This special Halloween edition of Artifice is dedicated to commenter Alor_Laneau and The Great Pumpkin.

And, of course, to all the fantastically awesome donators who made it possible in stunningly record time!

***THIS IS A BONUS PAGE!***

We have new fan art from long-time friend, ~ksiazeAikka. It’s Jeff offering Deacon a lesson in the ways of love. How do we think that’s working out? Thanks, ~ksiazeAikka!

Special thanks go out to long-time donator Annette A. who donated for the second week in a row! Big hugs go out to new friends Meagan S. for their $25 donation and to Lindsay J. for their $30 donation! Wow!

And a full-throated cheer, android strength hug, pull-my-jaw-off-the-floor stunned with gratitude bow to Christopher K. who put us over the top to make this special Monday edition page happen with a completely stunning, record-breaking $100 donation! OMG! I can barely move but seeing that got me to do a little dance of joy. I don’t know what to say, but thank you from the bottom of my heart, Christopher, for such stunningly generous support!

Thank you all so, so much! I hope really do hope you enjoy this page and the two (!) more to follow this week on Wednesday and Saturday! 😀

As for me, I’m having a small little relapse of back pain, but still hanging in there. Your kind words about the writing and well-wishing have been a big source of cheer for me. Please know that your kindness and thoughtfulness makes me very, very happy. I really do wish I could hug each and every one of you.

Hope to see you all on Wednesday for Page 46! 😀

Oh, Deacon, who could resist your sweet, gentle killer-android smile? And yes, Jeff is a boxers man. Knowing is half the battle.

And speaking of sweet, we have some very adorable new Fan Art from Kelsie—”Jeff’s Fantasy”. Thank you, Kelsie!

Special thanks go out to long-time supporters Esperanza V. & Steven H. & Mark H. & Steve M. (all four donating for the second time in a row!), Annalisa C. (donating twice in one week!), Erin H. & Brittany H. (both donating for the fourth time in three weeks!), Larisa V. (donating for the 4th time in a row!), Christina K. (donating for the 6th time in a row!) and Laura Beth W. (donating for the ninth week in a row! OMG!) and please let me extend a warm welcome and a grateful bow to new supporters Megan D., Rebecca L., Adriano B. and Pierre N. for their generous donations over the last few days!

Big hugs to long time friend Michele M. (donating for the 2nd week in a row!) and also to new friend Monique P. for their generous $25 donations!

And an android-strength hug, leaping cheer, high-five and a sincerely humble bow to new friend Jennifer B. for their whopping $50 donation! WOW!

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, in addition to helping me to make possible each of these pages in a very real way, your donations are huge morale boosters for Winona and me. Thank you all so, so much!

And, thanks to your previous donations, there’s a new bonus page—Page 45!—that will be posted this Wednesday, November 2nd! (Unless something else—that for the sake of my fragile constitution shall not be spoken of here—happens before 11:59 PM PST on Sunday, October 30th… Then it might be posted earlier…..) Either way, I hope to see you for Page 45!

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! You are UNSTOPPABLE! 😀 The donation bar has hit (and exceeded!) the target and so we will have three pages next week! Page 45 on Monday, Page 46 on Wednesday and then our regular update on Saturday, Page 47! I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this again, but for this one special occasion all I can say is whee! What fun!

In other news, I managed to really hurt my back on Thursday and it’s getting worse. I’ve never had back trouble before so I’m not sure what the recovery is going to be like. (Off to Urgent Care shortly.) But I’m in a fair amount of pain so being on the computer is a bit difficult. So, I might not be as present in the comments today as I sometimes am, but I am reading them on my cell and your kind words are greatly cheering me up. So thank you!

UPDATE ON YOUR BUDDY ALEX, 10/29 11:50 PM PST: Well, I spent the first part of the day curled up in a whimpering ball of pain, but I was able to get into Urgent Care and with the help of a muscle relaxant, an anti-inflammatory and Vicodin (another first for me), I am happy to say that I am very, very sleepy, but also finally pain-free. And this makes for a much, much happier Alex.

