These are the show notes for No Dragons Press: Episode 11. Enjoy!

(You can find the beginning of chapter 11 right around the 6:40 mark.)

Interview with Illustrator Emily Ruf

*beer cracks*

[voices: Woooo!]

This is a really exciting episode because I have No Dragons Press illustrator Emily Ruf on the show! I’m going to ask her to talk about her side of the Weekly Illustrated Fiction series, which we have running over at ascraeuspress.com/nodragons. Then I’m going to ask her to talk about what it’s like to collaborate with someone on a new chapter every week! That’s my favorite part of this process.

* * *

Maggie: Let’s start with you talking a little bit about your background and what you’ve been doing aside from [No Dragon Press].

Emily: Yeah! So, drawing is my background. I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I used to draw cat faces all the time, that was my favorite thing to draw—

M: Surprising no one.

E: Yeah, surprising no one. So, yeah, I’ve been trying to take every art class in school, always doing drawings on the side. I’d say in the last three or four years or so I’ve gotten more serious about it, I’ve been doing bigger pieces, pushing myself to try different styles and things.

I really feel like in the last few years I’ve been coming into my own skin with drawing. It’s been flourishing ever since, and with working with you, too—I feel like I finally found a vision that I can represent fairly well and feel good about.

It’s all about taking these images in my head and trying to get them down on paper how I see them in my head, and with practice I feel like I’ve gotten better at that, at least to the point where I’m satisfied at the end. Most of the time.

M: Awesome. So talk a little bit about how you start creating something when you’re not really sure how it will end up. I get the sense that there’s a lot of growth while you’re actually working.

E: Yeah! It all starts with a visual in my head. From there, I like to use reference images. It gives me a really good base point to go off of. So once I have an image in my head, I try to find something online that looks similar.

If it’s a face, I try to find a similar face or expression, or if I can’t find anything I’ll usually mock something up in Photoshop using snippets of different images, maybe other drawings–just something that I can see it stat to come into fruition.

From there, I like to start with a loose sketch with pencil, a lot of loose lines, and eventually those lines start to form something that makes sense. They get a little darker, I erase the ones that don’t need to be there, and…yeah, that’s how it all begins.

M: That’s been really fun, because you’ll text me works in progress, and then I get to watch you add layers to that.

E: Yeah, it’s fun to have you on the other end because I get to send you these sketches in the beginning that look like almost nothing, and you’re probably terrified. But then as I switch to ink, and I start to make these lines permanent, then the actual drawing starts to come through.

Progress shots of creating the #illustration for Chapter 6 of NO DRAGONS PRESS, written by Maggie Gibbs (@nodragonspress). Each week, a new chapter and illustration will be posted on ascraeuspress.com. We’ve got 6 up and roughly 38 on the way so stay tuned! #illustratedfiction #indiepublishing #highfantasy #fuckdragons

A video posted by Emily Ruf (@ruftimes) on Jul 27, 2016 at 10:31am PDT

Then, depending on how many layers of ink and different colors of markers I might be using, it really starts to change. It gets a lot darker, I use a lot of black backgrounds and dark colors. That’s a highlight of mine, to send you the progress pics and see your reactions.

M: Oh, it’s so much fun. It’s so much fun to see you reach into my brain and come up with something that looks like something.

E: I hope so.

M: So then you’ve taken some of those pictures and edited them together to make a little video so everyone can actually see your progress—are those on Ascraeus Press’s Instagram account, or over on your account?

E: Right now, they’re on my Instagram account, which is @ruftimes, but it might be good to move them over to Ascraeus Press.

M: Yeah. It’s been a fun collection to build.

E: It’s fun to see it morph. Taking 10-12 pictures during the process—it’s like watching a flower grow in time-lapse. It’s kind of cool.

M: I like it!

E: Yeah, so I was driving today and I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a car that said “REPUBLICANS FOR VOLDEMORT.” And, uh…

M: So you’ve got your write-in all set.

E: I mean his hair is better.

*laughing*

M: Isn’t Voldemort the one with a face on the other side of his face?

