baD kARmA INk

Hadn’t heard from Chris today, but considering I got a drunken “I love you, bro” text last night it may be a while. Anyways, here is the award winning script for Brotherhood of the Hand. Guess I have to finish off the novel now…

That’s right, we want you:  Your thoughts, your feelings, and, most importantly, your content.  If you’d like to submit anything, art, fiction, reviews, poetry, music, whatever, just drop us a line at slushpile@badkarmaink.com and we’ll happily take a look.

As Tony stated, I was at attendance for the American Gods shindig at the House on the Rock with Ben and my girlfriend Joanna. He also stated that I was going to write up my take on the whole event.

Unfortunately, I have no idea where to start.

I mean, I could start with our arrival, the milling around awaiting the opening of the bar or the tent where Neil was to make his appearance or the cast of characters in attendance. Or maybe I could start with the air of anticipation and amazement that oozed from the crowd.

Ah, I know, I’ll start at the beginning.

I picked up American Gods more or less at random. I was probably just looking for something to read and chose it because it was written by Neil Gaiman, and, really, you can’t go wrong there.  Little did I know…

If you haven’t read it, you totally need to, especially since I’m going to drop some minor spoilers.

The book posits that the gods of the old world moved to the U.S. with the immigrants that once worshiped them, but as the belief fades, so does their power. Weakened, they are more reliant on places of power, places like the House on the Rock.

The scene in American Gods concerning the House wasn’t long, but it did play an important role. As such, Gaiman gave it the proper respect with a wonderful descritption of the House and the highlights of the fantastic collection of Alex Jordan.

Had I not seen the signs, I would not have believed it was a real place. After all, who would believe that the world largest carousel is in a backwater town in Wisconsin? Who would believe a madman built a 3 story whale diorama?

Well, the description, as seemingly impossible as it was, stuck with me. After all, I knew it was a real place and maybe, just maybe, it was as fantastic as it sounded.

Finally, years after finishing the book and purposely leaving it in Texas for my family to read, I got the opportunity to go to the House on the Rock, and let me tell you, Neil Gaiman’s description could not do it justice. The scope, the enormity, the complexity, the madness, it… It just can’t be put into words. Many have tried and few ever manage to convey the magic that is Alex Jordan’s madnness, but American Gods probably is the closest.

I love the place.  Hell, I’ve been there 3 times this year, and I have to tell you, it really is magical. That’s the only way to describe it: magical.  One of those trips was this summer with my family and the look of amazement on their faces was inspiring.

I saw that look on the faces of hundreds of people this past weekend.

Yes there was a reading/Q&A, yes there was autographs to be had, and yes there were many a talk and panel only interesting to myth and/or literary dorks like ourselves, but none of that could compare to Saturday night.

Imagine, if you will, a dark, strange, magical place of twisting corridors full of huge brass objects, vast collections of dolls, sculptures, miniatures, old clockwork curiosities, and self playing musical set pieces. Now, add in hundreds of like minded people that either love the House on the Rock or the dark literary rock star that is Neil Gaiman, all in costume, from a 15 foot tall Statue of Liberty to dozens of characters in the book, wandering from room to room, bar to bar, talking, eating, drinking, enjoying, and generally having a good time.

In a word, it was simply AWESOME.

Ladies and gents, as you can see the bkI blog is up and running, barely. I have never had a db go this bad on me ever before, and it was a pain to fix, but we’re finally back up and running.

Unfortunately we’re not at 100%, so expect to see tweaks and changes as time goes by.

Now, the important stuff: Content is already coming down the feed with more to come, specifically we’ll catch-up with Brotherhood of the Hand and bkI will be at The House on the Rock this Halloweekend to celebrate Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, not to mention write up the cool things that are happening, take pics, watch Joanna try to seduce Neil, etc.

Stay Tuned!

baD kARmA INk is back in black baby!!!