But not so happy as reading all your comments have made me! Yes, computer work is still a challenge, but throughout the day, I’ve read each and every comment and they’ve been a huge bright spot in any otherwise very challenging experience. I really appreciate the well-wishing (and that very sweet fan-art from Aikka!)—all of which has cheered me up a lot. There’s so much I’d love to chime in on—the seme/uke discussions, the questions of consent and power in what’s going on, your kind words about the pacing of what’s happening, whether we’ll get to see cosplay/fanart depicting Sawyer’s Deacon-look-alike-husband with Jeff—but right now, I’m just going to have to take pleasure in the fact that we have the smartest, coolest readers in the world who seem to be totally getting what we’re trying to do here. And that’s indeed a lot of pleasure.

In terms of whether this injury will keep me from posting up the Monday, the answer is “Hell, no!” There’s still a bit of work for me to do on it to get it ready, but you all mean the world to me, so even if I have to type in the word balloons with a pencil in my teeth, I will have it ready for you.

Thank you again for all your kind words and support. You are all the best medicine a creator could hope for. Together, I really do believe we can manufacture a brighter tomorrow. 😀

Does anyone want to give Deacon a hug? He looks like he might need one right about now…

***THIS IS A BONUS PAGE!***

We have new fan art from Tatat Roses, a color portrait of Jeff! Thank you, Tatat!

It was a big pleasure meeting some of you at YaoiCon this last weekend! I had a ton of fun there, meeting readers and chatting with other creators. Hamlet Machine of Starfighter was a total sweetheart as always and CC of Teahouse went above and beyond by taking me under her wing to explain how to create custom posters & keychains & other things that complete baffled me until I talked with her. I swear, one of the best things about making yaoi comics is how awesome and kind and generous everyone involved with them seems to be. It’s just a great community. 😀

And we have hit another new record in how awesomely generous and how awesomely awesome you all are! After hitting the donation target for this bonus page on Friday morning, you all managed to turn right around and hit the donation target yet again on Monday afternoon, meaning we’ll have a guaranteed bonus page next Wednesday, November 2nd, as well! That will be the sixth bonus page in a row! Woot! O_O

Special thanks go out to long time supporters Chris V., Esperanza V., Christina B. and also to Amanda D. & Zoellen F. & Jennifer B. & Nicholas H. (all four donating for the 2nd week in a row!), Ariel S. (donating for the 3rd week in a row!), Larisa V. (donating for the third update in a row!), Alison T, (donating for the fourth week in a row!), Erin H. (donating for the fourth time in a row!), Christina K. (donating for the 5th time in a row!), and Artifice superhero Micheal B. who has now donated for the 8th straight week in a row! I’d also like to offer very warm welcome and grateful bow to new supporters Audrey R., Steve M., Rebecca P., Tonks R., gordon g., Chandell M., Marykate B., Megan W., Heli R., and Annalisa C. for their generous donations this week.

Big hugs go out to new friends Grace W. & Jenny G. for their generous $25 donations!

And we had three $30 donations this update! O_O Two from new friends Natalia K. and Ethan R. (Thank you so, so much!)

And then one from long-time friend Saxon B. who put us over the top with a $30 donation—their third donation this month! TOTAL ROCK STAR SUPERHERO!

Again, thank you all very, very much. Your support and kind words mean the world to Winona and me. 🙂

Huh. Seems Deacon likes Jeff’s hair too…

We have new Fan Art from ~ksiazeAikka and she’s made two lovely pieces. The first is a drawing called “Jeff and Deacon cuteness” and the second is an adorable “paperchild” of Jeff. And… I love them (especially the “paperchild”!) Please be sure to check them out!

In other news, I’m going to be roaming around YaoiCon today and possibly tomorrow. If you’re a reader and you see me, please say hello! (I might even have an Artifice art card to give you. 😀 )

And… yet again you all surprise me with your amazing generosity! We hit the bonus donation target in record time (Friday morning!) and so that means I’ll be posting up our fifth bonus page in a row this Wednesday! Woo hoo!

