15 Dec 11
The mascot bless you and keep you. The mascot make her face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The mascot lift up her countenance upon you and give you peace. *ahem* This borderline blasphemy really does have a point, I swear. You'll understand the relevance when you read Chapter 21 of Tico2. We're getting ever closer to the thrilling conclusion and I might be adding an extra chapter or two to spread things out a bit more evenly. In other news, I have to admit being rather pleased with myself for getting back on a fairly regular track with the updates. Yes, my life has become considerably less complicated as of late, which certainly helps, but hopefully I can keep up this trend once things pick up for me again in January. Right now I'm thinking about retuning to The Trident War Chronicles once Tico2 is done, but nothing's set in stone as of yet. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 02:07:54
07 Dec 11
Last week's installment was rather on the intense side, so we get a bit of a breather with Chapter 20 of Tico2. While the Ticonderoga series relies more heavily on its ensemble cast than Knight of Gladius, Matt is our central protagonist, but he honestly hasn't had all that much screentime here in Volume II. He's given quite the time of it this go around. Poor guy. In other news, I've got a good lead on the next chapter, so maybe I can keep on charging forward and we'll get to the end of the book around the middle of February. We'll see how that goes. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 22:56:53
02 Dec 11
The mascot is hiding because Lydia is on the warpath. See for yourself in Chapter 19 of Tico2. Perhaps if I hadn't decided to waste time listening to rips of all the in-game dialog for Portal 2 (among other things), I would've gotten this chapter out on time. Still, I got it out this week, so that has to count for something. And that was with two scenes that were a pain to choreograph. I'm on a roll, so let's see if I can keep it going and have another chapter for you next week. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 01:32:14
23 Nov 11
Yes, I can't quite give up this running gag. Poor Ally. If she's lucky, it won't carry over to Volume III. Though I was laid low by a chance encounter with a plague-bearer, I was still able to pull together Chapter 18 of Tico2 for you. Chapter 19 may take a little more time to finish, but I'll see if I can't get it out by this time next week. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 21:10:54
16 Nov 11
The mascot is giving you and your story a hard-eyed look. I hope for your sake that you aren't lying to her. Jack similarly finds himself on the spot in Chapter 17 of Tico2. The delay in today's chapter was entirely due to my research and in no way to related to me replaying Twilight Princess in anticipation of Skyward Sword. *ahem* Chances are good that Chapter 18 will get posted next week, though, so you've got that going for you. Until then.
Posted by: James
UTC 22:40:31
19 Oct 11
The mascot and the junior mascot in training are hidden away for secret dealings, much like today's leads in Chapter 16 of Tico2. I hope you enjoy it because the next chapter may be a while. It's going to take some extra research to bring it all together. Until then.
Posted by: James
UTC 02:42:45
12 Oct 11
Well, I realize I've fallen behind schedule (though not as much as I've been known for on the Ticonderoga project), but I've got Chapter 15 of Tico2 here for you. The first comic is what I intended to attach to Chapter 12 (showing Jack and Ally's reunion) and the one below is for this chapter. I had to let the gag run its full course, you know. ^_^ Anyway, we'll see if I can't get the next chapter out by next week. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 21:35:41
26 Sep 11
The mascot isn't particularly amused by the fact that she hasn't headlined an update in over a month. You'll also find some similarly unamused people in Chapter 14 of Tico2. We're starting to shift gears in the story, so be one the lookout for new developments coming up. I stand a good chance of getting the next chapter out in a week, but I can't make any promises beyond that. My schedule's managed to get both more and less complicated at the same time. We'll see how everything pans out. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 20:14:02
18 Sep 11
No cute illustration or charming picture of the mascot accompanies today's update, I'm afraid. However, I do have Chapter 13 of Tico2 here for your reading pleasure. I'll be honest with you, it's been a bit of a race against the clock to keep my promise of posting this weekend because I've gotten wrapped up in the pre-production of 'The Case of the Spotted Leopard'. In fact, I may even wind up turning it into a series, which has all sorts of implications for how the If Arc may develop. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter. I have no idea as of yet how long it might be before Chapter 14 graces these pages. We'll see what headway I can make in the days to come. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 21:56:36
14 Sep 11
I realize I've fallen off the radar for longer than any of you would like, but I've been a bit wrapped up in stuff. And it hasn't all been my work on the EUN's fleet composition over the years either. Anyway, I'm happy to announce that I should have Chapter 13 of Tico2 out by the weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser of a new entry into the If Arc, the old-school detective story "The Case of the Striped Leopard", starring members of the Tico cast. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 14:47:18
25 Aug 11
Okay, this isn't quite a 100% fix, but I've restored all the old threads and user information to the forum. I had to use an archived copy of the index file, but this has created a number of additional problems. First, the timestamp is wrong. Second, the "register" and "login" links are gone. When I tried to restore said links, the whole page inexplicable glitches out. For the time being, if you want to log in, click on a thread first. It's a pain, I know, but I bet another update to phpBB will be coming along shortly and it may well clear all this mess. In the meantime, I'll continue to devote some time to a solution here and there.
