Steampunk Spotlight: The Exile's Violin (Tethys Chronicles: Book I)

Good Day, Bloggerati~


I would like spotlight an upcoming novel today, written by fellow Hydra Publications author R.S. Hunter. His novel is a steampunk piece, titled, The Exile's Violin, and it is to be Book I of the Tethys Chronicles, scheduled for release this September. (Can you believe it's already September next month?) Mr. Hunter has thus been kind enough to give us a sneak peek at his newly released cover art - as well as a blurb of his work. Feel free to voice your thoughts:
 

Enggar Adirasa is the artist, and he truly did a masterful job. I, personally, adore this piece, and I think it is a perfect portrayal of a steampunk world. I am told that the figure looking back at us is the main character in The Exile's Violin, Jacquie Renairre.

And now for a quick blurb regarding the novel itself:

Why hire mercenaries to kill an innocent family just to obtain one little key? That question haunts Jacquie Renairre for six years as she hunts down the people responsible for murdering her parents.

Not even accepting an assignment to investigate a conspiracy that aims to start a war can keep her from searching for the key. Armed with her father’s guns and socialite Clay Baneport, she continues her quest for answers abroad.

With the world edging closer to disaster, Jacquie is running out of time to figure out how the war, the key, and ancient legend are intertwined. The fate of the world hinges on her ability to unravel both mysteries before it’s too late.

Thank you, Mr. Hunter, for providing us with a premature glimpse at your novel. I can't wait to read it next month!

 Keep an eye on Hydra's site for the release of this upcoming novel, and be sure to tune in for further announcements and shenanigans.



R.S. Hunter fell in love with science fiction when he watched Star Wars with his grandmother as a small child. From then on there was no turning back. To escape suburban life he turned to stories that took him on wild adventures through time, space, and to worlds both real and imagined. While he knows space combat won’t work the same way as it does in the movies, he still hopes that someday he’ll get his own X-Wing or TARDIS.

His short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Abaculus III, Growing Dread: Biopunk Visions, 20,001 A Steampunk Odyssey, and the forthcoming In Situ. In addition, R.S. writes about video games for multiple websites. The Exile’s Violin will be his debut steampunk novel.

A Thought, a Whimsy, and A Random Fancy (and yes, SoonerCon and a Dramatic Maki).

Good Evening, Fair Earth (and all inhabitants therein)~

It's simply been a splendid day, and I wanted to take a moment to post a bit of my delight and humble musings. What could possibly have lent toward my capricious mood this eve? Perhaps life in general - or the steamy cup of hot chocolate I just devoured (and yes, in the middle of a June evening, no less). Or perhaps it's the pleasantness in my limbs after a wonderful session of yoga? Whatever it is, I am in a contented state - a peaceful frame of mind. And I hope all fellow wordsmiths, readers, acquaintances, friends... and family may find that inner peace as well and embrace the melody of the soul. In fact, I have the perfect song to share with all of you today. Have you heard of Florence? Florence + the Machine? Well, the song, Spectrum, always lifts my spirits, so please - close your eyes, dim the lights, and take a listen. Let the music "feed your soul":





In other news, do you remember my post last year regarding my first-ever visit to SoonerCon 20? It was the year I was introduced to fantasy illustrators Darrell K. Sweet and Peter Bradley. Unfortunately, Mr. Sweet passed away December 5th of 2011. I am honored to have met him when I did. And as many of you may know, Mr. Bradley did the beautiful cover design for my recently released fantasy novel, Empyreal Fate. In fact, I will be attending this year's SoonerCon 21 (June 15th-17th) with my own table in order to sell my books. It will be my first book signing, and I am greatly looking forward to the opportunity to meet fellow readers and writers. You can find information on other guests and speakers who will be attending here. I even purchased a banner representing Hydra Publications for the event. It actually arrived in the mail today:

 

Other pieces of news: June 9th-13th, I will be participating in my first Blog Tour, hosted by AToMR. I won't say much about it now, for I will be posting the schedule and more information shortly (within the next week or so). But to keep things simple, there will be interviews, excerpts, and... you guessed it: GIVEAWAYS! Who doesn't like free books? Speaking of free, a wonderful lady by name of Jessica Lay is hosting her own Giveaway on her site. Anyone who comments on her post has the opportunity to win any free ebook of his or her choice - and from a wide range of authors and publishing houses (including Hydra and, yes, Empyreal Fate). Check out her site here.

