All posts by Nathan Marchand

Guest Author, Blog

Family in the Endgame

Guest Writer: Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel

This weekend Avengers: Endgame is re-releasing in theaters. I have teamed up with Scott Bayles and Nathan Marchand to provide content on each other’s sites inspired by the great film. Spoilers!

When we first met Tony Stark (Iron Man), he was a businessman who liked fast cars and lived for himself. Now as we enter the theater for one last big hurrah, and a huge one it was, all we knew is that he is stuck on a planet far away. We knew from trailers he seems to be stranded in space, and that is how we find him at the beginning of Avengers: Endgame. In deep space, he has no hope to give.

Captain Marvel finds Nebula and Tony on the last bit of oxygen and food they had left. Stark has even passed out and could barely look up to see her as she came to assist. His morale, like all of them, was so low, it wasn’t even reachable. They had lost and half the universe was disintegrated by the Mad Titan.

He is essentially carried home to Earth and painfully steps out of the ship dehydrated and barely able to stand. We soon learn how angry he is about everything. This was the man who had risked a one-way trip during the invasion in New York during The Avengers to save the Big Apple and stop an invasion; who tried to build “a suit of armor around the world” in Age of Ultron; who implored Captain America to stay on his side during Civil War. Now, it was time for, “I told you so.” Captain America had left him and wasn’t there to fall with him, even though he did protect Earth while Tony was away helping Dr. Strange. Tony is angry about the separation, but he’s also beaten and almost out of health points. Tony doesn’t even go with the team to face Thanos when they find out where he is. Dr. Strange had given up everything to save him, but when they first go to take the battle to Thanos, he is passed out in a hospital bed.

After finding out that Thanos has destroyed the Infinity Stones, they all come back cope with defeat and loss. Each one in his own way. For Tony, it means starting a family. He and Pepper get a house on a lake and begin raising a little girl named Morgan. Their form of coping is through family and solitude.

Family is an important theme in Scripture right from the beginning. Genesis tells us that Adam does not have a suitable “helpmate,” and so God creates a wife for him. God then tells them to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 2). As we continue reading, we find that many Bible heroes had families. Abraham had two sons, one of whom was born miraculously in Abraham’s old age. This same Abraham rescued his nephew Lot after he and many others were captured. David had many children. Unfortunately, he did not always make good choices, and so not all of them made good choices, either. Gideon had over 70 children and multiple wives.

We are not meant to live alone in isolation. Not all of us need to have five kids, but we should all have family of some form. Family can sit with us even without the words we need and still comfort us. They know what food will calm us down and how to make us laugh. On the flip side, we can fill those same voids for them on their rough days.

The other way Tony copes after all of this is solitude. In Psalm 46:10, we are commanded to “be still and know that I am God.” This means ignoring the five thousand needs to step away and pray. Jesus Himself stepped away and prayed in lonely places on many occasions. He sought a refueling from His Father in isolation. Again, family and solitude together.  

Finally, Tony’s solitude is interrupted by Steve, Natasha, and Scott with a wild idea. Tony blows it off at first, but it lingers. They go back to experiment without him, but he does his own research. Now, in much better health, he reluctantly rejoins the fight. They use Scott’s 12 percent of a plan and, with some more input for the plan, they get the Stones. While Bruce Banner is the one to bring everyone back, in the end Tony pays the high price of his life and a snap to stop Thanos once and for all. The man who started this journey 22 films and 10 years ago as a self-absorbed party animal gives his life to save the world. All he needed was to see the great needs around him and take a break from it with solitude and family before sacrificing himself to save this planet. It didn’t need “a suit of armor around the world,” but we did need an armored knight to accept the winning blow for the world. Nothing is more Christ-like than that.  

Blog

Why ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is Underperforming

(Pardon me, True Believers, as I get back into the habit of blogging).

As I discussed a few weeks ago, the American kaiju fandom had a meltdown when the Rotten Tomatoes score was revealed for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It slowly dropped to 40% over the film’s opening weekend. Meanwhile, the audience score remained high (it sits at 83% currently). Unfortunately, despite pushback from outspoken fans, the film has been underperforming at the box office, only making $49 million its opening weekend. There’s been a lot of talk as to why, but I don’t think it’s just one thing but many working in tandem, and unlike he did in Godzilla: Final Wars, Big G couldn’t defeat all of these opponents.

