KC Newsletter! August 2025

NEW BOOK REAL SOON

This issue: Novel release schedule, novel preorders, pick your cover!

This month’s finances and what all got done!

Comic is officially in FEAST OR FAMINE mode for the arc finale (looks like we’re gonna get this first batch of pages posted right on schedule), and I finished the typesetting for the novel this month!

Income crept up a little to a 913 dollar paycheck! Things are lookin good I think.

The comic is ticking along with no major news planned for September, aside from me being stupid excited for this chapter, so this is all novel stuff this time.

Grist to the Cannon release schedule!

I am technically waiting on two more people to get back to me with some editorial notes, but for the last few months it’s been mostly nitpicking typos, word choice, and formatting problems SO. Barring any absolutely insane last-minute edits or printing issues, here's the itinerary so you can plan accordingly:

First: I am planning for the physical paperback editions of this book to cost 15 USD, if you are an individual. Shops And Other Entities will likely end up paying closer to 20 for complicated business reasons; if you decide to order from my distributor, please keep an eye out for a link from me that (if I’m understanding this right) will allow you to avoid having to pay the retail price. More on that later!

September 15-30: I will be running pre-orders in my shop, just like I do for the comic books, if you don't want to go through another distributor. I’m not really sure how many orders to prepare for here, but between advance readers getting free epubs and book club folks getting theirs, I’m not anticipating anything too crazy. I’m gonna try real hard to get these in the mail in a reasonable timeframe so y’all supporting me directly can get the book in your hands at roughly the same time as folks ordering from amazon or ingram or whoever.

We're past the point for new supporters to get this round of book club rewards, but if you get your donation set up before the end of this period you can still get in the credits list!

October 1(possibly give-or-take a couple days, depending on Emergencies): ARCs go out! I still don't have too many so I will be accepting new advance readers right up until the end of September when the books are finalized; if you'd like to trade an epub copy for an honest review on amazon, goodreads (or I guess storygraph? people keep asking about that one), or even on longer form social media like tumblr, email me! You can in fact reply to this mail, even.

October 22: The advance readers will get three weeks to Consider What They Have Seen, then the book will go up for sale everywhere on October 22nd! IDEALLY those pre-ordered copies and a chunk of the book club copies will also be in the mail by then, I will of course keep y’all posted.

Pick a cover! (or opt out entirely!)

In an attempt to play the game a little more because I would really, really like for this to go well, this novel will have two covers! In my experience both online and in person, the general population is very prone to confusion about stylized book covers, so I wanted to offer an option that clearly indicates this book they’re looking at is in fact a novel full of words they can read and not whatever horrifying item they seem to think my manga volumes are. For you all, who are almost certainly used to all manner of Storytelling Weirdness, this means you get to pick the one you like best. You may have seen them already, but here are both of them together.

The Destination Cover, and probably the epub cover too idk i haven’t fully decided yet

The Variant Cover. you know, like. like how comics have variant covers. you get it.

The back cover and spine will be the same for both books:

Important notes:
-The internal content of these books is entirely identical, this is not an attempt to trick anyone into buying the same book twice. You can do that if you really want both covers, but please understand you will then have two books with the same interior!

-I always like to remind y’all in the book club that you are already getting a physical and digital copy of this book sent to you, and if you’re happy about that (and your address is correct) no further action is needed from you! You do not need to buy an extra copy unless you want an extra copy!

-Book club copies will default to the Variant Cover, the one with Phin and Ulrich on. If you would like the Destination Cover instead, just send me an email at some point.

-If you would like to opt out of getting novels in some capacity, please send me an email. I know that’s maybe a little awkward, but I really don’t want to inconvenience you with something unwanted! If I may suggest though: you have already paid for this book I would be sending, and if you decide to donate it, or put it in a little free library, or pass it along to a friend, or do literally anything else with it, I will never know the difference! I have also had one person opt out of physical novels while they still get physical comics because they prefer to read their prose digitally; this sort of halfway thing is perfectly doable.

The process of getting this first novel published went WAY differently than I had expected as far as like, the polish and seriousness of what I expected these to be in the end; I didn’t think they’d end up being mainline canon alongside the comics the way they have, so the whole supporter rewards interaction here got a little chaotic. Sorry about that, I think I’ve got my feet under me a little better now and I’ll try to make the next novel release a bit more streamlined for everyone. After the book is out and things have calmed down, I’ll be retooling the support tiers going forward so hopefully everyone can quietly customize their experience and nobody has to do anything like opt out of books they didn’t sign up for in the first place.

State of the Artist

I’m neck deep in comic work of course, but I’ve been doing a lot of traditional work again since our con season has kicked up here at the end of the year. I’m drawing a lot of pokemon lately! I like playing with watercolors! I’m pleased with the improvement since last time I did a set of these, should have them scanned in to share in the usual places soon.

I am absolutely dying to get this novel in people’s hands, I really really hope y’all enjoy it.

Or at least that it inspires Some Significant Feeling In You
-Aria

Upcoming Appearances!
Anime 307
Sept. 13-14, Cheyenne, WY

I love going to conventions! And other comic-flavored things now I guess! If there’s an event in or around Colorado you’d like to see me at, contact the coordinators and have them get in touch with me.