Roland's Ramblins

[rolandmann1]

Writer's Block isn't real. Stop whining and start writing.

[rolandmann1]

Hurts the most

The most painful hurts are those that come from the hands and mouths of friends and loved ones. They create the deepest hurts and leave the deepest scars. Recovery is possible, of course—I believe that with all my heart—but the onus lies with the party who committed the hurt not on those who have been hurt. Vague enough for you? I don’t get terribly political here…still don’t plan to do so. Of…

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It's out! THE INTERNS!

You’ve heard me talk about it here and — if you were paying attention — you watched the update widget along the right hand side about the progress, but my novel The Interns is finally here and available for all! WOO-HOO! What’s it about, you ask? Well… Seventeen-year-old Caleb Randolph has spent two years training to become a top-tier superhero—cape, fame, city lights, the whole package. But…

It's out! THE INTERNS!

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Sending 2025 out

Merry Christmas, y’all. I might get long with this one, dunno yet. Those of you who follow me here know it’s been a minute since I posted here. To be honest, it’s not that I don’t have anything to say (of course I do, right?), but I just haven’t been that motivated because I’ve wanted to say something about Dad passing…but I can’t bring myself to do that. If you missed that information…

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Creative update

I am in the midst of writing something about my Dad passing, but I’m not ready to put that out to you all just yet. Instead, just post some updates here on my work. Trumps As I noted earlier, February saw the release of TRUMPS #1 nationally (and internationally) and while we haven’t had a LOT of reception, we have had some. In fact, here’s a nice video review. Go give this guy a thumb’s up!…

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New comic out in stores and a new crowdfunder

Yes, it’s true! I have a new comic that should be on comic shelves in finer comic shops across the nation today! (some shops might not see it until next Wednesday) I’m happy to announce that the first issue of my mini-series TRUMPS is available. And yes, I’m pretty excited about it. Here’s the cover, so you’ll know what you’re looking for when you visit your local shop: So, I’m asking a favor of…

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Adaptations? Yep, I've done those...

Generally, when you start off as a writer, visions of all your original ideas and properties being sold and produced (and now optioned by Hollywood these days!) fill up the dream space. Unless you’re an uber-geek and big fan of some particular property (say, like Star Wars or Walking Dead), you don’t dream of writing someone else’s work. The exception is for comic fans who desperately want to…

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Guilty pleasure: I kinda like reaction videos

My daughter turned me on to “reaction videos” a few years back. I don’t remember the first one, but I remember it was so that I could laugh at the reactions of the person making the video. Truth be told, I did laugh…and then we laughed at a whole bunch more of them. If you don’t know what I mean by reaction videos, they are short videos of people’s reaction to things they’ve never experienced…

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Not all bad tropes are bad

Not all bad tropes are bad

In my class, students read a lot of comics. A goodly portion of them are superhero comics. Super HERO comics. Of those that aren’t “superhero” comics, they often still have “heroes” though not so super. “Heroes” do heroic things. A lot of those heroic things include SAVING PEOPLE. So I laugh to myself when I read a student write about some comic they’ve read: “oh, hero saved the damsel in…

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How a comic book is created

How a comic book is created

(Note: I wrote this a few years back for National Cartoonists Day for a magazine that has since disappeared, and since yesterday was May 5, I felt it would be the right time to “reprint” it! Hope you enjoy!) Today is Cartoonist Day. Let me confess rather quickly that I did not know until very recently that such a day even existed. But, to celebrate the occasion, I’m going to explain to you how…

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Evolution of Silverline…and the logo

Evolution of Silverline…and the logo

After my last blog about Silverline, someone asked me about the logos and a little more, so I thought I’d write a bit of a “part 2” about Silverline. But first: if you haven’t already, please consider checking out (and possibly backing?) my kickstarter for Cat & Mouse #2 here: CLICK HERE

After we went from the idea of publishing our own material under the company name Top Comics, we adopted the…

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What is a Silverline?

What is a Silverline?

In the coming days I’ll be announcing a website and such for my comic imprint Silverline. Those of you who’ve been around for a long time will remember what Silverline is, but for those who haven’t and for those who are just popping by, let me ‘splain.

In 1987 I was at USM trying to finish up a degree and figure out how to earn a living as a writer. I wanted to be a writer and I wanted to work in…

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I visited Arlington, former home and land of Gen. Robt. E. Lee

I visited Arlington, former home and land of Gen. Robt. E. Lee

Arlington house, the former home of American hero Robert E. Lee behind us.

On my recent getaway to DC, we took an entire day to visit Arlington Cemetery.  Arlington is one of the places I’ve always been interested in visiting since I learned it’s history and connection to American hero, General R.E. Lee, so many years ago.

I realize what I say might make some of you unhappy, but I was really…

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I saw DC!

Me & wifey at Trump’s house…he wasn’t home…well, they wouldn’t let us see him, anyway…

The wife surprised me with a trip to Washington, DC. Seems she thought I really needed to get away (see my recent blog post about my high BP – which is slowly improving, thanks) and so she whisked me away.

We wanted to catch the main things on day 1. She got us a hotel close to all the sites, so we got a lot of…

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2019 convention schedule and some other tidbits

2019 convention schedule and some other tidbits

Yes, I realize I’m a little late with this, but better late that never! 2019 is shaping up to be another fun convention year. I was already a guest at the DeLand (FL) Comic Convention. My long-time pal Steven Butler made the trip down with his budding artist daughter, Lily, and we had a great time. If I can get the picture to embed, here’s one of me and writer John Crowther.

https://www.facebook.…

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2019 Preview

Happy New Year!

If you missed the annual Merry Christmas/Happy New Year video from the Mann family, here’s your second chance to see it:

Did you spot a couple of new faces? Yeah…thought so. It was a full house, but it was fun.

SO, 2019 is shaping up to be a potentially exciting year for me and I’m looking forward what the new year…

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2018 Overview

We’re just a few days away from the new year so I thought I’d do my not-so-annual recap (generally done when WordPress prompts me with stats, which they did not do this year).

First, here is the Mann family annual Christmas/New Year video. We’ve got a couple of…guests with us this year…enjoy.

I did a host of comic conventions this…

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