Welcome back and howdy hi to all the kids in the back. I’ve got some exciting news to share, but you probably guessed that from the subject line. However, before we begin, I’d like to address two things that keep coming up in the cards and letters I get, also known as emails. First and foremost, the movie deal is moving along according to plan. Sharing anything now would be akin to sharing notes from a board meeting filled with sad accountants. We have to do the boring stuff so we can plan for the exciting stuff.
Second, there is no time limit, and there are no prizes, involved with cosplaying McSciFi. The idea wasn’t to load up on professional cosplayers. The whole cosplay promotion was designed to be something fun for regular fans to participate in. In the future, we may hire models to portray these characters. But, more likely, we’ll use stills of the actors instead. That would make more sense. At least to me. Of course, no one asked me, but here we are.
Okay, onto the news.
Hadithi Sambamba Comix has come to terms with Drive Thru Comics to be distributed internationally, with both physical and digital copies. This solves several issues. First, the cost of printing and mailing comics is so volatile right now indie creators can’t plan. The new tarrifs just bankrupted multiple Kickstarter campaigns that simply couldn’t absorb the massive cost increases. Even if you’re using an American printer, odds are they are buying their paper from China. The second issue that got fixed is that their online store requires proof of age before buying some of our titles. It hasn’t been a big problem, but it has been a problem. Now, when you go to Hadithi’s online store at Drive Thru you will be asked to set up an account that allows more mature content. It takes less than a minute and removes that annoying issue. Bonus? Once done, you never need to do it again.
Deep breath. There’s more.
This year, I entered The Brittle Riders in a contest held by the LA BookFest. Many of you joined my mailing list when I appeared at the BookFest in 2020. By the way, thanks for sticking around. Anyway, like I said, I entered The Brittle Riders. I wanted to see what internationally published authors, promoters, publicists, and so on thought of it. After all, if we’re making this into a movie, it might be nice to have nice important people saying nice things about it before it gets filmed. And, hoo boy, did they ever say nice things. They voted it the #1 Dystopian Sci-Fi book of the year. Can’t really ask for more than that.
More importantly, for my publisher Azoth Khem, Margret Trebier also placed first for her incredible tome, Japanese Robots Love to Dance in the Humorous Sci-Fi category. While that’s great for her, for Azoth Khem it means they are one of the few, if not the only, publisher with two winning titles in the same year. All of the work that Nancy Chandler has been putting in with editing, packaging, and hand holding is paying off across the board. Readers are really digging this company.
Like I like to tell people, I write good stories, but Nancy makes them readable. She is a big part of the reason I have won three Best Sci-Fi Author awards and gotten two kick ass reviews from Kirkus Reviews. These things don’t happen by accident.
Just like with the movie I began today’s newsletter with, it’s the stuff that happens behind the scenes that makes all the cool stuff you see possible.
As always, feel free to write with any comments, criticisms, or questions you may have. Until then, stay safe and sane.
