This news story is actually two recent headline updates that were taking up too much room.
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6/26/20 UPDATE: Head’s-up everybody! I don’t know if you read the “Light Switch!” news story in the news section below, but I’ve fallen back into ‘Light Switch OFF’. My severe insomnia is making work near impossible. I haven’t gotten to the ‘Pawnz & Bookmarks’ for this month even though this month is almost done because I’ve been pushing to complete Book 21 work in the background. The anxiety from falling behind on first the ‘P&B’, and then the book, and soon on the strips, is causing anxiety that's causing the insomnia that is increasing the anxiety.

This circle of stress-anxiety-insomnia may cause delays in future strips. With everything going on in the world I have nothing to complain about but I did want to explain, if for no other reason, that your understanding may help me lower the anxiety. I’m putting all this pressure on myself and I’m having a hard time willing it away to get a solid night’s sleep.

Anywho I HOPE to reveal the June P&B before the end of June, I HOPE to get the book off to the printer in very early July and I HOPE to keep the comics coming Tuesdays and Fridays but all bets are off until the Light Switch goes back ON!

6/30/20 UPDATE: IT’S WORSE! Yep, the insomnia train keeps on rolling. Its hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it, but it really feels like losing your mind a little bit. Thanks to all of you who reached out to me to let me know everything’s OK.

I've made a tough decision on how to proceed. After today's comic (June 30^th), I'm on ‘vacation’. I'm not going to the beach or anything (I hate swimming in a soggy mask!), but will allow myself to try to sleep stress free. As soon as I feel up to it, I will create the Pawnz and Bookmarks for June, July, and August. After that, when I feel up to it I will complete the bonus story work on Book 21, wrap it up, and send it off to the printer. And only then will I resume strips. With the self-imposed weight off my shoulders we should get back to business as usual! I'm really excited to tell this story and don't want my deteriorated brain-from-insomnia to screw it all up!

Could this mean no new strips in July? I sure hope not. And I may change these plans especially if I start getting sleep and feeling better. In the meantime wish me luck, stay golden, and be kind, empathetic, and smart.

I hadn’t been sleeping for a couple of weeks. Maybe 3-5 hours a night? And my usual power-naps that I could always rely on for a nice hour midday had just stopped working. Then, as inexplicably as it started, it stopped. My naps worked, I got 8 hours some nights, and I was like, “Wow, THIS is what it’s like to not be exhausted all the time! I remember this!”

The thing was, I didn’t realize during it how exhausted I was. I was functioning at 40% thinking I was at 80%. Now, it’s like a light-switch flipped on. My reality is completely one thing. Oh, now my reality is completely another thing.

So (as blog-post reading defenders already know) I’m normally not able to write in a house full of people. I used to have an empty house half the day and ability to go off to a hotel in writing emergency situations. No more of that. I’d been coasting on Anima scripts I had done in 2019. Chapter 73 was a blank sheet of paper, and try-after-try I couldn’t fill it. I knew what I wanted to do with Chapter 73, but it was ambitious and required focus I could NOT achieves. I was seriously concerned there’d be no knew scripts, and thus no new comics at all in June.

So my family worked with me to create the best environment possible for me to avoid distractions and interruptions and gain focus. No guarantee it would work, but our best shot. And then after 48 hours the light flipped on. I went from a reality where Chapter 73 was a blank sheet of paper to I GOT SCRIPTS! Not just any scripts, ones for that ambitious story I wanted to tell!

The blank sheet is no longer blank. The road map is drawn from start of journey to destination. I WILL have to work out some kinks along the way. Like, if I have writers block or script issues and delays, it’s in hammering out the specifics, which is still hard to do in a house full of people. BUT I HAVE THE GENERAL PLAN ROCK-SOLID! I love that light switch in the on position. Chapter 73, The Immortal King, begins Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020. 6/2 UPDATE: Due to unforeseen delays Chapter 73, The Immortal King, begins Friday, June 5th, 2020.

Hey guys! The store is closed for the holiday! Thanks for the exhausting outpouring of orders, and it was a joy to send all the free book 20's out to the level-4-and-higher Defenders. As you may remember I have Book 21 pretty much laid out. I look to early 2020 to create the bonus content (the 4u City Amber story), and when that is under control i should be able to let you know when the store will reopen. Until then, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season and be nifty to each other.

The Sluggy Store will open Monday at noon, Eastern Time! Here's what you need to know. The store will carry the usual beanie Bun-buns (which have NEVER stopped being awesome), an eclectic size-selection of shirts, AND ALL OF THE SLUGGY BOOKS!

SOLD OUT (as of 8pm 12/4) BUT AT INDYPLANET SOON: SLUGGY FREELANCE BOOK 20 "4U GREEN - 4U BLUE": At a whopping 272 pages, this is the largest Sluggy Freelance book ever! (Megatomes count as multiple books).
MEGATOME 2 "LITTLE EVILS": Still sold out. But I'm offering some "Scratch and Dent" versions. Readable, but cover-damaged, and much cheaper than the upcoming re-release of "Little Evils".
ALL THE OTHER BOOKS TOO!: We'll have the usual Megatome 1 "Born of Nifty", and Book 9 "Dangerous Days".  On top of that we'll also have a very limited supply of books 8-7, and 10-19.

