Hi everyone!

***

In this news letter:
New animation
Year round-up
Webcomic
Short stories
Forums
Until next time...

(Unsubscribe information at the end of this mail)

*** Greetings! ***

It's that time of year again, when I suddenly realise just how long it really does take to make an animation. It's remarkably tricky to tell anything approaching a decent tale in less than five minutes, but I think this has turned out quite nicely.

I haven't had easy access to any decent recording equipment this year, so I'm afraid the audio is a little weaker than I would like; however, I've added a 'read it yourself' option for those who don't care or want to listen to the audio. You still get the same visuals, but you can take the story at your own pace:

http://www.matazone.co.uk/animpages/hallow...w-professor.php

*** Year round-up ***

I don't know how it's been for you, but it's been a year of changes for me. Relationships have gone and come, I've changed direction in my career (I now lecture on the subject of games design) and I have moved from the UK to Holland only a few months ago. It's truly been a huge 12 months. I suspect/hope the next 12 will be a bit more peaceful, but life is going well.

I also hope that I will finally get time to finish editing my novel - yes, remember that? It's still there. There's probably no more than a few weeks of work to be done, but finding those few weeks is proving tricky with all the other turmoil of the past year.

*** Webcomic ***

The Matazone webcomic, Trouble Down Pit, is still up and running. There are over 300 strips on there and new ones are added every Monday and Friday. There hasn't been a long running story going for a while, which means it's easy for you to dip in right now and start reading regularly (if you aren't already doing so, of course!):

http://comic.matazone.co.uk

*** Short stories ***

If you want some more spooky stories then try the downloads over here:

http://www.matazone.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=28

They're not recommended for kids, but if you fancy a horror 5 minute horror story on your iPod/MP3 player then give them a try.

*** Forums ***

The Matazone forums have been up and running for over seven years and we have meet-ups once or twice a year in the UK and very occasionally in the US. If you fancy getting to know a lovely bunch of people then pop in and say 'hi':

http://www.matazone.co.uk/forums

*** Until next time... ***

Some of you have been on this mailing list for over seven years. I'd just like to say thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoy these updates and that my work is still a nice diversion for you when it comes along. Don't be a stranger, reply to this mail and get in touch!

It might be Halloween 2011 before I write again. If it is then have a fantastic year, whatever you are doing. Don't forget to pass on my links on Facebook and other pages!

Have fun,

Mata

I dunno... we wait this long for some new Mata-creativity, and then nobody comments!? What's up with you people!?

Anyway...

"Hurrah," says I for new content! A grand story, Dr Mata, and I like the new illustration style - suited the words very well indeed.

I like!

Thanks

Wow! I hadn't even noticed that there was a new animation up.

I really liked this one, particuarly the second-to-last slide. The animation there was just subtle enough to make me jump a little.

Good one, sir.

Thanks I didn't have time to animate any of the other slides, so I made sure that the one bit I did was of a good quality!

There's been a very good response to this animation - I wasn't sure if people were really going to get it. I could have written eight times as much about the story very easily, so I had to cut enormous amounts of detail to make it a reasonable length when read out loud (it still takes 5 minutes though, which is generally too long for anything on the web). I'm glad it came across as well as it has done!

Just watched it for the first time, I was all about to say "it's so obvious what's going to happen", when what I thought was going to happen didn't and something else did instead.

So good job with that.

Yay! It's always tricky to do foreshadowing without giving the game away - the positive things I'm hearing suggest that I got it right with this one.

I was actually really worried about it, so it's been lovely hearing such nice comments from people