  1. Highly Competitive Movie Season

As much as I love Avengers: Endgame, it sucked the air out of the proverbial room. Every major studio tried to give the Disney/Marvel juggernaut at least a two-week breadth. Heck, if I remember correctly, KOTM’s release was pushed back a week or two to give the superhero epic as much space as possible. Unfortunately, KOTM still opened amidst stiff competition from other big franchises: Detective Pikachu, John Wick 3: Parabellum, Aladdin, and Dark Phoenix (making this the second time an American Godzilla film opened the week before an X-Men film). Given that Endgame dominated filmgoers’ time and money, they were less likely to go see something else that soon.

2. Ads Revealed Too Much

KOTM had an ad campaign almost as aggressive as a certain other American G-film. So aggressive, in fact, that Legendary/Warner Bros. gave too much away. It revealed things that should’ve been surprises, both in terms of plot and the kaiju fights. By contrast, the ad campaign for Godzilla in 2014 erred on the side of minimalism (much like the film itself). Warner Bros. could’ve learned something from that or the advertising for Endgame, which kept secrets from the audience. As it stands, some people probably felt like they’d seen the whole movie just from the trailers.

3. Niche Audience

Like it or not, kaiju films aren’t “mainstream.” The superhero genre managed to broaden its appeal, but kaiju have yet to do that. I don’t know why since there’s a lot of overlap with the two, but even in Japan, where the genre came into being, the same is true. Ultraman is more popular than Godzilla. Regardless, the kaiju fans turned out in droves to see KOTM, but their numbers don’t compare to the likes of Marvel fans.

4. Audience Doesn’t Know What It Wants

On a related note, the kaiju fanbase, at least in the States, can’t seem to agree on what a kaiju movie should be. From what I can tell, every Godzilla film from both sides of the Pacific has divided them since 2004. There were complaints that there was too much human story and not enough monsters in Godzilla (2014) and Shin Godzilla, but now the complaint with KOTM is there’s too much monster action. The same was said about Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Yet if you ask a fan to name one of his favorite entries in the series, he’ll likely pick a Japanese film that had little monster screen time like Monster Zero. This division not only makes the films and the fans look bad, it confuses filmmakers and undermines box office. It’s possible those disappointed with Godzilla (2014) for those reasons stayed home even though the problem was rectified.

5. Long Gap between Films

While some moviegoers complain of superhero fatigue, one of the secrets to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s success is it usually releases two or three films a year. This maintains narrative momentum and brand recognition. Even individual series within the MCU often only have a two-year gap between entries. It’s been five years since Legendary’s Godzilla reboot. Yes, Kong: Skull Island came out in 2017, but it wasn’t marketed as part of the MonsterVerse. This stymied both recognition and momentum.

6. Critics’ Reviews…

While I previously wrote that review aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes have been given too much power, the fact remains that a film’s RT score can affect box office turnout. For better or worse, filmgoers will pay attention to the scores. It doesn’t always affect it, but it more often than not does.

7. …and the Fan Backlash

That being said, the fans attacking critics as hacks because of their negative reviews hasn’t boded well. While I can’t say for sure, many of their attempts to fight against the tide of bad reviews by saying, “It’s a Godzilla film! It’s supposed to be stupid!” isn’t making anyone interested in seeing KOTM. If anything, they should try talking about what they liked about the movie or try to explain how the critics are wrong. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Sadly, the internet is flooded with vinegar.

Because of all this, Warner Bros. considered delaying the release of Godzilla vs. Kong so they could “make an A+ movie.” There were several reasons why this might’ve happened, but that’s a topic for another blog (that I may or may not write).

In the end, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a good film that faced an uphill battle, and the hill just kept getting steeper.

What do you think? Are there other reasons KOTM underperformed? What are they?

