A tiny good thing.

Apple is upgrading its OS to 10.13 - High Sierra. That is normally a warning signal. The upgrade to Sierra, 10.12, disconnected my printer from the OS and I could get the printer to function, but could not get the scanner to work.

In preparation for the imminent arrival, I started checking compatibilities, installed the new driver and ... the printer now scans.

My printer is an old Epson Artisan 720, always low on the totem pole for priorities. Windows first, with all its flavors and later, if the chairman of the Epson board had been in a good moon, the Mac updates could be allowed.

I guess the chairman got lucky. Things can be scanned again.

Meanwhile, in the Sweatshop

I should mention that I'm working on a new master map based on the wonderful Teves 2nd Edition world view. It is from that map that I finally "got" what was in the lower left - the world sign from Shanthic records. He has probably hidden other nuggets if we bother to work for them.

The one I am working on is not red. You will be glad to know that. And it has. LOT of place names.

But no real national boundaries. Jorune is not yet progressed to the point of firm lines across maps. There are "clearly controlled" territories, "contestted" territories, and "Who the fuck is it today!" territories. But not firm enough to put on a map. Maps are so - narrow minded.

I'm thinking a map that shows the WORLD. And that might mean a poster.

But it wont' be red.

What to Do While Waiting for the Doben Al to Freeze Over

Work continues on SEGMENT; SHO-CAUDAL. #3 is about ready to move out, #4 is moving along. There is a great deal about fiction as perceived by Thriddle. And all about writing for Jorune ... both the world specifically and writing fiction generally. Enormous amounts of information to write epic stories - literally. 22 pages. Way over the 16-page promise. Just about to go out. You can still subscribe to this PDF newsletter, but it costs money. I'm cruel.

Information at http://skyrealmsofjorune.com/subscription.html

Third, GOMO GUIDE; TAN IRICID is also moving forward. I am very happy to say the new format has been solidified and is very much reproducing a true Thriddle guide, based on the Thriddle Five Folds formats (of which there are six). We can only hope to produce them by scale but they will be lovely in Fold 4 "Paper" format, which a traveller can carry on expedition.

I can only write so much at a time. But it is still nice to see things move through the pipeline after so very long. And I have lived to see it, even better.

A second novel might be considered. THE CHILDREN OF BOMOVERIS, but it would break down into three volumes. A trilogy - oh no. It starts in Thantier, moves to a secret Earth-tec base in the Western Trinnu Jungle Lands, and through the warp to the grand finale in Kirlan. Oh yes, I know the story - it was run through playtesting with my A group before I left California. It runs rich and sweaty and is the most ambitious gamble for the control of Jorune yet published. A trilogy. That is looking into mist 2018, but it will not be released until all three volumes are written. I even have the names of the three volumes and the master outline, but cannot honestly say I am writing it yet.

First

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL

then 

COLLECTED DANSTEAD TRAVELLER 

COLLECTED BOKERLBY'S FOLLY

GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID 

In some kind of order, and then

SHOLARI V2N2.

Then I can look at a trilogy. Priorities. Even though I already have SHOLARI V2N3 mapped out.

And there are even a couple of projects I haven't talked about. And some that have nothing to do with Sho-Caudal.

It is a good thing I'm retired. I'm too busy to do other people's work.

eMail Test

I just sent a test "Campaign" through MailChimp to those who subscribed. Simple hello and statement of why the hell I am opening another channel for communicating. If you are not signed up for the MailChimp list, you can do so through http://eepurl.com/c4fE29

But I am doing other things.

Jorune fiction. What a concept.

But any kind of fiction is a great concept.

I have outlined THE ANGEL OF DRAIL, a novel in the old ACE adventure sci-fi model. Eleven Chapters with a clear storyline that is basically me taking all the game elements I had done for the Sholari Adventure Kit of the same name and adding the narration of a set of characters to go through it. It brought the return of another character I really like from early SHOLARI magazines. It will be available through DriveThruRPG/Fiction as print, PDF and we will dabble with ePub.

I have three short fictions for the proposed anthology of short stories and possibly a couple of novellas. I'm thinking UNDER THE MOONS OF SHO-CAUDAL as the title, but first there must be a product. I have three short story ideas, but would really like to see other people join the world. And. did NOT author all three of the current pieces - only one.

