Long time no Hear from
over 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 07, 2024 at 06:55:26 AM

Hello, This is Freya,

I'm writing on behalf of Afua Richardson.

I know many of you are upset and rightfully so for Afua's lack of communication about her kickstarter project that would not have been possible without your support. 

I am happy to say that the book is still underway. Some may not care. Some wish for their money back. If so, Afua will address that in the time she can. I'm sorry if that isn't what you'd like to hear but it's the reality of the situation. 

You may see Afua at a comic convention. That is because THAT is the way Afua can support herself while she works on the book. She has no other jobs, no other source of income besides the occasional cover that she's perhaps only done one or two of this year. The rest of her support come from sales of existing products she has. I hope you will not confuse that with her ignoring your replies or promise to you. 

Another issue Afua faced is that her abusive former partner is one of the KS supporters. [ even though the money he gave was hers]  So for a while it was difficult to update as Afua and her family would receive harassing email and calls about her hospitalization as a means to insult  and belittle her mental capacity. A very difficult situation after leaving a physically and emotionally abusive person. The stalking, the harassing the theft of her car and lots and LOTS of money. It was only capped by the negative comments of those who didn't understand and thought they'd been taken for a ride. 

 She's actively trying to raise the thousands of dollars that her former partner took from the project in addition to taking out a 30,000 loan in her name as a cosigner that he's now defaulted on. She's raising money for legal counsel to attempt to get the money back. But since she has little hope of getting it from him, she uses those conventions as a way to make good on her promise= selling originals and saving small bits away while tackling the debt she was left with.  

Afua also needed time to heal from her concussion. She was able to have conversations but unless she wrote things down, NOTHING was retained. many months she had to pay a lawyer to read contracts and explain several times before she could grasp a concept. It may also be the reason that the Kickstarter structure itself was not correctly done. KS attempted to help Afua, but she wasn't able to with her head injury, understand HOW to fix what they advised. 

Thankfully after lots of physical therapy and counseling, she's able to write and be at a place of peace to even have the confidence to sit down and rewrite her book to be everything she wanted it to be. But it took a LOOOOOONG time. Even as she updated sometime last year, her mind was not fully healed. Plots made no sense, storylines with no ending, it would not have been a great book for you to read. 

BUT.. there is a light at end of this tunnel. 

Afua has been making lots of progress. She's tasked ME to updated you guys and although I won't have the ability to answer all of your questions as they come [ i'll have to ask her and then get back to you] You'll at least know you and your investment has not been taken advantage of. You'll hear from ME instead of her so she can focus on her work. I'll serve as a liason so I can get info and let her supporters know where things are and when to expect things in your mailbox. That's a lot to put on your plate presently. So I'll grab some images from her and update you next week sometime. 

Regards from the desk

Freya Day - Assistant to Afua


 

My CPU is HEEEEEERE!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Oct 10, 2023 at 12:21:13 PM

Woo! I originally Ordered a Mac Book Air. Which turns out only has ONE USB C port. So I had to send the thing back and get a refund and let all that magically process but NOOOOW I have my computer and I am rearing to go!

I'll be attending NY Comic Con, this weekend , next weekend I'm speaking to Astrophysicist on the importance of innovative sci fi in future tech  with fiction as the prompt and NC Comic con in early November and those are the last shows I'll be doing for the year. Nothing else will be on my plate, no places to visit. Nothing until the Book of Mer is done! I've recruited Someone to help finish up the album for me so I'm not tinkering with THAT. but blah blah blah technical blah blah here is some art since I'm actually able to open some files  on my computer today!! so much to reorganize!!! but thank goodness for backups. 

Release date. 

I know May 2024 is a LOOOONG way away but I've wanted this book to come out during Mer May and I'd like to stick to that. if my publisher thinks sooner is better then we'll go with that.  I just want to finish all 3 books so next time around there's no waiting.  but printing will start ASAP as soon as the rest of this is done. 

I also have to clarify something. if you see me at a show. Know I've been sponsored to be there. They pay my flight, table, hotel and appearance fee if that's applicable. it's how I'm able to work on this book and not take on other projects.  I've heard " how come you can go to shows but you can't finish this book??

It was at a time when I moved into my new place and was living in the cold with towers of boxes alone with all my things mixed up, broken and starting to mold. Conventions were the only way I remained sane. This has been a long process of freeing myself of a horrible situation,  recovering from a spine injury, healing my concussed mind, getting to a place where I'm not moving and dealing with floods and harassment 

finally this book is coherent and something I'm proud of, not just something to shove in your hands because I drew it. 

You'll meet Unelanvhi, The Cherokee Water Spider of Creation and learn how she brought the sun to the world. You'll also know how to SAY that properly [ took me a few months OOH nay lav NEW hee]  . You'll learn Atargatis, the Assyrian protector goddess who is our history's first mermaid story. Sedna, the Inuit Mother of all sea mammals, Sisiltl - the Kwakwaka'wakw [ KWA- KWA- EWOK] Shape shifter. Kurma, the World Turtle.  Uktena the Horned Serpent. Thousands of hours of research, writing, rewriting and amalgamation of cultures. I'm putting my all into this. I thank you for your patience and support. I've never taken this long to make anything honestly. For a time it was scary, because with my head injury I wasn't able to see from my imagination. But now that that's clear, i'm just so excited to have this DONE. And make something even better after it. [ This is actually a really LONG ongoing series. So it won't be a one and done. 

There's still a little time to get your Cameo in if you've not submitted a picture. In the thank yous where your names will be listed, there will be a page number next to your name so you can quickly find yourself!

Thank you, friends. 

afua

Computer is ordered! Book Progress shall continue!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 10:51:09 AM

Thank you to everyone who came out to Baltimore comic con! That helped me get a computer which will be here this week! I'll be able to show progress and you can see what I've been up to on the Book of Mer. 

I'll be attending NY Comic con and NC comic con but that will be all  the shows for me until the book is done. I can't wait to share it with you!

More coming soon.

Afua

Baltimore Comic con
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 22, 2023 at 07:04:17 AM

Hey guys! been about a month since my last update. I'm still in the process of getting a new computer. Terrificon was kind of a bust. I sat , for the first time with Essential Sequential, which is a cool group of artist that print your prints for you and take a percentage of your sales and commissions but I only ended up making 1000 bux. Thank you for those who came by to say hi! Puts me a third of the way towards a computer. My table got lost behind Chris Claremont [ who is a very nice guy ] David Finch and Arthur Adam's line.  Chris Agreed to give me a blurb for the book of mer which is really awesome!

At any rate, I've reorganized my shipping supplies and stickers, prints and started pre making the rigid envelopes for the 777 orders I've got to fulfill so there's plenty for me to do until I get my new CPU. Plus I have a few "make me a mermaid" commissions to get thru, so I'll get to those within the next week. Baltimore is Sept 8-12th and that's usually a great show for me, so I think my computer issues will be solved very soon. In the meantime I just wanted to keep in touch and send a good word. 

Still working!!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 10:18:53 AM

Thank you for your patience guys while I sort a lot of things out. I'm working really hard on this. 

I didn't want to post until I had more to say and show  but I can see your comments and patience wearing thin. Not that anyone cares that  because life happens but please forgive this format. My computer is dead and I'm writing this from my phone but I'm getting a new one on credit so I can get back to work. I have back ups so there's no loss of work this time other than time lost. 

Next update will have shipping dates.  You'll see me at conventions over the next few months to try and cover the cost of a new cpu.  The album will need some work since the engineer lobbed all the files together and they're no longer in sync but I'm asking a great musician friend to help me out with that.

One step forward and a few back but always forward. 

Afua