First half of 2025
Written by Lou Morens
no comments
Classified in : Review
Hello,I would have liked to write that it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but an eternity would be more accurate. I just saw that it's actually been a year and a half. I'm already not very regular with my newsletters, but here, it's a disaster. I really need to get back to posting regularly.
I'm not going to review the past year and a half; that would take several posts... Just the one for the first half of 2025.
Writing
I have a few short stories in preparation that will be published in small formats. They will be small A6-sized booklets, bound by me.
I'm currently working on the ebook versions of the books. The single ebooks are now published by Éditions JKDC. They have been completely rewritten in french neutral language using the Alpheratz grammar. The illustrated, interactive, and audio ebooks are still being published independently on itch.io. I'm currently finishing the first ebook in epub3 format, and it will soon be available in French and English.
Thanks to a writing group I recently joined, I've resumed my writing work. For several months I had been doing nothing but proofreading and layout tests, but without actually managing to write. So, a big thank you to all the members of the group.
I invite you to discover the writings of one of the members of this group, her newsletter, and her workshops.
I wrote a short text based on three secondary characters from volume 6, Markaðurjarna, and a character I hadn't mentioned yet. I'd been wanting to write a little something about them for a long time, and now it's done. I'll rework the text to be more detailed, and I would like to illustrate it too. A hotel bar in a space station : how could I resist bringing it to life ? Maybe it'll end up as an animated film, we'll see. I'd also like to try a format somewhere between an illustrated novel and a comic strip.
I'm currently writing a short story, this time set between volume 1, The Lost Year, and volume 2, Betrayals. The story takes place in 2023, and I'm enjoying writing it. I have no plan for this story, and I'm letting it carry me along. I'll see where it takes me.
I assure you that I have not forgotten the Moïja episodes that are currently being written. I contacted an association to see if it would be possible to visit an old school in a neighboring village where Episode 3, "A Tight Game," takes place. I'd like to be fairly faithful to its original form, since I find it truly remarkable, at least from the outside. I'll tell you more about it if I hear anything.
Episode 2, "Reprisals," is progressing slowly. I hope I'll be able to move forward with it more easily once the work is finished and I have my own office. I'm still undecided on which direction to take. Both plots are written, but I'm still unsure which one to choose.
Volume 1 of Memoirs of a Veillorz - The Lost Year - is also being translated into English by a professional translator.
I'm also thinking of making an Advent calendar. I didn't make one last year, but I think I have enough materials to create one this year.
Game
I've started transforming Double Murder and Becoming Veillorz into 3D games. I started with Unreal Engine, but for several technical reasons that I'll detail in a dedicated post, I'm going to switch to Unity, at least for these two. I haven't tested Godot, even though it's open source software, but for now, I'm going to stick with Unity for the games and Unreal Engine coupled with Blender for the films. You can follow the progress of these two games on their respective websites: Become Veillorz and Double Murder.I'm going to update the Tipeee and Patreon pages to try to raise funding for these projects, which are very time-consuming. I don't know yet if I'll try crowdfunding.
Book fair
Most book fairs have seen a huge drop in attendance this year. I was still able to participate one specializing in fantasy and science fiction, the best fair so far. Even though there aren't many sales, the people who come are interested in these themes, and the discussions are very enriching.New Features
I now offer workshops/demonstrations in illumination and simple bookbinding. For fine bookbinding, you need too much material to carry, and the presses are heavy ;-) It takes a lot of time to make this type of binding, and you also have to factor in the drying time for the glue. Therefore, I only offer simple bookbinding (Coptic, Japanese, etc.) using mostly recycled materials.I also offer other, more specialized workshops; you can find them here: https://www.lisaae.com/static25/atelier
I've worked extensively with "Éditions JKDC" since the beginning of the year, and I continue to work with this publishing house. I really like this small publishing house, enough so that my simple ebooks (epub2 and not those in epub3 for the moment) are now published by them.