Issue One Cover Reveal, Peek at Advance Copies, and (alas) a Delay
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Oct 13, 2023 at 05:59:53 AM
IN SHORT
- ISSUE ONE COVER ART REVEAL: Scroll below the dog pic to see it.
- ADVANCE COPIES RECIEVED: Scroll bellow the dog to see what our completed issues will look like in soft and hardcover.
- UNEXPECTED DELAY: Books will now begin shipping to backers at some point between Nov 13th and Dec 1st (approx).
- OUR NEXT UPDATE: ...will be to confirm the books have begun shipping to backers.
IN DETAIL
Let's start with the bad news, then finish with the fun stuff.
THE DELAY
The books are printed. They have been shipped from the printers. They are on their way to our fulfillment person in Chicago, who'll begin fulfilling your orders as soon as they arrive. "Nov 13th to Dec 1st" is when we've been told to expect them.
We thank you all for your patience. This delay was a mix of two things; it being our first time going through the traditional printing process, and an event that was out of our control.
We'll better understand all the steps in the process next time and, in the interest of quicker turn-around for that next time, we're working toward having all the writing for our 2024 issues completed by the end of our next crowdfund. Here's how the progress spreadsheet for that currently looks:
Barring something truly outrageous happening, our next update will be to confirm the books have arrived in Chicago and begun shipping out to you all. Again, thank you for patience. This is been a long ride, but the advance copies we're currently staring at with hearts in our eyes make it clear this will have been worth it!
If you'd rather not see the issue one cover art or the finished issues before you hold them in your hands, then don't scroll past the Adorable Puppy (tm).
ISSUE ONE COVER ART REVEAL
Here it is, by Caterina Gerbasi.
From issue #2 onward the concepts for our cover art will be taken from the content of stories inside the issue. But for #1 it felt like we should try to capture the ethos of the magazine, a visual equivalent to our slogan of "Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!".
A while ago I found myself looking at a Frank Frazetta's painting, "Against the Gods", when it struck me how the painting focuses on the barbarian's chest as much as, if not more than, his face. Then I thought of how I'd said many times that I'd never seen a trans barbarian S&S character. Mix that with how S&S characters' bodies often tell a story with the scars they collect in their dangerous lives, and how part of our mission is contributing to making a place in S&S for more diverse individuals and... Voila, we have ourselves a transman barbarian on the cover, scarred chest proudly on display, standing triumphantly, and wielding a battle-axe akin to the NESS logo!
Now to see it printed nicely on issue #1, alongside issue #2...
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
For comparison, and fun, I've put our original, Amazon POD issue #0 alongside the new, traditionally printed ones.
Here's those hardcover bindings, with "perfect-bound" (glue binding) #0 on the left, then one & two with their lovely sewn-stitch bindings and ribbon bookmarks.
And a close-up on the new issues' "t-shirt tag", whose design we decided to simplify by removing that background rectangle you see on #0.
And here's some closer pics of just the new issues in softcover:
As you saw in the big group shot with #0, we also changed the back design for our softcovers, jazzing things up by using some interior art from one of their stories and, on the bottom half, a kind of retro 70's album cover track listing of the contents.
Hoo boy it felt great to put these on my bookshelf today. I can't wait until we start to see pictures of the magazine out in the wild, being enjoyed by...you!
Once more, with feeling, thank you for your patience. The next time you hear from us, it will be to let you know we've begun shipping issues to backers.
Take care,
PROGRESS REPORT
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 11:57:03 AM
Hello!
IN SHORT
- We are on schedule for our original goal of getting the final files off to our printer by or before August 1st.
- We should begin to ship physical copies to backers in early-to-mid October.
- We're still deciding when to make digital editions of #1 & #2 available, and are open to feedback on this in the comments.
- The next update will be letting you know that the final files are off to the printer.
IN DETAIL
You may recall two things from our May 18th update. One is that I'd found a way to cut some time off our schedule and optimistically hoped to be getting our final files off to the printer by early July.
WELL
The bad news is that assorted Life Events slowed down various staff & contributors so as to make that goal unfeasible. The good news is that our original goal had been the very end of July, maybe August 1st, and that the way I found to cut some time off our schedule has at least kept us on schedule!
