Some hideously preliminary looks at work in progress for the next issue…
Jan 232011
Jan 042011
As mentioned in the comments here, a lot of emails I’m sending out are either not getting to the destination… or are being delayed by more than a *day.* This is of course not a good way for an internet business to run. Anyone have any ideas what might cause this, and who I might yell at to make it stop?
Jan 012011
Get it while the gettin’s good!
http://www.up-ship.com/blog/eAPR/ev3n1.htm
127 pages of awesomeness related to the Convair NEXUS super-booster, the Convair XP-92, von Brauns “Ferry Rocket,” a 1982 McDonnell-Douglas AFT concept and the Lockheed GL 238 cargo plane. If you like spacecraft, ramjets, gas-core or solid-core nuclear thermal rockets or Project Orion, you’ll love this issue.
Remember, APR is no longer taking new subscribers, so unless you’re already a subscriber, the only way to get this issue is… to buy this issue. Go for it… it’s cheap!
Dec 312010
If you are a current subscriber to APR you should have an email letting you know it’s available and how to download. If you’re not a current subscriber, I need to update the webpage to reflect V3N1. Should be available for purchase in a day or so.
Dec 302010
At last. Begins on page 57 of issue V3N1, ends on page 108. I’m hoping to have V3N1 finished up and out the hatch this weekend.
Update: some possibel covers. Both look kinda cheesy, but at least there’s some color.
Dec 282010
Below are some mocked-up covers to some potential MagCloud printed “magazines” I’m contemplating. As always, my skills at graphic design are non-existent. So I’d appreciate input, criticisms, suggestions, etc.
Dec 242010
The magazine showed up in my mailbox today. It came out pretty much as I’d expected… except for a one-millimeter or so white strip at the bottom of each page. Lesson learned for next time: extend the image downwards very slightly. Other than that, no production weirdness that I could see.
As to the quality of the photos, I’ll leave that to any buyers who’d care to comment. In general, I’d say the experiment was sufficiently successful to go ahead with another project or two. Probably with better-thought-out typography on the cover…
Anyway, buy it here:
Dec 212010
1) Just passed 120 pages in issue V3N1. The NEXUS article is kinda… fat. A whole lot has been left out… mention is made of the “Helios” designs that were produced alongside the NEXUS, but since they weren’t actual NEXUS designs… out they’ve come. Maybe to appear on their own later.
2) The ability to buy subscriptions to APR should be completely removed from the website. Now if you want an issue… buy that issue. Those who have existing subscriptions to APR will continue to recieve their issues until their subscriptions run out.
3) Last night I incorporated the charts showing the schedule for manned exploration of the solar system into the NEXUS article. From the viewpoint of Convair in 1962, the future held three possibilities… the “conservative” model, the “intermediate” model and the “ambitious” model. Looking at just the “conservative” model… is seriously depressing in light of how history turned out.
Dec 062010
One project that fell by the wayside was printed versions of the new electronic APRs. They fell by the wayside because the price was, well, kinda high.
But still, there might be interest. I know that *I* would rather read something like APR on paper rather than screen. One “print on demand” service that looks generally appealing charges $0.20 per page plus $1 for “perfect binding” (i.e. the square “paperback” style binding) plus postage plus whatever markup the publisher asks. So for a 100-page issue of APR, that’d be $21 for the printing and binding, plus postage and whatever the markup is (10%? $4? 5%? Dunno). For a 150-page APR, that would of course be $31. Expensive, but something you can put on a bookshelf and not be embarassed by, and not lose in a computer crash. Page sizes are limited to 8.5X11… no large foldouts.
So, to the point: anyone *seriously* interested? If so, I might start re-paving the existing eAPRs for a printed format (only after v3N1 and V0N0 are out the hatch, of course), starting back with V1N1.
Dec 052010
Sigh. Still plugging away at what, six months ago, I’d hoped would be an easy, quickly-dashed-off issue. Just passed 105 pages today. I’m hoping to get it done and out the door soon. Of course, that’s what I hoped five months ago, too. Projects like the CAD drawings/prints fiasco and the “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion” book and others have taken their toll. Sadly, no “lots of money rolling in” projects have been occupying my time of late, so if you see that “donate” button off to the right…
I’m hoping (there’s that damnable word again) that shortly after V3N1 is out the door I’ll wrap up the revised V0N0. And then there’ll be V3N2, which will feature a new article on F-23 derivatives.