The Lang Pack

A wee while back, Stacey Whittle of Small Press, Big Mouth fame put out a call for writers and artists to come forward and contribute to an anthology she was putting together based on folklore and fairy tales. For whatever reason, she took leave of her senses and let me get involved, so I pitched in a re-telling of a Northumbrian folk tale, The Lang Pack (or The Long Pack, for all you southerners).

For anyone unfamiliar with the original story, it's a tale about a pedlar with a mysteriously long package who pays a visit to Lee Hall in Bellingham. Leaving the pack at the house with the servants, he heads off to find lodgings. However, during the night, the house staff swear the package begins to move... It's quite a well documented tale, but, like all of these things, there are several different versions of it floating around - which made me feel less bad about my loose re-interpretation of it as an attempt at an M.R. James style ghost story. I'm sure there are purists out there who'll give me shit about it, but, hey.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story, however, is the mysterious gravestone at St Cuthbert's Church in Bellingham:

Image copyright © Major_Clanger and used entirely without permission

Click that image for a version of the story of The Lang Pack, if you're so inclined. Alternatively, Linda Stratmann has a more detailed version on her website here or England's North East has a slightly different version here. Alternatively, you can buy Joseph Crawhall's book about the story from Amazon here.

Anyway, the art for the story will be handled by Simon Wyatt (writer/artist of Unbelievable: The Man Who Ate Daffodils). The book - called Into The Woods: A Fairytale Anthology - will also feature contributions from Rich McAuliffe, Sarah Dunkerton, Matt Gibbs, Alice Duke, Scott Harrison, Daniel Clifford, Bevis Musson, Dunk Nimmo and many, many more. Hopefully, it'll be available in time for Thought Bubble 2011.

I'll be posting more about it when I can, but for now, keep an eye on the Small Press Big Mouth blog for the full list of contributors Stacey has started up her very own blog, and has the complete list of contributors published there, waiting for you to check out! Go!

A change is gonna come...

I've been thinking this one over for a while now, but now is as good as time as any to shake things up a bit as regards my "on-line presence". I know no one really cares, but this is more about me getting myself organised.

So, here's the deal: Imaginary Stories - or this here blog - is now the central hub for, well, me. I'm going to be posting more writer-y related stuff on here, as well as shameless plugs for the stuff I've got coming out, and my ill-informed and unwanted opinions on whatever has me riled on that particular day.

As for all the stupid stuff (like the dodgy Star Wars videos and stupid pictures of politicians), that's all going to be posted on my new Tumblr blog, which you can find here: http://leerobson.tumblr.com/. Bear with me on it, though, because I'm still feeling my way around Tumblr in general, so it's taking a wee while to get it up and going properly. I've added the link to the icons on the right side of the screen, if anyone is interested.

As for my other social media guff... Twitter is my main source of procrastination connection to the outside world these days, and you can find me @lee_robson. If you want to kick it old school, you can still find me on MySpace, but I'm not really around there very much. I'm also on LinkedIn, but, as of typing this, I still haven't managed to get my arse in gear and get my profile fixed up properly. Needless to say, that's on my To-Do List. If anyone's interested, I'm also on Blip.fm and Last.fm, but if you want to give me shit about the music I'm listening to, I strongly advise you not to. Because I don't care.

Yes, I am on Facebook, but no, I won't add you. It's a personal account, used to keep in touch with people I've worked with and my family. If you want to network, hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

So, yeah. That's pretty much the current state of play here, then. I've two new anthology projects lined up for the future, and I'll post more about those shortly.

John Stewart vs Fox News

Zarjaz Preview: Big JIMPin'

Over at The Quaequam Blog, Bolt-01 has posted a wee preview of an upcoming strip by me and David Broughton, Judge Dredd: Big JIMPin'.

This is my first completed Dredd strip for Zarjaz (if you don't count Death To The Future), but it's not the last. Not by a long shot...

No word on which issue it's going to be appearing in yet, but I'll post more when I can.

"This is where Forrestal cashed in..."

Original image by B3ta.com board member The Twisted Omentum

Yoda & I