DARK WORLDS 5: Another Preview

Here's one I just finished. It's going to be a great issue.

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay? http://mdjackson.deviantart.com http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

DARK WORLDS MAGAZINE

Issue #5 is coming up soon and I have been busy doing illustrations for it. Here is a teaser... just a taste to wet your appetite..

Look for it at around the beginning of summer from Rage Machine Books.

Also check out the Dark Worlds Blog.

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay? http://mdjackson.deviantart.com http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

NEW WEBSITE

It's been up for a while, but I have neglected to tell anybody about it. As Doctor Strangelove says: "Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn't you tell the world, EH?"


Well, I'm telling the world now! My new website is:

http://mdjacksonart.weebly.com/


Go and visit it.


NOW!

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay? http://mdjackson.deviantart.com http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

CO2 SCIENCE

Little bit of amazing science for you, today.



I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay? http://mdjackson.deviantart.com http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

A TENSE MOMENT FOR CHRISTOPHER LEE

"If he decides to go all Annakin Skywalker with that thing, I'll have no choice but to go all Sith on his royal ass!"

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

MASTERS OF ADVENTURE (Fully Illustrated!)

Masters of Adventure is finally out!


http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/masters-of-adventure/10299309



Featuring:

"Ms. Found in a Bottle" by Edgar Allan Poe

"Smith and the Pharaohs" by H. Rider Haggard

"The Brazilian Cat" by A. Conan Doyle

"The Grove of Astartoth" by John Buchan

"Tarzan Rescues the Moon" by Edgar Rice Burroughs

"A Thousand Deaths" by Jack London

"A Tropical Horror" by William Hope Hodgson

"The Breath of Allah" by Sax Rohmer

"The People of the Pit" by A. Merritt

"Wings in the Night" by Robert E. Howard


And fully illustrated by M. D. Jackson and G. W. Thomas

Cover by M. D. Jackson

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

SCIENCE FICTION EASTER WEEKEND

So this Easter Weekend was a big weekend for Science Fiction television for us, and I'll elaborate in a moment but first up I have a message:

DON'T WORRY! DOCTOR WHO IS GOING TO BE OKAY!

I have been watching the Doctor regenerate since John Pertwee changed into Tom Baker. This weekend's premier of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor re-assured me (did I say re-assured? Was I worried? Did I say I was worried? A 26 year old actor, young enough to be my son, playing the Doctor? Was I worried? No! Certainly not. I wasn't worried at all. Did I look worried? Because I wasn't. No, really. I wasn't) that the Doctor is in good hands.

ASHES TO ASHES

Series three premiered Friday with a bang-up episode throwing us right back into Alex Drake's coma and Gene Hunt's police department. It was a full episode that moved along at a good clip, providing just enough tantalizing hints about what's really going on as well as an exciting episode. The producers say that the third season of Ashes to Ashes will feel more like the prequel series Life on Mars. I'm looking forward to that as well as hoping for an appearance by John Sim as Sam Tyler. Don't know if that will happen but it'd be brilliant if it did.

STARCOPS

Downloaded (sorry, I mean, purchased on DVD) the entire 9 episode series from 1987. This is a strange hybrid of science fiction and British cop show, but it works well. It is intelligently written and for the most part well acted. The effects are rubbish, of course. It was made in 1987 pre-cgi. It is poilitically dated as well, with the U.S. and Russia still on a cold war footing. But there is so much going for it. This is a show that really deserves a re-make.

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

THIS IS SCIENCE FICTION

A while back I was visiting a local comic/card/gaming store and I spied this huge box with this amazing artwork. I was drawn to it, naturally, not becasue I am a big fan of RPG boardgames but because the box art and design just screamed SCIENCE FICTION to me. This represents everything that I find cool about SF (though some purists might sneer at it and call this mere Space Opera, and that's okay).

The box art is by artist Scott Schomburg (a relation of Alex Schomburg? I don't know and couldn't find any evidence yay or nay. Perhaps someone else knows?) and it has everything that attracts me about science fiction... everything that tickles my sense of wonder: Alien races, spaceships, far-flung empires, trade, politics, intrigue. It's all here.

