FAQs
Why are you collecting email addresses before the Kickstarter launch?
Having a big first day is very important to the success of a Kickstarter project since Kickstarter promotes projects that are doing well early on. Assembling a mailing list of interested people helps us reach potential backers on that crucial first day.
What's the status of The Skeptic?
The script for The Skeptic is 100% complete and all the panels have been laid out. Backers will be supporting the illustration of the graphic novel by the incomparable Andy Fish.
Will I like The Skeptic?
If you love monsters or supernatural beasts...
If you know what the word "cryptozoology" means...
If you are a fan of Carl Sagan...
If you enjoyed our previous graphic novel Geeks & Greeks...
... you will like The Skeptic.
Here are some inspirations for The Skeptic. If you liked any of these, there's a good chance you'll like The Skeptic.
Inspiration 1: Somewhere in Time, the 1980 Christopher Reeve - Jane Seymour movie, based on Richard Matheson's 1975 sci-fi novel Bid Time Return. I totally bought how that story explored the idea of a love so powerful if can transcend any barrier, even time. This movie can make lumberjacks cry like babies the fifth time they watch it. In the same vein, I've seen men and women reduced to tears upon reaching the end of The Skeptic.
Inspiration 2: Ghost, the 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. In this timeless classic, true love transcends the barrier of death itself. Without giving away any spoilers, let's just say that The Skeptic explores the same notion from a different angle. Also, Ghost is a genre-blending mix of mystery, horror, action, and comedy that somehow just works. Those are the same genres you'll find in play in The Skeptic.
Inspiration 3: The Night Stalker, the 1972 made-for-TV movie about vampire-hunting reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin). I saw this movie as a ten year-old kid and I've never been so petrified. What I loved about The Night Stalker was how deftly it combined humor with horror. Even though you were having a good time with the wise-cracking Kolchak, the laughs never dampened the fear. Likewise, Thomas Pierce, the hero of The Skeptic, manages to maintain a sense of humor as his world unravels during this globe-trotting monster mystery quest.
Inspiration 4: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan's 1995 book. Carl Sagan was the ultimate skeptic and a source of inspiration for The Skeptic's main character. Whenever I wondered what the character might say in a given situation, I asked myself, "What would Carl Sagan say?"
How long have you been working on The Skeptic?
I started The Skeptic in 2001 and have been working on it ever since – writing, rewriting, editing, polishing. Like my prior graphic novel Geeks & Greeks, The Skeptic began as an idea for a screenplay. I've been reluctant to share the story widely in Hollywood because the idea is so high-concept – the ultimate skeptic starts seeing the world's most legendary creatures – that I was afraid some shady producer would hear the idea and write their own version of the story. But now the time has come. After 15 years of pouring my heart and soul into this story, I can't make it any better. It's time to put it out in the world.
What else have you written?
My humorous adventure essays have been published in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including the Boston Phoenix, Capital Style, Funny Times, the Los Angeles Times, Penthouse, P.O.V., Salon, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, and The Writer. The insatiably curious can read many of these essays on my blog Obscure in Many Fields.
I'm the author of two humor books, The Little Book of Bad Business Advice (St. Martin's, 1997) and If You Jam the Copier, Bolt (Andrews McMeel, 2001). My work also appears in the humor anthologies, May Contain Nuts: A Very Loose Canon of American Humor (HarperCollins, 2004) and Joke Express: Instant Delivery of 1,424 Funny Bits from the Best Comedians, (Andrews McMeel, 2006). I've been a commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and a member of Us Weekly magazine's "Fashion Police" (ironic if you knew how I dress).
I also wrote the comedic graphic novel Geeks & Greeks, which was set at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and inspired by MIT's culture of hacking and my own experiences with hazing. Geeks became the highest-grossing graphic novel on Kickstarter written by a first-time graphic novelist.
