So here's the thing.

I just had to do a minor driver update because Windows 8.1 screwed up the driver for my touchpad on my laptop.

My whole laptop crashed and the only way to get it back was to scrub the system.

As a result, while all the FILES for the Anthology are fine, I no longer have access to Adobe Creative Suite to finish the typsetting nicely for the PDF and finalize image creation. I don't have the CS4 discs with me and even if I did I'm not sure I'd be able to install them again, since Adobe throttles its products with awful DRM.

Basically the bottom line is that Windows 8 and Adobe Anything are **** **** trash and I may be out several thousand dollars because of their anti-consumer ****.

The question right now is whether we should go ahead and release the anthology as-is, with the recognition that it's not quite as slick as it otherwise would be, or whether to wait for me to get my **** in order.

Obviously I'm a little upset about all of this.

Keeper, if it weren't for this whole internets thing (and that pesky court injunction), I would give you a hug.

Sorry to hear about your computer nastification.

Speaking purely for myself, I'd rather take the extra time to put out the best product possible. The only deadlines are the ones we set, after all.

That said, since you're the person actually putting in said time, I think it's your own call, in large part.

And, in case it hasn't been said recently, one hundred thanks for all the work you're doing on this.

And I'd offer you a hug if I weren't so damn manly...

Anyway, I agree with pretty much everything Orcish said. Totally your call, and I'd be fine either way. You've already put a ton of work into this, and I by no means want to insinuate that you need to put any more in, or money, for that matter. So if you want to release it, I'm happy with that. If you want to hold off for however long it takes, I'm cool with that, too.

But most of all, I agree with Orcish's thanks for your hard work. It's extremely appreciated.

I feel like echoing what has already been said diminishes the sincerity somewhat, but I'm going to do it anyway.

You've been doing a good job, Keeper, and we're grateful for it. Sorry about your comp.

As for the anthology, I am also cool with whatever. I'm looking forward to the release, but I'm a patient man. Homestuck has taught me that much. *devolves into gross sobbing*

Anyway, do you think it would put your mind at ease to release it sooner? Sort of just... release the tension? Up to you - I'm not sure if it would stress you out more or not.

Well... hm.

The thing is, I'm actually not sure how much I would be doing in InDesign since I tend to design in a really dynamic way and decide things as I go along. I was planning on putting in some ornamentation (which is now impossible since I don't have photoshop or illustrator) and some more prominent like... number art at the top of the chapters since I wanted to push the whole 3/13 thing we've got going on in this anthology.

But. All of that stuff is strictly optional and the PDF does, in my opinion, look good. Just... nowhere near as fancy as Fragments did.

I was always planning on releasing the full three volumes together in like a maxed-out pretty version that was a step again above what the individual volumes were like and had more detailed illustrations and stuff. So, this was always going to be a less image heavy version.

I can maybe do some of the number art stuff just in LibreOffice since it's a surprisingly versatile program, but that's probably about the extent to which I can fiddle with things further.

If you want to see the two existing versions, they're here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByQcF0 ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByQcF0 ... sp=sharing

Like I said, the ereader version is actually totally ready and the PDF looks ok, it's just not as flashy as the Alara book.

Honestly part of me does feel like what Ruwin said--that releasing it would relieve me of some of the tension. This is one of the two last major projects that I haven't finished here despite them dragging on for more than a year now, and I'm just kind of tired of them dragging on me.

If that's the case, then we should release them. Like you said, we can also do a "delux" combined edition later, maybe around Halloween or something. Sort of a "From the Helvault" release, if you will.

That's kind of what I was planning to begin with, yeah. Does that seem reasonable?

How does the file look? Is it acceptable for release or should I try to see what else I can do with it?

I would volunteer to help fancy things up, but if you're using CS4 then I can't open the files you've been using since Photoshop tends not to be backwards compatible with itself. Which quite truthfully I can't really blame Adobe for. That's just software issues in general.

Well, there aren't that many files to be honest since I've been doing most of the formatting in LibreOffice. And the cover files came from you to begin with, aside from the minor pallet swaps and the border decorations. I spend most of the time recently teaching myself to write e-books.

Ah hell I just realized I need to reinstall my epub writer program too... what the hell was that called? Aaauauuaasfdsfhagkjhkjghakhaeuiawhdsksfkhsdkf

The big question though is whether it NEEDS fancying up at this moment.

I'm making the determination on what I should try to do based on what you guys think needs to be done.

On one side, it would be awesome to just get this thing out the door. On the other hand, it would seem a sad fate to have it *less* refined than our last relief.

I think what I'll say is that you should ask yourself how you'd sleep easier: with the release pushed buck but done when it's done, or with a closer release out from over your head and a deluxe edition waiting in the wings. Frankly, it needs to be the choice you're comfortable with, since you're the one who has poured the sweat, tears, and perhaps even blood into the project that it requires.

Honestly, the reason I'm so insistent upon asking is that I feel so caught up with the particulars that I'm not comfortable making the determination. The choice of how to release it is a more pressing responsibility than the actual production work, in a way. I don't know if that makes sense, that's just kind of how I'm feeling at the moment.

Considering that a delux edition was ALWAYS waiting in the wings, though, I'm leaning more towards releasing it, but I'm not going to be comfortable releasing it unless you folks think the version that's currently done is good enough... and the message I'm reading between the lines is that it is not.

As Lord Eternal of the M:EM I declare the project finished. Release the gates and let it flood the world!

Because there's no sense in putting in more work when you're going to put in more work in the first place.
Honestly it looks fine. It's clean and there's no reason to stress over a simplistic version. The Magic ebooks don't gild the lily and for a basic version of this, it's fine to let it go as what it is.

Second.

Hm, if you guys think that would be fine... then yeah, I'm cool with that decision.

And luckily, I made a bunch of promo materials a week or so ago since I knew things were coming close to the end

Luck is what happens when preparations meets opportunity. Well played.

I am 100% comfortable with that edict.

Alright, then there's two things I need:

A date for putting this thing out

And a simple greyscale image file of the logo

Barinellos, can you quickly make me the latter? I know you have source files for the impressive version of the logo you did, so I'm hoping this would be pretty easy to do.

As far as the date goes, I dunno, when would be the best time to release this thing?

When a cold wind blows across the moors,
When you hear the moaning of creaking doors,
When the moon disappears and hoards her light,
When the blackbird caws in the dead of night,
When the midnight chill makes your fingers numb,
That's when you'll know the time has come.


Or maybe two thursdays from now?

Is next Friday too soon?

Next friday would be just fine. I mean, it's probably releasable right now but for some minor tweaks.