Also - this month (being June) is JuNoWriMo (June Novel Writing Month). I'm sure most of you have heard of it before as NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month or National Novel Writing Month). Anyway, regardless of the month in which it takes place, the idea is to write 50k words in 30 days. I have never participated in such an event - nor am I currently - but I always like to support 'JuNo-ers' or 'NaNo-ers', so I wanted to let you all be aware of it. I am, however, currently working on a new novel project of the Steampunk genre. In fact, I just hit the 68k word-mark today (33k of which have been written in the month of June). So I guess - whether I call myself a 'JuNo-er' or not - I kind of am one. Anyway~

Oh yes - one more thing: my little brother (okay, so.. he just graduated from high school last month, so he's not technically 'little') left for a two-month trip to Minnesota (we used to be Northerners, so his choice of location is spot-on). However, this is the longest I have ever been away from him, so the feeling is sort of - well, strange. I'm not sure why I'm bringing it up, except for the sole fact that I do honestly miss him. I know, I know... I'm a nerdy sister. But proud~

Being I'm on a random-topic spurt, I may as well go ahead and share the newest decor piece I purchased for the Meditation Room. (Yes, we have a Meditation Room. It's brilliant for doing art, meditation, and yoga. Or just relaxing in general. But I'm sure the name is self-explanatory). Also, this is the same room that features the 8,000-piece puzzle I completed (and my family helped frame) of Raphael's The School of Athens. Anyway, as I was out shopping last week, I ran across this beautiful painting of Siddhartha. I had to share:

By the way, we painted the walls and tiled the floors of the Meditation Room ourselves. Yeah... we're quite the adventurous bunch. And - what the heck - here's the puzzle again. Just for kicks. We even hand-built the frame:

By the way, just because people usually ask, the puzzle took me about a year to complete. I worked on it during the winter, took a break over the summer, and completed it the following winter. So, I guess, perhaps you could say it took half a year?

Before I leave you all for tonight, I simply must share with you a 'dramatic Maki'. That's right - I said a 'dramatic Maki'. Don't tell me it doesn't make you crack a smile seeing it. I pull this video out every once in awhile with the hopes that it'll make someone's day (in this case, night). So, without further ado, please meet this lovely Maki:



With that, I bid you all 'adieu'. Fare thee well, my friends~

Always,
Rachel

"Words are animals, alive with a will of their own."
-Jung

Guest Author: Anita Stewart - Woman of Many Talents

 Good Evening, Realm of Online Readership!

A glorious almost-summer-day it has been so far, don't you think? At least, in this part of the world. But regardless of Nature's mood, I've a talented figure to introduce to you today - a woman by name of Anita Stewart. Not only is she an author of several works, but she is also an artist and does some wonderful designs for covers and the like. And she has an imagination that spans entire worlds. Therefore, I simply had to sit Ms. Stewart down and ask her a few questions about herself and her talents. So hold off on the sun-screen (the outdoors can wait), and enjoy a few words and designs from a wonderful woman-of-the-arts:

Welcome, Ms. Stewart! Please – tell us about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?

Hi *waving* my name is Anita Stewart. I currently reside in Reading, England. I was born in Greensboro, N.C. and I write under AD Stewart. I create graphics under AnglisCreations. I’m a mother of three and wife to a very loving husband of 16 years.

I love to read, draw, write, build model cars, paint, collecting comic books and watching movies.

Reading, England, eh? What an appropriate name!

