After reviewing almost 100 applications, we have selected an artist to do the covers for SERVANT and CURSE. His name is Giorgio Grecu Shards, and he lives in the UK. You can see his gallery here: http://shards.cghub.com/images/.
Some of my favorite pieces of his include these.
BatGirl by Shards
And this
Dancer by Shards
There were quite a number of others who we gave serious consideration, including Shen Fei, ThuyNgan, Nusha Amini, and Nick Greenwood. In the end, we felt Giorgio could pull off the feel the best. We’re very excited to have made the selection and come to the agreement. Right now we’re targeting October-November for the release of both books. I’ll keep you posted as the cover art shapes up.
I was just informed that Audible is having a sale on select Science Fiction and Fantasy audio titles for its members, and all three Dark God books have been selected to be part of the sale! This is great news. The sale lasts through October 10th.
The beast is finally finished. Now I send it to my copy editor to brush a bit off here, comb a few strands of hair back, and shine a few buttons there.
It is done.
This means release is weeks away.
I will be announcing an early bird sale to those who have signed up for the Good Stuff Notification. If you want to be sure to get in on that sale, sign up at the top of the left sidebar.
Just wanted to give a heads up. I’ll be joining an author panel and book signing Saturday Oct 10th (tomorrow) at the Barnes & Noble in Sugarhouse from 12 PM – 3 PM.
Barnes & Noble McIntyre Center (Sugarhouse)
1104 East 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84106
801-463-2610
This is going to be fun. I’ll be there with authors Jessica Day George (Dragon Slippers trilogy), Larry Correia (Monster Hunter International), Mette Harrison (The Princess and the Hound, The Princess and the Bear), and Paul Genesse (The Dragon Hunters).
We’re going to participate in a panel about writing SF/Fantasy, sign and chat about our books, and then demonstrate true magic by flying above the stacks in precision formation. I think Larry’s bringing a cannon for special effects.
Okay, so my imagination got carried away. I’ll admit the panel was a bit over the top. 😉
If you’re in the area, come on by. We’ll take a few photos and sign your books. If you’re really nice, I will shower you with free bookmarks.
“In his debut novel, Servant of a Dark God, John Brown adds his voice to epic fantasy with a world I can see and smell and taste and believe in…and characters I can cheer for, travel with, and want to see again.”
The very observant will note that the progress bar for draf 4 of CURSE OF A DARK GOD has moved. Here’s the opening, although I’m sure it will change. We’re on our way, folks.
It was well past midnight, and they were deep in enemy Fir-Noy territory. There were eight of them: Talen, Sugar, River, and five of Shim’s soldiers, all of them staying back in the deep moon shadows at the edge of the wood, crouching low in the dry autumn weeds that had not yet been eaten down by the village livestock. They had to be careful. Talen, Sugar, and River all had sizeable Fir-Noy bounties on their heads. And even though they wore weaves of might, being multiplied didn’t make their flesh impervious to arrows and blades.
This vulnerability had been made abundantly clear to Talen in his training. In addition to his many fine bruises and the finger which had recently healed from a break, he wore a bandage around his arm where a soldier had cut him in practice two days ago with a spear.
The night shadows of the clouds played over the moonlit fields and houses and road that ran through the village of Plum. The village where Sugar’s father had been killed and her mother taken and beaten. The village where the Fir-Noy had burned her life to the ground. The village that was their destination.
Purity, Sugar’s mother, had hidden valuables there. Weaves and maybe a codex of lore. Talen and the others had been tasked to steal into the village and retrieve the items, right under the noses of the sleeping Fir-Noy.
Except this wasn’t right. They were supposed to have come out across from the ash ruins of Sugar’s old house. “I think you’ve brought us to the wrong end,” Talen whispered to Sugar.
“No, I’m just coming to get what’s mine first.” Sugar pointed up the road to the entrance of the village.
Talen followed her finger. The Fir-Noy here had begun to build a wall around their village. A wooden palisade atop a mound of dirt. But she wasn’t pointing at the half-finished wall with its timber supports still showing like bones. She was pointing at a tall pole that had been erected at the gate of the village. Something had been fastened to the top of the pole. Talen peered closer and saw a skull shining pale in the moonlight.
“That’s your father’s, isn’t it?”
“You’re going to help me,” she said. “He deserves better than that.”
Folks, a huge thanks goes to Stephen Nelson for putting all this together. You may kiss his hand when you see him.
This is a recording of “How to Write a Story that Rocks,” a two-hour seminar Larry Correia and I just put on at the annual BYU’s Life, The Universe, & Everything symposium. I think we had 130-140 people attend. This symposium is focused on writing fiction. And while the panels and presentations do include things specific to the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres (both adult and young adult), a lot of time is also spent on story writing fundamentals that apply to ALL genres. So when I developed this workshop, I made sure I took the fundamental approach.