You may miss out if you don't order ASAP!
The store opens Monday, December 2nd. The International Deadline, if you want your Sluggy stuff by Christmas, is Thursday, December 5th. Not much time. Also limited supplies mean, even though the Domestic deadline is much later than Thursday, books may become sold out quickly. Even Book 20. No matter where you live, if it's important to you, please order ASAP!

BOOK 20:
Sluggy Freelance Book 20, "4U Green - 4U Blue" is off to the printers as we speak! It comes in at a whopping 272 pages, and the 14 page bonus story happens at the end of the book, between "4U City Blue" and "4U City Red", entitled oddly enough, "4U City Indigo".

It is pretty cool, and connects to the upcoming bonus story in Book 21 entitled "4U City Amber!" I somehow sense a theme. But I digress.

As soon as I get the printed books in my hands I'll start putting together signed copies for Defenders who meet the requirements to get a free book sent to them (which I believe is maintaining a Defenders membership for 4 months at tier 4 or higher). The rest of the books will go in the store, and the store will open.

THE STORE:
The Sluggy Store will finally reopen when I have Book 20s ready to sell. I also got a small quantity of all the books from Ka-Blam (Books 7-8, and 10-19). I get the feeling these might go fast so please order as soon as the store opens!

When will the store open? I will give you as much of a head's up as I can when I'm going to open the store. I might not have books in my hand until the end of November! Worst case I think will be December 2nd. Important thing to note here is the international orders cut off day (Priority Mail International, Arriving by Christmas) is Dec 7th! that means I'll need all international orders in by December 5th. That's less than a week from the end of November, so PLEASE order ASAP when the store opens! Hey, if I didn't cut every deadline so close you'd wonder who I was and what I did with the REAL Pete!

I'll reiterate: I will give you guys as much of a head's up as I can on the store opening date!

A note on signed books: I've been mentioning for years now that I am discontinuing the option for signed books. After careful consideration I've decided to allow it for Megatomes 01 and 02. I hope that I'm not letting too many of you down. Signed books are available as an upper tier Defenders reward, and believe me you Defenders have more than earned it! You guys saved the comic! 'Defended', ya might say!

SLUGGY FREELANCE MEGATOME 02 (Books 4-6):
I have not yet reordered Megatome 02, so the only store options for now will be Hardcover Megatome 02s and maybe some 'ding-n-dent' softcover ones if I can dig some up! Hopefully I'll have a shiny new Megatome 02 in the next few months!  And maybe a Book 21 since it's mostly done now! We'll see how it goes!

ORIGINAL ART AUCTIONS:
It's been a looooong time since my last original art auction. This is the only one I'll be running in all of 2019 so I'm making it an extensive one. It'll start November 18th.

And that's what I've got for Books, Store, and Auctions.

Here's the upcoming releases:

Become (or remain) a Defender20+ tier 2 or higher from October 14th to the end of October to be eligible for a digital copy of 4U City Green Torg and the 4U City Green Bookmark. Tier 3 or higher to have them physically mailed to you! Keep defending through the end of January 2020 to get all four 4U City Sets! Earn a pawnz and bookmark set each and every month, they get digital released and physically mailed bi-monthly! Thanks for keeping Sluggy Freelance going into the future! You guys are amazing!

Hey all! It's August and, as usual in August, I'm behind on EVERYTHING! It's always a busy month and you'd think I wouldn't be caught off guard EVERY TIME but here I am again. THIS time, instead of stressing, I'm just going to keep truckin' and persevere, as long as it takes. I'm behind on PAWNZ and STORE and BOOKS! Let's tackle them.

Behind on Pawnz: As per last news story, the Drake and Tyler Pawnz and Bookmarks should be in the mail to qualifying Defenders. These will go out in September, or  maybe even October, to allow me to focus on the books. We've been doing the new system for almost two years now. I know you know I'll get you your stuff even if it takes a bit. Having said that, here's the pawnz for August and September! I'm going for a summer theme. Crushestro and Monicruel, trapped on Shankraft island, holding on to summer like we all wish we could.

Behind on Store: As you may have noticed the Sluggy store is closed more often than it is not. It's become a drag on my schedule so i tend to open it when i have elbow room in general, or when I've something new to show, like the books I'm currently working on. I truly apologize for this, it WILL open again, probably when there's a Sluggy Freelance Book 20 to sell! Maybe a Book 21 too!

Behind on Books: The books are laid out (Book 20 completely, book 21 mostly) but I'm stuck on the bonus story extra content for each book. I LOVE providing a lite extra story set in the time frame of that Sluggy book. It's important to me, and I think it's important to you. Here's another reason for delays. Sluggy books used to be around 128 pages. The last awesome compilation, Book 19, was 200 pages. Between books 20 and 21 I've laid out, combined, over 500 pages!!! And thats pre-extras! Pre bonus stories! This is where I finally make leaps ahead and start catching up my decade behind on books.

And for the record, 4U City is one of my proudest literary achievement. The Minion Master bits were superb, and the Safe house hamster-nom parts were a blast to compose. But 4U City is beyond compare. Sluggy Freelance Book 20 and Book 21. Over 500 pages. Stay Tuned!