The Things Humanity does to Humanity

This found its way into my email this morning, and it is not an Internet Rumor. Those in the comics industry may recognize Michelle's name.

Sunday, October 26, 2008 Please Help a Mother Recover Her Child's Body This is no internet rumor. I know the people involved, and the tragedy is real. There is a paypal account near the bottom for donations. Please pass this along to those who might care to help. Thanks for reading. -- Steve Sullivan * To our friends -- Please pass this around and help if you can -- Our closest friends have heard of MICHELLE CALANOG PRINCIPE. But you haven't heard the rest of it: Michelle works in the comics industry abroad and is quite involved in many of the comics being published. She manages Glass House Graphics Asia and Studio Sakka, a creative agency and manga studio, respectively, coaching and guiding dozens of artists and colorists across the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, and even India. What's more, she oversees bunches of free seminars each year, bringing in experienced talent to teach hopeful young artsts about the comics biz. Among her talent roster: Bong (Star Wars) Dazo; Carlo (Hulk) Pagulayan; Stephen (Wolverine: Manifest Destiny) Segovia; Lui (New Terminator) Antonio; Noah (Red Sonja) Salonga; Patrick (Avengers/Invaders) Berkenkotter; Harvey (Avengers: The Initiative) Tolibao; Jonathan (Battlestar Galactica) Lau; Anthony (Bratz) Tan; Wilson (Wolverine Manga) Tortosa, Tina (Space Ace) Francisco, and plenty of colorists for Marvel, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Dabel Bros., and so on. She's also been a comic book character. Michelle is the sister of Jinky Coronado (artist of TokyoPop's Avalon High series and writer/artist of her own series Banzai Girls). Michelle has been a character in every issue of Jinky's comic book. And the two of them even appeared together in FHM Philippines. So Michelle's overall ties to the comics industry go pretty deep. Married at the beginning of the year to her college sweetheart Rhene Principe, Michelle had a baby exactly one month ago. That should be cause for celebration, and it was. But within 12 hours of taking home newborn Reinee, Michelle found him not feeding and unresponsive. Back at the hospital, doctors discovered what they thought were blood clots in his brain. A catscan and surgery further revealed them to be inoperable deposits of calcification in his brain. Soon they also learned the baby had multiple hernias -- intestines pushing through muscle walls -- and areas of bowel that were not processing food. Young Reinee went through four weeks of painful surgeries, spending nearly every day in ICU. Born September 26, 2008, Reinee Jaden Principe died today, October 26, 2008. But every mother's worst nightmare HASN'T ENDED. Although Michelle and her husband emptied their savings account on hospital expenses, and Glass House's head honcho David Campiti and Jinky Coronado (they are married) have each donated thousands of dollars toward Reinee's medical expenses, the hospital wlll not release Reinee's body to Michelle for burial until she pays the remaining $9,000.00+ in medical costs. What's more, they now have funeral expenses to worry about. Jinky is trying to help her sister to raise the remaining money. Help from anyone -- a dime, a dollar, $10, whatever -- is greatly needed in a hurry, and appreciated. Michelle and Rhene need to bring some closure to their heartbreaking situation and, literally, put him to rest. She has set up a PayPal donation Email specifically for this -- banzaigirlmc@gmail.com For any generous individuals donating $1,000.00 or more, Jinky will illustrate and personalize a custom cover-quality illustration of whatever characters they want. Your help for Michelle and her family is appreciated. -- David

Yesterday book signing went well. Two people from where I work dropped by, Dad, the in-laws, and friend Jen. The Husband (Weston Ochse) had a lot of friends and coworkers come by and sold a number of books. Always a good thing as it makes the bookstore want to bring him back. They didn't get any of my books in, so I brought my own and, a bit to their chagrin, sold them myself after getting the mall manager's permission. Sold 10 or 12, so it was worthwhile. The store manager (who wasn't there yesterday) is talking about a multi-author signing on the day after Thanksgiving, which is a huge shopping day. We think that's a great idea. We'll see if it pans out.

Something I got from quietspaces's LJ and thought was fun:

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Linguistic

41% Logical, 45% Spatial, 51% Linguistic, 31% Intrapersonal, 14% Interpersonal, 6%
Musical, 25% Bodily-Kinesthetic and 31% Naturalistic!

"Verbal-linguistic intelligence has to do with words, spoken or written. People with verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with words and languages. They are
typically good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing words and dates. They tend to learn best by reading, taking notes, listening to lectures, and via discussion and debate. They are
also frequently skilled at explaining, teaching and oration or persuasive speaking. Those with verbal-linguistic intelligence learn foreign languages very easily as they have high verbal memory and
recall, and an ability to understand and manipulate syntax and structure.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include writers, lawyers, philosophers, journalists, politicians and
teachers." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test

Personal Comment:

I just have to point that people with good memories are cursed, because when they remind people of stuff, they get labeled as nags, and that really bites.

Goblin is in kind of a kissy mood today. Who stole my grumpy old Great Dane? :)

Book Signing Today!

The Husband (Weston Ochse) and I will be doing a book signing today at The Mall in Sierra Vista on Highway 92. The fun starts at 1:00 p.m. and continues until 4:00 p.m., hosted by the B. Dalton Bookstore. We'll have books, personality (at least some people claim we do), and Smarties to entice people to stop at the table.



Anyone reading this thing???

Some Progress...

Not as much as I'd hoped to get done, but it's moving along.

