MY STAR WARS STORY...

I'm feeling contemplative today so please bear with me as I share my Star Wars story for May 4th. A few who know me may have heard this before, but I have a vivid memory of the first time I saw Star Wars (before "A New Hope" was added to the title). In fact, I have a vivid memory of the entire day. It was a Saturday (no. I don't recall the exact date) and the 85 Drive In (right next to where Spaghetti Junction is now for those of you who live in Atlanta) was showing a double feature for the kids and families. First off, The Jungle Book with Star Wars following. My parents have never been big on going to the movies so this was a rare treat for me and a big deal. We made a day of it. 

The drive in housed a flea market during the day and we went to that. I bought a copy of Marvel Super Action #22, which reprinted a story featuring characters I was not familiar with... The Avengers (Hawkeye, Doctor Strange, Vision, Black Panther, and Black Knight - a peek into the MCU decades to come). After that, we had lunch then came back for the double feature. I had seen The Jungle book before on TV and it was a fun movie to watch, but like so many of the other kids, I watched it from the swing sets.

When Star Wars started, we were back in my parent's van to watch the movie. From the opening crawl, I was hooked. I already liked Star Trek, which aired after school in reruns and The Six Million Dollar Man was a favorite as well. As soon as the fanfare started and the crawl began scrolling by and then that big star destroyer did its flyby, I was a sci-fi fan. I devoured anything Star Wars I could find, getting some action figures and play sets and the treasury edition of the Marvel Comic to name a few. I was hooked. Now, all these 40 years later, I still get a chill when I hear that 20th Century Fox fanfare (which is a thing of the past now) and would always be disappointed if the fanfare was not immediately followed by the words "A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away..."

I took this photo

In the intervening years, my love for this universe has never wavered. There have been things I like better than others, but Star Wars has remained an important part of my life. I have friends who are Star Wars cosplayers and fan-film creators (I even got to appear in one of them, which was a ton of fun). I have met actors, writers, artists, and directors who have crafted these amazing adventures. I have a great memory of seeing an X-Wing as a small child on a trailer in a parking lot and my mom taking a Polaroid of me standing next to it. I wish I knew where that photo was these days. Sadly, I fear it is lost to time. The first autograph I got at a convention was from Darth Vader himself, David Prowse. He was a rather surly man, but Vader had been a long-time favorite character of mine and meeting the man inside the suit was special. I have bumped into Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Anthony Daniels at cons. I also had a short, but wonderful conversation with Irvin Kershner, who not only directed my favorite star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, but also the pilot episode of seaQuest DSV, which was a show I adored.

My brother, Wes and I shared a love of Star Wars. We often watched the movies and shows together and have great discussions about them. One of my regrets is that he did not get to see the end of The Clone Wars before he passed away. He was a fan. I plan to finish up the season very soon, but it won't be the same without him.

Thanks for letting me ramble. I remain excited for the future of Star Wars. Whatever happens next, I'll be ready for a return visit to a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Bobby

SOMETHING SKETCHY...

I did a commission recently featuring headshots of The Avengers for the client's sister. He wanted to give it to her for her birthday. Here's the birthday girl, Shounda, with the finished commission. I'm glad she liked it.

Oh, and Chewie was the envelope art.

I am open for commissions. Just shoot me an email if you're interested. Soon, I will have it so commissions can be ordered through my store.

Bobby

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY...

I did not see Star Wars on it's opening weekend, but we did see it at the old 85 drive in just outside Atlanta. It was a full day. They had a flea market at the drive in during the day and I got some comic books (I also became an Avengers fan that day too. The comic I got was Marvel Super Action #22, which reprinted The Avengers # 61), we had dinner, then came back for a double feature of The Jungle Book followed by Star Wars. It was a magical day that changed my life. 40 years later, Star Wars is still a part of my fandom and I eagerly await the new movie. 

May The Force Be With You. Always.

Bobby

1977 was a big year for 6 year old me.

UPDATED: MY TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE--
It amazes me that on the day I saw Star Wars and The Jungle Book for the first time was the same day I also became an Avengers fan. At the flea market at the drive in before the movies, my parents bought me a comic book. The comic I got was Marvel Super Action #22, which reprinted The Avengers # 61 that featured The Avengers (Hawkeye, Black Panther, The Vision, The Black Knight, and guest star: Doctor Strange) battling Ymir and Surtur (who I would later discover to be Thor villains) in a story with the cool title "Some Say the World Will End in Fire... Some Say In Ice!" by the stellar creative team of Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), and George Klein (inks). I was enthralled by this group and would have loved to see this team together more.

THE WRAP UP-- RIVER CITY COMIC EXPO!

Like a (melon) baller!

