Benedict Jacka

In reply to Bill.

Also any news on the Book#4 edits or even a projected title for Book#4? It’s frustrating for a book to be just known as “4” rather than having an exciting/evocative title!

Life Sigls enhance (or impair) the way that the human body functions then is there a way to produce Sigls that improve the various drucraft skills?

Will the Hobbs and Joanna characters feature more in Book#4/#5? I was rather hoping that these characters would appear more in the developing storyline…

Is it practically used when developing a new sigl to use a nervous systhem enhancing sigl to get better results? I must but wonder, if having ten people sitting around a manifester and enhancing them would give better results?

I assume one could also get the protegé status easier, with such a setup?

Do the planetary associations have any actual meaning of some kind? Or is it just old mythology that carries over from when drucraft was probably thought of in more religious/mystical terms?

Could a life sigl related to the nervous system be used to limit / dampen pain reception? Or it that too precise? Can the pain signals be dampened without dampening other nerve function?

Thank you forbthe update!

So pleased to hear that a regular annual release of IoM looks feasible again! Congratulations for keeping on with book#5 rather than waiting for the Book#4 edits before proceeding – it looks a winning strategy!

Thanks for keeping us informed and fingers crossed that “Early March” Edits are minor and don’t impact your new writing now that its going so well! (any idea why the edits were so long in coming this time?)

“I’ll be able to keep up my one-a-year target after all” You were CONCERNED about nothing.

In reply to Anthony.

Yes, that’s exactly what they do.

In reply to Benedict.

Do the companies also offer a paltry discount when replacing them, if the employee turns in the worn out sigl? I imagine that the profit margin could be increased further if the company did so.

Obviously it would take multiple busted sigls to offset the essentia cost of a new one, but if they’re all produced at the same well or wells they could probably get some amount of return. (Based on your sigl recycling articles)

Great plot so far can not wait for book 4 to come out. Its fantastic to see you continuing on with writing on book 5.
Its a pity edits for book 4 is taking longer but it can’t be help.
keep going….

In reply to Jim Sackman.

Yes, there’s no such thing as an off-the-shelf sigl.

And essentia is very much a limited resource. That doesn’t stop companies from selling it to their own employees, providing those sales are profitable.

In reply to Celia.

It’s roughly measurable, so yes, buyers can take manufacturers to task over it.

In reply to Jason Enberg.

Yes, the “you can’t buy sigls off the shelf” thing was discussed back in book 1.

Lead time is going to vary. The cheaper the sigl, the lower the lead time.

Okay so I guess I misunderstood when I was listening. Stephen was offered Locator sigils that were threaded for a price. My read of that was that these were off the shelf and available at will. But after reading this, he would have had to buy a threaded locator sigil made just for him. Correct?

I recognize that this became overcome by events, but it seems to me to be a waste of good essentia. That, in turn, leads me to believe that essentia is not a scarce resource. Otherwise there would be more profitable ways to employ it.

Sorry that there isn’t any news from the edits, I wonder what can be delaying them? (or perhaps there is absolutely nothing they can find wrong with Book#4?).
Anyway it is good news that Book#5 is still going well, but not much to tempt you outside in this dismal weather!

The reason ist probably that they made a Christmas break too

In reply to Alicia.

I second this.

I’m so glad to hear that things aren’t as stressful this time around! I’m happy for you.

I’m pleased to hear that Book#5 is proceeding well despite the silence surrounding the Edits for Book#4. Are you planning to ‘prod’ the publishers to find out why things are taking longer?
As you said, now that you are familiar with the process the Edits (usually) aren’t as major as when you started writing. It sounds as if your new writing methodology is paying dividends!

You haven’t said anything about Sales figures recently and I’m assuming that they are still good both for the new IoM series and for Alex Verus series too?!