Issue 5 - The Infinite Deadline

Wow...
Issue 5 is done and was signed off this morning.
It was, without a doubt, the hardest deadline we've pulled to date. A combination of dozens of stories to go through, awesome art to commission and a complete overhaul of the design and layout pushed this one a lot longer than we expected.

We were hoping to finish it off by Monday or maybe Tuesday at the latest... I finally delivered the pdfs to the printer at 11am on Thursday morning, having done 23 hours straight.

It kinda turned into the never-ending deadline.
We're used to pulling all-nighters on the final night of deadline - what we weren't expecting was the final night to go on for four days.

As a result I've got myself completely sick. My head hurts, my nose is blocked and for some strange reason I can't actually hear out of my right ear - which is infuriating and makes me feel like a tool whenever I'm talking to people.
And V has a week's worth of deadlines to catch up on for the other 3 publications she writes for, so she hasn't actually stopped working - she just put down her pen from Something Wicked and went straight into the 6-odd articles she was supposed to submit this week.... sheesh.

But... Was it worth it?
I think so. I did the ritualistic hanging up of the new cover on the wall next to the other 4 and it looks good. The new layout, I think, looks absolutely gorgeous. The logo, too, looks good and we've got some beautiful art and fiction - so...hopefully it was worth it.

We launch it next week Saturday at the HorrorFest and hopefully people will turn up. It's always a little petrifying doing an event like this 'cause you just don't know if anyone will show up.
I've invited some of the artists and writers of Issue 5 to join us and sign some copies so it should be a fun day.
Afterwards we'll stick around and watch some Horror Movies at the fest.

I was thinking of getting some Champagne or something - I don't know - it is our one year anniversary, we really should do something special but I don't know how well Champagne will go down in 30 degree Cape Town heat... any suggestions?

Meanwhile, here's a little pic our good friend and Something Wicked alumni, Digby C Young took of V and I on the first night of the four-night deadline.
The reason I'm on the couch is because my incredibly comfortable 500 buck office chair was beginning to screw up my back so I moved down there for the last few days. (I'm back at my desk now, in case you're wondering).

A Month and a Half in The Life... Part 1 - Icon

Where to begin...
It's been awhile since I last wrote in here, but rest assured there are good reasons.

I guess we should start where we left off.
After the book fair we got down to emergency stations to try and get Issue 4 ready on deadline - which we failed, but on the up-side we did get a whole bunch of flyers, business cards and T-Shirts printed up and launched headlong into Icon Role Playing Convention where Outer Limits kindly allowed us to set-up shop for three days.

It was a hell of a weekend as I hadn't been up in Joburg in over 6 months and Vianne and I arrived with less than 24 hours to set up our stand.
So throughout the weekend I had friends and relatives dropping by to say hello and welcome me back to Gauteng.
We also had a few visits from contributors. Amongst those to drop by were Miranda Sherry (writer of Bad Boy Blues - Issue 3), Domenico Pisanti (writer of She Wrote at Night - Issue 1), C Hellisen (writer of The Subtle Thief - Issue 4) and Digby C. Young, (writer of On The Road Again - Issue2).
We also got Digby to autograph his story for Zoobeans from Comicworx, who is a huge fan and was thrilled to meet him.
Another surprise visitor to our stand was DaRC from Otaku who bought a copy of every issue.

All in all it was an absolute blast and wonderful to meet so many of our contributors and fans and to have new fans buy Issue 1 on the Friday and come back to buy the others on the Saturday 'cause they'd finished it already.
The T-Shirts were a great success and I'll put them up for sale in our Online Store very shortly.Above: Our Official Something Wicked T-Shirts - For Sale Soon.
Left: Some fans pose for us.
Right:Vianne makes a sale.