By the way, on this day in 1992, my then-agent sold my first novel. Boy, where did the last 16 years go??!

Harry Fassl, RIP

I just got word that my old friend from Chicago, Harry Fassl, died on Sunday morning. Harry was an artist-photographer, and one of the most interesting and intelligent people you could ever hope to meet. Years ago, when playing around with a new recording capability on his computer, Harry sent me a tiny .wav file. Ever since then, literally, it's Harry's voice that says "Hello, Von!" every time I get a new email.

Gosh, I'm just so sad. Sleep well, Harry. We'll miss you terribly.

Harry Fassl -- Both photos from 1993.

HIGHBORN-a-Thon!

Yes, I am again UNSUPERVISED. I have sent The Husband and The Teenager to Mexico with The Nephew and The In-Laws. It's just me, the dawgs, and HIGHBORN. Monday is a work holiday, and I've added two days of leave to it to make a nice, uninterrupted 4-day weekend.

But I shall not rest.

HIGHBORN awaits. And I will make a huge jump ahead in this novel.

The count, as of this morning:



Here goes!

Why I Love Great Danes

Danes Online

An especially good month. Click on the above link only if you want to smile for a little while, no downloading required.

News and Random Bits O'Stuff

Gonna hit the keyboard hard here, but first a few things to pass along:

After a long time of self-imposed abstinence, I have a new agent. This of course makes me feel all recharged and revved up, so I'm pounding along on my big novel project, HIGHBORN. Keep an eye here for word count/progress reports.

"Revelation" is still up at Horror World (http://www.horrorworld.org/fiction.htm), through the end of the month. Comments?

Look for my story, "Last Storm of the Season," in the erotic Lovestrology anthology. Lovestrology is scheduled to be released January 1st on the Ravenous Romance website (http://ravenousromance.com/).

I'm excited to announce that Bad Moon Books (http://www.badmoonbooks.com) is bringing back FINAL IMPACT and RED SHADOWS. Each book will come out in limited edition hardcover in 2010 (one early, one mid-year), and each will have a brand new story in that book's universe to go with it. Then, in late 2010, Bad Moon Books will release a very limited lettered edition of *both* books, this time with a "bridge" story, one that takes place somewhere between the end of FINAL IMPACT and the beginning of RED SHADOWS. More info on that as we go along.

Occasionally I send out a newsletter. Okay, VERY occasionally. If you'd like to subscribe, go to http://groups.google.com/group/yvonnenavarro

The Save Our Planet Random Bits O'Stuff:

Just a few suggestions. If each of us does one small thing, it turns into a big good thing:

CatalogChoice.com - 60 seconds to sign up, and say goodbye to hordes of tree-killing junk mail that you always throw out anyway. And once you're signed up, it takes literally 3 seconds to find and opt out of new cataloges that show up in your mailbox: http://www.catalogchoice.org/

DoNotMail.org -- Sign the petition to stop the junk mail before it starts. This one will cover all the in-envelope paper spam. How many times a week can companies like Physicians Mutual ask you to buy [more... and more] insurance, anyway?

LuckyEarth.com - Lucky Earth Waterless Car Wash - Winner of Los Angeles Magazine's Best of 2008 Best Green Car Wash. Okay, I haven't tried it... but I'm going to. I live in Arizona. It takes 116 gallons of water to hand-wash a car. A 32-ounce bottle of Lucky Earth Waterless Car Wash will do it 7 to 10 times. Yes, I can do math.

Revelation!

revelation -- noun: ...something that is revealed;
especially : an enlightening or astonishing
disclosure revelations (from www.merriam-webster.com).

Curious? Then, please, read all about it on HorrorWorld.org, where my story, "Revelation," will be available for free during the month of September. Enjoy!

Creature Capturing

The monsoons are, I hope, FINALLY on their way out here in southeastern Arizona. This is the longest monsoon season we've had since I've been living here-- it's rained almost every day since the beginning of July. The weeds are crazy, the bugs are crazy, I'm covered in mosquito bites. Every freakin' creature around here is growing to gargantuan size, dogs excluded because I very carefully watch their diets. Creepy crawlies are trying to creepy crawlie into my house at every opportunity. Moths, flies, mosquitoes, butt-bugs (black beetles that walk with their hineys in the air -- I have no idea what they really are but I can't resist playing with them), grasshoppers, even a frackin' SIX-INCH LONG DESERT CENTIPEDE (yes, the kind that BITE). I caught that one after yanking Ghost away from it; she was a quarter inch away from getting an extremely painful bite on the tender pink nose. And, of course, spiders:

This baby -- a fully mature Huntsman Spider -- was relaxing on the wall above the doorway to my office. He was almost as big around as my palm. If you look carefully, you have to wonder if he doesn't have ten legs rather than eight, with those extra two ending in nice, big boxing gloves. Turns out those are, um, "man parts." If you're feeling particularly peeping-tom-ish, click on the photo a couple of times for a REAL close-up.

I had quite a time identifying this big guy, but thanks to www.uglyoverload.com, I now feel informed. Uglyoverload is a must-visit site, by the way. Great creepy-crawlies and zippy writing by the owner, Justin Lindsay, make my daily visit there something to which I always look forward. Yes, dambit, I'm being grammatically correct. One of these days, I'll upload more pics of the fabulous critters I've been capturing and playing with, including several snakes. Arizona is endlessly entertaining. :-)=