The River City Comic Expo was held on June 11 - 12, 2016 in Little Rock, AR. I was a guest at the convention for the first time this year as the show moved from a 1 day show to a 2 day show. The show had great attendance and I saw a lot of enthusiastic fans, gamers, and cosplayers walking the floors and hanging out. Sales were slow for the weekend, but I had an absolute blast seeing some friends I hadn't seen in a long time and meeting some people for the first time.

I was part of some panels and meet 'n greets, including a fun Friday night party on Junction Bridge. There were cool conversations and a great view.

I was a guest in the Pulp Ark section of the con and Tommy Hancock took good care of me and the other guests as well. I also did panels for Pulp Ark. Those were fun, definitely the highlights of the weekend for me.

PULP ARK MEET AND GREET-This is a drop in Panel for both Pulp Ark Guests and Fans, very informal, chance to stick your head in, see what great Guests Pulp Ark is bringing to River City and have a few personal, casual minutes with actors, writers, and more! Lots of cool discussions about writing.

THE FIVE Ws OF PULP? (Mostly What it is!) Aubrey Stephens, Tommy Hancock, Bobby Nash, Phillip Drayer Duncan, David White-Pulp Fiction- Learn the history of one of the most influential mediums in pop culture and how magazines of the 1930s and 40s have led to an exciting new style of writing that is all over the place today. From the origins of science fiction to brand new heroes today in all sorts of books, comics, anime, movies, television series, and more, find out how Pulp has gone from being a type of Fiction to a Culture all its own. Tommy asked us to introduce ourselves and tell us what one of the Ws of pulp was that described us. He asked me to go first. I introduced myself and told the crowd that my W stands for Whore because I write almost anything for money. I don't think that was the W Tommy had in mind.

GHOST IN THE GENRE-Paranormal Fiction Larry Flaxman, Alexander S. Brown, Santiago Cirilo, Bobby Nash, Brad Carter-The term ‘Paranormal’ covers a wide spectrum, it’s not just about ghosts anymore. Learn the basics and ins and outs of Paranormal Fiction, what’s hot now and what’s not anymore, from top names in the field. I was a little out of place on this panel, but I talked Ghost Gal. My ghosts are purely fictional. I don't really have any experience with the real thing, which is where this panel went.

The Pulp Ark Awards were handed out on Saturday. but I was unable to make it over to see the presentation. Congratulations to the winners.

Click Read More... to see photos from the event.

ATCON 2016 CONVENTION WRAP UP!

With the award-winning Mark Maddox

I had an amazing time at AthCon this weekend. Here are some photos from the weekend I posted on Instagram. It was a fun time. A little on the cold side as we were set up outside, but a good time was had. I even sold a couple books.

Despite the cold, I got to hang out with some cool folks like Mark Maddox and his the Maddox kids, James and Ava, Michael A Clark, Jim Adams, Bryan SilverBax, Mark Helwig, John Pence, Dimitri Walker, Mike Gordon, Tim Norris, Alan Siler, Bill Ritch, Michael Bishop, Kyle Puttkamer, Greg Crews, Sonya Thompson, and more.

For me, the panels were the highlight of the weekend. There was a writing panel each day and they were a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the chance to talk writing with Michael Bishop, John Pence, and Tim Norris (above). We had a great time.

Bobby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEET AUTHOR BOBBY NASH THIS WEEKEND AT ATHCON!

Come out and meet me and some other cool guests this weekend at AthCon in Athens, Georgia. A fun time will be had. My first con of 2016. I hope you'll join us for a fun weekend, January 16 - 18. Learn more at www.ath-con.com

I'll be posting photos to social media from the event through Instagram, which will filter through to Facebook and Twitter. Please follow along at those sites. I'll make sure to tag the posts with #AthCon.

Also, this will be the first public appearance of the new edition of Evil Ways with the cool new cover. Mark Maddox, who handled the graphics part of the cover will also be on hand at the convention as will several other really cool creators. You won't want to miss it.

Bobby

THE GEEK OUT BEFORE STAR WARS!

I have seen the new Star Wars The Force Awakens movie and I will not be spoiling anything here, but I did enjoy the movie very much and will definitely need to see it again.

I did have a special personal moment just before watching Star Wars The Force Awakens last night that I wanted to share.

The new Jungle Book movie

One of the trailers played before the film was for the new Jungle Book film. When I saw Star Wars (in those days before it was called A New Hope) as a kid, my parents took me to see it at the 85 drive in theater as part of a double feature. The movie that played before Star Wars was The Jungle Book. It's one of those personal moments that doesn't really impact anyone else, but having that trailer play before the movie felt absolutely right to me.

I love it when things like that happen.

Bobby