New Stick Tales Story "Haleo & Julelan" (plus Blood Runs in the Family) in PDF

[The Giant]

Once more, into the breach.



Blood Runs in the Family Digital Edition and Haleo and Julelan Digital Edition are both available for purchase on Gumroad.

Haleo and Julelan was the second of the short stories I wrote especially for Kickstarter backers. It's a 25-page black-and-white retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, only with Elan as Juliet and Haley as Romeo. It's available for a special pay-what-you-think-is-fair price since that worked out pretty well for the Belkar story.

A new bulleted list of features:

• PDF format that works great on the tablet of your choice!
• Art is still in its native vector format, allowing you to zoom in with no loss of quality!
• Haleo & Julelan features updated lettering to match the current strip dialogue!
• Fully bookmarked and hyperlinked to each strip referenced in the commentaries!
• No digital rights management—just a single watermark on the front cover!
• Some typos fixed, others almost certainly introduced!
• Digital delivery allows lower prices! Just $19 for Blood Runs in the Family, and Pay-What-You-Want for Haleo and Julelan].

A lot of questions about the PDFs have been answered in the previous three threads about the release of DCF/OTOPCs, NCFPB, and WAXP/SOD, respectively, but if you have any additional questions or concerns (or technical issues), then feel free to ask them here. Thanks!

Expected FAQs!
I can't figure out how to buy them!
You can get to the new books by clicking here for BRITF or here for Haleo and Julelan, or on the big cover pictures above, or you can get to the Giant in the Playground profile page at Gumroad (which lists all the products we have one page) by clicking here.

Will the rest of the books be coming out?
Yes! Unless sales really fall off a cliff or something, I have every intention of releasing all the regular books in the series as PDFs, eventually. (Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales will probably remain an Ookoodook-exclusive until we sell out of the last paper copy.)

When will the rest of the books be coming out?
Uncertain, as I need to juggle the relettering with other work, but my goal is to get the rest of the series out before the end of the year, if not sooner. Obviously, these two books came hot on the heels of the previous one, but don't necessarily expect the next release to happen so quickly.

How do I get my PDFs?
You'll get an email with a download link a few minutes after ordering. Keep an eye on your spam folder, just in case.

What does the watermark look like?
It's on the first page (the cover), and it's a small grey ribbon-shape with the Gumroad "G" logo, next to which it says "Sold to" and then the email address that you gave when you purchased the book. So don't buy using your top secret email.

Why does the listing say that Blood Runs in the Family is 372 pages when the print versions is 368?
The page count includes the front and back covers, inside and out.

Why did you reletter Haleo and Julelan? I like Comic Sans!
For the same reason I relettered Blood Runs in the Family—because they were created on an old version of Adobe Illustrator, and updating to the new one caused them to burst their balloons slightly. Since I had to touch each one manually to fix it, I decided I might as well use the current font.

Did you make any other corrections to the art?
A few really egregious errors that had slipped by, though I probably missed some yet again. Not much else.

I'm a Kickstarter backer and I never got my free copy of Haleo and Julelan!
You must have missed the update with the download link. You can download the story for free from your Kickstarter account by going to the pledge drive's page and looking for Update #61 from August 15, 2013. You'll need to be logged into your account in order to view that update.

Are there any differences between this version of Haleo and Julelan and the file I received three years ago?
Yes, but only slight ones. This new PDF uses the same vector art as the recent PDF releases—the kind that looks crisp at any magnification. The original file used raster art that gets fuzzy as you zoom in. Also, this file has the new post-Blood Runs in the Family typography. The story is unchanged.

Why are you using Gumroad instead of (insert name of other company)?
Because they charge the lowest commission, which means I could lower the price more. Plus, most other companies that offer a watermark service add it to every single page, which seemed like overkill to me. One page is enough.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or technical difficulties, feel free to post them here (though I don't know how much help I can be with the technical stuff; we may have to wait for Gumroad customer service for that).

[nachoted]

Great Thanks Giant now i have "completed" my OOTS library (well only dragon tails remains).

[The Aboleth]

Does the BRITF PDF have any "extras" (additional commentary by you, additional art, etc.) like the other main story PDFs had? I know the DSTP PDF release didn't have any "looking back" commentary, but it did have the OOTS d20 sourcebook stuff, so I'm curious if BRITF has any extras or if it's purely the book in PDF form?

[Rynael]

My copy of Haleo and Julelan has the a page of-

Spoiler

Show

the balcony scene (I'm not sure why I'm putting this in a spoiler, since it's literally the most iconic scene in Romeo and Juliet, but better safe than sorry)

-repeated, and it looks like the second page of said scene overwrote the first, unless it was a rough transition (but all the others are marked with "Act X, Scene X," so I doubt it). Not sure if it was just my copy or everyone's, so I figured I should mention it as early as possible.