I understand you have written several series, including Ancient Breeds, Forgotten Shabtis, Guardians of Amirus, and Wishing. Can you tell us a bit about each of them – or your favorite one in particular?

To be perfectly honest, most of them are WIP. *laughing* I have a tendency to make the book covers before I actually finish the novel. Ancient Breeds is near and dear to my heart. I love everything about Egypt and enjoy creating stories based in the past and present. The series itself is about warriors from ancient civilizations waging war against the BloodSeekers, a vampire race that nearly ruled the ancient world. Each book continues the story and introduces more characters. You’ll meet Native American Indians, Mayans, Atlantians, Amazons, Egyptians and other breeds throughout.

The Shabtis series is Egyptian themed. The first book, Forgotten tells the story of Serik and Neenah. Serik was born with a God inside him. In order to protect him and his sister, their Mother had them placed within a small shabtis. Centuries later when the tomb is excavated, Serik is released in order to protect Neenah, the first daughter of Pharaoh. This series tells the course of Serik and his sister.

Guardians’ of Amirus is about men and women who become life-protectors to the rulers of the planets within the Amirus universe. Each planet has a Lord that rules under the High Planet Lord Kalor. The novels introduce us to their worlds and the changes that are about to take place within the Guardians’ way of life and all they’ve known.

Wishing is my interpretations of having my own Genie. In the first book, Dangerous, a work in progress, Jennifer Mannings finds a bottle within a shipwreck on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. When she realizes what she’s found, she soon wishes Genie would find another master.

The rest of the series will follow suit with a man or woman finding a Genie and the dilemmas they get into with their wishes, which never seem to work out right.

Wow! You have quite the arsenal up your sleeve. Which series was easiest to write and why? Which was the hardest?

Ancient Breeds is easiest, those guys talk the loudest. LOL. And of course I know a lot about ancient Egypt and feel as if I belong there. Like coming home.

Short stories are the hardest for me. I need a large sandbox to play in and short stories seem to cause over spill. I kick sand out and make a mess. So I need more to work with. I hope that makes sense.

I agree; novels give so much  more room to expand upon worlds and concepts. The tightness of short stories oft times make writing them more difficult!

With so many stories you're working on, is it hard to remember which character belongs in which series?

No. I don’t have any problems with that. I have accidentally put the wrong name while I was trying to be clever and work on two stories at the same time. A reader pointed out to me one day and I was so embarrassed.

How many books does/will each series contain? Do you think there is such a thing as a ‘perfect length’?

Ancient Breeds is 17 books in total. The last book tells the ‘beginning’ of how it all started with the vampires’ (good and bad) creation so to speak. The Shabtis series is 5 books. Guardians’ of Amirus is set within My Worlds of Amirus series. It is an open/ending series. Wishing is 5 books. I also have another series, TideWars that I’m working on and I have no idea how many books will feature within that world.

Whew - seventeen books? That's enough to work up a sweat! But I like how the last book is sort of the prequel, in a way. Quite an interesting twist.

Do you tie history into any of your works? What sort of things do you research as you write?

Yes I do. I check dates and events to match up what happens within my worlds. I’m always on the net researching history. As for the Egyptian stories, I have tons and tons of reference books.

Do you use symbolism? What about an overall motif for an entire series?

I use hieroglyphics in my AncientBreeds series. Each one has a special marker to symbolize their ancestry. As for a motif, I use a pyramid with a cobra wrapped around it. I’m still working on that idea.

Ancient Egypt is so fascinating. I like how you've incorporated historical elements to your work.

Can you describe your writing style for us? What processes do you go through while writing? (i.e. outlines, character maps, index cards, etc…)

I’m rather boring. I sit by the computer with my hands poised over the keyboard. When the voices are ready to talk, then I type. I have been known to use two keyboards at once and my husband to this day says it’s the weirdest thing ever to see.

However, if I can’t get to my computer, I do have notebooks doted around the house so I can write down ideas. So yeah, I guess I do have something that keeps my notes so to speak.