E: Uh, yeah, that’s…I think so…

M: I’m revealing my lack of Harry Potter lore…

E: …sort of? And then he turns into the squished nose man.

M: Yeah! He’s sort of like a mummy.

E: He’s terrifying.

M: Don’t hate me because I don’t know Harry Potter.

E: Yeah, so I just watched it for the first time in my life.

M: Had you ever read them?

E: I mean I’m almost thirty, that’s kind of sad—no, I haven’t read them.

M: What did you think? Did you watch it on VHS?

E: Uh, fantastic. Not gonna read them, though. And no, I don’t have one of those. I left my VHS player in 1986.

E: Beer Break!

M: Cheers.

*clink*

 * * *

* * *

So, we actually did come back after the beer break, but I thought I’d save the rest of the interview for next week’s episode. So make sure to check back next week for the rest of my conversation with No Dragons Press illustrator and all-around bad-ass person Emily Ruf.

There’s actually a whole lot more hilarity in this interview, which eventually just turned into us lambasting Waterworld, but I’ll save you the trouble of fast-forwarding through that here. (There may be a separate podcast in the works…)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit more about the process behind the No Dragons Press artwork. Emily’s a fantastic artist and a really good friend, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from her in the future.

And now, here is No Dragons Press: Episode 11: A Chain of Worlds.

Thanks so much for listening, everyone. Check back next week for the rest of my interview with Emily Ruf, and make sure to check out nodragonspress.com/podcast for show notes, links, and all sorts of good stuff. Till then, take care, be kind, and have a great week!

No Dragons Press

Episode 10: “Addie Says Goodbye”

Show Notes from Episode 10

These are the show notes from No Dragons Press: Episode 10: Addie Says Goodbye. (The chapter begins at around 3:45, if you want to skip ahead.)

Hey everyone, thanks so much for listening! I hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Chapter Ten Is a Doozie

I’m really excited about this week’s chapter. You could probably tell with the last episode, but that “big event” I’ve been kind of hinting at is finally here!

So, go ahead and skip forward a bit if you just don’t want to wait, but first I wanted to talk a little bit about what I’ve been up to this week and let you know about some exciting plans for next week’s episode.

Minnesota State Fair on a Stick

I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and one of my absolute favorite things about summer is the Minnesota State Fair. I go every year and eat and drink everything, and this year was no exception. It occurred to me that if you’re not from the Midwest United States, you probably haven’t experienced anything like this before, so there are a few things you should know.

Pretty much every county, big or small, holds a county fair in the summer. It’s this huge celebration of Midwest farm culture. There are horses, pigs, sheep, cattle, ducks, chickens, you name it, and you can watch them winning medals with their farmers or check them out in their pens throughout the fair. The local Lions Club chapter and all kinds of organizations have booths or hand out beer or just walk around and talk to people.

Then there’s food, a lot of it on sticks—it’s just a thing we do—and deep-fried pickles and brats and hamburgers and mini donuts in paper bags. There’s probably someone selling honey or jam, there’s an eighties cover band and/or a country band, although I don’t really care about that part, and you can go on rides and get your face painted and check out crafts and prize-winning stuff and play carnival games and learn about local agriculture and buy farm equipment, all at once.

Then there’s the Minnesota State Fair. You don’t just check out the animals, you watch them giving birth. There isn’t an eighties cover band, there’s Alabama and Don Henley. A lot the beer is local, some of it crazy experimental, the cookies and donuts come in gigantic buckets, and it’s not just pickles and hot dogs on a stick, it’s things like hot dish—another thing we do—and salad and mac and cheese on a stick, and an all-you-can-drink milk bar that Ron Burgundy has ruined for everyone.

Other states have fairs, but I feel like because it’s basically right in Minneapolis and we have such a great mix of cultures here, our fair has this really fantastic vibe. You can find Caribbean food and Middle Eastern food and spam sushi and all kinds of crazy fusion stuff, and it’s this really unique blend.

I walked and ate and drank all day and it was amazing and I kind of want to go again before it’s over. Yeah, it goes for like two weeks or something. I took a few pictures, which you saw if you follow me on Instagram at @nodragonspress, and I’ll put a few in the show notes so you can check it out.

