Update on Enamel Pins, and behind the scenes of a new Worldbuilding Project

Good morning patrons!

Enamel Pins Restock

I know many of you are disappointed that you were unable to get one of the enamel pins that went up for sale earlier this week, but there will be another batch soon! The impromptu nature of the sale was due to how it came together: a fan was producing the pins and selling them on Etsy, but we came to an agreement to sell the remainder on the main website. With the next batch, I will make sure that all Benefactor-tier patrons receive a pin for free, with patrons at the Member and Supporter tiers getting first access to purchasing them before the general public. And, if I sell out of the pins that quickly again, I will make another batch. The next round of pins will have the same artwork as the first batch, just slightly tweaked to be a bit cleaner. However, if you have ideas for what kind of designs you would like to see, please leave a comment!

New Worldbuilding Project

The second thing I wanted to talk about this morning is the (soft) announcement/teaser of my next major Worldbuilding Project: SpectralHaptics.org

Before I go any further, I'd like to be absolutely clear: This in no way means I am finishing up or moving away from the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park project. I am still in the process of making art for the Coffee Table Book, and the Mystery Flesh Pit won't be "finished" until that book is published and in your hands.

With that clear, and by request of several of you who have inquired, I'd like to show you a little sneak preview and a behind-the-scenes look at this new world.

This new series (Tentatively titled The National Institute for Spectral Haptics, or just Spectral Haptics) is a mutli-media horror narrative told through the medium of found artifacts, government documents, video presentations, first-hand written accounts, and illustrations. The high-concept is a fictional history of the U.S. Government's 20th & 21st century efforts to survey and understand haunted and/or possessed locations, with a particular focus on the spiritual habitation of man-made structures, and the implications of these efforts.

In the world of Spectral Haptics, Spirits, Ghosts, Daemons and other “Apparitional” phenomena are well-documented and understood to the degree that their principles may be studied, repeated and applied. Though the exact mechanism by which a human enters into the greater spiritual consciousness is not fully understood, mankind has made some progress towards further exploration of the spirit medium, though this information is highly classified.

Central to this story is FORMA. What NASA is to outer space, FORMA is to astral space. The Federal Occult Range Management Administration (FORMA) is an executive agency founded in 1937 by the Roosevelt Administration as a part of the New Deal. Initially founded as the Northeast Reclamation Survey, FORMA was charged with cataloging abandoned or otherwise derelict estate properties for the purpose of imminent domain seizure for public works projects. Following the discovery and investigation of paranormal and occult phenomena within certain structures encountered throughout the survey, the effort is formally reorganized into an executive agency with broad powers to study and advance the knowledge of Apparitional Phenomena for the benefit of the American Public. FORMA is headquartered in Washington D.C. inside its own large office complex, and maintains several research and operational facilities around the United States.

A secondary but equally important player in this narrative is SCARE. The Special Counter-Apparition Regulation and Enforcement Task Force (SCARE) was created by the Johnson administration within the Dept. of Housing in the 1960s as a paramilitary investigative and enforcement agency designed to reduce and/or eliminate instances of Daemonic occurrence. As a federal taskforce, SCARE operates across the united states and has a wide latitude of jurisdiction in their activities, though their engagement is concentrated in urban areas near the former locations of now-defunct Spirit Habitats. The conflation of occult activity and urban crime by conservative groups in the 1970s and 1980s led to the evolution of SCARE into a quasi-law enforcement obligation that is still poorly defined. Today, the agency is highly controversial for its tactics and the extraordinary budget which allows it to utilize cutting edge military-grade equipment. Defenders of SCARE insist that the agency is only executive, and that it merely responds to situations created by the activities of FORMA.

What are these Spirits, Sprites, and Daemons? What are Spirit Habitats? What is the purpose of these activities? How exactly will this go terribly wrong? These are all answers which will be illuminated by this new series.

As I am further developing this series, I will share some behind-the-scenes work which might illuminate and/or demystify my process for writing and creating worlds and artwork. These bits and pieces won't always be pretty, and they might not even make sense at some times, but they are the "real medicine". To that end, I will start with two sets of items: some of the first logo treatments I've worked up to set the tone and visual "feel" of the world, as well as a (still working!) timeline for establishing key dates and events within the series of Spectral Haptics.

My hope is that these items will pique your interest in this new endeavor. I have some exciting things, potentially in the form of collaboration with other horror creators you already know and (hopefully) love, and I am very excited to share more of this world with you all.

Thank you all again for your selfless support of my work. Your ongoing patronage has allowed me to fully immerse myself in my passion for worldbuilding, and I am happier and more fulfilled than I have been at any prior point in my life. Thank you, and stay tuned!