Bajemas Scriptorium

I’m doing some blog design update and running into a few snags. Please excuse the dust and boo boos for the next few hours. Thanks.

It’s time again for Etta Diem’s Halloween Grab Bags!!

So! What is and Halloween Grab Bag? Basically it’s like those unmarked bags you can nab in stores or as prizes. You’re not given any real clue what is inside and each one is slightly different. Normally mine are just full of my own art and craft things that have a dark or spooky theme, along with some traditional Halloween goodies as I stock up on them relentlessly each year. This year the bags are a little better because they also include a bit of Myke’s work as well. This means double the spooky with a bit of Lovecraft and dark steampunk sprinkles on top >:)

This year’s grab bags include some lovely spooky art along with some unseen work created by both Beth (the wicked) and Myke (the dreaded). Along with the spooky art we have some dark steampunk, a little creepy romantic Victorian and the ever popular “there’s gotta be some tentacles in there!” Lovecraft inspired work. All this and a variety of other Halloween goodies. As always the contents of the bags are a surprise with guarantees of original artwork to be had only through nabbing one of the bags. And this year’s big surprise: One of the bags comes with a “black ticket” (who needs Wonka’s golden ticket?) that wins the bag grabber their very own 8×10 giclee of a limited edition Etta Diem print.

Get your grab bag today on Halloween while the bags last! And don’t worry if they show up squirming a little bit. We’re nearly 89% sure this year that nothing within the bag will cause you harm! At least no lasting harm… well, no lingering harm… alright we’re positive you’ll lose no limbs this time around but we do recommend you wear eye protection just in case.

And from Etta Diem to all of you, have a very spooky and entertaining Halloween!!

I’m somewhat caught between commissions and trying to tinker with a bug in my website code that is giving me some issues. Normal stuff.

SteamCon is currently taking place this weekend in Seattle. Myke and I have artwork on exhibit there. He has a ton of his original etchings and airship prints on display and for sale in the print shop and I have some decorated giclees of my Bete Noir collection and some other prints available, as well as prints in the print shop. If you do go –and I keep asking everyone this– please take photos! There’s been so many events my work has hanged at where I have no been able to go. It’d be nice to see my work while it was hanging and some of the highlights of the event.

As for this weekend here, we’re taking off to Flint to see Voltaire and a variety of other bands perform, and see a few of my friends I’ve not caught up with in ages. We’ll be back in a few days. If I owe you commissions, prints, emails, what have you, I will get all caught up before I go or right after I get back.

I finally got my finished and edited version of Decoded back today. So I can finally put it back up for sale. This is a gallery copy, meaning it comes without an ISBN number but has a extra short story in the back.

It can be nabbed at either my site or our etsy account: Directly from my website

Via our Etsy Store

There is no waiting for these to ship. I’ll process the order and shipped them out within three days of your order, so there won’t be a wait. I’m begging someone to buy this. Not because of my money issues but my writing insecurities. For years I’ve considered myself more of a writer than an artist. I simply can’t illustrate the images in my head or my stories, but writing offers me no restrictions. However, I haven’t really sold any of my long form stories before so my ego is waiting for a bruising.

P.S. This whole anthology is a bit mature content, dark fantasy meets dystopian literature. There are story samples on all of the purchase pages. This particular story of the six is my favorite, though the saddest.

Myke revamped his Secret Adventure Mission Generator the other night. Go give it a try and please share your results and the link. : )

I’m a huge hockey fan. I’m an insane hockey fan. I’m the type of hockey fan who can claim to have seen at least one game played by every single Michigan hockey team from the pros, to college, right down to the UHL, which is like a toss above a bar league. During the height of my uber love, when I could be found traveling every other night to see a game with my best hockey buddy Tina, I had a hockey comic strip I published. Mind you, the humor was very dark, my fictional hockey team was seriously awful and wonky… my world cup team were cannibals. It was twisted enough that my friends (mostly non-fans of any sport let alone hockey) didn’t give me too much grief about it. But I loved that comic. From my demented ex-race car driver zamboni driver to the mental character modeled after myself who kidnapped goalies.

While cleaning through some of my storage stuff, Myke actually came across my box of Foxglove t-shirts. These are completely rare items as far as anything you could get from me. While I sit here being sick to my stomach watching my game seven of the Wings, I think I’m going to offer a few of these to anyone who’d like an atypical item of mine. Foxglove Hockey Comics T-Shirt, 16.00 plus shipping. I only have a few. Eep! My team is losing. Uh!!!

The Cult of the Doom and the Gloom… something that is very hard to explain and/or describe to parents and fans of pastels. By the time I was eleven I knew that I was drawn to autumn and all the things that seem to fit so well into autumn. I liked the autumn rainbow where all the colors were darker and more pronounced… like red. I don’t care for the simple color red. But a red that has dried, darkened, become more deeply pronounced with age is an exquisite color. The same can be said for all colors. And the smell of burning leaves… the taste of warm cider… walking around at night with Halloween decorations spicing up the world… this warms me. By the time I was twelve I didn’t care if anything other than black clothed me. The music I listened to was mopey and seemingly dreary, but it reminded me of my autumn and I felt so happy when I listened to it. To the outside viewer the 80s goth was a gloomy little blight on the otherwise bright landscape and it was assumed we were always ready for a funeral or good old fashioned weeping session. The very opposite is true. Being so acutely aware of death made me appreciate the beauty of living. The majority of people will make fun of you or pull a face if you tell them you’re a “goth” and that’s fine. I’d make the same face if you said you were a “jock” or “preppy” because as a teenager I saw those types as living the most boring and artificial lives on the planet. It’s all about personal preference and perspective.

(more…)

Clicky clicky for Alice in wonderland late 80s style

OOKLAH SAYS ARARARAHHHHHH
I hate the term cougar as it applies to older women dating younger men. It causes me visions of the freakish cat woman socialite pouncing on unsuspecting virginal boys and mowing on them until she’s sucking the marrow from their bones. I guess as an aging woman I should be grateful that society is finally giving female cradle robbers the same thumbs up as their male counterpart. However, being as I dated a man six years my junior -catching him at nineteen and I in my middle twenties- I would never again in my life date anyone that much younger than me. I take great pleasure these days in having a partner who is my age. Same time frame for our childhood, same time frame for our reckless twenties spent in clubs. I also like the fact that Myke can suggest that their should be a musical for the old saturday morning cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian and I know what the hell he’s talking about. Speaking of which, this one’s for you Myke.

(more…)