Special Guest on Next Week’s Podcast

OK, big announcement: Next week, I will be having a special guest on the show: the fantastic illustrator over at our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series, Emily, is coming on the show. On top of doing a brand-new illustration for every single chapter of No Dragons Press, she’s designed T-shirts and done stuff with bands and does amazing photography and all sorts of amazing and creative stuff. Check her stuff out at ruftimes.com, for real.

I’m going to be asking her a bunch of questions and I’m really excited to have her on the show. If you have any questions for her, just head to nodragonspress.com/contact to send them in and I’ll make sure to ask her.

Alright, that’s it from me. Without any further ado, here is Chapter Ten: Addie Says Goodbye. I really hope you enjoy it!

Hey, guys. Thanks for listening. Remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts, find show notes and links to our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series at nodragonspress.com/podcast, and keep looking out for each other, okay? See you next week. Take care.

No Dragons Press

Episode 9: “Addie Visits the Lab”

Show Notes from Episode Nine

These are the show notes from No Dragons Press: Episode Nine: “Addie Visits the Lab.”

Hey guys, thanks for listening! This is ninth episode, and I’m still kind of struggling to get back on schedule after my microphone exploded last week, so I don’t have a whole lot for you today.

August is bonkers.

You know, it always seems like August particularly bonkers, and Emily and I both have just had a ton going on and it’s been difficult to stick to a schedule.

We’ve been pretty much sticking to weekly, but it’s hard when there’s just so much that goes into each episode and chapter and each piece of artwork. We’re doing our best to keep things consistent for you, and hopefully now that summer is winding down a little bit, we’ll find some more time each week to keep things on track.

No Dragons Press is also bonkers. Let’s jump in.

We have a whole bunch of really cool announcements coming up, but right now we’re at a really exciting point in the story, so I’m going to hold off on the updates and jump right back in.

Remember, last week Duc dropped a few teasers about what Tristan has been doing in his basement laboratory, and Addie of course isn’t going to be able to keep from jumping in headfirst.

So, I’ll have a little bit more to talk about next week, but for now let’s keep the story moving! I hope you enjoy chapter nine: Addie Visits the Lab.

Thanks for listening, you guys. Remember to subscribe to No Dragons Press on iTunes or wherever you’re listening, and be sure to check the show notes at nodragonspress.com/podcast for links to our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series. Take care, be kind, and I’ll see you next week!

No Dragons Press

Episode 8: “Addie Has a Visitor”

Show notes for NO DRAGONS PRESS Episode Eight

These are the show notes for Episode Eight: Addie Has a Visitor. (The story starts at 2:30, if you want to skip ahead.)

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re well!

Spontaneous combustion is real.

So! As you may have noticed, I had a little bit of a hiccup with podcast schedule due to some technical difficulties, namely that my mic decided to spontaneously combust.

You know, troubleshooting is a very frustrating time because you can reinstall programs, swap cables, all the technical stuff, but there’s always that little possibility that maybe it’s just user error, and maybe if you try just that one extra setting it’s going to magically work.

So anyway, after giving up on that, I finally took out my tool kit, a.k.a. wallet (which is totally a joke I just stoke from Mitch Hedberg), and got a new one, and here we are.

Weekly Illustrated Fiction: Still weekly, still illustrated

Thanks to Emily for her infinite patience, and you guys, the Weekly Illustrated Fiction has been plugging away on schedule, and I can’t even believe we somehow haven’t talked about the artwork for chapter 7, definitely go take a look.

It’s our first good look at Tristan, and it’s happening during such a Tristan moment. It’s maybe my favorite one yet and I’m just really excited to share it with you.

Addie: Finally actually about to make a decision?

Anyway, I’ll get right to the story. Remember, in the last chapter, Addie has just experienced the most terrifying moment of her life so far, and today she has some real decisions to make, at least until someone shows up to tell her the one thing that could possibly get her to change her mind.

