Partner Sites:

Give reality the boot and let your imagination take the wheel for this road trip through the imagination. Featuring the art and writing of Jessica Cathryn Feinberg (known as Ryn around these parts), Artlair is a journey through the surreal and fantastic to lands where faeries dance by moonlight and witches cast spells beneath the hollowed carcasses of metal beasts. It's a world of magic, myth, mayhem and...err, clocks. (Trust me, you really don't want to know about the clocks.) Enjoy yourself, but be cautious. After all, here there be monsters...

No trip across the Atlantic would be complete without a visit to Gossamer, MC Mel's home on the Web. Let our dear MC be your host as you take in the sights of this virtual town, from the Rock Club to the Community Centre to the I ce Cream Parlour (a personal favorite of mine). There's much fun to be had laughing at all the strangely spelled words, bad poetry, and pictures of drunken depravity. Not to mention the ramblings of some Yank asshole calling himself Tim.com.

For all you cosplay enthusiasts out there, I'm proud to present Twisted Treasures, from the same demented minds that brought you Words That Stay. Equal parts costume party, goth gathering, and dream discussion group, Twisted Treasures could only be the brainchild of Strychnine. However, I urge you to check any expectations you may have at the door, for in addition to being a passionate writer, a gifted web designer, and one of the best graphic artists you'll ever meet, Strychnine is also an excellent costume designer. Twisted Treasures puts her amazing creations on display, while at the same time displaying some of her very attractive goth friends.

For those of you who can't get enough of alien lesbian sex, understand that an evil overlord will never be taken seriously if he doesn't have a large number of loyal minions, and can't say the word "Akira" without speaking in hushed and reverent tones, Duchess's Desktop is for you. The creation of the utterly adorable Tsubaki, Duchess's Desktop is a tribute to Japanese animation, as well as a personal homepage. Contains information on anime and manga, art, and a personal journal. A word of warning for the uninitiated, mention Pokemon at your own great risk...

Morpheus once had a dream where he was kidnapped by the Joker and Harley Quinn from Batman and Hyde from That 70's Show. They took him to this secret hideout somewhere in downtown Wichita and then made him watch episodes of The View while they shoved corn flakes up his nose. What does that have to do with Gotham Public Works? Absolutely nothing, except that when we first met these guys Morpheus had a momentary flashback to his dream and spent the rest of the day burning every box of corn flakes he could find. Without a doubt, the good people of Gotham Public Works are the best living portrayal we've seen of the DC universe since, well, ever. An absolute MUST for any Batman fan.

Friends of Ours:

The Beautiferous Poppy Z. Brite -- "I never look at fiction/poetry websites, but I quite like this one." With that (along with some words of encouragement e-mailed to Strychnine), Poppy Z. Brite has become our first celebrity endorser. Her official website serves as a great introduction for people just discovering her writing, and also features some unpublished and rare fiction for her diehard fans.

Tim J. Beedle, Dreamer -- This online portfolio should put to rest any doubt about Morpheus selling out. A variant of Words That Stay (call it Words That Pay), this site borrows heavily from the Gallery of Words in look and feel, but has been specifically tailored for editors and publishers. Therefore, the humor and attitude have been greatly decreased and the cute goth girls are nowhere to be found. Features several pieces of published writing that don't appear on Words That Stay.

Jacaranda 101 -- Brought to you by the good people at Enron, Jacaranda 101 is the home of the funkiest, funniest, and flat-out freakiest band on the Southern California scene today. Go on ahead, step inside the Duplex of Love. Just be sure to steer clear of any boy bands you may run into, and if Chewbacca's been around lately, you'd better watch your step.

Estrigious (Becky Cloonan) -- For Morpheus, there's no greater perk to working at TOKYOPOP than the chance to work with some of the hottest artists in comics, and as far as we're concerned there's none hotter than Becky Cloonan. The co-creator of the Eisner-nominated DEMO and the sole creator of the rousing nautical adventure East Coast Rising (edited by the one-and-only Morpheus), if you're not already familiar with Becky's work, it's just a matter of time.

Green Oblivion -- Ross Campbell is the extremely talented creator of Wet Moon and The Abadoned, two of the most strikingly original and exciting graphic novels to hit bookstore shelves in years. If you're not a comic book fan, Ross' work may turn you around. His style is remarkably fresh, and his manner of approaching genre storytelling through compelling and honest characterization should be the standard, not the exception. And his chubby little goth girls are so cute!

Sleep Is For The Weak -- It should come as no surprise that quite a few of us are fans of anime and manga. (Just look at Tsubaki's icon, for cryin' out loud.) A couple of us even work within the field. So take it on good authority when we tell you that Sleep Is For The Weak is the best anime/manga review site on the net.

Psuedome -- This message board not only serves as THE place to go to pontificate about Van Von Hunter, a webcomic and TOKYOPOP manga created by Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch, but hosts the only forum devoted exclusively to discussing TOKYOPOP's original manga titles. Morpheus can be found posting to it every now and then (under his real name, obviously).

Atomic Basement -- "He's an intergalactic, skull-crackin' man..." These are the words echoing around the Atomic Basement, and truer words have not been spoken. Well, not about Mac Afro, at any rate. And who is Mac Afro? Why, he's the baddest motherfucker to ever travel the stars. Equal parts satire and tribute, Mac Afro is one of the funniest, sexiest, and altogether funkiest comics on the market today, and it's the brainchild of our friend and supporter Mike Wellman. Throw on some P-Funk and dust off those platinum shoes, you'll need them when you stop by the Basement for the latest info on Mac and any other wicked creations that Mike has dreamed up.

Pop Mhan -- Another artist currently keeping Morpheus busy. Pop Mhan has been a pro in the comic book industry for the past ten years, leaving his mark on characters like Batgirl, Robin, The Demon and countless Jedi. His manga, Blank, streets in Summer of '06. Keep an eye on his site for regular updates.

Other Great Sites:

Ain't It Cool News -- Offering the best in geek gossip...

Landover Baptist Church -- One of the funniest sites we've ever run across. Does for religion what The Onion does for newspapers.

Homestar Runner -- Quite possibly the funniest website on the Net. Take a dash of Monty Python, mix it with some classic Saturday Night Live, then set it to some of the goofiest Flash animation imaginable and you've only just started to describe this crazy site.

Shag Gallery -- Thanks to Heather, we're now great appreciators of lowbrow art. And thanks to Melatiki, we now have a favorite lowbrow artist. A tiki lover's paradise!

And if you'd like to link us...

Having Strychnine and Ryn as your webmistresses means having some of the best banners on the web. Right click on the image and save it to your computer, then upload it to your server. Bandwidth is a precious commodity these days after all. And be sure to let us know that you've linked us, so we can return the favor!