Raymond Swanland chosen as SODG cover artist

ByJohn Brown

Dude…

I can’t tell you how excited I am to know a cover artist has been chosen for Servant of a Dark God. And that it’s Raymond Swanland. Check this out.

    

Without importing his whole gallery, I’ll link to a number of those I like the best. But I have to say the movement, action, energy–even when the people are standing still–are amazing. I think I like most his pieces that are lighter and have more color (and think they’ll match the book’s content best as well), but I can’t wait to see what he comes up with. I think Swanland is just jaw-dropping amazing.

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Personal%20Gallery/Personal03.html (Love the color and energy; the sky color and figure is just, dude)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Personal%20Gallery/Personal01.html  (Love the color and energy; again, the sky color…)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration04.html (the guy’s standing still and this thing is still rippling with energy!)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration17.html  (wow)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration11.html (color and energy)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration10.html (movement; I don’t know, some artists just don’t get action right, but this one does, holy crap)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration05.html (movement)

http://www.raymondswanland.com/Pages/Illustration%20Gallery/Illustration19.html (look at the pov and movement, the belly of the dragon up in the right–have we ever seen this angle on dragons before? It feels like we’re IN the sky)

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  • Yea! SERVANT wins Whitney Award

    ByJohn Brown

    I’m totally blown away. No way. NO FREAKING WAY. No way.

    Servant of a Dark God just won the Whitney award for speculative fiction. Look who the others were in the category–three New York Times best sellers and a book that had something like 11 or 12 printings in Europe before coming to the US. Holy crap. I’m thrilled the academy voters liked it so much.  

    Servant of a Dark God
    by John Brown    		 The Maze Runner
    by James Dashner    		 Wings
    by Aprilynne Pike    		 Warbreaker
    by Brandon Sanderson    		 I Am Not A Serial Killer
    by Dan Wells

    When I informed the academy president, Robinson Wells, I couldn’t come, he asked if I had a speech should I win. There was no way I was winning. So I was like, yeah, whatever. So I wrote him this:

    Yeah, like that’s going to happen (grin). But should something go wrong with the chads, you can simply say that “John told me if he won, that would mean the events in Revelations were probably upon us, and he’d be headed to his father-in-law’s underground bunker with his wife who was the brains behind the whole operation. He’s thrilled so many of you liked his story enough to vote for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But he’s also sad that you’ll all be toast before Fox News airs at 9 PM.”

    Holy, heck. I’d better get to that bunker.

    Here are the other categories and winners:

    • Best Romance: Counting the Cost by Liz Adair 
    • Best Mystery/Suspense: Methods of Madness by Stephanie Black (absolutely love the cover)
    • Best Youth Fiction:  The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
    • Best Speculative Fiction: Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
    • Best Historical: The Last Waltz by G.G. Vandagriff
    • Best General Fiction: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
    • Best Novel by a New Author: I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells and Gravity vs. The Girl by Riley Noehren (it was a tie, obviously)
    • Best Novel of the Year: In The Company of Angels by David Farland

    Of course, you had to have read all the books in a category to vote on them. You can see the finalists in each category here. So while Farland’s book didn’t win in his category (I”m assuming with the hard core historical fans), it did win with those who read every finalist.  Same with Dan Wells. So what this tells me is that depending on the cross-section of voters a lot of us could have been winners. I’m just happy I got the cross-section I did–ye speculative nut jobs 🙂 Hooray for the Whitneys!!

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  • Servant cover art

    ByJohn Brown

    The cover illustration for SERVANT is finished!

    (and there was much rejoicing.)

    yea.

    Actually, there was DANCING. Because I think the final piece rocks. The artist is Victor Minguez. Here are two of his pieces that I really enjoy.

    The first is “Angel.” I love the bright contrast, the face, and the fact that there’s so much rich detail.

    The next is “Champagne Havoc.” Again, a wonderful face, but also an awesome idea (a robot carrying a woman in the palm of its hand), and then the lines and chopper give the whole piece a lot of energy.

    Click here to see other works in his portfolio.

    So we kicked the project off by me sharing the goals I had for the cover and tons of reference on everything from color scheme to character costume. I asked Victor to develop some concepts for an ensemble of Hunger, Sugar, and Talen as well as some for the cave scene towards the end of the book. He came back with these sketches.

    Servant Sketch 1 cave Servant Sketch 2 horse ensemble

    Servant Sketch 3 ensemble Servant Sketch 4 cave

    I liked the first because it would allow us to see the figure’s faces more clearly. And there was a lot of interesting detail with the cave. Look at the roots by the entrance. I also liked the structure. I liked the third because it included Hunger, and Victor was taking Hunger in a new direction. I also thought we could do some neat things with the energy of Sugar on the horse and that long sash. The fourth one, however, just felt right. It had so much potential energy. I was immediately drawn to the body language. And so this is the one we decided to develop.  Then one of my beta art viewers suggested moving closer and putting in more strong diagonals. It was a perfect idea. Victor agreed and came back with this.

     

    Servant WIP 1

    I liked the lines of her stance but wondered if she needed something stronger with her legs. Victor adjusted, but my idea just wasn’t an improvement.

    Servant WIP 2

    So we decided to stick with the previous version. However, this was all too dark. Way too much gray. When looking at things in thumbnail, the cover has to pop. I shared more reference images. And Victor went back and delivered this.

    Servant WIP 3

    Boom! That was exactly what I was looking for. Bright, dynamic. However, we needed a more neutral bit at the top for the title and author’s name. And the brightest spot had to be behind Sugar to draw the eye to her. Here was the next version.

