RE Book Update: Mark Julio to write foreword; Cory Schmitz designing cover!

It's been about two months since I announced the production of my Resident Evil Historiography. The response was more phenomenal than I expected, and there is plenty of interest, both among fans and in the game industry. Thank you to everyone who has provided comments of support, advice and encouragement! 

On that note, I have a few updates on the book's progress and one nice new announcement! 

• As announced previously on Twitter, Cory Schmitz, graphic designer for brands logos for world-class brands such as TheVerge to PlayStation VR (and even the Brave Wave and Generation Series logos), will be designing the cover! Cory's work is amazing, groundbreaking even, and I'm very, very honored he agreed to jump onboard the project without hesitating. It means a lot. Follow Cory on Twitter.
• I recently surpassed the 100-page mark in Word processor terms. I estimate that to be somewhere north of 230 pages in book terms. I see the final product being twice as long before edits kick in, which might bring it down a bit. We'll see, but 20 years of history for a giant property like Resident Evil means that this book can't be too small...
• A number of people involved with the series have agreed to cooperate with the book. I can't get too detailed about this at the moment, but it should be a good project!

One thing I can reveal today is that THE Mark Julio, aka MarkMan23, will be writing the foreword for the book! Mark is one of the most respected figures in the games industry and a very passionate fan. He built an impressive reputation at MadCatz, helping to make arcade sticks a mainstream accessory outside of Japan. He runs BizDev for Evo & Evo Japan and works as a Brand & Community Advisor for TEKKEN (through Bandai Namco Ent.), FGC Product & Community for Razer and consults for a number of other games industry clients.

I had a shortlist of very qualified industry figures-cum-Resident Evil fans whom I wanted to write the foreword, but I felt a particularly special connection with MarkMan. Not only is he a true Resident Evil fan, his passion for collecting arcade sticks and other game memorabilia (and sneakers) reminds me of the 300+ Resident Evil games I once owned. He often zigzags the globe with the sole purpose of fostering the arcade fighting game community; on a much smaller scale, I've been trying to do this for game music at Brave Wave and MAGFest. He is knowledgeable, confident, friendly and approachable, and a tremendously positive influence in the game community and for me. There's no one else I'd rather have onboard for this than MarkMan. 

That's all for now! I'm hacking away at the book on a day by day basis, adding information, rewriting segments and always thinking about how to deliver the best historiography. I hope to have another update this summer!