Outland’s very own Ian Stuart Sharpe went Viking with what was billed as the “Vinland Invasion” of the Jorvik Viking Festival in the UK. You might not be old enough to remember the British Invasion, but you still feel its effects. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Gwendolyn Nix gwen@outlandentertainment.com DARK FANTASY NOVEL ACQUIRED BY OUTLAND ENTERTAINMENT Novelist Kate Martin joins Outland Entertainment family with The Soulless KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (MARCH 2, 2020)—A new dark epic...
Hello folks! So, coming in February, will be a campaign for our latest anthology - Where the Veil is Thin. Featuring stories from David Bowles, Seanan McGuire, Glenn Parris, Shanna Swendson, Gwendolyn N. Nix, L. Penelope, Alethea Kontis, Linda Robertson, Grey Yuen,...
Hello everybody! It took us a while, but APEX: Collected Edition is now LIVE on Kickstarter! Thank you for being patient, giving us feedback, and sticking with us while we sorted out all the details to give this the biggest chance of success as possible. We appreciate...
Hello everybody! We're well aware that we've had multiple announcements for the launch of APEX: The Collected Edition on Kickstarter and apologize for that. We were excited about getting the game back out there and we made announcements prematurely. To that end, I...
Fox & Willow, an online grim fairytale series, has been acquired by Outland Entertainment. Written by Allison Pang and illustrated by Irma ‘Aimo’ Ahmed, Fox & Willow debuted in April 2012 and has maintained a strong fanbase ever since. Following the runaway princess, Willow, and her mischievous fox spirit companion, Gideon, the overarching plot…
Hello everybody! I know that we announced the hard launch date for the Kickstarter for APEX: Collected Edition yesterday. When we announced that, we felt pretty sure we were ready to roll, but we had a significant amount of feedback on the campaign. Because of how the...
Okay folks! We finally have news. We're planning to launch the APEX: Collected Edition on Tuesday, December 10th. Here's a preview of the campaign that you can check out before launch!...
The Jötunn War Issue 02 just reached it's primary funding goal on Kickstarter! We're now at the final 20 hours of the campaign and we're hoping to raise funds for issue three! Thank you all so much for your continued support! The Jötunn War is a FOUR ISSUE graphic...
Hello everybody! A quick update on the status of the upcoming Apex Theropod: Deckbuilding Game Collected Edition Kickstarter. We had expected to launch the Kickstarter last week, but it took a little longer than we anticipated to get all the details in from the...
So, coming in February, will be a campaign for our latest anthology – Where the Veil is Thin.
Featuring stories from David Bowles, Seanan McGuire, Glenn Parris, Shanna Swendson, Gwendolyn N. Nix, L. Penelope, Alethea Kontis, Linda Robertson, Grey Yuen, Minsoo Kang, Carlos Hernandez, C.S.E Cooney, Zin E. Rocklyn, and edited by Cerece Rennie Murphy and Alana Joli Abbott! Foreward by Jim C. Hines.
Around the world, there are tales of creatures that live in mist or shadow, hidden from humans by only the slightest veil. In Where the Veil Is Thin, these creatures step into the light. Some are small and harmless. Some are bizarre mirrors of this world. Some have hidden motives, while others seek justice against humans who have wronged them.
In these pages, you will meet blood-sucking tooth fairies and gentle boo hags, souls who find new shapes after death and changelings seeking a way to fit into either world. You will cross the veil—but be careful that you remember the way back.
It took us a while, but APEX: Collected Edition is now LIVE on Kickstarter! Thank you for being patient, giving us feedback, and sticking with us while we sorted out all the details to give this the biggest chance of success as possible. We appreciate it!
We’re well aware that we’ve had multiple announcements for the launch of APEX: The Collected Edition on Kickstarter and apologize for that. We were excited about getting the game back out there and we made announcements prematurely.
To that end, I wanted to talk a bit about why we’ve delayed the launch several times and address some concerns that were raised.
It is no mystery that Outland has had trouble with delivery of past Kickstarter projects. We recognize this and admit to having post-Kickstarter issues with getting our products in backers hands. With that in mind:
We know we have a problem. And admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it, right? This is why we have engaged a completely external team, KickCTRL, who is handling management and delivery of our Kickstarter projects moving forward. This helps us tremendously – it let’s us focus on what we’re good at, the creative, and helps to ensure that each project is handled correctly and delivered in a timely manner to our backers.
