The New Year is full of promise . . .

[Kevin]

For a lot of you, the Holiday Season is trips, travel, long weekends, relaxing, parties and fun. Which is awesome, but for Palladium, this our busiest season.

Busy, busy, busy.

And it’s great. The level of purchases, the level of excitement, the level of fun, the amount of love . . . and its all just a prelude to next year!

We shipped out 47 Grab Bag orders Monday, 18 Tuesday and 23 today. Plus I personally packed up a half dozen on Saturday and hand-delivered one to a gent in my neighborhood (although he wasn’t home, so I just left the package between the doors). And the next week or two should see a lot of last minute X-Mas Grab Bags pouring in! That’s great! Take advantage this great deal, and keep 'em coming. We love doing them, no matter how much time they chew up.

On top of that, we have the day to day business responsibilities, plus our fiscal year ends with the calendar year so there will be inventory and bookkeeping, and taxes and all kinds of stuff to deal with over the next few weeks. Then there’s wheelin’ and dealin’ on the business side of things, working with freelancers, coordinating product development plus the personal demands of the holiday season. And(!) we are trying to get three books to the printer for January release!!!! Speaking of which, The Rifter #37 is epic, and so is Rifts Sourcebook One Expanded, and D-Bees of North America.

That means I won’t have time to do too many Murmurs in December because I am BURIED. All of us are. I hope you understand.

Megaverse United Prints — #1892 sold and shipped today

I had hoped to have sold 2000 by the end of the year and we are darn close to it. Think about that number: 1892 prints sold. That’s a lot of fans buying prints. Thank you EVERYBODY who has purchased one (or more). We’ll probably keep the Megaverse United Prints availability through May 2007, and then discontinue it.

Heroes of the Megaverse® Print #500

Buying one of these prints gets you a chance to have your name selected to become an official (and perhaps historic) Palladium character, but December is your last chance.

Number 500 sold and shipped out this afternoon, and those of you meaning to get one still have a few weeks to do so before this opportunity is gone FOREVER. We have no intension of offering a contest like this again.

The Rifter® #37 is impressive

I have a feeling The Rifter® #37 going to be another issue that sells out fast, like issues #21 or #34. It has Splicer® sourcematerial (House Shiva, by Todd Yoho), a juicy batch of Mega-Hero sourcematerial by Greg Diaczyk for Heroes Unlimited, and Rifts® sourcematerial on RCSG and Fort Laredo, by Matt Olfson, in addition to a short, BTS-2 story by Jason Marker, the latest chapter of The Hammer of the Forge, news, coming attractions and other good stuff. Oh yeah, and a great cover by Tyler Walpole depicting a Mega-Hero in action! Great work Tyler.

Not to rant and rave too much, but this powerful cover and the great material inside The Rifter® is indicative of EVERYTHING we are working on for 2007. Dynamic, pulse-pounding stuff that’s gonna make the reader gasp and say, “wow.” We are pounding out the best work of our careers and you are going to love it.

2007 – A new beginning for Palladium

It certainly feels like it. We sure hope so.

We feel the potential for Palladium Books in 2007 is greater than it has been in years, and we are pumped up about it. We’re still struggling to get new product on store shelves (I’m lucky if I get to write 3-4 hours a day when I need to be spending 8-12 hours writing), but man oh man, the books we are working on are going to knock your socks off.

We have worked diligently throughout 2006 to rebuild our foundation and put Palladium Books in a position to make some bold moves next year. Those efforts include Tony Falzon in sales, breaking into the book trade, creating new books that will wow and woo you and get more people to try our games! And then there is the impressive work of Palladium's dynamic freelancer writers and artists. Wait to you see this new stuff, starting with The Rifer #37. But it has been the dedication of the Palladium crew and the continued enthusiasm and support of Palladium fans that have helped get us to this point!

Yep, the excitement is building. We are feeling so hopeful I feel like I'm gonna explode. The momentum is rising . . . and Palladium will not disappoint. I think 2007 is going to be an explosive year for us. I can feel it with every fiber of my being.

Keep an eye out for new product next year, and please don’t forget about us. And when you game, make your gaming experience Palladium. Thanks. Enjoy the holiday season and stay safe, love your loved ones and keep the faith.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Surrogate Santa, Busy Guy & Optimist
© December 13, 2006