SOTSE Characters: Lillian of Gamboa
March 14, 2012
Lord Stenstrom of Belmont grew up under the heavy hand of his rather domineering mother. Many times he yearned to be free of her. But, as many young men do (most without knowing it) he selected as his choice of bride a strong-willed and forceful lady very similar to his mother. Lord Stenstrom gave his heart to Lillian of Gamboa, in essence replacing one domineering woman in his life with another.
Lillian, or “Lilly” as he calls her, is a socialite and artist from the land-locked Esther city of Gamboa. Though generally considered in the Esther social circles to be a rather unattractive and stork-like woman, Stenstrom found her to be tall and perfectly formed, blonde-headed and extremely attractive. Lilly is also quite talented. She is an artist whose paintings and sculptures were looked upon with high regard and she owned a small but profitable gallery in Gamboa.Stenstrom was introduced to Lilly by his mother, Lady Jubilee. Always in her son’s business, she searched high and low for a suitable match for him. She had to be of the proper stock, have the proper pedigree and, above all else, she had to be normal and mundane. Given Stenstrom’s training as a Tyrol Sorcerer, it was very important to his mother that he have a mundane, well-grounded wife to counter-balance his forays into the occult. Lilly fit the profile to a tee and Lady Jubilee was very keen on her son taking up with her.
She summoned Lilly to see Stenstrom in the Chalk House on the manor grounds three times. On the first two occasions, Stenstrom refused to see her as he resented his mother’s intrusions. On the third time, however, his mother summoned a demon who was promised his flesh if he didn’t see her. Choosing the Lady over the Demon, Stenstrom met with Lilly in the Chalk House and found, to his surprise, that he liked her.
After that, he was smitten and Lilly grew to control every aspect of his maturing adulthood. She suggested he go to school in Bern. When he was lonely at school, she would always arrive in her coach to cheer him up. She suggested his join the Bones Club. She picked his friends for him. She picked his choice of occupation. She even, eventually, selected his “uniform”, his HRN coat that would become his personal trademark.
And, years later as Stenstrom made his way through space in a powerless, scuttled Seeker thousands of stellar miles from Kana and crawling with demons, who emerged from the lightless bowels of the ship carrying an arcane lantern … Lilly.
Normal, mundane Lilly …
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia and Eve Ventrue
SOTSE Characters: Private Taara
March 3, 2012
The LoE Second Series is fast in production with Book VI, The Sands of the Solar Empire coming out in June, 2012.
The Second Series, though placed in the same universe as the original series, deals with a whole new cast of characters, and one of my personal favorites is Private Taara.Unlike many of characters dealt with in previous LoE books, Private Taara is not rich, nor does she have rich friends and know rich people, she is a kid from Bazz, the Naples, Italy of the League. The people of Bazz do not make use of the feudal Great House system seen on Kana and Hoban, instead Bazzers are all considered commoners. As such, Taara has a first and last name, a rarity in the League. Her full name is: Taara de la Anderson.
Her mother was a fruit vendor and her father distilled zemuda, a cheap, brain-wrenching spirit known for causing severe constipation in the guts of those who indulge too much. Taara was a small kid, pretty with a tom-boy’s body. She was a rowdy kid, a clutz and rather a dim bulb. The only activity she excelled in as a tweener was stealing things, which she often indulged in. She was sent off three times to children’s disciplinary camps digging clams on the shores of the Endax Sea.
Taara’s uncle ran a successful Apothecary in Benson-Benson, known for brewing the “Potion of the Gods”, a rare tincture said to supercharge a male’s virility and ensure a mighty son. The apothecary was eventually destroyed by a fire and Taara, who was there that day, was blamed for it. Beliving her to be a jinx, Taara was sent off into the Stellar Marines, hoping they might instill some manners in her.As a Marine, Taara was a disaster. Lax and uninterested, she often got her company in trouble, causing them all to be disciplined. They took to calling her “MOM”, for “Maiden of Misery” and she was loathed from top to bottom. She was eventually assigned to lowly guard duty in Fleet headquarters in the city of Armenelos, where it was thought she couldn’t get into trouble. They often made her stand in a corner to guard a bust of the infamous Admiral Pax.
