Jim Munroe

Help Us Destroy Toronto

August 10, 2009

We’re a few weeks away from diving into shooting Ghosts With Shit Jobs, our no-budget faux-doc about Toronto having descended into third world status, and we have a few more holes to fill. Even if you’re not a fit for any of these acting roles, crew, locations, any leads appreciated! And yeah, being a no-budget movie means that no one’s getting paid up front and it’s non-union. Experience appreciated, but often not necessary.

Click through to see the list and Sanford Kong‘s awesome concept art. Get in touch at casting@lofiscifi.com with any questions/ideas.
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How To Enjoy Research

July 15, 2009

We’ve just launched the mini-site for Sword of My Mouth, making the first two issues (and commentary from me and Shannon) available for subscribers and people who’ve pre-ordered the graphic novel. It’s the first third (48 pages) of the book so far, and we’ll be adding a chapter every other month until we launch the complete graphic novel edition at next year’s Toronto Comic Arts Festival. UPDATE: The Globe and Mail just ran an article about our publishing experiment.

One of the things we did differently with this book was research, and so I’ll take this opportunity to write a bit about that. (more…)
Link: Terrific Colouring Tutorial

May 22, 2009

The author of the very funny Nedroid comics has put up an amazing tute for colouring comics, including lighting. If you’ve hit a wall in your Photoshop-fu training, this might help you vault it.
Ghosts With Shit Jobs: Casting Call

May 18, 2009

We’re in pre-production for a new lo-fi sci-fi movie called Ghosts With Shit Jobs. Involving many of the same people as our last one, Infest Wisely (imdb / official site), it’s also a no-budget, multi-director project written by me — but with approximately a million times more planning. We’re going to be starting shooting this summer.

In 2040, a generation of Torontonians have grown up after the economic collapse of the west. The movie consists of episodes of a documentary series popular in mainland China about the bad jobs some white people have — the plucky and resilient souls unlucky enough to be born into the slums of North America are both amusing and moving to the Chinese audience.

We’re doing auditions on Saturday, June 6, 12-4. If you’re in Toronto, please check out the roles we’re trying to fill — there’s a variety of ethnicities and ages. (more…)
Remember When Comics Were Cheap?

May 8, 2009

How does $1 sound?

Sword of My Mouth #1, the first part of the follow-up to my post-Rapture graphic novel Therefore Repent!, is now in stores and this weekend at TCAF. #1 will be the only print edtion — issues #2-6 will be digital only, after which the complete story will be collected together and published as a printed graphic novel. So if you’d like to get them as they’re released bi-monthly through this year, you have two options — you can subscribe to the complete series in a digital format for $6 or pre-order the printed graphic novel for $12 and get a free subscription to the digital issues as well as some other goodies.

In a time when the economy and other forces are making the print pamphlet model unsustainable for many indies, we’re excited to see how this will work. The digital format isn’t going to replace the print book, but it’s an interesting format that allows for cheaper prices and more direct interaction between creators and readers — one we hope to foster by adding commentary.
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Interactive Non-Fiction

May 4, 2009

At this year’s Game Developers Conference I was commissioned to do a text game set there — I got the nifty press pass pictured in exchange — and I spent the last month making it. You can play it in your browser here. Thanks to the betatesters, who I named the attendees in the game after, as well as the Hand Eye Society Social where I got a nice reception for a mini-talk about it a few weeks back.

In other IF news, Everybody Dies won a XYYZY award for Best Non-Player Characters! They had a pretty funny real-time text award ceremony. And the excellent e-zine SPAG did an interview with me about my interactive fiction.

Update: Kotaku warns it causes GDC flashbacks, Offworld said it “manages to capture quite accurately the collaborative, socially supportive and intellectually curious aspects of what it’s like to actually be there”, and Rock Paper Shotgun declares it an “oddly human little thing which captures quite a bit about the human side of development.”
Event: Toronto Comic Arts Festival

May 1, 2009

Me and Shannon will be at TCAF to debut the first issue of our Sword of My Mouth, the follow-up to my and Salgood’s Therefore Repent! graphic novel (which had an awesome debut at the last TCAF). It’s already gotten a couple nice reviews (here and here at minute 42 or so) so I’m looking forward to seeing what people think in person! Plus, Shannon will have some of the art from the book available for the event as silkscreened prints, and believe me, she knows a thing or two about silkscreening (google it if you doubt me). Need more incentive? TCAF is one of the best comic fests in the world, it’s free and it’s at a huge downtown library this year. Check it out!
Link: A new DIY Book podcast

April 29, 2009

Hamish Macdonald, the author of one of the most comprehensive (and popular, with 200+ comments) articles on this site describing his method of bookmaking has started a DIY Book podcast.
Game Developers Conference, San Francisco

March 19, 2009

I’ll be attending the amazing GDC next week. I’ve been commissioned to write a text game about my experiences for GameSetWatch, where I’ll be guest blogging during the conference.
A Self-Publishing Comics Primer

March 11, 2009

One of the coolest thing about the comics world is that it doesn’t dismiss self-publishers the way the lit world does. Maybe because it’s a less pretentious field, or a newer one, or that drawing talent is more quickly discerned at a glance. Certainly it helps that one of the more prominent awards and grants, the Xeric, is open only to self-publishers.

Comic artist and former No Media Kings intern stef lenk received a Xeric grant for her illustrated booklets TeaTime 1 and 2. Whether you’ve got a project that you’re submitting to the next Xeric deadline at the end of this month, or if you’re just interested in hearing about the nuts and bolts of comics publishing from printing to promotion, you’ll find stef’s opinions and experiences in the article below food for thought. UPDATE: Canadian comic self-publishers will want to check out this Gene Day Award.
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Sword of My Mouth #1 Out Soon

February 23, 2009

Her baby isn’t quite right. But in a post-Rapture Detroit, not much is.

The first 22 pages of the next post-Rapture story after Therefore Repent! will be appearing in comic stores in May, to be eventually collected into a graphic novel called Sword of My Mouth in 2010. Check out Shannon Gerard’s fantastic cover art and the description after the jump, and if it looks good you can preorder at your local comic store — it’s in this month’s Previews (MAR09 4308, pg. 266). Update: I just saw it’s a Staff Pick at Previews!

(What’s that, you say? You’re behind and haven’t read the critically acclaimed Therefore Repent! yet? Well, lucky thing I’m releasing the full graphic novel as a free download today, isn’t it?)

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Link: ThinkGalacticon this Summer!

February 2, 2009

The excellent political science fiction conference, Think Galacticon, has just announced the dates for the next one, June 26 – June 28 2009. Started from a reading group in Chicago’s Wicker Park and inspired by the 30 years running feminist SF con Wiscon, they were nice enough to feature me as one of the guests of honour at their first one. They’re a welcoming and multi-faceted bunch, and unlike a lot of cons they’ve got a location right in the heart of the city so it’s easy to check out Chicago as well.