Whew – busy, busy, busy. Mostly writing.
Been taking care of a lot of odds and ends lately as well as writing like crazy.
Assigned artwork for The Rifter® #55, a few last minute pieces for Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ and Rifts Vampires sourcebook.
I'll be assigning more artwork for Rifts® Lemuria today and tomorrow.
Preparing contracts for creators.
I've been working with other artists and writers to keep the whole sheebang rockin’ n’ rollin.’
There have been (and will continue to be) more tweaks to the Palladium website.
Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ is looking great. I know gamers love these big books, but they are brutal, i.e. Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ is a 400 page manuscript. Gah.
At least I'm two-thirds through, maybe even more than that. I feel like I'm wrapping up, though I have something like eight text files all in various stages of unfinishedness . . . I mean completion. 
Thankfully, I’ve been writing away and having fun with it. I still can’t believe how much new material is in this book. There are a lot of new little additions and details that are going to make this book soooo good.
FYI: A handful of people have asked if Palladium is going to update other Rifts® titles. Here and there, yes, but the beauty of the Rifts® Ultimate Edition is that I designed it to fit with ALL the pre-existing titles. That means they don’t need to be rewritten or updated. They fit the rules and setting just fine.
So why rewrite and update some books, like Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™? Because as the creator and chief architect behind Rifts®, there are times when I think – "Man, I have so many new ideas for that title.” Or “I’d really like to redo that book and while I’m at it, add stuff and update the setting a bit.”
Anyway, the writing and art is coming along. And Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™, Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook™ and Rifts® Lemuria (and Robotech® New Generation™ and Megaverse® in Flames and . . .) are going to be crowd pleasers.
Online Sales: Have been flat this week. At least Rifts® Free Quebec™ and Rifts® Book of Magic™ are selling well, as are a number of the other books recently brought back in print. I hope to bring Three Galaxies™ and a few other out of print titles back soon too.
BIG sale this weekend at the Palladium online store This weekend will be the first of two June Sales designed to celebrate Palladium’s 30 Year Birthday. You can get all the details in the Weekly Update tomorrow, but trust me, you don’t want to miss it. There are some cool items and big savings. The next sale will have all different items.
I’ve been talking with a number of my freelance writers and artists (Mumah, Bradshaw, Burles, Barkdoll, and others) as I keep all our projects going. In fact, I’ll be meeting with Mark Dudley any minute now, so I better wrap up. After our meeting, it will be back to writing for me.
Keep the faith. Enjoy the two, upcoming weekends of Palladium sales – our gift to you – and keep those imaginations burning bright.
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer and Game Designer
© Copyright June 15, 2011 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, Warpath, Shemarrian Nation, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.
Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.