After once again getting her unit in the dog house with command and forced to wear a “MOM” sign around her neck,
Taara couldn’t know that her life was about to change forever when the tall man wearing a long green coat and a Robber’s Mask wandered into her area.
copyright 2012, Ren Garcia, Fantasio and 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.
Take a look at the cover for Book I. There are two obvious Nixies on the cover–we put them there because we thought they were cool and made for an interesting composition, never mind the fact that the story doesn’t quite work out that way.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
“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 has a great interest in gaming and gaming artwork–her gallery of portraits had “The Gaming Look” to them. I was hoping to tap into that energy. Eve’s amazing vision helped create the look of several LoE characters, most notably Kay, the main character of the Temple Trilogy. I described him to her as being “Handsome like his father and Beautiful like his mother.” Eve brought him to life as a handsome young man tinged with a beautiful fragility, like a flower.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.
There was always a note of shyness with Eve, a hint of tentativeness. I wanted to help bring her out of her shell by giving her challenging pieces of art to work on and allowing her the freedom to use her creativity in any way she chose. Soon there was a new Eve, a bold Eve painting with a madness to match my own.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
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
TOTEH: Thoughts, Confessions & Other Secrets
December 30, 2011
Today I got the last pieces of artwork from my Sister-in-Crime, Carol Phillips for LoE Book V: The Temple of the Exploding Head.
Book V is done, now just to get it formatted and on the shelves and its history.
Looking back on it–what an undertaking TOTEH was. It is, by far, the biggest and most complex story I’ve ever attempted to write, and, prior to The Shadow tech Goddess, was the most grueling, most time-consuming manuscript I’ve ever written. It began, literally, with nothing but a title and underwent massive changes several times during its maturation to the point that I was ready to pull my hair out in frustration and delete it altogether.
So, what follows is a commentary and revelation on many aspects of the story as they came and went and you’ll bear witness to the story and characters from its tentative genesis to its current incarnation.
GENESIS:
I began working on TOTEH in early 2008. Usually as I get to the last quarter of a manuscript, I begin wondering about the next book; what is it? What will it be? Will there even be a next book? I normally find myself bereft of new ideas as I end a manuscript–it’s like the gas tank is totally empty. As I finished up Sygillis of Metatron, I fretted over The Hazards. Likewise, as I finished The Hazards, I wondered what was next. Surely Carahil’s saving of Xandarr wasn’t the end of the LoE universe–was it??
Little things I encounter cause big inspiration and my mind turned to a tale I called “The Shadow tech Goddess“. I liked the title, but was having issues formulating a story for TStG so I set her aside (I would set her aside two more times before finally settling in and writing her story).
I remembered loving an AD&D adventure called “The Temple of Elemental Evil” that I played in college. I never forgot the name, it stuck with me through the years. Eventually the “Temple of the Exploding Head” entered my mind. I had no idea what the name meant, I just liked it. So, with nothing but a title, I opened a new file one day and began what would eventually become a 450,000 word manuscript taking a little over a year to form into a first draft.
INITIAL PLOT:
The Cursed Captain Plotline: I started the manuscript having no plot. I knew I wanted to move on from Captain Davage and Syg a little, so I decided upon centering the story on their son, Lord Kabyl who was first mentioned in Book II. I floundered about for months. One of the issues I had was something I’d never encountered before: publication. As Sygillis of Metatron was going through publication I found the process was swallowing up much of my time. In fact, I often went months without even looking at TOTEH. I found myself growing distant from the story and disinterested. The initial plot I came up with was that an unknown group seeking revenge placed Captain Davage into a Death Curse, and it was up to Kay and his cousins to uncover the perpetrators and save Captain D. This “Cursed Captain” plot-line was how I initially structured the story.
The Machine Plotline: “The Machine” plotline eventually won out and drove the story. However, the Machine itself was very late in coming and didn’t exist as a concept until many drafts into the story. The Machine plot-line felt right and I cast aside the “Cursed Captain” in favor of it.THE ANTAGONISTS:
It took me forever to figure out who the bad guys were.
