One of the great weaknesses that Rupert Ramsgate has is a procrastination gene. (Along with a packrat gene).
This results in extended gestation periods for any projects. Books of Loukas first appeared in nascent form as a sketch 6 years ago. It finally coalesced to a book series 5 years ago, and a draft book was created in the Spring of 2018. Since then, a lot of things have happened, including Covid-19, and progress has been slow to…well, non-existent. After recovering from COvid-19, Rupert has been working on getting back up to speed.
It appears, however, that Rupert has now been “put on the clock” by statements that he made (without any coercion, it must be noted) in his recent interviews with Joanna Love Jett, which are published in the Podcast collection. In that interview session, he replied “beginning of next year” when asked when the first of the Books of Loukas was going to be published.
This is now a deadline. Not some vague aspiration, or “I’ll do it when I get around to it”.
(NOTE – One of my first girlfriends actually bought be a “Round Tuit” as a birthday present. Clearly she had noticed certain aspects of my behavior pathology. For shame, for shame…)
So, a whole bunch of significant tasks are now on the menu for the Fall, including (but not limited to):
1. Finishing a significantly revised draft of Book 1, for distribution to beta readers. The first draft, it is clear, needs a lot of work.
2. Engaging a cover artist for the series cover, and the book covers of books 1-3
3. Completing the drafts of books 2 and 3 (you want to have those ready so that the masses have the next book in the series to read if they like Book 1)
4. A marketing and promotion plan and processes
5. A publishing corporation (which may involve the creation of an Anonymous LLC structure, which is complex and expensive, but necessary for confidentiality reasons)
I suspect that there will be only short-format podcasts from now until the end of the year. The big interview-based ones will wait until Book 1 of Books of Loukas is ready for publication.
There will be regular updates here and on Rupert’s Twitter account. Belem Knight is also working on a couple of novellas based around seeing how much utter filth can be jammed into 14000 words or so.