Mountains.

I went to see some mountains today. I'll post more later.

The Black Mountains of North Carolina. Highest mountain range in the eastern USA.

Self-portrait taken on Mount Craig, second highest peak in the eastern USA (and also second highest peak in North Carolina).

Promotion Time!

Editor S.T. Joshi sent me the galley proofs for my first short story collection, A CONFEDERACY OF HORRORS which will be appearing in 2014 from Hippocampus Press. Hippocampus has the best galley proofs I've ever seen, and this includes the ones I've gotten from the big publishers.

So, what the heck? I'll use today's blog to promote a couple of books:
 
Here are a couple of my latest novels you can buy.

Wenzler was one of the unlucky ones who succumbed during the outbreak that almost became the Zombie Apocalypse. Two years have passed. He wakes up and remembers who he is and what he became. No longer quite human, he is consumed with the will to find his son in a largely recovered world. But to do that he'll have to run a gauntlet of the living who are out to finish putting the undead away for good. But is he undead? Or is he something else? Something more? THE NEW ECOLOGY OF DEATH.

Often the monster is just a misunderstood anti-hero. But sometimes it's a murdering, blood-thirsty asshole. WITHERING.

Working Today.

People always wish me a "happy weekend". I have to work almost every single weekend. Weekends generally suck for me because I'm one of the people who has to work right through, rarely getting two days off in a row.

Just so you know.

The Blowout

Well, we had two flat tires on the Casita. The first was when I hit a very nasty pothole in the road. It dented the rim and made the tire go instantly flat. So I put on the spare.

Fifteen miles from home, the spare exploded. Completely blew up. I had always wondered how I'd handle the Casita if that happened, and I did just fine. I was able to coast into a relatively safe spot where we phoned for help.

The guy who arrived to load up the trailer did an amazing job. I was in awe of his skill in loading it onto the flatbed and getting it home. As happenstance would have it, Carole went to high school with the guy's twin sons!

Got the tires replaced the next day. Everything is cool.

But it was a nerve-wracking experience.

Not too long before the blowout. We had stopped at a rest area.

Where I was able to pull off. I unhitched the trailer to give the tow truck room to pull in.

The tire all but vanished. I thought the spare had been a re-cap all along, but the tire service told us that it was likely just dry rot as it had been the spare for eleven years! (My bad.)

Truck arrives. All praise be to Jove!

The Casita-girl makes it home! Wounded but proud.

On the ground!

The Sylva Pinnacle

For many years I have been meaning to hike to the summit of "The Pinnacle" above the town of Sylva. I think I have covered such place names in the past. There are literally hundreds of mountains in the eastern USA called "The Pinnacle". When it comes to mountains, the locals seem to run out of options really fast and start repeating themselves. For instance, there are two mountains called "Green Knob" within a few miles of one another here in North Carolina. It's ridiculous!

So, I decided to call this particular "The Pinnacle", Sylva Pinnacle, so that we'd all know which one I'm talking about.

This summit is a tad over 5,000 feet in elevation,which sounds really high by eastern standards, until you add in the fact that it stands around a number of really high mountain peaks that scrape, or exceed 6,000 feet in elevation. Also, the Great Smoky Mountains are nearby, and they are nearly the kings of eastern mountain ranges (second only to the Black Mountains).

This peak is protected within a city park called, appropriately, Pinnacle Park. It is well over 1,000 acres in size and was once the watershed for the city of Sylva. These days it's a wonderful public park with tons of great hiking opportunities. They even allow back country camping in the park. For free.

One thing that had initially attracted me to wanting to climb Sylva Pinnacle is that I'd heard that it was a scramble to reach the top. That is, you had to use all four limbs to attain the summit. Such peaks are very rare in the east, so it was high on my to-bag list. Alas, once I got to the top, I realized that all of those stories were just hot air. It's a rocky hike, for sure, but it's not a scramble.

I highly recommend a trip to the top, or just a visit to Pinnacle Park if you're in the vicinity of Sylva. It's a great place, and I'm glad the city was able to protect this spot.

Blackrock Mountain and Waterrock Knob.

Perry Top.

Self-portrait.

Very nice trail system!

Looking down toward Sylva from the cliff top.

Nice signage!

Some people mistakenly turn around here, thinking this is the end of the trail to the Pinnacle. In fact, the trail continues past these two campsites, just to the left of the second one.

This is called "Split Rock" and is a popular bouldering destination.

Split Rock as seen from the main trail.

Reminder that this park was once the town's official watershed.

Waterfall Wealth

The section of North Carolina where we went to camp is well known for its vast wealth of waterfalls. There are quite literally thousands of waterfalls packed into a very small area, hundreds of which are considered major features. It's hard to go very many miles either on foot or along roads without encountering spectacular waterfalls.

We visited three exceptional waterfalls while we were in the Franklin/Highlands vicinity. Two of them were in the Standing Indian Basin and are located near roads and are very easy to hike to. The other one was closer to Highlands and is adjacent to Highway 64. Many thousands of people see it every year, but few are able to get down to the bottom of the gorge to see this feature up close.

