World’s Worst Blurbist III
May 31, 2012
The time I live in fear of has come again: time to create the back cover marketing for Book VI The Sands of the Solar Empire.
I find the whole process bewildering, like trying to select a protein bar at GNC: so many choices, so many ways to put two feet wrong. Sometimes I wish I had a line of editors to do this stuff for me, but then I come to my senses and thank the Lord I don’t.
So, I stumble and flail about, trying how best to summarize a 115,000 word book in 200 or less.
All things considered, this book wasn’t as hard to summarize as, say, Book II, The Hazards of the One Ones which caused me no end of pain and suffering. Book VI is a little less complicated than Book II. I think it flows well enough, but what do I know??
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia
Book VI Cover Complete!
May 26, 2012
Whenever Carol Phillips finishes a new cover it’s like Christmas for me, eagerly huddled up next to my email waiting for that little electronic package to come skittering down the proverbial chimney.
And, here it is…
“The Sands of the Solar Empire” by Carol Phillips
Lord Bannaster of the Bones Club, by Carol Phillips
It’s a much darker cover than the previous five, even more so than the Temple of the Exploding Head, which is pretty darn dark. It features a steam-driven geared spider with guns, a balloon/air ship and the constellation Camalopardus and the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Bones Club. The Sanctum comes from my recollections of a Masonic temple that I once wandered into, and here it is in full paint, fully steampunked and super-charged a little.
I can’t wait to finish collecting the interior artwork and get it out to the world.
Look for LoE Book VI: The Sands of the Solar Empire coming this August from Loconeal Publications
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
10 Weeks at Chanute
April 13, 2012
I’ve got all sorts of irons in the fire at the moment. LoE Book VI: “The Sands of the Solar Empire” is shooting along, as well as its follow-up Book VII: “Against the Druries”.
Writing fiction is all well and good, however, lately I’ve been feeling the call to dive into non-fiction. It’s a world I’ve not tried before. You’d think writing about the real world that you don’t have you build from scratch would be easy, but it’s actually pretty tough. You must consider each word and ensure they are accurate.
Chanute today, a silent ruin
I was one of the last jetmechs to graduate from Chanute. They closed it down about a year after I left. Today, Chanute is in ruins. It’s shocking to see the once well-tended streets that I marched down pock marked and weed-infested, the spotless buildings falling in on themselves and shedding paint, a-la Silent Hill. It’s like one of those cheesy postapocalyptic midnight movies where you wake up one morning and all the people are gone. The buildings are stopped in a moment in time filled with discarded bric-a-brac and stand empty wondering where everybody has gone.
White Hall, once the largest American military building prior to the completion of the Pentagon, stands in discolored ruins and awaits the wrecking ball
I know that a bit of me rests in ruins in the flatlands of Illinois.
10 Weeks at Chanute is a moving, occasionally humorous, occasionally ribald account of one of the last soldiers to come to Chanute an unsure trainee and leave it a fully realized young man.
Look for it from Loconeal Publishing in 2013.
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia
Sands of the Solar Empire Cover
March 25, 2012
At long last, Book VI of the LoE series, The Sands of the Solar Empire is underway. Carol Phillips is beginning work painting the cover and, to me, the cover is the heart of the book and its completion is a huge ceremonial step toward publication.
Sketch for "The Sands of the Solar Empire" by Carol Phillips
The cover depicts a scene from the book where Lord Stenstrom, or “Bel” as he’s known is facing death at the Bones Club, a place where the members openly mock and disparage the Sisterhood of Light (If you look carefully at the chairs in the background, you’ll see several Sisters carved in demeaning positions).
The Sands is the first book in the League of Elder Second Series, where a new slew of characters are introduced.
"Taara" by Eve Ventrue (unfinished)
It should take Carol about a month and a half to complete the cover. By then, with luck, most of the interior artwork will be completed. As with previous LoE books, the Sands will be well-appointed with artwork.
It should be a fun ride.
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia, Carol Phillips, Eve Ventrue
The Process of Cover Creation
February 16, 2012
Now that the Temple Trilogy is out in the world, we continue forward with LoE Book VI: The Sands of the Solar Empire. This is always my favorite time as we knock heads and come up with the design of the book. The manuscript is totally done–finished it about a year and a half ago. Of course as I go through the edited copy I’ll, do doubt, make a few changes here and there, but that’s all minor stuff.
It’s time to get the cover of the book going. The Cover creation goes in a very orderly progression, first from my head, then to Carol Phillips, then to sketch and then to paint.
I thought I’d illustrate the process using Book II, The Hazards of the Old Ones as a template.