The other thing you may remember from our May 18th update was my progress charts that were steadily filing with green. They are exceptionally green now! As with before, I've trimmed out contributor's names so as not to accidentally shame anybody. First up, our author editorial progress chart:
The two long, black bars at the bottom are for things I myself have to write, those "Letter from the Editor" pages you'll find at the start of each issue. I've started one and have plenty of ideas for what to discuss, but if you want to comment with suggestions for items to be covered in one of the letters, my ears are open.
Meanwhile, here's our art progress chart:
WOW! It feels great to be so close to finishing.
We've learned a lot on our maiden voyage of producing TWO issues while working with a professional printer, and are already applying a few lessons to next year despite us not quite being finished with this year. Mostly these have to do with making the editorial process will be less grueling, and that the turnaround from Kickstarter to backers receiving their issues will be shorter.
One very cool thing about working with a professional printer is you can order what's called a "dummy" proof of just eight pages of your choice, rather than having to wait until the book or books are completely finished. As soon as we could we sent eight sample pages off to them, chosen to test various configurations of text & image you'll see in the magazine, and just this weekend I got the printed proofs in the mail!
As a beloved backer, you'll get to see these a little further down. They contain three art previews for your enjoyment.
If you don't want any spoilers, DO NOT SCROLL BELOW THIS DACHSHUND
Okay, so here's the interior proofs all up on my corkboard!
TOP LEFT: A two-page spread done by Simon Underwood, showing the return of David C. Smith's characters from issue #0. The final version will have the title, author, and illustrator credits (likely set in the sky on the left hand side).
If you have a physical copy of #0, you'll see our two-pager by Simon Underwood had to be split down the middle with some white space. Unlike Amazon POD, our new printers can print right into the middle of the book, allowing for a true two-page spread!
TOP RIGHT: Our TOC and thank-you page for backers who supported us at the physical tier levels. You maybe able to see I'd already made some markings when I took this picture. Let's just say it's a good thing we ordered these proofs as they've done their job in helping us spot some goofs.
BOTTOM-LEFT: There is an illustration by Ursa Doom aka Björn Magnusson, for a tale by Jacqueline Kawaja. You can see with it that we've started playing around more with the possibilities our three column format allows us, wrapping the illustration around a 2/3 length column of the story.
On the right hand side you can see a kind of "bits & bobs" page likely to go at the back of the magazine, featuring a fun cocktail inspired by Jirel of Joiry, cooked up by our clever social media maven Kevin Beckett, an ad for the wonderful Occult Detective Magazine (which I suppose is getting some extra love by being featured in this post!), and a rough fill-in for a Content Warning list. The TOC at the very front will alert people to the existence of the list and where to find the list it. That way it's easy for those who'd rather not read the list (perhaps to avoid vague spoilers for the stories ahead), and those who do want to read the list will know where to find it.
BOTTOM-RIGHT: A straight-forward full page of text on the left, worthy of a test as these new issues will be .25 inches taller (8 x 11.25 instead of the 8 x 11 inches of our Amazon POD issue #0), and on the right you can see a complete title page for Kirk A. Johnson's story, illustrated by Daniel Vega. Unlike Simon's piece in the top left, this is more or less complete, having the title, author, and - something we regretted not including at the start of stories in issue #0 - artist credits.
Those funny little squares and small marks you can see around the edges of some of the proofs are to do with measuring things, checking if they're properly aligned etc. They won't be there in your copies.
COVER?: We did get proofs of the covers for #1's soft and hardcover formats. I'm really glad we did as a dominant color that looked one way on the screen ended up looking very different in print! But we're not going to reveal these yet as cover reveals aren't really something you can do twice, even if the first time was only for backers, you know?
That said, we may share the proof version of issue #1's cover once the final version is out in the world, so my fellow process nerds can enjoy seeing the differences.
ALRIGHT THEN
That's all the news for now! The next time you hear from me it will be to let you know the final files are safely off to the printer.
Thanks again for backing this project, which has been such a joy to assemble over these past few months. I can't wait until we can finally hear your thoughts on the end results.
Sincerely,
