Hi Xyliacs! Monday blog time! Please remember that comic updates are on Wednesdays, now!

Today’s teaser shows that we may be introducing some new characters….

———————–XYLIATALES NEWS!!————————
The Comic Creator’s Alliance continues to be a huge success! If you haven’t had a chance to donate for this worthwhile charity to get the wallpaper please click on the link!
——————————
Xyliatales coming in print!!

Currently in full steam progress setting the Xyliatales Volume 1 book set up for press. This week I got through page 70! I have a rough idea for the cover, and I’m readying extra content that will include concept sketches and fan art.

Once I have an idea how long it will take to get the proofs, and the cost of the books, I will be posting the release date for the book and taking reorders. The first fifty preorders will receive an original sketch of one of the five main characters similar to this! :

A new Xylia contest is coming in February! Watch for it!

Xyliatales On Air will be broadcasting on Sundays! Most recently, I created a Livy speed paint. You can check out the video on the On Air site! XYLIATALES ON AIR TALK SHOW SITE

You can follow my announcements on Twitter

Or consider friending me on Facebook- just make sure to let me know that you are a Xyliac when you send the request.

——————BARB NEWS & NOTES—————–
Wow- is January going as fast for all of you as it is for me? I think it’s basketball. Basketball ALL THE TIME. Practices every night of the week (sometimes twice) games two-three nights a week, and then tournaments every weekend. I enjoy it, but it will be nice when it’s over too! ^_^

The weather has improved so much here, I got all of the ice out of our driveway, and it felt like a small victory against Old Man Winter. ^_^ We’ve had a few days above freezing, and that was great!

Getting more caricature bookings for the year and that’s great too. One of the things I need to get done is create my 1000 caricatures site. I hope to do 1000 caricatures in one year! I did 34 this weekend at a company Christmas party! Just 966 to go! ^_^

This week I did very poorly in my fitness/ diet regimen, and tomorrow I will be hitting it HARD. No snacks, and back to 60 minutes of cardio at least four nights a week! No cheating! How are all of you doing with your resolutions?

——————–XYLIA GOODY BAG——————
Please consider donating for the cause! I plan on adding new things in the coming weeks- first I will be creating a series of hi resolution downloadable character cards, with profile images and bio information! In the meantime, browse our existing wallpapers and other things. As always if you don’t receive your download, please email me directly at bji2001(at)mchsi.com.

As we head towards three years of Xyliatales, I want to thank all of you for coming along for the ride, and I hope you continue to stay with us in the coming year!

Hugs,

~B

Be sure to clear your cache and refresh the page to see the site template update! Oh ho! I wonder if this means some sort of change in scenery is coming up!

Also, I’ve heard one complaint of intrusive ads! There should be NO non-user-initiated audio or video ads displayed, and if there are any, it’s because some sleazy advertiser mis-identified it. If you see these, please let us know (and give us as many details as possible so we can track it down)! The ads make the site money, but if they ruin the reading experience, it’s a lose-lose for all!

EDIT BY CANTERRAIN!

After some digging I believe I have found and killed the problem ad that was showing video and playing audio with no interaction. But if any other ads like this show up, please feel free to email me using canterrain (at) gmail.com.

Hi Xyliacs! Remember, this week we kick off the Wednesday update schedule with a Monday tease page!

Please help me in giving Kez a big round of applause for the site update! Despite being amazingly busy with graduate work, Kez found the time to get the site all spruced up. And- something I forgot to mention- if you haven’t been to Kez’s webcomic, War of Winds lately, there is a beautiful cameo featuring none other than Xylia and Claude! You have to check this out! http://warofwinds.com/comic.php?comic_id=328

Remember to come back Wednesday for the new page!
Watch for a very cool animated Keenspot ad by Canterrain and Julia too!

———————–XYLIATALES NEWS!!————————

I’ve been working very hard on the Xyliatales first edition of Book 1- getting the pages set up is a bit time consuming- some of the earlier pages needed a bit of reworking. But I’m excited to say that the Prologue and 1st chapter are done and ready to go! I’m shooting for mid February availability!

——————BARB NEWS & NOTES—————–

The first regular week in January was a bit of a challenge around here. Iowa was plunged into a frustratingly cold snap where temperatures never really got above -2F and the winds made it much colder. Then we were blessed with another seven inches of snow, so in the midst of this Arctic blast- more snow moving. -.- But the coming week promises to be a relief- might even get above freezing! Hooray!

My hip is still pretty painful, so I’ve had to limit what I do in the gym, but I discovered that the reclining bikes don’t hurt to use! Now I just need to get to swimming like I say I’m going to. It will get better.

After an awesome opening basketball game where she scored 14 points, later in the week, Miss E managed to sprain her ankle pretty bad in gym. We were worried it might have broken since she hurt it -snap-. But, fortunately she is recovering quickly. ICE ICE ICE!! Thank you to all my friends who said a prayer and a kind word for her speedy recovery.

I’ve been getting a bit more active in the music scene- sitting in on a song or two. Here’s me trying to figure out how to play guitar, while my pal Rosie B rocks on the keys.

——————–XYLIA GOODY BAG——————

Hugs,

~B

Hello all, Canterrain here.

Barb mentioned wonderful news in my life, and boy is that ever the case. As anyone who follows my twitter knows, there is a very special and beautiful woman in my life. Someone I deeply admire, respect, and love. She is one of the many people who have helped make me the man that I am. We compliment each other perfectly, in that we have many similarities (we are both geeks at heart, enjoying episodes of Star Trek and Doctor Who together) yet also the differences that really help keep spice in life. (I’m a writer type person, creative in word. She is visually creative, designing websites, lego villages, and crafting art)

So this weekend I decided to show her how much I truly do love her… by presenting something I made with legos for her. It looks like this:

A better view would be this:

Yes that’s right. Canterrain proposed. It didn’t go exactly the way I planned, as plans seldom ever do. But one thing did go as I hoped! Namely..

She said yes! As you can imagine I am quite elated. I would be tempted to count my blessings, but in her they may as well be more numerous than counting the stars. There is no date set yet, and no I don’t plan on going away. CT is here to keep helping with all of Xylia’s advertising needs. But CT is also one happy man.

And to my bride-to-be, who I know will read this. I love you. So very much. Thank you for saying yes,

CT

The majority of technical issues seem to be solved. If you can’t view the comic, please try the following:

1) Change your RSS/Bookmark to XYLIATALES.COM. The subdomain at comic.xyliatales.com is no longer fully functional. The RSS link is in the menu.

2) If you are viewing this site on IE6 (or below), it WILL NOT DISPLAY PROPERLY. Please update your browser. Microsoft is working on IE9 now folks. I’ll make things compatible to IE7, but that’s as far as I’ll go. It’s not worth it to make a site compatible in IE6. If you have an older version of FF, Safari, etc, please update as well.

3) If you are using Norton or MacAfee firewalls, please add http://xyliatales.com* to your safe viewing list. There is a long history of keenspot comics being blocked by these programs.

4) If you are trying to view from work, and your network has a filter, please check the comic from your home computer to see if it shows up.  We really can’t do anything about web filters.

5) If you have disabled your referrers, you will not be able to view the comic. This is an anti-piracy measure.

If none of the above measures have worked, please post here to let us know. Include your browser and edition information.  Thanks!