It is done

It only took about four years (during which I’ve alternated between unemployment and nutty flip-flopping shifts, homeschooling and the boy being in day care full-time, madness, sadness, badness and blandness), but… it’s finally done.

It’ll be available at OVGE in June. I’ll have a very limited number of copies at the table. You’ll be able to get it on Lulu.com too. Anything beyond that – other conventions, signings, and so on – I have yet to nail down.

The book’s about Doctor Who, in case you hadn’t figured that bit out. This volume covers the television episodes from 1963 through the 2011 Christmas special. And it just covers Doctor Who – the spinoffs and audios are covered in the next volume, but that’s not due out until the end of 2013 (the second volume will also cover the 50th anniversary season). It’s an 8.5″ x 11″ trade paperback, over 350 pages long, and it’s not all episode guide – there are occasionally little essay pieces that don’t fit into a discussion of any particular story, season or “era.” It’s also not a straight copy of stuff from the web site – a lot of it has been significantly edited or just rewritten from the ground up.

Do I get to slow down and rest? Heck no. Between now and this time next year, I’m going to get another book written to see how the other side lives. WARP!1 (to be honest, I’m really not planning a second volume, but the number is there just in case) will cover Star Trek from start to finish, along with a few surprises. Over 50% of that book is stuff that’s never been on the web site, and never will be. I’ve been writing it alongside VWORP! the whole time. I’m hoping it’ll be ready to fly around the time the next Star Trek movie comes out.

With both books, stuff that wasn’t written by me on the web site (a few seasons of the Deep Space Nine guide, select Doctor Who entries) is replaced by new material just for the book that I’ve written after a fresh viewing. What’s on the web site stays on the web site.

I’m still in the process of thoughtfully stroking my chin and pondering e-book options for those who don’t need a physical copy.

Nothing will be on Amazon or Barnes & Noble for the forseeable future – ISBNs aren’t cheap.

In and around all of this, I’m working on another book that’s a bit more of a memoir. If everybody and their dog hadn’t already been using the phrase “Growing Up Geek,” that’d be a hot contender for the title. I originally had it labeled as a Phosphor Dot Fossils book, but that’s no longer the case – it gets into far too many areas that have nothing to do with video games.

But hey… a Phophor Dot Fossils book? What a nifty idea. Maybe I’ll do that too. (Later.)

Why should you buy any of these? What great insight do I bring to the table? Suffice to say, if you like my writing style in my blog entries or the free downloadable e-zine at theLogBook.com, this isn’t going to be a million miles away from that, even though each book is narrowly focused on a particular topic. It’s still irreverent, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and tries to help you get the most of a couple of shows of which there are almost too many episodes for any sane person to navigate. I’ve been there all along, so in a sense I’ve been writing these books my whole life, not just the past few years.

I like this stuff. I like to write about this stuff. I hope you like to read about this stuff. It really is just that simple. If we can make both sides of that equation meet, you know, I really wouldn’t mind writing stuff for a living for the rest of my life. These books won’t be buying me a boat and a mansion anytime soon, I’m not expecting that. If these books even come close to helping us break even on paying the bills, so I can stay home and keep pounding away at a keyboard in between various dad duties, that would be awesome.

I’ll post ordering info ASAP. Keep watching…