It's Pride Day!

 Hey! We're finally getting the recognition we deserve! It's Gray Pride Day!

What? 

Are you serious? It's Gay Pride Day?

Hey that works, too! We're a happy bunch around here! We...

What? Really?

A Bad Reading of Good Poetry: November Rain

 

Over on his YouTube Channel, Steve Miller Talks, Shades of Gray proprietor Steve Miller does Bad Readings of Good Poetry two or three times a week. Today's poem fits the format here, so we're presenting it for your... enjoyment? Click here to watch Steve perform "November Rain" by Ellen Allerton.

 

And if you want more... well, there is. So much more. All the Bad Readings of Good Poetry can be found and experienced here:

Plain White T's do 'Pet Sematary'

The month-long Halloween celebration is in full-swing over at my Terror Titans blog. In addition to daily short films, I'm posting a different band's interpretation of the immortal song "Pet Sematary" by the Ramones every few days.

This particular cover by the White T's seemed to fit in better here, however. I hope you enjoy it (even if the connection with "Frankenweenie" doesn't make much sense to me), that it will stir the Halloween spirit within you, and that it might inspire you to check out this year's 31 Nights of Halloween at Terror Titans!

Meanwhile, at the NUELOW Games blog...

As some of you may be aware, I used to write for role-playing games full-time. I still do it on the side, mostly for my own little outfit NUELOW Games. Sometimes, the gaming interest and the love for old movies and black-and-white cross... and that has resulted in posts at the NUELOW Games blog.

The NUELOW Games blog is where I post game concepts and ideas that I (and sometimes my NUELOW collaborators) have that can't immediately be fit into a product, or which I think are so fun that I provide previews while we work on developing them. Sometimes, the posts are just random bits of fun or quirkiness inspired by headlines or photos or pieces of art.

One source of inspiration has been Myrna Loy, who is probably a well-known figure for most readers of this blog. who seems to have posted for a great number of unusual portraits. So far, pictures of her have sparked two ideas, but I'm sure more will come. Click here to see those posts.

Another source of inspiration has been the art of Bryan Baugh. Several posts designed to generate adventure ideas have been based on the drawings posted along with them. (Baugh graciously gave me permission to use his artwork in this way.) Click here to see those posts.

As always, myself and the other contributors to NUELOW Games releases are interested in your feedback, so if you have thoughts, feel free to leave them here or in the comments on the posts over at the other blog. And if you want to encourage us to make more, buy our books!

Countdown to Halloween: 22 Days to Go!

Today, I'm showing off the first sketch of the cover illo for "Secrets of the Witchkind," a d20 System product I designed for NUELOW Games that's releasing this week. You can see the final at the NUELOW Games blog by clicking here.


Sketch of cover for "Secrets of the Witchkind." Art by Bradley K. McDevitt

"Secrets of the Witchkind" was partially inspired by the classic television show "Bewitched." It chronicles the adventures of a witch who falls in love with a mortal, marries him, and tries to give up her magic. The first season is especially interesting, as many of the episodes almost seem like allegories for anti-racism and pro-equal rights arguments, and an interesting look into how gender roles have changed for married couples since the 1960s Does the sort of "normal housewife" that Samantha tries so hard to be even exist anymore?

To see previews of "Secrets of the Witchkind," or to get your own copy, click here.

Lights, Camera, and plenty of Black Cat Action!

"Film Fun Comics Vol. 2: The Black Cat vs. Him" is now available for purchase and download at DriveThruComics,com, DriveThruFiction.com, DriveThruRPG.com, and RPGNow.com,  It's a 48 page  book that presents four stories illustrated by the, great Joe Kubert--some of his earliest professional work--and three stories illustrated by the artist most closely associated with the Golden Age Black Cat, Lee Elias.

As a little preview, here's the splash-page from one of the Kubert stories (click on the image for a larger version):

Also, as a special treat, here's a short Linda Turner story NOT included in the book. My partner in NUELOW Games efforts L.L. Hundal felt that three non-superhero Lee Elias two-page stories were plenty, so this one got held for one of our planned follow-up "Film Fun Comics" editions--or just for posting here... time will tell!. Click on the images for larger versions.

If you've enjoyed this blog over the years, I encourage you to get a copy of "The Black Cat vs. HIM!". I edited the book and wrote "Excerpts from the Diary of Linda Turner," which is a fiction piece that adds a little more flesh to the "revised background" for Black Cat that's been implied in previous NUELOW Games products featuring the character. Supporting that book is supporting me and my love for places where "everything is in black and white" and my ability to have the time to put this blog together. (And other books like the "Film Fun Comics" series.)

Your support will be greatly appreciated. If you DO get a copy, please let me know what you think of "Film Fun Comics Vol. 2: The Black Cat vs. HIM!", either here, or in the comments section on the download page!

