Saturday, 29 December 2012

Resolution

It's been a frustrating year. My interactive reworking of Frankenstein was published to critical acclaim and won a Kirkus star, and I have now prepared Epub3 and Kindle editions for release next year. My company Fabled Lands LLP entered a joint venture with a major international publisher to reissue a back catalogue of over thirty gamebook classics by me, Jamie Thomson, Oliver Johnson and Mark Smith, in both print and digital formats. And Dark Lord: The Early Years, created by me and Jamie Thomson and brilliantly written by Jamie, won the 2012 Roald Dahl humour prize.

So why the frustration? Because what matters most to me is Mirabilis. The other things are great too, but Jack's and Estelle's story is what is dearest to my heart. And nothing has been achieved on Mirabilis since June last year. I have all of Book 3 written (the first half of Spring), a bunch of standalone stories set in the Year of Wonders, and the outline for a one-special featuring a famous fantasy personality coping with the onslaught of the unreal in 1901. But those stories all need an artist, and both Martin and Leo are now far too busy on other projects (Martin's charming picture book The Gift and Leo's Pollock Theatre style Playrama cutouts for kids).

Eighteen months is quite long enough to let things slide. Too long. A little while back, Jason Arnopp (author of A Sincere Warning About The Entity in Your Home and Beast in the Basement - both brilliant, scary works of genius; go and buy them now, then come back and read on) tweeted that you should write as though you had twelve months to live. Wow. Some advice hits you like the word of God. What if 2013 was my last year? I need to get Mirabilis moving again and it's time to start recruiting the team and raising the money to do that. I've put up the provisional opening episode for Spring, "Long Time With Wadwoes", on Freado and I'll probably put it on DriveThru too. Now I'm looking at ways to get the whole thing restarted so that 2013 can be a true year of the comet!


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11 comments:

  1. Anonymous30 December 2012 at 21:00

    You might raise funds by using "kickstarter".

    http://www.kickstarter.com/

    Good luck.

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    Replies
    1. Dave Morris30 December 2012 at 21:23

      I think Mirabilis isn't really the kind of comic that appeals to Kickstarter people. But I'll find a way. I did actually raise a "fighting fund" of about $20,000 before, and I had a company lined up willing to invest $40,000 for just 20% of the IP. Where's that tin cup..?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous30 December 2012 at 21:35

    Well I'm up for a donation. Just line something up and I'm in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dave Morris31 December 2012 at 09:58

    Thanks, I appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Norman Boyd3 January 2013 at 16:55

    Have you seen this?
    http://blastr.com/2012/12/how-a-stunning-2013-comet.php

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    Replies
    1. Dave Morris3 January 2013 at 18:53

      I do hope it is as bright as they say, Norman. I still remember a drawing in one of the Sunday supplements of my youth (the Observer, I think) showing a comet that would fill the night sky. Comet Kahutek, perhaps? Needless to say, it never came to pass but I live in hope!

      Delete
  5. wanderer3 January 2013 at 23:32

    Maybe you can team up with Time Bomb Comics to get the next chapter out. Mirabilis seems like it would be right up their street.

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    Replies
    1. Dave Morris4 January 2013 at 15:36

      Teaming up with good publishers would help. Our 2-year deal with Print Media, who published Book 1 in the UK, is coming to an end and I've learned a few things from that. The production quality was beautiful, but the books simply failed to get into stores. (The only two exceptions I know of are Gosh Comics in Berwick St and the Bolingbroke Bookshop in Northcote Rd, both of which only got copies because I took them myself.)

      So, with the UK publishing rights now reverting to us, I do need to look for publishers in Britain, the USA, Europe and elsewhere. I think we already have an Italian publisher lined up.

      The best publishers' advances would not cover the cost of artwork, though - and comics publishers usually offer very small advances. That's why I need to find a way to replace the "fighting fund" I mentioned, which I'll probably do (as I did with the first fighting fund, which has evaporated) by working for hire on other projects and diverting my earnings to pay for Mirabilis. It's tedious having to do that all over again from scratch, but nothing good is ever achieved without effort!

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    2. wanderer4 January 2013 at 18:29

      Perhaps you could convince Print Media to squeeze out a few hardback copies of Mirabilis winter volume 2 while there is still time. I can guarantee them a sale!

      When you have your new publisher arranged will they put out copies of Winter, or will it be sraight onto spring for them?

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    3. Dave Morris5 January 2013 at 00:12

      I've been waiting nearly a year for those Print Media copies of Vol 2. If they do really exist, I don't think we're ever going to see them. Unfortunately.

      When I line up a new publisher, we'll reissue Vols 1 and 2 and then go into Spring.

      Delete
    4. wanderer5 January 2013 at 18:28

      Excellent, I hope they do them in hardback.

      Delete

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