Hey there Mothership fans, Bo Ryan here checking in with some Pipesong updates.
Levi and I finished the first draft of the manuscript at the end of march, and I immediately...
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Bo Ryan M Crum
about 1 month ago
Early March Update
Bo Ryan here with a quick update:
Pipesong progress continues, the manuscript is about 80% complete. I thought I'd let y'all know where we are at and what's coming next:
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Bo Ryan M Crum
about 2 months ago
Late February Update
Today, a community member asked for an update on the project. It's been months since the project funded, and no word. "I know, I'm sorry, I've been meaning to get to it," I t...
Hey there Mothership fans, Bo Ryan here checking in with some Pipesong updates.
Levi and I finished the first draft of the manuscript at the end of march, and I immediately had a horrifying realization: basically every paragraph was way longer than it needed to be. I got started on an epic brevity-editing-pass, and as of today, we are in a good spot.
I've got a bunch of images to share below, so I'm going to do my sign off here. The book is coming together, and with our current pace, looking at having a sans-art version ready to go by the end of the month. I'll make that available as a preview PDF for backers.
I've been posting a daily-ish Gravy Press updates on bluesky. @gravy.press if you're hungry for more updates, or you'd like to hear about other Gravy Press stuff (I've got a shadowdark book that's going to release, like, any second).
Talk to y'all again at the end of the month, or later tonight if you're on bsky!
I'll work when I'm dead, Bo Ryan Crum
On to the granular updates:
Levi and I had a work call yesterday, and we got all of the remaining writing (tables, asides, phase alterations...) and editing assignments into a tracker document.
It's a daunting number of tasks, but everything is already written down in Levi's giant google doc, we just have to go pull those ideas out and put some polish on them.
I've been getting into the real layout work:
Pipesong's largest platform.
The Hive is an enclave of cooperative criminals deep in the tangle.
Lots of NPCs, and some 'cheap' spaceships for sale or rent.
And after much experimentation, I've landed on a style for the tangle map that I'm happy with. I'm going to take another run at the Hive map with what I've learned here.
Here's an overview of how the whole book looks as of today:
Pipesong progress continues, the manuscript is about 80% complete. I thought I'd let y'all know where we are at and what's coming next:
The Tangle pipecrawl is almost finished, we wrapped up:
Tangletown, an underground (as in secret) enclave protected by one node of a fragmented supercomputer.
Manufactory, a dangerously irradiated cult compound where their arachnid cyborg leader harnesses the power of an unstable fusion reactor to produce 'completely safe' warp cores at bargain bin prices.
Hazards and 'weather' for the overloaded encounter die procedure for the Tangle
Entrepreneurs and Crews to meet as encounters in the Tangle.
After the Tangle is finished, we will move on to writing the faction and adventure overviews (we wrote those before we started, but I always write them again at the end to capture the most interesting ideas that came out during the process)
And that will wrap up the manuscript! I'm wrapping up school this week and next, so we are targeting end ofmarch for this milestone.
After that I'll move on to an editing & layout pass, seeking to pack as much into the zine as possible.
Concurrently with editing, Levi will be working on beefing out our tables with more Mishaps, Crews, Entrepreneurs, irresponsible criminal Cyberware, and Rumors.
In the evenings, after I hang up my writer's hat, I'll be putting on my 'cool' three fingered glove and ramping up on art.
Expect another update at the end of the month! Until then, I'll Work When I'm Dead
Today, a community member asked for an update on the project. It's been months since the project funded, and no word. "I know, I'm sorry, I've been meaning to get to it," I thought, "but it hasn't been that long!" It has been that long.
I've brought you all here today first and foremost to offer an apology for my total lack of communication since the backerkit campaign ended. Mothership Month has been an incredible opportunity, an amazing learning experience, and ... a kick in the ass that I've been trying to claw my way back from for the last four months.
Levi (my wonderful co-author and irl best friend) and I got wind of Mothership Month late, with only about a month to develop a pitch. The amount of work that goes into running a crowdfund caught me totally by surprise, and by the time the campaign was over we did not have a manuscript. But in that intervening time, we have been hard at work making the book that we promised you all, and you put your wallets behind.
In it's current form, Pipesong is outlined at 50 pages, with the manuscript text about half-way finished. Our rough draft documents, written by Levi, are currently counting over 12,000 words worth of ideas for me to synthesize into manuscript text. This is my solemn promise that the book is in progress, and it will be ready on time.
I would also like to make a commitment to share regular updates with you all moving forward, and I'll start right now. You'll have to zoom in to read it, but this is our design document for The Lake, a massive open-topped water filtration and organics reclamation processing facility. The water is stocked with live aquatic species, from simple filtering bivalves and krill to complex predators like whitefish and crab. The system's apex predator, Long Tom, is a genetically engineered giant octopus, hooked in to the overseer computer intelligence. You can get fish by the pound in town
In the habitation zone, abandoned after the Lake was fully automated, you'll find the Shit Merchant's (working title) workshop. A genius biologist, wrapped in CBRN gear and standing over 2m tall on exoskeletal stilts, the Merchant combs the organic waste piped into 04 Deck from all over Prospero's Dream for biological curiosities. In his workshop, he brews up designer viruses, new strains of edible yeast and fungus, and horrible poisons.
I'd also like to share a sample page to showcase the layout that I've come up with for the book. I'm really happy with how it's come out, and I am looking forward to sharing more pages over the coming months as the book is finished.
Finally, thank you all for your support, and patience. I'll talk to you soon.