Two keyboards would be quite a sight. I can honestly say I've never tried that one. *jots notes for later*

What would you say is one of your writing “quirks”?

All of my characters have favorite things. One character loves Krispy Kreme, another loves anything orange flavored (I can’t stand orange flavor so it’s not me). Another character will do just about anything for chocolate…we won’t go into what he’ll do.

I understand you are also an artist and have done designs for your own covers. Can you tell us a little bit about how you became interested in art?

When I was a kid I loved to trace coloring books, pictures from magazines and I’m sure that’s how it started. The coloring on the wall was ME warming up. LOL. It wasn’t until sixth grade that I got heavily into art. Comic books have always been a love for me and I really wanted to make my own.

The book covers I design for myself and others, is just a reflection of a scene in the book or an accumulation of characters and places.

Brilliant! Would you mind showing us any of your drawings, sketches, or designs?

No I don’t mind at all. Thank you for asking.

 

 

Thank you for sharing! 

So, which interest piqued first: writing or art?

I’m not sure drawing on the walls constitutes art and I’m sure my Mother didn’t look at it that way. LOL.  I think art was first, then the writing. I drew pictures and wanted to tell the story that went with it. The first story I wrote was first grade. I got a blue ribbon and I was so proud of myself. It was about crystal horses and castles.

 

What a wonderful memory! It always amazes me to look back and think how far one has come - how one's interests tend to blossom.

How important do you think cover art is to a novel overall? Are sales affected by it?

I think it is important. It’s the first thing the reader sees. I know the old saying, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ but we all do it. I love fantasy and I’m going to head straight to the section with big dragons with women sporting wands and fiery spells. If the cover appeals to me, then I flip it over and devour the pitch. So yeah, I’d say it’s very important.

I would also mention that in reflection, if the cover is done well and is eye appealing, then you’re bound to sell more copies. However, if your style or voice isn’t clicking for the buyer, they may not return to invest in more of your work. So it’s a little of both. Great cover, even better writing and you should do well.

 

I agree. Both elements are key.

Would you mind telling us about your road to publication? Is there anything you regret or would do differently?

Oh yes! I regret the day I heard of a company called: AuthorHouse. These guys are a bunch of money sucking vampires!! If you want to self publish, do not go with these cowboys. They offer no rewards, nothing what so ever for your hard work. In fact, you DO all the work! And…they still sold my work (up until a few months ago) even after cancelling my contract with them in 2010. 

Usually I hear that authors and editors share tense relations. Tell us about your experience with editing. Do you enjoy the process? How well do you work with an editor?

My experience with editing hasn’t been a barrel of laughs. I’m very hard on myself to the point of getting angry and crying. I demand improvement and I think my editor wasn’t sure how to take that at first. For me, my logic is that nobody wants to read a book chocked full of errors, but I’m also learning that nobody is perfect and to be nicer to ME.

I do enjoy the process of editing. It’s time consuming and I’m learning new techniques as I go.

I have a wonderful relationship with my editor. She knows my quirks and is willing to work with me. She never orders me to fix or alter material. Always polite and offering help when needed and I always take her opinions seriously as she doubles up as a writer too.

Indeed - the process of a editing should be a mutual relationship between author and editor. It sounds like you have the right idea to be critical of your work - but not hard on yourself in the process. And it seems you have the ideal editor-relationship. Bravo!

 Do any of your characters reflect real people in your life? Are you mirrored in any of them?

I’m not really sure. I don’t think so. All my characters talk to me, literally. It’s hard to concentrate sometimes with all the noise going on inside my head. Now I sound crazy.

No - it's completely understandable. Characters tend to whisper to their creators. It's the whisper of the Muse.

Hm. I'm interested. What sort of creatures can be found in your work? 

Dragons big and small, winged cat like creatures. Genies with high sex drives, but I won’t go into that here. *laughing* Statues that come alive. Mermen. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts and the list goes on.