For those who haven't heard me screaming in the wilderness:

• I am looking for short stories (3,000 to 20,000 words), novellas (up to 40,000 words), and will even consider short shorts (less than 3,000 words) but prefer something with time to develop characters and an emotional desire in the narrative. No porn. Please contact before trying to write a full novel - we like the idea of building more volumes, but it might help you to either get some encouragement or be warned about something that we have no interest in publishing. (But if you already have a full book-length piece of fiction for Jorune—or even not Jorune—maybe we should talk.)
• Payment is by sales, a spelled out percentage on copies actually sold. Payment is from Drivethru/One Shelf, which is a great reason to go with them. I don't have have my liver spotted hands on your coins before the come to you. 
• Net, of course - we only get 65% of the cover price. Sorry - we don't have funding for advances. Drivethru/One Shelf gets 35% for having the channel to the market, hosting the ecommerce site, fulfillment (shipping or file transfer), and the bookkeeping. They earn their cut. We have costs, too, but no staff. We will determine percentages based on final page count.

The volumes will carry the same disclaimer - that Skyrealms, Inc. is not responsible for the content of these "fan" works. But no one ever said "fan" could not be "good."

Deliver as Microsoft Word .doc or .docx, or .rtf format.

Contact through return2jorune@gmail.com

Changes

I will be making a number of changes in the projects.

SKYREALMS.COM
I'm converting the domain to a WordPress blog. Much easier to maintain, indexing, search by topic, and other advantages. And it will reformat to devices; comptuer, tablet, or phone.

REDUCED POSTS
For months I have been monopolizing the Jorune channels and it feels like I'm talking to myself. So I'll stop that and put that energy into other areas. This blog will be more about my musings and stray thoughts. THE DROFFNER will carry reports, specifically as it relates to new releases, sales or subscriptions. SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL will carry more long-term previews, revelations, and previews of materials in process. Individual publications will be the actual support materials and can stand on their own.

SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL
The newsletter will still be PDF only, direct email delivery with unlimited updates on corrections, edits, or other changes. SSC #1c is about to come out and SSC #2a - changes received.

SSC will no longer be a "monthly" newsletter. When we get it done, it goes out. #3 is in final edit and as soon as those edits are received, it will go out. This is not a reduction in frequency. It is an increase for the foreseeable future. #4 is ready to go into final edits - it is Maps and the Measure of the world. #5 will be the preview of the new ANGEL OF DRAIL novel. Debating making the novel available through ePub in addition to PDF and print versions. 

THE DROFFNER
This is new. It will be a free report on what goes on, particularly as it relates to releases or changes. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/c4fE29 . It is free.

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL
The book is completely outlined and I've started writing. Only about 5,000 words to start, but the outline calls for eleven chapters. It will be more along the lines of an old ACE novel - about 150 pages, could be read in an evening if you're the kind of reader I was in those days. 
I think THE CHILDREN OF BOMOVERIS is likely but it will much larger, with scenes in the Western Trinnus, Ponteer, Thantier and the power seats in Kirlan. not necessarily in that order. In fact, THE CHILDREN OF BOMOVERIS exists as a pretty solid linear outline. It may be broken into more than one book. Still deciding. There are three major climaxes, but two of those could be in one volume.
But the anthology should slip in easily between those two. 

The Ponteer map for the dropped GOMO GUIDE. Poo.

GOMO GUIDE CHANGES
The way THE ANGEL OF DRAIL is being grown, it will eliminate the need for my planned GOMO GUIDE: PONTEER. There is more material to be delivered on Ponteer, but it will have to arrive through other channels. Maybe more into SHOLARI V2. 

GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID is still on track. I'm hoping it will be ready before Thanksgiving. The energy that had been going into Ponteer will now go into GOMO GUIDE; THE LAKE DISTRICT. Dah-ah-dey and environs. The Khodres, the Blount and Acubon waters. Maybe more on Ros Crendor and the Boccord society it holds. But definitely the details of Kirlan, Auklin, Kask, Borlim, from the Dowtrows to the sea. Much to be revealed there. The people, the divisions, the trade, the politics, and the depths of those waters. Much to be revealed. But that is true of most of the planet.

