I just reviewed some of the images from the beginning of Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between. Again, we’re doing “Sunday” style coloring on all images in the book, rather than just on Sundays. I had to finish the coloring on about 25 images, and now that it’s done all I need to do is finish up the bonus story.
(And the cover. And the margin materials, including re-scanning old sketches, throwing in some new ones, and writing new footnotes.)
(All before September 15th, if at all possible.)
Anyway, in reviewing the work I’ve done so far I got sucked into reading the beginning of the book. It’s going to be a darn good book. I wrote it, yet somehow I managed to make myself laugh. It’s probably going to be about 20 pages longer than the first one, with more action and (pending me finishing it) a bigger, more violent bonus story. I’m excited.
–Howard
If it’s a book of Schlock…
Then it is a “good book” by simple association…
We, your fans, eagerly await your dead-tree works!
You’re excited?
Think about us. We can hardly wait.
it all sounds good! bring it on!
I need more Schlock in my life! Especially since I’m in the UK!
Just let us know when the pre-orders are open!
More violence. Gooooooooooood!
Ah – another worthy object to spend money on. Yippee skip!
When will pre-orders open? I think I missed the signature with drawing by only a few books last time. It would be nice not to miss out this time.
This time I’m considering allowing as many sketch orders as can be ordered in 12 hours. Or maybe 24. They’ll still be numbered, but I won’t know how many I’m doing until you people finish buying them.
I suppose it makes them a little less unique, but it also means everybody who wants to pay for one can get one. I’m all about happy customers.
Glad it is longer
I really loved the first book, but it really seemed a bit short to me, and I did not really want to hand it off to friends without the second book to give them too. I hope together we get a bit more of an arc. I plan to pre-order the instant it comes out.
Re: Glad it is longer
Originally I hoped to put both books in the same volume, but it seemed like too much of a risk.
If you have a look at the archive synopsizer you’ll see that after The Blackness Between I’ll be doing two 200+ page volumes of Schlock to cover the early years.
After that I think I’ll do one more “skinny” book (Out From Under New Management weighs in at about 80 pages, same as SM:UNM did), and then all the rest of them (“Mad Science”, “Emperor Pius Dei”, and the as yet unnamed Book VI) will be about 150 to 200 pages long. I’ve settled into a rhythm where the “book” arc takes about a year to complete. 52 weeks is 156 pages, plus bonus material.
I don’t regret starting small.
Looking forward to it!