Since this is the first entry, I feel like I should start at the beginning and get you all up to speed. But if I attempt that, I'll be here forever and this page will never get online. So here's a brief update:
Llewellyn has agreed to publish Victoria Regina Tarot as a 78 card deck/book set, (book to be cowritten by Georg Patterson and myself). The contract negotiations took longer than I expected, but I probably would have had different expectations if I'd ever done this before. Like most Tarot artists, I have no agent, but I did have the expert advice of a lawyer friend of mine, an agent friend of Georg's, and our invaluable Tarot friends Ken Genetti and Arnell Ando.
I don't know yet who our editor will be, when the deck will be released, or any of that fun stuff. I do know that the cards will be large (just over 3x5", the size of the Sacred Circle deck). The fine detail in the deck will show up better in larger reproductions, so I'm very happy about this.
I also know that Georg and I have four months from the date the contract is signed to turn in the completed art and manuscript. As of today, I have 8 cards left to do and the book is about 1/3 completed. Four months will be a push, but I don't think we'll have trouble meeting the deadline.
As for the date the contract is signed ... We signed it on the 3rd, and I mailed it on the 4th. Barbara (the excellent Barbara Wright, who is responsible for my being able to call Llewellyn my publisher) wrote on the 10th to tell me they had received it. She said she'd write again when Llewellyn's president has signed them and she puts our copies in the mail. I'm expecting him to sign them sometime this weekend. So our 4 month deadline probably begins today or tomorrow. Tick, tick, tick!
In other news, Valerie Sim-Behi, manager of the ComparativeTarot mailing list, has designed a spread for the deck called Victoria's Chalice. Georg and I used the spread to do our first ever reading with Victoria Regina. We shuffled with another deck -- Light and Shadow -- and once the cards were layed out replaced them with the appropriate cards from V/R. The spread is excellent! We read on the deck itself: now that the contract is signed, where do we stand, and how can we approach the project from now on for the best results. It was a powerful moment. I'm so grateful to Valerie for making it possible.
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