1)–Concept
First I come up with an idea. I usually have several floating around in my head. I then give them to Carol and I let her pick out the ones she’s most interested in painting (you’ve got to keep your artist empowered and excited). In the case of the Hazards, I took a photo of my favorite idea. My wife standing there represents Lt. Kilos, Tweety is Carahil and my house represents the mountains. Usually my ideas are pretty simple and uncluttered–I leave it to Carol to fill up the composition. Note how I imagined the painting from directly behind the characters.
2)–Sketch
Carol then comes up with a series of simple sketches which get progressively more detailed until we come up with a final sketch. I give Carol a fair amount of freedom and her final product is almost always much more elaborate than what I had initially dreamed up. Note how Carol has tilted Lt. Kilos and Carahil so that you can see their faces, she also sketched the Mountains much differently than I had envisioned them. That’s part of the creative process–things never quite turn out exactly as you originally thought they would.
At this stage of the process being small comes into its own. We don’t have a legal department or a Board of Executives or a line of editors waiting to throw their two-cents in–we do what feels right without having to get it past a committee. What you eventually see, for good or ill, is exactly how we intended it to be.
3)–Painting.
This is by far the longest part of the process. Carol Phillips usually takes about two and a half months to complete a cover from end to end. I try to leave her alone during this grueling part of the game, but it’s unbearable sometimes–like waiting for Christmas to roll around. Fortunately, Carol has a lot of patience with me. Note: we always choose to make use of a Wrap Cover, one that goes all the we around from the front, across the spine to the back.
4–Nixies
We almost always come up with a few extras that we hadn’t thought of at the outset. I sit there and dream something up, pitch it to Carol and then she adds it in. Often times these Nixies don’t jive with the continuity of the story, but we toss them in anyway because we think they look cool. In this example you can see the reflection of Mabs the Cat Goddess in Carahil’s shiny body. That was a late add-in.
Building the cover is always a labor of love, but the end result is always worth it.
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
Book V is Available for Purchase!!
February 5, 2012
Book V, “The Temple of the Exploding Head” to finally out and ready to go.
I remember putting the final dot on this series back in 2009. It does seem a long time ago. The trilogy changed several times as I did and re-did certain aspects of the story. This story is full of surprises–even to me, the author. You’d think as I created this situation that I’d be in full control. It never quite works out that way. The story comes from somewhere deep within and manifests itself as images and flashes of color that demand to unfold in a certain way despite what you as the suthor may or may not want.
So, after a fair amount of change and turmoil, I’m very pleased with the final product and here it is out in the world for the first time. It’s sort of like putting your kids on the bus and sending them off to school. You watch it drive off and you wonder … you wonder.
The Temple of the Exploding Head is now available for purchase at Amazon.com. Click Here!!
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia
The Temple Trilogy Nearly Complete
January 19, 2012
In just a week or two, Book V, “The Temple of the Exploding Head” will be out and that will do it for the “Temple Trilogy”
It’s been a grind and the end result barely resembles the original draft I finished back in 2009. As with anything, the story morphed, went off in unexpected directions and changed before my eyes and quite beyond my control. What began as a small coming of age story, became a complex treatment on what it means to be a hero and all the responsibility that comes with it. I changed characters, amputated body parts (literally) and fussed with the villains without pause for nearly three years Now that the final piece of this puzzle is ready to hit the shelves, I can finally says it’s done.
LoE Second Series kicks off with the "Sands of the Solar Empire" in April (promo piece in production by Fantasio)
Book V, The Temple of the Exploding Head will be out by the end of January, 2012
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia
Nixies and Book 1 Giveaway
January 11, 2012
As production for Book V, the conclusion of the Temple of the Exploding Head trilogy comes to an end and we move on to the League of Elder Second Series, I’m in the mood for giving.
I love giving.
Carol Phillips has the cover lettered, James Barnes, the driving force at Loconeal, just about has the PDF ready (“Stop using TAB, Ren! Everywhere I look, TAB, TAB, TAB!) So, the curtain is about to fall on the Temple Trilogy. The LoE Second Series is just around the Corner.
With that in mind, it’s time for a giveway.
NIXIES:
A “Nixie” is an artistic change that appears on a cover of a book or magazine that is inconsistent with the continuity of the story. Other people might use different names for them, but I use Nixie. You see them a lot on comic book covers–you know, where the villian looks different on the cover than he or she does in the body of the story–usually much more bulked-up, possibly wearing a different costume. They’re there to make the composition of the cover more interesting to the eye regardless if they’re accurate to the story itself or not.
And, we’re no different. We do Nixies when needed. Do `em all the time.
Book I Cover with Nixies
So, to the first two people who can correctly guess one or both Nixies on the cover to Book I, I’ll mail them out a signed hardback copy of Book I along with a few cool extras.
