Are you a writer? If you are, then you’ve probably written a book or something. Something probably pretty amazing. Or maybe really bad but hey, trust me it will get there. Hint: Kill them. It will work so much better. Or throw in knitting motifs. Everyone loves knitting. Put in both and you’re guaranteed Greatest Gen and Baby Boomer readership.
Whether if it’s ready to go or on its 5,000 edit, there is the possibility that said future award winning oeuvre is still lacking a title. And that fact is really turning into a problem. Believe me, we’ve been there. You just can’t name the thing. It bothers you, waking you up at night and while you pee. It’s painful. However, you should be relieved to know it is quite a common condition, one you should never be ashamed of. We’re here today ready to help.
How can you find the best title for your piece? Luckily there are many routes you can take for optimum shelf appeal and cash grab-ability (hotcha). Locations are always a hit, especially if you’re going for beach-house chic (e.g. Lush Lagoon). A most practical method is pulling from a key line of description (e.g. Peacock Eyelids or Civet Perfume). You can also try pulling from a piece of dialogue ( e.g. I Knew Him More Than A Reflection). For panache you could do the main character’s name plus something, an object or action relating to them in the piece (e.g. Janelle’s Swim, Bartleby’s Stethoscope, Anna’s Wooden Clogs). As always, an abstraction of what happens in the narrative
is usually effective and intriguing (e.g. Slinky Kinky Aspirations). There’s also the route of using an obscure jazz song or movie titles that may thematically fit (e.g. Solid Potato Salad, Gone With The Febreeze). Of course no one can resist the one word heavyweight (e.g. Malformation)
For those title-less writers in need who’d rather not think, we have done a lot of exhaustive research (like a whole…thirty minutes worth) and pulled from library circulation experience to compile a list of 100 surefire “Best Seller” book titles tailor-made for you and your work. Will it have anything to do with what you’ve written? Probably not, but man will it be snazzy looking.For those who are writers but are currently manuscript-less, don’t feel anxious that this list won’t be helpful to you, feel free to use these titles as inspiration for your own work. We want to see all of these on our library shelves.
*Disclaimer: This list is purely for comedy purposes and any book or text already in publication that carries these names, congratulations you’re amazing, brilliant and we don’t mean to besmirch your work. Our use of your work’s title is purely coincidental. Let’s get snowballs.
100 TITLES FOR YOU:
Kitten Needles
The Heir’s Hairdresser
Okay, So
Smoking During Surgery
Man Smell
Funny You Should Mention Her
Vampire’s Benediction
Call and Order Now
Whelmed
Pepper Perfect
Gates to Olive
And Then What?
Tidal Sworn
Hot Griddles
Mind The Rebellion
A Cricket Cries For Naught
Obvious Suffering
Gelatin Wobbling
I Swore Up And Down
Felled Stairs
2 Lambbs 4 Tygas
Fortuna
Malice: The Return of Ayn Rand
Hot Sauce Haughty
Paradise Lemons
Anxious Iago
Paul Newman Blue
Technobabble
Did You Just Drink That?
Sage Among Roses
The Movie Version Will Be Rated R
Marian’s Comb
Be My Editor
When Cacti Wither
Why Aren’t I Billie Piper?
Why Hasn’t Hayley Atwell Noticed Me? (The Sequel)
They Uttered Nyah
Only Orion Left
19 Lawsuits & Counting
Sempervivum
Mary Higgins Clark On The Run
Clockwork Sister and Sun
Hippolyta In Kokomo
In Another’s Agony
Nourish
Depression-Pasillo
Antigone: That Bitch Won’t Quit, And Other Greek Plays
A Wanna Hat With Cherries
They Asked Me To
I Hope You Didn’t Invest Too Much In Him
Plastic Bag Picnic
Chicken Church
Sophia Loren Would Love Me
What Lilliputian’s Wore
Vases, Spilled
Sticky Melon Water
Stop Yelling, Guy Fieri: My Summer on Food Network
I’m Dying (Not Really) And I Want To Go Home
Pineapple Weather
Like Eartha Kitt in Anna Lucasta
Playground of Justice
I’ve Chewed Too Much
Frog Chorus
Out of Avenues I’ve Been
I Saw It Somewhere (Probably Online)
Hypnos
An Affair In Progress
Soap Rings
Whatever, Ya Know?
