EDIT – maybe I should give some additional info on my end. Possibly I left it too open ended. See some thoughts below.
- Definitely some kind of special Marooned story that is exclusive to the book. Last year it was “Evasive Maneuvers,” the origin story of John and Asimov. (Did you miss that?) That was an 11-page story. I’m hoping to do something longer this time, say 20-30 pages. An idea I just thought of tonight, it could be an extended story of Ril and Asimov – a full blown “Commander and Scout” adventure. That could be really fun.
- I’m 50-50 on the pinups. I’m not sure how much people like them, or value them. They can be tricky to secure, even though I have gotten them in the past. I used up a lot of favors doing that
But I would say that there will be at least a couple for sure. - I’m not sure how much people like the “development art” stuff. I’ve used up a lot of that in the last two books anyway. But I could probably find a few things if there was a desire to see it.
- I really got a kick out of the Mars Wars “Sunday Comics” features, the 1-2 page Marooned comics by various artists. Again, not sure I could pull that off again. Thoughts?
- It’s possible I could have another artist do a Marooned story. Out of Orbit had “Payload” by Steve Ogden, which I think was well received. The trick is to find a willing artist who is good enough to pull it off.
It’s early yet, we are still in the thick of this current story (really, it’s just getting going), but I am already thinking and beginning to plan for the next Marooned book. Why so early? I’ve learned from doing the two previous books how much work is involved. Secondly, I want to do something different, something cool – something everyone who is a real fan of the strip will want to have.
In order to do that, I really need your input. And not just from the hard-core fans (of course, I want to hear from you too!) but also you quiet folks that don’t say much, but are just as avid readers as the more vocal fans. When I took the orders for the first two books, I got orders from people I had never heard of before. That’s great, of course, but you should make your voice heard too!
I’ve seen some really cool books lately, and it makes me want to do something other than the CreateSpace thing. Those books are fine, and I’ll do one if that’s the only alternative, but I just feel like it’s time to do something cool. Hopefully, you feel the same. Whether I have enough readership for this or not, time will tell.
I don’t want to say too much about my ideas yet, but in general terms, I’d like to do something that is traditionally printed to get a high quality result. Possibly hard cover, something where you can open it and the book spreads out. As far as content goes, I have ideas, but I want to hear from you first.
The one thing I’ll say about content, is that I’d like to revisit the whole run, from #1 to the finish of this story. I’d like to fill in some gaps, make some additions (and maybe subtractions) fix a few errors, and so forth.
But for now, I want YOU to tell me what you would want in a Marooned book. You can suggest anything from content to format, to colors, to special stuff – whatever is on your mind. And please, I’m begging you silent types – BEGGING YOU – if you are at all interested in a book, make your voice heard! Use a fake name and e-mail, I don’t care. Without everyone’s input, it’s going to be hard to give you what you all want.
So let’s hear it!
