citizens emerge

Super-Hero Shared Housing's eleventh (!) installment is here.



Sayeth Collision...

Issue 11, Citizens Emerge, is another of my poison-pen love letters to Heinlein. I literally grew up on RAH--my dad's favorite writer--which is probably why every couple paragraphs, I get the urge to drop everything and let my characters argue about politics.

The middle section is me homaging Rob't Parker, who I adore, by way of third-rate novelists like Michael Stackpole. That is to say, it's a wildly overwritten chunk of expository text, with lots of overblown pontificating about manhood and relationships between warriors, as in Stackpole, combined with manly men who cook, as in Spenser novels. The particular dish made by Akka/Dekka in this one is based on a closely-guarded Collision family recipe.

Oddly, the character that Akka's based on was, in real life, responsible for beginning the (ongoing) process of teaching me how to cook. Many years ago, he declared it "Pad Thai Night", and demanded some kitchen assistance. At one point, he turned around and demanded "God damnit, Collision, when are you going to learn how to cut an onion?" In a complete betrayal of my entire existence, I just said "How about right now?"

The tater tot dressing is a sauce of my own innovation, and it is outstanding.

The rest of the issue is my take on Tinzeroes-style autobio. Sitting around the living room, watching one dude clean a bike while another plays video games, talking shit about everything, a little bit of porn, tastefully presented... The sad thing is that not only have I done all this stuff, I have actually *gone to other people's houses* to do this stuff.

The title comes from one of my favorite songs, "ashes", by the Grabass Charlestons. The song is well worth quoting in its entirety, but the specific line is "drink until the sun comes up and citizens emerge", which is as good a description as any for this life.

In other news, Collision claims to have completely distributed his first print run of Super-Hero Shared Housing Omnibus Volume 1 (collecting the first six issues!) down in Oakland, whilst the few I have on hand languish on my desk (I'm waiting for a big truckload of 'em to get here) here in Portland.



All goes well they should appear in stores in the next week or two. Also, you should be able to order it here and get it sent to you in the mail pretty soon.