Zen in the Art of Fighting (aka Scrap Heap II)

[willtupper]

Hey Gang,

"Zen in the Art of Fighting" is another of my "Scrap Heap" stories. This one wasn't bought. Foreman Murph liked it, but when passed up, it got shot down by the Big Boss:

http://willtupper.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/tales-of-the-tmnt-scrap-heap-ii/

So it goes...

Rereading it today, for the first time in well over a year, I still think it's a pretty sharp little tale.

And Andrew - this is the Chang Lao tale we talked about.

Hope it's cool with the Mighty Mods here that I made this into it's own thread. There's a lot of good discussion going on in the other thread (that I'm about to go comment on), and I didn't want to derail it.

Love y'all. Your passions, wisdom, and ambitions.

WT

[Machias Banshee]

No problems with this Mighty Mod. ;)

I like seeing what could have been. Do you have any visual sketches for these two or any other stories that you offered to Mirage?

[willtupper]

Thank you, Mighty Mod! You truly are too kind :D.

Sadly no, no visual sketches for any of these stories. If I remember right, Murph was going to have artist Fernando Pinto do the art on "The Path of the Laugh." Fernando did the art for Jake Black's "The Rippling," as well as the Raphael TMNT movie-prequel comic.

Artistically, I do a number of excellent stick figures (such as, "stick figure jumping in the air!" as well as the popular, "stick figure walking"), but that's about it.

I do, however, have this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27803101@N05/2727623348/

(Hope that works) (Edit - no it didn't. I don't know how to post photos! But the link should work). Fight Club writer Chuck Palahniuk has been a huge influence on me; every one of his books seems to put a new dent in my psyche. He's written me maybe a dozen letters over the years, responded with just... incredible kindness, to all my goofy questions, and taught me endless lessons on how to do what I want to do (and why I should).

We've met in-person twice, at his book signing for the novel Diary, and a few months back for his new book, Snuff (which is SO not for kids). When I told him that my former Editor (Murph) would get a kick out of a pic of him holding the latest (and apparently now, last) issue of Tales I worked on (Chuck also sent me the sweetest congrats letter after I'd made my second sale to Mirage), he happily agreed (and Murph did get a kick out of it when I sent it to him).

Chuck's such a class act. And this "Zen" story was in a way kind of my love letter to his work...

WT

No problems with this Mighty Mod. ;)

I like seeing what could have been. Do you have any visual sketches for these two or any other stories that you offered to Mirage?

[TristanHuwJones]

Will! That picture is priceless! As is that story! Chang Lao! I had planned on using that dude too (hopefully still will! Have to wait and see how Burning Man Turns out)! Awesome to see the someone reaching into the obscure! Too many exclamation points! !!!1!!

[Andrew NDB]

Fantastic.