A little about me
Marco D Blanco. I’m the illustrator and storyteller of the as of yet (2024) unpublished books of the Magic Lantern. I moved to the UK over a decade ago where I met my wife and where we are now raising our children.
I’ve been working incredibly hard to develop the world of the Magic Lantern for the past five years, and as I now turn the page and set sail into putting it all together I’m sharing this journey with you.
A little about the Magic Lantern
This is the story about a little boy who makes friends with a flame that lives in a lantern, and they set out to travel their world on the back of a big old bird!
The little boy’s name is Mago. He lives by himself on the outskirts of the walled city of Pelcast, the city without magic. Which is a bummer for him, since he wants nothing other than becoming a great mage. An unrealized dream that would never happen, or at least he would tell you so!
Until the day where he met a little blue flame, and that would change everything.
A little about the plan
6 books. They all already exist to some degree, I know what happens throughout, where they go in the world, who they meet, and what they eat. Titles are pretty locked in too.
The goal is to make six books about this journey around the world, each with a different setting and adventure, they should each be between 150 and 200 pages long, with plenty of illustrations to bring the pages to life.
Current plan is to write and illustrate for the foreseeable future, working through them all back to back, Then edit and release them one at the time, within 6 months to a year in between. This way, there should be little to no risk of not finishing the series once the first one is out, and I can focus more on the publishing and marketing without it affecting the story.
I have material that extends beyond those six books, but it will not come into play until the first series is completed.
A little about this Substack
As a free Subscriber
The main goal at the moment is to document and share the journey, I’ve learned a lot about this process thus far and have much more to learn. I wanted to write about the experience. I’ve spent so much time figuring out the logistics of what I’m doing, and I’ve got a lot to share about it.
As a paid Subscriber
I’ve never been one to see value in doing more work unless it is aimed at helping me with the books, that’s why I never had a Patreon. I didn’t want to do weekly streams or have multiple reward tiers that would take time away from the work I need to do.
So I am currently working on a series called the Explorers of Obalan that will help me develop the world and share its lore, and at the same time offer something of good value to you. A “W” for all.
As a founding member
This is Substack’s way of letting people throw in a little extra for the creators.
I will make a T-shirt available only to UK residing founding members to pre-order.
The clothing will be printed locally at Otto’s Print and Coffee House because they have amazing quality and it will last a decade.
This will be a good quality, limited opportunity, collectors garment.
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ― Haruki Murakam
Nice things people have said to me! (Don’t believe a word they say)
“We have Marco.D.Blanco who has contributed a spectacular (and hilarious) image to our cause, one that aptly captures Dan and my relationship and how it tends to work with WW! So do give him a follow, and subscription as Marco’s a delightful fellow, with a great sense of humour I hope he continues to do more art like this and post it hereon Substack.”
In memorium
On the 28th of March 2024
pointed out and killed the following typo on this page:
”The goal main goal at the moment…”