Blog

Godzilla vs. Rotten Tomatoes: A Balanced Response

After nearly a year of escalating hype, Godzilla: King of the Monsters dropped in theatres this weekend. It was one of my most anticipated films of 2019. As a fan of nearly two decades, the co-creator of Kaijuvision Radio, and a raging nerd, I went into it excited but cautious. I remembered another American-made Godzilla movie from 20 years ago or so that had just as much, if not more, hype, and it failed to deliver.

I walked out of my local IMAX theatre with a huge smile on my face. Most fans did.

Critics didn’t.

All this week the Godzilla fan community (in America, anyway) has been in a tizzy. As the critics score on Rotten Tomatoes dropped (it sits at 40% currently) and the audience score remained high (it hovers around 90%), the fans got defensive. They became the latest fandom to declare critics “hacks” who didn’t know what they were talking about, who just didn’t understand the genre or Godzilla. While many fans—including myself—said King of the Monsters wasn’t what critics claimed it was, others stamped their feet, crossed their arms, and said, “I like because it’s bad like all the other Godzilla films!”

Even Godzilla is shocked by his some of his fans’ behavior.

To be honest, I’m not all that surprised. These fans have spent years defending their enjoyment of giant monsters—or perhaps even hid it—when many people relegated such fare to schlock. That’d put a huge chip on anybody’s shoulders. While other “nerdy” genres like superheroes have gone mainstream, the kaiju genre is still trying to gain wide acceptance. I don’t know if it ever will. Regardless, I think much of this pushback from Godzilla fans stems from their defensiveness. Like many nerds, they’ve made their fandom a huge part of their lives, and when they think it’s being attacked, they see it as an attack upon themselves.

This isn’t to say that the fans don’t have valid points. Rotten Tomatoes has grown from a website that helped moviegoers make an informed decision about what films to see to a cultural force that studios think they must placate. “Tomatometer” scores can make or break a film now. At least, that’s what many movie executives fear. An aggregate of bad reviews could destroy the millions of dollars they invested in a film. That’s why they brag whenever one of their movies has a high RT rating. The problem is people aren’t engaging with the reviews; they’re just looking at the score and not reading what was said. They don’t realize that RT’s system a critic only has to answer a yes or no question—“Is it ‘fresh’?”—before posting a review on the site. A rating of three out of five will count as “fresh,” so even a “B-” or “C+” review will count. In other words, the 90% fresh rating could all be average reviews. As one fan pointed out, it has ruined film criticism by reducing it to mere numbers. But these are numbers given tremendous weight and power by lazy often readers who succumb to some form of groupthink, either in agreement or disagreement. This, in turn, has led to some borderline conspiracy theories about studios bribing critics for good or bad reviews as well as theories that studios are censoring bad reviews from users. I’m not saying any of this is true, but it is certainly possible.

The “fresh” and “rotten” logos for both critics (top) and audience (bottom) scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Fans say critics are prejudiced against the kaiju genre and don’t appreciate it. There’s some truth to that as I’ve pointed out. Their scores and criticisms often seem inconsistent, to say the least. Godzilla (2014) was criticized for allegedly not having enough screen time for Godzilla or the monster fights while focusing on human characters. Now the common complaint from critics is there’s too much time given to the monsters (I disagree, but I digress). Who wouldn’t pull their hair out? It doesn’t seem possible to please them.

But do fans know what makes a great kaiju film? I’ve often heard fans say that they want a film that’s nothing but kaiju fights. This has led to an image of the fandom that is, well, less than flattering (one Twitter user said it made the fandom look like “knuckle draggers”). In some ways it seems hypocritical. They fight against non-fans labeling the films “trash” while advocating for movies that are empty spectacle. As one YouTuber put it, fans like the “social commentaries of the Japanese films, but when it comes to American films, they just want Godzilla to eat buildings and punch monsters.” I’ll be the first person to argue that there is substance—often profound substance—in these films. Even the so-called “silly ones.” That’s why it vexes me to hear such talk from fans. It’s especially annoying because they’re basically saying, “This movie is nonstop action with human characters I don’t care about, so I love it for the reasons critics hate it! Boo-yah!” It’s kinda childish, honestly.

Ultimately, whether the reviews come from critics or fans, they are simply opinions, and as a crude old saying reminds us, everyone has opinions. It’s just that, for whatever reason—be it experience, education, position, or whatnot—we have elevated the opinions of critics. They are the dwellers in the ivory towers who know what true art is while fans are the unwashed, ignorant masses. (Insert “sarcasm sign” here). While fans have wanted to drop Oxygen Destroyers in critics’ laps this week, if their reviews had been positive, I have no doubt they would’ve celebrated and shared them as validation of themselves and their fandom. But do these critics invalidate the opinions of fans? No. They are allowed to like things other people don’t. They enjoyed it based on their own criteria. One man’s trash is another man’s masterpiece. Many people watch Godzilla vs. Gigan and see a silly low-budget kaiju film. I watch it and see a meta-commentary on pop culture and globalism. Opinions often change with time. When Citizen Kane was first released, it has rejected by critics as too unusual. Now it’s regaled as the greatest film ever made. The Empire Strikes Back, which is commonly considered the greatest Star Wars film, was dismissed by critics upon release. I say all of this to remind people that while there are objective criteria for what makes a good story, the evaluation of art is still largely subjective.

I’m gonna have a lot more to talk about on the King of the Monsters G-Fest panel than I thought.

What do you think? Is Rotten Tomatoes helping or hindering films, filmgoers, and/or film criticism? How so?

Blog, Review

Lost and Now Found: A Review of “Kong Unmade” by John LeMay

The cover of “Kong Unmade,” the newest book by film historian and kaiju fan John LeMay. It is available in paperback and KIndle on Amazon.

Tokusatsu film historian John LeMay has done it again! After indexing every kaiju (giant monster) movie from the 1950s to today with The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies, Vol. 1-2, his newest is essentially the third entry in what could be called his Lost Films trilogy. Previously he discovered unused scripts and story treatments for famous Japanese monsters like Godzilla and Gamera with the copiously-researched The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films and more down-to-size Japanese science fiction and fantasy films with Terror of the Lost Tokusatsu Films. Now he brings readers the “lost films” of the granddaddy of all kaiju, King Kong, with Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island.

While Kong’s impact on pop culture is humungous, his filmography is surprisingly short. In all, he has only ten official films (plus one upcoming movie) in over eight-and-a-half decades. It’s not from a lack of trying, though, as LeMay details. Director/producer Merrian C. Cooper tried for years to make another sequel to the 1933 classic after the hastily-made Son of Kong. The New Adventures of King Kong would’ve been a “midquel” that took place while Kong was being transported from Skull Island to New York, where he escaped into the jungles of Africa. A similar and even more outlandish idea was Tarzan vs. King Kong, where the big ape would’ve met the famous ape man. On the other side of the Pacific, Toho Studios attempted to create Frankenstein vs. King Kong, which eventually became King Kong vs. Godzilla. After its massive success, a script for a rematch—cleverly titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla­­—was written that would’ve had Kong become a surrogate father to a lost infant. And that’s just a few examples!

Essays on these lost films aren’t all that’s in this new volume. There are “bonus reviews” and “development of” chapters on the Kong films that did get made. They detail many concepts that were abandoned or changed during the filmmaking process. For example, the script Peter Jackson wrote for his 2005 remake was originally quite different (Ann Darrow was British, for one thing). There are also essays on lost or obscure Kong media such as Don Glut’s Tor films and what would’ve been an animated sequel to King Kong Lives featuring Kong’s son (who would’ve had the ability to change his size) by producer/artist Robert Lamb. Several of these essays are written by excellent guest contributors. LeMay also writes on obscure and lost films that were inspired by King Kong, such as The Mighty Gorga and the infamous A*P*E*. If they don’t get a full-length chapter, they’re included in one of the book’s several appendices.

One improvement over LeMay’s previous books is the inclusion of many images. These are photographs, movie posters, and concept art. The aforementioned chapter on the proposed Kong animated series includes concept art from Lamb, which gave me flashbacks to the Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood. A downside of the images is some of them are placed on right-hand pages opposite from the previous essay, and since these don’t have captions, it isn’t apparent that they’re meant to signal the next essay.

As usual, the design of the book is creative. The spine is designed to look like it has a library index code taped onto it. The title pages have a few ink splotches to simulate age and a half-faded stamp that says, “This book has been discarded by the Skull Island Public Library.” They’re wonderful touches, and the sort of clever design choices I wish I saw more often in books.

If I may mention a fairly significant nitpick, there are points I think the book could’ve been edited and proofread a bit better, but this is coming from someone who spends a lot of time editing in his work, so it’s hard for me to miss.

For fans of Kong, kaiju, film history, and/or LeMay, this is a must-read!

Five Stars out of Five.

Blog

Living with Imposter Syndrome

Last weekend I saw the trailer for the upcoming film Yesterday, which spins the yarn of a down-on-his-luck musician who wakes up in world that doesn’t remember the Beatles, so he takes credit for their songs to get rich and famous. In other words, he’s an imposter.

While he is an intentional deceiver, I discovered at the end of my first year as a graduate student that I, too, am an imposter. Or at the very least I feel like one.

To see the full comic strip, go here:
http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7054961/what-it-feels-like-to-have-imposter-syndrome .

This is called Imposter Syndrome. In a nutshell, it’s the fear that one doesn’t deserve their accolades and accomplishments and will exposed as a “fraud.” That’s how I felt after getting A’s on both of my final papers this past semester—which were about kaiju and superheroes—because I thought they either weren’t written well or that their ideas were faulty. Along with that, I maintained a 4.0 GPA (something I hesitate to say for fear of jinxing myself), which is better than what I had as an undergrad. Not only that, but several professors have been advocating for me to get either a PhD. or an MFA. Apparently, I make connections in my schoolwork only PhD. caliber students make. Some of the same professors have said I’m an “excellent teacher” given my success as a graduate teaching assistant.

You’d think I’d read/hear all of this and say, “I must be good at this school thing,” but instead I make excuses for why it’s not that impressive. Those include 1) my aforementioned inferior grades in undergrad, 2) people saying the university I’m attending isn’t that hard (there was once a joke that said its acronym stood for “I Paid For What?!”), and 3) feeling like I’m not as well-read as others and have to hide the fact that I haven’t read/seen/played certain media that supposedly everyone has. This is true of me not only as a grad student, but as a writer, a dancer, a son, a friend, a (potential) boyfriend, and everything else.

The truth is—if I may take the risk of being a little vulnerable—I’ve struggled with self-confidence most of my life. Even if my performance and/or ability was exceptional, I felt like it didn’t measure up to people’s expectations. I could and would still be rejected, and I frequently was. As I grew older, I started playing the “comparison game,” and since I tended to befriend really intelligent people, I felt like I was the “dumb one” in the “smart group” (not realizing that this still made me smarter than most people). I mean, when you hang out with Nick Hayden, who I’ve described as an intellectual One-Punch Man (he got a nearly perfect score in two years of Greek classes—and he took it for fun!), it’s hard to think your knowledge and writing is up to snuff. (What’s crazy is Nick is too humble to admit any of this). Paradoxically, whenever I would, for example, get a bad assessment or a rejection letter, I would say I deserved it but still get angry and think nobody recognized my talent. I, like all human beings, am full of contradictions.

Sadly, imposter syndrome isn’t recognized as a mental illness, although many of its symptoms, like depression, are seen as such. Those can be treated, but that won’t cure it. A pill can’t magic this away. In order to do that, I have to dig deep within myself, identify my anxieties, face them, and surround myself with supportive and truthful people. Ultimately, though, it’s up to me accept the fact as imperfect as I am, I am worthy of their praise.

Do you struggle with imposter syndrome? How do you deal with it? Why do you suffer from it?

Announcements, Blog, News, Appearances

My Toho Screenwriter Panel was Accepted by G-Fest!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it, True Believers? I know I say this a lot, but please accept my apologies. I was hard at work finishing my first year as a graduate student. If you’ve been following me on social media, though, you know that I’ve picked up on writing Hope’s War and editing my novella for Children of the Wells. That and a secret project will be my primary works this summer. Stay tuned for more!

