As I've written about before (so pardon my redundancy), I very much appreciate an author who gifts the universe with brand new real estate, carved out of the void and made real, then populated with a proprietary DNA all its own. Distinctive laws of nature, history, creation stories, creatures, physical laws, etc. This sort of hard won creative conjuring makes the space around us a wider and wilder place, and is one of the highest forms of literary achievement.
Acclaimed horror writer Jeffrey Thomas has given us the gift of Punktown, a far flung, interstellar outpost where Mythos and madness, crime and punishment, and no end of horrors collide amid a fragile society built up from the rock of the planet Oasis. Human colonizers have thrown in with strange aliens races, mutants, androids, and replicants to fashion a megalopolis balanced precariously on the cusp of understood space. This is a seedy, violent, universe that shows Thomas' love for cosmic horror, cyberpunk, Noir, science fiction, and the dankest of dark fantasy. This is Punktown, and it's a place like no other, where anything - and everything - is possible.
Dozens of stories and at least six novels have been written in the Punktown universe, and now, thanks to the vision and efforts of writer Christopher Taylor (Creepy, Eerie, Hellraiser: Bestiary), Punktown will soon be realized as a comic book anthology, and I couldn't possibly be more excited.
The eight stories and their respective artists for VISIONS OF PUNKTOWN: VOLUME 1 are as follows:
THE REFLECTIONS OF GHOSTS -- Rafa Garres
THE LIBRARY OF SORROWS -- Hüseyin Özkan
WILLOW TREE -- Sinclair Klugarsh
FORGE PARK -- Eric York
THE PALACE OF NOTHINGNESS -- Frank Walls
MONSTERS -- Dug Nation
PRECIOUS METAL -- Stéphane De Caneva
THE UNBEARABLE BEING OF LIGHT -- Steven Russell Black
This is the melding of singular fiction with world class artwork from eight different sources. This is a goddamn exciting project.
Jump on this Kickstarter, right now. Immediately. You only have a week left to support the project. You truly don't want to miss this special project, and those pledge rewards.
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| Hüseyin Özkan |
Adapting the critically acclaimed Punktown stories of author Jeffrey Thomas.
Writer Christopher A. Taylor (Creepy, Eerie, Hellraiser: Bestiary) and eight phenomenal artists have taken to Kickstarter to raise funds to complete the first volume of Visions from Punktown. The campaign runs until November 20th, 2015.
Jeffrey Thomas’s Punktown stories have spawned several collections and novels. Here is what some peers and critics have said about his Punktown works:
“For a wild ride...readers will be hard-pressed to find a better vehicle than Thomas's bizarre multiverse; fans of cyberpunk noir and Lovecraftian horror will find much to enjoy in this messy, bravura hybrid.”
– Publishers Weekly starred review of Jeffrey Thomas’ DEADSTOCK
“Punktown is searing and alien and anxious and rich, and it is humane, and it is moving. Jeffrey Thomas has done something wonderful.”
-- China Mieville, author of EMBASSYTOWN
“A dazzlingly complex and detailed future vision as poetic as it is horrifying, full of insights and images that cling to the mind.”
-- Ramsey Campbell
“Jeffrey Thomas sounds like no-one else precisely because he writes of a place no-one else has been, yet which can feel like home.”
– Michael Marshall Smith, author of ONLY FORWARD
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| Dug Nation |
The city known as Punktown is a melting pot of alien cultures on the planet Oasis. Cloning is an art form; creatures straddle dimensional rifts; robot musicians deal drugs at a jazz club; buildings hum with souls; trees do not stay rooted to the earth; and many more bizarre and terrifying scenarios
In adapting Thomas’ popular creation, Christopher Taylor handpicked a group of eight artists who could uniquely capture the variety of characters and setting. The stories of Punktown are not limited to any one genre, stepping comfortably from cyberpunk, to horror, into science fiction, noir and more. Each artist reflects a unique quality in translating these stories from Taylor’s scripts, to mirror the diversity of Punktown’s citizens and settings.
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| Dug Nation |
The artists, along with Taylor, are working closely with Jeffrey Thomas in order to faithfully adapt his work. In eschewing producing the project with major publishers, all the creators have complete control over the work, allowing for more flexibility and freedom.
This is what Kickstarter allows creators to do: work unhindered by the rigid structure of corporate and editorial oversight that can often stifle creativity and the free flow of ideas and communication.
Visions from Punktown needs your help in bringing this project to life. Please see the Kickstarter, and the Facebook page. Jeffrey Thomas’ Amazon Author page here.
For interviews or additional information, please contact Christopher Taylor at: visionsfrompunktown@gmail.com
Twitter: @PunktownerChris
Instagram: @visionsfrompunktown
Thank you for your time!
--Chris Taylor
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| Stéphane De Caneva |
If you aren't familiar with Jeffrey's work, this is your chance to read a story for FREE, as well get a good look at the scripting process.
Link to "Precious Metal" here
You don't need a Dropbox account to view or download this file on a PC or Mac. But you will need the free Dropbox app to see it on a mobile device.
The PDF also includes some previously published work by my collaborator on the adaptation, Stéphane De Caneva! You can see how incredible the finished product will look!
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