I understand that question has been a matter of some debate on the message boards. My answer is, we are sure going to try.
Will we succeed? I don’t know, but we are sure going to try.
If I was a betting man, I bet Palladium will release 8-10 of those books by June. Personally, I will be thrilled with that. But you know what? We really are shooting for 12 or 13.
Warpath is the most likely casualty on that schedule. With it being an RPG, it will require the most time and work, so it is the most likely to miss its targeted release date. (Get this, within Palladium we are shooting for an Open House release, but that is really is insane, and probably unlikely.) But I don't know, maybe we can get it done by June.
We are already falling behind a week or two on Robotech® The Masters Saga and Dyval has been pushed back to an end of February release. But you know what, those books are almost finished and we are already have four other titles in active development (preliminary editing, art, etc.)!
What some people don’t seem to understand is writing quality books that push the envelope and wow the reader are hard work and take time. When Jason was working on Robotech® Masters he suffered writers block for a solid month, struggled to get words on paper and felt awful about it. He felt like he was letting Palladium and the fans down. We always feel bad when a book gets delayed. I hope my words of encouragement and suggestions helped him work through it. He did, of course, and he was back on track. We also pushed the back the deadline for artwork because there was more we wanted to present in the book. Then there were things I needed Jason to change and other things I needed him to add. It all meant more time (about 2+ months more time when all was said and done) too get the book ready to go to the printer. Now we are waiting on approvals and they may want additional changes (hopefully nothing major and long to do).
But you know what? Robotech® The Masters Saga is a GREAT sourcebook. Not so, so. Not rushed. Not good. It is GREAT. I don’t even care for that part of the Robotech series and I love this book. When Robotech fans see I think they'll love it too. The art, the text, the mecha and gear . . . oh man.
Writing is a living, growing process. So is the creation of the artwork and the presentation and every aspect of the layout and boopk design. Some books fly out in no time (Dead Reign), some take time (Masters), and some take an excruciating amount of time and/or are delayed for other reasons (Dyval). In fact, there were countless hours spent on research for Masters. We want the sourcematerial in Masters to be dead on and true to the licensed proper.
Can we get even 8-10 of those 13 books released by June?
Watch and find out. I think we may surprise everyone. But whether we succeed or fail, you can count on a lot of quality books seeing release, and all of them fun, exciting, and the best we can make them. Nothing rushed out or second rate. Which makes our schedule all the more challenging. That’s okay, because sometimes you need to challenge yourself.
Keep those imaginations burning bright and keep the faith, ‘cuz them books are a comin' soon. And we are shooting for 13 of them by June!
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Game Designer & Publishing Maniac
© Copyright January 30, 2009 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.