Speaking of summer….

A few months ago I wrote that I would be going to G-Fest XXVI but as a panelist and not a vendor. I’ll once again be part of “The Art of Kaiju Writing” panel and joining the panel discussion of the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters. More importantly, though…

Promotional image for G-Fest XXVI. (Courtesy of www.G-Fan.com).

I’M HOSTING MY OWN PANEL!

I and my friend/fellow writer Danny DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization Project will be presenting on Toho screenwriters Shinichi Sekizawa and Takeshi Kimura, who wrote many of the studio’s tokusatsu films from the 1950s-1970s. (You probably heard me talking about them a lot on Kaijuvision Radio). The fandom talks a lot about directors, actors, and composers, and rightfully so, but almost never about screenwriters, which is a shame. Danny and I hope to fill in that gap.

Here’s the description of the panel you’ll see in the convention program:

Most of Toho’s classic tokusatsu films started with scripts penned by the Showa era creative team’s unsung heroes, Shinichi Sekizawa and Takeshi Kimura. Join Nathan Marchand (professional writer and co-creator of Kaijuvision Radio) and Daniel DiManna (creator/author of the Godzilla Novelization Project) as they explain how these polar opposite storytellers revolutionized the kaiju genre.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about doing this. Danny is a tremendous writer and one of the most infectiously enthusiastic fans I’ve ever met, so it’ll be a great presentation. Be there or be square!

Here’s my panel schedule:

Friday 12pm (Kennedy Room): Sekizawa and Kimura: A Tale of Two Screenwriters
Saturday 3pm (Ballroom 1): Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Saturday 4pm (Kennedy Room): The Art of Kaiju Writing

Learn more about G-Fest here.

Nonfiction, Appearances, Announcements, Books, Blog, News

Cover Art Reveal – THE NEW 42: GOD TERRAFORMS ALL THINGS

The cover for the “sequel” (reboot?) to your favorite nerd/geek devotional! (Artwork by Ruth Pike-Miller).

Reboots. Reboots everywhere.

You spent 42 days finding the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, and now Nerd Chapel founderEric Anderson and I are proud to unveil the amazing cover art by Ruth Pike-Miller for the next step in your journey: The New 42: God Terraforms All Things.

The one constant in the universe (besides the fact that everything freezes) is change. Good change, bad change, and everything in between. Even in our favorite nerd/geek franchises. DC Comics is (in)famous for hitting the cosmic reset button every few decades. The movie theatre is full of re-imaginings of nostalgic entertainment. Even video games aren’t immune to this. But now you may feel like God Himself hit that reset button on your life. Has it left you lost and confused? Take heart! God wants to give you a new direction. In these pages you will learn how to navigate change with the help of a scarred samurai, some heroic robots, and the world’s most famous kaiju, among many others.

Your next 42-day quest awaits!

The grand book release will be at Muskecon in Muskegon, Michigan, on March 23, 2019. Eric and I will be selling and signing copies. The book will then be available as a paperback and e-book on Amazon.

Be there or be square!

Blog, News, Appearances

All the Podcasts I’ve Appeared On (UPDATED Feb. 2019)

It dawned on me that I’ve been on a lot more podcasts since the last time I indexed them, so I figured I’d update that list for all of you. For most of these, I appeared as a guest or guest host, discussing everything from storytelling to video games to Godzilla (no surprise, right? Heck, I’ve kinda become the “kaiju guy” in most of my circles, and with good reason).

Admittedly, there are few not listed here. I recorded a podcast with Zachery Oliver for “Theology Gaming” that was lost when he had computer problems. The same thing happened with “The Bestselling Fiction Podcast” hosted by Dan Dynneson.

Titles with an asterisk (*) were on the original list.

Happy listening!

Kaijuvision Radio

This is a podcast I co-created with Brian Scherschell on “the appreciation of giant monster movies and the discovery of their historical and cultural value.” I was the co-host for season one (episodes 1-36 plus two interviews), but sadly I had to step down before season two. I’m proud of the work I did on the show, so I obviously I’d love it if all of you listened to it. Even if you’re not into kaiju but enjoy learning about Japan, it’s a great podcast to listen to. Here’s the website.