Of course the more it gets defined, the less interesting it is to me. I found out some of the details. This is a description from the website:

"Twilight Imperium is a game that precipitates galactic politics, trade, and warfare in one epic board game. In Twilight Imperium, you are an acclaimed civilization, vying for galactic supremacy through any means necessary. Each civilization provides an entirely different experience with their own individual abilities and play styles. Will you play as the Emirates of Hacaan and preside over every trade agreement made in the galaxy, or will you be the Federation of Sol and rapidly take over worlds with hopes of dominating the galaxy? Whether it's clever trading, wise politics, or a swift backhand to your enemy, in Twilight Imperium, many roads lead to Rome (or Mecatol Rex), but no road is paved without its bumps. "

About the box art the designser, Christian T. Paterson says:
 

"In the middle of last month (June ‘04), the talented Scott Schomburg finished his masterful art for our TI3 box. Scott was the artist on the wonderful TI2 cover, and I wanted him to return to the subject matter once again, in a way that felt ‘classic’ but new all at once. One major advantage for showcasing the new cover is the massive ‘widescreen’ box that allows for a truly epic piece of artwork. If you own any of the typical ‘square’ games (like our LORD OF THE RINGS games, our GAME OF THRONES board game, and/or many games from publishers such a Mayfair, Rio Grande, and Days of Wonder) the TWILIGHT IMPERIUM 3rd Edition Box will be twice as large as those. Basically, it will be as big as two of such square boxes standing side by side. In other, more humble, words … it will be HUGE!!!"

And indeed it is. He goes on to explain what the races are but I prefer just to look at the artwork and come up with my own.
 
Here's some more of Scott Schomburg's illustrations for Twilighht Imperium:
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 
I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

SIX TRUTHS AND ONE OUTRAGEOUS LIE

Well my thanks (I think) to Joshua Reynolds for tagging me on this meme-virus thing.

So now I must now list six outrageous lies and one truth about myself (or vice-versa), then afflict six others. As I am a champion of truth I will choose to do the Vice-versa. So here are six absolute truths and one outrageous lie:

1.) I met William Shatner at an event in Vancouver called the "Lift for Life" celebrating Rick Hansen's "Man in Motion" tour. I walked up to him, shook his hand and blathered something about Captain Kirk being my boyhood hero. He thanked me and I went back to where I had been sitting with a group of people wearing Starfleet Uniforms.

2.) I have stood six feet away from J.R.R. Tolkien. (or at least what remained of him after having been dead for years).

3.) I once peed on the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

4.) I once told Spider Robinson a pun so bad it made him laugh and pretend to bang his head on a restaurant table.

5.) I once tricked a room full of klingons into whistling the theme to the Andy griffith Show.

6.) I once rudely interrupted Bryan Adams in order to talk to two British actresses. (Amanda Donohoe and Sammi Davis)

7.) I was once made into a vampire. While I was being transformed the room filled up with other vampires and I was inducted into their society. I then went into a lounge and ordered a Bloody Mary and spent the rest of the evening drinking with Raymond E. Feist.

(I should point out that the vampire thing didn't take and I am no longer one of the undead.)

So it's up to you to figure out which is the outrageous lie. It's probably not the one you think.


I'm supposed to tag six people but I don't think I'm gonna do that. I'll just send a shout out to my good buddy G. W. Thomas at Dark Worlds. I'm sure he's got some stories.

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

SWORDS OF FIRE now on sale! Four novellas by David A. Hardy, C. J. Burch, Jack Mackenzie, G. W. Thomas and cover and illos by yours truly!

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

ROBOTS!

I love robots. I mean, who doesn't? (aside from a few future-fearing luddites who are kept awake at night by nightmarish visions of cylons destroying the same humanity that created them... or future fearing luddites who think that the "3-Laws Safe" robot line just isn't good enough... or future fearing luddites who just can't tolerate the idea of Victor Frankenstein's unholy creation sharing the same air as the rest of the God-fearing village).

Hmm. Maybe not everybody loves robots.

But I do.



I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio

10 FACTS...

I'm not sure where this whole 10 FACTS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME got started. I just read about 10 made-up facts about Joshua Reynolds.

For some reason that prompted me to write 10 facts you didn't know about me but are ABSOLUTELY true. (in no particular order)

1. Harlan Ellison once told me I was weird to my face.

2. I have deliberately dribbled wine down my chin in a fancy restaurant while talking to the waitress.

3. I once had to shout (in all seriousness) "Don't play baseball with the salami!"

4. I once entered a "Design a Monster for Doctor Who Contest" put on by the BBC. I won third prize: a Doctor Who book autographed by Peter Davidson.

5. I once stole a tray of sandwiches from a catering table at a beauty pageant

6. I once received a telepathic message from my wife. I cannot explain it to this day.

7. I have heard wolves howling at the moon while I was in the deep woods at night. Later that night those same wolves ran through our camp.

8. I am the great, great, great, great, great grand nephew of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) of the Canadian Army. He is famous for writing "In Flanders Fields".

9. I once got drunk while hosting a radio show in Vancouver.

10. Moebius once drew a couple of pictures for me. I only asked for his autograph

I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio