Collaborations aren’t easy, as this year has reminded us. A Bablecube novella translation has been delayed. Our audiobook that was supposed to come out in September? The voice talent vanished, and we had to prevail upon the Gods of ACX to kill the contract. And there’s this 2026 thing we’re doing… but that’s for another day.
Almost everyone suffers a few emotional bruises when collaborating with others. Everyone except Jonah and Amanda Strassler. Those Strasslers. They make us Turners look like weak sauce.
It started when Jonah had an idea he couldn’t shake. He wanted to create a science-fiction story about three unfortunate interns forced to do the frightening and often illegal actions demanded of them by an evil corporation. A lighthearted adventure story, Jonah thought it would work best in comic book form.
Fortunately, his sister, Amanda, is an artist. In February, he approached her about working with him on the project. By midsummer, they’d completed all fifty-two pages and were selling the published comic at the Garden State Comic Fest. In between, they sat around a campfire, singing “Kumbaya” and eating S’mores. Then they’d hug it out every evening, each of them being ever so grateful for having such an amazing sibling in their lives.
(Okay, we’re making up the campfire thing. Jonah and Amanda had to collaborate through the computer and on the phone, so the hugging it out thing didn’t happen, either. But completing this big of a project in less than six months? That happened and, from what they tell us, with a minimum of bumps and scratches. They’re kind of amazing.)
A few weeks ago, author Aki Liao invited us to talk with the pair for his NoName Storyteller podcast. Aki works with Al McDermid on their Frank Keegan Mysteries, so he knows about collaborations. Alex Sheikman, artist extraordinaire and survivor of multiple collaborations, was in the discussion, too. If you’d like to hear all of us chatting about the creative process and the perils of collaboration, the audio dropped yesterday.
Aki called the episode, "Rising Stars and Veteran Creators: Titans Together Across the Indie Cosmos." If he hadn't run out of space, he'd have called it, "Rising Stars and Veteran Creators: Titans Together Across the Indie Cosmos. Also, the Turners." And he'd have been right to do so. We didn't even know there was an indie cosmos.
This will get you to the right place on Spotify: here.
For Apple Podcasts, try here.
If Star Interns intrigues you, here’s the link.
Almost everyone suffers a few emotional bruises when collaborating with others. Everyone except Jonah and Amanda Strassler. Those Strasslers. They make us Turners look like weak sauce.
It started when Jonah had an idea he couldn’t shake. He wanted to create a science-fiction story about three unfortunate interns forced to do the frightening and often illegal actions demanded of them by an evil corporation. A lighthearted adventure story, Jonah thought it would work best in comic book form.
Fortunately, his sister, Amanda, is an artist. In February, he approached her about working with him on the project. By midsummer, they’d completed all fifty-two pages and were selling the published comic at the Garden State Comic Fest. In between, they sat around a campfire, singing “Kumbaya” and eating S’mores. Then they’d hug it out every evening, each of them being ever so grateful for having such an amazing sibling in their lives.
(Okay, we’re making up the campfire thing. Jonah and Amanda had to collaborate through the computer and on the phone, so the hugging it out thing didn’t happen, either. But completing this big of a project in less than six months? That happened and, from what they tell us, with a minimum of bumps and scratches. They’re kind of amazing.)
A few weeks ago, author Aki Liao invited us to talk with the pair for his NoName Storyteller podcast. Aki works with Al McDermid on their Frank Keegan Mysteries, so he knows about collaborations. Alex Sheikman, artist extraordinaire and survivor of multiple collaborations, was in the discussion, too. If you’d like to hear all of us chatting about the creative process and the perils of collaboration, the audio dropped yesterday.
Aki called the episode, "Rising Stars and Veteran Creators: Titans Together Across the Indie Cosmos." If he hadn't run out of space, he'd have called it, "Rising Stars and Veteran Creators: Titans Together Across the Indie Cosmos. Also, the Turners." And he'd have been right to do so. We didn't even know there was an indie cosmos.
This will get you to the right place on Spotify: here.
For Apple Podcasts, try here.
If Star Interns intrigues you, here’s the link.
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