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July 15, 2009

"Makers" Serial Release Under Way

Dispatches from the tundra will be coming in the days ahead, but for now, I am pleased to announce that the serial release of Cory Doctorow's Makers on Tor.com has begun. In fact, the fifth installment (of 81) was released this morning. This is particularly exciting news for Robbi and me because each of the 81 installments will be illustrated by Idiots'Books (meaning Robbi and I have an engrossing conversation/discussion/argument/wrestling match about what should be drawn and then she draws it while I stand there trying to look busy).

Here is the illustration for part one, which was posted last Monday.

firstpic.png

Part two:

secondpic.png

Part three:

thirdpic.png

Part four:

fourthpic.png

You get the idea.

As previously mentioned, there is an added dimension to these illustrations that is not readily apparent by looking at them individually. Though each one serves as a standalone companion to the section it accompanies, together, the 81 illustrations form a grid of interchangable "tiles" that can be placed in any configuration and still line up with one another. You can sort of get a sense of what I'm talking about when you see them placed side-by side.

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Or, the same four illustrations can be reordered and still line up with one another:

makers-serial-illo-04.pngmakers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.png

Or they can be stacked on top of one another and arranged in a grid.

makers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-04.png
makers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.png

This idea will be extended. This should give you an idea of how it will work.

makers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.pngmakers-serial-illo-04.png
makers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-04.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.png
makers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.pngmakers-serial-illo-04.png
makers-serial-illo-02.pngmakers-serial-illo-01.pngmakers-serial-illo-04.pngmakers-serial-illo-03.png

When all is said and done, there will be 81 "tiles" that form a huge, complex 9x9 grid. Tor.com is releasing a new chunk every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next six months. Sometime in the next few weeks, they will be launching an interactive game that will enable Tor.com readers to manipulate the tiles to make their own illustration landscapes. I'll let you know as soon as it's available.

Here is a link to the series index on Tor.com. From here, you can link to any of the 81 sections as they are released. You can subscribe to an RSS feed if you want to be alerted as each new section is posted.

We would be particularly gratified if you read the introductory post, which has all sorts of nice things to say about Robbi and me.

Here is a link to Cory Doctorow's post about the Makers serialization on BoingBoing. If reading about us on BoingBoing makes you happy and you would like to do it again, you can see Cory's post about our One-Page-Wonders series by clicking here.

Robbi has completed the first 11 illustrations so far. Which means there are only 70 to go. She cringes whenever I remind her of this.

Back to work.

Posted by bogenamp at July 15, 2009 06:32 PM