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Hello, everybody! Remember three and a half years ago, when I had a Kickstarter to fund The Enthusiast, a novel I wanted to write? Remember how I promised it’d be done in like 18 months, and then that didn’t happen, and then I didn’t talk about it here or anywhere else for a long time, and then all of the sudden four months ago I started talking about it again and couldn’t stop talking about it, and you were like, “Jeez, Josh, when can I buy this thing already?” Well, good news: you can buy this thing already. The book is about trains, soap opera comics, and a stealth marketing agency that infiltrates groups of enthusiasts, online and in real life, to try to sell things for their clients. I’m very proud of how it turned out and am excited for you to read it. If you like this blog, you’ll probably enjoy it.

• You can buy the hardback version for $25 or the softcover version for $15 over at TopatoCo. Only a limited number of hardbacks are available, so act fast!
• You can buy the ebook edition for $8. This is a DRM-free bundle that includes Mobi (for Kindle), EPUB (for everybody else), and PDF (for any device) files.

The printing process came down to the wire in December, so if you want to give a copy of this book as a gift, you need to buy now! to get it by Christmas. Here’s a handy chart with info on shipping times from TopatoCo, the people who are doing the shipping. (If you buy the ebook edition, you can download it immediately after purchasing it, obviously.)

If you’d like to get a sense of the book before you decide to buy it, I’ve put the opening chapter up on Medium, and you can listen to me read chapter three on the Catapult podcast. You can also read this extremely positive review from Gary Tyrrell, creator of the Fleen webcomics blog.

And, finally, I’ve decided not to run my usual fall fundraiser this year in order to focus more on promoting my book. But if the mood strikes, you can always throw a few bucks in my tip jar, in addition to/instead of buying the novel. Thanks so much!

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GUYS, right now, as we speak, the happy elves at Make That Thing! are putting copies of my novel The Enthusiast into envelopes and mailing them to you, assuming you backed the Kickstarter and replied to the survey in time! And once they’re done with that (which should be … by Tuesday?) they will put up a store where you (assuming you didn’t back the Kickstarter, or maybe you did and just want more copies) can buy said book! Many copies, for you and all your friends. (And all the e-books will go out to backers and also go on sale at that time, so don’t panic, e-book aficionados.) BUT ANYWAY, if by chance you are in the Los Angeles area and don’t wait to wait for the U.S. mail and such, you can come to my book launch party on Tuesday at the Los Angeles County Store in Silver Lake!

You can buy hardcover or softcover books at the store, and I’ll sign ’em! Plus we’re all literally going out for (non-Montoni’s) pizza afterwards! Come, enjoy, etc.! Look, here’s proof that the books exist:

OK, with that out of the way, let’s enjoy your delightful comment of the week.

“‘What about knitting, painting, and gardening?’ ‘Those aren’t hobbies. They create something of practical or aesthetic value. TRUE hobbies don’t produce anything of interest to others.’ ‘What about stamp, coin, and baseball card collecting?’ ‘All collecting is a form of scrapbooking.’ ‘But–‘ ‘ALL IS SCRAPBOOKING!'” –Wonkey the Monkey

Our runners up are also hilarious!

“They don’t have a bank branch office at their house?” –Hamish Mack, on Facebook

“My second favourite part is that the teacher is wearing a lab coat to tell those awful jokes, ostensibly to teach astronomy. It’s probably the only way his students know he’s their science teacher.” –pugfuggly

“You know, if you read today’s Judge Parker as if it’s Sam giving Neddy advice on the sex she’s going to have with hardhat-guy, it makes just as much sense.” –dmsilev

“‘Okay gang.’ ‘Thinking caps.’ A joke about bars. A joke about military rank. A joke about honoring the military. The funny name of a constellation. A pun. Remember, Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.” –handsome Harry Backstayge, idol of a million other women

“Wait, you think she’s going to get some kind of citation? I just assumed the police cruiser was the head of the motorcade for the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Patrol.” –James Dowd, on Facebook