It takes more than just high country to produce good waterfalls. You also have to have a good water table with plentiful rainfall, and erosion-resistant rock which forces the water to flow over the stone instead of carving through it where it is far less likely to produce impressive waterfall features. The Franklin/Highlands area is packed with tough granite that resists such erosion, and the entire vicinity went through a relatively recent mountain-building period during which said rock was uplifted about three thousand feet, creating the conditions for the wealth of waterfalls one finds there.

Cullasaja Falls from the bottom of the gorge.

Cullasaja Falls from above, which is how most people see it from NC 64.

Big Laurel Falls.

Hanging from a tree to get the self-portrait.

 

Mooney Falls. Very easy to access from the Forest Service Road near the Standing Indian Campground. Just a short (but steep) hike of about 1/10 of a mile.

Upper section of Mooney Falls.

Bagged!

I bagged a peak that has been on my list for about two decades. There was always something coming up to get in the way. I'll post details tomorrow. We had a hard time getting home today (blown tires on the travel trailer).

View to my right.

Standing on the summit at the edge of a cliff.

The peak I was on is a tad over 5K feet. But nearby are summits at, or above, 6K feet.

Couple of Waterfalls

I revisited a couple of waterfalls I saw ten years ago. Strange how I'd forgotten how beautiful this part of North Carolina is. Just amazing mountains, wonderful forests, and plentiful waterfalls.

Details when I return.

Small cascade on the way to Big Laurel Falls.

Big Laurel Falls. Kickass swimming hole!

Gnarly double birch on the trail to Big Laurel Falls.

Secondary tier of Mooney Falls.

The top cascade of Mooney Falls.

Going to the Mountains

I'll be offline for a couple days. Heading up to the mountains to hike a little, find some waterfalls, etc. One thing that is high on my list is to bag a peak that has been on my to-do list for well over a decade. It's just not in an area where I normally hike, but it's one of the very few summits in the eastern USA that you have to scramble to reach the top. That is, you have to use all four limbs instead of just walking up.

See you guys soon!

This isn't the area where I'll be, but just using it for reference.

One More Down...

Today I was able to buy a mid-grade copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #65. I only need one issue in the 60s, now. Once I have #67 I plan to sit down and read several story arcs that I've been waiting to look at to refresh my childhood impressions.

A couple of years ago this issue was very easy to land in high grade. I could have found one at a convention or on Ebay for $20 or so. That would have been for a very fine to near mint copy. Now, for some damned reason, the book is off the rails. A year ago I would barely be outbid for a high grade copy in the $21 range or so. Now it's going for close to $100.

So, I had to settle for this issue, which probably grades out around very good plus. I can't comment on the story because, as I said, I'm waiting to read the arcs.

This will teach me not to be so cheap when I need to fill a gap in the collection. Could have had a very high grade copy of this a year ago for $20 or so. Now I'd have to pay several times that much for a high condition book.

Slowly Closing In.

Well, there are only a few issues of FANTASTIC FOUR that I need after #20. A few had been proving tough to locate, but I've managed to get most of them. There was that amazing burst of creativity that Kirby displayed beginning with issue #44 and only ended with #67. So many books in that run that are going up in demand and price because of the wonderful characters Jack Kirby created and introduced during those dizzying years.

Today I landed a copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #50. I am very pleased with the condition that the book is in for the price that I paid.

Now the only key issues I need to land for issues after #20 are numbers 48 (first Galactus and Silver Surfer), 52 (first Black Panther) and #67 (second half of the "HIM" storyline that Lee managed to fuck up).

Once I have those three issues in hand, I will tackle the the first 20 books. I only have one issue of FANTASTIC FOUR before #20. I hope to have a complete set of Kirby's FF by Christmas 2014. We'll see.

Phone Call from a New York comic book publisher's office:
Publisher's nephew: "Jack. The art and notes came in for FF #48. Yeah...I remember who this Galactus dude is. But this shiny cat on the surf board. What's that all about? Who the heck is he?"
Jack: "That's the Silver Surfer. I figure if Galactus is like G-d, then he needs a herald. Something like an angel. So he's the herald of Galactus."
Publisher's nephew: "Oh. Cool. That makes sense! Excellent Jack! You're the King!" (I wish I could come up with stuff like that, he thinks as he hangs up the phone.)

RepubliKKKans Suck Ass!

Well, the RepubliKKKan fucks have seemingly wrecked our vacation plans. We have a fall-back option to go to a different part of the southern Appalachians. But it won't be the same. Mainly, I'll likely be very limited in where I can hike since the place we're going is heavy on National Forest lands but light on State Parks.

Shit.

I hate RepubliKKKans. I swear to Jove, I hate their freaking, worthless guts.

There are several nice waterfalls where we'll probably end up. But all of them are on National Forest lands. I don't know if I'll be able to get to them.

I've only seen this waterfall once. I'd like to go there again, but it's on National Forest Land. Access could be denied.

