RED LIGHT BYTES: Updates Dossier (5-6-2024)

ANIMATED NEWS From Your Favorite Wolven Cyberpulp!

Surprise!

The more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed veiled references to something in the works, and now it’s time to make mention of it.

I’m going to keep most of its contents a surprise (including those who worked on it), but upshot is that we have a one-minute animated short film in the final stretch of post-production. It’s a piece of streetwise rumination from an old friend, much like our comic The Avenger’s Creed and that’s all I’ll say for now. I’m a filmmaker by trade with a deep love of animation, so to see my world come to life in this medium is an absolute dream come true, even if the first step is small by design and circumstance. Though it certainly won’t be the last…

With any luck, the short will be made available to paid subscribers on May 13 (next Monday), and then unlocked for everyone on May 17 (that Friday).

Updates

Besides that, some items have moved forward, and others have not. This will undoubtedly be the first of a few truncated updates for this month.

No major news on the art front beyond illustrative wizard Kevin working his magic, and we still haven’t finished reloading our web-based stories. However, both scripts for new Alan Firedale productions are past the first-draft stage (and you read correctly, BOTH!), as well as 2/5 stories for the Summer 2024 Issue. We’re putting down anywhere between 2K to 4K words a day, and that’s no mean feat. Racing into June will be a batch of adventures that promise to boldly go into unapologetic adventure territory while keeping its underground sci-fi roots close to heart, with Firedale’s latest escapade set to be out of this world!

My attention is very much focused on getting the magazine and audio drama hammered into shape ahead of time, so I will be backburning our monthly behind-the-scenes articles for the foreseeable future. I do hope to pen one for the Summer 2024 Quarterly, as well as cook up some other special bonuses. Perhaps an exclusive story at the top and tail, a special Red Light Bytes story highlighted for your reading pleasure, or maybe some character profiles! We shall see.

In the meantime, how about a little music?

This special cue was written for Part 2 of The Cypress Fires and has quickly become a favorite of mine. “Driving the H78” begins as a jagged piece of Jerry Goldsmith-inspired composition, representative of the lumbering “Zen Garden” war machine, before diving into a spirited march. It has one of my all-time favorite variations on the main theme, and earned the working title of “Alan of Arabia” thanks to its epic qualities. We hope to Volume 2 of the Alan Firedale OST available for preorder soon, and will reveal those special album bonuses when they are nearer to completion.

“Driving the H78” from Alan Firedale: Original Soundtrack Vol. 2

Besides that, we’re still rocking hard and riding free as ever, and hope you’ll stick around to see us take it all up a notch. As always:

May God Bless You and This Force. Be Seeing You!

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