Howard has once again collaborated with his daughter Keliana to create some Schlock-themed artwork. This piece was done as margin art for the upcoming book Schlock Mercenary: Resident Mad Scientist, and features Reverend Theo Fobius discussing something (probably religion) with Petey and a Meaty-Petey.
Keliana has expressed the desire for some Christmas money, so we’re auctioning this original prior to publication of the book in which it will appear. As usual, half of the proceeds of the sale will go directly to Keliana. You can place your bids here.
If this original gets out of your price range, don’t forget that the small original artwork ACEO cards are still available in our store. Those are all Howard, though. If you want Keliana-colored ACEO cards you’ll have to wait a while… perhaps indefinitely. Those don’t interest her very much, and we’re letting her follow her interests rather than just chaining her to a drawing table in the basement.
The good folks at Garden Ninja Painting Studio have received their shipment of Schlock miniatures. This means that those of you who missed out on the first round can now order the mini you wanted.
Congratulations to Redeemed Althalus and CPAD! They each won a copy of John Brown’s debut novel Servant of a Dark God. You two need to email schlockmercenary@gmail.com with a current mailing address (not a P.O. box, please!) and Tor will get your books into the mail right quick.
Speaking of email, if any of you iPhone owners would like to participate in the Schlock Mercenary iPhone beta, we’ll need the following:
Device type and generation (e.g. “iPhone 3GS” or ” iPod Touch 1st Gen” etc).
Device UDID (which you can find by following the instructions here )
A short explanation of why you would be a good beta-tester. If we get inundated with requests, this is where the winnowing of applicants will take place.
(UPDATE: Belay that request, friends. The beta is full now.)
While there’s no charge to participate in the beta, the production app is going to require a paid subscription of $0.99 per month or $4.99 for six months. In support of that we’re doing everything we can to make the iPhone Schlock experience hugely superior to using your iPhone to read the comic free on the web, and better even than reading from your computer at home, school, or work.
We started by letting you read three days ahead of what appears on the web. Then we boosted the strip resolution by 28%, and provided panel-by-panel navigation (we’re about 1/3 of the way done on that.) Panning and zooming manually is supported too. We’re also providing a bookmarking feature, and the application will pre-load the strip that follows the one you’re currently reading.
But enough with the sales pitch. Have a look at the iphone.schlockmercenary.com page, and email us if you want to participate in the beta.
Too early? Not if you’re ordering Christmas cards! Pre-orders are open for 5-packs, 10-packs, and individual “Merry XDMas” cards featuring this cartoon on the front, and the XDM Fortune Cookie Magic System on the back. The interior of the card is blank and awaiting personalization… like an invitation to get together for some holiday-themed role-play during the solstice…
There is absolutely no better way to get the gamers back together for the holidays than to send the invitation along with an adventure hook AND a magic system.
We’ll be making the print run early next week, and we’ll order some extras, but if you want to be guaranteed enough cards to send to your gamer friends, please pre-order this weekend. We will have the cards in hand the week of the 16th, and you should receive your order shortly thereafter — in plenty of time to send cards out for Christmas.
(Sorry for the late notice. This was one of those ideas that kind of snuck up on me at the last minute. I only knew I had to do it once I realized that Kringle has been deceiving us for decades.)
This Week at the Keep: You can find me most afternoons and some evenings (esp. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday) at Dragon's Keep. Come and watch me draw next month's comics!
My 2009 schedule is full (I'm mostly planning to stay home all year and crank books out.) I don't have anything booked yet for 2010. Are you interested in having me come to your event? Can you plan that far ahead? Here's everything you need to know.
Shop at Amazon via this link from Schlock Mercenary (or the box below), and Amazon gives Howard a cut of the profits at no charge to you -- no matter what you end up buying! We all win!
Speaking of email, if any of you iPhone owners would like to participate in the 
