Don’t know what’s going on? That’s because you’re jumping in at the end of a chapter! You’ll have a much easier time if you start at the beginning of the chapter, or even the beginning of the story.

That wraps it up for Chapter Five! Let’s hope Carl elaborates on that statement in Chapter Six.

One more reminder for this weekend– I’ll be at the Toronto Comicon down at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It’s their Fan Appreciation Event, which means on Sunday you can get a $10 voucher for your $10 admission to spend at any of the retailers at the show, so you effectively get in for free! Saturday is regular price, $10. I’ll be at table #20 in the guest/artist alley, but I don’t have a map of the floor so I don’t know how much help that’ll be. And it seems I’ll be on a panel titled “21st Century Webcomics” on Saturday at 12 noon, so, come on out with any questions you may have!

Also! Next weekend I’ll be in Dearborn, Michigan for Kids Read Comics! This event is hosted by the Dearborn Public Library and is totally free to attend. It’s aimed at kids of all ages so it’s a great to bring your kids/nieces/nephews/grandkids out to, but if you’re like me, you’ll like the all the great comics the guests are bringing to sell just as much as the kids will (I mean, have you read the Muppet Show comic by Roger Langridge? Brilliant. And he’ll be there!). And there is an excellent programming track for adults as well as kids, so there will be plenty to do. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Finally, you may have noticed the new “Support the Comic” button over to the right. Yep, that’s one o’ them donation buttons that allows you to throw a few coins into the virtual tip jar via PayPal. It’s not part of a donation drive or anything, it’s just there in case you ever feel like it, maybe the new page is really good or something, and you can show your appreciation. I’ve got a nice little thank-you gift available for those who choose to donate; it’s a digital copy of my recent minicomic. I’ll admit– one of my main reasons for choosing the minicomic format is because it’s sized just right to be loaded onto my Kindle. Despite all the hoopla about the iPad I still love my Kindle, and it makes me grin like my 6-yr-old to be able to read my comics on it at last (my regular pages are way too big, alas). The pdf file also reads just fine on any computer, though, so if you don’t use e-readers you can still enjoy it. This little side story won’t be posted on the website and because of its smaller size is unlikely to appear in any future trade paperbacks, so the only way to read it will be to buy one from me at a convention or to get the digital copy.  Tempted yet?

This is the penultimate page for Chapter Five! Come back on Friday (it’s First Friday of the Month this week) to see what Carl’s answer is going to be.

This weekend, June 5-6, I’ll be at Toronto Comicon! I don’t know any more details yet about where my table will be, but if I find out before Friday I will be sure to post it. I hope to see some of you there.

And of course– how you could you miss it– this fancy new site! Please check out the blog post below for more details.

Wondering what’s going on? Start at the beginning of the chapter for a little context.

I didn’t get the new site stuff finished (soon!), but I did have a very pleasant visit with Detroit-area cartoonist Sean Bieri and his wife, who I used to be part of the “self-published minicomics” gang I would hang around with all the time at conventions in the ’90s. Back then Sean did a bunch of awesome little comics like Jape (warning: some of these are NSFW), but more recently he’s been featured on Tor.com, doing such things as Better Zombies through Physics with Jim Ottaviani (also, don’t miss the short series of gags San Diego Zombie Con). Sean was in town for the weekend, and he spent much of the time in museums, sketching dinosaurs and various pieces of statuary. I, sadly, have been an artist for decades and have yet to fill even one sketchbook. I just never got into the habit of drawing in those things! Seeing Sean’s collection makes me want to make some sort of resolution, even though it’s not that time of year.

From the just-a-few-weekends-ago TCAF show, there is an excellent (6.5 min) video put together for Open Book: Toronto on self publishing. And I’m in it! It’s also a brief glimpse of what TCAF is like, if you’ve never had an opportunity to go.

Yes, her correct rank is General. Someone here is… possibly a little behind the times. Say, ten years or so behind?

