Latest from the Creator
PROJECT UPDATE
Grim Oak Press
CREATOR
12 days ago
Project Update: End of Year Update: The Dark Thorn & The Green Lake Witch
Hi Everyone,
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I can't believe the end of 2024 is nigh. Where did the year go?
I figure while my kiddos are building new Lego sets and playing a new video game that I could sneak away for a few moments to update you all about The Dark Thorn. I'm happy to report things are still moving. Artist Don Maitz just turned in the final piece of interior artwork. I'll try to attach a few to this update. I'm super pleased with his art. Don always manages to distill down the essence of what I'm trying to do as the writer and thinks of new and interesting ways of showcasing those ideas. He had to produce 15 illustrations due to that Stretch Goal being hit. Love them all.
Well, what's next? I still have the edit to finish. Yes, I'm running late on it. But I do plan on being done by mid-January. My book designer has already designed the editions and their interiors. That means the moment I finish my edit, she will throw it into InDesign and wrap up the first pass of the book.
I will then ask five beta readers to give the book a read to capture any wayward issues that might have fallen through the cracks. Want to be one of them? Comment your interest below and I'll reach out when the time comes.
Once the beta readers are done, I'll give it a quick once over. And we'll be estimating with the printer and bindery to get the editions produced!
eBook will come sooner, of course. Probably in February. I'll also get the maps produced and those will ship early as well. The final books and shipping? I'm not sure. Depends on the printer and bindery queue. I will know more about that in the New Year and will share then what I find out.
In the meantime, for your patience, I'm sharing A LINK here with you for the short story, The Green Lake Witch. It is the tale I started here with all of you. It will publish officially in Grimoire: ECCC, our anthology for March 2025's Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, WA. The book has a stellar line-up including Terry Brooks, Cassandra Clare, Matt Dinniman, Robin Hobb, and others. Click HERE to read more about it and/or pre-order the book if you are so inclined.
Right now, I'm writing a short story for my Patreon members. It is titled Hollycrown. Hope to finish that by year's end.
Then on to something new. Wyrmbane. A novella I'm writing on spec that two publishers have liked the premise of. I'm about 23% finished with it. So we shall on that front...
... definitely more in 2025! Excited to keep doing what I love. Thank YOU ALL for allowing me this! It truly means a great deal to me.
With Holiday Magic,
Shawn
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I can't believe the end of 2024 is nigh. Where did the year go?
I figure while my kiddos are building new Lego sets and playing a new video game that I could sneak away for a few moments to update you all about The Dark Thorn. I'm happy to report things are still moving. Artist Don Maitz just turned in the final piece of interior artwork. I'll try to attach a few to this update. I'm super pleased with his art. Don always manages to distill down the essence of what I'm trying to do as the writer and thinks of new and interesting ways of showcasing those ideas. He had to produce 15 illustrations due to that Stretch Goal being hit. Love them all.
Well, what's next? I still have the edit to finish. Yes, I'm running late on it. But I do plan on being done by mid-January. My book designer has already designed the editions and their interiors. That means the moment I finish my edit, she will throw it into InDesign and wrap up the first pass of the book.
I will then ask five beta readers to give the book a read to capture any wayward issues that might have fallen through the cracks. Want to be one of them? Comment your interest below and I'll reach out when the time comes.
Once the beta readers are done, I'll give it a quick once over. And we'll be estimating with the printer and bindery to get the editions produced!
eBook will come sooner, of course. Probably in February. I'll also get the maps produced and those will ship early as well. The final books and shipping? I'm not sure. Depends on the printer and bindery queue. I will know more about that in the New Year and will share then what I find out.
In the meantime, for your patience, I'm sharing A LINK here with you for the short story, The Green Lake Witch. It is the tale I started here with all of you. It will publish officially in Grimoire: ECCC, our anthology for March 2025's Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, WA. The book has a stellar line-up including Terry Brooks, Cassandra Clare, Matt Dinniman, Robin Hobb, and others. Click HERE to read more about it and/or pre-order the book if you are so inclined.
Right now, I'm writing a short story for my Patreon members. It is titled Hollycrown. Hope to finish that by year's end.
Then on to something new. Wyrmbane. A novella I'm writing on spec that two publishers have liked the premise of. I'm about 23% finished with it. So we shall on that front...
... definitely more in 2025! Excited to keep doing what I love. Thank YOU ALL for allowing me this! It truly means a great deal to me.
With Holiday Magic,
Shawn
PROJECT UPDATE
Grim Oak Press
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: A Long Overdue Update: The Dark Thorn
Hi Faithful Backers,
It's been a while and for that I apologize. The chaos of my house will end tomorrow when the last paint is brushed and the paper covering our new floor is removed. I will finally get my office desk back and some form of normalcy should return. Should. Because how normal is my life really anyway? Especially since I'm flying to Germany tomorrow for my wife's work for a few days. Ugh. More on that in a bit.
Who would have thought that water damage on June 20th would take THIS long to be taken care? Ahhh, nothing better than fighting with State Farm for weeks on end.
Anyway, that said, I do owe some updates here. And I'm actually excited to do so!
