It’s beginning to look a lot like Christ… on a bike, it’s December already?
I’m kicking off the holiday season with a nice seasonal bout of flu, but fortunately I’ve been moderating it quite well. Previous rounds of flu, I’ve tried all sorts of medication to fight it off; this time I’m just chugging Vitamin C boosters and having more-or-less better results than usual. The only symptoms I have left to fight are the sniffles, and killing every cell in my nose with menthol spray is sorting that right out. At this rate, I’ll have it kicked by Saturday so that I can help my folks out with their Christmas decorations, and in the meantime, I’ve taken a couple days off work, so bonus!
You’ll have noticed the lack of a Showcase update yesterday, and that’s perfectly normal. With the story done and dusted, the next Showcase piece will be starting on Monday, so that we get a nice, thrice-weekly update schedule running through December; no holiday break for me, that’s just more free time for creating! This will signify the start of Issue #3 of the Showcase, and in keeping with the previous issues, we’ll be seeing some of the previously established characters and some new ones too. I’m looking to formulate a pattern with the three stories per issue: one story involving a new character, one story involving a previous character that introduces a new one, and one story where two previous characters team up. That way I get to show you a bunch of new stuff without completely ignoring that which came before, and establish a sense of continuity.
However, eventually, I am hoping to eventually use the Showcase for other things. Once I’ve got a nice stable of characters in place, I want to give them an ongoing title where I can use the ensemble cast in longer stories with bigger arcs. I’ll still use the Showcase to try out new characters and see if they gel well with audiences and the other cast members, though since it’s an experimental title, I also want to feature some other stories in other genres. I have sci-fi ideas, pulp fantasy ideas, horror ideas… the Showcase may eventually become the space to feature them. If not, I might have to put them under a different anthology title, but then I’d have three titles running concurrently and I simply do NOT have the time for that without quitting my day job; not an option at this moment, sadly.
That’s a little glimpse behind the curtain for all of you; there’s going to be more going on backstage this month, and I’ll be hoping to unveil it at the end of the year. It’s going to be a lot of work, a lot of paper shuffling to organize, but it’ll be worth it. Moving into a new space will help out a lot, but there is still stuff I can do in the meantime, so I’d better get back to it.
See you all next week for the start of Fifth Ace Showcase #3, keep reading Magic Beans, and stay safe out there.
Ciao for now.