Victim of Me

June 23rd, 2022

“You cannot heal in the same environment where you got sick.”

What a full load of bullshit.

But that phrase (or related ones) keeps popping up like a weed, in real life and the not-so-real life we know as the internet.

This sentence perpetuates the idea that we cannot get better right now. This moment.

Which is a lie.

Not one that people tell us.

One that we tell ourselves.

I knew I had to get better, and I had known that for a long time. I also knew that getting better was going to be a lot of work. I was going to have to radically rearrange my life, and I was going to have to face the thing that humans hate to face the most: change.

When we really don’t want to believe something, we will keep looking for an opinion that agrees with what we do want to believe. Thanks to the internet, that opinion will always exist, as long as you keep looking.

This particular opinion – that you have get out of your environment to get better – exists and is widely shared.

That opinion is a good one if you like to run away. And people who don’t want to face change are very likely to run.

My book Theia is about a lot of things, but at its core it’s about realizing why you run, and transforming into someone who stays. That was who I had to become.

I had to stay in the environment where I had been sick to make amends for the person I had been.

Change is hard. Running is easy. Staying is the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done.

This sentence from this morning’s daily reflection makes much more sense to me:

“I am not a victim of others, but rather a victim of my expectations, choices and dishonesty.”

I am not a victim of my environment. I am, and always have been, a victim of me.

Cold World Goes Round

June 21st, 2022

Better than any kind of formal review, people are starting to tell me how they feel, and the thoughts they’ve been thinking, since reading Cold World, and the conversation so far has been outstanding.

Thank you so much to those of you who have visited Earth two hundred years from now, enjoyed yourself a cup of Floran coffee, and then come back to tell me about your personal journey there.

I keep telling people this is a deep story, and a strangely spiritual one, disguised as science fiction, and they still seem surprised when that’s what they find.

I’m just glad they found it.

All my love, and – please with a frozen cherry on top – tell your friends if you got this and love it, too.

P.S. dennisvogen dot com is always updated and has a lot of rooms to explore.

Reading Good On Goodreads

June 17th, 2022

Most of social media can be a nightmare amusement park garbageland, but did you know that I’m on Goodreads?

It’s true: I have an official author account on Goodreads, and if you’re not familiar, it’s a big, warm online community of readers and writers just like you and me.

You can rate books and talk about them and show off your reading list, and I’ve been doing fun things over there like answering reader questions.

It’s a little literary respite from the noise of the internet as usual, so I hope you’ll visit and follow me!

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7669177.Dennis_Vogen

Or you can just search for me or any of my titles once you’re there.

Good weekend to you.

Plain & Friendly Too

June 15th, 2022

“He did not want to appear at a loss or to let his followers down. He decided that it would be best to be plain and friendly.”

– Watership Down

If this quote sounds familiar, it’s probably because I either told you what it means to me in real life, or you read my post about it two years ago. (Or, possibly, you’ve also read my favorite book.)

Plain & friendly are the two words I think about most each day. They’re the words I try to live by, and I fall short often, but I never stop trying. I joke that if I ever get a tattoo, it’ll be something to remind me of these two words.

They only feel more relevant every time I wake up. They only feel more meaningful in a world that is complicated & cruel.

I was training at work today and always pretend to have wise words to say. I am a great pretender. Regardless of their perceived value, however, I always mean them and they come from a place of experience.

It’s true in many fields, but I feel like it’s especially true of the industry service: we can be the best part of somebody’s day, and we can do that by just being nice.

I think one of the reasons people get burned out at work is because they solely subscribe to the intended purpose of having a job: to get money. They get in and get out and they do it surgically, without touching the electrified edges.

But life is messy.

And in that mess we make connections and feel feelings and tell each other our stories, and making a person’s day is the most significant thing we can do in a person’s life.

And any job that allows you to do that is a job worth having.

Plain & friendly isn’t boring. It can be stunning, it can be funny, it can be deep & profound, it can be dry & sarcastic. It’s listening and sharing and vibing and it’s the small stuff that stays stuck in you forever.

I fall short. There are people to whom I still owe more plain friendship to, as it, too, means being able to say you were wrong and that you are sorry. I’m better at that now, but I’m eternally in progress.

Sometimes the world is overwhelming, so I wanted to share again these two words with you, because they’re the words I use to overcome it.

I just want to be plain. I just want to be friendly.

Pro-Dinosaur

June 13th, 2022

We chose a fuel that is a limited resource, a finite thing. We choose to live far away from the places we work. We choose vehicles that are too big for the lives we lead. We choose to use those vehicles far more often than we have to, and frequently without a fair reason. We ship and receive an astounding amount of products. We refuse to adapt and commit to transportation with alternate sources of power. We choose to make a stand against people and places who are harmful to this world.

These are all choices we make as a society, and only a snapshot from the album of problems with oil we have.

Do high gas prices suck? Absolutely.

Are they a consequence of our actions? They sure are.

Anyone who is trying to make this political or conspiratorial is just another pawn of division, people who are trying to convince you a war is on its way, and you better pick a side. They’ve been doing this in a staggering variety of ways for years now, and the only reason I’m writing down these objective facts about gas and our relationship to it is to remind you: this is our fault.

Humans like to blame.

It’s easy. It feels good.

And it divides.

If division is your goal, then you find any and every way to do it.

Honestly, if Jurassic Park was real, and we could bring dinosaurs back to life, Americans would fight for their right to kill them and turn them into oil.

It wouldn’t matter when you told them it takes a long time to turn dinosaurs into oil.

They would kill the dinosaurs anyway.

