor area that night, make sure to head over and check it out!

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Free Comic Books (and The Space Between Houses)!

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10995554_841651595871368_5942655430413683926_nMay 2nd is Free Comic Book Day. If you’re not familiar with this extraordinary day, let me fill you in.

Free comic book day is the second Saturday of every May and is exactly what it sounds like, Free Comics! Every major comic publisher sends promotional comics to the shops which are then handed out for free.

This year, I’ve been asked to be a part of Paper Heroes Comic Book Lounge’s Free Comic Book Day event. So, not only will you get free comics, you can also get your copy of The Space Between Houses signed!

Check out their blurb below for all the fun they have in store.

Free Comics!! Free Comics!! Free Comics!!
Special events throughout the day including:
BBQ ( 11am – 3pm ) with proceeds going to Muscular Dystrophy Canada
A magic show by “Dr. What?” at noon

Special guests including:
Paul Reaume and Dave Rocha, creators of Windsors “The Underground” comic.

Christian Laforet, author of “The Space Between Houses”

Jason Fabok, artist of Detective Comics, Batman: Eternal and the Justice League

Jason Uszynski from Incredible Creature Designs

The creativity of Heather Thibert

Other activities include:
face painting, cosplay, in-store promotions and a raffle for a chance to win a prize package valued at $145 that includes an Iron Man Artfx statue, 1 $50 Moxies GC and 3 $10 Cineplex Odeon GC.
Be a part of Paper Heroes Free Comic Book Day 2015 with over 40+ free titles to choose from ( limit of 3 per person ).
A great day for fans, family and friends

Paper Heroes is located at 2857 Howard Ave, Windsor, Ontario N8X 3Y4

Hey, I’m Writing a Novel! (pt.2)

/ Christian Laforet / 2 Comments

Baby Steps.

So…I can say that my novel has started off with a whimper. I had all sorts of intentions of pounding away at it in the last few weeks but stuff got in the way. Not bad stuff mind you (well, I guess some of it was bad), but stuff.

Like most writers, I don’t make a living writing. That means that I work a 9-5 job. I won’t bore you with just exactly what my job is, just know it is the kind that you are not meant to have for more than a couple of years, and certainly not the kind a person would strive for. But, the reality is, I gotta go to work when they schedule me, even if it conflicts with ideal writing times.

Next, I got kids. Two beautiful little girls (Lelaina and Delilah) and they demand a lot of attention. I don’t mind that, and in fact, love playing with them, but, it does eat up valuable time. Usually, I get very welcomed reprieves when my mom takes one, or both of them for the day, but, due to the fact that my step-dad recently broke both of his arms (!), my mom is pretty busy.

And lastly, I’m neck deep into the second/third draft a collection of short stories I’ve been working on for a year now, with fellow writer Ben Van Dongen. This has been a wildly tiring process and has been my main focus recently in an attempt to get it done by summer.

These things have converged into a perfect storm of novel killing proportions.

I am happy to report however that I have made some progress on the novel though. It isn’t much, but it’s something. So all hope is not lost. And further more, with some changes to my writing schedule (basically, less sleep) and an upcoming writers’ weekend with the above mentioned Mr. Van Dongen and our good buddy Justin, I should be able to take a major bite out of the novel. Only time will tell, but until then, I’m gonna keep on taking baby steps.

Novel: Untitled

Words: 1725

Chapters: 1