Good Luck
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Artists: Eve Ventrue
January 6, 2012
Eve Ventrue
“She’s great!” the person said.
The name of the young artist in question is Eve Ventrue.
It seems like a long time ago that I first went into her website and marvelled at the gallery of amazing portraits on display. I sent her an email, and I wondered if she would reply–artists often-times don’t. But the next day I had an email sitting in my box written in halting English from Eve.
Since then Eve has been a steady force in the LoE universe, contributing many pics and has been instrumental in defining the look of several characters I’ve dreamed up. I still remember her as a shy young lady lacking only in confidence. Being a German, her English also wasn’t the best and I sometimes had to guess at what she was saying, but, since then Eve has become not only a trusted artist that I can rely on for creating stunning pieces of art, but a dear friend. I’ve watched her grow not only as an artist, but as a person as well (and her English has improved too).
I recently asked Eve a few questions about art and the artistic process.
What is your greatest influence? What artist(s) do you admire most??:
Eve: I admire lots of artists and I like modern digital art as well as the good old Classicism and traditional painters – therfore I would mention William Adolphe Bouguerau, Zdzisław Beksiński, Luis Royo and Kekai Kotaki.
Eve helped define the look of Kay, the Main Character in TOTEH
How many hours a week do you devote to creating digital art?
Eve: Phew, this is difficult. As much as I can, which means about 40 hrs!
What obstacles do you frequently encounter and how do you overcome them?
Eve: The greatest obstacle is me and my self doubts and being short of time. Solving these problems is difficult, but I’ve learned to proceed no matter what, there is no other option, I guess.
This painting of Hannah-Ben Shurlamp is one of my favorite Eve works
In your daily life, where do you see inspiration??
Eve: Everywhere. It can be a tree, a rainy day, faces, a film, computer games or photos. Also music is a great inspiration for me!
Eve is a person on the move. She has written a fantasy book entitled The Venatore Legend that I hope she’ll let me translate into English for her some day.
Her amazing artwork was recently given top billing at Fantasy Inspiration.com:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffantasyinspiration.com%2Fartists%2Frealism-in-fantasy-art-eve-ventrue%2F&h=TAQH5uKNH
Behind all the smoke and paint is a beautiful young woman of boundless talent
A Danish design studio has contracted Eve to do their artwork. Awesome, Eve–that’s my girl!!
To see more of Eve’s amazing artwork visit her website at: http://eve-ventrue.weebly.com
And finally, the most important question of all:
If you were to describe Ren Garcia in one word, what would it be???
Eve: Lovely.
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia and Eve Ventrue
Where is the Temple of the Exploding Head??
December 23, 2011
A fair portion of Book V: “The Temple of the Exploding Head” deals with locating the legendary Temple itself. The place could be literally anywhere on Kana, and, throughout history it has remained rather anonymous. It has defied the few attempts made over the years to uncover it.
Map of Kana
The first mention in Elder lore of the Temple of the Exploding head was in the writings of the berserker Remnath hero Atrajak of Want. Atrajak had fallen in love with an Anuian Monama princess, Tiverlan of Nebulon. Through his dealings with the Monamas, Atrajak discovered Kana was under the eye of a mysterious group of beings who could come and go at will and were hidden sight and sound. The Monamas knew all about them, and when they accepted him as their Sar-Gra-Ma, they told him all they knew. These beings whom Atrajak called The Kestral Oligarchy appeared to be quite hostile and he went on a long series of campaigns called the Hidden Wars where the Kestrals were driven away for a time. However, given their ability to step out of thin air, the Kestrals always returned. Tiverlan of Nebulon told Atrajak about a temple hidden deep in the ground where the Kestrals worshipped a terrible Horned God, and that it was the temple where they gained much of their power over Kana. After the death of his wife, Atrajak sought this temple but was unable to locate it. Eventually, broken and raving mad, he himself was killed when he stormed the Sisterhood stronghold of Twilight 4.
The Cylinder of Ugly Faces--the Entrance to the Temple of the Exploding Head (Carol Phillips)
They had warning, though. All the signs were there and the symptoms were a matter of public record. The occasional scribe wrote of “Bad Dreams” and a pervasive “Taint”, but nobody ever made the connection that the cause of this taint was an actual place hidden from sight.
(Ren Speaks–Though I make a big deal about the “Hidden Location” of the Temple, I pretty much say exactly where it is in one of the previous League of Elder books. There’s really nothing hidden or left to chance about it, it’s there in plain text. If you can tell me what part of what book “spills the beans” I’ll send you the entire LoE series, signed and remarked by the artist Carol Phillips. Done Deal, totally free.)
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
The Temple of the Exploding Head 