The tryptophan is finally wearing off and the blisters are beginning to fade, so it’s time to get things rolling here at the Ship Works again.

First up, in the rush to get all those products out the door we forgot to mention one new item (or, at least, new to us): Adam Levermore-Rich’s Techno Asian Fusion style Browncoats t-shirt, which –  in addition to being totally cool – would help you fit right in at the Eavesdown Docks or on the backstreets of Sihnon. Available with the same high-quality printing on the same luxurious shirts as our best-selling ISV Cerberus shirt. And only $16.95 for Men’s small to XL (XXL and 3XL available at an additional charge).

Marian’s performance Saturday night was, in a word, stellar. I can’t quite describe the feeling, but maybe you can get a sense of it by putting Marian’s new signed, limited-edition CD in the stereo, cranking it up and closing your eyes. Hm. Yep, that’s the ticket.

Wait, you mean you don’t have the CD? Why not? Oh, riiight. Well, you’ll be happy to learn the copies I promised to reserve for you are on sale right now over at the QMX store: Just click here to go to the product page.

As for other items of interest at the show – well, let’s just say we got a couple of updates coming we think you’ll really enjoy.

But, first, back to the music…

Pass it on

Okay, all kidding aside, we have mucho updates coming on the Serenity replica. With pre-show prep in full swing, I don’t have time to post a lot right now. But couldn’t help but want to slip this one in: Rivets. Lots of Rivets. Lots and lots of Rivets. Oh, and look at all those hand-carved armor plates – shiny!

By the way, this is a casting, not a master. Pretty sweet, eh?

Before I forget, just curious how many of you Core-Techs are going to make it to the Creation show in Burbank? If you can possibly be there, be there. Not sayin’ anything else. Just – be there.

I’m sittin’ here just smilin’ like a fool

In Other News:

Be sure to check out Marian Call’s fantabulous interview over at SerenityStuff, where she waxes poetic about being a Firefly Nerd and how that inspired her to make with the music: http://www.serenitystuff.com/2008/11/15/marian-calls-new-fireflybsg-themed-cd/

And will you look at this?! We send this guy bags of money and this is how you uses it? You know, you coulda bought yourself a couple of low-mileage Fireflies with all that Alliance scrip

I couldn’t be more thrilled to (finally) announce (and reveal the big secret I’ve been hinting at for over a week) QMx’s most ambitious project to date: The Complete and Official Map of the Verse.

Over two years in the making, the Map of the Verse measures 25 inches by 38 inches and is printed on both sides of a sheet of 65 lbs cover stock (believe me, we needed the space). It documents the names, positions, sizes, populations and other never-before-published details of the 215 terraformed planets and moons orbiting the five star systems that comprise The Verse of Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity.

The Map of the Verse encompasses every bit of information about the Verse we could lay our hands on. It not only includes all the worlds from the show and movie, but also extended canon from licensed products and even a few from popular fan fiction. A team of researchers including folks from The Signal Podcast and other luminaries of the Browncoat community worked diligently on the science of The Verse, factoring in distances, orbits, masses, stellar classes and a lot of other astrophysical stuff that frankly made my head hurt. It was our goal that The Map of the Verse makes sense – scientifically and in terms of story continuity – and thanks to the help of many, many dedicated people, I think we were able to come pretty close to achieving that goal.

We also considered the politics of The Verse in constructing the map. We tried to answer questions like why Hera was so important that the loss of a single battle there could end the war decisively: Turns out Hera orbits a protostar (along with Shadow and Sturges) that rides the inner edge of The Border and is an ideal jumping-off point for travelers going to The Core or out to The Rim. In combination with Persephone – which orbits a stellated gas giant on the outer edge of The Core – Hera/Persephone form a kind of “airlock” between The Core and the rest of the Verse, making it a target of great strategic importance.

And that’s just one detail the team – including map designer Geoffrey Mandel who created the maps you see in the movie – considered as they constructed this model of the Verse.