THE COLLECTED FANZINES
No changes. COLLECTED DANSTEAD TRAVELLER will probably appear first. I just need a good cover and that is being set up. after than we can look at COLLECTED BORKELBY'S FOLLY will follow. Hoping within the next six months on those. 

But I will be accessing the Yahoo Group less, and the Facebook pages, except my own Return2Jorune page. it is my hope people can carry news from Droffner, or people will subscribe to SSC so I can focus more on the writing and cartography of my favorite imaginary landscapes. 

I'm diluting my energies, trying to rouse the troops with the daily or more-than-daily posts on social media, and not spending enough time writing. And drawing. And doing layout. and getting products to market. The tiny market it may be.

That is all.

Um, I guess I'm writing a book...

I went to Scrivener to outline THE ANGEL OF DRAIL. But that didn't work out.

Chapter One - Dinner with Old Friends fell out. Food (there are always scenes with food when Joe writes anything) and a good deal of throat punching. Made me want to find out what happens next, which I think is the purpose of a Chapter One.

I thought I was going to finish NINE MILE DIAMOND, my own Lost Colony novel about the world Kolne. And the arrival of an almost forgotten follow-up from Earth, several hundred years late. Or is it?

But now - part of my brain went "throat punch" and was off and running.

Not a bad Chapter One, either.

I still need to mind-map the flow, but once this is out of the way, it should be possible.

Return of an Old Friend

Dali Shurr mug shot, SHOLARI v1n3

For the novelization of THE ANGEL OF DRAIL, I needed the lead characters. And I'm happy to say, Slam Desti, Boy Yord, is back. All grown up. Nearing middle age. But I like revising old characters.

And know one
knew how old
he really was.

Dali Shurr, the kid who got into so much trouble in SLAM DESTI, BOY YORD is grown up and off to see the world with real adventures, with his buddy Oomo, his best friend Thivin. Oomo has two wives and four children, set up his family business to operate in his absence while he goes on a "business trip" to Ponteer as an agent for their new paper making industry. It's really Oomo's trip and Dali is just going along. But two home boys from the old digs off to Ponteer - that's an adventure.

When I go to Jorune, I think of who I want to see, and the boys were just right for that long ago adventure that introduced trashy literature to the children of Jorune. And the warnings are right - it's just ruining them. Dali "hasn't found the right one yet", but he's a good looking guy, couple of new scars to show off, and still sticking his face places where it shouldn't be seen. I think Oomo is taking care of him.

And there are other connections to the old Ardoth neighbood. They are meeting up with Drenn Hawath, well off the Ponteer trail, just for old times sake. Just to share a meal. He has over thirty Toth's Justice office around the world, and some grateful clients feed him oney to go open more. That's why he's in town.

And that old bastard of a publisher, Del Vodwos, is still around and has built up an empire of yule dreadful thanks to the miracle of ceramic printing. He's is not a bad guy. He's a businessman. A slimey businessman. A publisher who pays the writers as little as possible.

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL was originally outline for a RPG scenario, so there are several scenarios to go through. But this time I get to pick the most dramatic, or at least satisfying, moments to present. And I don't have to worry about a player who ate a bad chicken burrito ruining the game for everyone (vomit across the table, dice, notes, and figs can be distracting).

So cliche. They meet in a bar because they just happen to be there. Not Del, but Drenn Hawath and the boys. He doesn't even try to sucker them into a story line. I already know how that is going to happen.

The Bratty Sister. Yeah,
I'm pretty sure she's
going to be there, too.

I'm mapping the characters, the scenes, who gets introduced when, the Great Arc that is the overall story, and the lesser arcs that would have been suggested scenarios in an RPG write-up.

This is a game that was actually played back in the 1990s when I was still playtesting Jorune 3.5, a clarification of 3rd Edition's system. People from that game were part of my favorite crowd, so it is bringing up a lot of fun memories.

