In which we whimsify about wild weather, walkies and worthless whistles. Plus writer Brian Barr joins us to talk about his Empress comic, hurrah! So much for alliteration. Lurcher lovers should board the first carriage only; comics enthusiasts should proceed to the far end of the train.

Lurchers first, then.

There is no ‘I’ in team. That’s because I is here, on my own, staring at mounds of mud-splattered washing and paw-marks over every surface. I’m fairly sure that’s one on the ceiling over there. Goodness knows, I love my longdogs, but the weather this winter has seriously challenged my desire to leave the computer chair.

In previous years, we’ve had some great walks in the snow. Django is especially fond of snow, and digs his muzzle into it so that he can throw it in the air, like a little kid. Ice is quite fun as well. Two long dogs in tandem do a great job of hauling you along like a world-class skater, and make you the envy of passing Jack Russell owners.

This year – storms and rain since November. Mud so deep in the woods that I’ve almost lost my wellies a number of times. And the wind…

I have three problems with constantly walking in high winds:

1. Chilli, our alpha huntress, is only fully manageable on the whistle-treat system. For starters my fingers have been too numb to find the whistle under layers of clothing. I look like a terrible accident at a jumble sale on most walks, as if three old ladies were involved in a head-on collision and all their second-hand cardigans became one huge bundle with a beard sticking out. Worse, Chilli doesn’t always hear the whistle (or me calling her) because of the wind. A loose Chilli is a sort of wiry black missile, which even Django can’t catch.
2. That suspicious movement in the distance. You develop an additional sense if you have longdogs, a sort of long-range peripheral vision. Anything shifting in those bushes over there, a shadow moving on the far side of the field and so forth. Is that an alsatian off the lead, or a piece of cardboard? Trying to work out what is a potential risk, and what is just an airborne cornflakes packet, has become a nightmare. Recently the wind has been so bad that everything is whipping around madly, including people’s wheelie bins, car hubcaps, plastic bags and probably smaller, less well-anchored dogs. I dread the day when a Yorkie or a miniature poodle flies past. Snack-sized dogs are always a worry…
3. Poo bags. I am a dutiful sort of fellow, but pursuing escaped poo bags across a field which is mostly underwater is not my idea of fun. If you get them out of your pocket, they catch the wind, turn inside out and whip around trying to get free, seeking only to join that colony of liberated poo bags living in the nearby woods. Old, half-shredded bags gather round the young ones at night and shake their heads as they tell the little bags about how they escaped from The Beardy Man. I am their Urban Legend. This might be a minor problem, except for the fact that Django has days when he decides he needs multiple bottom-emptying stops, usually when a family with lots of curious children goes by. He does like an audience, and poo bag hell in high winds starts again…

Add to that my frozen ears, and I submit, m’lud, that it’s about time these bloody winds stopped. I rest my case.

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Now, as I am the only serious comics lover on the greydogtales team (unless you count Twiglet, who enjoys chewing the edges off a good graphic novel) I shall continue in First Person. The Magic Loft here is renowned for its many wonders, one of which is a large collection of old comics. You can’t get at half of them, because of the books, the vinyl LPs, the clothes which will never be worn again, forty seven draft novels with bits missing and the large, rusty television aerial. This last item is crucial, because the cable from it runs down the outside of the house and is the only thing which anchors the thirty foot of jasmine growing into the bedroom window.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, comics. In the last year I’ve renewed my expeditions up there and managed to extract a good quarter of the old comics. Wondrous treasures. So I thought I’d explore some newer stuff, hence things like our article on the Hellboy spin-off, Edward Grey, Witchfinder, a while ago (see the 3 sir edward greys). And in the process I bumped into writer Brian Barr. Having apologised for the light bruising, I could only make it up to him by letting him say something about his own comic, Empress.

A collaboration between Cruel Productions and Isle Squared Comics, Empress is both easy and hard to describe. The visuals, layout, all that technical stuff I leave to others, but the writing certainly caught my eye. Empress shifts between time zones, characters and viewpoints, always anchored one way or another by the titular character. I’ll let Brian tell you the rest, along with a bit about himself:

Lines of Inspiration

My name is Brian Barr. I’ve been writing and telling stories since I was a kid. I always liked ghost stories, and would often share them with family members. I grew up with a mom who loved horror, so horror and dark stories rubbed off on me. I also loved comic books growing up, and eventually got into fantasy and science-fiction. I also like literary fiction from time to time.

My favorite authors are Anthony Burgess, Tad Williams, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alan Moore, Clive Barker, Jon Walter Williams, and Jim Starlin. I love Japanese manga and my favorites are Akira (also love the movie), Lone Wolf and Cub, and Devilman. Anything that is creative and thought-provoking really fascinates me, and I like to explore different social themes in my writing. Along with gaining inspiration from books and authors that I like, music is very inspiring, and I like many types of music ranging from rock and punk to ambient electronic music. Different cultures and societies from around the world also feed my inspiration, as noticeable in Empress.

Empress is a comic co-created by Chuck Amadori and myself. Chuck is an amazing writer and encourages me to get better in our collaborations. The artist of Empress is Marcelo Salaza, whose great talent turns my scripts into living works of art along with Geraldo Filho, our current colorist. Matheus Broncas colored issues 1-4 before Filho and his work is just as stunning.

Empress starts as a supernatural noir horror-thriller, and there is a mix of other genre in the work as well, from dark fantasy to historical fiction. The comic revolves around a character I created in 2011 named Zia, a Hollywood starlet from the 1930s who suddenly ends up missing. A private eye is sent to find her by the movie studio Zia works for, and he finds that Zia’s fate is beyond anything that he could have imagined.

We planned Empress as an ongoing comic series, and we’re almost halfway through the scripts we’ve written so far. We’re working hard to get it out there and share a new, unique story with lovers of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and good fiction period. We’re creating our own mythology with inspiration from many archaic cultures, and forging a fun, dark story that people can enjoy.

Along with the Empress comic book, my first novel, Carolina Daemonic, Book 1: Confederate Shadows, is available on Amazon in Kindle and Print. I have many short stories in a range of magazines and anthologies from Dark Chapter Press’s Kill for a Copy (with more to come from Dark Chapter Press), Nebula Rift, New Realm Magazine, and different publications from J. Ellington Ashton Press. Just type in Brian Barr in the Amazon search, my stuff will come up.

Thanks for this opportunity to join in the fun, greydogtales.

It’s been our pleasure. You can find out more about Brian’s writing at his site here:

brian barr books

Empress #5 is the start of a new story arc, but in addition to back issues you can also get #1 – 4 as a single edition.

empress at amazon

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We’re a little over-stuffed here in the ramshackle shepherd’s hut. So what comes over the next couple of weeks is a mystery. An interview with Neil Baker of small press April Moon, Steve Vernon on supernatural sea stories, more Lurchers for Beginners, a feature on the new Carnacki audio production, David Senior‘s fabulous photography and Scary Women 2 are all waiting somewhere.

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