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Happy April, aletsen!

A short message for this beautiful April Friday! The jasmine's in full bloom here in Florida, and the weather's alternating between cool breezes and warm showers. It's definitely one of the loveliest times of year in this part of the world! I hope this message finds you well, no matter the weather or season. Let's do some quick updates!

The Jokka! Game

My current testers are working out so well that I've decided to open the game to all my mailing list subscribers! 

I'd like to see if I can pressure the system so my goal is to get up to 100 beta players! I'm about halfway there now. I can't tell how well my optimizations are working without more concurrent users. Maybe you will be one of those users? Come join us on Ke Bakil! Build your clan! Participate in beta hijinx and in-jokes! Buy bok choy! (Seriously, there is bok choy apparel).

Game link: https://mcahogarth.org/games/jokka/welcome.php

Discord link: https://discord.gg/6gfJA8pveE

Upcoming Kickstarter: BIRD

I'm hoping to run this one in May for silly bird stickers! Seriously, look how ridiculous these are. If you live anywhere with sandhill cranes, you'll know they are both delightful and a little alarming, and they tend to get very aggressive about patrolling their territory. Which is why my sister called them 'the crane mafia' and... well, I couldn't resist.

If you want to be informed when the campaign goes live, you can use this link to follow!

Back in Time Tuesdays

I've been remiss in discussing this feature of my Patreon and Locals, which is my weekly dive into my most ancient art archives to bring you my work from the past, much of which is still relevant to the work I do now. For instance, here was last week's entry:

This image, from 1990, is one of the first images I ever did of Fleet ensigns! Here's what I said about it:

This ink piece dates back to 1990, which is getting into the very, very early origins of what would become the Peltedverse... back when I was methodically creating these pieces with technical pens (not the disposable kind, the ones made of metal that you had to clean with an ultrasonic cleaner... I used to sneak my nibs into my mom's jewelry cleaner!)... on typing paper! That's why it's so yellow. And if you look at the floor lines on the left, you can see the white-out I dabbed on to correct some errors I made with the ruler.

 

This is so early in the Peltedverse that the races weren't all stabilized - the Ciracaana there is accurate, but the girl is technically an "an-g'trido", one of the multiple cat races that would later be folded into the Asanii. But on the other end... the uniforms are already on their way to accuracy. I would later design a specific cadet uniform, but the outfits they're wearing look almost identical to the ones Alysha and her crew wear today. The rank indications are a little off, but that's more a matter of Young Me not understanding military hierarchy yet, not an error in the worldbuilding.

 

Now, the more urgent question, of why we have what appears to be junior high kids trying to get into a military academy, that I have no answer to except possibly that you draw what you know!

 Every week I offer this retrospective, both to delight longtime fans who remember seeing the pieces years ago, and for new fans who might never have experienced them. If you're a fan of my art, this is a great way to get a weekly dose of lovely!

You can join Patreon and Locals to get this feature delivered to your inbox every week, or if you're interested in buying art I have a collection of some of my most popular works on Shopify here.

Speaking of which...

Behind the Scenes at the Shop

...I thought it would be fun to share what stuff is selling best at my shop this quarter as a sort of "behind the scenes" peek at what it's like for an author/artist to run their own store!

My top five for Q1 of 2026:

• Dreamhealers Series Bundle
• Fallowtide Sequence Bundle
• Stone Moon Bundle
• Dragon-Beloved Jigsaw Puzzle
• Inevitability of Clouds Against Mountains Puzzle
   

My bundles being the bestselling products on the shop isn't surprising--traditional retailers don't give readers the ability to buy discounted bundles like this--and the fact that the Peltedverse (and Dreamhealers in particular) is nailed to the top shouldn't be any surprise. The Stone Moon coming in third is also not a surprise since I've launched a game about the Jokka. The jigsaw puzzles, though! That came out of nowhere. I only have four jigsaw designs so the fact that two of them hit the top five is really interesting. Do you all really like puzzles? Should I do more of them? Let me know!

But Jaguar, are you writing?

I am! I broke ground on Surela 3 this week! Let's see how fast it goes!

CAT PHOTO CAT PHOTO

Okay, okay, cat photos! Here's beautiful Miss Outdoor Cat! I woke her up to take this photo, poor kitty. Look at her all bleary.

It's taken about a year but she now trusts me enough that if I sit down on the sidewalk, she will climb into my lap and purr there. She's so tiny compared to my indoor cat that she easily fits (and she once tried to crawl into my shirt! She's definitely not small enough for that). She's a lot more affectionate and while I love this, I wish her claws weren't so sharp. I've taken to wearing really thick woven pants when I go out to pet her because she has serious murder instruments on the ends of her feet, yow.

She still doesn't want to come inside, which is fine with me. One indoor cat creates enough fur to clog my vacuum. Two would probably require me to buy stock in whatever pharma company produces Zyrtec! But she's a daily visitor and greatly enriches our lives here at the Jaguar household.

That's all for April, wonderful peoples! I hope this email finds you well, and I will be back in May with more news! Until then, enjoy your weekends! You are the best of fans and I appreciate you.🧡