Now, if it sounds like we’re heading towards something big, we totally are, there’s just a few more chapters until shit really get real and everything changes. In the meantime, make sure to send in your questions and comments, especially if you have any questions for my artist Emily. She’ll be on the show soon and I’ll be asking her a bunch of questions, so get yours in and I’ll be sure to ask her on the show!

Thanks, everyone!

Well that’s it for now. Remember you can listen to archived episodes, read the show notes, and find links to the Weekly Illustrated Fiction series at nodragonspress.com/podcast. Enjoy the show!

Hey everyone, thanks for listening! Feel free to reach out and say hi, and if you’ve been enjoying the story, let someone know about it! I really appreciate it. Thanks everyone.

No Dragons Press

Episode 7: “Addie Is Not a Superhero”

Hey, everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

These are the show notes for No Dragons Press, A HIGH FANTASY Serial Fiction Podcast, Episode 7: “Addie Is Not a Superhero.” (The chapter begins around 3:15, in case you want to skip ahead.)

Enjoy!

Welcome, new listeners!

Kind of exciting news: last night I submitted No Dragons Press to a few new podcast distributors, and it looks like I’ve got a few new listeners! If you’re a new listener, welcome! It’s great to have you here.

I’m really looking forward to the twists and turns coming up and I’m really excited to share them with you, both here on the podcast and on our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series. You can find links to both at nodragonspress.com.

I have some exciting news, or at least it’s exciting news for me:

Now you can help me run the show (or at least myself)!

It definitely isn’t free to run a podcast, but this is a serial fiction podcast, which didn’t really feel to me like the right kind of thing to try to find a sponsor for, at least not right away. I’m already talking a bunch before I even start reading the chapter, and I didn’t want to put anything else between you and the story.

So, since Book One won’t be published for at least another six months, I started thinking about other fun ways I could help offset the cost of running a podcast in a way that didn’t seem disruptive to the show format or just creepy.

Buy me a beer!

I decided, instead of directly asking for help running the show, I would make it easy for listeners to buy me a beer. That indirectly helps, since I’m going to be buying it anyway, and it’s way more fun. Podcasts are such a uniquely personal way to connect with people individually, and something as classic as sending someone a drink really appeals to me on that personal level.

If you head to nodragonspress/beer, you should find a pretty easy-to-use button. Just let me know what kind of beer you’d like to send over and how you’d like to be thanked, and I’ll send out little thank-you gifts too as I start getting all the pieces together.

Edit: I’ve since moved to Patreon. If you’d like to support me, please head to patreon.com/nodragonspress, and thank you. (You can still buy me a beer.)

And you know, whether or not you choose to help out right now, thanks so much for listening, and keep telling your friends about the podcast and the weekly illustrated fiction series. That’s really the most important thing you can do to help right now, and I really appreciate it.

Story Updates

So, I promised things would really start picking up in the story, and they definitely have. If you remember last week, Addie was upstairs in Nate’s apartment, then she went down into the No Dragons Press offices to grab something—until she heard a noise and ran upstairs to see what was going on and got a face full of guns.

Today we pick up where we left off, and we not only learn how appropriate the chapter title is; we also learn just how much Addie doesn’t know about the people she’s closest to. She’s really starting to learn that everyone has secrets, especially the people we don’t necessarily expect secrets from.

Well, I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll shut up for now and jump right into the story. Thanks again for listening and following along, and I hope you enjoy chapter 7: “Addie is Not a Superhero.”

You guys are awesome.

Thanks so much, everyone, and thanks for listening! Remember, you can find the show notes for today’s episode at nodragonspress.com/podcast, as well as older episodes and a link to our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series. Have a great week, help spread the word if you can, and take care of yourselves! See you next time.

No Dragons Press

Episode 6: “Addie Hears Something Strange”

Show Notes

These are the show notes from No Dragons Press: Episode Six, where I read chapter 6, “Addie Hears Something Strange.” (If you want to skip the intro and go right to the chapter right around 3:05.)

Hey everyone, thanks so much for listening!

