The 42nd Post.

Looking back at last year's The 42nd Post it seems so log ago. A lot has happened this year. My new job has changed a bit under new leadership and I'll admit to it being a little rocky for a bit. We seem to have come through though and a late change has brought my immediate team back together under a new boss, and I'm a lot more comfortable with it all.

I also noticed that last year I set myself a number of goals,

1. Published Strange Times Book 2
2. Publish Kane Mesmer, more Westernoir and Stephenson's Robot comics
3. Publish From Super-Zeroes To Super-Heroes
4. Work with Andy Bloor on Wolfmen 3, he has told me that he wants to make this his next book, and
5. Try to finish that book I've been playing with for quite a few years now...

so how did I do ?

1. Well, I actually have finally finished Strange Times Book 2, and just need to pull the cash together for printing. This book has been a long time coming and I'm really happy to finally be able to look to get it on the Convention Table in 2016.
2. Kane Mesmer is complete, but I've decided to print it as part of a Collection of my Blessed/Cursed books. Combining it with Fastest Man, Invisible Man, a Fastest Man prequel and three new stories. It make sense to do this as it'll be much simpler at Conventions having the one book to focus on. WesterNoir and Stephenson's Robot are getting into a good print schedule which is great.
3. I didn't do too well on From Super-Zeroes To Super-Heroes, but I've been in touch with artist Seba Velez and this is my personal focus for next year.
4. Andy and I have had to accept that Wolfmen 3 isn't going to happen. Andy is fully committed to his great Midnight Man comic, which he co-creates with Mo Ali, and any time he has to do comic stuff will need to be spent in this. Completely understandable but a shame none-the-less.
5. OK, the book is still a work in progress, but I have managed to add to it, so it's not been forgotten.

next year ..

1. I will finish From Super-Zeroes To Super-Heroes.
2. I will complete the Blessed/Cursed Anthology, ready for printing in 2017.
3. I will publish at least two WesterNoir books.
4. I will publish at least one Stephenson's Robot comic.
5. I will try to finish that book I've been playing with for quite a few years now... again.

All in all they seems pretty achievable, I'll see how I get on.
We attended more conventions this year than any previously and our books are certainly finding an audience, which is great. At each and every Con we've found a lot of new customers and also had a lot of people returning to our table to pick up our new books. The highlight I guess has to be the Copenhagen Con, it's always great to go back and catch up with a lot of our Danish friends. This year we printed Martin Flink's new book, The Troll, and also got to hang out with our friend Garen Ewing.

For me the film I most enjoyed was probably Ant-Man which was a surprisingly great little (sorry) film. I kinda expected second The Avengers film to be good, and it was, but it wasn't as good as the first (it was a tough act to follow) and the second Captain America film was better I think. Jurassic Park was a bit too similar to the earlier ones for me and didn't do much to move things on. I think the dinosaurs need to get onto the mainland somewhere to make this interesting again for me.

I've not found as much time to read this year, but did pick up Derek Landy's new book, Demon Road. Not as good as Skulduggery Pleasant but an enjoyable romp, I'll be following future books to see how it all progresses. Following a recommendation from a work colleague I'm now reading The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and am enjoying it.
Comic-wise I did manage to meet Matt Kindt again at Thought Bubble and now have all the Mind Management books printed to date. I also got him to do a sketch in my copy of Pistolwhip. My other Thought Bubble purchase was Farel Dalrymple's The Wrenchies. I've been a fan of his work for ages and it was great to chat to him whilst he sketched in the book.
All in all a great year creating stuff and selling them around the UK and Europe.
Looking forward to doing it all again next year :o)