oing my best to recover from Balticon in a timely fashion. You wouldn’t think being constantly surrounded by wonderful friends would be draining, but it is. That level of sublime happiness can only be maintained for so long, before it all falls down again. I clearly need to borrow someone’s endorphins if I am to make it through the week.

A full Balticon post turned out to be far too massive, so I’ll just focus on the launch here, and catch up on everything else as I go.

In a weekend full of big news, my personal share—which I’ve been hinting at, off an on, for the past month—is that in the fall of 2011, an original graphic novel by myself and my good friend Steve Walker will be published by Tor, entitled “The Battle of Blood & Ink: A Fable of the Flying City.”

Yes, I know. The title does indeed sound familiar.

The Fables of the Flying City podcast is a prequel to the GN, delving a little deeper in the histories of the characters and the world. You don’t need to listen to the podcast to know what’s going on in the GN, but it will give you a nice aura of smugness when you read it. And that, I believe, is priceless.

Plus, they’re crackin’ great stories, both on their own or together. And who doesn’t like good stories?

The launch itself went without a hitch. JR Blackwell, Russell Collins and Jennifer Rodgers were dressed in their finest, serving tea and chocolate rugulach, while my cousin-in-law Richard Strosahl handed out tickets for the prizes. The effect was less like a podcast reading and more like salon, where everyone was simultaneously relaxed and engaged. You can hear the whole thing, unedited, on the first episode of the podcast.

There’s a portion in it where I, with the help of Christiana Ellis, her teacup and the amazing model plane and figures built by Skott Stotland demonstrate what exactly our heroes have to do on their first training run. Its something that doesn’t come across as well in audio, but if it helps, here’s a picture of the model:

Skott does such amazing work.

The launch went off better than I could have imagined. I couldn’t have done it without the tireless help of Jennifer, Russell, Richard and JR. One of the audience members asked me where I purchased such classy minions. I responded that such helpful individuals like these could not be bought. Only earned.

The audio from the launch was posted Sunday as Episode 1: The Business Scars. Episode 2: When Angels Leave, went up yesterday. Expect regular updates every Wednesday from here on out.