If you look at any of our past Kickstarter projects, you’ll see that we have not abandoned any. We’re still active and we’re still delivering any outstanding material as quickly as we can. All projects will be delivered.
In terms of delays to the launch of this project specifically:
Due to the issues that were present in earlier APEX Kickstarter projects, we are being extra cautious to make sure that we absolutely do not have any of the issues that presented themselves in the past. This is extremely important to us, so we decided early on to not launch until we had everything as close to sorted out as possible.
We had an incredible amount of excellent feedback from backers, and we wanted to make sure that we heard and made changes to the campaign based on that feedback.
With that in mind, we had to re-quote not only the printing of the game several times, but we had to reach out to several different fulfillment companies to make sure that we could provide the absolute best international shipping rates possible. It took weeks to get new print and fulfillment quotes, which pushed us into the holidays.
Ultimately, everybody wants this to be as successful a project as possible. Making sure we have the right numbers, the best shipping, and not launching in the middle of the holidays seemed like the best possible solution to give APEX the best opportunity for success.
As it stands, we have all the feedback from backers and have made changes accordingly.
We have all the numbers in.
We have engaged a fulfillment company that can provide friendly international shipping.
And now, we’re just waiting for the holidays to wrap up.
We’ll be launching Tuesday, January 7th, 2020.
Once again, our apologies for the delay on the launch. We’ll see you in January!
I know that we announced the hard launch date for the Kickstarter for APEX: Collected Edition yesterday.
When we announced that, we felt pretty sure we were ready to roll, but we had a significant amount of feedback on the campaign. Because of how the first two campaigns were run and the fact that not everything was delivered on time or at all, we are being extremely cautious about launching this project before everything is locked down.
There is no doubt that some of you are frustrated with the continued delays and we apologize for that – but we have to make sure that what we offer is not only the best possible product for you, but that we will get it to you in a timely manner and at the best rate possible.
To that end, we’ve adjusted a lot of the campaign based on feedback, which has required that we get new quotes on a few items. That said, we’re really, REALLY, close. We just want to make sure that everything is locked down before we press the launch button.
Again, we apologize for the continued delays.
In the meantime, please feel free to continue to comment and make suggestions! We’re taking all comments into consideration!
We finally have news. We’re planning to launch the APEX: Collected Edition on Tuesday, December 10th. Here’s a preview of the campaign that you can check out before launch!
The Jötunn War Issue 02 just reached it’s primary funding goal on Kickstarter!
We’re now at the final 20 hours of the campaign and we’re hoping to raise funds for issue three! Thank you all so much for your continued support!
The Jötunn War is a FOUR ISSUE graphic novel that takes place in the worlds of the Vikingverse and is a follow-up to the the full-fledged novel, The All Father Paradox. You can find more about The Jötunn War Issue 01 here!
***
A war as old as time, where fate itself hangs in the balance.
In the Vikingverse, the Norse rule the stars with restless fleets and an iron will. But when the thralls rebel, turning to the artifice of Norns to help them escape their bondage, the Natural order is thrown into chaos.
The Jötunn War has been fought across the Nine Homeworlds to contain the threat, a battle against the stuff of ancient nightmares, red in tooth and claw. Jötunheim is the rebellion’s last redoubt, an indignity the Empire planned to cleanse with flame and fury.
But now Emperor Dietbald is dead, his army annihilated at Vimur River. As the last desperate survivors rally on the planet below, the Norse fleet prepares to rain vengeance on their eternal foe.
The Jötunn War. Go Big or Go Home in a body bag.
***
We’ve brought it to Kickstarter to help fund the printing of the second issue. The second issue itself is COMPLETE. It’s a 22 page comic that is completely finished! We just need a little help getting it into print and out into the world.
A quick update on the status of the upcoming Apex Theropod: Deckbuilding Game Collected Edition Kickstarter.
We had expected to launch the Kickstarter last week, but it took a little longer than we anticipated to get all the details in from the printer. We want to make sure we’re doing this absolutely right so we can deliver as soon after the campaign as possible. The only way to do this is to make sure that everything we can possibly consider in terms of cost of printing and shipping is as close to accurate as possible.
Right now, we’re expecting the remaining details from the printer to arrive early next week and depending on that info, we’ll move forward accordingly.
Our goal is to launch within the next several weeks and we’ll keep you all updated as we find out more news.
I know that things have been a bit quiet most of the last year, but things have been grinding along! We’ve been looking into ways to correct some of our past mistakes, namely, the extreme mismanagement of our crowdfunding campaigns.
We KNOW we have really screwed things up.
