Filled with Wonder and Excitement
Hey everyone,
I hope you are all doing well, enjoying lovely spring weather, and are excited about our new, horrifyingly fun sale on physical books and PDFs.
We continue to receive cards and condolences from our many fans and friends regarding the loss of Kathy Simmons, as well as inquiries about how I am doing. Thank you for caring so much. We appreciate your concern and words of love and compassion. All of you in our extended Palladium family of fans are so kind and downright awesome.
I won’t pretend the unexpected death of my sweetheart hasn’t been brutal – it has. She was a special person and loved deeply by me and countless others. We are getting through it as best we can and carry our many fond memories of Kathy in our hearts daily. And always will.
Life continues and it is filled with wonder and excitement. It was fun meeting and hanging out with the TransPerfect guys last week. The 3D printed TMNT & Other Strangeness miniature mock-ups they brought with them made my heart jump with joy. It was amazing to hold Doc Feral, Karl, Igor, the Terror Bears, the Turtles, Shredder and all the rest in my hands. They look beyond amazing. I was moved that they thought to present me a special, five inch tall Leonardo for my desk; I love it. I love all of the miniatures and the people responsible for their creation. I cannot recommend the two Kickstarter miniature sets enough. Wow. Mind-blowing. I have been pulling out various minis to randomly examine and enjoy all week. Today they were Casey Jones, Splinter, and the Triceraton. Dang, they are all so good.
I cannot stop playing with the Mutagen Green dice sample either! On Sunday, a visiting friend went bonkers over the dice. Sean worked with our manufacturer to create something unique and fun with these Mutagen Green dice. They feel good in your hand, roll nice, and look like dice containing active, mutagenic green ooze. Heck, I’m in my sixties, but all the miniatures, the dice, and seeing the finished color artwork going into final layout makes me feel like a teenager again. The fan boy in me is cheering and giddy with excitement every single day.
Speaking of art, I’m happy that Nickelodeon is approving the new illustrations I’ve done and that I get such positive feedback from them and people like Sophie Campbell. I did two tribute pages. One is a massive T-Rex menacing the Turtles (colored by Sophie). Sophie also enjoyed my latest tribute page featuring the four TMNT fighting Doctor Feral and his henchmen, including the fully human Otto Rattus appearing in an illustration for the first time ever! Her favorite part of it is Raphael punching out Otto, which made my heart sing. Every part of the TMNT & Other Strangeness Redux has been a labor of love.
I had a really nice time at Chaosium Con too – we love those guys. The event reminded Sean and I of our own Palladium Open House. There have been other business and personal moments that have brought me joy and remind me that life is beautiful, and that Kathy would want me and all of us to revel in every moment. In fact, I can’t wait for Free Comic Book Day this Saturday! Oops, there’s the little kid in me coming out again.
I’ve talked a lot about the TMNT project, but we have so much more happening behind the scenes and planned for the future. New books for Rifts, Palladium Fantasy, Beyond the Supernatural, and ... well, I better not say too much just yet, but you’ll be doing a happy dance when we reveal them. In fact, I’m getting a hankering to sit down and do some writing right now. So I will bid you a fond goodbye for now. So much to do, plus Gen Con is right around the corner. We hope many of you will swing by the Palladium booth to say hello.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer, and Friend
