Welcome 2022!

These past few weeks have been rather busy, and I apologize for not posting more often. January promises to be quite hectic, as well.

First, I hope that everyone had a healthy and safe holiday season.

Second, a dear author and convention friend of mine recently experienced a devastating loss. Those of you who follow this blog regularly know I am referring to author Stephanie Osborn’s loss of her husband. Please show her your support and buy her books. You can learn more about her series and titles and where to buy them on her site. She has been posting regular updates on her status as she struggles through this difficult time on her Facebook account.

Third, I have created a cover template for season 2 (and beyond) of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe. This is a variation of the cover design I did for The Girl Who Fell from the Sky: The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe season 1. I used PENUP to create the parchment effect background and color the framework. Future episode covers will feature a line art illustration, a colored outer frame, and a new font (as yet to be determined, downloaded and installed). The annual omnibus will have a colored illustration.

Expect episode 13, Airborne Alliance, which will start off season 2, to be released on KDP Tuesday, January 18.

I haven’t forgotten about Demon Bayou, due for release in May. I will be starting another round of edits soon, then move on to getting it into the various formats. I will also contact my cover artist for the Waves of Darkness series about the cover probably in late February/early March.

Fourth, ChattaCon is coming up this Martin Luther King Day weekend at the Doubletree Hilton, Chattanooga, TN. They will be holding a live convention this year, with COVID protocols in place, of course. I have a table in the dealer room and will have copies of most of my titles (I think I’m sold out of the Gypsy Shadow Publishing edition of Demon Bayou and close to sold out of Maelstrom of Fate). I have a book signing session at 1 PM that Saturday in the Dealers’ Room and will be on a panel about The Art and Craft of Anthology Curation with authors Wendy Webb, Gregory Nicoll, Rob Howell, and Stephen L. Antczak in the Vision Ballroom C.

I hope to see as many as possible of you there!

Fifth, referring to the above announcement, I’ve ordered copies of Blood Curse to have on hand. I still have several copies of The Girl who Fell from the Sky left over from the last convention I attended back in early 202 (before things went insane).

Lastly, I finally got around to ordering the last 4 books in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I’m nearing completion of reading Wizard and Glass. (It’s not so much that I read slowly as that I only get to read in little snippets of time.) It’s been like reading it for the first time, it’s been well over a decade since I first read it.

Okay, here’s a little treat for sticking it out to the end of this blog post: a video tour of my 2021 Christmas tree. This is the first video I’ve put together using the video editor on Win 10. Still not sure if I like as much, better, or less than MS Moviemaker on Win 7.

Merry Christmas and an Update

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Had my picture taken with the Salvation Army Santa bell ringer outside the grocer just 5 minutes from my “new” (40-year-old) home a couple of weeks ago.

My office/studio is getting in shape. I was a bit irritated to have to order a new power cord for my printer (which will not arrive until next week/year). Guess I should have unplugged it from the device before I boxed it up to move. The plug prongs broke off. Thanks to a pair of tweezers, I was able to extricate them from the printer’s receptacle. I still have a lot of organizing to do in here; but most of the stuff is unpacked, at least.

I’ll soon have a proper library! There was room in the den for the eating table and chairs, so bookcases will be going into the dining room. No more books piled on the floor (for now, at least).

Speaking of books… Maelstrom of Fate is in the running in the Horror Novel category for this year’s Preditors and Editors Readers Poll! Be sure to place your vote! The six previous titles in the Waves of Darkness series have placed in the top ten during their respective years. I would dearly love to see the series sweep as a set.

Also, if you’re looking for a way to spend that money Grandma sent or the cash you plan to get back from returning unwanted gifts, you could do much worse than buy a copy of one of my books (be it digital or print). Remember, I’ve posted purchase links on each book’s landing page on this site. (Hey, I’ve got a mortgage to pay, after all.)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday.

Moose Bees and the Other Side

… also know as fun with auto-complete on your phone. The title above was something I came up with one day when composing a gmail and at a loss for what to put as the subject line. Before you ask, no, I did not stick strictly to the center suggestion my phone gave me. I still try to use correct punctuation and capitalization in my email missives, which means punctuation frequently pops up as my center suggestion.

Still, that would be a fantastic band name, don’t you think?

Okay, enough silliness for now; it’s time for book news.

Writing on season 3 of The Adventures of Pigg and Woolfe is moving slowly currently. I’ve had too many mental distractions this month. It’s just that time of year. I have, however, been making plans for the serial. I’m doing research on self-publishing (read: annoying the crap out of my long-suffering author friends who’ve had some measure of success with self-publishing with questions about what to do or avoid), and hope to have the first episode available by February 2018.

I’ve worked up a rough sketch of the unifying imprint logo for the serial. Once I have a more polished version, I will scan it and share it here. I plan to work it into a kind of frame to use for each episode with a cartouche at the bottom to place the episode title. I will use colored line art relating to each individual episode for the single releases (ebook only) and have a black and white version to use as cover pages for the episodes in the annual omnibus (print) along with possible extra illustrations. This means the omnibus can double as an adult coloring book of sorts (some of the bonus material is intended for mature readers).