And you would be un-American to be pro-Dinosaur.

Free Cold World

June 10th, 2022

The world is expensive so I would love to give you something for free.

If you’ve read the description for my new book, Cold World, and it sounds like it was made for you, it would be my pleasure to send you a free PDF or Kindle copy for your personal digital device.

All I hope in return is that you’d leave a review on your favorite online reading space, like Amazon or Goodreads, in the next 60 days.

If you try it and you don’t like the book? Don’t finish it, and don’t worry about a review. I just appreciate you using any amount of your valuable time to give my work a chance.

Send me a message on any platform and I’ll give you a link to download. Thank you so much, and if you know someone who might like this book, too, share this along.

If you have no idea what Cold World is about, no worries; the official description follows.

“It’s 2222.

“Eighty years ago, an asteroid struck Earth, setting in motion a devastating chain of events. Those changes reduced our planet to just one season: winter. Meanwhile, through technology and the generosity of groups like the Knights, we have settled throughout the galaxy, colonizing moons, Mars, and a planet we had once called Proxima b, but is now known as Flora. The Knights on Flora have discovered a prophecy: there is a phoenix buried under the Great Lakes of America, and awakening it will bring warmth back to Earth.

“They enlist the reluctant help of disgraced Earther, Calef, his dog, Joan, and his friends to help them in their mission, whether the people of Earth want their help or not. Cold World is a story about hope, spirituality, grief, purpose, and family, and it’s bursting with high-stakes action, romance, humor, and heart. It is acclaimed writer Dennis Vogen’s eighth book.”

Brushfire Deluxe Collector’s Set!

June 10th, 2022

The third and final Brushfire announcement goes out to the Kickstarter backers I adore so dearly.

It’s time to reveal the Brushfire Deluxe Collector’s Set!

If you backed and chose this tier, here is what you’ll be getting:

* Two copies of Brushfire: one regular cover, one variant cover, with a personal sketch inside one of the covers!

* An exclusive sticker set featuring six characters from Brushfire: Bay, Elle, Erwin, Due, Ava Marie, and Donnie!

* A limited-edition enamel pin of Bay! This is one of those things that I am so obsessed with and that I feel like people are going to be bummed they missed, because it is probably the rarest piece of merch I’ve ever produced, and it’s the first of a three-pin set.

* I’m not even joking about this one: I MADE POGS. There’s a big dose of 90’s nostalgia here, both in the book and just about me in general, so I started digging and found one of the original pog-makers online. I got pretty good at it, and included with your Collector’s Set will be a Bay pog! I hope to make this part of a set, as well. Should I look into slammers next time?

I hope you love this stuff as much as I do. Brushfire: Wave 1 is currently in production, with the expectation that the books will arrive in the next few weeks. Then the books will go out to backers, with the people who ordered the Deluxe Collector’s Set getting all these goodies, as well.

Have a radical weekend!

Brushfire Release Dates!

June 9th, 2022

“On the second day of announcements, Dennis gave to me…”

The release dates for all three Brushfire graphic novels!

I’ve already talked about this story coming out in Waves; there are 3 parts to this tale, and these are the days you’ll be able to get your paws on them.

As you can see, I made the day easy to remember, and the date itself is important to the story in several ways.

That’s two whole years of Brushfire anticipation, speculation and fun!

Come back tomorrow for the last day of announcements! (For now!)

Brushfire Release Party!

June 8th, 2022

Who is ready for a week full of announcements?!

First up: I TOLD you I would be seeing you again soon!

One of the best comic book stores in the multiverse, Issues Needed Comics in Apple Valley, is hosting a graphic novel release party for my new all-ages book, Brushfire.

As always, treats will be served.

Please RSVP on the event page so I know how much sugar to smuggle into the shindig.

Deets:

Brushfire Release Party
July 6th, 2022
5 pm to close
Issues Needed Comics
Apple Valley, Minnesota

Come back on Thursday and Friday for more Brushfire-related announcements, and I can’t wait to see you squirrels in July!

Building an Afterlife

June 4th, 2022

I’m writing this while my human blood is still mostly replaced with coffee, so I hope it’s coherent.

A giant hug and a supermassive thank you to the kind souls who came out to support me today; I don’t know what I did in dreams or a previous life to get you all in my corner, but I am beyond grateful that you are.

Another perfectly connected high five goes to Mighty Fine Coffee, who not only have some of the best coffee I’ve ever had the privilege of consuming, but the best people. (Whoa, sorry, I do not consume people, but Nate and I did have a conversation which naturally referenced cannibals.) Their space was absolutely perfect for this event (and I hope to work with them again soon!).

A good question I got asked several times today was, “Why?” Why do I do this? Why do I create things and put myself into packages for other people to take home with them?

The answer is both simple and dark, and is a theme of the book I was celebrating today, Cold World.

When you don’t believe in a literal heaven, when the idea of a forever life after life doesn’t resonate with you, you start to try to find a way to live as long as you can here.

I do that with art.

I can’t speak for all artists, but I can tell you that I will, at least deep down, never feel like I’ll be remembered in a meaningful way for who I am as a human being.

So I invest my human being-ness into words and pictures and sounds that stand a better chance.

I’m building an afterlife.

It’s why we have pyramids and Stonehenge and Starry Night. It’s why I have Them and Flip and Us and The Weirdos and Theia and Time is a Solid State and Push and Cold World and Brushfire.

And I’m just glad they’ve been able to connect with people while I’m alive to talk about them, and that in itself makes me feel even more alive.

Thank you again so much. All my love. And I’ll be seeing you again soon.