What you'd much rather see is some new content, I'm sure. I've gotten wrapped up in the Navy's logistics again, but I'll try to devote a little more time to actual storytelling. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 21:05:47
22 Aug 11
Sorry, folks, but I jacked up the update of the forum and it's currently down for repairs. I'll let you know when it's up and running again. Until then.
Posted by: James
UTC 03:42:32
21 Aug 11
The mascot is taking some well-deserved rest. The Palidor Media team has been hard at it the past few weeks, but we're finally ready to properly launch Palidor Media 2.0. I hope everyone likes the redesign. The navigation should be a lot more convenient. I've done away with the inline frames-based design and remade it all in CSS. I've also gone through and ensured XHTML 1.0 compliance across the board. I'd like to thank Kazuya for the new pixel art. Expect to see more of it in the near future.
Now that I'm finally done converting hundreds of files, I can switch gears back to some actual writing. Hopefully I'll have something up by the end of the week. In the meantime, I do have one bit of new content for you. There's a new entry into the If Arc, Knight of Byrn. Enjoy.
Let me know what you all think of the redesign. Send any questions, comments and such to admin@palidormedia.com.
Posted by: James
UTC 22:12:05
21 Jul 11
Time's running out and the mascot leads junior mascot in training to the extraction point. I was going to make a running gag of the little cartoon from Chapter 9, but it's too much of a pain without my tablet. Here, at long last, is Chapter 12 of Tico2. I apologize for the delay, but stuff came up. Said stuff didn't quite play out as planned, but it kept me preoccupied for a while.
Those of you who've been eagerly awaiting the latest installment will probably be angry to hear that what little time I could spare was largely devoted to putting together a full roster for the crew of the Ticonderoga. Yes, all 10K of them. It's crazy, I know, but so am I. Maybe I can focus more on storytelling in the near future. I also plan on buckling down to get the 2.0 update put into effect. I've let myself get distracted for far too long. We'll see what I can get done now that things are settling down for me a bit. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 23:12:28
I accomplished zipola for the site this month, but I had other stuff going on that kept me busy.
01 May 11
Happy International Ayame Jellybean Day! No, I don't have anything special for you today. Just taking a moment to commemorate the birth of the world's greatest mascot. We'll see if I can't get something up next week. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 20:36:33
30 Apr 11
Having explained that we aren't leaving yet, the mascot is taking life easy.
I don't have a new chapter of of Tico2 out this week, but I do have the debut of a whole new Arc of stories. Those of you who've glanced at the forum since the upgrade have already noticed it. I present the If Arc. For those of you familiar with Marvel's What If series, you have some idea of what I'm going for here. Basically, I take stories from the canonical Four Arcs and then spin then in new and interesting ways. For instance, in Kanaim, I take the premise of the undercover mission in Tico1, only what Lydia coined the 'fake-true' identities are the characters' real identities. Ergo, Matt is actually the accountant Martin Ramus and the crew of the Kanai are real small-time pirates looking to make it big. Right now I just have three stories slated, but more will follow, I'm sure, and I'll see that something gets posted there in the near future, most likely the short "Hell in the Saturnian Sphere". Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 03:24:10
22 Apr 11
The mascot is packed and ready to go. Little does she realize that she's not going anywhere for another couple weeks. Also, I don't carry a purse, so she's going to find herself traveling in a completely different direction. Anyway, getting to the main event, I have Chapter 11 of Tico2 for you, the last in my little spurt of creative energy. I highly doubt I'll have Chapter 12 ready by next week, but I'll try to still have something for you.
In other news, something has come up and you may not be seeing much of me from about mid-May to July. I make no promises regarding any updates to the site, but depending on how things go, I may be able to pop in every now and then. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 20:36:05
15 Apr 11
The mascot stares out into the distance, pondering the fate of the Ticonderoga. Find out for yourself how things are going in Chapter 10 of Tico2.