The Map will be available for the first time next weekend at the Creation Serenity Convention in Burbank, CA and then shortly thereafter on the QMx website. We’ll be offering the map in two forms – Z-folded roadmap style for $26.95 and hand-rolled and inserted into an archival tube for shipping and storage for $34.95. It’s also worth noting that Margaret Weiss Productions has endorsed the Map and we expect they’ll be using this Verse model in future Serenity Role-Playing Game supplements. (By the way, if you haven’t gotten a copy of the Serenity RPG, you should. It’s a fantastic read, even if you don’t roleplay!)

With literally thousands of details I could ramble on all day about the map and all it encompasses. But, rather than do that, I’ve prepared a little gallery of images for you to ponder:

So, what do you think? Big enough for ya?

I know a couple of you are gettin’ mighty impatient to hear what the “The Big Secret” is. Tomorrow, all will be revealed. Well, a lot will be revealed, anyway. I think this one’s going to take some time and many posts to explain in full.

Just didn’t want any of you caught by surprise, so consider this your 24-hour early warning. By the end of the day tomorrow, the big reveal will be happening here just you. And then you can let me know if it was worth the wait.

Once in a very, very rare while, we find someone whose work so totally blows us away, we can barely type the e-mail fast enough to get in contact with them. In the past three years I can count the number of times that’s happened on one hand, and still have enough fingers left to dial the phone. Of course, when lightening does strike, it delivers to us new talents like Adam Levermore-Rich and Ben Mund. So, as rare as it is, we know it’s always worth the wait.

Recently we came across just such an awesome talent in one Kristele Pelland, who creates some of the most memorable animated characters we’ve seen in a long time. And she loves Firefly and Serenity.

So, of course, first thing we asked her to do was immortalize the Big Damn Heroes in her own unique style. The result of that request you can see below – the first in what we hope will be a series of poster sets we’re calling “Serenity Scenes”. The first poster set will retail for $24.95 and include the three 11×14-inch prints picture here. It will be available for the first time at the Creation Serenity show Nov. 22-23 and then on the QMx website after that.

As always, we’ve come to you Core-Techs first because you always have insightful feedback for us. So, what do you think?

P.S. This is not the “big” announcement. Soon, very soon

Despite appearances, there really is an underlying method to our madness: A QMx product must be unique, expertly designed, drool-worthy (although you shouldn’t need to be a fan to think so), and, most importantly, if we didn’t do it, it probably no one else would.

With that little bit of info, perhaps our decision to become a music publisher might not seem so strange. Okay, maybe it’s still a little strange. But whatever you may think of QMx publishing a CD of original music, here’s the thing – I don’t think you’ll take issue with the result: Nine brand new tracks from Geek Diva Marian Call about what it means to be a geek and her love for Serenity and Firefly (and a bit of Battlestar thrown in for good measure).

If you’ve never heard – or heard of – Marian Call, it’s about time you did. Her music is as evocative and it is intelligent. The kind of stuff you could listen to with your non-fan friends and they’d be enthralled by the sheer artistry of her work. When we first heard her play almost a year ago, we were rendered speechless. When we found out she was a Browncoat, the wheels began to turn.

The result is this album.

“Got to Fly” will debut in two weeks at the Creation Serenity show in Burbank, CA. It will retail for $15.95 and will be hand-numbered and signed by the artist. Only 1,000 will be made.

To hear samples of “Got to Fly”, use the embedded players below or go to www.qmxonline.com/gottofly. To hear other stuff by Marian, go to www.mariancall.com.

Oh, and this is not the big announcement I was referring to yesterday. (Not that Marian isn’t big, well, she isn’t big, but her music is… well, you know what I mean.)

]]> http://www.fireflyshipworks.com/2008/11/marian-calls-geek-music/feed/ http://www.fireflyshipworks.com/2008/11/its-coming/ http://www.fireflyshipworks.com/2008/11/its-coming/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:21:14 +0000 admin http://www.fireflyshipworks.com/?p=619

From the minds that brought you the definitive Serenity Blueprints, a project of such staggering scope it took the combined talents of over a dozen researchers, designers and artists, plus those scientifically-minded types who kept correctin’ our work, two years to create.

Get ready. This is big. Really big. And The Verse will never be the same.

That’s all I’m sayin’… for now.