The Helm is an ALA Top Ten Great Graphic Novel for Teens 2010

I just got a nice email from the chairperson of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee of the American Library Association letting me know that The Helm has been selected as one of the top ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens for 2010. Whoo Hooo!

Gronland, The Helm and the Largest Island on Earth

Well, the emails from Greenland have been pouring in to the extent that my server was overwhelmed and my whole system crashed. Thank you, Greenlanders, for the outpouring of interest and support, but please lay off for a while--I've got work to do and can't handle the pressure.

I didn't think there were any Helm readers in Greenland until now, but boy was I wrong. I guess I should have expected more from the largest island on Earth! You Gronlanders (as the Danish would say) are alright in my book--even if you don't really consider yourselves part of North America despite the geography. Go Kalaallit Nunaat!

That is all.

The Helm and Greenland

So, it's a brand new year and the start of a new decade. And still, the Helm site hasn't had any visitors from Greenland. What the heck? Well, maybe this will be the decade that opens the floodgates of visitors from Greenland. Anyone out there in Greenland, give a shout out.

Some Great Books and the Helm for Christmas

I've read some really great books lately and thought I'd mention them as people dive deeply into their holiday seasonal shopping. Let me note that I am in no way affiliated with any of the writers or publishers of any of these books--I just really liked them (or in one case, I am currently in the process of really liking it).

So the first one is The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway. Very fun, engaging and moving sci-fi/action/adventure/philosophy book with Ninjas. Do you capitalize the "N" in Ninjas?

During the break between this paragraph and the last, I looked it up and the dictionary says "often initial capital letter" which doesn't really answer the question but suggests that I wasn't wrong to do the big "N". Anyway, I loved The Gone Away World. I could barely put it down. Here's a link so you can check it out: TGAW

The next book is The Hunger Games (and its sequel, Catching Fire). I think these are supposed to be for a young adult audience, technically, but I am an adult and I thought they were great. Again, sci-fi/action/adventure. They are by Suzanne Collins. I read both books in a couple of nights each, mostly because I kept saying to myself, "I'll stop at the end of the next chapter when the tension lets up a bit." Here's a link to check them out: THG

And finally, John Dies at the End, by David Wong. I'm reading it now and I wish I'd written it. It's completely got me hooked so far. Supernatural/horror/sci-fi/action/adventure. Wow. Here's a link to check it out: JDATE

So, in closing, these are some great books you might buy for Christmas. And now the plug. While you are buying these books, you might also check out The Helm graphic novel by yours truly. And yours truly is spelled Jim Hardison--just to be really crystal clear. Here's the link: TH

The Hair Has It

Some time back, I wrote a blog entry about helmet hair, partly because of my deep and abiding interest in helmet hair, but also because I had read that the most searched topic on the Internet was hair and I thought I should cash in on that gem of insight with an entry about hair.

Well, as it turns out, I was just looking through some analytics about the Helm site and discovered that my most viewed blog entry is the one about helmet hair. By a significant amount.

So, I guess I have to write about hair a bit more often. Like Mathew's thick, luxurious, golden locks. Okay, maybe they are more thin, greasy and dishwater blond, but that's beside the point. The point is that, for some reason, many of the people who use the Internet are very interested in hair. This leads me to wonder whether it might be highly lucrative to create a comic book where the main character is a hairdo.

Oh! I know, I'll continue that story I've been working on for years about the bald guy who has the space-alien living with him as his toupee. Mint Toupee! Of course, why didn't I think of it before. That way I can continue my illicit love affair with comics while still catering to the interests of the hair-obsessed! Here's the plot. The main guy, Mint, is just a regular guy who has terminal brain cancer that has caused all of his hair to fall out and ruined what's left of his life. Then, this alien crashes its spacecraft in the woods just as Mint is getting ready to kill himself. The alien comes from a planet where the dominant species look like human hairdos. So, the alien ejects itself from its crashing ship and parachutes down and lands right on Mint's head just as he pulls the trigger of the gun in his mouth. The Toupee, whom I was thinking of calling "Toupee" saves Mint's life and strikes up a symbiotic relationship with him. It gets to travel around on Mint's head, completely disguised as his hair while he gets a reprieve from his cancer, extra cool alien powers and a luxurious head of hair that communicates with him psychically and can beat the crap out of bad guys. Together, the two fight both human villains and stave off attempted invasions by various evil space-aliens that Toupee is aware of. And there is much hilarity when love interests try to stroke Mint's gorgeous hair.

Anyway, that's the idea in a nutshell. Mint Toupee. You heard it here first--I'm sure it will be coming soon to a comic shop near you... I guess I'd better call my editor. He's going to want first crack at this thing for sure--especially when I wow him with the demographics about the Internet hair obsessed.

Hot Child Catching Fire

Kind of a burning theme.

So, I was listening to Nick Gilder and thinking that he was kind of underrated these days. Or maybe I just don't hear about him and consequently assume that neither does anybody else. That's because I'm very me-centric. Anyway, I love Hot Child In the City, but it turns out Nick has a lot of songs I really like. Fun to sing along to. So, there's that.

And while I was on the whole "Hot" topic (not the retail chain specializing in pop music clothes) I thought I'd mention that I've started reading the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. I really liked The Hunger Games, and now, as it turns out, I really like Catching Fire too. In fact, the only thing bugging me about the books, apart from the fact that I hate putting them down to go to sleep or do work, is that only two of the series are published so far. That suggests that when I finish Catching Fire, I am going to be facing a potentially spectacularly long wait before I get to read the third book in the series. And I'm not even sure there are only three books. Dang, I hate that. It's kind of like having to watch television shows when they are aired instead of getting to rent entire seasons after their done. It is so much more fun to watch all of say, Dexter, in a week rather than have to wait entire weeks between episodes. And sometimes, more and more often, I have to wait two weeks because the darn network has decided to give a show a week off. Seems like they only do that with the popular shows, which makes the networks kind of bastards in my opinion.

You know what else makes them bastards? This new thing of tacking an extra minute or two of a program onto the end of a show. Like The Office, and Community. It seems like a cool thing at first blush, but it really messes with my ability to record multiple shows at the same time or scheduled back to back recordings on different networks. At first, I thought the networks might be adding extra content because they love me so much, but then it became really clear that it was actually just a ploy to mess with my ability to switch channels when recording shows. I should have known, given their long history as bastards who cancel my favorite shows and make me wait longest for the content I want most. But no, I fell for it.

Anyway, and to get back to my burning theme, this behavior really burns my britches. So there, I've tied Nick Gilder, a book I'm currently reading and my ire at the networks together in one neat, flaming package.

Werewolves on the Moon for the Holidays

Two things. The holidays are approaching and I've just finished reading Werewolves On the Moon versus Vampires, which was funny and got me thinking that it would make a good Christmas present. So, here I am recommending the series.

Yes, it's a comic series from Dark Horse. You can get it at TFAW by clicking on that link thar. Or, that thar link.

If you are wondering what it is about, the title pretty well says it all--which is something I respect in a comic.

In other news, I've been reading The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins--which was really good and I'm just starting the sequel--and I've also been reading Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling--which was also really good and now I'm reading the sequel, The Protector's War.