I'm intrigued. Such a vast collection of creatures! And statues that come alive? I want to learn more. Explain, if you will, how you use the concept of magic in your novels.

Some are born with it; others siphon it from other people, objects and animals. Usually there are rules within my worlds. No one has infinite power. To me that’s cheating and I’m sure the good guys are happy about that.

I understand you’ve created entire planets for your work. How difficult is it to construct multiple worlds? 

Oh it’s not difficult at all. Honest. *chews on pencil* I’ve had a ball creating worlds in my universe called: Amirus. You do need an understanding of science and how it all works. Or at least do some research to make it sound plausible. Planets tend to gravitate toward an orbit. Some are elliptic orbits and others are circular orbits.

The great thing about fiction is that you can create literally any person, place or thing. Rules do apply like I mentioned earlier, but you can have so much fun!

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, which genre(s)?

I listen to 80’s music all the way up to the present day. I love rock, pop, heavy metal, dance, techno and some rap. My favorite band to listen to while I write fight scenes is, Nightwish!!

How do you inspire the Muse when you’re having a bad day? 

I don’t really have bad days. I could sit by the computer and type until my fingers fell off. I guess I’m lucky that way.

I'm sure many are jealous of that trait. So is writer’s block ever an issue for you?

No. So far I’ve never had any problems with that.

Interesting. What do you do in your spare time?

Read, watch my Stargate DVDs in chronological order. Demand cuddles from hubby…bug my kids, cause that’s what Moms do.

Do you have a new project in the works? Can you tell us about it?

TideWars is my new series. It’s about two underwater races. The Dolphinites and Dolphinese. They hate each other thanks to their parents. The God Poseidon and his consort, their mother Amphitrite. Poseidon and Amphitrite divided their children up and raised them apart. Poseidon’s twin sons, Nicholas and Aiden he raised as demi gods called: Dolphinese. Amphitrite took the others, giving them dolphin bodies with the ability to change into human form. They are called the Dolphinites. This series is about their struggles and waging war which spreads to the human lands.

It sounds intriguing - and very involved. Would you mind sharing a passage from one of your novels?

He directed the wind like a giant hand, wiping away all traces of his footsteps as he stalked his prey. Stretching his arms out wide, he chanted a spell, making his presence undetectable. He was a lone warrior in a world full of violence. The one lesson he’d learned early in life was never to trust a human, never allow them the knowledge of his existence.

~Black Pyramid

Thank you for sharing that with us! 

Now for some random questions. *rolls up sleeves*

If you could meet any figure from history, who would you choose?

Leonardo Da Vinci

  

If you could be transported into any story, which would you most like to visit?

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragons of Pern series.

If you could change your eye color, what would you pick?

Sea green

What is your favorite ancient civilization?

Egypt! What gave it away? *grinning*

Do you visit museums often? Which exhibits do you like to see?

The British Museum is one of my favorites. The Ancient Egyptian exhibits are one I revisit from time to time with my husband in tow. Poor fellow.

Tell us of an instance in which the movie version was better than the book.

The DaVinci Code

Who is your favorite villain?

Lex Luthor (superman)

Plays or short stories?

Short stories.

Black ink or blue ink?

Blue ink

Plotting or pantsing?

Plotting *makes an evil face*

*laughs*

Singing or humming?

Omg…humming. I can’t sing at all! Well not good anyway.

Favorite drink on a warm day? A cold day?

Iced tea. Hot chocolate with marshmallows. And a handful to eat. :)

Favorite word?

imagination

Favorite sound?

Children laughing

Thank you again for stopping by, Ms. Stewart! It's been a pleasure getting to know more about you and your work. 

Discover more about Ms. Stewart, her artwork, and her novels (current and forthcoming) on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.

Guest Post: JUDGING A BOOK - By Bobby Nash

Greetings, All!