A Book About Brunch
Grotesque Arches
I Am Gibraltar
Reading Jugend Alone
Where’s My Retcon?
The Wall Outlet
Goodbye To Cropped Front Pleat Trousers
How Do You Poop Catdog?
Something Topical
I Was A Teenage Cave Woman
Running From Britta
Cloven Hereafter
I’m All Chewed Up About It
Trash Manor
How To Find The Droids You’re Looking For: A Star Wars Self Help Book
A Blouse By Schiaparelli
Mulliganville
Wood
Elephant Waltz
An Undercut Like Superboy’s
An Alligator Zoetrope
Here! In the Wychwoods
You Better Strip Polka
Crime Show(off)
Sounds Like 80’s Synth
June, July, and August
Patterns of Pomegranates
I Wish I Was Donna Troy
Better Bitter Than Sorry
Wings Are From Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo
Pure Local Honey
Got any titles that would be absolutely stellar? Tweet them to me at twitter at @maxlikescomics #100BookTitles!
Max Eber
Staff Writer
max@sub-cultured.com
With the busy summer convention season behind them Funko has begun to crank out new sets of Pops to win over collectors. If you think that just because these aren’t glittering SDCC exclusives they are less amazing, you’d be missing out on some of the best figures of the year. Come find out which Funko Pops I think are going to make waves this Fall!
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By featuring traditional art by Matt Huynh as well as animation, sound effects, music, and video clips, the comic is not only a unique experience but an educational one. It is an example of an internet exclusive medium that needs to be looked at closer and utilized more for storytelling in the digital age. By adding interactive elements not unlike a computer game but still firmly rooted in its illustrative roots, you add additional atmosphere, immersion and context to the piece. A perfect intersection between mediums it allows easy audience (reader) engagement in a highly distractable culture in it’s ability to inform.
For “Artist Spotlight” we were not only able to view and experience this fantastic comic, but were also able to talk to Matt about the project and about his body of work as an artist.
I’m an illustrator and cartoonist from Sydney, but I’ve been living in Brooklyn the past few years. My work draws as much from South-East Asian ink painting as it does the Western superhero comics that I grew up on! I’ve worked across animation, performance, murals, packaging, advertising and editorial, but my first love was comics.
I’d love to do a superhero comic one day. Having that particular genre so saturated in the wider media today allows for greater subversion, particularly with playing in the toybox of existing worlds, characters and conventions. The breadth and possibility for content and voices in comics is much more exciting to me at the moment though.
I noticed while experiencing The Boat and then looking at your work on your website, you state that your style is informed by ink brush painting, or sumi-e and shodo. Where did those influences come from or what brought you to those art forms?
It snuck up on me a little! I grew up in a not-so-devout Buddhist household and although we weren’t very into ritual and ceremony, ink paintings and calligraphy were part of the hodgepodge household decor which I mostly ignored because I was immersed in Western comics as a kid. I taught myself how to draw by following the direction and weight of brush strokes across the pages of superhero comics. I grew up with a little bit of the stereotypical first generation parents’ emphasis upon academics and intellectual achievement, so when I started my little rebellious exploration of art and spirituality, I was introduced to the ideas of dharma art and brush art as meditative practice in local monasteries.
What do you enjoy doing most with your art?
There are ideas about putting ink onto the page as a joining of heaven (the blank page as a sea of expansive possibility or ‘ma’), earth (inspiration or thought) and human (the act). In other words, to be open, consciously and intellectually engaged, and physically energized and connected to making the work. Every stage is really integral and healthy to encourage other. Just physically keeping my drawing hand moving and my eye exercising keeps me out of my head enough to be open to discovering the unexpected. It helps to think through an idea on the page with the medium itself rather than coming up with an idea abstractly in my head about a hypothetical visual and trying to adapt it into physical ink on the page. Ultimately, pulling a brush balanced with ink is simply very sensually satisfying in the most direct way. It’s just animal hair, pulp, carbon and water!
