Flametoad

I figured I’d better toss a bone to those of you who read this blog for the occassional behind the scenes look into 12 to Midnight’s publishing. There haven’t been many posts on that lately because we’ve been moving slowly. When tadpole 2 came along and sleep deprivation set in, that pretty much sapped my will to work on anything on than the backs of my eyelids. We were doing well to get out the Modern Dispatch on a regular basis. Actually, I even had a friend lay out one issue of the Dispatch. I was in pretty poor shape.

Not that things are that much better now in the sleep department (tadpole 2 is back to getting up once a night), but they could be a lot worse. We finally released Jerry’s Midnight Tales, and Ed’s Midnight Tales will follow in a few months. In the meantime, we have Fire in the Hole. This one has been languishing in editing limbo for a while now. It’s just hard to get things done when everyone involved is doing this as a second job. The art seems mostly done, so when FitH exits limbo then layout shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks.

Our first fantasy title, Wild Things, is also in the latter stages of editing. We farmed this one out to a freelance editor because of the in-house backlog. It might actually turn out that Wild Things gets released before FitH, although art will slow down the layout side considerably. Another fantasy title, Steamworks, is further back in the editing process. It is a much bigger book than we’re used to dealing with, and it’s just taking a while to work through it. The mechanics editor has finished his part, but the proof-reading is slow going. I think we’re less than a 1/4 of the way through that book.

The Beast Within, a Pinebox adventure, has gone through a round of in-house edits and was returned to the author a couple months ago. Once he’s done with re-writes it’ll go through one more pass by the lead editor and then it will be ready for art and layout. However, we could get it back next week or next year. We’re not putting any pressure on the author because we have plenty to work on. Prodigal, another modern-day adventure, is just starting the first round of edits. However, it’s well-written and shouldn’t take much to push through.

Work on ETU has stuttered along, but I’ve been trying to clear off my own plate to have time for writing. While I’ll still have my share of miscellaneous duties, after I finish laying out Modern Dispatch #97 this week I should have more time to focus on writing. Working on ETU hardly feels like work at all. That’s the best kind of project to be on, and a refreshing change of pace here at 12 to Midnight.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed about e-books on The Writing Show podcast. I think that episode is slated to run in early August. If I don’t come off sounding like a tool, I’ll definitely pimp it here. Finally, my first adventure, Bloodlines, is supposed to be reviewed in next week’s episode of Have Games Will Travel. Although I have every confidence in the adventure, it’s still a bit nerve-wracking.