It’s Monday! I’m paying bills! I’m organizing my schedule! I’m drawing pictures of penises in tiny hats happy kittens playing with bits of string. Let’s throw some of these deadlines out there and see where they stick:
Novels & Stories
The soft release date for STATE MACHINE, the third Rachel Peng book, is on or around May 4th. I’ll do a firm release date when the cover art is finalized.
The soft release date for GREEK KEY, the first Hope Blackwell book, is on or around June 15th.
It’s looking like the third tier on my Patreon will be met sometime within the next few months, so after I get the Kickstarter nailed down, I’ll start working on Joshsmut again.
I have a story about Ami the Assassin out on spec to a sci-fi publisher. I should hear back within the next month whether they’ll take it. If they pass, I’ll put it up for sale in the store.
Kickstarter
This thing, guys, this thing… I don’t even…
LEAGUE NIGHT and COME BOWLING WITH ME have already been sent out. Backers who bought the challenge coins (and nothing else) have already received them.
As for the rest… Okay, I need to speak generally here, as I have prepaid a Supplier and don’t want what I say to backfire on me (read: Sucker! Your money is MINE FOREVER), but there is a certain level of irony to needing to take out a loan to finish fulfilling a Kickstarter. There’s yet another level of irony to paying a Supplier to do work that you don’t have the time or skill to do yourself, but they do it so poorly that you then have to do it yourself anyhow. I’m drawing a second mini-comic for all backers who also bought a copy of ZOO STORY as an apology for the delay.
I’m aiming to have the audiobook of DIGITAL DIVIDE finished and shipped to backers before the third Rachel Peng book hits, so this will be on or around May 1st.
As for final product shipping, we’re headed back to the studio soon to finish recording MAKER SPACE. Once I’ve completed the digital edits, I can put everything in the mail and ship it all out. I don’t have a firm deadline on when this will happen.
Giveaways
GIMME BOOK 2014 is over, and all books have been shipped. Except for the person who sent me this:
Patreon
I’m thinking of changing the fourth tier from “Get rid of ads on the website” to “Make the Wedding Story.” I’ve had the script Pat and Hope’s wedding finished for years, and I’ve never had the time to draw it. I’d give this project priority status in the Neverending Queue if the fourth tier is met.
Also, my ad company changed hands recently, and they’ve stopped a lot of the nonsense that made me want to ditch them. They’ve added an auto-report feature where I can report a problematic ad and it’s removed immediately. If you ever see any ads with malware or are triggering (e.g.: sexist, racist, etc.), let me know and I can get them pulled.
Disasterhouse
This blog will begin updating soon, as: (1) we’ve done the math, and we’ve accepted that we’re trapped in this Amityville horror and can’t afford to move; and (2) the financial cost of the foundation repairs we’re going to do this month would buy a very nice car. We’re talking a fine German engineering level of “nice”.
It’s March
I approve. I am in favor of Spring.
K.B. SPANGLER 
I’m very excited to hear you still have so much creative juice running! Looking forward to every one of them (even/especially the house-blog).
I support the wedding story over no-ads. I’d rather have more Otter-content than less ads (which I tune out anyway, as long as they don’t hijack or malware-inject, glad to hear that got fixed!)
Finally:
Yay Kickstarter update! Sorry to hear you got/get treated badly/unprofessionally by ‘supplier’. I won’t let it reflect badly on your personal score with me 🙂 (but tell them Jules said ‘be nicer to Otter!’ That’ll teach them!)
I wish you all the luck (and financial compensation) in the coming months.
I still look forward to unwrapping that sweet sweet badge 🙂
That it took a year longer than planned will not reduce my satisfaction!
(And I hope you will soon look back and be able to say “Yeah! I curbstomped the Speedy-cussing daylight out of that karmic blackhole hydra-monster, I AM AWESOME”)
BOOK BOOK BOOK BOOK BOOK BOOK!
I second the wedding story! And I can’t wait for the books to come out! (Can we buy extra copies for you to give away for us again when they get released?)
Can someone please buy me the epub version of State Machine & then I will donate for extra copies to others? That might get around that stupid damn VAT Moss idiocy!!!
As far as the kickstarter goes, I’m sure you are good for it & things turning up in the post is always a nice surprise if it’s not a bill.
Good luck & remember to stay away from the weeping closet.
Hooray for State Machine! Very excited for it.
When the third tier on the Patreon funds, can I make a polite request that I’m more interested in the redrawn strips than the Joshsmut. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like the Joshsmut, but I’d rather have a fully continuous and coherent archive to rererereread.
PJW
I would definitely prefer more creative output from you rather than have fewer ads.
I’ll also chime in on the side of Joshsmut over the redone art. I really liked the old style. I like the new style, too, but when rereading the archives I’ll go for the originals about half the time.
I am excited that there may be 2 novels before July. I can’t wait.