It's 'Film Fun Comics' from NUELOW Games!

My latest compilation project for NUELOW Games--"Film Fun Comics Vol. 1: Stuntman" -- is now on sale. It features four Golden Age comic book stories by the great team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, in glorious black and white. Here's a splash page from one of the stories (click on the image to enlarge):

In addition to more than 50 pages of Simon & Kirby greatness, this pdf-format e-book contains a "Stuntman" scenario and characters for "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters" and a special preview of what you can expect to see in "Film Fun Comics, Vol. 2: The Black Cat at War."

A question that may cross the minds of fellow fans of Golden Age comics might be why did we choose to present the Simon & Kirby art as grayscale instead of in its original four-color format? We certainly had that option, given that we were working with scans of printed comic books.

There are several reasons for that. The main reason is that the "Film Fun Comics" features Golden Age comics that use Hollywood's Golden Age as a springboard for action and adventure, so I decided to give the comics a look that matches the black-and-white movies the characters were making. Another important reason is that comic book conventions have changed since the 1940s when these stories were originally published; they really read much better to the modern eye if the color is stripped away.

I hope you'll give the book a shot. Click here to read a preview, or to get your own copy. And please let me know what you think of it--your comments may have an impact on future volumes of "Film Fun Comics" and other comic book projects that NUELOW Games has in the works.

I got a little more elaborate than usual...

... with my cover design for the NUELOW Games edition of John Kendrick Bangs' "Alice in Blunderland".

I keep the cover images for the NUELOW releases very, very simple so they'll shrink down for display on sales listings on websites, and I think I may have outsmarted myself with this one. It doesn't shrink nearly as nicely as others. Still, I like the look.

If you follow politics at all, this book might actually be of interest to you. Although it was written in 1907, the jokes seem disturbingly relevant as Alice travels to a place where dimwitted politicos govern by whim and they view everyone and everything as their personal property. And that includes the teeth in people's heads and whatever they think of as their "private lives." Check it out. Plus, the $0.99 you'll spend goes to a great cause: Keeping me in house and home!





(BTW, I use the term "design" loosely when referring to the covers I make for the NUELOW Games products. All I do is make a logo, select art or photos from my archive [but limiting myself to the things I am certain I have clear rights to], and then put them together with a couple of graphics editing programs. As a graphic designer, I make a great movie and comics reviewer. Speaking of which... I'll have a new review up on this blog soon. It's been too long!)

Available again... for the first time in five years!

In 1995, L.L. Hundal had an idea for a quick-and-dirty combat game for two players where each made a character, selected a few skills for them, and then set them about battling to the death. Steve Miller made a few contributions to it, and it was released into the Newsgroups as a freebie. It was a game that emphasized rollplaying over roleplaying. It ran about four pages.

That game was first coming of "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters"

In 2006, ID Adventures released a revised version of the game, illustrated with art by Larry Elmore. Miller expanded the game with a spell-casting system... because how can you possibly have your fantasy game system taken seriously if it doesn't have a spell-casting system? It was still designed for two players and it still emphasized rollplaying over roleplaying. It was now eight pages in length.

Now, in 2011, Steve Miller and NUELOW Games are bringing ROLF! back again... bigger and better than ever! "ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighers (Revised and Expanded... Because Bigger IS Better!)" clocks in at a massive 10 pages, and it can now be played by two, three, four, or even five players! It's still got gorgeous black-and-white Larry Elmore line-art, and it's in a handy-dandy PDF format for easy downloading to you computer, your iPad, and who knows where else? You can even print it on paper and have your very own old fashioned, paper-based game rulebook!

Oh yeah... and it still emphasizes rollplaying over roleplaying.

"ROLF!: The Rollplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters (Revised and Expanded... Because Bigger IS Better" can currently be purchased for just $1 at www.RPGNow.com. If you you like RPGs and laughing with friends, I think you'll like ROLF! (The same might be true if you liked some of the humor in 150 Movies You (Should Die Before) You See, you might enjoy this also.

All proceeds from the sales of this game go to the Feed Steve's Hungry Cats Fund. Please buy your copy today!

Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You....

I have a book coming out in November of this year titled 150 Movies You Should (Die Before You) See. It covers a wide variety of movie failures in what I hope is an interesting and amusing manner. While many of the films covered are ones I've written about on the various Cinema Steve blogs, the approach is very different in the book, as is the content. For example, the book is chock-full of trivia about films and actors, something I generally stay away from on the blogs.

So, if you want to give a Christmas gift to the movie lover in your life--especially if he or she is into movies that are so bad their good (or just plain bad)--why don't you pre-order a copy of my book now and get some of your shopping done early? Christmas is less that four months away after all. :D