But it cannot be just a write-up of one group's version of a scenario. For long form fiction you do more than that. So I'm using Mind-Mapping to organize the story. I did that for CLIMBING THE SPIRAL MOUNTAIN, a non-genre novel of which I am very proud. (On Amazon, like 500+ pages, but ... the people who have actually read it say it's worth it.)

Due dilligence. That's the phrase. I'm doing due dilligence in the struturing of the book - and it looks like it is going to be a full novel, not a novella. With Thriddle and Trarch and Ramian and some very cool Earth-tec your Sholari might let you possess at some point - you may have perform unspeakable acts. But really, aren't all acts speakable?

THE ANGEL OF DRAIL. I've been moving toward calling the planet by the name the Shantha have always called it - "Sho-Caudal" I'm sorry. I can't animate the isho blossomes that go with saying it in shanthic. Maybe a Shantha will take pity on me and hit me with some Shal to get that part of my brain working. Maybe.

But it's nice to have everything falling into place. I might be able to finish it before the end of the year.

This whole thing fits into my recent fascination with how a low-metal world, such as Sho-Caudal, would deal with knowledge of printing, and printing would change the society forever. You would have wooden type to start, but you could make a master mold of typeset pages and fire a ceramic plate, from which you could use ceramic 'slip' (look it up) to create a number of reverse plates which could be shipped all over the world. Cheaper to ship plates than bound books, and plates survive getting wet - Salu ship in open Chaussis and things get wet. Local papermakers get a boom. Local printers get a boom. and local translaters can create new editions for the various races in their own languages.

It would be all the rage, you know.

And Ponteer is THE place to ship things from the eastern world - Burdoth, Heridoth, Dober, Yobre, Lundere and Shardin - to the Western world - Ponteer, Thantier, Drail, Tan Iricid and even Temauntro. I guess an airship might take plates to Khodre and Jasp.

EVERYTHING would be local editions, by local printers, and everybody pays fat boy for the plates, no matter how many copies they run (or can't run). But when you win, you win big, and Del always wins.

But that's background. The real story starts with the sounds of a fight and an obvious underdog getting the snot beat out of him buy brigands. Yeah. That's where the real story starts and out boys meet the Angel Roger.

Now... If I just knew someone to do a cool cover... Hmmm. Who does Jorune art who might be willing to take some direction to do a cover for the first Jorune long-form fiction?

And where do they meet? Hmm. Just thinking off the top of my head... Ponteer, not on the Ponteer trail.

Map for the dropped GOMO GUIDE: PONTEER. Poo.

Quedi. Open port village on the east coast. Near some Thivin enclaves, even if uncomortably close to some Ramian villages. There is a hard wall of the Shards to the West - getting through to the southern loop of the Ponteer trail is damn dangerous. Easier to go up the coast to Dra-Eeli and just send your goods, or your self, along the Trail to Cerin.

You et the impression I've been here before?

Quedi. Nice place. I know where you can get some great Dothibur Patchak - you can barely taste the durlig. Meat so tender it falls apart. Spicy with potatoes and some other vegetables and ladled over Rav seed. Nice bottle of Rusper. You're set for the the evening. Particularly when you have old friends to share the table.

I'll probably run a few chapters in SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL. It I have people, places, things, and a problem. I'm keeping the problem to myself for a bit. But there is a problem.

Oh, last minute word - I received the last corrections for SHOLARI v2n1 and it will be getting gussied up for DriveThruRPG print edition. Remember when you get the print edition you have the option of download the PDF at no extra cost.

Fourth Thoughts

Thinking about the harmonics between SKYREALMS OF JORUNE and other games. Fictions. And what I'm finding in the current reality.

EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE / TEKUMEL is the obvious leader in the same feeling of saturation in "alien" with varieties of humanity in competition for a world. It has has a similar path of being lost and regrown and had a modest success in its rebirth and representation. Modest is good.

NUMENERA has a lot of the flavor - saturation in a world of humans gone strange with time and the lost sense of history or technology. Big in discovery. And very much a 21st Century inheritor of the great art mantle set by Miles Teves when most small press game art was from buys in ball point pen and notebook paper when they were supposed to be paying attention to class. Really great art. They have posted several free previews and just did another one that might be of interest. 