Not sure if I'll be able to access this peak--it's on National Forest Land.

Jack Kirby Does Drama

The two greatest Silver Age comics artists at depicting and handling high drama were Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. I've already covered Ditko's amazing talent at drama and angst in earlier essays, so today I want to (very) briefly cover Kirby's ability to use building drama in his stories.

The two-issue story arc in FANTASTIC FOUR #39-40 was commercially supposed to be a way to showcase the relatively new Marvel character of Daredevil. Lee and Goodman had probably not been especially happy with the sales of their new superhero title and so they'd recruited Wally Wood to write and illustrate the title. And the general practice at Marvel was to do crossover stories with the characters to show that everything in the Marvel Universe was connected and contiguous and related. DC already did this to some extent, but their characters were far more autonomous than at Marvel--and this kept fans grabbing more than one title, to watch the continuity that Jack Kirby kept up with his amazing juggling act.

Kirby decided to utilize the FF's greatest villain, Dr. Doom, for this story. It bleeds over in many ways from the FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #2, at the end of which Dr. Doom was basically drugged into believing that he'd killed his arch-nemesis, Reed Richards. Brought out of this drugged stupor, Doom is of course enraged beyond reasoning with the way the FF had fooled him, and so sets about getting a new measure of revenge.

The first part of this story (FF #39) was inked mainly by Frank Giacoia, using the pseudonym of Frank Ray. This was, I've heard, a common attempt to fool editors at other companies so that their competing bosses didn't cop that they were working elsewhere. The inks are okay, but not the best. However, all of the figures of Daredevil in this issue were inked by Wally Wood, the man who was writing and illustrating the DAREDEVIL title. This was a cool tactic on Marvel's part, and I wonder if it was Kirby's idea, or Wood's, or Goodman's. I'm sure someone out there knows the answer to that one. At any rate, it was a cool move and I really liked it when I was a kid.

By the second part of the story, the inks were being done by unfairly reviled Vince Colletta. The inks are not the best, but are decent. However, gone is the gimmick of having Wally Wood ink the Daredevil figures in each panel. Why? I have no idea. Had Wood tired of the move? Was he too busy writing, penciling, and inking the regular DAREDEVIL title? Or had he already moved on. His tenure at Marvel was not a happy one, as he locked horns with Lee and did not appreciate having to give up his writing credits on DD. At any rate, Colletta inked every bit of the issue.

Previously, the main rivalry in the Fantastic Four was between Richards and von Doom. This was always the way it had been and that's what the readers expected. But in this issue, Kirby turned the tables somewhat by focusing on what had become Ben Grimm's absolute, white-hot hatred for von Doom. This animosity builds and escalates over the course of the story which ends with Grimm using his inhuman strength and impervious body to power through Doom's gadgets and to literally crush the villain's body. It's one of the most intense sequences I read in comics when I was a kid and I never forgot it.

This seemingly simple, two-issue story arc shows what a phenomenal story-teller Jack Kirby was. It is a crime that over the years the wrong man has received credit for these accomplishments.

 

My copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #40.

Inks in this one are mainly by Frank Giacoia, but ingeniously all of the Daredevil figures were inked by Wally Wood, who was writing and illustrating the main Daredevil title at the time.

Most inkers didn't quite know how to handle the Thing. Colletta was no exception. He wasn't the worst inker to delineate Kirby's alter-ego, but he darned sure wasn't the best. However, second-tier inking could not hide the sheer emotion that Kirby poured into his illustrations of Ben Grimm.

The final battle between Grimm and Doom goes on for almost half the book! Doom keeps throwing his earth-shattering technology at Grimm and the Thing keeps fighting through it, eager beyond description to get his hands on the bad guy.

And when Grimm finally gets his mitts on Doom...well, he doesn't pull any punches. He crushes not only von Doom's metal gauntlets, but the flesh and bone fingers beneath them. In a great move, it takes Doom months to physically recover from the beating he suffers at the hands of Grimm. You want drama?! Kirby delivered it up, ten-fold!

Frozen Out!

Well, the government shut-down has all but killed our vacation plans. As if I needed one more reason to hate Republicans.

We were hoping to stay at a National Forest campground that had been very high on our list for some years. It doesn't have hookups for power or water, so we were going to depend on our on-board water tank and our 2000-watt Honda generator. We actually love those kinds of campgrounds because they are generally a lot less crowded. However, all National Park and National Forest campgrounds are locked up tight because of our crazed right wing office holders in the House of Representatives. Maybe they'll relent in time for me to book campsites, but I rather doubt it. The neo-Fascist group we now have to deal with in Congress are a virulently hateful and destructive bunch of scum.

We might still go somewhere. We're not sure.

Pisgah National Forest. Can't go camping there.

Waterfall in a National Forest. I could possible hike in, but Carole can't go because she doesn't hike.

In Pisgah National Forest. Nope. Can't go there.

Can't go here. National Forest site.

This is in a state park. We could go there, but we visited it recently.

Definitely can't go here, because it's administered by the National Forest.