September 2016: What happened to the newsletter?
They say "Pride goeth before a fall," which it has, just under the wire given that it was still the tag end of summer when turnaround began. The newsletter stopped last spring when I could not stand to write another issue with no tangible result to show for the labor claimed. Alas, I spun wheels for a few months more before coming to something resembling sense.
The novelette that ate my life
Even before Rose Moon saw first release as a Smashwords ebook, I began work on another story still farther from the main trunk of my fiction. "The Seven Jewel Bird," like Rose Moon, sits within the universe of The Hidden Lands of Nod, but only connects remotely to the narrative plan of that interrupted cycle. It is also of a different kind than my other fiction, soberer in tone and more personally inflected. It has hovered around 9k words through most of its versions, placing it among small novelettes. A manageable project as writing goes, one would think: knock out a draft, churn through revisions, and set free the result. That's the usual way, yes? Except, I haven't been able to do that. I have not been able to get it right. The sentences are fine, a few even lovely, but the truth of the story is not in them. I have torn the narrative apart, restructured it, recolored it and re-imagined it, and each time concluded that it was not right.
I flogged this carpet for quite a while. A story of almost trivial length but difficult to write overwhelmed the core concerns of The Hidden Lands of Nod and Habdvarsha. All the other cool stuff halted while I wrestled with an account I have yet to imagine successfully. Writers have technical terms for such a state of affairs, one of which is "nuts." Looking back over months spent on a small project that still does not reveal its finish, I decided—for now—to set aside the obstruction and heave slumbering processes back into motion.
Specimens "aath" and "jaka" from Dvarsh Book (left) & Bold.
What now?
The hard look that moved aside "The Seven Jewel Bird" took on urgency because of major life changes underway. Voluntary and involuntary dynamics are in play, about which I'll say no more than I expect my circumstances to reduce significantly on a schedule over which I have little control. Practical preparations I have made are few. Against all reason I am convinced that this is an opportunity, perhaps the last opportunity, to concentrate on bringing full range of the Habdvarsha project into the world. My heart sings, "Now or never," and the South Austin Bullfrog sings along with his heart.
Singing an impractical song, however, I listen with a practical ear. If working for an imaginary world is going to succeed, it must produce income. The only fruits of my invention ever to excite a potentially sufficient audience have been the Dvarsh language and Nod's Way. The language has always been the greater magnet. With this in mind, I have gone back to work on a Dvarsh typeface as a necessary first step toward creating a much requested dictionary. On the grand TO DO list, Dvarsh language and culture are up. The voice of a Denver fan continues to resonate, "Every person in this room has written a novel. When can I get this dictionary?"
Progress is happening
Circumstances have lent urgency to the labor, but so has fun, the most fun being that something insubstantial becomes concrete. The whole reason I created a language in the first place is because working on it is incredibly cool. In the past few weeks I have completed initial character sets for both Dvarsh Book (the regular weight) and Dvarsh Bold, and mapped them to the keyboard. I am now up to my elbows preparing the vector files of the individual glyphs for importation into the font-making application, after which all will be ready to generate a first version of one of the fonts. Likely the result will be useful only for diagnosing the many mistakes awaiting exposure; even so, the door to a dictionary opens with proof of concept. Having the keyboard layout makes it possible to begin typing dictionary entries without waiting for a fully operational typeface. On the other hand, a usable font is close enough to reality that little time would be lost to the wait. The Stikmantic way, of course, will inevitably embrace some of each route.
So what have I done for you lately?
Concentrating still on what I have been asked to produce, I made you another picture. Prints of the drawing, "Waiting (study)," are now available in the Market at stikmantica.com. The image is very slightly smaller than the original, printed on 8" x 10" recycled stock suitable for framing, and so pregnant with metaphor that its purchase will render the buyer certifiably bodacious. Those are inarguable facts, and it is also a fact that your order from the Market at stikmantica.com directly supports all these several things that I do.
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A new print available in the Market!
"Waiting (study)"
from an original by
Robert Stikmanz
Printed offset on 8″ x 10″ 13 pt. recycled matte cover. Illustration dimensions are 4.75″ x 7.5″
Each copy is signed by Robert. Ships flat in a rigid mailer.
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Pay by Check
Listen, I know. There are no really good options for a self-micro-publishing author to process payments online. At this particular moment, PayPal seems the least ungood—but I understand reservations some people have about PayPal. Until such time as this project reliably moves enough product to cover fees of a credit card merchant account, I shall beg that we negotiate compromises together. Please note that PayPal does allow one to pay with a credit card without having a PayPal account. If that is still too close a brush with the beast, order through a book retailer—or pay by personal check. Pen a note stating exactly what title (& how many) you want, enclose a check for the price plus shipping, and send it to the p. o. box given at the bottom of this newsletter. Please make the check payable to Robert Stikmanz. Allow a little extra time for delivery. Query first if you would like a quote. Real mail is always a treat.
Lightning Water enters production
Putting my own fiction on temporary hold doesn't mean the wheels of story stop around Stikmanz Intergalactic HQ. Promised long ago, Lightning Water, a novel by M. S. Lewis, has entered active editorial mode. A gothic mystery set in Galveston, Texas, the story mines just over a century of that city's recent history, culture and traditions to breathe life into the city's residents, both its quick and its ghosts. "Active editorial mode" means that I have begun working on the manuscript file to shape the text for which I'll later retain a professional editor. Stay tuned for updates on progress and future details.
Wishing you
peace, love &
comfortable
shoes!
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