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/221498/The-Spire-of-the-Hunting-Sound-Quickstart-Adventure?src=email2017-09-14

But JORUNE has been away so long, I wonder if the audience can find it again. Part of it is, I'm sure, my complete crap skills with promotion. But what would draw people to it if not just nostalgia? 

Part of it also looking at the fourth title out, the fifth title in prep, and several others at various stages of completion. I have a grand total 12 subscriptions, with seven single copies. Sales through DriveThruRPG is less than a dozen copies of everything combined. You can't sustain a viable product with seventeen sales. (And a LOT of free copies.)

There is the matter of the vacuum. Four products, less than a dozen copies sold of the titles combined, with a half dozen people making a comment. No actual feedback. 

Frustrating. I go through this kind of doubt from time to time. I think it is part of a healthy periodic self-assessment, and it becomes more important when you are spending a great deal of time dealing with a world that doesn't exist. Necessary, even. It is a Dreamtime, completely voluntary Dreamtime – it does not have the spiritual truth that the word draws itself from. But it is there and has had a number of healing qualities, and other values. For a long time. For me.

But I wonder of about for other people.

Fortunately, I don't have all of my eggs in the Jorune basket. But there is a passion I have for Jorune than any other game world. I have other fictional settings that appeal to me. Only one really called to me in gaming - pulp, the era between the wars, and all the window dressings that go with it. Some fiction I want to write, some of which is lost colony flavored like Jorune, and other that is much more about religion, and social commentary. 

But I still would like to see Jorune find its audience. that isn't happening, even with the Yahoo group, the Facebook pages, and some fairly high level, intelligent correspondence with a few people.

Yet. 

That word stays there, too.

Back to work.

The Call

I asked before, but it just got real. We are going to do some Jorune fictions, and a couple of the projects I've been trying to wrestle into RPG terms I think I may do in Prose. THE ANGEL OF DRAIL will be the first for that treatment.

Big Crugar in Snow. No wonder he's pissed.

Fred Lang has supplied a very cool cover, and I can think of not better place for it than on the cover of a Jorune Anthology. I even have a title for it. I'll spill those beans later.

So the call is for short stories. Fiction. Jorune. Let's say "now", which is 3,500 years in the future, but that "now." You have a full planet, over twenty races, very, very few verbotten zones. Maybe there is a MacGuffin you've always wanted, or wanted your favorite character to get - or to lose - or to steal from someone. And a romance. Or wonder what a drunken woffen smells like the next day. Plus relationships, haunts...

Writers? Can you find a story in that?

If you have a bent for fiction and a twist for Jorune, why not combine the two? Write. Finish what you write. Write more.

Part of this is because I am dealing with SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #3 growing under me ... it's way too many pages. Damn.

I'm going to have to split the content between two issues, and a big chunk has been under the "Invitation to Heresy." That is about the tools I have used for a couple of decades to develop Jorune related material - RPG, Fiction, pipe dreams - like that. I'll move the maps and measurement into SSC #4

So, I'll pull all that together for people to use when the next captain moves into the helm (and they are just lining up for that) will have the same tools. Or people who had an interest in developing a neglected part of the planet will have some resources to help them steer their own course.

SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #3, Canon, major and minor, Invitation to Heresy, and How To Do It.

SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #4, Maps, Measurements, and going off trail.

But the deal here is ... Short Stories. Jorune. You. Really. Not talking about it. Doing it. In fact, a couple of people already have. Adventures, Historicals, Jaroon (remember Jaroon?)... lots of possibilities.

If you love Jorune.

Oh, payment. Yeah. Percentage of sales. Sorry - no advances. Yet. Maybe that could happen, But percentage on sales directly through DrivethruRPG or DrivethruFiction. Royalties without me getting my flabby mitts on it. That's part of the deal, too.

Hmm. I thought I had written much more about Heresy for Jorune for SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #3. Much more. So I'm also sharing the "how Joe wrote for RPG"s back in the old days of the 1990s. Way back then. Specifically for Jorune (isho appears in very few games) but applicable to other settings.

Scribble scribble scribble. Got to get it to the editor to have it ready for the 5th. And when I get stuck, I can always go back to GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID or ORFA: JORUNE. Or my new metaphysical book, THE THREE SIDED COIN. (That one is hurting my brain.)

