Kudos to Sandra, who tackled the job of proof-reading the printouts for Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between today. I reviewed those, found a few of my own, and then decided to stop, because at some point I have to decide NOT to re-write the entire book.

It’s going to be a great book.

I will be doing a promotional desktop background based on the cover art (which wraps around the book), and will make it available to everybody who pre-orders the book. Pre-orders will not open any sooner than September 27th, and we’ll probably wait until October 2nd.

If you’re hoping to get a sketch edition, I have good news — I’m planning on limiting them not by number (we sold 200 of them in about 14 hours on Book I) but by time period. They’ll be on sale for a full 24 hours, one per customer, so everybody gets a fair shake. And yes, I’ll let you know at least a week in advance when said 24-hour period begins and ends.

The book is 100 pages long (a full 25% longer than the first book) with 7 &1/2 pages of bonus story (87% longer than the bonus story in the first book), and the price is STILL just $15.00.

I’m looking for a good pair of combat boots. What should I be looking for?

I do the “happy feet” test on most shoes and boots I buy (“Are my feet happy in these? Why or Why Not?”), but my experience with combat boots has been that they ALWAYS fail that test. And yet hundreds of thousands of people wear them day-in and day-out, and a lot of those people can run, jump, wade, swim, and even sleep in them.

I assume, therefore, that the problem I have had in the past is twofold:
1) cheap, knock-off boots
2) Improper “breaking-in” of said boots.

So… counsel, anyone?

Lea Hernandez, a fellow cartoonist and comic-book artist who I’m only marginally worthy to call a peer, just lost her home, computer, artwork, and pets in a house fire.

Immediate needs appear to have been met, but speaking from (my wife’s) experience, she’s going to (ahem) burn through money pretty quickly just trying to find ways to keep working, eating, and feeding and housing her family.

You can help. The button above is hooked up straight to the PayPal account for “divalea [at] gmail”.

You can read more about the ordeal here, here, and here.

Be generous, please.

Okay… the last two pages of the Bonus Story for Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between have been painted and uploaded for assembly into the book.

I still have a whole bunch of margin space to fill, and I have a deadline of September 10th. Oh, and I need to create the cover, too.

No more score-keeping on rows. I need to come up with a new system for counting the remaining book-and-buffer work, and restart the game on Monday the 28th.
–Howard