What we’ve been doing this past year is assessing just how badly we have screwed up and how we can go about fixing what we screwed up. Now, we’re well aware that we’ve been pretty terrible at –
communication with our backers;
managing production timelines;
and delivering our products in a timely manner.
We recognize that these have been major problems of ours. There’s no excuse, outside of terrible management on our part. And we’re taking steps to fixing these problems. You know that saying –
Admitting you have a problem is the first step in fixing the problem?
Well, that’s what we’re doing. Admitting the problem and taking steps to fix it.
To that end, we’ve partnered with a company that specializes in helping to correct mismanaged campaigns (which is a category we firmly fall into). They also manage campaigns from start to finish as well, which we’ll be taking them up on moving forward.
KickCTRL is taking over the delivery of any and all outstanding projects we’re working on. They will also be handling the projects that we will be running in the future as well. All projects we run moving forward will be COMPLETE before we run the crowdfunding campaign, and we’ll be turning over the material to KickCTRL at the start of the campaign and they will have full autonomy on the project until it delivers.
We’re really looking forward to straightening everything out. We have a plan to deliver all outstanding material in place and KickCTRL will be starting the implementation of everything shortly. We’ll be updating the various KS pages with these updates soon.
We just wanted to share the news that the Apex Theropod: Deck Building Game will be launching on Kickstarter next week.
Right now, we’re planning to call this the “Collected Edition.” This version of the game includes a new box with all new box artwork and collects not only the BASE GAME, but also the three primary expansions, STOMPING GROUNDS, SAUROPHAGANAX,THERIZINOSAURUS, and the PHD exclusive SUCHOMIMUS deck.
Additionally, we’re offering the option to get a couple Kickstarter exclusive decks that are only available through the Kickstarter campaign and nowhere else! The MEGALODON and PROMETHEAN WARS decks!
The game has been off the market for the last couple years and this is all about getting it back out into the world. Since Outland took over the project from Herschel Hoffmeier, we’ve received many inquiries from folks looking to find their own copy of the game. Your inquiries have not fallen on deaf ears!
We’re going to be keeping this project pretty simple and direct. We’re raising funds to do another print run on the game, which is what will be going out to backers and, after we deliver to everybody, we’ll be putting it back out on the market as well.
A couple other items, just for clarity –
We will be working with a company called KickCTRL. We’ll be the first to admit – we’ve not always done the best at managing our Kickstarter campaigns (in fact, we’ve been pretty terrible). We’re working to turn that around.KickCTRL will be running the campaign, coordinating response, managing the funds, production, printing, and shipping. This is their sole focus! We are incredibly excited to be working with them on this project!
KickCTRL has also very thoroughly quoted out the prices to print and ship the game. Our goal for the KS allows us to do a substantial print run and deliver the games as soon as they are printed. This is the same printer that printed the second edition of Apex, so they are a known quantity in terms of quality and delivery. Furthermore, they have an amazing warehouse in Chicago that can pack and ship all the games to the backers.
So, dependent upon a successful campaign, we will be able to immediately order the games as soon as the campaign completes. It’ll take about a month to print everything and a month and a half to ship it to our warehouse in Chicago, so we fully expect to start shipping games tentatively no later than April, 2020 (with a bit of a buffer built in for any potential delays).
We’re very excited about this and we’re looking forward to getting the game into your hands!
One of the ideas that fascinates me most as an author are the symbols we use throughout history.
For example, the cover of the latest issue of the Jötunn War is a pastiche of a well known WWI poster. We have subverted the Army Air Service American Eagle and added in a raven, very much a Norse symbol.
Because the whole premise of the Vikingverse is that the Norse never Christianised – and in my alternate history, even conquered Rome – it is the Raven banner and not the eagle that flutters proudly across the Norse Empire. Same idea, different reality!
You might wonder why artists and propagandists were so keen on the eagles in the first place….
The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on the American continent. But the eagle as a heraldic device goes further back. The Reichsadler (German “Imperial Eagle”, also featured in the original) is derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors and in modern coats of arms of Germany, including those of the Second German Empire (1871–1918) and the Third Reich (Nazi Germany, 1933–1945).
It was meant to embody the reference to the Roman tradition similar to the double-headed eagle used by the Palaiologi emperors of the Byzantine Empire or the tsars of Russia. It’s all about power and legitimacy.
But we all know history is rewritten by the victors, and in my setting that means Vikings! So, go and tell people to buy up War Bonds/make a Kickstarter pledge.
