Millennicon–Live Paint with Carol Phillips
March 15, 2011
"The Cat God Pub" by Carol Phillips
One of the things we’ll be doing is a Live Paint. Artist Carol Phillips will be working on this unfinished pic of Lt. Kilos standing in front of the elusive Cat God Pub, via Wi-Fi and a 17 inch monitor. She’ll even take questions via text while she’s working. It should be lots of fun.
Come and see us at Millennicon.
Cincinnati, Ohio
You know you want to …
RG
LoE Books I & II to be Re-Published by Loconeal
March 7, 2011
Books I & II in the LOE series are being re-published by Loconeal Publishing.
Book I: Sygillis of Metatron: Go back to where it all began with the original LoE book: Sygillis of Metatron. Meet Captain Davage, Lt. Kilos, Ennez the Hospitaler and the deadly Black Hat Sygillis of Metatron. The Loconeal edition of the book features more maps and interior art by Carol Phillips, Eve Ventrue and Bea Matarredona-Garcia.
When Captain Davage does the unthinkable and refuses to allow the Sisterhood of Light to execute a captured Black Hat, he places his soul in grave danger. The Black Hat, Sygillis of Metatron, notorious in the League for killing an entire squadron of Marines by herself, sits in her cell and dreams of killing the captain.
Trade paperback $18.95
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Book II: The Hazards of the Old Ones: The second installment in the LoE series, The Hazards of the Old Ones is back in all its glory. Packed with maps, and over twenty interior illustrations by Carol Phillips and Justine Marie Hedman
When the Elemental Spirit Carahil foresees the death of an entire world, he places his soul, and those of the people he loves most, at risk to save it. As Carahil is about to learn, the greatest hazard of being one of the Older Folk is to care too much. Hell awaits should he fail.
Trade paperback $18.95
Both books available April 2011
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
Book Four Cover Finished
March 3, 2011
"The Machine" by Carol Phillips
This cover is crawling with a lot of things I’ve always wanted to incorporate in past covers but couldn’t. I love cityscapes. The Book I cover had a cityscape, but that one was the dead city of Metatron. This one is the vibrant, living city of Waam full of the bizarre (like the Princess Marilith vending machine). I also wanted to see Kay, his cousins Sarah and Phillip and Lord Lon–finally from my head to full paint.
The Bondarunga aspect is clear with all the weird-looking buildings and vehicles floating about. The flying statue with the Spectres standing on it is a classic Bondarunga vehicle–and, by the way, you’d never get me to ride on one of those snorting beasts.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
Book IV Cover Almost Complete
February 26, 2011
"The Machine" by Carol Phillips
This cover is quite different from the previous three covers for a number of reasons. The previous covers all have a distinct fantasy flavor to them, from the gothic city-scape of Metatron to the wooded Hazards of the Old Ones, Carol’s roots as a fantasy artist shine through, however, The League of Elder, is a space-opera after all, so I wanted book IV to highlight that. This cover also displays all four of the main characters, which hasn’t happened before (notice Sarah is not “turned on” in this still), as well as two Black Hat temples. Weird Bondarunga vessels and buildings are scattered all over the place.
The setting is in the Xaphan city of Waam. Our heroes in the foreground are being hunted by two separate groups: the Spectres are after our hero Kay, and the lovely Thomasina the 19th and her ladies are after Phillip. If Carol’s lined it up correctly, Thomasina should land right down the center of the spine.
Some old characters have made their way onto the cover. The gigantic vending machine the good guys are crouching behind is our old friend Princess Marilith of Xandarr, who is a popular folk hero in Waam. Also, as he’s appeared on all the previous covers, the elemental spirit Carahil is here as well–can you find him??
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
Sarah’s Hair
February 23, 2011
I’VE GOT A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM!! I need to pick a hair-style for Lady Sarah of Blanchefort, and I can’t decide. Cover artist Carol Phillips has given me lots of options and I’m at a loss. Here’s your chance to throw your two-cents in and have a say in how the cover for Book IV, The Machine will look.