[The Giant]

My copy of Haleo and Julelan has the a page of-

Spoiler

Show

the balcony scene (I'm not sure why I'm putting this in a spoiler, since it's literally the most iconic scene in Romeo and Juliet, but better safe than sorry)

-repeated, and it looks like the second page of said scene overwrote the first, unless it was a rough transition (but all the others are marked with "Act X, Scene X," so I doubt it). Not sure if it was just my copy or everyone's, so I figured I should mention it as early as possible.

Ahh, crap. OK, I've updated the file and replaced it on Gumroad. If you buy it now, it will have the new (correct) file. If you already bought it, you should be getting an email telling you to go back to Gumroad and download it again.

Sorry about that.

[The Giant]

Does the BRITF PDF have any "extras" (additional commentary by you, additional art, etc.) like the other main story PDFs had? I know the DSTP PDF release didn't have any "looking back" commentary, but it did have the OOTS d20 sourcebook stuff, so I'm curious if BRITF has any extras or if it's purely the book in PDF form?

No, there's nothing extra this time. Because the book is less than 2 years old, I didn't have anything to say about "looking back," since not that much has changed. And I didn't have another file full of old abandoned work to pull from.

Going forward, new OOTS books probably won't be getting any extras in the PDFs, because I don't necessarily want to incentivize people to buy PDFs over books, at least not any more than the lower price already will do so.

[The Aboleth]

No, there's nothing extra this time. Because the book is less than 2 years old, I didn't have anything to say about "looking back," since not that much has changed. And I didn't have another file full of old abandoned work to pull from.

Going forward, new OOTS books probably won't be getting any extras in the PDFs, because I don't necessarily want to incentivize people to buy PDFs over books, at least not any more than the lower price already will do so.

That makes sense; I assumed there would be no "looking back" commentary for the reason you cite, but figured I should ask anyway. Thanks for clarifying!

[Rynael]

Ahh, crap. OK, I've updated the file and replaced it on Gumroad. If you buy it now, it will have the new (correct) file. If you already bought it, you should be getting an email telling you to go back to Gumroad and download it again.

Sorry about that.

Eh, these things happen. And yes, got the e-mail and it's fixed. Thanks!

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I'm excited to get the Haleo and Julelan PDF, since I unfortunately missed out on the Kickstarter. As long as it's anything like the Hamlet story from SSDT, it will be more than worth it.

[Zyzzyva]

I'm excited to get the Haleo and Julelan PDF, since I unfortunately missed out on the Kickstarter. As long as it's anything like the Hamlet story from SSDT, it will be more than worth it.

Oooh are you in for a fun ride.

"It'll be totally hot."

[Lissou]

Got Blood Runs in the Family, and I'm looking forward to getting all future books in two different formats (hopefully enough people will be like me that you won't lose income from people not getting as many dead tree versions as before).

[hroþila]

Any of you guys managed to pay with Paypal? I know it should be possible - I did it with Uncivil Servant.

[littlebum2002]

Got Blood Runs in the Family, and I'm looking forward to getting all future books in two different formats (hopefully enough people will be like me that you won't lose income from people not getting as many dead tree versions as before).

It's entirely possible he makes just as much, if not more, from the PDF versions than from the books, since he doesn't have to pay for printing and publishing.

Any of you guys managed to pay with Paypal? I know it should be possible - I did it with Uncivil Servant.

Yup

[BroomGuys]

I just want to say that Haleo and Julelan was fantastic! I missed the Kickstarter because I only first read through the archives while it was going on, so I always longed for the chance to buy the bonus stories. This one more than lived up to expectations!

[Unregistered]

As last time, bought both despite having the book and the Kickstarter pdf because OotS is so awesome (though I only did pay a symbolic $2 for Haleo and Julelan). From all Kickstarter projects it definately was my favoured.

[Lissou]

Any of you guys managed to pay with Paypal? I know it should be possible - I did it with Uncivil Servant.

I paid with paypal and it worked fine for me.

EDIT:

It's entirely possible he makes just as much, if not more, from the PDF versions than from the books, since he doesn't have to pay for printing and publishing.

There was (is?) a concern that people would go for the PDFs and not buy the paper books, to such an extent that it would no longer be worth it to print them in the first place or the Giant would lose money on those. That's what I was referring to.

[Chei]

Bought Blood, had the R&J from Kickstarter.

