Schlock Mercenary: Out From Under

Schlock Mercenary: Out From Under is the title of the next book in the series. For purposes of folder naming, product codes, and the like, that name is reduced to the acronym "OFU."

I'm sure you can think of impolite things to spell with that acronym. Please don't, though. Just think of it as "UFO" backwards, okay?

Progress on OFU is proceeding behind the desired schedule. Here's the timeline: once we finish laying the book out, it takes about three months to get product into your hands.

That doesn't sound much like a schedule, does it? Here's some more detail. I need to script, pencil, ink, and color about five pages of Bonus Story. I also need to re-color or touch up all 235 image files for the book's content. Finally, I need to create about 20 pieces of margin art and maybe half that many new footnotes. Oh. And a cover. I need to create a cover.

That's still not a schedule. That's a task list.

I think I can get all that work done in three months, including the month of November. This means that product should, theoretically, be shipping sometime in late April or early May.

Right now I've got 61 of the 234 strip images re-colored. I've done no work on the Bonus Story, margin art, new footnotes, or the cover. But I'm working on whittling that list down a little bit every day, and I think I can knock everything down by the end of January, provided I stick with it.

At that point I'll need to begin work on Schlock Mercenary: Mad Science Means Never Having To Ask 'What's The Worst Thing That Could Happen?' That book will likely need a shorter, snappier title. But that's a problem for the dead of winter...