“How can Beetle sleep so much and how can Sarge be awake so much? The answer to both questions is head trauma.” –A Concerned Reader

“The good news is, when Guran finally gets fed up being the Man Friday to the resident Mighty Whitey and takes an IT job in the States, he’s got the wardrobe for it.” –TheDiva

“‘Dating girls!’ Tell me about it, Momma. We all lost money on that bet.” –Doctor Handsome

“We see that modern-day schoolchildren have not heard of the most important American novels but are familiar with old-time fiddle tunes. Remember, children are America’s future. Sell all your savings bonds, is what I’m saying.” –seismic-2

“I would love nothing more than for Gasoline Alley to become for scrapbooking what Mark Trail is for wildlife. Forever.” –Matt Algren, on Facebook

“This scrapbooking lecture in Gasoline Alley is officially so boring that the kids are super-evolving in a desperate attempt to survive. That boy is turning into some sort of mole, in order to burrow out of the room presumably. God knows what kind of menagerie they’ll end up with when or if she ever shuts up.” –C. Sandy Cyst

“The common cartoon technique of silhouetting in the final panel is used here to show the negative, like what you’d see on a roll of film, coincidentally developed by George Eastman! Ha! Or, even the artist wanted to show how Boog is a blackened demon from hell with BOOG in blazing blood red across his chest and soulless white holes for eyes and a white hot flame from the mouth of this monstrosity masquerading as a belligerent little tyke.” –hogenmogen

“Colin has achieved internet stardom for a cheesy rap video? Good thing his dad is friends with 1980s Quincy Jones.” –Tonya

“I wonder why the actual happy couple would be in so much stress to find their marriage license. Do they need to register at a hotel in 1955? Or are they looking for loopholes?” –lumaca morente

“Jeffy is going to be very disappointed when he finds out what happened to the last Messiah.” –Comrade Dread

“What scares me about today’s Heathcliff is not the quantity of female cats, but the apparent qualities of said cats. Apart from fur color, they all appear to be exactly the same. So, Heathcliff’s not a racist, but he might be running an illegal clone harem.” –Voshkod

Thanks to everyone who put some scratch in my tip jar! And let’s give thanks to our advertisers:

• Bluebeards Original is proud to join The Comics Curmudgeon as an advertiser! Company owner Paul Kaniewski is a longtime follower of this site, to the point that it inspired him to created the famed Aldo Kelrast MySpace profile. Bluebeards has been making top-rated beard care products for ten years now, so any bearded folks or those that love them, please check out the site and try their stuff.

If you’d like to buy advertising on the site, you can do so on a CPM basis through BuySellAds. To find out more, you can go to my BuySellAds page or just click here.

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Hey guys! As you can see from the exciting email screenshot above, yesterday afternoon a large pile of actual physical copies of my novel shipped from the printer in sunny (?) Manitoba to the good people at TopatoCo, who will distribute it to Kickstarter backers and also set up a storefront; a much smaller pile is heading to Los Angeles for me to sell and sign at my book party on the 15th. I’m still not 100% sure on when they’ll ship out to backers and sales to everyone else will start, but it should be within the next couple of weeks, and so to celebrate I sent out surveys via the Kickstarter site to get the information we’ll need to send you your books and other rewards. You should’ve received one of these via email by now if you backed the project via Kickstarter. If you haven’t, please check your spam filter or log into your Kickstarter account!

But you won’t have to wait a couple of weeks for this week’s comment of the week:

“Apartment 3-G is leaving us with so many unanswered questions. Will Margo finally become God Empress of Dune? Will Lu Ann finally learn how to operate a toaster? Will, umm, the third one … there is a third one, right? Teri? Tammy? Anyway, I will personally miss Apartment 2-G.” –Master Mahan

And you should also enjoy this week’s hilarious runners up!

