August is the coolest month…and the busiest. Well, at least it’s the busiest month I can ever remember, at any rate.
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Dork Tower #19 should be in stores now.
Dork Tower # 20 should be in stores soon.
And SnapDragons #1 has just gone to press.
This is to say nothing of San Diego ComiCon, Gen Con or GenCon UK, which were all on the docket.
This week, the web site will be running samples from SnapDragons #1, which I created along with the ever-wonderful Liz Rathke.
We’re both REALLY happy with the book, which features two alternative covers (one by Liz, one by Herobear and the Kid creator Mike Kunkel – both are shipping collated in equal numbers). Not only are there 23 pages of SnapDragons comics (21 of which are brand new!), but there are also backup features by Aaron Williams’ ps 238, and Scott Roberts’ Patty Cake.
Orders for SnapDragons have been great. By far, it’s Dork Storm’s best-selling #1 ever, so issue #2 was moved up on the schedule, and is now slated to appear in October.
My next convention appearance is GenCon UK, where I’ll be Saturday, August 31, and Sunday, September 1. I hope folks can make it down to London’s Olympia convention center (http://genconuk.com/index.htm). Dork Tower # 20 should be there with me, and if the printer is fast, I may even have the first copies of SnapDragons #1 on hand. Plus I think there’ll be a ton of Dork Tower t-shirts and such.
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I’m not sure what my signing schedule is, and I think James Wallis is trying to rope me into a seminar or two, but I’m sure if you turn up Saturday or Sunday, all will be explained. I know that’s what I’m counting on!
People in the UK know I think of my British appearances VERY fondly, and I’m sure this will be just as special as the others over the last couple of years.
Gen Con was Dork Storm Press’ best convention EVER, sales-wise, even given our crummy booth location. It was a huge slam-dunk of a show for us, and thanks to EVERYONE who made it a grand send-off to Milwaukee (sniff, sniff)..
The Dork Tower breakfast was packed as the Army of Dporkness took over the Copper Penny Friday morning, and the Igor Bar bake-off was a HUGE success Saturday. You’ve never seen so many people buzzing on sugar simultaneously. Full frightening report in Dork Tower 21 to come, and a list of cool moments from both GenCon and San Diego to follow in Muskrat Ramblings next week or so.
The countdown continues to DORKSTOCK (October 12 and 13 at Rock-Con (http://rock-con.com/ )) and DORKSTOCK EUROPE (November 30, Dragonmeet, London, http://www.dragonmeet.com/) !, the first EVER Dork Tower mini-cons.
I must admit, I’m a bit nervous about these, as I’m not sure how many people will show up, but the organizers of Dorkstock (http://www.geocities.com/delazan/Dorkstock_2002.html) are doing a bang-up job of lining up events, and there should be a Dorkstock Europe web page up soon, courtesy of the great Matt Goodman. Huge props to everybody who’s helping to make these happen! I can’t wait!
Dorkstock and Dorkstock Europe will both be conventions within ALREADY really cool conventions (and at no additional cost). They’ll be a chance to meet and mingle with other Dork Tower fans from across the US and Europe, along with games of Chez Dork, Chez Geek, Munchkin, Apples to Apples and other Dorky diversions! Give in to your Dork side and spend a day celebrating Dork Tower, perky goths and muskrats with the Army of Dorkness!.
It’s official. I’m adding the ESSEN GAME FAIR onto my list of autumn conventions.
I’ll be there with the Feder und Schwert (http://www.feder-und-schwert.com) folks (Dork Tower’s German publishers) Friday and Saturday, October 18 and 19. I *may* be there for part of Sunday, October 20, but I need to check the train schedules and when I need to be back at the airport.
It’s been almost two years since I’ve been to Germany, and I can’t wait to get back! I can’t wait to see Essen, the largest gaming celebration in the world.
Dork Shadows is going to be translated and published in Italian sometime early next year by Nexus Editrice. I also may be hitting an Italian convention next year. I haven’t been to Italy in almost 15 years, so this is tremendous news!
Dork Shadows recently went into its fourth printing in English, by the way. I believe the second German printing is nearly sold out, as is the second German printing of Dork Shadows. Livin’ La Vida Dorka is the next Dork Tower collection scheduled to be translated into German, while the Portuguese version of Dork Covenant is nearing completion, I’m told.
A busy month keeps getting busier, so I’ll be out of touch for a while as I try and redouble my efforts and get all the books out on time, and the web comics updated on schedule.
My reduced Con schedule, and the help of Adventure Retail at setting up and running the Dork Storm booths at origins, San Diego ComiCon and DragonCon in Atlanta, has really helped in this regard.
Last year, I released a total of three comic books (Dork Towers 13, 14 and 15) and one trade paperback (Dork Shadows). Already this year I’ve released five comic books on my own (Dork Towers 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20), one with Liz (SnapDragons #1), and two trade paperbacks (Livin’ La Vida Dorka and Heart of Dorkness).
Dork Tower # 21 and 22, the Dork Tower Lord of the Rings special, SnapDragons #2 and the fifth trade paperback (Understanding Gamers, expanding on Dork Tower #18 and adding more new material plus a slew of never-before collected comic strips from magazines and dorktower.com) are still scheduled between now and December.
I love being in closer touch with the comic books, and I’m seriously considering moving Dork Tower up from a bimonthly schedule to once every six weeks in 2003. Essentially, this is the schedule I’ve had to keep to get it back on track, and I’m VERY happy with the results. Plus, SnapDragons is now officially a quarterly comic book instead of a bimonthly one.
Stay tuned. I think the next year is gonna be a blast!
Knock on wood…
(And sorry about any typos in this. Like I said, it’s a busy time…)