VICTORY OR DEATH

I’d have to get another round of contact info updates from the participants. In the time since everyone turned in their work, Tumblr has gone through some seismic shifts, Twitter has become what it has, and people have generally spread out all over. So I’ll have to go to everyone individually and get updates from them. It’s not impossible but it’ll take more time.

But my move probably isn’t happening until mid-or late summer so I guess that’s something I have.

It’s not rude to ask. They haven’t shipped out, no. Long story (kind of) short, I fell behind, I got depressed, and with everything that’s been happening on social media, and platforms shifting, I haven’t been able to keep everyone’s information updated fast enough to get the book to print. 

I’ve moved once in the last year and I’m facing down another move again. Once I’m through with that I’m likely going to go through the slow process of refunding everyone for their stuff. That still leaves me with all of the merch that was produced and I’ll have to deal with that, but that’s a bridge I’ll have to cross when I come to it.

I do still have the book money in a separate bank account but it's not enough to give everyone a refund right away.

Question, if we ordered a physical version, what should we do if we've had an address change?

Once I have the actual books in-hand, I'll be contacting anyone who bought the physical edition individually in order to confirm the shipping address.

As a recent DM stated, it's been six years since this zine started. Five years since preorders were taken. I've got a lot to apologize for, and I could go into the reasons why this is so delayed, but at the end of the day I should have been more responsible or taken help where it was offered instead of being stubborn.

This is just a physical proof. I have a couple of small graphical edits to make (cover & credits page backgrounds) and I have to add contributors' social details in. For that part, I'll be reaching out to writers and artists over the next week or so with a PDF preview to confirm details. I'll do this individually so nobody is getting lost in a stack of BCCs.

It's still unfinished.

Long story short, the last parts of the book have been in limbo because I've had a hard time maintaining focus. Executive dysfunction, brain fog, whatever you want to call it. It's something that I have to finish myself because handing it off would probably be just about as much work, organizationally.

I have a lot of data to sort of reconcile because it's been a long time and socials and names have changed. I'm trying to take it one step at a time, though, and finish laying things out before I go about fixing the credits. I'm going to have a preview PDF out to contributors at the end of January, at which time they'll have a couple of weeks to ask me for corrections.

I'm sorry, once again, to everyone who's still waiting on this. I could apologize a million times but that doesn't change the fact that this should have been out three years ago.

The money's still in the bank for printing and shipping. The merch is done, mostly, I just need to press the buttons. It's not a situation where I ran off with the funds. It's just been an honest to god lack of will and I'm just grateful for everyone's patience and the patience of the contributors who have been trying all along to light a fire under my ass.

Anyway, check back here in the beginning of February. I'll put up some more previews, and maybe some photos while i press and pack stuff.

I made an update to the website at long last. Everything you need to know about how things are going is there, but here’s a quick rundown:

Editing is going to finish this week. I’ve enlisted the help of a friend who’s sitting in Discord with me while I work to ensure it gets done. After that, I’ll be getting the book proofed to make sure the art all looks good while I wait for contributors to confirm their details. The merch is all done except for the buttons, which I’ll be pressing while I wait for the proof to come in.

I’ll be emailing everyone who bought the book individually to confirm shipping details right before the books go out. Domestic orders will go out first, followed by international ones, after which I’ll send out contributor copies.

If you have any questions after reading the site, please contact me via email at [email protected] or via DM through the Twitter account (https://twitter.com/vodzine). I don’t want to use Tumblr for correspondence as I’m afraid of people’s inquiries getting lost.

I’m sorry once again. I never meant to take this long, and I know it’s hard to trust a zine after so many have gone so sideways for multiple reasons. The resources are still there to finish, and I’m just grateful to everyone who’s stuck with me through this and all the other garbage that’s come at us these last two years.

Apologies to everyone who’s been waiting on a response from me. I’ve been out of my house since Thanksgiving due to a flooding situation so I haven’t had access to my computer.

Long story short, things have been stressful. Incredibly so because of the pandemic and deadlines. I wanted to get the book printed by the end of the year, but no dice because of the reason I stated above.

I have to take a couple of days to get settled again, after which I’m going to get back to work. 

I’m sorry it’s just more excuses right now. The money is still in the account to get the book printed. That hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just been one disaster after another last year.

Hopefully 2021 is different.

I’ll update the site later today provided I’m not worn out from moving things.

Thanks for being patient, once again.

Stream is live!

https://twitch.tv/fusspot

Hey all,

I just wanted to let you know that I posted an update on the site explaning what’s going on currently. Long story short: I haven’t been able to pull myself away from the news long enough to get much done. I did finish one of the last two pieces that I had to do for the zine, the last of which I’m going to try to get done on a stream. 

I have errands to do this morning, but the moment I’m done I’m going to hop onto Twitch and do a bit of an accountability stream where you can watch me finish the last piece and work on wrapping up the book assembly. There, you can ask questions, ask to see what some of the merch looks like live, etc.

I wanted to have the proof sent out by the end of May, but then, welp, malicious cops happened. But I have finally made progress and I want a proof out the door by the end of next week.

So help me, I just want to be done.

Nope! I definitely need the pressure! If it’s going to help me get this thing out the door then I’ll take all the pressure I can get.

Seriously, the last thing I want is for anyone to think that this book was a scam and that I’m keeping everyone’s money. It’s all still in the bank and waiting for me to place an order for the books. I know you all want your stuff and the last thing I want to do is sit here and dole out more excuses. 

Provided everything goes smoothly and losses in the mail are minimal, extras will be going up for sale once all customers and contributors have their copies. I’ll be ordering a few extras just as insurance against lost packages.

Hey there. 

Yes, unfortunately the pandemic has slowed things down a fair bit. I’m still active and still trying to finish my own pieces amid other work. I do freelance pretty much full time aside from the book and every time I try to settle down to finish the thing I’ve got something else pulling my attention away.

The book itself has been about 95% complete for a bit now, aside from my own contributions. What I’m going to probably have to do is just send it in to get proofed as-is and finish off what I have to do on the side. Literally, that’s the last bit. The book. That’s it. Everything else is done. 

That said: I’m going to place a hard deadline on myself to get this thing proofed: May 17th. If I don’t have an update here and on Twitter with a screenshot of a receipt from the printer for a proof, I’ll at least have another update as to how things are going.

Sorry again for the silence, everyone. I know things are hairy worldwide with the pandemic and everything. I just hope you’re all hanging in there. I’m going to be keeping an eye on the shipping situation since I know a lot of post offices are over-burdened currently and a handful are not accepting packages at all. If I run into any troubles, I will contact those the situation affects individually.

1 - Dedication page 2 - My interior piece, which has been fighting me tooth and nail 3 - Spot art

I woke up to an email reminding me that it’s been forever and a day since I provided an update to you all. The holidays turned into a time warp. But I’ve been picking at the book, and I’ll be working on it in earnest this weekend. I never intended to let it get to be the middle of fxxin January without delivering, yikes.

I’ll be streaming while I work (at least for most of the time). I’ll stick a post up here when I go live.

I’m sorry, all. I know zines are a touchy thing what with how many have either gone silent or turned into scams, and I’ll try not to let you go so long without at least a “we’re still alive!” again. Though if I finish everything I intend this weekend, that shouldn’t have to be an issue.

Thanks for being patient, all.