Susan L Markloff
My books feature epic battles and lots of dynamic characters. I always knew that if I could get the chance to adapt them into a visual medium, I would want to do that. The stories I'm writing will present well in a visual media, and like many authors, I would just about die if a live-action mini series were ever made of my books. That's definitely something that isn't going to happen (at least not anytime soon). However, that doesn't mean that other visual mediums are off the table.
We've officially completed Volume One of a graphic novel adaptation of The Rise of the Raidin, which encompasses chapters 1-4 of the novel. Volume Two's campaign is currently live in prelaunch, and preliminary work recently finished. Save the campaign today and be notified when it goes live!
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My illustrator, Tina Ritchie, took inspiration from mangas and the likes of Avatar the Last Airbender, feeling that Rise evoked a similar vibe to that art style. Tina is an established artist that has completed small graphic adaptation projects and one 200 page graphic novel. This is her first fantasy graphic novel, and one that she is very excited to embark on. She's stated that adapting Rise is a "dream project", as she's a huge fan of stories with fantastical elements, dragons, and epic battles.
The Gameplan
Rise is a 364 page novel, and adapting it into a graphic novel is a hefty price tag. The only way to accomplish covering the cost without going entirely bankrupt is to break the story into 3 volumes and fund each volume through Kickstarter. Volume 1 funded in 2024, was completed in 2025, and Volume 2 will go live in early 2026, with the hope that by the end of 2026 the volume will be available. Once Volume 2 is complete, then Volume 3 will go live on Kickstarter.
Where can I buy volumes?
Strictly through Kickstarter or directly through my website or in-person. There's no guarantee that I'll have enough money for excess copies after Kickstarter Backers get their copies, so if you're invested in getting a volume, the only sure-fire way to obtain a copy is to back the campaign. They aren't being published, since publishing costs are pretty high just for each one to be unpublished once the whole novel is complete. Once all three volumes are done, there'll be a special Kickstarter campaign to fund the full graphic novel that'll offer special things, like hardbacks.
The rest of the Human-Born Era?
The ultimate goal is to have all five books of HBE adapted into graphic novels. As time goes on, there's the chance that finances might allow us to fund those future projects ourselves, and we could potentially just hire Tina outright and publish the books right away. But, there's no guarantee that'll happen, as graphic novels are expensive thanks to the art. If you want to stay up to date, join the Newsletter and get emails with the latest info!