Geek Devotions

(NEW!) This is a ministry headed by Dallas and Celeste Mora—“a pair of devoted geeks devoted to letting people know they are loved”—that uses nerd culture as outreach. They have a podcast, Comm Talk, a YouTube channel, and a website. Dallas was one of KVR’s first fans and promoters, so he invited us onto the YouTube channel for an interview as part of King of the Monsters Month in October 2017.

–Extra Tuesday – Interview with Kaijuvision Radio

Derailed Trains of Thought*
A show on storytelling and creativity hosted by my friends Nick Hayden and Tim Deal.
–Episode 3: From Boredom to Book – They interview me when I published by first book, Pandora’s Box.
–Sidetrack 2: Peeking Inside the Box – I’m not in this, but an excerpt of my novel is read by Nick’s wife, Natasha.
–Episode 17: Magic, Muggles, and Morals – I read an excerpt from Destroyer.
–Episode 20: Everything But the Kitchen Sink – I’m one of multiple guests who returns briefly for the show’s first anniversary. I announce I’m writing new books.
–Sidetrack 6: Children of the Wells Round Table – I and my collaborators talk about working on our ongoing post-apocalyptic contemporary fantasy series Children of the Wells.
–Episode 50: Guest Starring…Everybody! – In this anniversary episode, I’m one of several returning guests who “audition” in multiple segments to be a third co-host.
–Episode 61: Shut Up and Buy My Book – I return to DToT to discuss how writers can promote their books. In this day and age, writers must also do their own PR.

The Weekly Hijack*
A “spin-off” podcast from “Derailed Trains of Thought” that discusses TV shows.
-Episode 27: Doctor Who – The Magician’s Apprentice – I discuss the season nine premiere of Doctor Who with Nick Hayden, Tim Deal, and several others. (Scroll through the episode listing to find it).

Strangers and Aliens 
A show about faith, fantasy, and science fiction co-hosted by my buddy Ben Avery, who’s a comic writer

–Episode 127: GODZILLA (Summer Movie Series)* – I review the new Godzilla film with host Ben Avery.
-(NEW!) Episode 255: COLOSSAL Feat. Nathan Marchand – I return to review another kaiju movie with Ben: the unique indie film Colossal that stars Anne Hathaway.

Theology Gaming University*
A show about Christianity and video games.

–Podcast #58 – Video Games Inspiring Other Media – Theology Gaming – My friend Eric Anderson and I discuss video game adaptations to other media with host Zachery Oliver.
–Podcast #62 – I discuss why gamers replay video games they’ve already played with host Zachery Oliver and TGU regular Bryan Hall.
–TG Sessions #9 – Cheapness (I.e., You’re Not Special) – Zachery Oliver and I discuss what makes certain things “cheap” in both single-player and multiplayer video games.
–TG Sessions #10 – Batman’s Fifty Shades of White Privilege – Remember when this video made me a troll magnet? I also incurred the wrath of trolls about an essay I wrote for TGU. Zachery Oliver and I discuss all of this.
–Podcast #72 – One in a Mijinion – I join Zachery Oliver and Roberto Iraheta 20 minutes in, and in our ramblings we set out to solve a very important mystery: What the heck is an Infinity Mijinion? (In case you don’t know, that’s a Mega Man boss).

Forever Classic Podcast
(NEW!) This is a show that “seeks enlightenment through video games” started by my former colleague Alex McCumbers (from my GigaGeek Magazine days). Here’s their main website.

–Episode 11: Kaiju Games With Nathan Marchand – Remember what I said about being the kaiju guy? Anyway, Alex invited me on to talk about two of my favorite things: giant monsters and video games. We discuss existing kaiju games—past and present—and what we think would make for a great kaiju game.

Redeemed Otaku
(NEW!) A podcast created and hosted by Bex Smith that seeks to “redeem your love for anime by turning to the truth found only in God’s Word.” Follow the show on Facebook and Twitter.

