Alex Schumacher

End of October update

October 28, 2015 Alex Schumacher

No, your eyes do not deceive you, this is actually a second post inside of a month! There have been a number of developments recently and instead of expecting the countless attention-deficit web-surfers to hang on my every depraved word via social media (the links are to the right if you’ve got the stomach), I thought I’d give a rundown of what’s come so far in one convenient location.

Don’t say I never gave you anything, ingrates.

On Monday, October 5th, Drunk Monkeys published my short story Rock the Cash Bar. It’s the uplifting tale of a groomsman participating in his sister’s wedding whilst fed up with the very notion of love, scoffing and sulking his way through the ordeal. If that sounds like a hoot of a read to you, preview an excerpt here and then hop on over to Drunk Monkeys to take it all in.
October 21st saw the release of the new issue of The Round Up Writer’s ‘Zine featuring another short story of mine entitled Loathe and an Elevator. In this yarn, our narrator recalls the end of a particularly tumultuous relationship culminating in the titular emotion and man-made structure. The editor called it “a hilarious piece full of snarky commentary”. Get yourself a taste here, and then run, do not walk god-damn it, run to The Round Up Writer’s ‘Zine and download the current issue.
Then, coming this Friday, October 30th, to an internet-capable device near you will be my new weekly feature Decades of (in)Experience! I’ve partnered with online publisher Antix Press to bring you the saga of Luke Carlin, a thirty-something victim of his generation and prisoner of the millennial zeitgeist. You’ll be able to follow his misadventures every Friday, drinking and ranting along with a fella who, like many of us, lives paycheck-to-paycheck and never received the instruction manual to life.

I’ll catch up with you in a few weeks with a fistful of announcements about upcoming projects and published pieces, including poetry to be included in the November issue of Yellow Chair Review. Until then, I bid you a feigned farewell and wish you a happy (and hopefully inebriated) Halloween! Spirits indeed…

October news and updates

September 30, 2015 Alex Schumacher

Fall, the last quarter, and my favorite time of the year is upon us. The weather drops, heralding the break-neck ride into the holiday season where good cheer, germs, and the almighty dollar are scattered with reckless abandon. This year as we head into October, I’d like to toss y’all some stale bread crumbs leading to some new work:

On Monday October 5th Drunk Monkeys will be publishing my short story Rock the Cash Bar. They are self-described as “Part Literary Magazine/Part Film Blog/Totally Original”, and have committed themselves to publishing work that’s as eclectic as possible, from some of the most exciting emerging voices in the literary scene. Find them on Facebook here and visit their site here, where you will be able to read my story.
With a release date to be determined, The Round Up Writer’s Zine will feature my short story Loathe and an Elevator in their October issue. They are devoted to fresh and relatively unpublished writers, with a particular interest in transgressive pieces, dark humor and works laced in sarcasm. If this is your brand of whiskey—I sure as hell know it’s mine—join The Round Up on Facebook here and find their site here. Check both places or back here for the release date.
Beginning October 19th Antix Press will begin running my weekly illustrated feature, Decades of (in)Experience. Without divulging too much, it’s about navigating the tempestuous and fucked up waters of adulthood… Without so much as a clue of what it means to be an adult. Your guess is as good as mine. Antix Press will begin running teasers soon in preparation and anticipation of the big launch, so be sure to visit them here.
While this is a bit further out, the November issue of The Yellow Chair Review will feature a poem of mine entitled Random Texts to the One You Love. They are a newer journal seeking work that is deep down in your guts, work that makes you churn and makes you ache. I’m thrilled they saw the bloodshed in my piece and am looking forward to unleashing it on the world. Go say howdy to them on Facebook here and pore over their site here. Be sure to tell ’em who sent you!

Thanks for sticking with me through the flash flood of news. There’s much more to come, with a herd of rehabilitated short stories and poems released into the wild, as well as developments on the novel, and projects in the works. So come on back and be sure to also follow me on Twitter @AJSchumacherart for nuggets of gold, profanity, and self-indulgent profundities.

