Hello Again!

To start off, let's talk about Project Hello 2011. It is to be a gathering of creatives from every medium: filmmakers and painters and sculptors and musicians and writers, fashion designers, jewelry makers (deep breath), culinary artists, and crafters! If you are any of these or one that has slipped my attention you should be a part of this big event. Its the second one they're throwing. Apparently 2010 was a big success! The entry deadline is May 2 so don't wait too long. Follow the link below to get there. Entry is free but if you are accepted there is a $25 participation charge. I'm going to try and get a spot for Cellar Door Anthology as well as 5280 Comic Book Classroom table. Hope to see you there too.

http://projecthello.posterous.com/call-for-entry#!/

Also stay tuned for news of a highly successful Denver Comicfest 2011! We'll be having the post-party and debriefing this coming Friday and I'll have a bunch more details about the things we've done. Some highlights you ask? Nationally renowned Elliot Serrano (Army of Darkness comics!) is going to give us a mention on his Chicago Tribune associated blog (http://blogs.redeyechicago.com/geek-to-me/) and you may someday see LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame wearing a 5280 T-shirt :)  Also! I Want More Comics (http://iwantmorecomics.com/) is promoting Cellar Door Anthology and its jumping over their shelves.

As always...stay tuned for more!

Kafka

So...the public domain is a beautiful beautiful thing and I've recently decided to partake of it in order to enhance the future editions of Cellar Door beginning with Unraveling. If all goes as planned (and why wouldn't it? right?) we will be including the master Franz Kafka's "Jackals and Arabs" as well as an essay and some artwork inspired by his work. Said essay and art will be the output of an contest that will be running until the 20th of May.

Make sure and email us if you would like to participate in the contest (at the usual address: Cellar.Door.Book@gmail.com) and I'll send out the details. The gist for now? The essay will be 500-1000 words concerning a connection between Kafka's work and the theme of the book, unraveling. The art contest will be a choice of three drawings: 1. a portrait of the writer. 2. a drawing of a man transforming into a bug. 3. an illustration from the short story "Jackals and Arabs". To read the story online go here: http://www.kafka-online.info/jackals-and-arabs.html. It's a great read as are the rest of his works.

I hope to hear from you!

I Want More Comics!

        

While the title of this blog is a truthful statement it is also the name of a really great comic shop in Westminster that as of last night has copies of Cellar Door: One upon its shelves. These guys are also partners with 5280 Comicbook Classroom so while it may be a bit of a drive for those of us in the downtown area (and even farther for some of you dear readers) it is well worth the trip. They've got a great staff, an amazing selection and always some fun going on in the store.

The Basics

Greetings readers! I thought since I have been telling a lot of new people about this blog lately I should probably take a moment and review the basics of what Cellar Door is (and what it hopes to be). The anthology started out a little under a year ago after another book my group had been working on called Tales to Oddify went under. The editors of that one got out two pretty cool books but the motif of pulp fiction only seemed to stifle the amount of content they received. Having learned the ins and outs of self publishing through this experience (though my cohorts and I were only writers and artists on the book and not the ones putting it together) we decided to give it a try and thus was born Cellar Door. One of my main hopes is that this book will start people on the road to submitting their works for publication. It can be a really intimidating industry out there and I am trying to help make it a little less so. There are too many amazing voices and visions that get relegated to the corner because they don't think they have what it takes.

The first book we put together under the title was themed One (and is still available here, on Amazon, and upon the bookshelves of a few stores in Denver, CO). It took approximately six months to put together and release and has gotten some favorable attention.

The second book is being created under the theme Unraveling. We've got some really great material already and are still looking for a bit more. I'm excited to report that it will definitely have more artwork than the first issue! Keep your eyes open and tell your friends to submit and check out the book.

Thanks so much,

Michael Prince

Hunting Writers!

      I've just returned from the annual Sigma Tau Delta (English Honors Society) International Conference held this year at Pittsburgh, PA. It was a weekend full of excitement and lots and lots of talent. I talked to plenty of fantastic writers about submitting to Cellar Door: Unraveling and hope to see a new crop of poems and stories coming in soon. The conference ended on Sunday and there is the shock of readjusting to reality (work and school especially) to consider so while I am hungry to see these new works, I refuse to grow impatient until at least the end of the week. Then! All bets are off ;)

       The picture here depicts a classy sampling of the super team known now as the Sigma Tau Delta Mega-Chapter which knows no borders! You'll be hearing more from them and certainly from me. Stay tuned.

The Quarter Cart

I just had to post about this really fun project my friend Jovie is working on. She is heroically rescuing books that have been cast into those quarter bins with cracked paint that you see standing dejectedly outside the store proper. She is willing to suffer through these tales deemed unworthy of the true shelves in order to not only review them but also re-imagine and draw their rather strange covers (check out the wicked handlebar on that man's face!).

This will actually be a good study about judging a book by its cover. Will Jovie find a masterpiece of literature hidden under an unfortunately drawn piece of "art"?

You can follow along with the fun at the link:

http://quartercart.tumblr.com/

The Conference

Let the hunt begin once more! It's that time again. Wednesday morning I'll be flying to Pittsburgh (accompanied by a handful of other writers and one writist...the illustrious Roberto Martinez) to attend the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honors Conference. I'll be reading on a panel and pubbing with our amazing friends from Wisconsin (see below) and most important (to this blog at least) hunting new writers for the Anthology! It's going to be a great time as always. Keep an eye out on here. I might find the time to post some of our adventures. The lovely Jillian Phillips will be doing so as well at the link below:

http://jilliesconvention.blogspot.com/

Hmmmm....perhaps there will be interviews coming as well. Stay tuned!