How Tweet It Is

Well, it's finally official: I am a Twit. Or, to be more exact (I hope), I am a Twitterer. Meaning I'm someone who sends goofy little messages via that Twitter thingie all the kids have been talking about. (Or, to be a lot more exact, I'm an author who finally let his publisher talk him into trying that Twitter thingie all the kids have been talking about even though said author is kinda skeptical about the whole danged thing.)

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, head on over to twitter.com, join up, then go here to become one of my "followers."

Yeah, I know. "Followers." Makes it sound like I've got my own cult or something.

Saaaaaaaaaaaay, that's not a bad idea. After all, it worked out O.K. for Sun Myung Moon and L. Ron Hubbard, right? So what do you think my disciples ought to be called: "Hockies" or "Hockentologists"?

Steve Hockensmith
July 7, 2009

Together Again for the First Time

Given what I've posted here about my upcoming issue of the Phantom:Generations mini-series, you might think I'd never written an illustrated superhero story before. And you'd be mostly right. I have written such a tale, it turns out. But I was never paid for it...because the publisher was me, and the resulting story was never read by anyone other than me and my older brother, Ron. Until today.

Twenty-eight summers ago, Ron and I created S&H Presents #1, a Brave and the Bold/DC Comics Presents homage/rip-off. I wrote the story. Ron did the artwork and most of the typing. He also provided (according to the masthead) "creative assistance," which mostly means he slipped in lots of silly bits that really pissed me off. Today, of course, I think it's hilarious that one of my macho men-in-tights speaks to the other "yearningly," and that his police scanner comes from Radio Shack, but at the time I just thought my brother was making fun of me. And he was. Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to laugh along and, alas, S&H Presents #2 was both a solo effort and purt-near unreadable.

El Numero Uno's not exactly Watchmen, either, but it has its moments. (You've gotta love any Superman story in which the villain refers to the Man of Steel as "a pyle of Crap.") I present the tale to you now with this solemn, pre-Phantom: Generations promise: I've gotten better at this kind of thing, I swear.

Steve Hockensmith
July 2, 2009

CAVEAT #1: For reasons that are long lost in the mists of time, S&H Presents #1 was printed on what appears to be scrap paper from the office of a Southern Indiana architectural firm. So sections about "The Ultimate in Living Family Condominiums" are not part of the Superman/Wildcat team-up story and should be ignored.

CAVEAT #2: I was 12 years old when I wrote this. Please remember that.

CLICK TO ENLARGE (IF NOT ENTERTAIN)

 

 

The Dawn of Crack

Sorry things have been so quiet around here lately, gang. I've been absolutely buried under The Project That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Man, you wouldn't think I had a new book coming out in a month, would you?

Oh, in case you've forgotten, I do. It's called The Crack in the Lens, it's the fourth "Holmes on the Range" mystery, and it hits store shelves July 21. Publishers Weekly really, really liked it, and now it turns out some other people do, too. Yeeehaa!

Texas Monthly, for instance, is calling the book "a suitably Holmes-ian investigation that is seasoned with a goodly serving of laughs." Wes Lukowsky of Booklist says "the dialogue is snappy, and the conclusion is satisfying and believable." The fine folks at Crimespree laud it as "another winner" in "a great series." And this young Hoosier of obvious intelligence and good taste finds the book, like its predecessors, to be "damn entertaining." Now that's the kind of blurb I like!

If you want to give the first few pages of the book a sample taste, just click here for an excerpt. And if (like hundreds of others across this great land of ours) you wish to bow down at my feet and worship me in person, you will soon have your chance (assuming you live in Central Texas or Northern California): the schedule for Hockapalooza '09 is finally complete!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Books Inc.
1344 Park Street
Alameda, Calif.
7 p.m.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Houston Public Library -- Central Library
500 McKinney
Houston, Texas
7 p.m.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet St.
Houston, Texas
6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
"M" Is for Mystery
86 E. Third Avenue
San Mateo, Calif.
7 p.m.
With Hockensmith-Approved "Writer to Watch"^TM Sophie Littlefield

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, Calif.
7 p.m.
With Hockensmith-Approved "Writer to Watch"^TM Sophie Littlefield

Yes, five whole signings! Eat your heart out, Michael Connelly!

Now, it's back to silence -- I'll be pulling a Gilligan and playing island castaway the next week or so. Try to muddle on through without me, if you can....

Steve Hockensmith
June 19, 2009