Since Google is shutting down Googleplus, I am no longer confident that the Blogspot pages will be reliable. I have created a MeWe page as a first step.

mewe.com/i/bradbranham

I can also be followed via 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhbranham
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhbranham/

Though I'll warn that FB's newsfeed is trash broken and is not delivering pages you subscribe to anymore unless you "engage" like a cocaine-addled rat.

At this point, it is clear that I need to make my center of operations my own web pages, using social media mostly to direct visitors. This is sad, but FB did this to itself by going public. You can't call yourself a communication platform if your business model depends on NOT delivering posts.

In the meantime, have a wonderful drawing by Michael L. Peters of the core characters of the Rocket Science characters.

Dragon Fuel, fine whiskey for fine women

Dragon Fuel, fine whiskey for fine women
The band called It Really IS Rocket Science

While the band tours in Japan, they do whiskey and vodka commercials. Here's a magazine insert for one. In other news, as Facebook corrodes, this blog becomes more important.

Character sheet for cast

Lots going on ... just haven't been updating like I should.

Here's a character sheet of the cast for reference. Facebook crushes it so here it is at a readable level.

For Polish readers

Szatanki ekskluzywny podgląd. Obraz promocyjny dla It Really Is Rocket Science - Book Series (Wersja polska)
autor - B H Branham
edytor tłumaczenia - Weronika Heck

(fotograf/tłumaczenie napisów - Keroina 

First real look at Mamiko's newest photo session to create Tsika Tsarinkov

Polish actress/youtuber/model +Mamiko has portrayed Tsika for me for over 3 years now in various shoots from Tsika's early career as Gothic Lolita guitarist through her various "rock metal" fashions. This shoot represents Tsika in her late 20s and her 30s. She's been working out, more comfortable in her skin and less nervous about showing more skin on stage. This session had THREE outfits and various props so expect quite a lot to look at. Tsika also sports a new tattoo on her arm.
The image is intended as a promotional poster. Click for more resolution, of course.

Photography by +Sylwia Keroina 

Kpau's Handbook of Managing Kpau - Rule 69

Note: All of Kpau's rules are titled Rule 69. Except for Rule 42. 

So. About Kpau. Drummer girl. High energy prankster. Risky business the best. She and Tsika get along wonderfully, except that Tsika wants to strangle the blonde Texan and Kpau considers it her sacred duty to puncture the Perfect Princess bubble. That brings us to Rule 69 with Kpau. One of the people you'll meet in It Really Is Rocket Science - Book Series, by BHBranham

Click for better visibility:

Cartoon video - Glycerin character sketch.

Cartoon video for Friday.
The adorable bizarre Glycerin.
A character sketch via music video.
Music by S&tB. Software by Harmonix. All rights reserved to those entities.
Avatars based on characters from the book series It Really IS Rocket Science.
Book characters Glycerin, Kpau, Tsika, and Blar copyright 2012-2017 BHBranham

SAY HELLO TO KPAU AND THEN LOOK OUT!

People are always surprised when I say Kpau is my inner narrator for the series. They figure it's Blar. Kpau is a walking mountain of wikipedia, obscure cultural references, history, tech, comedy...
Say anything and her brain is finding about 20 degrees of Kevin Bacon to fry up alongside it.
Anyway, big image. Hopefully not crushed like Facebook destroys images. Click for better view.
For new readers, Tsika is the petite Gothic doll who plays bass guitar and is the band's leader. She likes to style herself as a perfect princess, so Kpau delights in twisting that picture with reality.

Kpau is portrayed by tattoo artist Mørke Skoger.
Costume/MUA: Elisanth
Photography: Zatsepin Alex 

Hello and cześć.

I am designing this blog to make it more friendly for Polish edition readers. For the short term, I'm remapping the pages and providing a top-level tab to the Polish section.

We are discussing the long-term strategy and appearance - I may be getting professional help for that.

We completed the photo shoot for Glycerin "peak career" in December. Elisanth and A. Zatsepin are on vacation while I choose the images for post-processing. The teaser photo shows it is a daunting task.

The next Tsika shoot is complicated. We're catching up from 2016 so this will be a three outfit shoot. The cartoon concepts for the outfits give some idea.

As these concept design sheets show, we're getting some interesting results.

In the next couple of weeks, I hope to have a Polish copy in my hands to review. And Book 4 still looms at 95%. I'm just not happy with some of the transition points.

Two of the Polish translations of Short Stories "origin flashback" are available now. Here is the first one and easy to navigate to the second story via the Short Stories tab. The English versions are also available there.

In preparation for the Polish language edition release of the book series, I've posted one of the short stories to appear in Volume 4. It doesn't have a lot of spoilers and gives a good idea of Tsika and Glycerin, their personalities and relationship as teenagers seven years before the story begins in the book series. You can navigate to the short stories via the menu bar above or follow this link.

Polish language edition of Rocket Science series coming soon before end of 2016. This is a draft of the cover. More posts soon.

Selecting the book cover to use for the first Polish language edition of Rocket Science. Along with the serious candidates, I made this draft comedy version. I actually like it a lot. Trying to get this in the production chute this month and Book 4 of the American series in the next month.

A 3 panel from various Tsika photo sessions with Mamiko. We hope to have a fourth in October. Tsika is a petite Russian-born bass guitarist who leads a band in the book series

It Really is Rocket Science. Available at most book retailers.

