How to Succeed in Evil » Blog

A rollercoaster.

There is a lot of interest in ‘Evil. Sure people think it should be comic. But some folks think it would make a nice TV show. Still others think it would be a great movie. And who am I to disagree with any of them?

Ed Wood on Line One
So all these people call. Or I should say they call my agent. (Yes, I have an agent for the film and television rights) And it’s very exciting. It’s also very nothing. Until a contract is signed and money changes hands, it’s nothing. For a couple of months there, this roller coaster of expectation drove me crazy. Everybody loves it. (I think everybody loves everything in Hollywood.) But more importantly, everybody seems to agree it has potential.

But I’m trying to stop worrying about it. Sure I take the calls. And I try not to talk more than I should, but recently, something changed. My mind.

What I CAN do
Instead of worrying about what I could do or what might happen, I’ve decided to focus on the things I can do. Which is get up in the morning and write. I’m working on the novel. I’d call it the first novel, but that level of hubris is beyond me. See I’ve felt pushed by everybody. (Write it this way, write it that way! Quick, get out another podcast!)

So these days I’m trying not to let anything make me crazy. I’m getting up at 6 in the morning and writing. Somedays two hours. Somedays just one. But writing all I can. Because that’s the thing I can do. And do well.

Upcoming
The next episode of El Justiador will be out by the end of the week. Then a final one next month. And then, I promise, the main story line will continue.

Okay, this is kind of interesting. It’s a visual representation of the most frequently occurring words in the text of all the How to Succeed in Evil Episodes.

Technorati Tags: How to Succeed in Evil, Patrick E. McLean, TagCloud

So I keep getting questions about the music in How to Succeed in Evil. And to my surprise, people keep asking about what I call the main theme. I friend of mine turned me on to Reason and I played around with it until I had something I liked. When I started ‘Evil the podsafe music network didn’t exist and I needed some music so I did the best I could.

and this was it.

The file was lost in the hard drive crash that inspired the “Scary Story” pirate episode. And I don’t really play piano so I don’t remember what it was. It was in F minorish.

And somewhere along the way I discovered a piece of music called Ether by the Flavor Foundation. It has an inexorable sense to it. Downtempo but moving forward. And that’s what I’ve been using for the title music. You can find it on iTunes. Highly recommend the whole CD.

And if you want more tracks I consider in the evil vibe try Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy and Super Bon Bon by Soul Coughing.

Webmaster Michael checking in to point out the new website design for How to Succeed in Evil! The Seanachai got a redesign not long ago so we figured it was time “Evil” got one, too! Welcome to the new succeedinevil.com! we hope you like it!

It is the expected cliche of our time to say, “I’ve been busy” but truly, I have. While there hasn’t been much going on on the site, there has been quite a bit going on behind the scenes. So here’s a peek. Read the rest of this entry

With a name like How to Succeed in Evil, can success even be doubted?

Well, sure. But things are going pretty well now. New podcast episode is written and should be up within the week. (Barring attack by flying monkies or someone throwing gobs of money at me to write something else)
The big news about evil is there is interest in making it into a TV show. I like the way John Rogers put it at his blog Kung Fu Monkey. Read the rest of this entry

Okay, okay. So I’m lame for being quiet for so long. (And I know I’m lame)

But things are bubbling. I swear they are. For one thing, we’ve got a colorist (the Mighty Myron Macklin) and he’s awesome. And we’re almost, almost, almost, so close I can taste it, done with the color version of the book.
And of course, if you’ve caught up with the latest installment. We can expect many interesting things from Topper in what I’m going to call Season Two of How to Succeed in Evil.
Here’s a peek at the color (unlettered) Read the rest of this entry

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy having a very candid conversation about why the Star Trek franchise will continue. I howled. Yes it’s gutshot, but this every last bitter dollar will be squeezed out of it. Read the rest of this entry

Patrick McLean was given a Parsec Award for “Best Fiction (Long)” for How to Succeed in Evil!

The business of building stories seems not much different from the business of building anything else.

This is the insight of Lester Dent, the pulp writer who created Doc Savage. This was a guy who would regularly churn out 90,000 to 100,000 words a month on a manual typewriter. There’s no two ways about it, he was a monster. (Carpal Tunnel? Try micro-fractures in your fingertips.) Read the rest of this entry