SBS contacted me about adapting Nam Le’s story into an interactive comic. I usually don’t work from other people’s source material because comics can be such a laborious and engaging task, especially with such harrowing material. However, the content, artistry, influences, resources and collaborators enthusiastic to work on a comic that was progressive and innovative was a big incentive for me. Nam Le is an astute writer dealing with themes and a moment in history I am very personally engaged in, and working with the team at SBS offered a chance to work with top notch sound design, animation, production, archival footage and programming to take the presentation of comics online to a new level.Australia is also enforcing abhorrent and regressive asylum seeker and boat people policies that has made clear to me, and my peers, how lucky my parent’s generation were to have a government with a comparatively open hearted, empathetic and compassionate policy. It is urgent to bring stories of some of the most vulnerable people and characters back into a debate that is being told by big media outlets and political pr spin from a world away.
The leadership role of an artist is to be fearless. There’s overt censorship and then there’s the more insidious, subtle pressures that erode the confidence of young artists wishing to engage in humanitarian, activist and political issues. If an artist is worried about paying rent, they’re going to find it difficult to take a risk, speak out, or just draw attention to themselves. I would love to see more young artists and students represent their own stories and experiences in their work, including their client work. A lot of mainstream media feels regrettably forgettable and impersonal, the most obvious example being the lack of diverse roles and stories. I would loathe to think that myself as a daydreaming young aspiring artist, would grow up, finally become an artist, be in a position to communicate and work with a bigger megaphone, only to be afraid to speak up and show myself.
I’m very engaged with the act of making the work to transform myself, whether it is overtly investigating my personal history, looking at experiences from different angles, investigating and teaching myself more about communities or connecting with others by telling their stories to new audiences. Hopefully the artefact or evidence of that process is transformative for audiences too!Despite my best efforts, it’s difficult for me to depart from recurring themes of identity – particularly migration, abandonment, rebuilding, inexplicable loss and absence, race and power. These same ideas run under all my stories and art, whether they’re historical recounts or Gothic fiction, but working in different modes lets me grapple with these themes from new perspectives.For example, I did a comic about my parent’s time in a Malaysian refugee camp. Their recounts were always cursory and romanticized, making it difficult to look directly and objectively at a part of history they’ve long left in the past and aren’t eager to revisit, but it let me empathize with them, not least as a very young couple in love and learning to raise a family in extraordinary circumstances.Then I The Boat based on Nam Le’s short story. Having the benefit of another writer’s research and experience into the same moment in history and involving the same locations and even character types, let me look much more directly at a very personal part of my family’s identity with the benefit of being remove with ‘fiction’.
Would you like to do more interactive comics of this nature in the future?
I’d love to explore more with interactive comics, particularly with an original work created specifically for the digital space and this particular medium.The Boat presented such a huge challenge. It is already enough of a dilemma to adapt source material into the comics medium, but on top of that we had to research and design a new online presentation for comics from scratch, and then introduced disciplines beyond comics into the presentation – footage, animation and sound design. This project gave me a chance to explore the greatest boundaries of interactive and then make some choices about how to tell this one, particular story, but there are so many opportunities for story telling left on the table. We didn’t even use color!The opportunity to make work specifically designed for interactive comics itself, and free from source material, whether that’s history or an adaptation from another medium, would expand the possibilities for what a creator could do with interactive comics.I also toy with the idea of another adaptation, to make a work that is more about the transformation of the work itself. Where the point of the adaptation itself is its departure and possibility for change, rather than its similarities which can come across as a bit of a cerebral, tick-box exercise.
I’m currently working on some animation for rock concert projection, illustrating a short story collection, and putting together posters and projection for an arts festival! An exhibition and more writing is further down the pipeline, always being chipped away at.
Thank you to Matt Hyugh for taking the time to answer our questions. It was a huge honor.
