Here’s an interesting article by Ariana Osborne on publishing on demand and Warren Ellis’ foray in the realm with his collection, Shivering Sands.

ubergrid:

My new print-on-demand book project SHIVERING SANDS went live today.

I’m a Warren Ellis fan, so I’ll throw a little promotion out there.

Warren Ellis is so talented it makes me sick.  Don’t misunderstand me, I love Ellis’ work; he maintains one of the more interesting blogs and a darkly humorous, stream of consciousness Twitter account; and his writing projects are eclectic and fascinating.  The man bleeds creativity and I really respect that.

I had picked up Global Frequency Volume 1:  Planet Ablaze a while back.  I was looking for something different and a guy at the local comic book shop recommended it.  I devoured the book in one night, and thought that this would make a great TV show (it wasn’t until later that I found out that a pilot had been commissioned / filmed, and then nixed, by Warner Brothers.  Boo!).

Planet ABlaze is typical Ellis; establish some high-concepts within the framework of the series at the outset, and then tell single-issue, contained stories that explore said framework from various angles.  And in doing so,  Global Frequency provides a unique twist on classic ideas.  Ellis’ take on a “realistic” cyborg, an alien virus, and faith-induced mass hysteria are fresh, even years after publication.  As if that weren’t enough, Ellis compresses each theme into a single issue, clearly presenting the ideas in an accessible way and not overloading the reader with information.  This could be one of his greatest gifts as a writer.

It really is a shame that this series was not picked up for TV; it would be perfect, particularly in today’s post-LOST / BSG world where the bar has been raised much higher in American television’s writing (particularly in the realm of SyFy sci-fi).  Perhaps we can hope it will be picked up again in the future, or  even for an animated series, where a revolving cast would be easier to accommodate.  Perhaps someday.

Anyone else ever pick this up, and if so, care to share your thoughts?

I clearly need to get more on the ball with comics, subscribe to Wizard magazine, give up on Newsarama.com, or hit my writer chum Allyn up more often, but I recently found out about the new newuniversal mini-series, Shock Front, coming out in May. 

Like, in two weeks.

Good thing I jumped onboard not too long ago- I’d have hated to wait two years for “Season Two” to start.  But it’s here, and I can’t wait. 

Over at Warren Ellis’ site, the man himself posted a blurb for an upcoming newuniversal title, newuniversal: 1959.  This one-shot is due for release in July and unfortunately is not written by Ellis himself (although he chose the writer).  I loved newuniversal, and the trade paperback ended on a mid-season note, so I’m anxiously looking forward to a continuation.  While the new 1959 one-shot doesn’t appear to directly continue the series, it does delve into the mythology and expands upon an event mentioned during the first series, namely the “Fireworks,” which appears to be a previous White Event.

Either way, I can’t wait for this one-shot, and I hope we’ll get more newuniversal soon thereafter.  Check out the site for more details.