The two-hour seminar has been broken down into 12 segments. To switch between the segments:
Hover your mouse pointer over the YouTube below
Click the forward and back arrows that appear on the right and left sides to move to the next or previous segment, OR
Scroll through all 12 segments and select the one you want using the playlist control at the bottom
I’ve found whenever I develop any presentation or training that it takes a few iterations and revisions before it’s the best it can be. This is the first iteration of this seminar. And so below this video I’ve provided additional comments on each segment explaining key concepts, principles, and techniques that we might have failed to discuss or convey as clearly as we’d hoped. Enjoy!
It’s documented–right-wing gun nut Larry Correia sang “Kumbaya.” What’s next? The hugging of small trees? Oh, Larry, the disilluion. The disillusion.
The reason why I had Larry sing was not for his mellifluous performance, but to demonstrate the difference in reactions between him and our happy volunteer (“Country Road” by John Denver–this really was a love fest). The volunteer balked because he hadn’t taken any thought to know what to sing before he was commanded to do so. On the other hand, Larry and I had spoken before the seminar. So Larry had something to sing BEFORE he sang it. It’s a simple demonstration, but it illustrates a principle a lot of new writers forget. Writing is a performance. It helps to know what it is you’re going to perform before you perform it.
It’s one thing for you to tell yourself to write. It’s much easier to tell yourself to write the scene where the rancher finds out one of his illegal ranch hands has been kidnapped.
Now this doesn’t mean that you have to know everything. Or that you can’t write exploratory drafts to figure out what it is you want to write. But it does illustrate that whatever techniques you use, you’ll be a lot more effective in your writing when you have something to say first.
But what do you develop? What are the things that bring the story to life? How do you go about getting those things to say? That’s precisely what I wanted to address in the seminar. In the segments that follow, I try to:
Explain what I’ve found are the most important things to develop, the things that define the essence of story, that make the story come alive in the writer’s mind–the things that really matter
Demonstrate techniques to develop those things so you have something to say
Segment 2
I think this segment went fairly well. What rocks will different from person to person, even though there will often be a huge overlap between people. So it’s important for authors to seek to develop the kinds of stories that rouse their passion. Watch this interview with best seller Debbie Macomber to see what I mean. So I can’t tell you what to write about. Or if whath you think rocks will resonate with a large number of people. However, what I can do is share the techniques I use that have been most productive in helping me develop initial ideas into something that has much more power.
You can use the techniques to juice up any of the four parts of story. However, I will say that I find that the most productive, the most important parts, are character and problem. Plot and setting are important. I love them and work to juice them up. But when I get a good character and problem, that’s when the writing seems to flow the easiest.
And no, I don’t list theme as a part of story. Everyone talks about theme, but when I read what they have to say or press them for examples, it seems that it always either boils down to (1) a story element or topic that’s repeated, (2) a story problem/issue stated in an abstract manner, or (3) some moral situation. Les Miserables is about the “theme” of mercy versus justice. But saying justice versus mercy is just an abstraction of the story problem and dilemmas the story deals with. So, no theme.
I’ll be adding my comments to the rest of these segments over the next few days.
Segment 5
Segment 6
Segment 7
Segment 8
Segment 9
Segment 10
Segment 11
Segment 12
Dan Wells on Story Structure
Check it out: Dan Wells on How to Build a Story (story structure). I find Dan’s “start with the ending” technique helpful as well as thinking about a worst fears realized moment. Watch the videos and see if there isn’t something there that can help you develop your story idea.
After seeing his Cthulhu picture, I can’t wait to see what he does with Hunger!!! Any chance we’ll see some concept art as the cover is nailed down? I always love to see that stuff.
I love those too. My plan is to do a start to finish post showing the development of the final product.
Awesome. I’ll be looking forward to it.
Little disappointed Raymond Swanland isn’t finishing out the series… but Giorgio is great (I just don’t like when covers and art are changed in the middle of a series). They both have a great style though, so it’ll look kick-ass no matter what. Can’t wait, been waiting on these.
Shawn,
Me too. And Swanland does rock. But the good thing is that since we’ll be doing all of them with Shards, in the end you will have a full set with one artist 🙂
After seeing his Cthulhu picture, I can’t wait to see what he does with Hunger!!! Any chance we’ll see some concept art as the cover is nailed down? I always love to see that stuff.
I love those too. My plan is to do a start to finish post showing the development of the final product.
Awesome. I’ll be looking forward to it.
Little disappointed Raymond Swanland isn’t finishing out the series… but Giorgio is great (I just don’t like when covers and art are changed in the middle of a series). They both have a great style though, so it’ll look kick-ass no matter what. Can’t wait, been waiting on these.
Shawn,
Me too. And Swanland does rock. But the good thing is that since we’ll be doing all of them with Shards, in the end you will have a full set with one artist 🙂