Special thanks to longtime Artifice supporters Michele M., Zoellen F., Annette A., Amanda D., Meghan P., Jennifer R., Marina T., Karina G. (donating for the 2nd week in a row), Daniel M. (donating for the 2nd time in a week!), Alexandra R. & Erin H. & Brittany H. & Elyse B. (all four donating for the third time in two weeks!), Christina K. (donating for the 4th time in 3 weeks!) and Laura Beth W. (who has now donated for the eighth time in a row! Artifice superhero!) and let me also extend a warm, grateful welcome to new supporters Shaniqua W., Mark H., Jodi Z., Angelika H., Marcelle N., Matthew R., Nicholas H., Aubrey M. and Kieran L.!

Big, BIG hugs to new friends Verity L. and Starr R. for their super-generous $25 donations! And love-filled, android-strength hugs (and a wide-eyed grateful bow!) to Cotina S., Erika T. and Larisa V. who all donated a second $25 donation in the same week! (O_O! OMG! Total ROCK STARS!)

And finally a leaping embrace, high-five and WOOT to lewis j. who put us well over the top with their $25 donation Friday morning! 😀

Thank you all so, so much! I don’t have enough words to tell you how much joy you all have brought into my life with your amazing generosity. Just… THANK YOU!

(Oh, and because some very sweet and very optimistic readers have actually asked me what happens if we raise another $250 before the next bonus page, I’ve come up with an answer to that. For lots of reasons, including maintaining my sanity and ability to respond to comments, I want to space out bonus pages. If ever I was going to post two bonus pages in a week, I’d want to put one on Monday and then the other in the “usual” Wednesday slot.

So, if we ever hit the donation target on a Monday or Tuesday before a “regularly scheduled” Wednesday bonus page, the answer is easy—I’d just announce a bonus page for the following Wednesday, just like I always do. But I do want to respect and honor your enthusiastic support. [Oh, my God, do I want to honor it—you have no idea what kind of a morale booster the past few weeks have been for me and Winona!] So, while I don’t know if I could do this forever, if the donation target is met before the Monday or Tuesday before a “regularly scheduled” Wednesday bonus page (i.e, by Sunday 11:59 PM PST), then I would [after recovering from my heart attack] post up a 2nd bonus page the following Monday, making three pages of Artifice for that week.

Clear as mud? Awesome!

Then let me make one other thing clear: I’m not asking anyone to donate to make this happen. Winona and I are super delighted with just having the occasional bonus page on Wednesday. [Really delighted, actually!] But the whole point of these bonus pages is to show our gratitude and to add to the sense of fun for this comic. So right now, having things set up this way seems to make sense to my tiny little brain. But if it bums any of you out, then we’ll just keep it to one bonus page on Wednesdays no matter what. Kay? 😀 )

October 24th, 3:30PM: DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! OMG! We just hit the bonus target so that means that not only will we have a bonus page this Wednesday, October 26th, but we will also have one on Wednesday, November 2nd! (And as I committed to above, if we hit the target yet again by 11:59 PM PST, Sunday, October 30th, I will post up an additional bonus page on Monday, October 31st. But not asking for that to happen! Just happy to respond to your amazingly cool enthusiasm! :D) You all are so amazingly awesome—thank you!

Meep.

***THIS IS A BONUS PAGE!***

We have new Fan Art! It’s “Jeff and Deacon fanart” by ~geekypnai. Thanks, ~geekypnai! 🙂

And just when I think I can’t be any more stunned and surprised by your tremendous generosity, we hit a new speed record for donations this week! From $34 on Saturday morning to a full donation bar by Monday evening! Which means that this will be the fourth bonus page in as many weeks! Wow!

Please let me extend a warm, grateful welcome to new supporters Steven H. and Kirsten W. and extra special thanks to long-time supporters Jennifer B., Tanya A., Daniel M., Ariel S. & Danielle C. (donating two times in two weeks!), Brittany H. (donating twice in one week!), Alison T. (donating for the 3rd week in a row!), Sue T. (donating for the fourth time in a row!), Micheal B. (donating for the seventh straight week in a row! Good golly!) and Laura Beth W. (who donated for the 7th time in a row! Rock star!).

Big, big hugs to new friend Erika T. (for their $25 donation!) and also to long-time friends Cotina S. (for their $20 donation!), Larisa V. (for their $25 donation!) and Saxon B. (who donated $25 for the second time in two weeks! Holy cow!). And finally a high-five, leaping cheer and grateful bow to new friend Amber V. who put us over the top at 7:39 PM on Monday with a whopping $30 donation!