On Location in Myrick

So, this past weekend I actually went to visit the town Myrick is based on. A friend and I just kind of drove around town for a while, scouting out places where Addie might like to hang out and where her house might be and stalking the No Dragons Press offices (though unfortunately there was no Tristan sighting).

I did get a pretty cool shot of the street sign on the intersection of Madison and Twenty-Fourth, and you can even see a bit of the bluffs rising up behind it, although they just look like hills:

Then we wove around through the real bluffs, which are brilliantly green right now and really amazing. (I’ve added a few pictures to the show notes, so you can take a look at nodragonspress.com/podcast and check it out.)

The Bluffs: Addie’s Childhood Home

It made sense to me that Addie should have grown up in the bluffs, always with this view of looking down on the city below and seeing it as something separate. She’s got this view of the world where it’s like she wants to be a part of it but also prefers to stay separate—even when she’s just hanging out, she’s separate from other people, like even at a bar she’s either working or perpetually feeling like she’s just stuck her foot in her mouth. And she is definitely making plans to separate herself from Bradley.

She’s basically a weird girl who doesn’t really know what she wants, which is pretty typical, and I like that she has these special places she can visit whenever she wants to escape, up in these basically rocky, elevated green forests with sight lines of all the places she goes in real life.

Send Me Your Questions for Emily Ruf!

Coming up very soon here, I’m going to be bringing Emily Ruf on the show, the artist of the No Dragons Press series, so we can talk a little bit about how we got started on the project together and how she approaches coming up with a new piece of art every week.

If there’s anything you’d like me to ask her, definitely send me your question: you can reach me on Twitter at @nodragonspress, or check out nodragonspress.com for more contact info. thanks!

Well, that’s it from me! Remember, you can always find archived episodes, show notes, and links to the Weekly Illustrated Fiction series at nodragonspress.com/podcast. And if you know of anyone who might be interested in the show, be sure to let them know where they can find it.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy No Dragons Press, a High Fantasy Adventure: Book One, Chapter 6: “Addie Hears Something Strange.”

Thanks for listening, you guys. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast wherever you’re listening, be sure to check out nodragonspress.com/podcast to learn more about our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series, and tune in next week for another episode of No Dragons Press: A High Fantasy Podcast. Have fun, be good, and I’ll see you next week!

No Dragons Press

Episode 5: “Addie Makes a Choice”

Show Notes for Episode 5

Hey, everyone! Welcome to the show.

So, a lot of scary things going on this week, again—a lot of uncertainty, a lot of people trying to tell you we’re broken and we can’t be fixed. Let’s just keep moving forward, and keep respecting each other as individuals. Everyone has their own story, and it might not be the one you expect, so let’s keep an open mind about each other and be kind to the people you encounter, OK?

High Fantasy = HIGH + FANTASY

So, I know we’ve spent a lot of the story just hanging around the No Dragons Press building in the tiny Midwestern town of Myrick. And the “high” aspect is pretty clear by now, but since you may be wondering, I thought I’d take a few minutes today to talk about where this alleged “fantasy” part kicks in.

Hopefully you have a pretty clear sense by now that something is about to happen, something that involves Tristan’s secret door to the basement.

Now, this isn’t a total spoiler, but in case you’re starting to get a little antsy for the shape of this thing, keep in mind that one of the most critical characteristics of the traditional “high fantasy” genre is that the story takes place in a world that isn’t our own. And while it’s gonna be a few more weeks before shit really hits the fan, you’re definitely going to start seeing some of those pieces coming together really soon, so that’ll be really exciting.

In the meantime, today’s chapter skips forward a few weeks, and it starts off a little more reflectively than some of the others. You can think of this as kind of the calm before the storm, when Addie still thinks she has a little bit of control over her life. She doesn’t, of course, but she thinks she does.

No, really, I know what I’m doing…

So, I was talking with some friends the other day about Lost and the Battlestar Galactica reboot—you know, other shows like that where you either suspect or know that the writers really didn’t know if they’d be canceled and they may or may not have had an actual plan for how the thing might end if it had the chance to.