“Dagwood grabs the bouquet now, but for the low bride price of a good wedding meal he would sell Cookie off.” –Philip Moon, on Twitter

“Pomade is not for children, dearie.” –Emcee Fravel, on Facebook

“Well I am very sorry indeed to say goodbye to A3G. But whatever changes it’s gone through, it retained to the last its core principles of interchangeable males, relentlessly consistent home (?) furnishings, and arbitrary, inscrutable character motivations for all. You have to respect that kind of integrity.” –Violet

“Btw I never cared about A3G but your tireless efforts changed that. I lit a roughly drawn candle in a featureless setting that could have been inside or outside to mark the passing.” –Gregory Adams, on Facebook

“Olive’s eyes have become unfocused and turn in opposite directions. Her declaration ‘I want to see more!’ doesn’t actually refer to the museum but instead is a subtle cry for help. ‘I’m going blind and also possibly turning into Marty Feldman!’ Sadly she’s dealing with Mary Worth who is both the world’s most meddlesome person and the most oblivious.” –Spunky The Wonder Squid

“I for one cannot wait until Mrs. Lopez wades into the ‘Jif vs. Gif’ debate. She’ll long for the days when the bloodiest combat she knew was in the aisles of Jo-Ann Fabrics.” –pastordan

“In the videogame of Heathcliff’s life you know the boss at the end of this particular line is Marvin.” –maltmash3r

“What kinda lameass skull throne has only two skulls on it? They’re supposed to be the main structural component, ya yutz.” –Funkula, on Twitter

“So, we’re talking when Phantom was less than 15 years old, and I assume he is in his late thirties now; so, maybe 20-25 years ago. 1990-1995? I picture young Kit looking more like a member of NSYNC.” –lumaca morente

“Today we see the world through the drug-addled eyes of June Morgan, as she lovingly runs a toilet brush through her hair and hallucinates that her daughter’s head is slowly inflating. Meanwhile, Rex holds a plaster baby Jesus he stole from the crèche in front of the hospital in an attempt to convince her that yes, June, you did have a baby, and you need more drugs.” –Voshkod

“Panel two is a keeper, as Sarah tries to use her tiny, ill-proportioned fingers to cover her peach-colored lips. Her look of concern seems genuine. ‘What’s a midwife? Hopefully, not someone who travels the countryside on horseback, killing freaks of nature with a crossbow. Because that is someone I would not want to meet.'” –Joe Blevins

“I personally applaud the strip’s mining of the rich thematic possibilities of scrapbooking. It’s a cultural reference that’s only a decade out of date, as opposed the strip’s usual 50-60 years out of date.” –The Might Untrained FOOZLE

“SCRAPBOOKING: THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST TECHNOLOGY!” –Mibbitmaker

“Of course in Hootin’ Holler, the ‘tooth fairy’ is very much a real person. Phineas J. Tooferry collects children’s teeth at night to make his own brand of hillbilly aphrodisiac that he sells at county fairs. A tough business, but he still makes a dime for every nickel he gives out.” –pugfuggly

“Thomas Jefferson kept scrapbooks of the events in his life! Then again, he lived an eventful life, so I’m not sure how this actually relates to you guys.” –Doctor Handsome

“So, the Lockhorns’ reunion is themed around Nirvana’s Nevermind album, because that was the soundtrack of their senior year, and now they’re forty-two and have entirely lost their youthful fire, and they wish they’d had the sense to end it all when they were young like Kurt Cobain did? Makes sense.” –matt w

“‘Thorp’s teams don’t handle adversity well!’ Uh-oh. If anyone ever introduces this ‘competition’ fad into sports, they’re screwed!” –handsome Harry Backstayge, idol of a million other women

Thanks to everyone who put some scratch in my tip jar! And let’s give thanks to our advertisers:

• Bluebeards Original is proud to join The Comics Curmudgeon as an advertiser! Company owner Paul Kaniewski is a longtime follower of this site, to the point that it inspired him to created the famed Aldo Kelrast MySpace profile. Bluebeards has been making top-rated beard care products for ten years now, so any bearded folks or those that love them, please check out the site and try their stuff.

If you’d like to buy advertising on the site, you can do so on a CPM basis through BuySellAds. To find out more, you can go to my BuySellAds page or just click here.