Zack Smith: Writer

Game On Raleigh

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:47:04 +0000

From Sushi Boy Thunder to Ninja Hamster Rescue: Game On Raleigh happens tonight

Posted by Zack Smith on Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 3:34 PM

The Triangle has proven a home for such large video game companies as Epic Games, but now a new generation of Triangle residents are creating their own games—and are ready to pit them against one another.

The first Game On Raleigh will be held tonight at the Busy Bee Café’s Hive in downtown Raleigh from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a self-described “Battle of the Bands” for video games that offers Triangle gamers samples of what local developers have to offer.

Ten developers, ranging from such veterans as Spark Plug Games to newer groups such as Pangolin Games, will show off games specially developed for the event, with titles ranging from Ninja Hamster Rescue to Bust-a-Marble to Sushi Boy Thunder. Gamers in attendance to the free event will pick their favorite from these, and hopefully gain some new insight into the variety of small-scale game developers in the area.

Read the full piece here!

Kevin Wilson on THE FAMILY FANG

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:38:40 +0000

His first novel, The Family Fang (Ecco, $23.99) only been out for a few weeks, but Kevin Wilson is already making waves as an author. The book’s received rave reviews, including a full page in Time magazine and a profile of the author in the New York Times, and has appeared on that paper’s bestseller list.

The strange, tragic and very funny tale of two siblings coming to terms with being part of their parents’ performance art experiments as children (from the boy infliltrating a beauty pageant in a dress to the parents staging a mock failed proposal on an airplane), Fang is a personal story for Wilson, though not in the way you’d think. On the phone from his home in Sewanee, Tenn., the soft-spoken Wilson, who appears at Quail Ridge Books & Music tonight at 7:30, answered our questions about the book’s roots—and why his own childhood wasn’t like the Fangs’.

Read the full interview here!

Review: TROLLHUNTER

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:38:10 +0000

My take on the Norwegian cult hit.

Read the full review here!

Review: 30 MINUTES OR LESS

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:36:11 +0000

I enjoyed this one, but I like ’80s action parodies/R-rated comedies.

Read the full review here!

Review: Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s THE SERPENT’S EGG

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:33:34 +0000

A look at the group’s latest offbeat offering.

Read the full review here!

Reveiw: ONE DAY

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:27:29 +0000

Despite my Anne hathaway love, I didn’t like this.

Read the full review here!

Cynthia Leitich Smith and Ming Doyle on TANTALIZED

Zack — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:24:20 +0000

It’s time for a different take on Young Adult werewolves with Tantalize: Kieren’s Story, a new graphic novel from Candlewick Press that shows a YA favorite from a different point of view. Author Cynthia Leitich Smith retells her own novel from an all-new perspective, teamed with artist Ming Doyle, who’s making her graphic novel debut after earning a loyal following from cons and online illustrations showcasing her lush, character-heavy work. We spoke with both creators to find out just why this new GN will Tantalize comic readers and YA fans alike.

Read the full interview here!

Webcomics: R Stevens on DIESEL SWEETIES

Zack — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:59:55 +0000

Since 2000, Richard “R” Stevens has brought us the pixilated human-cyber relations of Diesel Sweeties, the tale of Clango Cyclotron, a robot who is as confounded about relations with the opposite sex as most flesh-and-blood males. It doesn’t help that he’s in an on-and-off thing with the equally-complicated Maura (“on-and-off” meaning they broke up, then got back together when his memory got reset), and that his friends include the likes of the ultra-elitest Indie Rock Pete and the ultra-Goth Pale Suzie. It’s fun, it’s honest, and more than not contains a few R-rated punchlines.

Read the full interview with Stevens here!

Webcomics: John Allison on BAD MACHINERY

Zack — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:57:27 +0000

Today, we head over to merry old England for a chat with the creator of the one of the longest-lived and most popular comics online.

John Allison has had one of the longest careers of any webcartoonist, starting in 1998 with the first of his comics set in the fictional English town of Tackleford, Bobbins. In 2002, he moved his characters over to the long-running Scary Go Round, which concluded in late 2009. Now, he’s focused on the new generation in Tackleford with Bad Machinery, the oft-hilarious tale of a group of teens who love to solve mysteries…even when they let their own petty conflicts get in the way, which is often.

Read the full interview here!

Webcomics: Emma Capps on CHAPEL CHRONICLES

Zack — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:54:19 +0000

Newsarama readers, we would like to warn you – no matter who you are, this next interview is going to make you feel terribly, terribly inadequate.

Emma Capps is a relatively new entry to the world of online comics, but she’s already earned high praise from the likes of Scholastic Books and Scott McCloud – and she hasn’t even started high school yet.

The 14-year-old is the creator of Chapel Chronicles, a lighthearted series of strips, greeting cards and more featuring the zany, hat-loving 11-year-old Chapel Smith. Whether it’s dealing with a babysitter, cleaning her room or discovering an unexpected love of current pop music, Chapel’s adventures are, well, adorable.

We arranged a conversation with Capps through her parents, shortly before she went to NYC to received a gold medal from Scholastic for her short comic Jam Days. On the phone, she was more articulate and enthusiastic than most cartoonists twice her age – and, as you’re read, just as ambitious. Just imagine what she’ll be able to do when she’s old enough to drive.

Read the full interview here!