Hi all!

Great news! The bookmarks came in, and we have shipped out all orders for books and bookmarks! These were all sent out on Monday, so most of you should receive your copies this week, if you haven't already.

(Notes on Shipping below)

You may have noticed that we did not charge you for shipping. It had been our intention to charge shipping as part of the survey process, but somehow that was either not set up correctly or set up at all. And it didn't feel right to charge you shipping now, after you have been so patiently waiting for so long. So, we decided to bite the bullet and cover shipping for everyone.

We shipped through PirateShip, and you should have been emailed tracking information in case you want to keep track of your package.

We have been making good progress on the music. As of this moment, we have 6 composers who are providing music for the final album as well as ...

an opening credits style song by TREN!

That's right - we're in the process of working with TREN again (the same band who wrote "Warrior" on the Kaladin soundtrack) to create a cinematic pop song with lyrics for the album.

We are super stoked about that!

We still have a ways to go on the underscore/soundtrack for the stories. Originally, we had planned for about a minute of music per 1,500 words of story. However, we've been working to give each story what it really needs, rather than focusing on keeping our times down. This means that some of the tracks are longer than anticipated, which is part of what's keeping things from moving faster. But we are making significant progress.

We may end up releasing the album in pieces (both to you, the backers, and later to the public.) But that will depend on how fast we can get through the remaining tracks.


As always, we hope all is well with you, and look forward to sharing more!

All the best,
Michael & the Team @ The Black Piper

Hi everyone,

It's been quite a journey, but we've got some Tales of the Black Piper proofs to share with you and get your opinion on (via a poll - link below).

We had originally intended on printing the books on creme with black special pages, and we ordered some proofs of these, hoping to get them sent out to you at the beginning of the year. However, the proofs arrived and the pages - because of the amount of ink needed vs the weight of the creme paper - produced significant curling to the pages.

Wanting to keep the lovely black special pages, we ordered a second proof - this time with a heavier weight of paper (only available on white paper). These came back with less curling (and IMO, they provide a more beautiful contrast between regular pages and special pages), but there is still some curling.

Finally, as a third option--and in attempt to get rid of the curling--we updated the special pages so that they became more of a gray. This reduces the curling to almost nothing, although as you can see, against the creme, it doesn't quite feel as special. We'd love to get another proof of the gray against white, but in the interest of time, we'll present you with images of what we have:

Hopefully that's enough to give you a sense of which option you'd prefer - let us know via the poll below!

Once we get the results from the poll, we'll place the order on the hardcover books and get them sent out to backers. After these have been shipped, we'll be preparing a Tales advertisement/promotion campaign in preparation for a wider release of the paperback edition of the book. If you'd like to help in this effort (whether you're an author or fan), please reach out to [email protected].

The music is still in the works, and we don't have a solid date for the full release yet, although we are weighing the option of preparing two or three partial releases. We are actively working on composition and solo recording currently.

We'll keep you updated on developments!

All the best,
Michael & The Team @ The Black Piper