So it’s summer again, and this page has me thinking back to the summer when I first started, if not writing, at least planning the story of The Black Orb in my head.

Last Thursday there was a storm just like the one I remember the day the idea first struck me. The air was just the right warmth and humidity where it’s comfortable but not too hot, and it's sunny and not too cloudy, but the wind is starting to stir ominously so you just know a storm is going to blow in soon (now my left wrist/arm tingles in this kind of weather).  At that time, I was just twelve, and in the middle of reading the first book of a very long fantasy novel series that had caught my attention at the library.

The storm finally rolled in, turning the sky black gusting winds billowing sheer white curtains back from our front windows (we didn’t have air conditioning, so when the wind came, my mother would send us to open every window wide to blow the stale humid air out of the house).  The story I was reading (about a mysterious traveler unlocking secrets not only about himself and humanity, but about magic and the very foundations of the world) combined with the force of the storm created an electric tension in the air - it almost felt as though when the thunder cracked, something remarkable, something magical and surreal, was going to happen.

It didn’t, of course, because this is real life, and stuff doesn’t happen that way, but my brain started to itch with the “what if”s and that’s how this story started to be born.  I wanted to create a story that made others feel like I had felt - like maybe, just maybe, magic was out there somewhere, just waiting to be found.

So now, with this page, not only am I finishing Chapter 8, I’m also wrapping up Volume 1, and I kind of can’t believe it.  Last week was a big week for me - I just turned 30, I've left my office job that I’ve held for 5 y+ years to do something….(I don’t know what).  I feel great, and I’m truly honored and grateful for each and every person who has read this comic and supported me so far.

I'll be taking a two week hiatus before starting Chapter 9 on July 21st.  During that time I'm going to be putting together a print and digital version of the first volume, as well as getting a good buffer going with chapter 9, so the schedule will hopefully become less erratic.

<3