CHARGING CARDS
It's been a while and for that I apologize. The chaos of my house will end tomorrow when the last paint is brushed and the paper covering our new floor is removed. I will finally get my office desk back and some form of normalcy should return. Should. Because how normal is my life really anyway? Especially since I'm flying to Germany tomorrow for my wife's work for a few days. Ugh. More on that in a bit.
Who would have thought that water damage on June 20th would take THIS long to be taken care? Ahhh, nothing better than fighting with State Farm for weeks on end.
Anyway, that said, I do owe some updates here. And I'm actually excited to do so!
CHARGING CARDS
- I'll be locking orders next week and charging cards for any items ordered after the Backerkit ended as well as shipping. I believe this is how it works. More news next week on this.
EDITING
- The Dark Thorn is copyedited. I have those edits in my email Inbox.
- When I fly tomorrow to Germany, I'll have 12 hours there and back to work on the edits.
- I plan on having the edits done no later than Halloween.
- Then I will request five beta readers to catch anything I missed. More on that in early November.
ARTWORK
- Magali Villeneuve has turned in the final cover painting featuring a different design for Richard's sword, Arondight. And I love it.
- Don Maitz has finished 12 of the 15 interior illustrations. He is taking a break to prepare for an art gallery exhibition he is doing next month, but he plans on being done with all art by the end of November.
MERCHANDISE
- Files for all merch items are completed. We are waiting to get closer to the actual arrival of books before we place our orders for these items. They are produced much quicker than books.
SHIPPING
- We hope to have all files ready for printing and binding in December. Then we will upload the files and get the printing going. We use two different companies for book production, which means two different queues that we have to go through. Usually takes four or five months total. If we can speed things up, we certainly will do so.
I will continue writing the short story while on my trip to Germany and back, so be on the lookout for more Merle and Snedeker!
Below are two of my favorite Don Maitz interiors as well as his amazingly beautiful painting. So gorgeous!
If you have questions, just ask. I'm always around!
With Magic,
Shawn
Gold Tier
This user is a top contributor to this community!
I selected the $10 e-book pledge, was charged for the $10 e-book pledge, but have now found out that you added the Tarot Card Set: 7-8 and are to charge me and extra $80 for it. Please explain.
Bronze Tier
This user contributed to this community!
I haven’t seen a response to this issue yet. Pledged for the e-book, and one of the automatically-added bonus items (tarot set) seems to carry an $80 shipping charge. When might we see an update, and will it require new surveys etc? Thanks!
PROJECT UPDATE
Grim Oak Press
CREATOR
5 months ago
Project Update: Update: Surveys Being Sent Out & UNAVOWED Pre-Launch Link
Hey Everyone,
Thank you for your patience while I setup the Backer Store and got the survey system ready. It's been a crazy two weeks at House Speakman but all good things happening.
Today, I made the final changes that the fine folks at BackerKit suggested for that Backer Store and the surveys. A few moments ago, I sent out the Smoke Test. The Smoke Test is a way to validate whether or not I've done a good job with the store and survey, by only sending a small percentage of surveys out. If there are no issues, then I'll send out all of the surveys to everyone and you'll be able to answer the number/letter questions, purchase add-ons, enter your mailing address, pay for your shipping, etc. And hopefully it is all easy!
Expect more news from me in a day or two about how the Smoke Test goes. And I'll also write you that new continuation of Merle and Snedeker's story by the weekend. Will try to make the Choose The Adventure more challenging too.
Backer Store HERE should be open! I hope!
In other news, I'm excited to share news about Unavowed: New Tales from Masters of Fantasy, the next Grim Oak Press anthology. Click HERE to view more details about it, the authors involved, their story titles, timelines, etc. And be sure to join the PRE-LAUNCH page on Kickstarter if you are so inclined (900+ people have already joined)! It's the best way to stay up to date.
I should be getting my final edits on The Dark Thorn soon from the copyeditor. And this coming week I'm going to have the Map of Annwn printed, to get those shipped out early. Things are moving!
If you have any questions, do reach out. I'm always available.
With Magic,
Shawn
Thank you for your patience while I setup the Backer Store and got the survey system ready. It's been a crazy two weeks at House Speakman but all good things happening.
Today, I made the final changes that the fine folks at BackerKit suggested for that Backer Store and the surveys. A few moments ago, I sent out the Smoke Test. The Smoke Test is a way to validate whether or not I've done a good job with the store and survey, by only sending a small percentage of surveys out. If there are no issues, then I'll send out all of the surveys to everyone and you'll be able to answer the number/letter questions, purchase add-ons, enter your mailing address, pay for your shipping, etc. And hopefully it is all easy!
Expect more news from me in a day or two about how the Smoke Test goes. And I'll also write you that new continuation of Merle and Snedeker's story by the weekend. Will try to make the Choose The Adventure more challenging too.
Backer Store HERE should be open! I hope!
In other news, I'm excited to share news about Unavowed: New Tales from Masters of Fantasy, the next Grim Oak Press anthology. Click HERE to view more details about it, the authors involved, their story titles, timelines, etc. And be sure to join the PRE-LAUNCH page on Kickstarter if you are so inclined (900+ people have already joined)! It's the best way to stay up to date.
I should be getting my final edits on The Dark Thorn soon from the copyeditor. And this coming week I'm going to have the Map of Annwn printed, to get those shipped out early. Things are moving!
If you have any questions, do reach out. I'm always available.
With Magic,
Shawn