I'm happy to report that you can expect Chapter 11 next week, but it may take me longer to produce Chapter 12. It's proving difficult to script and I have my many end of the semester concerns to deal with. We'll see if two weeks is enough time to get it all together. A few other things are in the pipe as well, but we'll get to that later. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 21:07:40
08 Apr 11
Ally hulks out in Chapter 9 of Tico2. Or perhaps not. Imagine it, though. Compare Bruce Banner to the Hulk and apply the same formula to Ally!Hulk and she'd be a five-foot, hundred-pound juggernaut. ^o^ (I kid, of course, as those numbers are just a smidgeon above Ally's actual stats. To apply the formula accurately, Ally!Hulk would at least be 5'3". :P )
I certainly wasn't expecting to get another chapter out so soon and I've actually been sitting on this one for a few days. And I'll tell you something more, I'm almost done with Chapter 10, so you can pretty well be assured that it'll be here next Friday. If I can keep up this pace, I'll have a regular update schedule again. It'd be nice, wouldn't it? Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 16:39:18
02 Apr 11
You may not have realized it, but the mascot moonlights as a film critic. Take her review of this sampling of my battle buddy's DVD library...
It didn't quite meet her high standards of cinematic excellence. I blame the lack of any of Kurosawa's repertoire in the selection.
Moving right along, I've made some changes that are worth mentioning. Recently, Angel has rebranded herself as "Lynn DeRiso", so I've started to adjust her piece of real estate accordingly. (Knowing me, I'm probably going to start referring to her as Angelynn.) Her company e-mail is still angel@palidormedia.com, but if that changes, I'll let you know. If you go to her section, you'll note that I've added a link to her new Wordpress blog, where she's been doing some of her literary experimentation lately. Check it out. She's doing some interesting stuff there.
Now for some news on What's New. Originally, I'd clear the home page at the start of each month. Back when we were having two updates a week, that made sense, but with updates being as sparse as they are lately, that leaves new visitors hanging a bit. (All two or three of you.) I've decided to change policy and now there will always be the ten most recent updates posted on the home page. If I start to pick up the pace again, that'll be roughly equivalent to two month's worth of material, but as it stands right now, you can see all the way back to last August. Maybe this'll make trips to the archives a little less necessary.
I've updated the forum to 3.08, something I probably should've done months ago. It's actually what prompted me to go ahead with the updates to Angelynn's stuff. (I told you I'd start calling her that.) I've also gone ahead and removed all Steff's stuff from the site. If you were a fan, hold out in the hope that The Closed World gets published one day. I'd like to think she hasn't given up on the dream, but she's the captain of the ship of her destiny, so it's up to her.
If you drop by the forum, you'll notice something new in my Story Discussion section. More on that in the near future. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 23:14:55
30 Mar 11
The mascot is trying to be covert, which is fairly appropriate for Chapter 8 of Tico2. It's been a long time coming, but I managed to get it out before having a second update-free month. Believe it or not, I've actually been doing a lot of work on the peripheral materials, but you don't really see the fruits of that effort, so I'm sure it doesn't interest you much.
I'm going to tell you in advance that April is going to be intense for me, so I can't make any promises about updates. However, by May I'll be free and clear, so that means plenty of time to work on content, get the 2.0 redesign together and start being active in the writing community again to draw more people to the site. There's a lot of promise waiting in the wings. Let's see if I can deliver for a change. Stay tuned.
Posted by: James
UTC 22:38:47
There must be something about February. Hopefully this'll be the last year for a month with no updates.
27 Jan 11
Our favorite fighter jock odd couple is here to ring in the fourth anniversary of Palidor Media. I know I was telling you that Palidor Media 2.0 would debut today, but, you see, here's the thing...
The mascot destroyed the plans. No, actually, I didn't really get to it during the break and now I've got work and school in the way. What I'm thinking is that I'll just be revamping the underlying code for the site for 2.0 and then start looking into some aesthetic remodeling for 2.1 and beyond. I'm trying to shift the site from the current table-based layout to all CSS and throw in drop-down menus for the global navigation. What little time I've invested thus far has been met with some unexpected bugs, but I'll get them ironed out in the near future and get everything up to speed. As you've no doubt noticed, I've fallen behind on the writing front as well. Scripting Chapter 8 has proven more difficult than I originally expected, so I can't get you an ETA on it just yet. Stay tuned, though, as I'll be getting content to you as I can. I've got a lot on my plate, but once this semester's over, things should be opening up quite a bit.
Another thing you may have noticed is that the global navi has been pared down a bit. The biggest point is that Steff is no longer associated with Palidor Media. Her stuff is still on the servers for the time being, but I'll be removing it along when I do the 2.0 upgrade and will be dummying out all the links in the archives to her pages. Next, until we actually have a functioning store, I see no point to having a link to a 'Coming soon' page. Lastly, I've decided that we don't really need a links page, so it got nixed as well. In the event that we become associated with other sites, I'll most likely put those links in the right margin. Keep an eye out for more changes on the horizon. Until then.
Posted by: James
UTC 20:24:52