Max Eber
Staff Writer
max@sub-cultured.com
@maxlikescomics
The first new Luke Skywalker book in the official canon is Heir to the Jedi. Written by Kevin Hearne, it takes a very interesting approach to the traditional Star Wars book by being completely told from a first person perspective. Heir to the Jedi is a sincere, quality book that that would be a good book even if it wasn’t reliant on the Star Wars universe and name. Even more importantly for me, however, is that it does some very good things for Disney’s official canon and explains the characters a bit more deeply within the Original Trilogy.
Heir to the Jedi, the 4th released novel from Disney, takes place in between Episode IV and Episode V. Luke has just destroyed the Death Star and has a base understanding what the force is, but with Obi-Wan’s death he has been left with his first taste of the force and no one to teach him. I like to imagine it as if someone were to give you one bite of chocolate only to have them disappear without telling you how to get more. Without anyone to guide him, Luke is left to explore for himself and struggles to figure out where to even start developing and mastering his connection to the Force. He is now relied upon by the leaders of the Rebel Alliance because of his recent victory against the Empire’s Death Star. Luke becomes essential in successfully completing sensitive and solo missions for the Rebels; this pulls him away from force development. He ends up being teamed up with an original character, Nakari Kelen, who as the book puts it, has “got a score of her own to settle with the empire,” for a Rebel mission that allows them to develop a relationship that helps Luke move forward in his minuscule understanding of The Force.
Heir to the Jedi is an excellent addition to the Star Wars Universe. The development of Luke as a person as well as the Jedi throughout the novel expands fans’ understanding, if only half a parsec wider, of the way Luke learns, acts and developed in the Original Trilogy. For example, we learn how he acquires the force skills to pull the lightsaber out of the ice bank in the Wampa’s cave on Hoth. We feel his frustration towards Ben’s abandonment of him as well his sorrowful and desperate plea to his old master’s voice on Hoth. We are also reminded of Luke’s age and how young and unsure of himself he is. He is uncomfortable and the mistakes he makes are a glaring reminder of where he has come from as well as what he has been through, but he learns from his struggle and, as we all know, he learns and develops into a Jedi Master. As the book progresses, Luke develops as an asset for the rebellion just as much as he does with the Force.
There is a small assumption here on my part that the limits of Force powers will be similar to the what the Legends’ canon has shown us. It seems to me that nothing in the new canon has shown us the full potential of the Force, which has me concerned. If the Force is limited to what we have seen in the movies, TV shows, and the other official novels, it won’t even we compare to what we have seen of it’s potential power from the Legends universe. The Legends canon consists of the EU or Expanded Universe canon from before Disney purchased Star Wars. Disney has decided to start fresh with its new official canon, which consists of all of the media that it puts out, games, novels, comics, movies, and TV shows. In the Legends canon, Sith Lords ate planets and Luke created a whole phantom fleet; the powers were only limited by the imaginations of the novelists and creative directors, which was amazing to follow.
Of course, most questions will likely be answered on December 18th in the new movie and I will wait with bated breath like many other fans. Based on this book and the understanding and knowledge Luke manages to find on his own there is very much hope for him to learn, all on his own, everything he can about The Force to become the strongest, wisest Jedi in the galaxy, like he was in the old EU.
Heir to the Jedi is a unique, solid book for everyone, including fans new and old, to enjoy. It does a fantastic job of deepening our understanding of Luke and his place in this universe during the time between Episodes IV and V. It also gives me hope for the future of the Star Wars Universe if Luke can learn like he did in Heir to the Jedi he can learn what he needs to be the same or similar Luke that we knew from the EU. It gives me a very bright outlook on the future of Star Wars and what Disney can do with it.
Jeremy Harris
Staff Writer/Jedi
As a little girl growing up in Alaska, my favorite store was Sanrio Surprises. We had one in the fancy mall located about 30 minutes away from my house. Visiting the store was a special treat. Every time my mom went to the nice mall, I would tag along just so I could visit Sanrio. My favorite characters were Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru. I had notebooks, photo albums, pens, and everything else offered at Sanrio with these characters on them. It was my go-to when I had money.
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When I heard about the Hello Kitty Supercute Friendship Festival I instantly knew I wanted to attend because it was an opportunity to re-connect with my favorite childhood fandom. Advertisements on TV depicted a cute, fun event and like-minded bloggers gave the impression of an event that could not be missed.