I have old maps you may have never seen, or seen and not understood, or seen and not liked. Too bad.

I guess some Thivin have included Ebba crystals in their furniture design. I notice it before, but forgot. I'm old.

The previous SHOLARI VOLUME 2 idea

Three covers of Sholari v2 that never was.

Yeah. this is not the first time around.

Around 2005 I had the idea to revive SHOLARI magazine and I did what I normally do, I did my version of a "doodle" around the idea. three covers. I can't find them now, but I did one graphic using the three graphics. And if you look closely you can see the beginnings of the current RETURN TO JORUNE project.

Look at the titles on the first issue ... Drail will be featured in THE ANGEL OF DRAIL, which had already been outlined; Auklin will be featured in SHOLARI v2n3. The cover of the first issue was the map idea I did recently in a mock up for future GOMO GUIDEs.

On the second issue, you have the beginnings of the GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID.

On the third was going to be the explanation of the J20 game system, now called ORFA. i was always pleased with the way I colorized Miles' Muadra portrait.

Just a ghost from the past.

Ghosts of the present can be found at http://skyrealmsofjorune.com

Lost Jorune

Sharing the picture of my little guy from the failed FOR SHOLARIS ONLY made me poke around on my hard disk. I have a PDF for a summary of things I was trying to do for Jorune when I was still in Colorado. I left Colorado in 2003.

The PDF was for one of the long line of people who said they would help, and then stopped communicating altogether. I'm the only thing all those people have in common with such a commitment, so I take that personally.

Salvaged from the PDF.

But I made the PDF, and for some reason, I put in a password. I have no idea why. But I had a lot of visual notes for things I wanted to do.

For example, the name RETURN TO JORUNE was supposed to be the title for a Jorune conversion to FUDGE/FATE system, for which I designed the character sheet now being used for ORFA: Jorune. I liked FATE a lot, but it never came together.

It was a nice collage of Teves Jorune art. Colorized. Long term Jorunis can probably name where every picture came from. But it came together nicely. For a failed project.

I still like the collage.

 And then I was looking at QUERRID QUARTERLY and did a couple of covers for that. This is of 2002-2003 vitage.Parts of my development for that become THE ANNALS OF THE TAN SOOR HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Which was not well received. From the covers, you will notice some thigns that are finally appearing.

For example, THE MES DIG is the opening scene of an adventure slated to appear in SHOLARI Volume 2, Number 2 as THE RED GATE. A Thriddle power play in a larger civil war, a hot air balloon, and a trip to the moon on gossamer wings... or something like that.

It is coming out is the point.

YOLANTA, THE ANGEL OF DRAIL is the SAK: THE ANGEL OF DRAIL, whole cloth. Her name is now Jolanta, which is still pronounced the same way, a personal not to a Polish toxicoligist with whom I used to work.

And THE CHILDREN OF BOMOVERS is still that, it just won't be in a copy of QQ. It will be a full blown campaign SAK with chapters in Thantier, Ponteer, and Kirlan. And a cast of dozens.

And then there was a series of covers. I was finding a lot of interesting graphic idea from the web, and I'm an absolut junkie for nice graphic ideas. Love 'em.

I may do something with THE LAST SAGE OF ZAHIL. It was a nice little idea. Very different idea on what do you do when the king goes mad.

THE TALMARON TRADE was a modeul from Alex Blair back in the 1990s, and it may still appear. The graphic was adapted from a 1950s children's book jacket design I found on some page somewhere. I still like it. I like the old embossed, hot pressed linen hardback effect, too.

There have been a lot of story ideas, but very few completed manuscripts. Alex actually finished what he wrote, so I would like to see it find a home. I'm thinking of an anthology with expanded nuggets from many writers. Not just me. I like what I write but just Joe-flavor gets boring.

We need some sprinkles and nuts and maybe a little whipped cream. And a cherry on top.

