New look.

Thought I'd give the site a newer, more bluish look. Can't think why...

The main reason is that I'm in the process of adding some pages to the blog to make it easier to find the main stuff. (See tabs just under the new banner). I felt that the links down the side were getting too long, so I've dedicated a page to The Stories and I'm going to try and embed all the back issues within the blog, and add a short title for each episode to make the whole thing more easily navigable. Well, that's the plan anyway.

Also with more coming out in book form in the not too distant future, I thought a dedicated Shop wouldn't go amiss. Finally there'll soon also be a page called "The Beans" as in spilling... where I'll collect various bits of background info together.

About the book

I thought I'd post some stuff about the decisions I made while putting the book together. Somebody might find it useful.

I plumped for the standard black-and-white format. First because it made for a cheaper book, and second because the overall look I was after was your paperback manga tankobon. Blurb's page size here is 5"x8". This is a pretty regular mid-size paperback, maybe a teeny bit narrower than your average UK paperback.

The slide-show version was based on a 4x3 aspect ratio, so some cropping and overlapping was inevitable. I fitted the 18-20 frames for each episode on to 7 pages with a new "title page" for each episode. I made the pages in your everyday presentation software - at 10"x16" to increase my dots per inch in the final book. The text in the speech bubbles was 24pt which reduced down to a good 12pt.

Blurbs price bands are based on blocks of pages, the second band being 40-80 pages. I thought I might as well use my full quota, so I had about 10 pages for a bonus feature. I thought I'd share some of the facts that the Agency knows about some of the main characters.

Also 80 pages is the minimum that would allow printing of the book title on the spine. Well, its not a proper book without that is it? So that decided me.

For the next story, I've done some editing and gone for a more dense frame/page ratio, so that I can buy myself space for another bonus feature.  But more of that anon.

Up close and personalised episode 11

This story finally coming to an end. This one made my hair stand on end when I wrote it. Still does. You can find the comic in THE STORIES tab, under the heading, Up Close and Personalised. It is now Chapteer 10 - Epilogue.

I wrote it last October - it all came out in a big splurge. I felt that I finally got the "efficiency agenda" and why it made me feel uncomfortable. But there's still optimism there. Or at least what passes for optimism in my head.

Reaching the LEARNER in Print!

I've been playing around on Blurb.com's self-publishing site and produced a book version of the first story.  I got the proof copy at the weekend and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  When I first thought of these things, I had a picture in my mind of the thing on paper.  This is pretty close to that original "vision".

I've added some bonus pages - all-new chapter headings plus background info on some characters. They're not available in any other format.

Anyway it's up there for anybody to buy on a print-as-you-go basis, and at not too hideous a price.

Check it out here

Them pesky varmints and their cushy jobs...

I've been enjoying the news today about the General who was "caught" saying disrespectful things about President Obama, the Vice President and others.  We all know that the closer you get to the front line, the less respect people have for the suits back at headquarters.  In fact it probably applies to anybody who is more than a couple of layers up the hierarchy from where you are. 

Hmmm... I think I said someplace that that's where people think that "policy-making" happens. Just out of sight. No matter how high up you are, it's just over the next rise.

Up close and personalised episode 10

In which the Kid chases the would-be assassin into the night....


You can find the comic in THE STORIES tab, under the heading, Up Close and Personalised. It is now Chapter 9.

Sneak Preview

I know it's some months off, but when I bundle all the episodes of Up Close... together into a single file, this will be the front cover. I got a bit distracted into this when I should have been doing something else this morning. Well, it's done now, and I couldn't resist sharing...