Coactus Illustration © Heather Gwinn. A gift she gave me in 2013 for an edition of Miscreated Creatures which I hope exists someday. Coloring by me.
I am abysmal at keeping you folk in the loop. Here’s some stuff you might want to know:
On January 10 2024 we lost Jennell Jaquays. The hobby owes her a debt for a lifetime of contributions to our artform. One way we can pay that debt is by ensuring her medical bills don’t leave a burden on her family in their time of grief. There’s a GoFundMe to attend to that. Another way is to continue attributing her work to her, and not to a man who is ghoulishly attempting to claim credit for himself.
The Sanctimonious Slimes Versus Expired Epicures kickstarter was a success! I am immensely grateful to my Kill Jester compatriots: Ava Islam and Ty Pitre, and to everyone who contributed. I spent most of December and early January making final revisions, refining the layout, and sneaking in a bit of extra content at my own expense. Our printer has accepted the files, and I’m currently awaiting the first physical proofs before we give the green light to a full production run.
Flux Space, my only blog post of 2023, has won the Bronze Bloggie award in the gameable category! I am honored to be recognized two years in a row, and also grateful I didn’t end up winning the event overall, since the winner is obligated to take over for Zedeck next year! In seriousness though: I have become convinced that the bloggies are more meaningful than the silly game I originally took them for. I’m also fully aware that “now that I’ve won an award I see how valuable awards are” is a cliché, but here we are. Blogs are an important part of our little art scene, yet the work can be demoralizing. It’s worthwhile for us to take time to recognize one another’s work, to gas one another up. The bloggies are one way of doing that, and for the past two years my self image has benefited from your accolades. It feels great, and there are a lot of other bloggers who deserve this kind of attention. There are still two more categories being voted on, so be sure to check out Zedeck’s twitter to participate.
Season 6 of Blogs on Tape is coming! I had intended for episodes to start dropping in late December, but right in the middle of doing my recordings I was struck down by an illness that robbed me of my speaking voice for nearly a month. By the time I was recovered enough to work again, time had moved forward. I couldn’t resume recording without breaking our printing deadline for SSvEE, or abusing the timetables of other colleagues I had agreed to do work for. Rest assured, the project is not dead.
Some of you may have noticed that for the first time in several years there was no D&D Christmas Carol here on December 25th. I’m sad about that, but in addition to the cramped scheduling I’ve been navigating, I’ve had a…psychologically taxing six months. I faced a sad choice: allow my holiday traditions to become burdensome obligations which bring me no joy, or let a few of them slip by this year. Hopefully the songs—and a number of other traditions that are part of my personal observance of the holiday—will resume next year.
I hope this post finds you all safe, warm, and healthy. I’ll try to get at least one or two good blog posts out to you by the end of the year (I do have ideas.) Until then, hang in there everybody.