Between “fat” and “rat” lies:
OASIS 23 was a wonderful convention, and I want to thank everyone who treated us so well there. Also, Universal Studios is a fun park, and it's worth waiting for the front car on Dueling Dragons.
The highlight of the weekend for me was my panel with SF legend Ben Bova, to pull the sheet off a project he and I started working on more than two years ago, when we met as co-GoHs at Midsouthcon (also a great convention, btw).
The project is called "A Duel in the Somme." This is a 24-page full-color comic based on a SF story by Dr. Bova. It's being illustrated by nationally syndicated cartoonist and webcomics pioneer Bill Holbrook (Kevin & Kell, Safe Havens and On the Fasttrack). The script is written, and Bill has done more than half of the pencil work.
Now, here's where I really had to put my belief in the free-content model on the line. We could have just made the comics and printed them and sold them through the Erfworld store (where, BTW, you can still pre-order Issue 1 of Book 2, and pleaseplease do!). In other words, more-or-less the traditional publishing model. We might sell one or two thousand of them, and make a nice profit.
But then, only a couple thousand people would ever read it. I'm pretty proud of this script, and proud to be collaborating with a couple of long-time pros like Ben and Bill. And anyway, I measure my success as a writer less in terms of money, and more in terms of how many people enjoy my work and how much they care about it.
So, we're going to make the whole thing free to read, right here.
We'll just ask for tips. Because we all do like money, and we're all doing this for a living. We'd need to see support from the readers to ever try anything like this again. So anyone who tips any amount at all will get the full .pdf download of the comic, and access to the original 4000-word story by Ben Bova. And anyone who tips $10 or more will also get the physical comic book sent to them, postage and handling included (with possibly a higher threshold outside North America).
There will be a new page of Duel in the Somme going up for each of the 24 days leading up to Intervention. And then? We will release the physical comic book at the con, with Bill Holbrook and Ben Bova on hand to sign it. This is on top of having a big Erfworld suite party, with both Xin Ye and Jamie Noguchi there for autographs and sketches. I'm telling you, it's gonna be good tiemz. Book your membership at Intervention now!
And like the potent rodent up there says, Issue 2 starts Wednesday, June 9.
*cough*:
