From Biddle's Escape to Mythical London

Two things. Thing 1 is time-sensitive and accordingly fleeting: Just a little less than a week after this issue goes to "press," we're putting on the third installment of our "Uppagus Speaks" reading series. This one features contributors from Uppagus issues 5 and 6: David Adès, Rina Ferrarelli, Mary Soon Lee, Jenson Leonard, and Daniela Buccilli (Moschella).

Thanks to the people at Biddle's Escape, we're going to try something a little different and read out on the patio. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, come hear some poems and have a cool drink! Details below:

Uppagus Speaks #3
Thursday, August 6, 2015
7 to 9 p.m.
Biddle's Escape
401 Biddle Avenue

Thing 2: We have decided to add a comic strip to our tiny handful of regular features in Uppagus. How's that for editorial prerogative? But seriously, we're not doing this just because we can. We're doing it because we can and because this comic strip is cool.

The strip in question is called London Fog, and I will let creator Dean Focareta introduce the premise in his own words:

The idea for London Fog sort of came out of a mythical idea of London I have that has come about from reading different fantasy and science fiction books set there, and in particular the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

So I thought, who could the characters be, inhabiting this mythical London? I thought, what if Watson from Sherlock Holmes had a son — William Watson in the story. The female protagonist is the widow of Finneas Fogg.

The structure of the story is basically that of an old-time comic strip. You would have a few panels that would tell part of a larger story, but the panels themselves would also be a sequence or joke unto themselves so that you wouldn't have to know the larger story arc.

On a personal note, I wrote this comic back in 1998 when I was taking care of my grandfather in his home. So having the strip come back is a nice reminder of him and the time I spent with him.

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Thanks as always to you who are reading these words and our contributors who give these words a reason to be here. We run on your encouragement and submissions!