FEEDING GROUND _ Back to the Future

MICHAEL here:

Saturday, November 5th was "Flux Capacitor Day," the unofficial (as of yet) annual holiday celebrating Dr. Emmett Brown's innovation of the device that would make time travel possible. Swifty, Chris, and I did a little time traveling of our own recently at New York Comic Con where we had the great fortune of seeing so many old and new friends from our past who came out to support us, sometimes with artistic creations of their own or grown kids we had not yet met.

With the FEEDING GROUND Hardcover out on stores (and on Amazon) and the holidays fast approaching this seemed like a good time to reflect and do a round-up of key links and recent events from our FEEDING GROUND timeline, in reverse. You can see all FG-related blog posts HERE and we'll be detailing a select group below:

OCTOBER 31, 2011

FEEDING GROUND HALLOWEEN PARTY, SALON HECHO, NYC

In many ways for me, this event, organized by Chris, was the bow on my FEEDING GROUND experience. I had recently moved to Nashville and, even more so than at NYCC, this was a gathering of my closest friends who came to party. I was floored to have the modern Mexi-Polka band Rana Santacruz perform (they also scored the FG Trailer) and it made for the perfect so-long-for-now to the book and city of New York. You can see more photos and videos at our FG Facebook Page HERE.

OCTOBER 30, 2011

HALLOWEEN REVIEWS

"Moody, tactical, arrogant and downright chilling—Sénor Blackwell is perhaps one of the greatest villains in recent comics history." - The Comic Book Snob

From the start, reviews let us know we existed and provided a constructive mirror to let us know how our craft and ideas were received. But, this pair of Halloween reviews (from Comic Book.com and The Comic Book Snob) also included us with distinguished company (SEVERED, THE WALKING DEAD, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT) that suggested that we've earned our space on the shelf alongside them.

OCTOBER 14-16, 2011

NEW YORK COMIC CON 2011

Did a fairly comprehensive Top 11 List of the Con HERE. Major highlights included signing all of the floppy issues of FEEDING GROUND for a fan (above) and participating on Archaia's HOW TO MAKE A GREAT GRAPHIC NOVEL PANEL. All five of my clips are up on my Youtube channel and you can watch the segment about Pitching, below:

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

FEEDING GROUND HARDCOVER FOR SALE ON AMAZON.COM

No fanfare, it was just there one day after over a year of work, and soon so was our first reader review. Even more than a critic's review, this was interpretation of the story that signaled to me that the book was out of my hands and belonged to the world.

Feeding Ground uniquely captures the spirit of "The American Dream". Historically, the crossings to this land have been fraught with both fear and unfairness. The werewolves of Feeding Ground serve as metaphors, and political reminders, of the "unwelcome mat" that has greeted countless groups of immigrants, who sniffed freedom, only to be turned away from our shores. A must read for those who still believe in the Emma Lazarus inscription at the base of Lady Liberty.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

FOREWORD BY LUIS ALBERTO URREA

Luis literally wrote the book on THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY and his epic non-fiction prose educated us on the desert border; mind, body, and soul. It was an honor that he agreed to write the foreword to our Hardcover and his comments will always be all the affirmation we'll ever need. Be sure to check out both his novels and non-fiction work and you can read the foreword in my original post HERE.

APRIL, 2011

"SOMEBODY NEEDS A HAPPY ENDING"

One person we wanted to give an extra shout out to is our editor Paul Morrissey. On top of the regular proofing and production work of getting the book out the door (along with Archaia house designer Scott Newman) he gave one particular note that changed the trajectory of the final chapter of our book. Basically, a happy ending for at least one of our family members. Even after all of the trials and traps that our family went through, with repercussions resonating across the landscape, Swifty was able a believable note of hope; that our survivors can still step with integrity into an uncertain future.