What lies beneath

If I can advertise what Mssrs Jackson and Livingstone are up to these days, I figure I'm entitled to mention my own work. It's a special month over on my Patreon page because I'm serializing all-new pages of my comic Mirabilis: Year of Wonders.

I've run out of inked pages (the equivalent of the power company switching off the electricity, only in this case the unpaid bills mean a lack of artist and colorist) so the rest of this issue (number 10, titled "A Truth That Wounds") will be just Leo's pencils, then next issue (sometime in February) I'll be scraping the barrel of my own illustrative (in)capability. But hey, at least I'm getting to tell the story.

More about comics tomorrow -- only this time set in the land of Legend.

Mirabilis launches on iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7 and desktop apps

A cross-post today from my Mirabilis comic blog. Mirabilis season one, all 200 full-color pages of it, launches this week on Graphic.ly's multi-platformed storefront. If you've had your nose pressed to the Apple Store window wondering about that iPad, save your money - the new version is out in a month or two anyway, and in the meantime you can not only get Fabled Lands on iPhone, you can now collect all eight issues of Mirabilis on a whole bunch of smartphones and other devices.

Which devices? Well, desktop or laptop for starters. You can get the free Adobe AIR application which really is a nice presentation frame for your comics. Then there are the iPad, iPhone and Android versions - also absolutely free, naturally. And if you prefer to go old school, there's Graphic.ly's web reader that lets you have a look inside all their latest titles and to view the ones you collect on stunning fullscreen view. Setting up your Graphic.ly ID takes a couple of clicks and then you can read your comics on any or all of the supported platforms.

Still not convinced? Okay, well try this: as an introductory offer you can get both Mirabilis #1 and #2 for free. And Graphic.ly offer a whole bunch of other great titles in their online store, many of them free, and all backed up by the kind of extras we're coming to expect in digital comics: creator info, interviews, trailers, character tags and so on. Having just raised a further $3 million investment, Graphic.ly are ramping up to be one of the major forces in the new comics media, and we're very proud to have Mirabilis as part of their 2011 flagship line.

This digital lark, there might actually be something in it, eh? But if you don't think so, hold on a few weeks and, if you live in the UK or Ireland, you'll be able to buy Mirabilis as two deluxe hardcovers.

Now, any choices I've left out..?

Free e-comic

If you have an ebook reader with a decent-sized (preferably color) screen, you can grab yourself a copy of Mirabilis comic book #1 in EPUB format. It's absolutely free and you can send it to a friend. In fact, go on, we want you to - the more the merrier. And meanwhile the BookBuzzr versions of issue #1 and the first five pages of #2 are right here - just scroll down to the bottom of this page. If you look on Amazon you might find a Kindle comics version too, just do a search for "Mirabilis comics". Or read episode one online on the Mirabilis website.

The Mirabilis comics iPad app is still available too, of course, but the difference with the ebook is that you get to see each panel (gloriously rendered by Leo Hartas and Nikos Koutsis) at full-page size. A veritable feast for the eyes - and you'll enjoy the story also, that's if magic-radiating comets, invading alien cabbages, bottled witches and very bad fairies are your thing.

Folks who still prefer books grown with sunshine and water with will be heartened to hear that I have not become exclusively converted to ebooks and apps. Two whopping great hardcover volumes of Mirabilis (the first of eight covering the whole Year of Wonders) are due out in Britain and Ireland from publisher Print Media Productions in the spring. Measuring in at 9 inches by 12 inches, they'll be big enough to whack any size of insect pest. Don't try that with an iPad, obviously.

Mirabilis graphic novel app in Top 100 grossing books

I'm cross-posting this from the Mirabilis blog because Leo and I are just too darned excited to keep it under our hats. Mirabilis - Year of Wonders has been in the App Store for four days now, which is pretty fantastic as it is. But the really great news is that we just nudged into the Top 100 grossing ibooks at #99!

You can get the first instalment of the story completely free, then other chapters cost $1.99 each. So it was dizzyingly good news when we rose to #13 in UK iTunes books, but to actually be in the top-grossing charts too shows that new readers are following through with the story after they've been astounded by the fluid interface, easy in-app issue management, eye-popping zoom and page flip (courtesy of demon coder Simon Cook), magical colors (by wizard of the digital rainbow Nikos Koutsis) and stunning art (by maestro of the Wacom tablet Leo Hartas).

And don't feel left out if you don't have an iPad. You can read the first chapter on BookBuzzr or buy the trade paperback on Amazon. Next stop: the Kindle. And in the meantime, if you haven't got the Mirabilis iPad app yet, you can find it here in the USA and here in the UK. Spread the word!

A thing of beauty

This is a cross-post from the Mirabilis Year of Wonders blog, but I feel justified in squeezing a snippet about my personal projects before some more bits of big news from Fabled Lands LLP over the next week or two.

The Mirabilis Year of Wonders e-comic book is going to go live in only a few weeks now. But I just had to share this pic with you because I've been playing the ad hoc build and it really is a dream. Lush magic lantern colors, razor-sharp graphics, and an interface that's as stylish and smooth as an Irish coffee poured by George Clooney. If you're used to struggling with existing comic reader apps, you're going to be blown away by what our resident iOS wizard has conjured up.

Don't wait. Really, you should go direct to your nearest Apple retail store (look here for Apple in the UK or Apple in the US), buy yourself an iPad for Christmas, and you will then be able to get the reader app and the first chapter of Mirabilis free, with the other chapters available via our nifty in-app storefront. The Mirabilis graphic novel on iPad is our way of telling you that the Year of Wonders has arrived.

Marvels yet to come

Following on from news of the Fabled Lands gamebooks and RPG, I can reveal there has been some early-stage talk about new print editions of both the Blood Sword and Way of the Tiger gamebooks. Now let me stress that it is just in discussion so far - but Oliver and I have already struck a deal with Fabled Lands LLP for Blood Sword, and Min (that's Mark Smith) is ironing out the WotT details with Jamie. Also, fans of WotT might also be interested to hear that, if Min and Jamie can find the right publisher, there's even a possibility (still but a twinkle in the mind's eye at this stage) of an Orb RPG. How cool is that? Cooler than the back of the icebox in Superman's fortress, that's how cool.

On top of that, and now that we're all clear that this is gossip over the washing line, I'm hearing rumours that a new publisher may be about to approach Fabled Lands LLP with a proposal to take over the Dragon Warriors license after Magnum Opus Press bows out early next year. The good news for DW players is that this would ensure a smooth handover, hence an uninterrupted flow of new titles. So cross a finger or two, Legend fans. It ain't over till you see the white of Balor's eye.

Anyway, leaving aside all the scuttlebutt and promises, you might like to hear about a cast iron take-it-to-the bank certainty, which is that my current project Mirabilis (co-produced with Leo Hartas, Martin McKenna and Nikos Koutsis) will be out in the form of two splendid full-color graphic novels in plenty of time for Christmas. Mirabilis is a whole other blend of whimsical fantasy from the swords-n-spells of Legend, Orb and FL. Find out if it's your cup of tea right here.