You all stun, amaze and humble me. Your donations help us put out pages in a very real way and, just as important, it’s a huge morale boost to know that you all are finding Artifice actually worth donating to, especially in these tough times. Thank you all so, so much!

So…regular update this Saturday! Page 42! 😀

Update 10/21/11 9:36 AM: DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! Good Golly! It’s Friday morning and we’ve already hit the donation target for the bonus page! Holy cow! All righty, then! After the regular update of Page 42 this Saturday, I will be posting up Page 43 as a bonus page on Wednesday, October 26! Thank you all so much for your generosity!

But what happens if we raise another $250 before then? Some very sweet and optimistic readers have actually asked me that, so I’m answering here. For lots of reasons, including maintaining my sanity and ability to respond to comments, I want to space out bonus pages. If ever I was going to post two bonus pages in a week, I’d want to put one on Monday and then the other in the “usual” Wednesday slot.

So, if we ever hit the donation target on a Monday or Tuesday before a “regularly scheduled” Wednesday bonus page, the answer is easy—I’d just announce a bonus page for the following Wednesday, just like I always do. But I do want to respect and honor your enthusiastic support. (Oh, my God, do I want to honor it—you have no idea what kind of a morale booster the past few weeks have been for me and Winona!) So, while I don’t know if I could do this forever, if the donation target is met before the Monday or Tuesday before a “regularly scheduled” Wednesday bonus page, then I would (after recovering from my heart attack) post up a 2nd bonus page the following Monday, making three pages of Artifice for that week.

Clear as mud? Awesome!

Then let me make one other thing clear: I’m not asking anyone to donate to make this happen. Winona and I are super delighted with just having the occasional bonus page on Wednesday. (Really delighted, actually!) But the whole point of these bonus pages is to show our gratitude and to add to the sense of fun for this comic. So right now, having things set up this way seems to make sense to my tiny little brain. But if it bums any of you out, then we’ll just keep it to one bonus page on Wednesdays no matter what. Kay? 😀

Please forgive me, but I’m going to act like a fanboy of my own comic for a moment. Or at least of Winona’s part in it. 🙂

A major reason I started the Yaoi 911 project was to make comics I always wanted to see and the art on this page totally hits my fanboy buttons. I think Jeff is absolutely adorable in Panel 2. Great expression, great pose, great anatomy—just beautiful to look at. And Jeff in Panel 4! Those arms! That chest! The tousled hair! (Even that armpit!) And Deacon in Panel 3? His expression cracks me up every time. I think Winona just outdid herself on this page. I’ve been working on this comic for a long time, and when Winona sends me a page like this, it all becomes fresh to me again. I get to be one of you for a moment, experiencing Deacon’s story for the first time. And that is but one of 1000 reasons why I feel so lucky to be able to work with Winona on this comic.

Anyway!

We have new Fan Art from “Artifice: The Look” artist Lance! It’s “Artichibis” and, while I love all the awesome fan art we’ve received to pieces, I will admit this one fills my heart with a special joy. You owe it to yourself to check it out. Thank you so much, Lance!

Special thanks and hugs to long-time supporters Daniela F., Alexandra R., Esperanza V. (donating for the second week in a row!), Alexandra R. & Elyse B. (both donating for the second time in a week!), Christina K. (donating for the third time in two weeks!) and Laura Beth W. (now donating for a jaw-dropping 6th time in a row! WOW!) and a warm, grateful welcome to new supporters Karen H., Gabrielle R., Tristan M., Anna Z., Brittany H. and Erin H. for their generous donations over the last few days! Thank you all so much! 😀

October 17th, 8:40PM: DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! In super record time and thanks to your amazingly generosity, donations have just hit $250, so there will be a bonus page—Page 41!—this Wednesday, October 19th!

(And I’m actually super glad that it’s page 41 that will be the bonus page this week. When a reader first suggested the idea of posting bonus pages when donation targets were hit, it was actually Page 41 that I pictured in my mind as being the bonus page. So you all with your awesomeness are literally making my dreams come true! Thank you! 😀 )