Monday, December 12, 2011

"Outsiders From Oz" update

I'm very sorry to announce that my first Oz book, Outsiders From Oz, will not be available until early next year. The reason being that we're still awaiting the rest of the illustrations. Shawn's been a busy guy, and given our arrangements, other projects he's been tied to have taken dominance.

Even if Shawn got the remaining illustrations to me right now, we'd still need to layout the book. I've already decided I want a classic Oz book layout to it.

Don't think I've been slacking on the writing. The book has been written since June. I have revised the introduction and gone back through and fixed a few errors here and there, as well as added a dedication and acknowledgements.

I could release it text-only or with the illustrations we have so far, but a few chapters would be completely without illustration.

Shawn isn't the only artist on the book, though. An additional artist did a table of contents and chapter heading image for the book.

That's just a sample. Not saying who that is, though.

The irritating part is that I know people want to read my story, and I want to get it out to them. And yes, I do plan on sending out some review copies. (My budget restricts me from just handing them out, though.) Not to be self-laudatory, but I think it's a good story. (Of course, that's obvious, I wouldn't knowingly release a bad story, especially for sale.)

It's an awful thing, sitting on a good story like this...

5 comments:

Marcus said...

Trust me, folks... good things are worth waiting for, and this is a very, VERY good thing. I've had the honor and pleasure of reading (and enjoying) it already. The art is also really great. I plan on giving it the full "treatment" so that Jared's story will be pleasing in every way!

rocketdave said...

Just out of curiosity, altogether, how many illustrations are there going to be?

Jay said...

As of now, there are 23 pieces of interior art by Shawn. Three chapters are unillustrated. Shawn also drew the cover.

rocketdave said...

That is rather a lot. I can see why it would take a while to complete.

S.P. Maldonado said...

I am now out of school for a month and I'm going to get on it and finish the art as quickly as I can.