KIDS Anthology

Hello Everyone,

We are putting together our new anthology very soon. The idea is as loose as ever - Kid Friendly. There aren't very strict rules in terms of theme, but for content we need to make sure there are no swear words, no scenes of a violent or explicit nature (to the degree that isn't suitable for kids, - i.e. a spaceman shooting an alien's head off might be okay, but the spaceman proceeding to have full naked sex with the Star Princess afterwards might be a step too far). By the same token, try not to patronise or dumb anything down either, think about what you loved as a kid and bear the themes/content of that stuff in mind when you're creating.

The deadline for submissions will be Thursday 24th September and the finished product will be A4 size (A3 sheets folded in half). It will have a full-colour cover and black and white interiors. Each contributor has two pages to play with, so if you're writing and drawing your own story it can be either one or two pages long, or if you're working with somebody else it can be one to four pages long and so on. We have some space for colour submissions, but not much, so if this is something that would interest you drop me a line ASAP (tmne_smallpress@yahoo.co.uk) and we'll figure something out from there. Please don't create something in full colour until you've dropped me a line as we might not be able to use it!

As for submitting work, you can bring your original artwork (A3 or A4 only) in to the shop or to one of the meetings as long as it's in a folder or plastic sleeve or anything else that will prevent it from getting damaged in somebody's bag. Alternatively you can scan it in and send it as a 300dpi JPEG to the above e-mail address. Be sure to leave a blank border around your pages so that nothing gets cut off during printing and make sure your text is legible, not least of all because children will be reading it, but also because it will shrink if you're working on A3 and it might disappear during printing if your lines are really fine.

The last Comics Evening before the deadline is this coming Thursday 10th September from 6:30pm onwards at Travelling Man Newcastle, and we'll be using the opportunity to share our ideas with the group before the big day, so bring any and all scraps of paper or abstract notions you might have!

See you there.
-Jack

Paper Jams Open for Business!

It seems that this blog can no longer contain the overflowing creativity of our collective, and as a result, a sister blog has been surgically implanted onto the side of it. This blog is called Paper Jams, and you can get to it by clicking on the Gary Bainbridge designed picture to the right >>>

This will serve as a posting ground for all things spewed forth during our meetings, as a kind of visual relief from the written garble that appears here! This will include scribbles, doodles, 24 Minute Comics and anything else that makes it to the page. Go there now and watch it unfold!

Small Press Big Mouth + Calendar

So you all know who Stacey Whittle is, right? She's the local writer and small press appreciator who has an impressive number of writing gigs and geeky affiliates under her belt, and is an asset to our own humble collective. Not only does she HAND BAKE cakes every time we have a launch party, but also collects the anthologies and the work of our individual members. This means she's either A) A really swell person, B) Genuinely impressed with the local small press scene or C) both of the above. And let me tell ya, if you want to go home with the car, the home media station and the fabulous assistant I'd get those fingers on the buzzers for C. Anyway, my excuse for this plug is because she gave the Robots anthology a mention on her brand-spanking-new podcast Small Press Big Mouth, go there and have a listen, it's jolly good fun.

Next on the agenda is to post a wee calendar so people know when we're meeting. All Comics Evenings are free and happen at 6:30pm on alternate Thursday nights at the Travelling Man comic shop on Grainger Street in Newcastle. You need to be 18+ to attend and you don't need to be a massive comic fan either. It's very rare that any of that isn't the case, but if it isn't I'll be sure to let you know. Anyway, the events this coming month are:

Thursday 2nd July, Travelling Man @ 6:30pm
Thursday 16th July, Travelling Man @ 6:30pm
Thursday 30th July, Travelling Man @ 6:30pm

Hopefully see you all there!
-Jack

Robots Launch

Might I be the first to suggest a roaring round of applause to all people involved with the Robots... and that launch party last Friday, which was an unfathomable success. We got tons of people down, all of which seemed to have a ruddy good time. The antho was (and IS!) awesome, bands and films were awesome and the cakes were yummy. We'll soon be posting our first ever anthology as a free downloadable PDF from this 'ere site, and we'll also be re-printing the others long passed and setting up little PayPal buttons so people from the far reaches of planet earth can check out our back catalogue. Watch this space!

In other news PJCC member and Squares frontman Daniel Clifford just scored himself a feature on the Shields Gazette website and bigged us up like a true gentleman. You'll also see pictures of the man himself in a fashionable spangly space suit if you check out the new photo slideshow I've posted as a testament to our grand accomplishments... just over there >>>
(photographs by Yvette Bessels and Andy Waugh)

That's all for news, but while I'm here dear reader, why not come down to one of our Comics Evenings and get involved with all of this malarky? They're every two weeks on Thursday nights at the Travelling Man comic shop (on Grainger Street in Newcastle), and begin at 6:30pm. You must be 18 or over, but it's free and there are cakes... Our next event is tomorrow (Thusday 4th June), meaning the next one after that will be Thursday 18th, and so on etc.

See you soon!