So the showdown is over! You guys voted for over a month to choose the next five topics for bonus updates. First place winner and second place winner were tied, so I played tie-breaker. The way it goes is first place shall be the first side-story I write, then second place, then third, and so on. Without further ado here’s the winners and the order in which they’ll be provided:
“Quincy and Hakeem’s first bounty–Kollin, the rogue alchemist–also an important lesson on the role of linguistic prescriptivism in magic, and the sudden danger of rabid gerbils.”
“Elmiryn’s childhood–Training, itchy dresses, and first love.”
“Nyx’s childhood–Elves, lakes, and eating cake off the ceiling.”
“How Nyx was chased out of the northwestern part of the Sibesona–also why she’s afraid of dogs.”
“Batrengs are bastards–How Lethia met Argos, and how the dog learned not to underestimate Albian wildlife.”
Expect the first update to come sometime after Eikasia Chapter 18 is finished! Till next time everyone.
So I thought I’d do a short post updating you all on where my life is at and where it’s currently heading. Also some updates about my plans for Eikasia for the future.
Yesterday’s update marked the end of yet another hiatus. What the heck was I doing that entire time? Relaxing and spending time with the person I love, letting the summer bug take over me, and preparing for major events that were coming up. Also brainstorming. Lots of brainstorming. But I’ll get to that in a sec.
I went on a bit of a trip where I got to visit Sea World, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and see Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” at the Old Globe Theatre at Balboa Park. I also had the great fortune of being able to go to LA’s 2010 Anime Expo, where I stocked up on Anime DVD’s and other such goodies. There I managed to meet with Zelda Wang and commissioned her for some black and white artwork of Elmiryn, which you guys get to preview in the new Eikasia trailer I made.
After my trip, I had less than a week to rest up before I was off to Long Beach for an SGI youth festival being held at the Long Beach Arena. The SGI (or Sokka Gakkai International) is a Nichiren Buddhist organization for lay believers. There, I performed with thousands of youth to show the world the strength of my life condition as a bodhisattva. I participated in the taiko performance, which had nearly 300 members. Here’s the video of our performance–I’d point myself out, but I dunno where I am. I CAN tell you that I played the second portion of the song, where you see the members switch:
But whilst I was doing all of these amazing things, I was thinking of Eikasia–thinking on how I could expand the setting, on how I could push the characters farther, about how I could work up premium content and provide it in a way that people would be willing to pay. The poll regarding premium content is still open, so if you haven’t voted yet, please do so! You can find the poll in Eikasia’s sidebar. I’ve jumped the gun a bit and have begun the process of creating and commissioning bonus material that you’d all like to see. This’ll bring about some changes in the dynamic of the site, but I want everyone to understand that Eikasia will, and shall always be, free and available to read! One more thing: Tomorrow the poll regarding the bonus updates (you can find it in my previous post on Ninth Suture) closes at midnight, so if you haven’t voted yet, it’s not too late!
In the future, I was hoping to hold an open contest for guest stories. There’d be cash prizes, so it’ll be a fairly huge thing. I haven’t yet worked up the rules for it, and here’s why: I have still have yet to finish Eikasia’s setting page. Why does that matter? Because the writing contest will be to see who can write the best story WITHIN the Eikasia universe! More details on that later once I have everything set.
Last note–if you haven’t already take a look at Eikasia’s new trailer. Please be kind and send this to your friends, family, enemies, whatever!
Sorry for the choppy post. I just wanted to touch base with everyone without the inane rambling. I hope you all are doing very well, and if you haven’t already, go read Chapter 17.4–the next chapter shall be the last for In Sight, In Mind! How exciting!
...Prepare to Die. 