As usual, I much enjoyed the author commentary (it's pretty much what I buy the PDFs for, even over bonus strips), especially the one detailing Belkar's continuing character growth. That was some of the most deftly done &$*@ I've seen. Typically, when someone writes a morally reprehensible character who "sees the light", it ends up stilted and weird.

Good write-ups on Tarquin/Nale, too. I really wish writers would break down their own thought processes in how to portray delusional characters without being heavy-handed. That's tough to get across.

[SaintRidley]

New update of a kickstarter pdf means I just put in for another main book pdf - got No Cure with this one while improving the quality of my existing kickstarter pdf for a dollar. Quite enjoying the 10th anniversary commentary to that book. When the next gumroad update happens, I'll pick up War & Xps.

[Laurana]

I just bought and read Haleo and Julelan. It was fantastic! Thanks, Giant.

[Taghor]

I bought all books as printed books.

But i am a bit tempted to buy the PDF Versions as well to have all together on the computer.
What holds me back a bit is the big price if i buy all books again together.

Would there perhaps be a bundling-discount possible if you get all PDFs at once?

Of course the greatest thing would be if people who bought the books allready get a discount on the PDFs, but i have no idea how someone should prove that he bought the books...

Any possibilities in that direction?

I love OOTS :)

Taghor

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Of course the greatest thing would be if people who bought the books allready get a discount on the PDFs, but i have no idea how someone should prove that he bought the books...

Any possibilities in that direction?

It has been suggested before, but the two publishing companies would need to coordinate, and it's not worth it for either. Besides, there already is a discount: Rich is selling as cheap as he can afford to (He uses Gumroad "Because they charge the lowest commission, which means [he] could lower the price more"). Sure, it means we recycled-paper lovers don't get special treatment over "I like my life clutter-less, thanks" dudes (or the "shipping overseas from the US is more expensive than the books themselves" population), but isn't it fairer that way?

I mean, I see your point - we already have that story in one format, it is hard to justify paying for it "again"... but if you think about it, that was true when you bought the paper version too.

Grey Wolf

[Mightymosy]

If anyone wonders whether to buy Haleo & Julelan, do it! It's pretty good!

[dmc91356]

A quick question, as it will help me figure out what to pay for the story when it's a "pay what you want" sort of thing. Does anyone know what percentage of what we pay actually goes to Rich? Seems to me that I am going to factor that in so that what I want to pay Rich for the story actually goes to Rich, and if it means I pay a little extra to Gumroad, or whoever distributes the story electronically, then so be it.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

A quick question, as it will help me figure out what to pay for the story when it's a "pay what you want" sort of thing. Does anyone know what percentage of what we pay actually goes to Rich? Seems to me that I am going to factor that in so that what I want to pay Rich for the story actually goes to Rich, and if it means I pay a little extra to Gumroad, or whoever distributes the story electronically, then so be it.

LMGTFY. Article is 5 years old, though, so take with a grain of salt.

GW

[Belsirk]

Hi !

Just a question, at Grumroad portal, the Blood Runs in the Family book is marked as first published in 2006. It should not be 2014? (or 2005 that is when the first book came out? )

[Ruck]

The download links into my email aren't working-- just taking me to a blank page.

I logged into Gumroad to try looking in my library, and they haven't shown up either. For that matter, I've purchased all the PDFs in the past, and only OtOoPCs, DSTP, and Uncivil Servant are showing up in my Gumroad library now.

I contacted the site directly about it, but I thought I might make mention of it here too, if it's an ongoing problem. (BTW, it's remarkably difficult to find help/contact info on Gumroad.)

EDIT: I was able to download them from Rich's author/creator page.

[Random Poster]

I logged into Gumroad to try looking in my library, and they haven't shown up either. For that matter, I've purchased all the PDFs in the past, and only OtOoPCs, DSTP, and Uncivil Servant are showing up in my Gumroad library now.

If things you bought from Gumroad don't show in your Gumroad library, it is because you weren't logged in to your Gumroad account when you bought them; it's even possible to buy stuff from Gumroad before creating a Gumroad account. If you want to add those things to your library, that's easy: log into your account and then visit the download links you got in email (that worked for me, at least).

[Laurana]

I also wanted to say that the new "The Road Ahead" wallpaper is possibly the best yet. I totally love it.

I hope it's not wrong of me to post this here, I wasn't sure where to but it is one of the most recent news/updates alongside BRItF and Haleo & Julelan...

[dmc91356]

Grey_Wolf_c - thanks, that was extremely helpful and rather refreshing at the same time.

[Centaur]

BRitF Page 709, panel 8, the word “forté”: for me, the last letter displays in a generic fallback font. (I’m viewing with Evince on Ubuntu 16.04 if that matters.)

Edit: Same issue, page 730, panel 1, word “clichéd”.