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Sparks and Monsters: Girl Genius Graphic Novel and Kickstarter Extras

Created by Studio Foglio

Oh no, the Brassy Fobs are once again backordered. Probably for about 30 days, so we're looking at late April. Silvery fobs are still in stock. Shipping to Australia is commencing! We're creeping up on our next Kickstarter campaign! Hooray!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

October Girl Genius Kickstarter News: Shipping is Happening!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 13, 2021 at 03:11:07 AM

Happy October, Kickstarter friends!

Here is the news, a bit later than I meant to have it:


WE’RE SHIPPING!

We are now shipping rewards. I’m afraid you’ll still have to be a bit patient with us, because we have a lot to get through, but we’re clipping along. Phil isn’t able to help, more on that below, but the kids and I are working hard.


THOUGHTS FOR FUTURE CAMPAIGNS:

While I’m packing and shipping this campaign’s rewards, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to future campaigns, and how I want to run them so that I can handle things more quickly and smoothly. The obvious first item is to make sure all our rewards, including potential stretch goal items, are designed, proofed, and ready to go before the campaign even goes live.  I’m also thinking that going forward, our book campaigns will only include flat book things. This makes packing and shipping go much faster and has the advantage of letting me give everyone book rate shipping. If that plan speeds things up as much as I hope it will, I’ll be able to do a separate smaller campaign after the books ship that will feature all the fun pins and medals and pointy things that don’t ship nicely with books.


GIRL GENIUS GURPS COMING SOON!

And speaking of other Kickstarter campaigns, Steve Jackson Games is gearing up to launch their long-awaited Girl Genius GURPS roleplaying game. I’m not sure I can overstate my excitement about this one. It’s a project we’ve been trying to get done for over 18 years. (Yikes!) It looks like it will be going live on October 20, and you can sign up to be notified on launch here on their campaign starting page.


PHIL HAD SHOULDER SURGERY

As those of you who follow the comic online will know, Phil, who is right-handed, has had surgery on his right shoulder. He’s not having a very nice time of it, mostly because it hurts a lot, and he isn’t the kind of person to enjoy resting. Also, he’s taking some rather strong painkillers which means he’s not thinking as well as he’d like, and he couldn’t drive even if his arm was farther along in healing. Don’t worry, though, the painkillers are being tapered off and he has begun his physical therapy. He won’t be allowed to lift much for another six months, but he’ll mend, and he’s already proving that he can still draw.  We still want him to take it easy, and we’re really enjoying the story Cheyenne Wright, who does the lovely colors for the comic, is currently drawing for us.


AND FINALLY,

I have other things I’d like to say but they can wait until the next update. I want to get this posted right away since I didn’t manage to post it at the beginning of the month and now have had to rewrite most of it. (I’m sorry! I haven’t been getting enough sleep.) I’ll be continuing to ship, and I’m hoping to get one of the old “Shipometer” graphics retooled and posted for you soon. Thank you, everyone!


--Kaja

I'm now packing up the original art tubes!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 11, 2021 at 01:25:49 PM

This is just a small update to let you know that I am packing up the tubes of Girl Genius original art for shipment sometime the week of Monday September 13.  If your address has changed and you haven't let us know, now is the time.

Thank you for all your patience!

--Kaja

A Sparks and Monsters Update for September 1, 2021
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 01, 2021 at 08:01:00 PM

Greetings to all our Kickstarter friends!


We are about to move into the shipping phase, and I am very relieved. Please continue to be patient, it will take me a while to get it all out the door. If I get a chance, maybe I’ll try to make another one of the old “ship-ometer” graphics I used to put together to show progress. Although, the reason I had time to make those back in the day was that I was not the person actually putting things in boxes and printing labels. Now I am, so that must take priority.


Today I pushed the button to “lock addresses” in preparation for packing and shipping. This sent an email out to all of our backers who have filled out the BackerKit pledge manager, giving everyone one last chance to tweak their mailing address before I start printing labels. If you miss the deadline, please write to us asap at [email protected] and we’ll handle things manually! Please use the email address, don’t contact us through the comments here. It’s far too easy to miss things in the comments, and we want to be sure to help you.


If you haven’t filled out the BackerKit pledge manager and you’re meant to be getting a physical reward, please look for our personalized email invitation from BackerKit and follow the link, or go to https://girlgenius19.backerkit.com/ and log in with the email you used for this Kickstarter campaign. If it doesn't work, you can email us at [email protected] for a new email invitation.


In other news, my surgery went well, but it took longer than I expected to stop feeling gross afterward. I’m still not allowed to lift much, Halloween is officially “cat-lifting day” here. (My cats are quite large and just make it into the the forbidden weight class.)

Actually, Cat-lifting day sounds like some kind of weird old-world holiday, I should see if I can make it fun. Maybe there should be cake.


I’ll be back later with more news, and of course, I'll continue with the monthly updates. Thank you, everyone!

--Kaja

A Girl Genius Update for August
over 2 years ago – Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 04:58:59 AM

Hello again!


Yeah, remember when I said I’d have something new to report before the end of the month? That didn’t actually happen, and I’m sorry about that.


I’m still waiting on the last few things. It can’t possibly be much longer now, and I’m going to keep telling myself that. The World is getting back to “normal,” but some things are apparently still slow.


I will be having some surgery in a couple of days, but I don’t expect that to keep me down for very long. I’ll be sure to have other people doing all the lifting of large boxes, so all should be well.


Phil has just finished up a batch of portraits for backers of Rain Games’ Adventures in Castle Heterodyne Kickstarter, and is nearly done with a special project that he now informs me I shouldn’t talk about just yet. Huh. Ok, I didn’t know that was a secret. You’ll find out soon enough, at any rate. It isn’t a huge thing, but I think it’s funny.


As always, I’ll post again next month, or sooner when there’s something new.


Thanks, everyone!

--Kaja

A Girl Genius Update for the Month of July: We're Still Here
over 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 02, 2021 at 12:07:02 AM

Hello all!


There isn’t much new to report. Most everyone has checked out through our BackerKit pledge manager, and that’s fantastic. I’m still waiting for the last of the reward items, signing bookplates, and prepping envelopes of madness. The end of this stage is in sight, I just have to keep moving my hands until it’s done.


Because the Covid restrictions are lifting, I’m hoping to be able to hire some help to ship the packages this time. That will be nice, I did it all myself last time (with a little bit of child and husband labor thrown in.)


We just survived the hottest weather the city of Seattle has ever seen in recorded history, so that was interesting.


Other than that, there isn’t much to report. I’m still working, and I’ll post again when there’s something new to say, or at the beginning of next month, whichever comes first. (I’ll have something new to say before the end of the month.)


Thank you, everyone!

--Kaja