Happy Blog Day Everyone!
There has been some big developments regarding Brennan and Riz that I need to talk about today so you'll get a new short story next week but before we get into that, bring on the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
I think what this means, is that Riz will only move when good and ready...or when something that benefits him happens. I was going to go with quite the different idea for this week's Comic, but I've put that away for a special occasion...Watch this space.
Big News For Brennan and Riz
Okay, so let me start at the very beginning as its quite integral to where things are with these stories currently.
The year is 2018, the first Brennan and Riz short story had seem publication in the Crossing the Tees 2017 book and the publisher who put the anthology together, approached me with an eye for more from the duo. I've stated before that it was this deal that led to volume 1 of The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz and the ten stories contained within. What people might not know, is...I gave up the rights of the characters to accomplish that deal.
Let me explain:
The publisher, till that point, had only published books via cooperation with the authors, the author paying for the service but fully retaining their rights. This was one of the options that was open to me...except I had no cash whatsoever. This led to option 2...The publisher wanted to try a royalty sharing approach, and I was experiment zero. The downside to this? I had to relinquish the rights to Brennan and Riz (never clarified if it was just them or all the characters that appeared like Valarie). At the time, it was an easy choice to make as I figured this was my best option to get published. Thus I signed the pair away.
I should point out that at no pomt was there any issues with this process (meant I had to turn down offers I had from other people to give them Brennan and Riz stories) as I don't think there was any danger of the publisher giving the characters to anyone else. This deal lead to A Boy and A Rat, and Volume 2.
Now, let's talk about Harvey Duckman Presents as that's the anthology series that led to everything that's happening now, and don't worry, these threads will collide fairly quickly.
The first Harvey Duckman Presents book came out around 2019 and in a matter of four years (2019-2023) there was 13 volumes published. Each one had an formerly exclusive Brennan and Riz story in them (I say formerly exclusive as ten of them were republished in Brennan and Riz Volume 2). Now as of Volume 13, the series picked up themes and there was two I'd submitted for. I blogged about the process here last year in multiple posts, and then...silence.
At the time, I just assumed that the stories were no good and they'd published without me. C'est la vie, life goes on. It wasn't until earlier this year that I checked in on them and saw that Vol 13 was indeed, the last one.
Then last month, I received an email that, while not going into much detail, did say that they were still alive and that more information would be forthcoming...which it did a couple of weeks later. The long and the short of it was that Harvey Duckman Presents Volumes 1 - 13 are being taken off sale later this month (around April 30th). Then new volumes of Harvey Duckman would come out quarterly (with authors receiving money from submission rather than royalties...if any). Now, given the changes to HDP, I enquired about Brennan and Riz (told you the threads would collide).
They're no longer doing royalty sharing, which means future Brennan and Riz works are dead in the water based on that model. If I had the funds I could use their services with editing and cover art. Further more, the existing Brennan and Riz books will also be delisted, signalling the end of the royalty sharing deals. That won't be the end though, as at the same time, the publisher have said they'll show me how to re-publish the books using the same ISBN as they have now, but this time, it'll be under my name and all money will go to me.
That also means the rights will be back to me. So while I'll have hunt for cover art and editing services (or learn how to do them myself) it means I can finally resume work on War of the Fae and get Volume 3 out there. Not forgetting that I'll gain access to Amazon ads.
So, tldr:
- Harvey Duckman Presents returning quarterly, first two themes are post apocalyptic and Steampunk (may have a chance for the first, I think I'm out of the second) but then third theme is urban fantasy which is Brennan and Riz/Daemon Soul/Avalon Tales territory, so I'll definitely by writing something for it. They will also be putting out a newsletter that may feature older HDP stories.
- HDP Volumes 1-13 being delisted. Want them? Get them.
- Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volumes 1 & 2, A Boy and A Rat will be delisted but will re-appear under my name. Any future Brennan and Riz stories will debut through me.
So, yeah...Going to be interesting times moving forward but I'm going to try my best, afterall, the knowledge I'll gain here, will help my self-publishing efforts with the Daemon Soul universe.
If any of this changes I'll let you all know. Hopefully you'll have some new Brennan and Riz stories in the coming future.
That's it for this week, next time I'll bring you a new short story, not idea on who yet, but there will be one.
Till next time,
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir
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