THE DRAGON KNIGHT is the newest addition to James A. Owen's bestselling Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series of YA novels.
We've finalized the jacket for THE DRAGON KNIGHT, and are uploading high-res files to our printer. We're pretty happy with it, and hope you are too. More art to come.
Bestest,
James & Team Dragon
I'm nearly finished with the book – a little more writing and edits, then the illustrations to go, but I'm very pleased with how the work has gone now that I'm healthy and running on all cylinders again. Also, the covers on the art editions and slipcases will be finished soon, and I'm working on the designs for the illustrations for the Art Editions (first test Dragon pictured below.) As soon as the last of the book illustrations and edits are done, we'll be making the PDF/ebook versions of THE DRAGON KNIGHT available immediately to all of the backers, so you can start reading while we're finishing printing and fulfillment.
As always, THANK YOU so much for your support, and your patience as I finish these books. I promise, you'll be very pleased with the results.
Your friends in moxie,
James & Team Dragon
My friend Lisa Mangum once said something about how if you want to play in the Big Leagues, you have to act like you belong there.
Sometimes, what helps is also having a world-class team around you to help you play – like my genius printer who just showed me these gorgeous covers. More art, story, and production pics coming up shortly.
Your friends in moxie,
James & Team Dragon
Hi everyone –
Thanks so much for your patience in waiting for this update. I'd explained the illnesses I'd been dealing with – a cold in October, mid-campaign, that turned into pneumonia in November and December – and I hoped that was done with, but I got another cold right after the holidays, and then we discovered the underlying cause for all of it was, in part, a really terrible jaw infection. It was bad enough I ended up in the ER a couple of weeks ago, on morphine and IV antibiotics, and then a surgery was required to get it under control. Then after that, I still needed another procedure – a root canal – just last Monday to make sure it didn't return. It has been a very difficult January, but I'm off of the painkillers and antibiotics, listened to the advice telling me to focus on rest and recovery first, and I think it is finally, FINALLY, all done with.
I couldn't do much of anything during the pneumonia, and dealing with the acute infection was worse. But I'm back to full workdays in the Studio, and I'm getting caught up. I didn't want to post any updates until we knew it was under control, and I'd be back to productivity, so I hope you take this update as a good sign. :) I'm rested, hungry to get some drawings done, and eager to get these books finished.
The next updates will contain art, and production progress reports from our printer. In a couple of weeks we'll have a better idea of a delivery date. But in the meantime, again, I am grateful for your patience and the support you have given to this project. It will be my best book so far, and now, finally, it is back on track.
More to follow soon –
Your friend in moxie,
James and Team Dragon
Thank you for your support of THE DRAGON KNIGHT on Kickstarter. These books would not be happening without your support – but it's going to take longer than we hoped to get them finished. Those of you who follow me online already had an idea of this, but I got sick with a bad cold partway through the Kickstarter, and in November, it turned into full-blown pneumonia.
All the time that had been planned for finishing the book and all of the illustrations was instead devoted to managing the illness and trying to get well. I was hoping to still make the timing work, and had been rushing on the stories and art to leave as much production time as possible for our printer – but then I had a relapse at Thanksgiving, and last week I realized that the only way we could still try to get the books done and shipped before Christmas meant either compromising the quality of the illustration and design (including editing) or compromising the production by cornering our printer into an impossible schedule.
I decided that as badly as I (and all of you) wanted these books to be going out now, it would be better to make sure they were done the way I said they would be, instead of compromising the quality to try to finish them more quickly.
The books may have been delayed due to my illness – but we are working hard on them and hope to be delivering them to you soon after the holidays. As a show of gratitude for your support and patience (and also so that you'd have something cool in time for Christmas), we are sending each of you an exclusive, signed print of the cover art, and the signed double-sided bookmark we offered early backers (and decided to just give to all of you, since the 250 backer cutoff was going to exclude only about 50 of you.)
They'll be going out this week (with a note about the delay) in an illustrated Dragon envelope. PLEASE NOTE: there are about twenty of you who still need to get your surveys done so we can get you on the mailing list for the print and bookmark. If you are one of those, please check to make sure that you have the BackerKit survey email and take a few minutes to respond!
We are doing everything possible to create the best work we can, so that, even late, you will receive what we promised: books of exceptional quality. I'm so sorry to have to give you this disappointing news, but I hope that you will understand and forgive. I'll make the books worth the wait. I promise.
Thank you, and Merry Christmas!
James & Team Dragon