    Servant WIP 4

    At this point I started to dance. This was IT! There was a lot going on here. We had the high contrast I wanted. We had the energy. The wind with the hair and leaves and sash and torch all add kinetic energy. As do all the diagonals. Notice as well the cave details–we have hints at previous habitation, runes, and some interesting contrast with the dark foreground. I had shared a number of N.C. Wyeth and Tim and Greg Hildebrandt pieces as reference, and I think this captured elements of those and gave them a new twist. Note as well the sharp projections on Sugar’s behind. Victor put them in there purely for aesthetic reasons. He had no idea what they were. I loved them. He loved them. They worked. We would just have to make them make sense.

    After a few more iterations, he delivered the final.

    Servant Final

    I think it’s gorgeous. And will advertise the book perfectly. In a few days I will reveal the final cover with title etc. Shortly after that, SERVANT will be available again to please English readers worldwide.

     

     

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  • Advance Praise for Servant of a Dark God

    ByJohn Brown

    My editor just emailed me another endorsement from one of the folks we sent the manuscript to. I’m so excited! This one’s from Kage Baker.

    I’m a total stranger to three of the four that have responded so far. It continually amazes me how generous the pros in this genre are with both their time and praise.

    Here’s the last one.

    “A classic heroic saga, dealing with the bedrock issues of good and evil and identity. These are classic themes because they matter; and Brown makes them matter both to his young protagonist and the reader. It promises to continue for quite a distance, and I hope it does.”

    —Kage Baker, author of House of the Stag and The Company series.

    Here are the previous ones.

    “Thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last! John Brown shows himself to be a writer with remarkable depth and power. I haven’t seen a debut novel this good in years!”

    —David Farland, New York Times best-selling author of Runelords and Ravenspell series

    “In Servant of a Dark God, John Brown has created a complex and intricate world, filled with all the permutations of human good and evil, as well as evil that goes beyond the human, where neither heroes nor villains are quite what they seem at first, and where the cost of virtue is high indeed, yet where, in the end, the tenacity of such virtue is what is required to triumph.”

    —L. E. Modesitt, Jr., award-winning author of the Recluce Saga

    “A complex, powerful story of a youth trying to learn who he is and what he is, with no allies he can trust in a world stalked by a monster. A book that copies nothing I have read before and which goes its own way brilliantly.”

    —David Drake, author of the popular Hammer’s Slammers and Lord of Isles series

    Wow. I think I want to read this book!

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  • Tour venues for Phoenix and Denver set

    ByJohn Brown

    The three amigos (David Farland, Larry Correia, and I) have locked down venues for Phoenix and Denver.

    Thursday,
    November 19
    7 pm – 9 pm    		 Meet public, discuss book, signing Scottsdale, AZ The Poisoned Pen
    4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101
    Scottsdale, AZ 85251
    (480) 947-2974
    Saturday,
    December 5
    5 pm – 7 pm    		 Meet public, discuss book, signing Denver (Lone Tree), CO  Barnes & Noble
    Barnes & Noble Booksellers
    8374 South Willow Street
    Lone Tree, CO   80124
    (303) 706-9660
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  • Denver: fire, snow snakes, and farty beef jerky

    ByJohn Brown

    Here’s the report of what happend on the Larry and John tour of Denver.

    On the way out:

    1. We met in Evanston, WY at 8:00 AM
    2. On a lonely stretch of I-80 we passed a semi that was on FIRE. Didn’t stop because Larry and I wanted to see the driver burn.
    3. Was freeze-dried in a parking lot in Rawlins by Arctic winds in the four seconds it took to open the car door, say “Holy schnitzel! It’s freezing,” and then run to the Subway. It was cold. COLD!
    4. On another lonely stretch of I-80 we passed a truck driver out in that wind with a knife. He was down in the median trying to hack off the antlers of a bull elk that had obviously been hit by a vehicle.  His truck was slowly rolling forward. Someone had to be driving, but I didn’t see anyone.
    5. Because it was soooo cold the snow didn’t stick. So in various stretches the wind would blow the snow across the road in long trails that looked like ribbons of fire or snakes. Totally awesome!
    6. Then we started hitting stores all the way down to Denver–Cheyenne, Fort Collins, Boulder, etc. I can’t tell you how much I like Barnes & Noble booksellers. Everyone was happy to see us and nice to work with.
    7. Oh, and Larry bought treats. Wal-Mart trail mix, cookies, and beef jerky. When he opened the beef jerky, he said, “Holy cow, did you just fart?” I had not. It was the jerky. You have been forewarned.

    Other highlights:

    1. A number of the stores ordered extra copies of our books for our driveby signings. But the Barnes & Noble in the Aurora Southlands Town Center beat them all hands down. They rolled out a hand truck stacked with books.
    2. Had a great time in Loveland at the B&N there. Vivian Tapp was a peach with a Santa’s hat to boot.
    3. We had a bunch of folks show up at the Lone Tree signing. Thanks to everyone there. I’ve forgotten all the names except that of James, the store’s fantasy nut.
    4. Then we went out to dinner with a great crowd. Larry had a bunch of his interesting friends. I got to hang out at the other end of the table with my sister and her man Mark, Rachel Dryden, and Ken and Rachel Kao (who both do parkour–cool!!).

    On the way back:

    1. We almost died. You can read Larry’s version of the story here.
    2. More of that fine smelling jerky and road crawling with snow snakes.
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2 Comments

  1. They are seriously grooming you for stardom, aren’t they? That is so awesome!

  2. Awesome, very glad you got a cover artist you can be happy with. Doesn’t hurt that the fans like it too.

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