Geek Syndicate have scooped us all yet again with this year’s Bristol Comic Con and Bristol Small Press Expo’s Panels and Talks schedule.

I am very fortunate this year to be appearing on two panels, one at 12:00 and another at 13:00 on Saturday.

At 12:00, I will be taking to the stage alongside Gavin and Dan from The Sidekick cast for a panel called “Signs and Portents”, based loosely on my new graphic novel “The Dark”. The official blurb is as follows:

What do William Blake, symbolic code breaking, aura reading, Byron, Howard Hughes, numerology, World War Two poetry, and cutting edge science all have in common?

Find out as Gavin Jones and Dan Marshall (of The Sidekick Cast) probe the mind of Markosia word smith Chris Lynch and find out about his latest projects, including the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller “The Dark”, available in a limited edition Expo Exclusive edition this weekend.

Then, at 13:00, I will be sitting down for a “fireside chat” with the Orang Utan Comics crew and the inimitable Scott Grandison for the “Comic Book Outsiders” panel …

Orang Utan Comics and Monkeys With Machineguns are successful small press studios putting out high-quality content for the last five years. Join them as they discuss their experiences in the business so far, give advice to others looking to produce their own titles and their view of the future for small press and independent comics in a world where digital distribution is becoming increasingly important.

Hosted by Scott Grandison of the Comic Book Outsiders podcast.

I will be flying solo this year as Stu.Art, the taller and some say better looking half of MWM, isn’t able to make it to Bristol this year. Still, I’m sure I’ll hold my own!

I haven’t been on a panel since the very first Birmingham Comic Show when I sat on the Horror Comics Panel. Anyone who was at that event might remember be likening the realistic horror of The Walking Dead to Frank Butcher turning up naked on Pat’s doorstep in Eastenders. In context, I was talking about “the horror of the real” and how brilliantly I think Walking Dead portrays the reactions of the human survivors. I think Charlie Adlard is still avoiding me though.

If you want a sampler of the sort of nonsense that I try to pass off as intellectual discourse, even some kind of pseudo-science at a push, you can delve in to the archives of yesteryear with “An Evening with Monkeys with Machineguns” and my guest appearance on “The Orang Utan Comics Round Table” from Bristol 2009.

I apologise in advance to all concerned.

The good, good people of Waterstones will be letting me loose in their Cribbs Causeway store on April 24th at 1pm.

This is the first time I have signed in a “mainstream” book store as opposed to a specialist comic store or a convention; I’m really looking forward to introducing some non-comics fans to The Dark as well as meeting up with any comics fans who come by.

There are some details of the signing up on the Waterstone’s website and, of course, there is a Facebook event if you want to sign up.

It’s that most vital of things … the home town signing! Chris will be Forbidden Planet, Cardiff, from 5pm to 6pm to sign copies of The Dark. Terror abounds as I face friends and family in my “professional” capacity as the mind behind the book, so any and all support is greatly appreciated!

Many thanks to the guys at Forbidden Planet for squeezing this into their busy signings schedule. If you are interested, please sign up for our Facebook Event so that they now how many people to expect. (Not that selling out in my home town would not be cool.)

For the hardcore, rumours abound of an  “after party” in one of Cardiff’s many fine hostelries … keep your ear to the ground for information on the night.

I will be appearing at Ace Comics in Richmond, along with Huw J and Harry Markos, to sign copies of The Dark on March 20th. Ace are already offering copies of The Dark at a discount price with free shipping via their website.

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The signing will run from 12:00 – 15:00, so hopefully I will have plenty of time to talk to everyone who comes in. Podcasters and bloggers are welcome to get in touch in advance to arrange interviews before, during, or after the session.

Other than for conventions, this is my first ever signing outside of good old Cardiff, so fingers crossed for a good event!

Would you buy a used comic from these people?

Yep, BICS rocked. It rocked in a very special way.

To steal a trick from Nick Horby here, in no particular order other than the order that my brain spewed them forth, are my favourite moments:

1. Getting a trading card of “The Dark” from Sy Wyatt
2. Almost making Amy Liff faint/vomit/both with an impromtu rendition of the classic children’s showtune “Tranny Wingman”.
3. Sharing Supernatural love with The Nuge
4. Getting the original art for my “Fictionalist” avatar from Rob
5. Making Stuart admit that I loved Supernatural first, that he mocked my Supernatural love, but he is now addicted to it
6. Carpet Jaeger-bombing as many people as possible in a sudden burst of prodigious drinking
7. Seeing a giant Optimus Prime figure
8. Selling off the remaining stock of MWM #1, MWM #2, and MWM Live!
9. Finding out how many people actually liked MWM Live but getting away with not having to do it again
10. Spilling scalding hot tea down myself whilst pitching
11. Meeting Neal and the ironically named “Little Fat Mikey”
12. The water colour of The Dark from Valia
13. Terrifying Mr. Cola with my second rendition of “Tranny Wingman”
14. Sharing table space with the hardcore crew of Orang Utan Comics and David Wynne.
15. Free hotel WiFi
16. Marveling at the talents of my partner in crime Stu.Art as he sketched up a storm
17. Freaking out David Wynne with a “I wanna sex you up” duet with Ian Sharman

And the truth is, this list could go on and on. I sang at least three others songs for starters and I still haven’t listed the fun times with the Mighty McAuliffes, the numerous (by which I mean 2) Staceys, Monts tales of Merlin, Belgian Dave, Ryan and Orko (virtually cannon fodder to my J-Bombs, bless their young hearts), wonderfully erudite exchanges with Scott Grandison, comedy ranting like a lunatic at Jimmy Bott, … and even as I try to draw this paragraph to a close I am sure I am missing someone or something vital. Probably more than one.

To put it as simply as I can 48+ hours of unadulterated comics is good, 48 hours of comics with this company is simple unbeatable. Except perhaps by 72 hours.

The Geek Ninjas of Geek Syndicate have broken some exclusive news on the dates, line up, venues, etc. for the 2010 Bristol Comic Con.

The con will run over 3 days this year; 21 – 23 May to be precise; and will be spread between the Ramada and Mercure Hotels. This year’s double con (the seperate but affiliated Bristol Comic Con and Bristol Small Press Expo) also appear to have merged to create this single super-sized convention.

Also, there’s some guy called Chris Claremont coming.

Exciting news for the return of our of the UKs best conventions!

The Birmingham International Comics Show (BICS) is back, bigger and better than ever before for 2009! And, as usual, Monkeys with Machineguns will be there!

After our exhibiting hiatus at last year’s BICS, we will be proudly sharing a double sized exhibitor space with the fine fellows of Orang Utan Comics and David Wynne at the 2009 show. Having seen life on both sides of the table at last year’s Birmingham International Comics Show, the first convention I have ever attended as anything other than an exhibitor, I think it is a fantastic show and one worthy of pride of place in the autumn/winter convention schedule.

As well as exhibiting our wares at the table I am single handledly trying to have dubbed “Monkeypalooza”, Stu and I will also be spending some time at the Markosia stand where you will be able to talk to us about our upcoming projects The Magpye and The Dark, and at the Insomnia Publications table where I will be talking about my new project The Fictionalists. We will also be at the pre-show party on Friday night. At present, however, we have no plans (despite encouragement from quite a few people) to repeat the monumental feat of Monkeys with Machineguns Live! (Although, anyone who wants to see if they can goad Pete Rogers and I into finally having our “write off/face off” …)

Overall, BICS is shaping up to be a fantastic show and if you haven’t already booked tickets, a table, or registered as a professional, I heartily advise the application of skates to feet … pronto.

Monkeys with Machineguns are getting the front page treatment over at www.spexpo.co.uk.

Nothing like a little pressure.

Received news yesterday that Cymru Con was cancelled, at least for this year.

Official news is that 

Our main sponsor has had to withdraw their financial backing, and with the current economic climate this has simply made it impossible to be able to put on a large event such as Cymru Con as we have been unable to secure further financial backing.

I know a number of the people who have been involved in putting this convention together and we are all obviously disappointed that it will not go ahead this year. It is certainly not for a want of effort from the likes of Iz McAuliffe, who have fought valiantly to keep the con alive.

Still, there is always next year …

Myself and Stu.Art, more commonly known as “Monkeys with Machineguns”, are booked to exhibit at this year’s Bristol Comic Expo.

This year we are exhibiting with a twist however, as all our hard work on The Magpye for Markosia has left us without a brand new issue of our eponymous horror anthology to debut at the show. With the release of the latest MWM being somewhat of a Bristol tradition, at least for Stu and I, were left somewhat stumped this year as to what exactly to do …

Thankfully, the answer is obvious. We would just write and draw a new issue of Monkeys with Machineguns at the Bristol Comic Expo!

Any of you who have attended one of my signings will be familiar with the setup – woefully unable to cede the limelight to artists and jealous of the constant requests they receive for sketches and shows and signings, I have gotten into the habit of writing flash fiction & short stories at shows, often based on random words, phrases, objects etc. thrown at me (figuratively) by whoever is around. It’s a sort of “Whose Line is it Anyway”, but with horror fiction.

So, this year, visitors to the Small Press Expo will be cordially invited to challenge the creativity of the Monkeys with Machineguns team with some random objects, places, people, and points in time from which to create a short story. Once I’ve written the short, Stu will be providing a sketch illustration or two and, after we’ve scanned the result to go into the new book, you will be able to buy the original artwork.

By the end of the day we are hoping to have enough content to complete the upload to our POD publisher of all the stories and artwork, resulting in a brand new issue of Monkeys with Machineguns on sale at the end of the show.

So, if you have ever wondered exactly how we make Monkeys with Machineguns … this is your chance to find out. Or watch us crash and burn horribly, which will probably be equally entertaining.

How to Find Yourself some MWM Goodness

For those who don’t know, the expo this year is a special one off version of the event that will be spread across two venues. The “Bristol International Comic Expo”, which will be held exclusively in the Ramada Plaza hotel this year, and the the “Small Press Expo”, which will be held in the Mercure Hotel. If you have been to the Bristol Expo before then you may well know the Ramada as the hotel that has hosted many of the talks and panels for previous shows, as well as being where most of the comic book fraternity do their socialising after the event.

The Monkeys with Machineguns table will be the Mercure, hopefully with a loud crowd around it and limited screaming from Stu and myself.

Please note that the Small Press Expo is a one day event only. Stu and I will be lurking around in the Ramada based Expo on Sunday, but don’t expect us to write and draw anything unless you come with gifts. Or cash.