Self-promotion time: Yes, it's that time again already. I have more work to promote. October's Digital Webbing Presents #19 (AUG04 2670) is a full-color issue with a 20-page science-fiction feature by Steve Niles and Kody Chamberlain (30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales). As if that weren't enough, the issue also boasts a little experiment co-written by Ian Ascher and me, and beautifully illustrated by Scott LeMien (Moonstone Monsters).

The three-page story, called "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," throws together characters from Ian's "Sleight of Hand" stories and my "Bad Elements" series in a case of two hitmen after the same target. It's short, but as I said, it's an experiment -- one spurred by an online conversation with the publisher, who challenged the three of us to tell a complete story in just three pages using members of both casts ... and an explosion. I think we met the challenge pretty well. 

The October issue also contains "How I Spent My 21st Birthday," by Troy Wall and Nick Postic and Nick Marinkovich (IDW's Underworld), "Spook'd" by Jeffery Stevenson and Seth Damoose (Movie Poop Shoot's Brat-halla), and "Just Another Wednesday" by Ev Jameson and Justin Peterson.