I put the finishing touches on the bookblock and made the final tweaks to the cover during the last twelve hours and have just uploaded the finished files to my printer. I was hoping to have them done and uploaded 8 to 10 hours ago, so the printer might have had a chance of looking at them today, but I'm in no hurry. I fully expect them to be able to get everything smoothly processed within the next two weeks.

I also started recording the audio version of the stories this week. I was waiting until I was done with edits to the text to get started. Another few weeks and I'll have that done too. I've composed a piece of music for the intro/outro of the audio version, but I'm not 100% happy with it, so may try composing a couple other tries.

I've added the finished cover image to this post; this is the full wraparound cover. I hope you like it!

It took me a little longer than expected to process the video, but it's ready for you now. I spent over 15 hours painting (including time spent waiting for the paint to dry), and compressed over 6 hours of video down to less than four minutes, so you can watch how it went from a sketch to a finished painting without spending half a day doing it. If you look closely, you can see me using my iPhone as a reference at several points, first of the original B/W sketch (since I couldn't locate the actual original in a timely manner), and later of the color image I posted to kickstarter.com, to match the basic colors, style, and to get the reversed numbers correct.

I still need to get a high-resolution image of the painting (and to write the back cover copy) in order to create the final wraparound book cover, but I did a quick mockup of the front cover with a shot from a cheap point-and-shoot camera, and have attached that, as well.

I also wrote another good chunk of the new short story I keep mentioning; it's coming along nicely. Almost 5k words already, which is on track for the length I'm aiming for. Probably about a third to halfway there. Remember, if you've got an idea you'd like me to develop into a short story to include in the book, you still have the opportunity to back at the $150+ level - you'd not only get to inspire a story, but you'd get all the other rewards below that level, including 5 copies of the book and the audiobook on an MP3 CD. Only a few days left to pledge!

(Thanks again, to those of you who have already pledged!)

Only a week left until the funding deadline. My goal is still to send the finished book to my printer before the end of June. Since my last update I've done some editing on the essay I wrote, fleshed out the backstory of that new short story and begun writing it (I'm around 3k words, so far), and begun work on a second essay (about my personal disconnectedness from time).

Then last night I spent about 15 hours of continuous, exhausting work on the painting for the cover of the book (which I will be sending to the lucky backer who already pledged $500 to secure it as a reward). I've attached a snapshot of it I took with my iPhone here, and you can see more photos of it in-progress on my twitter account (@modernevil). I also shot video of the whole thing & will soon be putting it together as a time-lapse video so you can watch the painting's creation.

Right now I've got the videos importing into iMovie, but I'm going to bed - I'm exhausted from the hardest day's (night's) work I've done in a couple of months. I'm pretty happy with the painting at this point, though!

-Teel

Last night I wrote the first draft of one of the essays I've had rattling around in my head for this collection. It's currently a bit of a ramble, and shorter than I was hoping for, but it's good to have something written down that I can work with & hopefully turn into something worthwhile.

Just now, as I went for a walk in the heat of mid-day (okay, it's really beautiful outside right now in Phoenix, at about 81F), I began sketching out an idea for a new short story, as well. This one actually has semi-traditional time travel in it: A machine is used to facilitate travel that jumps directly from one time to another. (As opposed to the title story where, by thinking about it, one of the characters can reverse the direction he travels through time... but continues traveling at the same rate, and never skips over any time. Or the story where some of the characters use near-light-speed space travel and experience the related time dilation effects.)

I've already got some interesting ideas sketched out for this new story. It's got space travel, aliens, and an arch conspiracy. Well, so far. I've yet to write it, so it might turn out ... some other way. But I think this idea's a good one, and on an interesting path. I'll keep you updated.

Also, I've decided to go with an 18x36" canvas for the cover art, and I've purchased a couple of them from Arizona Art Supply. I'll start working on the painting soon-ish (I'm still wrapping up a few things on Lost and Not Found - Director's Cut, which is going online & in print this week), and post photos (and then a video) as soon as possible.