Layout well underway
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Jan 14, 2025 at 07:29:03 PM
Shrines backers!
How have I not called you "Venerators" yet? It could be like "Swifties" or "Beliebers," but for art-house indie books about bodhisattvas. I hear that shit makes billions.
Layout
In truth, I've been laying out the book this whole time. Conner established our visual language with the shrines themselves, and I've been building outward with those assets in Affinity. Book design is cool—a worthy craft. I've been reading this to at least reduce my classic-blunder count. I hope people like this book so I can do this again.
Here's the style of the text-heavy pages. This spread is a player-facing gameplay mechanic that spun out of the Sacred Hearths—an example of how the Gameplay Tools section expanded beyond generator tables.
Conner just turned in a pile of decorative filigree elements and final illustrations that unblock me to stand up most of the book. Updates should come more quickly now that content approaches lock, editing begins, and the printers and I start the alchemy of riso inks.
More soon,
James
Reworks: Henge of the Holy Footstep & Pagoda of Saint Kiran the Eye
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Dec 24, 2024 at 10:25:12 AM
Happy holidays, everyone. May oversized hoodies and cocoa steam silence all thoughts but "Mmmmmm."
Discord
Discord link up front this time. Come hang, share your projects, influence this one, etc.
Reworks
As I repeatedly delay this book through scope-creeps toward something better, it feels important to show you what that means. Here are two shrines from the Kickstarter campaign that showcased the minimalism we've since found insufficient.
Pagoda of Saint Kiran the Eye
Previously:
Now:
"Use more Tibetan words," the Khenpo said before monologuing about geological time. I scribbled on a pad like "Hell yeah, hell yeah."
Previously:
Now:
"That looks like a beyul," the Khenpo said, reminding me of a word I forgot and a concept I've been vibing on since I was a kid. You may recall this shrine being the campaign's example of fiction outside Himalayan tradition, but we're approaching an "Oops, All Buddhism" situation over here, and honestly, it's awesome.
That's it for today, so I'll talk to you all in the new year!
Hard at work, and excited for layout reveals,
James
Cultural consultation with Khenpo Pema Wangdak
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Dec 06, 2024 at 02:17:37 PM
Hi, everyone!
I hope you're all enjoying winter's arrival as much as I am. It snowed here for a moment the other day, and I realized as my breathing changed that I hadn't expected to see that again. Hyperbolic, for sure, but mainly just premature—we'll get a few more of these yet.
Cultural Consultation
Now that the vast majority of both art and writing is complete, we're ready for Khenpo Pema Wangdak—director of the the Vikramasila Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist educational non-profit in New York City—to review the illustrations, narrative text, and gameplay hooks (to which he's surprisingly hip).
We met this this morning for the first of two sessions and took this selfie with the Windows Snipping Tool:
The "inter-pollination of culture," as the Khenpo put it, was a major theme of our discussion as I found myself over-qualifying the degree to which a given design was Buddhist or not Buddhist or Buddhism-adjacent when it's allowed to bridge its references as global conversation. His recommendations were either surgical one-word tweaks, connections to myths I didn't know and so must learn, or open-ended musing about questions in his own practice (which I found especially generative).
At least one shrine from the Kickstarter campaign just gained a whole new dimension.
Shrine Reveal
To illustrate the impact of even subtle changes, here's a new, WIP shrine reveal (your reward for reading) that simply gained a Tibetan name to better connect its fiction, which references the Desert Fathers of Orthodox Christianity, to the classic Bodhisattva posture in its art.
EM|NCD is grateful for the Khenpo Pema's insight, rapport, and especially time.
Discord
As always, please join us on Discord, where I invite you to participate in this book's ongoing development. I workshopped Wandering Effigies ad nauseam with the crew we have so far, and even the book's essay is now under review. Hope to see you there!
With love, and in touch,
James
T-shirt printing complete
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 10:43:40 AM
Most patient of backers,
It's been a month of silence, for which I apologize, but with a wedding ring on my finger and summer finally slain, I'm back with more news of SHRINES and its journey to your bookshelves and wardrobes alike.
T-Shirt Printing
This morning, big machines at Lancaster Print House spun your shirts to life. They're gorgeous, straight up.
I floated around the operators like a gnat to get these photos of the process:
These beauties are staying safe and boxed until fulfillment time, which continues to be "When the book is done," which gets closer every day. I continue to scope-creep, both on the shrine vignettes themselves and with new, unadvertised gameplay tools—simply trusting that you'd prefer a bigger and more interesting book. As always, I'm grateful for your trust and patience as I finish Empty Mountain's first major publication. We shan't pull punches here (we shan't!).
Discord Link
Finally, this wouldn't be an update without a new link to the press' Discord server, which recently gained a play-by-post channel to play, so far, collaborative worldbuilding games like our own SANCTUM. Join us!
Thank you, and in touch,
James
Production status, two shrine reveals, and my impending wedding
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Sep 09, 2024 at 11:12:25 AM
Shrines backers!
The work continues. Here's where we stand.
Production
- We have 100% of your t-shirt specs, so now the printer has the SKUs and design files they need. We're locking down printing dates now. This is a touch behind schedule, but the book isn't finished anyway, so nothing really changes.
- Conner has only a single illustration and a few decorative elements to go, so art for the book is very close to locked. They've done an incredible job, especially toward the end here as the book's vision refined. I'm thrilled for you to see it in full.
- The writing has further to go, in part because I keep increasing scope. In an earlier update I shared that I was expanding the gameplay hooks to offer a bit more crunch, and some of those ideas have spun off into standalone systems/mechanics for the Tools section (I won't name them yet, but one of this update's shrine reveals mentions one of them). This book became more than the campaign described, and while that means we'll nurture it longer before handing it to you, it should be worth the time.
- Soon the full team meets with Khenpo Pema Wangdak for an exciting consultation about how we might better incorporate Tibetan Buddhist mythology. This will mostly impact writing, since the art is mostly done (our consultant from the Himalayan art museum world, Jeremy McMahan, has been instrumental there), and I'm thrilled to learn what new narratives we might include.
Shrine Reveals
As always, click not if ye love surprise, but here are two probably-finalized spreads from the book's main section:
These both went through many drafts and exemplify, I think, the upper level of detail that these vignettes should reach (the balance between practical usability and respectful minimalism remains the book's most operative challenge).
I'm Getting Married!
I swindled someone brilliant, kind, and beautiful into marrying me, and that ceremony will swallow my life at the end of this month. This means you shouldn't expect the next update until mid-October or so while I pause this year's whirlwind to celebrate and breathe.
Discord Link
Finally, here's a fresh link to the Discord server, which now has a member-requested (and immediately active) #writing-buddies channel. We welcome any of you to join!
Until next time, and with love,
James