Sarah is a rather brusque tom-boy, a hot-head and a bit of a loud-mouth. She loves the thrill of adventure and is an eager companion of her cousin, Lord Kabyl of Blanchefort. She’s basically a big kid. I describe her in the story as having a long head of straight blue hair, like her grandmother had. She doesn’t spend a lot of time fussing with it. She pulls it back into a bouncy ponytail and a rolled-up set of bangs, quick and easy and that’s it.
Here are the choices:
Choices A and D are most like how I describe Sarah in the story. However, given her rather girl-like nature, pigtails aren’t out of the question.
Go ahead, take a look and give me your thoughts.
Copyright 2011, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
Book 3 Cover Finished
February 18, 2011
"The Dead Held Hands", cover by Carol Phillips
I think this one is my Carol Phillips favorite so far. Full of color, I love the composition and feeling of movement. Carol always adds a little “surprise” to the spine of each cover so that it jumps out and catches the eye while sitting on the shelf. In this case, she added an image of Castle Blanchefort in the background.
In addition to the amazing cover, there are over twenty maps and illustrations waiting inside the book, drawn and painted by Carol Phillips, Fantasio, Eve Ventrue and Chantal Boudreau.
The Dead Held Hands will be out March, 2011 from Loconeal Publishing.
Copyright 2011, Ren Garcia and Carol Phillips
The Weird World of LosCapricos Weapons
January 25, 2011
CARG
Facing a LosCapricos weapon in battle is a bewildering thing. Some are fairly straight forward in design and concept, (swords, knives, pistols, and so forth), some are purely technological in nature, while others are bizarre in the extreme and perform any number of mystical effects. Knowledge is one’s best defense against an LC; knowing what they are and what they do is key to surviving against them. Learning LC lore is a required field of study for boys in most Vith Great Houses.
Captain Davage and his King CARG
The Deadly Princess Vrok of Xandarr with her BEREN (Carol Phillips)
RUMALORE: A Rumalore is a bit of disinformation regarding a LC that has been filed with the Sisterhood of Light. The Sisters have a complete listing of each weapon and what they do. A Rumalore is intended to either hide a weakness or foster fear of an LC. For example—the NAS of House Albans, a small jewel-encrusted dagger, was said to create wounds that would bleed forever, and that only the Sisters or the Hospitalers could stem the bleeding. The relentless wounding power of the NAS was a Rumalore exaggerating the power of the NAS, as small, shallow cuts inflicted by it would indeed stop bleeding on their own after several hours.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
LoE Books 1 and 2 to be Re-Published by Loconeal
January 12, 2011
As The Dead Held Hands, the first book in the Temple of the Exploding Head trilogy nears publication, Loconeal Publishing is also planning on re-releasing Books 1 and 2 in the League of Elder series at the same time.
Book 1, The League of Elder: Sygillis of Metatron will be re-released as a deluxe printing featuring additional interior artwork by Carol Phillips, Bea Matarrendona-Garcia, and Eve Ventrue. Remember your old favorites: Captain Davage, Lt. Kilos, Ennez the Hospitaler and the vile Sygillis of Metatron? They’re all back once again in this revised format from Loconeal. Can Captain Davage, a heart-broken man, discover love at long last despite himself, and, in the process, will he survive the deadly attention of Sygillis of Metatron? Sygillis craves his death and will kill any who might wish to get in her way. It will be available as trade paperback and as ebook. March, 2011
Book 2 in the series: The Hazards of the Old Ones, will also be re-released by Loconeal. All the action and suspense you remember is back with a vengeance, as Carahil, the little god who could, seeks to save a distant world from destruction. Interior art by Carol Phillips, Justine Marie Hedman and Chantal Boudreau. Trade paperback and ebook. March 2011
copyright 2011 Ren Garcia
A Gift to the Reader: Illustrations and The Undressed
January 6, 2011
"Sam puts Kay to Trial" by Carol Phillips
Illustrations are a gift from the author to the reader. As a boy, I loved my Narnia books. They were rife with little illustrations that drew me into the story and made me want to turn the page and get to the next one. As an author, I want to give that same gift to the reader.