–42 – My co-author Eric Anderson and I are interviewed about our nerd/geek devotional, 42: Discovering Faith through Fandom.
–Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters – Bex has me on to discuss/review part one of the Godzilla anime trilogy. Being that its kaiju and anime, it was the perfect crossover.
–Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle – I return to Redeemed Otaku—this time joined by my fellow Godzilla fan Eric Anderson—to discuss/review part two of the Godzilla anime trilogy (that has a title weirdly similar to a class Star Trek episode).
–Godzilla: The Planet Eater – In one of the best English-language analyses of the entire Godzilla anime trilogy, Bex, Eric, and I breakdown part three and put the other films into perspective. It truly is the best episode of Redeemed Otaku yet! (Don’t take my word for it—that’s what Bex said!)

This makes me miss having my own podcast.

Do you have a podcast? What’s it about? Would you be interested in having me on?

News, Appearances, Announcements

My Upcoming Appearances for 2019 (so far)

I haven’t blogged in several months. Wow. Grad school (and other things) ate up that much of my time. This shall be remedied!

I’m keeping it simple today, but this is something I’ve been meaning to mention for a while. I have several appearances scheduled for this spring and summer that I wanted to make sure you knew about, True Believers. Keep in mind, though: This list is subject to change. I could easily add (or subtract) more as the year progresses.

Regardless…

MuskeCon 3.0

A small and relatively new comic and toy convention held in Muskegon, Michigan. I’ll be tabling there next door to my friend/co-author Eric Anderson. It’ll be a big deal because we plan to unveil our second nerd/geek devotional, The New 42: God Terraforms All Things, at the show. (More details to follow). The show will be held March 23, 2019, from 10AM-6PM at the Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor.

You can learn more about the show on its Facebook page.

G-Fest XXVI

I plan to make my third trip to America’s premiere Godzilla and kaiju convention, which will be held July-12-14, 2019, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Illinois. I won’t be tabling there, but I’ll be part of several panels, and I’ve applied to host my own (again, more details to follow). I’ll have books with me to sell, though, in case anyone wants to buy some.

Learn more about the show on its website. (Early bird pricing ends February 28!)

Gen-Con 52

It wouldn’t be summer without a trip to Gen-Con! I make my eighth straight appearance to “the Four Best Days in Gaming” Aug. 1-4, 2019, at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. I’ll be tabling in their Authors Avenue, selling and signing books, as usual, but I’ll be making the rounds to some events throughout the weekend, too. Hopefully, Eric Anderson and many of my other friends/writers will be joining me.

For more info, check out the show’s website.

Will you be at any of these shows? Which one(s)? Are you interested in hosting a book signing for me? Where?

Uncategorized

2018: Looking Back and Looking Forward

It’s been a wild year.

Happy New Year 2019 with colorful fireworks

2018 wasn’t always a good year, but it was an eventful one. One filled with changes and new ventures and adventures. Here are a few highlights:

-Bought a new car after being in an accidents

-Started a new job.

-Finished the first season of my podcast, Kaijuvision Radio.

-Attended several conventions, where I met some great people and made some excellent connections.

-Started grad school.

-Moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, like I’ve wanted to for a long time.

-Competed in The Winter Solstice, my first real ballroom dancing competition.

-Was interviewed for the first time on the radio.

So, on the last day of 2018, I’ve decided to look ahead to 2019 with a few important goals. I took some much-needed big steps forward in 2018, and I want to keep that momentum going. My creative goals include:

-Getting one or two new books in print (the publishing industry could only be slower if it was run by sloths).

-Write a stand-alone novel…

-,,,to get a literary agent (apologies to my readers who want those promised sequels soon).

-Finish my second and third semesters of grad school.

-Host a panel at G-Fest XXVI.

-Hold 3-5 book signings (including at least one at a convention).

-Get published in 2-3 anthologies.

-Compete again at The Winter Solstice.

-A SECRET GOAL I’LL REVEAL LATER THIS YEAR IF IT COMES TO PASS!

Bring it on, 2019! Let’s do this!

What are your goals for the New Year?