As a special treat for this Friday morning, the talented Bobby Nash has graced our presence with an exciting guest post! But before we delve into his post on book cover creation (which he draws from experience in the making of one of his own titles), proper introductions must be made. *clears throat* 

Introducing... Bobby Nash:

From his secret lair in the wilds of Bethlehem, Georgia, Bobby Nash writes. A multitasker, Bobby is certain that he doesn’t suffer from ADD, but instead he... ooh, shiny. 

When he finally manages to put fingers to the keyboard, Bobby writes novels (Evil Ways; Deadly Games!; Earthstrike Agenda), comic books (Fuzzy Bunnies From Hell; Demonslayer; Domino Lady vs. The Mummy; Lance Star: Sky Ranger “One Shot”), short prose (A Fistful of Legends; Full Throttle Space Tales Vol. 2: Space Sirens; Green Hornet Case Files; Tales of The Rook; Zombies vs. Robots), novellas (Lance Star: Sky Ranger; Ravenwood: Stepson of Mystery; Nightbeat; Blackthorn: Thunder on Mars), graphic novels (Yin Yang; I Am Googol: The Great Invasion; Bloody Olde Englund), and even a little pulp fiction (Domino Lady; Secret Agent X; The Avenger; The Spider) just for good measure.  And despite what his brother says, Bobby swears he is not addicted to buying DVD box sets and can quit anytime he wants to. Really.

When not writing fiction, Bobby is usually talking about his books and writing fiction at conventions and writers conferences. Bobby is also a part-time extra in movies and television, is the co-host of the weekly Earth Station One podcast (www.esopodcast.com), and writes for New Pulp (www.newpulpfiction.com) and All Pulp (http://allpulp.blogspot.com) news sites.

***

JUDGING A BOOK...

By Bobby Nash

When Rachel invited me to do a guest blog post I wasn’t really sure what I could talk about. I don’t blog often so coming up with a topic had me stymied for a short time. Then it hit me, I would talk about my experiences with designing the cover for my latest novel, Deadly Games! This was my first time designing a cover and I’m proud of how it turned out. I thought I’d share some of the steps I went through in designing the cover.

 

So, without further ado, here’s Judging A Book...

There’s an old saying: “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

While in the context of the statement, that might be true, there is also a lot of truth in the fact that so many readers do in fact judge a book by the cover. The cover of a novel, comic book, even DVD or CD is the first point of contact with a prospective buyer. Think about how many times a striking cover has caught your attention and you picked up the book just to see what it was all about. That’s the mark of a good cover.

I’m not here to debate the merits of certain types of covers over others. As with most forms of art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to novel covers (just to keep it simple) creators and publishers have many options. There’s the painted cover, the comic art style cover, the computer generated image cover, the clip art photo cover, the original photo cover, the abstract design cover, the giant fonts without an image cover, and on and on and on.

When I was putting together my latest novel release, Deadly Games! I started out by sketching ideas for what type of cover I wanted for the novel. Deadly Games! is an action/thriller set in the real modern day world. Knowing that I started to form ideas of what I wanted. Once I had the basic idea I had to decide what type of cover worked best for this book. I love drawn and painted covers, but I did not feel that either of those methods worked here. I decided on a photo cover.

I scoured through free photos looking for something that fit the theme of the book, but nothing really jumped out at me so I went back to sketching and came up with the idea that became my cover. I knew that I wanted a shot of our protagonist, Detective John Bartlett standing with a gun and a copy of a will in his hand on the cover. Blood would be splattered on the will and his hand as well as a puddle of blood on the floor, possibly with a reflection of Detective Bartlett in the blood pool. I loved the idea and decided that I would have to shoot this myself.

I called up my friend Kurt, a talented photographer himself, to discuss my idea and ask if he would play the cover model. He agreed and we went off to shoot. It was almost Halloween at this time so I picked up a tube of fake blood at one of the Halloween stores. Turns out I didn’t need it. Kurt mixed up a pool of blood and the blood spatter with some liquid latex. It was an education for me as I was not familiar with the substance. That turned out to be one of the best things ever. Not only did it look wet, but it was easy to move around. All you had to do was peel it up and go. 

