Archive for September, 2010»
Hurrah for Networking!
Well! Pursuant to yesterday’s post about printer costs, some reader and fellow self-publishing types have pointed me at some other printing options that I hadn’t yet found, and they’re looking promising. Assuming one of these works out, that should allow me to do Attack of the War-Cats for somewhere in the $15-$20 range, much more reasonable!
Jury’s still out on No Predation Allowed — I may end up having to do that in multiple volumes in order to keep the price feasible. But that’s one I am particularly anxious to have in full color if possible!
-The Gneech
Attack of the War-Cats — In Color!
Well that was fast! In just two nights of work, I have the initial layouts for Attack of the War-Cats complete!
Including the 9 pages that Sue is currently working on with a view towards starting on the web November 1st, and a six-page bonus story (“Thunder’s Last Stand”) drawn by our usual colormiester Richard Wyatt, it comes to a healthy 74 pages in the same double-height format we’re using for the second edition of Childproof the Unicorns.
The big question of AoWC, however, is color. Going with b/w throughout, we’re looking at a retail price somewhere around $12-$15 a book. Color, on the other hand, cranks the retail price up into the $33-$38 range, which is not a bad price for 230+ strips, but definitely tends to push it back a bit from the impulse buyer.
I’m curious to hear how readers feel: if you’re inclined to pick up a copy of Attack of the War-Cats, would full color be worth the higher price to you?
-The Gneech
Where’d Everybody Go?
I suppose it’s inevitable that every explosion leads to a scattering, and the world of internet communications seems to be no exception. Once upon a time instant messaging was almost a nuisance and internet forums, even on obscure topics, were lively places.
But now … where is everybody? Livejournal, once a buzzing hive of activity, is quiet and slightly lonesome. Facebook, which has always been an incomprehensible mess, is useless for actually connecting with anybody, and Twitter, while a fun way to eavesdrop on celebrities and share cool links around, is an oddly stilted way of communicating with the world.
Granted, I am famously an introvert. But it’s not like I never want company — I just want it kept in manageable doses. Where once I had to throttle back my online connections in order to keep them meaningful, now I sometimes feel like I’m standing in an empty field shouting in the hopes of getting someone to hear. Is there no middle ground between flood and famine?
It’s not just online, either. People who were once close buds have in the past year drifted off and don’t respond to greetings. Friends who wandered into my life unexpectedly have or are in the process of wandering back out again, and it feels like even my artistic colleagues have rather spookily gone quiet.
Does anybody else feel this way? Are we all in little internet echo chambers, now? Where has everybody gone?
-The Gneech
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison, feeling his health fading, will be making his last convention appearance at MadCon.
I got to meet him once, and even got him to break up with a laugh and shake my hand at Dragon*Con, when he was one of the M.C.’s for Iron Artist and I was pulled from the audience to be a judge. (The contestants were Larry Elmore and Don Bluth — and yes, that was a big moment for me, in fact!)
As I don’t expect to be at MadCon, I’ll simply say here that I admire you, Mr. Ellison, and your work has meant a lot to me over the years. Thank you!
-The Gneech
Arclight Heroes!
“Big Bad” John Dunn, Charlie O’Toole, and Fagin, the interfering troublemakers — ER, adventurous heroes of my new comic! This is a concept rough for the cover of the first issue … it still needs quite a bit of work, but it at least gives you a hint of what’s to come. Characters copyright ©2010 by me. :)
-The Gneech
Fictionlet
“I don’t know,” said Greg. “I try to keep my chin up, but sometimes it feels so pointless. Do you ever get that? Do you ever feel like nobody’s listening and really at the end of the day nobody gives a damn about you either way?”
After a few seconds, Greg turned. “I said, ‘Do you ever feel like nobody’s—'” He stopped. Brigid was no longer in the kitchen, but was in fact at the far end of the hall, nose in a book, closing her bedroom door behind her.
“Never mind,” Greg said.
-The Gneech