Happy New Year (... now that January's halfway over)! A lot's been going on and a lot is coming up. So hold on tight, because this is going to be the biggest info dump since that novel I trunked back in my early twenties!
First of all...
Our little operation, as of right now, consists of myself (Robert S. Wilson) and my wife, Jennifer Wilson. Some of you already know, but for those of you who don't, there is a very personal reason we have chosen
the Sylvia Rivera Law Project as the charity to contribute the proceeds of this shindig to. Last year, our youngest child bravely came out as a transgender young woman and we couldn't be more proud of her for having so much courage.
So, when we found ourselves in a position to do something huge for one organization, we decided to choose a charity that we knew from the personal experience of transgender friends would be able to do something wonderful with the money we raise. And with this event, that could end up being as much as $10,000! So this really means a LOT to us and we hope folks will help us make this as successful as possible.
Before I get into our release schedule though, I want to talk about
the paperback release of ASHES AND ENTROPY. While the eBook edition is currently available
from our website and
from Amazon, unfortunately, we are still running behind on the paperback release. At this point, it's looking like the A&E paperbacks will be a late January/early February release.
But... for those of you who were Kickstarter backers or who pre-ordered from our website, we will be doing everything we can to make that up to you. For instance: for those of you who bought the black and white edition... you won't be getting it. Instead, you'll be getting the color edition! It has been decided that the black and white edition will be retail only!
So, you've all been upgraded at no extra cost. For those of you waiting on the color edition, you'll also be getting a very lovely Matthew M. Bartlett Witch Cult postcard and everybody who backed the KS or pre-ordered a paperback copy of the book will get a very significant discount code for
our webstore.
As to why we're running behind? Well... there are a lot of reasons. A lot of little reasons and a couple big ones. I received way more story submissions than I expected for my open call and it took me longer than I intended to decide on the final two stories. I received a couple of final stories from solicited authors late which unfortunately happens sometimes. Authors are humans with families and complex lives just like the rest of us. And speaking of being human... We're actually just about done fixing some formatting errors that managed to sneak into the galleys. And unfortunately, the way in which we format is a bit more complex than most companies and so that has been quite a process.
And one of the bigger things that became a problem early on is that our printer was absolved by another company. And we've had nothing but bad experiences with the new company so we had to find a whole new printer.
We gave them a test run with The Broker of Nightmares by Jon Padgett and for those of you who grabbed up a copy of that book, you know that the level of quality they produce is absolutely superb. Way better than anything we've produced in the past. And working with a new printer means working with new guidelines and a different cost structure. So... while there has been a delay, there will be benefits to that delay.
But onward.
The following is in no way complete as there are TBAs and some things without definitive release dates yet that we left off, but we have the beginnings of a 2019 release schedule! Behold:
(Artwork forthcoming) September 24th: Charitable Chapbook #5: EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL AND NOTHING BAD CAN EVER HAPPEN HERE - Michael Wehunt (pre-order coming soon! Contributes to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society)
October 30th: Classic Chapbook #3: TBA
November 26th: Charitable Chapbook #6: TBA
December 10th: Classic Chapbook #4: TBA
And speaking of schedules and
our Patreon, we have a round about schedule for our Patreon exclusive author reading/Q&As:
- Matthew M. Bartlett: late February/early March
- Doungjai Gam: late May/early June
- Jon Padgett: late July/early August
- Michael Wehunt: late September/early October
- And of course more to be announced!
We have to work out some details but we're hoping to have an extra special reading/Q&A related to the release of the
SECRET GATEWAYS box set. Speaking of, we'll be updating the product page for
SECRET GATEWAYS with some artwork and further details. As mentioned above, we have a release date set now, but it's also safe to mention a couple of the artists involved!
Sam Heimer is designing the slipcase artwork for this beauty! And Harry O. Morris is working on the cover and interior artwork for THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM! As soon as we have the artist for GATEWAYS TO ABOMINATION locked down, we'll announce them as well. As for the third and final book, we're still working out details but there will now be FOUR collaboration stories by Jon Padgett and Matthew M. Bartlett within its pages! We're super excited about that!
And a few of you have been waiting for... our open submission details!
They've now been posted on our submissions page! Folks that are patrons at the $5 level on
our Patreon got this news almost two weeks early so if you'd like to keep up on the latest and get the earliest shot at say... Weird For Good edited by myself, Lynne Jamneck, and Jon Padgett, you might want to join us over there. We also post early artwork and will be posting exclusive behind the scenes info and media and more.
So, if you can't tell, it's going to be one hell of a year! And that's not showing any signs of changing, so we'll be looking to expand a bit this year. We're in talks with some folks about taking on roles with us and we very well may put out a call for a couple more in order to fill various positions that are needed. So, keep an eye out.
What we're doing is new and different and with it being as charity-driven as it is, it's not exactly profitable. So, I wanted to leave you all with some ways you can help out and get some wonderful stuff in return:
For those of you who made it this far, thank you for your support and your patience in reading this super long update. We think 2019 is going to be a really awesome year and we hope you agree!