In other news… I set up a Twitter  account a while back, mostly because my friends kept insisting I needed one, and with no real desire to enter a whole new world of social media I never did much with it. But it seems my days of flying under the radar are done! I hardly know how it happened, but a couple people found me and started “following” me, and then more arrived, so I guess now I might as well submit to the inevitable and jump into the pool. So if you’re a Twittering sort, you can find me @t_tallan. You’ll have to forgive me while I bumble around a bit, getting the hang of it, learn the etiquette, that kind of thing. Wheee!

Lastly… some time ago I talked about getting a facelift for the ol’ website. Well, I dragged my feet for a long time about it, but cool things are starting to happen at last! I don’t know when you’ll start to see some of the magic go live, but probably in the next couple of weeks. So if you hit the site one day and it all looks different and awesome, don’t panic, it’s still Galaxion.

So we’ll have to leave Fusella to stomp around helplessly on the decks of the Galaxion for a time, and instead rejoin the Survey Contact Team’s capture-in-progress.

…Man, as much as I love doing conventions, they really wipe me out. I’ve had four days to recover and I’m still not back to operating at full capacity! I didn’t catch con crud or anything, I just ran right outta juice.Hopefully I can catch up over the weekend and I’ll see you all Tuesday!

For a quick re-orientation, jump to the beginning of this scene! Need more than that? Reading from the beginning of Chapter 5 is only a 20 page archive commitment. And if you just need a brief reminder of who Anna is (since it’s been awhile since she’s been on-screen), she’s the Galaxion’s chief engineer.

I feel like I need a t-shirt saying “I survived TCAF!” or something. It was amazing, but I am exhausted. I’ve got a full con report in my blog below. If you missed TCAF but are in the Toronto area, you can find me at the Toronto Comicon Fan Appreciation Event, June 5th and 6th. This is the show where you can get in for free on Sunday, if you spend $10 at a participating comic shop, or you can pay $10 at the door and get a voucher to spend at any of the dealers at the show (but artists aren’t dealers, so you won’t be able to spend the voucher at my table).

Now, last week I promised I would get a bonus page up on Friday, and I will. So please come back then for some more Galaxion!

(For any Girlamatic regulars: if you’re wondering why you’re unable to read Galaxion on that site, the answer is, I don’t know. But this kind of extended outage is happening a lot. So please bookmark this site and enjoy Galaxion here every week!)

I had a really great time this past weekend at Penguicon! I plan to get a full report, with photos, up in the next few days, but the short version is this: I met a lot of neat people (including readers and fellow webcomickers), the panels I was on went well, and I didn’t make a complete fool out of myself in front of Patrick Rothfuss (at least, I think I didn’t). So I guess that’s a win!

This weekend, May 8th and 9th: TCAF! I will be in the large upstairs room this year with most of the other webcomickers, and I am told a site map will be available on the TCAF website very soon  here is the site map!  I’m on the second floor in the Webcomics Pavilion, table #215, which is in the far corner from the door. I’ll also be participating in a panel on Sunday: Webcomics and Serial Storytelling; that’s May 9th from 12:00-1:00pm, and it will be across the street from the Metro Reference Library (where all the creators are set up) at the Pilot Tavern (see map).  Here’s what it says on the website:

Comics have a long history of gag a day and serialized storytelling in comic strip culture… but as the medium has moved to the web it is the gag-a-day strips that seemed to find immediate success. We talk to a number of comics creators doing long-form, serialized comics on the internet to see the challenges they face, and how serial storytelling works when it’s online. Creators include Ananth Panagariya (Applegeeks), Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie), Spike (Templar, Arizona), Jonathan Rosenberg (Goats), Tara Tallan (Galaxion), Cameron Stewart (Sin Titulo), and Ramon Perez (Kukuburi). Moderated by Holly Post of Topatoco.

That’s some pretty good company to be in, so I’m really excited! And nervous. But mostly excited!

