PROOFS: We've reached an important new stage - the Ozalid proofs! After we go through these proofs on one last proofreading, we'll send our final files to our printers, who'll begin production of the physical issues. See pics further down.
IN DETAIL Ozalid proofs are full prints of each issue that are intentionally done on very cheap paper, and left unbound. The point of them is to have a final, physical object you can use to check for typos and make sure the layout is coming out the way it should. Even in this format, it sure is fun to see the endsheets as a physical object! We've also received ribbon samples to choose from for the hardcover edition's bookmarks. ...and glossy, quality loose covers to check how the colors have reproduced (much better than this quick phone pic suggests!). And one interior art page we were unsure about... Luckily it reproduced just fine! Here's an extremely tight crop/zoom. Who this person? You'll find out when you get issue #4 of NESS. But first I gotta pour a giant mug of tea and get to proofreading these Ozalids...
Front, spine, and back cover featuring Waste Flowers by Bryn Hammond.
Front, spine, and back cover featuring Walls of Shira Yulun by Dariel R.A. Quiogue
I'm proud to have been working with both authors since the very beginning of NESS, in whose pages you may have read Dariel's Orhan the Snow Leopard & Bryn's Goatskin, and a year ago was very happy when they said "Yes!" to teaming up for this daring new project. Each author has written a new, 35,000 word novella featuring their star characters - I've read the manuscripts and boy have they put their backs into creating these stories!
If this book succeeds it will be a great boost toward us launching more Sword & Sorcery novella series next year. It's a length that works very well with this fast-paced genre, as Robert E. Howard proved himself in works such as People of the Black Circle, with room for greater development of plot, character, setting; yet lean enough to never outstay its welcome.
