This is that Pete’s site. Yeah, THAT Pete.
| June 7th, 2010The weather seems to have turned a bit nasty. Each gust of wind brings a wall of water onto my West facing window. I have been neglecting this website for my tumblr blog posted below. I figure I’ll keep my personal shit on this relative unknown WP blog. Basically, this is where I vent my anxiety, achievements and all those other wonderful things.
I’m sitting here in my near empty bedroom. We’re on the cusp of moving to our new place on the Port Hills. Most of my things save for my desk, bed, computer, speakers, fan and coffee machine have been packed into the garage ready to be shifted out next weekend. We have been shifting, cleaning and gardening for the last week or so. The house is looking pretty good. I’m going to miss this house. Not because I like this place but because of the memories we’ve forged here. I never particularly liked this flat but the location was more than convenient. Just like Clarence Street before it, I will look at Armagh Street with fond nostalgia. Times like my 20th Birthday Party really stand out. I loved that we could pull together the various people from our extended friendships into one place to socialise and have fun. I’m not saying that our new house won’t be the place of many social occasions, it will, I’m just appreciating the gatherings we’ve had at Armagh. I love memories, good or bad. They fuel my creative furnace. Which is a good thing being an aspiring writer and all.
Alas, onward we go. The new house on Whareora Terrace will be the best house I’ve lived in since moving out of Chilcombe Street when I was 18 years old. It will be glorious. A proper house on the hill and not some tiny flat in the inner city/student suburbs. I just can’t wait to set up my desk in front of that panoramic view of Christchurch and type out some Flint Babylon.
Speaking of Flint Babylon, I am 75% through issue one. I’ve been at 75% for some time having been more occupied at keeping the house tidy, preparing for open days that no one comes to and packing away my things. As soon as everything at the new place is set up accordingly I’ll have to get straight to work on Flint over the week or so leading up to my trip to Wellington with Loren. I once said to Allanah a few months ago that having a lot of events on my platter makes me nervous and anxious. A feeling of entrapment. Looking at the things I have in store for the next few months now, I am fuckin’ excited. Moving in to the new house (and reading all of the E3 Expo announcements around the same time), going to Wellington and then my 21st Birthday is right around the corner.
I have some solid stories plotted out for the next few issues of Flint Babylon. What I love about the world Jonny and I have created with Flint is that you can jump in at any moment and be entertained. Every story is a standalone adventure set in the Flint universe. We have crafted something with a lot of potential and all that is required now is for us to put it into comic form. I hope everyone enjoys it and sees it how we see it. I sometimes worry about Flint Babylon not being serious or thought provoking enough and that it’s just action for the sake of action. You can replace “action” with “swearing” and “alien guts” as well. Then I say to myself, “Well, fuck it. This is my campy pulp sci-fi with heroes that shoot commies and aliens and commie aliens. If you want thought provoking you can read Prosperity!”
That said, Prosperity is a whole other bag of chips. It is a long and arduous task. On one hand we’re worldbuilding; creating a feasible future Earth. Then, on the other hand, we’re trying to craft loveable characters, convincing villains and a crooked plot that makes you shiver with excitement. It’s hard to balance both parts to Prosperity. There’s the World and the Story. Both rely on one another but it’s easy to get stuck in one and find you’ve been writing about garbage disposal in a space station for the last hour. Prosperity is the story that Jonny and I have been imagining in our heads since we were kids playing games in the backyard and scribbling space ships and futuristic cities in the back of our school books. I hope that we can deliver the sense of wonder, mystery and that fuzzy feeling of a complete, well rounded story that made me feel so accomplished when I finished reading Watchmen, Transmetropolitan and Sandman. I want my work to inspire the next generation just like those works have inspired me.
OK, enough jabbering about what I should be doing right now. I have some free time so I’m going to get some writing done. I believe I left Flint Babylon inside a giant floating space god’s colon last time I visited him so I best be getting back to that.
-Pete
P.S. thinking about designing a new theme for this site. Something nice.