Day of the event came and you could cut the anticipation lingering around the convention center with a knife. The adorable Hello Kitty themed trailer only added to the excitement. It was like a glowing neon sign saying you made it.
People of all ages were lined up almost an hour early to get in. Fans donned cat ears, large bows, and wore lots of Hello Kitty inspired apparel. Looking at the entry line was like looking at a sea of cuteness: adorable and magical.
Sprinkled throughout the building were life-size scenes featuring characters ready for fun photos. It felt like walking through Hello Kitty’s world! You could tell that tremendous thought and care was put into each photo-op. The detail was incredible! A few of the photo-ops included Purin, Kiki & Lala, Hello Kitty in a large cup, Badtz-Maru, and Keroppi.
Another fun photo event was the opportunity to meet Hello Kitty herself! Children and adults alike excitedly waited for the opportunity to meet the iconic character. Sanrio had an adorable backdrop to pose in front of and a really nice volunteer to help take photos for you. They made sure everything was taken care of so you could enjoy the experience.
Swag-wise they had a few activities that were free and a few merchandise booths. They had a temporary tattoo parlor where you chose from nine different designs, one for each character and one of everybody together. If you couldn’t choose just one, and were willing to wait in the line again, you could get more. The tattoos looked amazing and a few people even thought they were real!
Another free activity was the face painting station. An adorable lady rocking pastel hair had a cute little booth where you could choose to have your face painted as either Hello Kitty or Keroppi. Along with the face painting you received a paper headband to complete the transformation into your favorite character.
The merchandise booths had a few event-specific items and some more general items. A few of the special items included a commemorative pin, event t-shirts, and an event poster. They also had a place for you to buy kitty ears, hoodies, slap bracelets, key chains and more. Near the merchandise booth was a place to buy Hello Kitty themed Spam. It was pretty interesting.
The festival included performances that were going on periodically throughout the evening. The performers sang and danced to cute little songs about friendship. The cast sang original songs and covers all while keeping it super-cute. The performances were adorable but definitely more aimed at children, which some may say about the entire event but we will just brush past that.
Overall I really enjoyed the event. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night and really brought me back to my childhood days. If Hello Kitty Supercute Friendship Festival comes to a town near you I definitely recommend checking it out.
Hilary Joyner
Contributor
@cutiecameras
37% Match | 63% Enemy
IstariBlanco
Super Old, Male, Middle Earth
My self-summary:
I have many names including Saruman the White and Wise, Curunír, and more recently, Sharkey. Looking for a major hottie and majordomo to help build and run my empire. Ideologically open-minded is a plus, but servitude to myself and by extension the High Lord Sauron is an A-plus.
What I’m Doing With My Life:
I am real estate and industrial tycoon with beautiful riverside property along the Isen with access to the scenic trails of Fangorn Forrest. At one time I was a lover of nature and enjoyed attending Entmoot Con, but lately my interest have swayed more toward running real-time strategy games and gem and jewelry collecting.
I’m Really Good At:
I’m a people person and a leader. For centuries I was chair of my local wizard chapter before I parted ways with the organization to pursue my own personal projects. I still like to check in with old friends from time to time over the old palantir. Call me a hipster, but I’ll choose the ancient dark arts to stay in touch with pals over Facebook every time. I’ve also recently developed an interest in genetic engineering, particularly through the developments of hybrid species.
Favorite Books, Movies, Shows, Music, and Food:
I’m a huge music fan. Top of the playlist right now:
My favorite character of all time is Fredo Corleone, but I’ve also been binge watching Vicious on the BBC.
The Most Private Thing I’m Willing to Admit:
I won’t be playing second fiddle to Sauron for long! But more private, I’ve always secretly found the stink of Orc-Flesh rather enticing.
You Should Message Me If:
Due to some recent flooding in my area and some altercations with neighbors, I’m looking to make a big move West. I’m considering pulling a Trump by transforming my nose for business into political gold and running for a local office. If you’re located in or around the Shire, drop me a message!
What a catch! What other characters are you dying to make a love connection with? Check out our other profiles here!