Salud!

Lynch the Literati!

September 19, 2015 Alex Schumacher

Just a quick update this time around, giving a bit of a recap on my reading at the XL Publichouse last Saturday, September 12th.

A decent sized, mostly attentive crowd indulged me through about an hour and a half of poetry. The craft beer served by the bar is strong, so I’m certain liberal imbibing played at least a small role in the response from those in attendance. When all was said and done, 21 poems—mostly in prose format—were served up hot and steaming. A few generous souls took pity and treated me to a drink. By the last poem I’m not certain whether or not I was even speaking English anymore, but everyone seemed entertained, if nothing else. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

There are some bad ass announcements coming early next month. No bullshit, there’s some cool things in the works. C’mon back in October for the scoop, y’hear?

September news and updates

September 5, 2015 Alex Schumacher

Here we are, folks, already in the 9th month of 2015. I don’t know about you, but it’s been a god-damn whirlwind for me!

For this go-round I just wanted to share a couple of quick updates.

In a week (Saturday September 12, 2015) I will be reading some selected poems, flash fiction, and story excerpts at the XL Publichouse in Salinas, CA. For more information you can visit the events page here, or see the Facebook advertisement here. If you’re in the area come on out, have a few drinks with me, and let’s get rowdy! Show starts at 9pm.

Shaping up nicely is a weekly feature which will be running soon on the Antix Press site. Though I can’t reveal too much as of now, it will be launching in October of this year so keep an eye out here for the official announcement.

More news coming soon-ish on short stories, poems, and the novel. Until then, check out some of my words, and have a great Labor Day weekend! I’ll be downing a few and hope you will be too.

Salud and bottoms up!

In the beginning, there was Finality…

August 1, 2015 Alex Schumacher

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s August already.

The eighth month of the year.

2015 is over the halfway mark and I have no fucking clue where the time has gone. The Stones may have had time on their side, but this humble blogger can’t seem to figure out which end is up these days. Actually, that isn’t entirely true. This year has just been somewhat of a sleep-deprived, muddled smear thus far with many a personal changes and many a stories developing, filling notebooks and other such blank pages in the forms of novels, shorts, and poems.

Speaking of such vowel movements, a new short story of mine entitled Finality has been published by the good folks of questionable taste over at Every Writer’s Resource. Kind enough to sully their site with the likes of my prose, EWR: Short Stories has even gone so far as to feature my story on their front page.

She lay on the bed crying, the tears wouldn’t cease. The world was so god-damn unfair. She had gone to bed two hours earlier in an attempt to escape the memories and find some much needed rest. Rest eluded her, as did any form of peace or solace. It had been a week since his departure. Though it wasn’t his fault, she couldn’t help but feel resentment, a supreme anger.

He had left her alone.

He had left her in pain.

Fault didn’t matter as she cried into the sprawling loneliness of the apartment bedroom. The sobs ricocheted off of the walls, rippling through the tiny, sparsely furnished one bedroom walk-up they shared.

The night he abandoned them, alcohol flowed heavily. Whiskey always flowed heavily. After another bottle, another fight, he disappeared. The last memory she had was the revving of his engine, the screeching of his wheels.

To read the story in it’s entirety, visit EWR: Short Stories Finality page here and keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements on other offerings of the vaguely literary variety. Now log off and go do something productive with your weekend!

Novel update

June 28, 2015 Alex Schumacher

As of last week, I have completed the first draft of my novel. It was six months of nose to the stone, with a few minor detours here and there, and I am relieved to have completed the initial leg of this journey. I also have several short stories and poems out to journals for consideration and will update on all of these endeavors and more as regularly as humanly possible, which means you can expect infrequent but informative posts.

Have a happy and gluttonous July 4th everyone! Until next time…

More words, less pictures

April 1, 2015March 13, 2016 Alex Schumacher

Greetings intrepid travelers of the internet! As of late I’ve been focused mainly on my writing endeavors cranking out short stories, poems, and the bulk of a new novel. I look forward to sharing all of the output with you shortly.

Make sure you sign up to follow me so you can receive updates on when my work is published, new comics and where I’ll be popping up next whether it be the local watering hole for a drink and a book release, or a vacant street corner for a reading.

Things are just starting to get good so check back often and I’ll see you on the other side.

2015 updates!

February 26, 2015March 13, 2015 Alex Schumacher

2015 is off to a roaring start, hence the lack of updates. There’s a lot of exciting things in the works and, while there are some I am not at liberty to divulge too much information, here’s a rundown of what I can share.

The Guitarist kickstarter will (hopefully) be coming your way next month from the good people at Under Belly Comics. CW Cooke and I have been wanting to share this story with everyone for some time and have now been lucky enough to find a publisher who is not only willing to distribute this crazy book, but allowing us to do it our own demented way. Maybe they’re insane. Along with our talented colorist Jeremy Kahn, we’re looking forward to bringing this tale of epic madness to you later this year. Here’s a sample page :

Recently my time has been occupied by storyboarding thanks to my agent and the very cool DreamWorks TV (yes, that DreamWorks). I was hired to board an episode entitled Wish Delivery of their series Astrid Strudelman: The Unicorn Whisperer, created by Thessaly Lerner, aka The Ukulady, with animation by Will Guy. They’ve been fun to work with and it’s been a killer experience so far! I’ll be sure to update when I have more information as to when the episode will air. Without giving away too much of the story, here’s a look at some of the work in progress.

There are also a ton of short stories in the works, some being pitched to literary magazines and journals, as well as a novel being developed. Excerpts from both may be posted soon on the writing page, so keep an eye out.

That’s all for now, folks! Hope everyone else out there is having a great 2015 so far as well.

End of year project updates

December 15, 2014December 15, 2014 Alex Schumacher

Very merry greetings to all! I do hope your holiday season is great so far, and would just like to take the time on this stormy winter day to give everyone an update on projects of mine to look out for in the new year.

My new picture book, and follow up to The World’s Crummiest Umbrella, is in production now. It will be published by Wandering in the Words press and is tentatively slated for a spring 2015 release. Without divulging too much of the story, I wanted to share a peek of the main character from this whimsical little tale. Here is a quick sketch from my collection of character designs and story notes:

As shared in a previous post, Under Belly Comics has picked up The Guitarist, the new graphic novel series from CW Cooke and myself. The story and artwork are currently undergoing some cosmetic overhauls as we put together the rest of our creative team. Check back here often for production art and updated on release information. This is going to be one wild ride, and to whet your whistle, here’s a teaser image brought to you with backgrounds by colorist Melch Valimento.

There are also some exciting developments which have occurred recently in the animation industry. Unfortunately there isn’t much that I can share as of now, but I’ll reveal that there are some series pitches submitted to networks as well as other opportunities which have presented themselves that may serve as entrance into the field. Hopefully there will be more to share in the new year, so for now, send your good vibrations my way and think happy thoughts.

2015 is going to be one exciting year! Happy holidays y’all!

Happy Turkey Day

November 26, 2014November 26, 2014 Alex Schumacher

Holiday greetings to all of the great folks who take the time to come visit my site! I created this piece entitled “Dinner Music” just for all of you (click the image to enlarge). I hope you all have a joyous Thanksgiving full of family, fun and, of course, FOOD! Amidst all the hubbub, don’t forget to take a moment to reflect on what makes you truly thankful.

Before I take off on my trek for turkey, I wanted to share a few photos taken from the event held by Old Capitol Books last weekend for The World’s Crummiest Umbrella. I had a great time talking and reading to a wonderful group of attendees, both young and not so young. A huge thanks to everyone who came out and I’ll post more pictures soon!

The next event will be held at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco on Saturday, December 13th. If you’re in the area, come on by, say howdy, and pick up some early holiday gifts. As they say, the greatest gift is a passion for reading.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone! Gobble! Gobble!