"Cover Idea #2", by Carol Phillips
The above illustration was one of those cover ideas that didn’t make it to the cover. It was #2 of 4–with #4 eventually being selected for the cover. So, once it’s all said and done, I have these wonderful sketch concepts with no place to go. The next logical place to put them is in the interior, where they can light up the pages. Everything Carol draws is a masterpiece, and it’s a shame to see any of it go to waste.
Another consideration for picking the cover-interior illustrations is content. As with many of my ideas, they often skirt the boundaries of good taste, where the difference between being dressed and undressed is a whole lot of clothes, and, you can get away with a bit more nudity in the interior of the book then you can on the cover. My big guiding influence has always been Michael Moorcock, who, unlike C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, was always rather unabashed with the dress (or undress) of his characters, and I happily follow that model. I recall being astonished reading Moorcock’s work, where you could have long conversations or fight scenes between completely undressed people. Quite an eye-opener and Carol, being a fairy artist, is always up for drawing “The Undressed”. Take a good hard look at the illustration–what do you see?? A couple of naked people here and there, a little S&M going on–yep. One variation from the book is Kay being fully dressed, as, in the book, he’s not dressed at all–everybody’s naked.
This illustration, along with twenty more shall be featured in TOTEH, The Dead Held Hands.
Bowl Naked
RG
Copyright 2011, Carol Phillips
News, Notes & Billygoats
January 1, 2011
Just a few quick things to start the new year.
THE DEAD HELD HANDS: Just as I’m ready to get back the edited copy of The Dead Held Hands, I’ve got a whole slew of changes, additions, and deletions. Of course an author is never truly finished massaging a piece of work, and I’m no exception. I wanted to “Activate” the first few chapters and streamline it a little bit. The changes make for a better read, but the MS will need to be edited again. Eh, yeah, sorry about that …
A couple of the changes in a nutshell:
Addition: Chapter 2: The Pale Ghost: Thirteen year old Lord Kabyl is troubled to learn that a “Pale Ghost” has been shadowing him for quite some time. His little sister, Lady Kilos, has inherited her great grandmother’s books of witchcraft and tries to perform an exorcism, getting rid of the pesky ghost once and for all.
Addition: Chapter 3: The Last Day of His Life: Lacking the Gift of Sight, unable to lift his father’s CARG and feeling himself a general failure, Kay plans to kill himself by jumping off a high balcony. A responsible kid, Kay tries to make certain the recovery and clean-up of his body will be as easy and mess-free as possible. That’s important to him. He’s certain he won’t be missed too much.
Appearances: If there’s a bake sale, craft show, flea market or parking lot gathering in the central Ohio area, you can bet I’ll be there and I’ll have my books with me. My next Big Showing will be at Millenicon in Cincinnati, Ohio March 18-20 with Loconeal Publishing. I’m also thinking about heading to Capricon 31 in Chicago, Feb 10-13. Here’s Capricon 31’s info: http://www.capricon.org/capricon31/index.php
Notes:
CHANTAL BOUDREAU: Congrats to the prolific and incredibly talented Chantal Boudreau as she kicks off her publishing career with Elements of Genocide. I only wish I could do what Chantal does, and I’m certain her first book will be a huge success. See Chantal’s blog at: http://chantellyb.wordpress.com/author/chantellyb/ I hope I get to be Chantal’s first customer.
JUSTINE MARIE HEDMAN: A huge talent with both word and ink, Justine’s finally ready to start shopping her fantasy epic: The Trials of Ephira: Beginning of the End. Good luck, Justine. I hope your busy schedule will allow you to draw me a few more great pics this year (fingers crossed).
Billygoats: A Clear Murder Threat
<–This posting could be a critical piece of evidence at my murder trial. I am eagerly awaiting the completion of the oft mentioned but seldom seen League of Elder Graphic Novel by MFK Comics. I’ve seen the script, so I know it exists. The talented writer, Daniel Morris, has overcome a few adaptation issues (“I hate your book, Ren, and, by extension, I hate you as well!”) and artist Jon Harvey has gotten the sordid details of his life worked out, so I’m certain 2011 will be a big year for the Graphic Novel. The health and safety of MFK comics depends on it.
So, I’m looking at you, boys … and I’ve got my gun.
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2010 Ren Garcia
The Temple of the Exploding Head 