January, 10 Archive

The new issue of The Edge of Propinquity includes the first episode of Four Visitors, my new serial fiction. Four Visitors is a tale of small town life, high school romance, family conflict, government conspiracies, and psychic powers. Hope you give my new tale, and the other stories on the site, a look!

Issue 49: January 2010 Welcome to the Edge of Propinquity. Issue 49 is now published. This year, we return with Solstice by Ivan Ewert and two new universes by returning authors Rick Silva and Nick Bergeron. Finally, we are pleased to introduce new TEoP author Seanan McGuire and her new universe story Sparrow Hill Road. The beginning is a delicate time. It sets the stage for what is to come. This month, we have a gift in winter, the birth of a god, a sudden attack, roads less traveled and a man on a hunt.

Four Visitors – Singularity, Part One – by Rick Silva Una Blanco is new in town, a senior in high school, a star basketball player, and a girl who’s willing to make a stand for what is right. She also has a tendency of burning out lightbulbs when she walks into a room. Nick Lorem wants nothing to do with Una Blanco, but Nick’s girlfriend has struck up a friendship with Una. And Nick’s brother has just arrived back in town with an interest in Una as well. A government interest. The kind of interest that ends with people in jail. Or dead.

Solstice – Winter, Part Four – by Ivan Ewert Winter in the valley is a time of cold and of darkness. Though once the light of the sun would return fierce and brightly, these days she must be coerced and tempted to show her face to Solstice. Stephanie MacIntyre is not a woman used to coercion or subtlety, and this mask begins to fray – along with her loyalty to Mayor Long.

Mnemosyne – Old Wounds Revisited – by Nick Bergeron In which our Hero begins his tale. Like any good story, he gives you the Cliff Notes in how he came into himself. I’m sure that he included me in the description. Or perhaps he didn’t, as his exclusion of me was the beginning of the problem in the first place. After he tells you the sordid story of me, you will see a healing, which is of course the beginning of the end.

Sparrow Hill Road – Good Girls Go to Heaven – by Seanan McGuire Everyone on the road knows the story of the Girl in the Diner, but how many know the truth behind it? One man, Larry Vibber, is about to learn exactly how the story goes as he rides with Rose Marshall down the midnight road that runs between the layers of America.

Guest Author – Subway Hunter by Justin Bernstein Beneath the eyes of the oblivious subway crowds, a hero hunts the beasts that prey upon the innocent. While he hunts, memories of his former life come to him like snowflakes on the wind. The choice is clear but what is the cost?

Have you ever looked over the edge and seen something looking back at you?

Happy New Year, everyone!

2009 was a big year in a lot of ways for us here at Dandelion Studios. It was the year we traveled to China and became parents. We just celebrated our first Christmas together as a family and we’re looking forward to our son’s second birthday, coming up in a couple of months.

On the business side of things, 2009 was a rebuilding year for Dandelion Studios. We released our most successful minicomic to date, Unpopular Species, and we attended New York Comicon, SPACE, Maine Comic Arts Festival, and the Westford Comic Book Show.

But most of the really big events for us in 2009 happened behind the scenes. In February, I met Tara Veidt at a kind of “speed-dating” session for comic creators at the New York Comicon. I’d had an idea for a fantasy comic called Stone kicking around in my head for quite a while, but I’d always said I was waiting for the right artist. Tara Veidt is the right artist. She also just turned in the last few pages of finished artwork for the first issue of Stone, and we are thrilled to be announcing its release at the SPACE convention in April 2010.

In the Spring of 2009, we were sitting on about ten pages of artwork for another fantasy title called Perils of Picorna, and the artist was unable to complete the project. We instituted a search for a new artist, and we were blown away by the samples we saw from Missy Pena. If you’re an anime fan, you may have already met Missy. She’s had artists’ alley tables at some of the biggest conventions in the country over the last few years. Missy re-started the first issue of Perils of Picorna from scratch, and we’re looking at an April 2010 release date.

We were also hard at work on some of our ongoing titles. The artwork for the third issue of Zephyr & Reginald: Minions for Hire is done, and we’re in the process of touch-up and lettering. A new issue of Unpopular Species is in the concept phase, and Kaeli & Rebecca has made the jump from minicomic to full-format comic book with absolutely amazing artwork from Katrina Joyner.

We also redesigned this website.

All of that work behind the scenes in 2009 has set us up for a great year of exciting releases in 2010.

We’re making the following resolutions for the new year:

1. We’re going to release five full-format comics in 2010. Those will be the debut issues, of Kaeli & Rebecca, Stone, and Perils of Picorna, plus Zephyr & Reginald: Minions for Hire #3 and at least one more issue in one of those series by the end of the year.
2. We’re going to release at least two new minicomics in 2010.
3. We’re going to expand our convention presence starting as soon as the first of the new books is released.
4. We’ll be updating the Dandelion Studios website at least once a week all year.
5. We’re going to put a major effort into getting the first issue of Knifeclaw Company ready for a 2011 release and we’re going to actively explore the possibility of adding at least one new title to the Dandelion Studios line.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with us during our “rebuilding” in 2009. We’re excited about what the new year has in store. We hope you are too!