With the advent of 2009, I am announcing a new update schedule as much as my work schedule allows. I will make my best effort to post one or two pages a week every wednesday starting on January 1, 2009. Look for the beginning of Descent VII tomorrow. :)

And drink responsibly, dammit.

-NK Out.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. This is my gift to you this year. Click the image to view the fullsize.

Characters shown: Itamurei Shino, Maxine Johnson, Jase Gutenbach, Zade’ralkt Dragonkind, yet-to-be-named female character, and her companion pet.

-NK Out.
Note: I realize it says 2009, but it’s really 2008. That happened because of a dumb brain fart. Sorry.

Wow. We’ve been hit by two storms now, and there’s a third one fixin’ to nail us this weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been delegated to house sitting for my mother since she had to stay out of town for the last two weeks because of the storm – I keep advising her to stay where she is because the roads leading to the house keep getting snow. How is snow a problem on the roads?

When you get more than two inches’ worth of accumulation and you get the morning commute driving over that, it partially melts while also getting packed down into a thin layer of ice. If the conditions are right, it will completely re-freeze by the next day with another layer of snowfall.

It’s been going on like this for a couple of days at a time for the last week or so. In the meantime, I’ve spent part of the week keeping the house tidy and doing some work on the seventh chapter of Fantasia Arks: The Phasmatis Crisis. So far, the quality of the pages have turned out to be much better than even the ones that were done for the first book. Which means the next volume will be even better!

About the first book, Fantasia Arks: The Phasmatis Crisis, Volume 0 – Realm of Sol, (yes, that’s a mouthful) I’m in the process of having the final proofcopy printed and sent off to me from Ka-Blam Print on Demand. Once I give it a look-see and give it the green light, I expect it will become available in January at IndyPlanet for about $10.95. It will weigh in at a decent 168 pages, including about 15 pages of bonus content and the first two chapters of the story have been completely rewritten and redrawn for this volume. The cover art itself was done by Ionen, a fellow artist I met at DeviantArt.

Physically, the book is a little on the thin side compared to a mainstream manga with a comparable pagecount, this is due to the paper stock Ka-Blam uses. The indie printing company uses fifty-pound sheet paper stock for their laser printers (yes, they do digital laser printing), which is lighter and thinner than the conventional eighty-pound rolled paper stock the larger publishers use.

When the New Year’s rolls around, and 2009 gets rung in, I’m going to celebrate the occasion by resuming regular updates as much as I am able. Probably once or twice a week. I’m going to start by posting the first four pages of the remade chapters of Volume 0, and then we will resume the story with Descent VII (Chapter 7) with Maxine and the Ehrenwerte Conglomerate at Venus.

Also, I suck at doing holiday art because I’ve never found myself to be in the “spirit” of it. So I might do one, I might not…stay tuned next week to see if I actually do something of the sort. Heh.

Happy Holidays, everyone, and I hope everyone has a great New Year’s. Drink responsibly!

-NK Out.

Storm Update: It looks like this one is going to be a bigger whammy than I expected. It has a very good chance of knocking out the local power grid, so I’m gearing up in the event that happens.

Storm Survival Tips: There’s an advantage though, with a blackout in a winter storm: You don’t have to worry about your perishables spoiling, just use an ice cooler, fill it with fresh snow, and then stick your perishables in (after wrapping them in plastic bags, to keep them extra safe from contamination) – and of course, leave the ice cooler outdoors in the 25-degree weather. It works.

Additionally, if any of you live in the Pacific Northwest and happen to have a portable charcoal, propane or natural gas barbecues or heaters, keep them outdoors or in a VERY WELL ventilated area (which renders them basically moot for heating indoors). That said, I strongly recommend, for those with barbecues to go to the local grocer and grab whatever beef you like – steaks, hamburgers, hotdogs – whatever, and have them in the refrigerator for when/if the power does get knocked out. That way, you can feed yourself a hearty meal in the midst of the power outage. :3