I’ve also been asking the people I know with experience about ACX and audiobooks. I’ve had several people at conventions express interest in listening to my books; and I do hold the audio rights. I know one thing I’ll have to do is redesign the cover art, since Audible requires a square cover rather than a rectangular one.

Now, if I can just find the TIME to execute these ideas.

Also, I’ve put a new video up on my Viksbelle channel on Youtube to promote my Take a Pirate Home for Christmas campaign. Check it out…and please subscribe to my channel (shameless begging here; I only have one subscriber, for cryin’ out loud).

 

Final Maelstrom of Fate Redshirt Winners

I wish to thank Sandra Ward, aka Con Mommy, for her assistance with the final redshirt drawing for Maelstrom of Fate, held at LibertyCon 30.

I extend a hearty congratulations to Doug Crowe and Aaron Plotkin for winning the final two slots. You both are killed fairly quickly, but you get the honor of getting one shot in each before your demise. (Read below the video for additional redshirt news.)

Doug, since you managed to win in this drawing, I will be removing your Tuckerization (where you’re written in as a character but not killed off) from season two of The Adventures of Pigg and Woolfe, my upcoming Steampunk serial, and awarding that spot to Snow Hawkins.

Also, as stated in an earlier post, my ConNooga redshirt winner, Jonathon Morris, was disqualified from appearing in Maelstrom for being excessively annoying. I have slightly relented my stance and will be redshirting him in season two of TAoPaW by incineration after taking a bullet for one of my main characters. (A back broken by a hungry vampire was just too swift and easy a death for him.)

Last Video Reading for a While

This is the third reading from The Daedalus Enigma. I probably won’t be doing another reading video until after the publication of Maelstrom of Fate in October. I’d thought about doing readings from The Dungeon section of Readers’ Refuge, but those would be age-restricted videos due to some of the subject matter. They may still happen, but not at this time.

Here, for your viewing and listening pleasure is The Bathing of Sniff.

New Video Reading and Art Update

I finally got started on the cover art for Maelstrom of Fate this afternoon. So far, I have the background done. It has to dry fully before I start on the other images. I’m going with acrylic on canvas board again.

Granted, this part went quickly. I kept the brush rather wet to blend the four pigments used. I was trying to give the effect of a whirlpool. As you can see, I used masking tape and paper to ensure a clean border around the painting.

Here is the second video reading from The Daedalus Enigma.

 

 

Video Reading from The Daedalus Enigma

Yet another busy weekend; not so much on the writing and book production front, but productive nonetheless. We replaced the carpet in the cats’ room with vinyl tile: easier to clean. (Cricket-of-Boundless-Energy has earned the nickname “Spootz”.)

The only progress I’ve made on the cover art for Maelstrom of Fate has been to mask off the borders on the canvas board I have for the painting.

The only other accomplishments this weekend have been to record and edit this week’s video reading and to complete a hidden object game and bonus game I started last weekend.

Without further ado, here is this week’s reading selection: the Once Upon a Tide… from The Daedalus Enigma, Sirens at War.

New Video Reading!

As promised, here is the reading of the excerpt titled Hunting in New Orleans, from Hell’s Dodo.

Lotsa Kinda Important Stuff!

First: THE BANNER HAS ARRIVED! This is my first ever professionally created signage for promotion of my books.

I am extremely happy with how it turned out (and the height of the stand, which didn’t look that tall on the Vistaprint website, but was the only style available for this size vertical banner).

The manuscript for Maelstrom of Fate is complete with the exception of the addition of the last two red shirt winners. That drawing will be held at LibertyCon at the end of June. The current word count is 77,251… subject to change upon revisions and edits, of course. For instance, MS Word tends to count the asterisks I put between scene breaks (which are converted to little skull and crossbones in the finished books) as words.

I hope to get started on the painting for the cover this Memorial Day weekend. I already have the concept and image layout in my head.

There will be a new video reading from Hell’s Dodo later this weekend.

I am now fully stocked with 10 full sets of books for LibertyCon; I also have a fresh batch of author cards to give out.

Okay, I think that covers everything for now. If I think of something else, I’ll let you know.

Here’s a random pic of Star to send this off. (Louie is photobombing in the back.)

Maelstrom of Fate Almost There and New Video Reading

I am on the final chapter of Maelstrom of Fate. With a long weekend coming up, I will be finished with the initial revisions. I’ve just this chapter and the epilogue to finish up. Here are the current stats:

Word count: 73,982

Page count: 235

The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe has slowed down quite a bit. I’ve run out of steam on my Steampunk serial, so to speak.

My mind is more focused on prepping for LibertyCon right now. I’ve already ordered and received a fresh batch of author cards from Vistaprints. I also intend to have my very first banner for the convention. Jessica Werner is helping me tweak the design to fit the printer’s specs and did the Photoshop work on it. (I do not have PS loaded on either of my computers, nor the free time to learn it well enough for something like this were I to download it.) Neither of us have done banner work before, so it has been a learning experience.

Meanwhile, here is this week’s installment of Readings from the Log of the Pirate Ship Incubus: