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On the Completion of Roswell, Texas
by L. Neil Smith
lneil@netzero.com

Special to The Libertarian Enterprise

Roswell, Texas: Page 1

Roswell, Texas: Page 640

As everybody who frequents the virtual pages of BigHeadPress.com is aware, our graphic novel Roswell, Texas is complete, as of today, January 10, 2008.

The work, as far as I know, is unique, unprecedented in the annals of graphic novelia (hey, I'm an author—I can make up words if I want) and may also be the most detailed and widely-reaching alternate history tale in literature. I'm extremely proud to have been a part of it as co-author of the original story and principle adaptor to comic form.

One reason I'm writing this is to bring your attention to the indispensible others involved. First, my good friend and co-author Rex F. "Baloo" May, who came up with many of the more imaginative bits, including creation of a whole new language, Texperanto. He and I will finish the text novel now, and we're looking for a publisher even as I write this. Know anybody in the publishing business who wants and action-adventure science fiction western that already has a "fan-base" and over six hundred pages of graphic advertising on the web every day?

Next, I want to mention Scott Bieser. I can't say what his work has meant to me. Twice, now, in The Probability Broach and R,T, he's brought my settings and characters to life in a way I never thought could happen, and I'm more than grateful to him, just for existing. His brain and mine seem to mesh and the only really weird part is when he gets a scene exactly as I imagined it, only flopped, from left to right. His amazing art, especially in R,T has more than made up for the fact that, having started my career as a novelist in the Dark Ages of Political Correctness, I never got any scantily-clad maidens on my book covers. Wait'll you get a load of what we're doing next!

Jen Zach is our esteemed colorist, an extraordinarily creative and intelligent young woman whose mind and clever hands never seem to stop working at something beautiful or funny—or both. I have sat in the same room many times with her and my family and watched her crochet funny little animals, squid, octopi, and shrimp as she watched TV, the same way other artists doodle with a pencil and pad. Jen brought a magic of her very own to R,T (see the rainbow following the Emperor's Flying Boat as it lands, for example) I hope we'll get to see again, soon.

Not to be forgotten is Sean "Zeke" Bieser, a naturally talented graphic artist in his own right, who did as much of the lettering for R,T as he could. What he may lack in years, he more than makes up for in extremely funny sarcasm, and I am certain that he will write and draw his own graphic novels for you much sooner than even he may realize.

Finally, we get to Our Publisher, Frank Bieser, whose adventurous spirit has made all of this possible. I only wish he could be up here in Fort Collins to celebrate the completion of the work this coming Sunday. We will send him pictures, however, and you will see them, eventually.

Now it's your turn. We need two things from those of you who have enjoyed R,T or are enjoying it now. The first thing you can do is send the URL to as many other individuals as you can, at least a dozen.

The second thing is to write us and tell us what you think about R,T. It doesn't matter what: everybody likes or dislike something different about everything—that's what individualism is all about, really.

Please write us a word, write us a sentence, write us a review, cheerful and flippant, sarky and snotty, long or short, superficial or depthy, John Waynishly straightforward or twisted and devious like 90% of what the critics write. Tell the gnomes who hand out all those Nebulae, Hugii, and Prometheii what a swell thing we've accomplished here. We'll publish the remarks we like—and hate—most. We believe sincerely that the work deserves it, as it deserves a wider audience.

But then that could just be me, I guess.

Four-time Prometheus Award-winner L. Neil Smith has been called one of the world's foremost authorities on the ethics of self-defense. He is the author of 25 books, including The American Zone, Forge of the Elders, Pallas, The Probability Broach, Hope (with Aaron Zelman), and his collected articles and speeches, Lever Action, all of which may be purchased through his website "The Webley Page" at lneilsmith.org.

Ceres, an exciting sequel to Neil's 1993 Ngu family novel Pallas was recently completed and is presently looking for a literary home.

Neil is presently working on Ares, the middle volume of the epic Ngu Family Cycle, and on Roswell, Texas, with Rex F. "Baloo" May.

The stunning 185-page full-color graphic-novelized version of The Probability Broach, which features the art of Scott Bieser and was published by BigHead Press www.bigheadpress.com has recently won a Special Prometheus Award. It may be had through the publisher, at www.Amazon.com, or at BillOfRightsPress.com.

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