1:41 PM
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It's been a busy couple of weeks as I moved ahead on a number of projects. I find that as I get ready for vacations, I like to get to a certain point where I can map out a current series that I'm working on. For me, the first issue (or equivalent) is the hardest as I have to decide where to start the story and how to bring all the characters into play and how all that weaves together. Once I'm done with that, I find the rest so much easier.
The Deadworld mini-series coming from IDW in the fall is just about finished on my end. I just have a few scenes to retool and the artist, Sami Makkonen, has finished the first three issues and all the covers. So, that's nearly a wrap.
I'm doing a mystery in the 1900s with artist Wayne Reid that ties into an insane asylum. I'm not sure of the name of the series yet so I don't want to announce it but I've written the first three issues and Wayne is just about done with the first. I've worked with Wayne numerous times in the past, most recently on a Sherlock Holmes story that was in The Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes that came out from IDW and right before that, A Murder of Scarecrows. Both of us want to get back to the Scarecrow storyline and do another installment of that. I think I will take this mystery series to Kickstarter and I've sort of been waiting for the right project for that and I think this is it.
I have four issues written, and the story arc will go to five, on The Rain People. This is a self contained spin-off of my Raven Chronicles which was sort of my shared universe as the characters have appeared in many other titles I've written (Red Diaries, Saint Germaine, Seeker, Helsing) as well as some other titles. I have an artist working on it and will be announcing that as soon as he gets most of the way through issue two. The Rain People refers to certain people with enhanced mental abilities that is triggered by a drug from the Amazon Rain Forest, hence the name.
I've pretty much got the graphic novel, Subversives set to go. A few stories to touch up and then lettered. It's a mixture of text, illustrations, and photos but over half of it will be traditional comic storytelling. This will likely be the first one out from me and I'm shooting for July.
Mentioned before were two short story collections. One is Street Shadows from the pages of Caliber Presents. The second is Night Pieces which is a collection of most of my other short stories and these are primarily horror but not always. I just have to find artists to do the covers as I get them together.
I'm also doing two special projects that will tie in with Detroit Fanfare. Both are ensemble pieces with lots of different artists contributing and I have one geared for a more serious tone and the second will be orientated towards kids. I always hate to reveal too much until something is well underway but when I get back from vacation towards the beginning of July, I think that they will both be ready to be announced as will some of the contributors. I want to make sure that all the contributors are those that are attending Detroit Fanfare with the goal that anyone that buys either of the books can get it autographed by everyone who participated in it.
On the publishing side of things, prepping a lot of books coming from Transfuzion. Battron was just released and I think the next will be another war tale, Winter War, and I personally like that book a lot. There will likely be a flurry of releases from Transfuzion this summer and heading into the fall as so many are near ready production wise.
The other company I'm involved with, Binary Publications, just had the Bettie Page book released. This book has been getting good feedback and in addition to being on Amazon, it should be able to be found at Barnes and Noble, Baker and Taylor, Bud Plant, Last Gasp, and others and it just got printed. A follow up to The Art of Jack Davis will ship at the beginning of July, and this is Jack Davis: Some of My Good Stuff. that gives Binary three Jack Davis books as we also have the kid's book, Bobby's Magic Pen, which features never seen before color illustrations from Jack. Binary has some interesting titles in the pipeline and should have a few titles out this summer and fall.
The business aspects has been active as there's been some interesting conversations going on regarding a number of different things. Too early to talk about but I think it could be something really cool if it works out.
No news on the movie front so I won't say anything about that. To me, its sort of something that's just running out its course.