 

A handy little time saver, let me tell you.

 Before I go on I should talk about the will. I did a search on-line for wills and found several examples that were rather dull looking documents. I created the Last Will & Testament header myself and used a will I found on-line belonging to Ted Williams. Yes, that Ted Williams. A few adjustments to make the will fit the character in Deadly Games! and we were off and running. 

The photo shoot went well. We took several photos for both the front and back cover...

  ...until I found the right pose. 

 Oddly enough, the image on the back cover of the novel was an improvised shot. Originally, I had not intended for the hand to be in the shot with the gun. That’s my hand, by the way. Some ideas came while we were doing the shoot so keeping an open mind to new ideas was important. 

 The presumably dead hand holding the gun not only looked good, but also tied in to the story so that was a nice, unexpected bonus.

When I sat down to design the cover my first step was to remove the background clutter that I hadn’t realized was in the shot when I took it. 

 I found that none of the fonts in my digital library seemed to fit the tone of the book or didn’t have the right look to match the cover. That meant a trip through some of the free on-line font websites where I downloaded a lot (and I do mean a lot) of new fonts. I finally settled on a few different fonts that I could try. That, of course, led to a whole lot of trial and error to see what works. I’m only posting a small sample here. 

 There were a lot of variations on themes, fonts, and textures, but something still wasn’t quite right. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. At least not yet.

 

It finally dawned on me that there was a lot of dead space on the cover in front of and behind the character on the cover. Cropping it was the logical answer, but I wanted to be able to see the pool of blood on the cover. Thankfully, I decided that the cover worked just fine without the blood pool on the front and the cover was finally how I wanted it. 

 Adding some texture and type to the back cover completed the look.

 

 

 All in all, the process of creating the Deadly Games! cover took several days. During this time I was also formatting the interior pages as well, but many hours went into this. Most important to me is that I am happy with how the cover turned out. That certainly helps when it comes time for me to talk up the book. I have had experiences where the covers on books I’ve written or been a part of were not to my liking. As evidence, the cover to my first novel, Evil Ways was a great disappointment and it did very little to help sell the book.

 Hopefully, potential readers will like the Deadly Games! cover enough to pick up the book to see what it’s all about. If so then it is a successful cover. I think it came out great and hopefully you’ll agree. 

 I will definitely design more of my own covers in the future. In fact, I just recently completed a cover for an upcoming release called Earthstrike Agenda that I thought came out great as well.

And just in case this blog about creating a cover has piqued your interest in Deadly Games!, here’s a little more information about the story:

  

DEADLY GAMES!

A thriller by Bobby Nash

They played the most dangerous game of all and death was only the beginning...

Six years ago, Police Detective John Bartlett and journalist Benjamin West were instrumental in the capture of notorious master criminal Darrin Morehouse. Their story played out in the media, rocketing both Bartlett and West into local celebrity status.

Today, Morehouse, still a master game player and manipulator, commits suicide while in prison. His death initiates one final game of survival for the people Morehouse felt wronged him the most. At that top of the list are Bartlett and West, who must set aside their differences to save the lives of Morehouse's other victims and solve one last game before a dead man’s hired killers catch them and his other enemies.

Deadly Games! is a fast-paced action/thriller featuring action, suspense, murder, and the occasional gunfire from Author Bobby Nash, the writer of Evil Ways, Domino Lady, Lance Star: Sky Ranger, and more. 

***

Deadly Games! is available in print and digital editions at the following:

Print at Amazon

Kindle ebook 

Smashwords ebook (Kindle, Nook, PDF, etc.)

KOBO ebook

Visit BEN Books at http://BEN-Books.blogspot.com.

Visit Deadly Games! author Bobby Nash at www.bobbynash.com. 

Before I wrap this up, I’d like to thank Rachel for letting me take over her blog today. It was fun.

Bobby