THE GIRE PRINCESS OF PONTEER has been rolled into ALLIDOTH CONFIDENTIAL and GOMO GUIDE: PONTEER. She is the wife (were they ever married?) of Mord Joran, who was seen in Slam Desti, Boy Yord (SHOLARI MAGAZINE v2n1) and Scars of Far Temauntro (which finally appeared in SHOLARI MAGAZINE v2n1).

Allidoth and Ponteer figure heavily in my personal history of cheap pulp publishing on Jorune, the trashy stories that go into them, and the trashy people believe what they read. She was part of that, and you'll finally get to read it.

Before there was a GOMO GUIDE: THONEPORT there was supposed to be a GOMO GUIDE TO THANTIS. But the whole capital city was just too damn big, so I focused on the one section where humans allowed non-humans to walk the streets with no more violence than your usual weekend bar fight. My original big map was cut down to what wound up on the back cover of the first Gomo Guide.

And this map is all that remains.

The original cover for Thoneport was different. Much more modern and "grunge". I don't have anything against "grunge" but I hated this treatment of the idea.

The stressed or distressed or grunge treatment of the lettering was becoming all the next trend

Who Got Time for Dat?

what became SHOLARI Volume 2 was
going To be FOR SHOLARIS ONLY.
But then I found out I had stolen the new
title from a feature in DANSTEAD
TRAVAVELLER. I need to find this
little guy a home. I really like him.

I set up a separate subscription page for SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL and the brand new, just made from scratch again buttons from PayPal are not working. And they can't tell me why.

So if anyone needs to do the subscription thing, write me. It can be worked out. Sheesh.

In the meantime, I'm promoting what we have so far, which includes:

• GOMO GUIDE: THONEPORT (Reboot)
• SEGMENT SHO-CAUDAL #1 and #2
• SHOLARI MAGAZINE Volume 2, Number 1

and I'm working on SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #3 - Maps and Heresy.

And re-attacking ORFA; JORUNE, with a programmer character sheet to help with generation. And sample characters.

And continuing to escape from Thriddle agents to finish GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID.

So, I don't have time to waste with PayPal deficiencies.

The original version.
INLAND PRINTER 1920

Let's GO!  (Honking the horn.)

MOVE IT!

I've said it before, but since I'm posting this, I'll add I stole it from a very old issue of INLAND PRINTER. I dig through archives of graphics and every so often I find something that really appeals to me. I love the nouveau flavor of the design and wish I knew who the artist was.

Hablo Crapola

Damn Damn Damn.

UPDATE:

I don't get it. What the bloody hell?

PayPal said I had to redo my buttons from scratch. The old buttons were mal-formed. I redid the buttons. I put the on a simple page that is just html. A table. I created a table in the table with four panes. Three for PayPal options, one to say what the table was for.

The brand new PayPal buttons do not work. Most of the time, but the ones for the subscriptions do not work, but the one for the single copy does work. Sometimes.

If you are chomping at the bit and cannot get the PayPal buttons to give you access, send me a private message or email. I have more direct information I don't want to type out here in public, all naked and stuff.

I have other things to do than make the PayPal fairy happy. : (

ORIGINAL POST:

Does anyone have a reasonable alternative to PayPal?

I have used them since they were brand new and never had this kind of problem.

I have three PayPal buttons for SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL. Single Copy. Subscription, Annual. Subscription, Monthly.

They worked until today. I changed the graphic for SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #2 and the buttons stopped working. PayPal said it was because the buttons are now "Mal-Formed". they say my WYSIWYG editor added code inside their button, but can't tell me what it was. They say I have to delete the existing buttons, then recreate them from scratch.

I will solve this little problem by creating a separate page that does not sue the WYSIWYG ever again. But it still pisses me off. There goes the evening, when I was supposed to be working on ORFA: JORUNE and GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID.

Hope nobody slaps me, 'cause I'm all out of cheeks.

I hate to displace that Devaney Cover for Sholari v2n1...

... but the show must go on. I almost didn't make it because I was THAT sick. I'm sick all the time so when I get into talking sick, I am SICK sick. Really.

Purported cover of that issue.

Show. SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL #2.

• THE THRIDDLE DEBT
• THE HIDEOUS CONVERSIONS
• WHAT THE HELL IS ORFA?
• THE DAY WAR or THE HEAD GAME

Terribly chic and tres cool.

Subscriber and staff copies went out 5 mintues ago, so I made my September 5th deadline. You'll notice the cover is different from before. That's a clue.

Next issue: Maps,  Heretics, and Salrough Gomo's farewell address to the Assembly of the Gomo Schools at the Mountain Crown.

With artifical flavors and unauthorized additives. Or maybe something else if I get into a Mood.

Remember SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL is a private PDF newsletter that contains previews of things to come, or alternate part of things already out, or notes on things that will never appear anywhere else. And all you have to do is send in a human testicle - it doesn't have to be your own.

Or you can subscribe. details at http://skyrealmsofjorune.com/ssc.html.  Scroll down the middle column for all the nifty ways to send money. I like that. And subscriptions don't take as long to cook.

Please comment. Let me know that you, too, are delusional about having passion for a place that doesn't really exist. Were you sitting down? I should ask that first. You can comment on previous posts if nothing here raises a reaction.

Should I do a Kickstarter page for the really good therapy I so desperately need? (This other stuff doesn't seem to work.)

Oh - about the Steven Devaney cover - we found a source that can do Posters On Demand and are thinking about doing a nice big poster with the cover, without all the distracting type. Think that might be of interest for you?

It would look like this. Very much like this.

Poster for the illiterate Joruni, who cannot be offended by saying this, since he/she/ke can't read.

Cue the Lightning Machine. It's Alive!

Cover, Sholari v2n1 by Steve Devaney

It seems to be alive.

It's twitching and stuff.

SHOLARI MAGAZINE, Volume 2, Number 1

http://goo.gl/qbvjLA

The fonts are in order, thanks to Font Wrangler George Hammond.

The edits are almost all in, thanks to Paul Pinkosh and Matthew Pook.

The cover has been getting some ballyhoo, thanks to Steve Devaney.

We have the usual appreciations to offer to creators Andrew Leker, Miles Teves, Amy Leker, David Ackerman, Mark Wallace and the other initiates of the one true order of the World of the Seven Moons. Without them, we would have to walk on the ground, instead of on their shoulders. 

Newcomer Marc Debidour has contributed some interesting illustrations for the pesonnel found in the feature piece, "The Scars of Far Temauntro". Which the clever among you will see prophesied for about twenty years. 

And the re-presentation of "The Somar" from Sholari v1n2 is much more satisfying than I had expected it to be. That was published about 1996 but 21 years later is in full bloom. In this 

Paul Pinkosh conducted an interview with me to answer the question "Why Journe?"

And I answered some questions no one asked to offer the beginning of a series of editorial essays. This one is titled "A World of One's Own".

The PDF is up. The nice thing about a PDF edition is that corrections can still be made, with a free upgrade going to everyone who bought one. No extra charge. I expect there to be at least one more edition because - I have history as the Master of the Typos. Or misspelling my own name. Or something embarrassing - it doesn't count it if isn't embarrassing.

$12 and the vast sums get divided among the participants. Fair is fair. I'm sure tens and tens of dollars are going to roll in. We will be lounging in the luxury of paper wrapped meals with little packets of flavor as extras. And if you can bear deferred gratification, the print version will be $14, and comes with a free PDF copy. You could think of it as the PDF for $12, and the print version for just $2 more. You could.

It encourages in our shared delusions.

Next, we will be delusions with a minimalist notion of a game based on this world we share, where we take on other skins to adventure in a place we see better than anyone else could. Role Playing Games allow you to finish the scene to your own personal satisfaction. 

The next flavor of the delusion will be ORFA: JORUNE, a 1d20 system to make it possible to bring people unfamiliar with gaming, or this world, into a few introductory expeditions to see if it is worth converting you your own true polygon orthodoxy. Or not, as you choose. This one will have all the personnel from SHOLARI MAGAZINE v2n1 as sample characters. 

And after that we are looking at GOMO GUIDE: TAN IRICID. Really. We are. And the newly founded SEGMENT: SHO-CAUDAL might dribble out with a few issues between the bigger chunks. They might.

But, did I mention SHOLARI MAGAZINE v2n1 is up? On DriveThruRPG. Did I?