2016 Event season is beginning. This year will see the 4th book of the series.

After summer of 2016, there will be four books in the original American English series.

There will also be a Polish language edition series beginning this year. Polish, eh? The model Mamiko is Polish. While working on projects together and interacting with her fans - it became clear I had a huge potential audience in Poland. They are avid readers as a nation and their language often gets left out when the world's books are translated. I have a raw translation team and Mamiko is signed on as the Polish Editor for the series.

The biggest problem we have encountered is that Poland has only a few dialects and they are difficult even for Poles to tell apart. This makes creating Polish language styles for British, Russian, Texan, and other accents/dialects a little challenging. I'm still perplexed about how to handle Sashiko's aberrant version of English with her Scottish background.

In other news, the Polish edition will be formatted to split the contents of Surfing with the Alien into two books. Weighing in at nearly 600 pages, alarms go off every time I shows the books to publishers and when readers complain of arm aches holding the paperbacks. It really is two books with a clean split dead center. But at the time I was unsure if I would go farther than Go Go Godzilla in the series and thought a trilogy was the best idea. So. The Polish edition will be my test case before re-issuing the series with the new story format.  I will call it the Remastered Edition and both editions will line up with Roll With The Changes. So no one has to buy replacement books unless they're just collecting. Book 2.1 would retain the original cover. Book 2.2 would use my Kpau cover.

Speaking of collections, I am seriously considering an Art Book of The Women Of Rocket Science. A nice glossy coffee table book of Glycerin, Tsika, Kpau, and the rest for those who appreciate the hard work of Elisanth, Mamiko, Khimera and the other models.

I am still looking for a Sashiko I guess. I've given up on Blar. I'd almost be better off using my older son with stage makeup and wig. He's almost the right age for Blar now.

Okay, I need to trim up and upload the short stories again. They seen some substantial revision.

Yes, here's a Tsika image since I've been ignoring my blog.

I need to bring it all up to date and reload my short stories in prep for 2016 conventions and festivals.

Recent pic of Tsika ( model: Mamiko ) in action.  This may be the cover image for the fourth book of the series.

Pitch writing, crushing epics into 30 second pitch.

Like the title says ... most writers loathe this but it is necessary. Here's my latest pitch.

A book series of dark comedy, tangled friendships, and twisted romance. A struggling band called "The Lost Girls" - a four women rock musicians. They have just fired one member and are out of money after moving from Los Angeles to Portland. Tsika encounters someone who might be able to help. The new musician, Blar, once led a band and has valuable connections and cash.
Disaster avoided.
Problem: Blar is a man. "The Lost Girls" need a new name.
Problem: Tsika is smitten with Blar. Not good for business.
Problem: Her best friend and bandmate Glycerin has dreamed of meeting Blar since the two women were young teenagers.
Problem: Glycerin is a very damaged soul. Tsika sees that Blar is a healing presence for her most important friend.
So, it gets complicated. It is in fact, Rocket Science.
Available at Amazon (worldwide), Powells Books, and other retailers. Paperback and Kindle formats.

"Reading is Bloody Good Fun!"

New Year starting, new stuff happening. Tsika brutal mode and nu-goth

A preview of new Tsika imagery in the form of a band greeting card for their New Years Eve performance. Work is proceeding on both Book 4 of the series and on the Polish edition slated for launch in 2016.

Practically speaking, I'm still not hitting the critical eyeball demographics who would like these stories. If I can get someone to open the book and start, they almost never put it down. 2016 will be the year of Book 4 as well as hunting up a publisher who offers exactly the services I need in promotion and distribution.

A belated  Christmas cards.  ;)

A cartoon (RB3) avatar of Tsika and her friend Glycerin

Sorry, been a very strange last couple of months but I has pictures!

First, a timeline of Glycerin as the lead guitarist of the band evolves over four volumes.

Next, a couple of Tsika posters for the recent shoot preparing for the release of volume 4.

Say hello to Kpau, energetic drummer and goofball goblin for the band. Modeled by Chimera, mua/costume by Elisanth, photography by Zatsepin.

And a few candid moments from my visit to Prague where I got to roam the town with Mamiko and Lady Sariel - who model Tsika and the newest band member Nadia Kawa respectively. That is the rest of my extended family in the elevator. My elder son has a challenge to Mamiko in Counterstrike when she gets her home Twitch studio running. Prague was a *great* vacation destination.

Got back to the US where within a few days my wife and I were t-boned by a high speed vehicle that totaled our car and left us banged up. Life is random. Need a new car, we didn't have to "go on the cart" like in Monty Python.

Facebook has become a strangled disaster for reaching people. More energy here.

Visual character evolution: Glycerin

From left to right, the image shows Glycerin as she starts out in a sort of sad clown neo-mod scheme, grows into a dark brutal look, then reboots in bright retro themes. I sometimes say the series is actually about Tsika and Glycerin with the others (including Blar) as catalysts. If I picked a single protagonist, it might be Glycerin and her labyrinth journey between light and darkness. The six foot tall lanky creature that Kpau calls "her favorite space alien" is complicated in ways even her closest friend Tsika does not realize as the series begins.
Pick up the series in paperback via any book retailer (they may have to order it), or in Kindle format at Amazon. Working on getting the Nook readers updated with the latest versions. You can catch on daily babblings by me (story excerpts, print and poster works, etc) on Facebook.

B H Branham on Facebook

I'm also lurking on Twitter, Instagram, and most other platforms as "bhbranham".