The sad news is, with all this back-to-back con prep– I’m rushing to get a new Galaxion minicomic completed in time for the show– I’m going to have to miss the usual First Friday of the Month update this week. But rather than skip it altogether, I’m going to aim to post an extra page next Friday, by which time I’ll have had an opportunity to catch up . Sound OK?

To keep you all entertained until then, I wanted to share something I spotted on Boing Boing: the hilarious blog Good Show, Sir, which is described as “Only the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers.” I have several of those books with atrocious cover art sitting on my shelves…

Links for easy reference: the first group and the second group to which Darvin refers. Also, Hettal (mentioned briefly in Chapter Three) had a supporting role in the short story Fusella Vs. Interplanetary Patrol. As you may recall, Zan was brought in to fill his place when they suddenly realized they needed a complete Survey Contact Team.

I’ve been busy folding flyers and assembling buttons for Penguicon this weekend! I’m really looking forward to getting a chance to meet some of my fellow webcomic creators, such as Kez of The War of Winds and Darc and Matt Sowers of Code Name: Hunter. Plus– and I was so excited when I read this– I found out that fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss will be there! The Name of the Wind was one of my favourite books from the last couple of years, so I expect to go all tongue-tied fangirl when I have a chance to get my copy signed. Based on his blog, I expect he’s a really entertaining person to listen to. Can’t wait!!

Scroll down for book news!

Hey, stranger! Haven’t seen you around these parts in a while. What was your name again? Fusella something?

Yes, it’s been a heck of a long time since we last saw our poor beleaguered Captain, Fusella Mierter (not to mention the rest of the crew waiting patiently aboard ship), while the Survey Contact Team has been busy on the planet below. Nearly a year, although in fact it’s only been 57 pages (I know, I know, draw faster, Tara). I certainly enjoyed working on this scene. It was like returning to an old friend!

If you’re new to the story or just otherwise scratching your head over this page, that’s OK! I totally understand. Try starting from a few pages back, or if you’d like a little more, from the beginning of Chapter Five.

This past weekend was full of awesomeness, as I spent the majority of it at the Toronto Spring Thaw Contra Dance, dancing to foot-stomping jigs and reels by bands Rumblestrip and Relative Harmony. Here’s a video I took of one of the dances. It can be a little difficult to explain to people who’ve never danced at one of these things before what actually makes it so much fun– I think for a lot of people my age it calls up unpleasant memories of being forced to do Square Dancing in high school or something– but it’s the energy of the people around you, the good music, and the movement, which when done well can feel a bit like an amusement park ride. I’ve often thought that more people from comic fandom should give Contra Dancing a try (I can almost guarantee there is a group somewhere near where you live; go ahead and Google it), since the common rules of behavior in Contra Dance (change partners at every dance, always accept the first person who asks you to dance, if you are an experienced dancer then seek out the new dancers to help them learn the figures) makes it the perfect kind of social interaction for the socially inept (like me! ^_^). Also, the dance community is extremely tolerant of all kinds of weirdness (like guys wearing skirts. Can you spot them in the video?). See, it’s like a match made in heaven. And I guess that’s enough proselytizing from me.

But the capper to the weekend, the fine accompanying dessert to a wonderful meal of dancing, was getting to see Oysterband in concert on Sunday night. They’ve been together as a band for 30 years now, and I’ve only really known about them for the last three. I saw them for the first time, at the same venue, two years ago, and  became an instant fan after their first song. It seems my lot in life in recent years to discover I like a band only as they are on the brink of retirement (actually, I have no reason to think Oysterband is retiring anytime soon, but the fact of the matter is they are all grey haired), rather than when they are in their prime. Oh well. I suppose it’s better than most– there have certainly been lots of performers I’ve discovered I liked long after they’ve already retired, or worse, passed away.

Well, that was my weekend! I expect to have a completely different kind of awesome weekend on April 30th-May 2nd at Penguicon in Troy, MI, and on the heels of that will be the boundlessly awesome TCAF in Toronto, May 8th and 9th. If I find out my table location at these shows I will post that info as soon as I know it. Hope to see some of you there!