Nick Sagan Online

Happy Halloween 2010

Another Halloween is here!  Sending delicious pumpkin wishes to you and yours, the whole of humanity, and our primate cousins as well.

(AP Photo/dapd, Philipp Guelland)

Return of the Sagan Pumpkin

Mad genius Caleb P. tops last year's Sagan Pumpkin with this gorgeous creation.

On this Halloween, the 4th anniversary of this blog, it's a weird and beautiful night here in Ithaca, New York. Very quiet, very dark. Hope you're having fun.

Sagan Pumpkin

Best.  Pumpkin.  Ever.

Sent in by super talented digital lighting and effects artist Caleb P.

Halloween 2008

Traditionally, the night of the year when the border between the land of the living and the land of the dead is at its weakest.  Ever since childhood, the idea of that border thinning has captured my imagination.  It feels like possibility.  A time when anything can happen.

We're four days away from the election.  This race has been preoccupying my thoughts.  I've not blogged much about politics in the past, but like so many others I've not been happy with the direction the country has gone these past eight years.  I'm hopeful for a change of course.  What happens after Tuesday?  I find myself imagining very different futures.  

I'll post a bit more over the weekend.  Lots to blog about, actually, and I'm looking forward to catching you up on what's been happening here.  Hope all's well with you. 

It's been three years since I first launched this blog, and while I've not had the time to be as consistent a poster as I'd like, I'm deeply appreciative of those of you who've kept with me all this time.

Wishing you all a safe and happy night on my favorite holiday. 

Halloween 2007

I'm racing a deadline over here (what else is new?), but I couldn't let the day go by without checking in and wishing all of you a happy Halloween. Hope you're having a terrific time tonight. Everything's fine with me, just endlessly busy, trying to knock some work out before I head off to World Fantasy Con. Today is the two year anniversary of this blog, and though I haven't been as active on it as I'd like, I'm looking forward to finding a little time in the near future to share what's been on my mind. And also to catch up on email and comments. (Apologies for being slow!)

Halloween Fan Art

I'm really taken with this rendering of Halloween, and I've been meaning to post it here for the longest time. It's the work of Cyclo, who was kind enough to send it to me as a gift. I'm always happy when something I've written stays with a person after he's read it, and it's a thrill to find that my words would inspire someone to take the time to create something as cool as this.

Between this Halloween and the Halloween that Annah Hutchings created, I'm never at a loss for creative inspiration where my main character's concerned. I'm very fortunate to have such talented artists among my fans.

Boo!

I'm still here. Insanely busy, but still here. Sorry to fall off the map the way I have. I'll return to the blogosphere soon. I'm just popping in now to wish you all well. Also, I started this blog a year ago, and I can't let this day go by without marking that anniversary.

Happy Halloween.

Swing, You Sinners!

Still ridiculously swamped here, but I had to pop in to direct your attention to the 1930 Max Fleischer cartoon, Swing, You Sinners! which has recently been restored by the International Animated Film Society. Have you seen this one before? Joel Schlosberg was kind enough to turn me on to this try-to-count-all-the-ways-in-which-it's-creepy morality tale (?) in which a fox (I think) gets tormented by macabre bogeymen for trying to steal a chicken, all choreographed to strains of jazz. There's quite arguably a racist undercurrent, which adds to the sense of discomfort. It's themed for Halloween (the holiday, not my character... well, I expect Hal would appreciate the ghoulish qualities, though the craziness of it is closer to Fantasia's sensibilities), and might just give Vegetable Soup a run for its money for sheer nightmarishness. Enjoy!

Halloween Costumes

Aha. Here's a followup to my first post about a possible correlation between the Halloween costumes I wore as a child and the adult I turned out to be. While I can't remember any wardrobe choices at all, my mother can remember two:

1.) I trick or treated as Batman
2.) I trick or treated as a hobo

I'd say Batman points to dark, pre-teen sensibilites, except this was back when Adam West regularly donned the cape and cowl. Still, I don't think I was old enough to recognize that goofy TV show as a parody, and I'm sure the comics I read were more serious in tone. The hobo costume (complete with derby hat and handkerchief tied to stick) points to what? Wanderlust? Wanting to escape my home?

Not sure if it means anything.

Speaking of Halloween costumes, my father apparently dressed up as a wizard one year. I don't remember this either, but the cloak and fur-lined Tibetan hat combo sounds awfully spiffy to me.