That’s not what’s happening with No Dragons Press. I’m actually completely finished with book one, which is what you’re listening to now, and I’ve got books 2 through 5 outlined, and each book is novel-length. So don’t worry, you’re in good hands, I will not leave you with a ton of open questions and just suddenly slap an ending on it and call it a day, promise.

Have I mentioned I love fantastic leggings?

So, I have to mention this because I’m still absolutely tickled by Emily’s surprise for me this week. If you follow me on Instagram at @nodragonspress, you already know that I have a bit of a love affair with fantastic leggings. Most weeks, my artist Emily and I meet up and discuss the chapter, see what about it really calls to her as something she wants to depict—and she usually suggests something I’m not expecting and it completely blows me away, like the map of the galaxy in last week’s chapter.

This week, I don’t even remember what we decided on initially, but I got a message from Emily saying that she hopes I don’t mind but she took the artwork in a slightly different direction than planned this week, and would I mind if we made a bit of a switch. Immediately followed by another text saying: I’m going for it.

The result is of course amazing, and, as usual, way cooler than what I had imagined—and to top off the surprise, she put Addie in a pair of my own favorite leggings. It was so much fun to see this happen, and it’s a great reminder for me to just listen to the creative process as it’s happening, and if something feels like it isn’t working and some other option seems way more interesting, it probably is.

Check it out here:

Well, I think that’s it from me—I hope you enjoy chapter five! If you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you, just head to nodragonspress.com for contact info, or you can follow me on Twitter or Instagram at @nodragonspress.

And hey: if you like what you hear, tell a friend! Because I had to rate this podcast “explicit” due to the the F-bombs and the marijuana thing, I don’t have the biggest outreach right now, so your word of mouth is definitely appreciated, and it is definitely the most powerful way for me to reach more listeners.

Thank you so much for your help, and thanks so much for listening, and I hope you enjoy Chapter Five: Addie Makes a Choice.

Thanks for listening, you guys. Remember, you can subscribe to the podcast wherever you’re listening, be sure to check out nodragonspress.com/podcast to learn more about our Weekly Illustrated Fiction series, and tune in next week for another episode of No Dragons Press: A High Fantasy Podcast. Have fun, be good, and I’ll see you next week!

No Dragons Press

Episode 4: “Addie Considers the Multiverse”

Show Notes

These are the show notes from No Dragons Press: Episode Four: Addie Considers the Multiverse. (Chapter 4 begins right around 2:24.)

Show notes:

Hey, everyone.

Look, it’s been a really sad week, especially in Minnesota, where I live. I just wanted to explain why I’m not making much of an intro this week.

If you’re listening to an archive of this show, it’s early July 2016, and just somehow this week doesn’t feel right to talk about anything else as if it’s important. and nobody really quite knows what to do with all this anger and outrage or how we’re all going to move forward together.

I live in Minneapolis, just a few minutes from where Philando Castile was pulled over and shot to death by a police officer in front of a four-year-old child and denied medical attention. Nobody really quite knows what to do with all this outrage and how we’re going to move forward together, but we need to start taking better care of each other. We need to start seeing each other.

There’s so much we can learn from each other and share and experience if we’re not busy being afraid and focus on what we all have in common: being with the people we love, enjoying delicious food, talking about our day, and sharing our hopes and our fears, telling our stories. Let’s keep reminding each other to treat the things we don’t understand as opportunities to learn.

OK, so that’s my announcement. I suppose this week’s artwork is pretty on message too: it’s a map of the galaxy with our little tiny place in it called out with a little “you are here” thing. It’s actually only incrementally related to the chapter, but it turns out it has everything to do with everything, so it’s totally cool that my artist Emily picked that out as the thing she wanted to draw. This is what I love about working with her, and I hope you guys have had a chance to check out the artwork at ascraeuspress.com. I’ll also leave you a link in the show notes at nodragonspress.com/podcast.

Well, I think that’s it from me! Thanks for sticking with me and I really hope you enjoy Chapter Four: Addie Considers the Multiverse.

Hey everyone, thanks for listening! You’ve just heard Chapter Four: Addie Considers the Multiverse. Tune in next week, and in the meantime, be good to yourselves, be good to each other. Take care.