We’re getting closer here, people! Check it out! 😀
Brooding Bard
Browsing Tag
cover art
For those of you not following me on the social networks, I can now show you this, now that my agent and I have signed off. Behold, the cover art for Valor of the Healer, coming to ereaders NEAR YOU on April 15th!
It is very, very odd seeing Faanshi now with an actual face. 😀 She’s more scantily clad here than I tend to envision her, but y’all can think of this as the Faanshi that the storyline is going to be aiming for, not necessarily matched up in details to the Faanshi who starts the story.
Valor of the Healer
Oh my, this has been a long time coming–but look what Kiri Moth just sent me, you guys! I give you a work in progress glimpse of Elessir a’Natharion, and the forthcoming cover of Bone Walker!
Elessir in Progress
This IS a work in progress, so even before it gets colored it’s going to change–but oh, this is exciting, and I had to share it with you NOW. I can’t wait to see what the final version is going to look like!
The holidays are always a pretty low-key and kind of drawn-out affair at the Murkworks. As happens every year, Housemate Paul went to Virginia to see his family; thus, we held off the house gift exchange until he returned. Mostly, the holidays for Dara and me meant a relaxing vacation that nonetheless also involved working on music (on Dara’s behalf) and working on Bone Walker (on mine).
That said, Paul’s back now and we DID have our house gift exchange! Also on hand for the festivities were longstanding house pal Mimi as well as visiting guest Cygnet. There was tasty handmade chocolate given by Cygnet from a chocolatier she likes! And Meems gave me the third season of Due South, which I still need to get caught up on! (Seriously, you guys, I’m behind on so many things I should be watching.)
BUT! The two biggest coolest things were from Paul and Dara. For Paul’s gift, I present a bit of backstory! Back in 2007, some of y’all may recall, we went to Japan for Worldcon and had ourselves an Awesome Vacation of Awesomeness. One of the things we noticed while we were over there, though, was that Kit Kats in Japan come in approximately eight hundred and thirty-seven flavors. Way, WAY more than you ever see in the States. It got to the point where I kept ducking into corner convenience stores just to see what flavors of Kit Kat they were carrying. Which is, in fact, a Thing there–different stores having different flavors!
So for this year’s gift exchange, Paul gave me a big ol’ gift box from Japan full of different Kit Kat flavors! It’s laid out like an Advent calendar (only, y’know, totally wrong religion and all), with little windows you can punch open to find out what flavor of Kit Kat is inside. The one I tried last night was Citrus Golden Blend and I swear it tasted like an orange creamsicle. SO TASTY. It is probably for the best that these are not available in the States. Because I would be buying ALL OF THEM.
Behold the pics of tasty goodness!
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- Front of the Box
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- Left Panel of Box
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- Right Panel of Box
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- Inside of Box
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- SO TASTY
And if that wasn’t awesome enough? Dara TOTALLY warmed my heart with what she had made for me. She got a Faerie Blood cover, printed on really good paper, matted and framed for me. Sniff. <3 And now this lovely, lovely thing is hanging right by the couch where I usually do all my writing! When we do the Bone Walker cover, that’ll be joining it as well! Check it out!
Kendis for Posterity
What an awesome way to start off 2013!
YOU GUYS. Look what my Dara made for me! This is going to be the version of the print edition cover for Faerie Blood, as we’ll be flinging over to Third Place Press for printing! Any last tweaks will be for the actual bar code and the listed retail price–the latter being because I’ll be talking to Third Place about whether they can carry print copies in stock in the store, in case any of you lovely people out there want to order it!
(Dara says it’s really, really weird to be resurrecting Low Orbit Publications as a name, too! Which actually existed, way back in the day, when she published her Low Orbit zine!)
Faerie Blood Second Edition
Ladies and gentlemen, Kiri (all hail her mighty pens and Photoshop) has sent me the very first glimpse of your favorite bard and mine, Elessir a’Natharion!
He needs some tweaking to strike that exact right balance between ‘a Sidhe version of Elvis’ and ‘all of my mental pictures of what elves should look like is totally influenced by Elfquest‘–but nonetheless, this is a damn fine initial try. Especially with the hair. Elessir is all about the hair!
If You're Lookin' For Trouble
Check it out, Internets! Kiri Moth just sent me what may well be the final shipping version of the Faerie Blood second edition cover art!
Light and Music and Magic
Barring any final tweaks Dara will need her to make to get the layout to work, I’m thinking this is it. I really like the colors of Kendis’ outfit, and the overall feel of the scene being drenched in light, which is absolutely appropriate given that the idea here is that Kendis is not only playing her violin, she’s throwing off a huge swirl of magical power. And magic does make a light show in her universe, so!
Accordingly I’m also pretty okay with the background seeming a bit washed out by comparison–because it’s getting drenched in that light. And also, title and blurb text and such need to go cover most of the background anyway, so it’s all right if they’re much less distinct by comparison than Kendis herself!
Tell me what you think, people, and remember–if you want an ebook or a print book with this gorgeous thing on it, the Kickstarter is waiting right over here!