Bruce Boxleitner-Lantern City

[Looney]

The story reminded me of a much better told version of Revolution.

I was thinking about Revolution too! I have only read about half of the book. I am taking my time, plus I am a very slow reader.

[Looney]

Update

So I finally did finish RISE a little while back. I really enjoyed the story and I love the illustrations. I think it is a great introduction to the back story of Lantern City. My only complaint is that the end of the story seemed rushed. It seemed obvious that there was a deadline or hard page count limit. It is a very short book anyway and having it feel rushed to the end was a bit of a let down. That being said, I still really enjoyed it. I just wish the final quarter or so of the book had been fleshed out a little more.

Here is a recent interview with Matthew James Daley about future installments and the show. It does contain spoilers.

http://twodashstash.com/2013/08/rise...th-matt-daley/

BTW - This question is for anyone who received an autographed copy of the book. I can't remember who the fourth signature is? Boxleitner, Crafts, Daley, and ???? Thanks in advance.

[Looney]

Nothing really new to report. At Space City Con BB said that they were in meetings with some big companies, but that was all he said. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him, so I dropped the ball. I also dropped the ball that this came out just before Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Lantern-C...s=lantern+city

I, of course, am still waiting for the app they promised when I pre-ordered Rise that is supposed to give me free access to this audio version. I am thinking about asking Trevor Crafts if there is a way I can just get it through Amazon for free.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

Nothing really new to report. At Space City Con BB said that they were in meetings with some big companies, but that was all he said. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him, so I dropped the ball. I also dropped the ball that this came out just before Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Lantern-C...s=lantern+city

I, of course, am still waiting for the app they promised when I pre-ordered Rise that is supposed to give me free access to this audio version. I am thinking about asking Trevor Crafts if there is a way I can just get it through Amazon for free.

I pre-ordered Rise, as well. I loved the book and listening to BB narrate it would be awesome! It sounds to me like they need to go Indie. Forget the distribution jerks and use kickstarter, etc.

Let me know if Trevor says yes. (giggles) I haven't been back to that forum in quite a while.

[Looney]

You are not missing anything. I post over there every once in a great while, but I am pretty much the only one left. (Now that I have said that someone will post something.) They just have no updates so there is not much to talk about. Even their Facebook page doesn't have much going on other than trying to get folks to order RISE. My hope is that they are so busy with different meetings that they don't have time to worry about the website or whatever. I did post a Space City Con album over there if you want to check it out. I haven't gotten to putting one up over here yet.

[Looney]

So they have gone completely silent on all things Lantern City. A person on the Lantern City Facebook page posted that "The sound of silence is deafening." I don't know what is going on, but it can't be good. The last online update was January 1st and that was just more pushing of RISE. Trevor Crafts did post a response on the Lantern City Forum back in late February, but it was just a comment on someone's post. That is it.

So oddly enough I got an email today from C2E2 2014. When I looked over it there was an announcement that their panel schedule is now live and the photo they used as a link is of Mira and Bruce at the 2013 Lantern City panel. It gave me hope for half a second that they were planning to attend, but I've been checking that guest list regularly for months and they are not on it . . .yet. Maybe Mira will attend for Space Command. I missed getting a chance to speak to either of them in Galveston. As I mentioned before, I did notice that neither of them had Lantern City posters to sign out on their tables at Space City Con. That seems like a bad sign. Of course, that is really all their is with Lantern City right now, bad signs. Their Forum is all but dead. Their Facebook page has dropped off. Bruce is working on other projects. Mira is working on other projects. And I assume Trevor Crafts is working on other projects because he isn't even inventing updates to try to keep interest alive. That is really too bad.

[Looney]

After many months there is finally an update from Trevor Crafts on lanterntv.com! Here is the most important stuff about the shows possible future.

As for other news there have bee a lot of ups and downs. The Team continues to make headway on acquiring funding for season one of Lantern City after a leadership change at a major network left us high and dry. At 2.9 million per episode its not a small task. Lantern city has never been about doing things traditionally, so why should funding be any different.

Because we aren’t giving up on the series, we are moving into production on a full graphic novel for LC. “The Last War” will feature the final fight between Isaac Foster Grey and the No Side Army. This epic tale is too big to be contained in an illustrated novel and so a full graphic novel treatment is where we are going. Matt has already started writing and we are planning on releasing the first section of writing soon.

We know that good news is something that everyone want to hear about the series. We kept waiting for good news, as it seemed within our grasp. We try to keep the excruciating waiting to ourselves, but moving forward, we will update you all on a very regular basis, so you aren’t in the dark.

Thanks for sticking with us and the continued support. The light was getting dim there for a second, but things are looking much brighter now.

Trevor

[Ubik]

Glad they are still making headway.

[Looney]

I noticed RISE has come down in price a bit on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Lantern-C...s=lantern+city

[Delenn_of_Mir]

They need to add a Kindle version, that would bring in more sales, I'm sure. It's interesting that the Audible version is cheaper than the hardcover. The Rise team sorely need to hire on a copywriter or two to work on their marketing campaign. I'm starting to worry now that the show will never get off the ground.

[Ubik]

Beyond these forums, I've seen pretty much zero press for the show. It does not bode well.

[Looney]

Yeah they really dropped the ball on the updates. They got to a point where they only wanted to give updates when they had good news and that didn't come often enough. I see their point of view because I am sure they were sick of answering the question "when?", but they still should have been putting something out constantly. Even then it probably wouldn't work that much better. People have lost interest because it has taken too long to make the idea a reality. Even by the time I got interested in Lantern City they were head downward, as far as numbers of people talking about it. They had a lot of people interested in the beginning, but it has been two years and there still isn't a show.

Unfortunately they really should have been updating something every week. If not progress on the show then it should have been more conceptual art or something. Now I think their new plan must be to start over. They are working on a second book and my guess is that as it gets closer they'll start doing conventions and stuff again. Or maybe they'll wait to do that stuff until they have a deal. It is a real shame they didn't keep updates coming. It is also a real shame they didn't have Rise ready to go before they started this whole campaign. I think it really would have helped.

Anyway, what has passed doesn't matter. What matters is strategy going forward. Hopefully they know that the second book needs to be finished and good before they relaunch everything. AND BTW this is complete speculation on my part. I have no clue what their actual plans are. I just know 2 facts, they are still trying to find a deal and there is a 2nd book coming, eventually.

[Delenn_of_Mir]

If they're going to use books to market their show then they need to do kindle and they need to advertise. Putting out a couple books every couple years that no one even knows exists for a tv show you're planning that no one knows you want to exist is not gonna help much. SMH

[Jan]

What we have to remember is that the strategy is to generate 'buzz' in order to get somebody to pick up the show. Until somebody does, everything they do is 'on spec' and the costs come out of their own pockets.

Every single thing that they 'should' be doing costs money. After a while they're simply going to have to cut their losses.

Jan

[Delenn_of_Mir]

What we have to remember is that the strategy is to generate 'buzz' in order to get somebody to pick up the show. Until somebody does, everything they do is 'on spec' and the costs come out of their own pockets.

Every single thing that they 'should' be doing costs money. After a while they're simply going to have to cut their losses.

Jan

That makes sense. (nods head)

I'm guessing no one involved is a million-trillionaire. They need to make some wealthy friends who love steampunk. Or go off on a dangerous quest to the land of Zhandabark in search of the Vorlons long lost money machine.