Omni: This is it! After countless months of planning (I’ve been turning this over in my head since January), it’s finally here: The comprehensive and full novelisation of Golden Sun, complete with beautifully crafted illustrations from the legendary Griffinkhan. Griff will get a chance to speak a little later on, but the floor is mine for now.

In case you haven’t yet guessed, this is what we’ve been alluding to for the past couple weeks, both here and on Gaia. Not only that, but it’s an exclusive to the GSFFA. Consider it our gift to you. Having said that, let’s get down to the details.

Firstly, this is hopefully nothing that you’ve expected. This is an illustrated novel, and it will be completed, though not quickly. In all honesty, I’m going into university in a little over a month’s time, and I fully expect to be up to my neck in work. This is the big work that sits atop it all. I’ve spoken with Griff about the details of getting this posted, and we settled on a schedule, of which we will abide to to the best of our ability.

You are guaranteed this: an update to this novel on the first of the month, every month until it’s done. This will not be broken except on extreme circumstances, such as if I or Griff happen to be dying. In my case, though, this may be the result of one of you having used my collar too excessively, so it would be your fault anyway. At any given time, I also have several chapters in reserve, so that if something goes wrong, you are still guaranteed to get your next chapter. I send the chapters to Griffin for proofing, reviewing and, most importantly, so that she can draw the pictures ahead of time, so there should always be a backup of whatever we’re doing.

If at any time there is an excess of three completed chapters in reserve, and Griffin has completed all the pictures she wants to for the next chapter, then it gets posted automatically. This should speed up the process a little bit. The project will still take a long time, but there’s only so much we can do about that. It’s a long story, when you put both games together.

Secondly, if you review, and I hope when you review, please comment not only on the writing, but on Griff’s artwork. The point of the reviews is to tell the creator what you think of the work, and in this case, it is also a chance for Griff to learn and feel good about what she’s contributed. And trust me, I’ve seen some of this stuff. She’s contributing in a major way.

There’s one other thing I’d like to address about the novelisation before this Author’s/Artist’s note draws to a close, but I think I’m hogging too much of the front page right now. I’ll come back with that last point in a little while. For now, here’s Griffinkhan.

Griffinkhan: When Omni first told me about his novelization project, I thought, "Wow, glad I'm not doing that." It seems like an incredible task to take the events of our beloved GS series and put them into writing. And then as I was thinking about it, I realized that I hadn't done much in the way of Golden Sun lately and what better way to get back into the swing than to illustrate the game? So, I asked Omni if I could help and he gladly agreed. And um... that's about it. ^^; One reason I've been drawing so much lately is because I've had bad writer's block....

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the project, and I'll be working my hardest to do justice to this wonderful game with my artwork!

Omni: And before we close, I’m getting to that last point.

The GSFFA is a community. We are close-knit, tied, together, whatever you want to say. As such, it doesn’t seem fair that the comprehensive novelisation of Golden Sun be complete without letting some other people have their say. At key points in the plot where it would fit, we will be inserting one-shots written by other authors, with their permission, as an interlude. We already have some ideas as to which one-shots will go where, and I’m definitely intending on including the single one-shot that inspired this idea. She doesn’t know who she is, yet, but she’ll know. Don’t worry, we will, of course, ask you for your permission before it’s used. This raises the point, please don’t start asking us to use your one-shot in reviews or by IM-ing us. We have a pretty good idea of what’s out there. Speaking of which, the idea to use interludes, as well as the individual chapter introductions, were inspired directly from a fic in the InuYasha section of fanfiction.net entitled “Miroku’s Lyric.” Definitely worth a look when you’re done here.

Finally, I’m pretty sure I speak for Griffinkhan as well as myself when I say that we hope this novelisation will keep the community together for a long time to come. This sort of project will not be done in a few months. This is us looking at the long-term. This is our contribution to a vibrant, growing, positive and amazing collective of people, whom I know we both want to stick together for a long time to come. This is our gift to you; this is our magnum opus.

Enjoy.

- Griffinkhan, Omniflyer