Bethrael of Moane: My first thought was to make good-guy Bethrael of Moane the main bad guy of the tale. My thought was that Beth had secretly been in love with Captain Davage for years but never could make any headway with him as he was with Syg. She then decided to court Captain Davage’s son, Kay, and when he rejected her for Sam, she lost her mind a little. The oiled, feathered High Priestess seen in the Temple at the beginning of the story was originally Beth. But, I couldn’t do that to Beth, so I discarded that idea and let her remain a good guy. The one remaining vestige of her sexual connection to Kay is the touching of her Silver tech which drove her into a frenzy.
The Horned God: The Horned God started out life as a benevolent elemental spirit of lightning who had been summoned by the Kestral Oligarchy and forced to do bad things. In the first drafts Carahil and the Horned Gods were friends, though they served differing factions. I found the Horned God to be unbearably boring, so I eventually “upped” the voltage and made him one of the main bad guys of the story soaked in evil.
Killanjo: The skinless and gross henchmen of the Kestrals, the Killanjo started out as mere apparitions. A Killanjo was spell cast upon a person by a practitioner skilled at focusing their mental energy. The Killanjo once cast, would sit invisibly on the shoulder of the victim and attack later in their dreams. Sam, in the first draft, was skilled at creating Killanjo and she was to place a Killanjo on the shoulder of Captain Davage. As I abandoned the original incarnation of the story, I kept the concept of the Killanjo, transforming them into grotesque, skinless monsters.
The Kestral Oligarchy: The Kestrals have been around since the beginning as rabid, golden-skinned inhabitants of the Temple. At some point I turned them into aliens with unknowable logic and an undecipherable language. As I settled on the Horned God as the Main Bad Guy, they sort of fell by the wayside, but then I had a moment of clarity and added the Kestral’s horrid City of Many Forms and they peaked my interest at just the right time.
The Spectres: “Punks” from Xaphan space and Black Hat underlings, the Spectres once played a much more active role in the story being a usual antagonist of Kay and his cousins. Sam herself was a Spectre at one point. But, as the story evolved away from the “Cursed Captain” plot-line, the Spectres were mostly cut out.
The Circle of Five: The what???? The Who???? The Circle of Five was to be the main bad guys of Book IV. A criminal element pervasive through the League the Circle was the mysterious group responsible for the “Cursed Captain” plot-line. When Sam led Kay into Grove, she was originally leading him out to meet the Circle of Five. I could never get a good feeling for the Circle and I discarded them in favor of “The Machine” plot which eventually drove the story to its conclusion. I did reuse the names of the Five for the various Black Hats seen in the city of Waam in Book IV. So, for a long time, Book IV was known as “The Trials of the Circle of Five”.
The Monamas: The Monamas were initially minor bad guys doing the Circle of Five’s bidding. They weren’t black-eyed and clawed at the time–they looked like anybody else. However, as I transformed Sam into a Monama, I also added their unusual appearance and attributes.
The Bersekacides: Berserkacides started life as typical zombies. As I modified the Monamas into alien creatures, I also added to the concept of the Berserkacide.
THE CHARACTERS AND THEIR SECRETS:
Kay: A storyline that cropped up in The Hazards of the Old Ones” was Syg’s pregnancy with a boy they would one day name Kabyl. I decided to focus the story on Kay and make it a coming of age story. I wanted to make Kay flawed and imperfect, an odd counter-point to his formidable parents.
Lt. Verlin: I initially planned to make the Marine Lt. Verlin Kay’s love interest. With that in mind, I decided to add a chapter to Book II discussing Lt. Verlin and some of her history in detail (Lt. Verlin’s Hero). The problem was I couldn’t make Kay and “V” gel–it was like a bad date you want to be over. I tried and tried and eventually gave up. I wrote V out and never looked back.
Sarah: I came up with the idea for the feisty but loyal Sarah after watching actress Sarah Bolger in “The Spiderwick Chronicles”. Oddly, it the was insertion of Sarah into the book that really reignited my interest for this storyline. I’d become rather put off by the MS and it was the addition of Sarah that got me going again.Phillip: I modeled Phillip after San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers. Don’t ask me why, I just did, end of story.
Lt. Kilos: The presence of Lt Kilos was a big comfort for me, like wearing a comfy pair of shoes. In the Cursed Captain plotline, she was sort of a background character and stayed with the dying Captain Davage. As I made the change to The Machine plotline, I decided I wanted Ki standing at Kay’s side, and hence the big fight at the bar that will be seen in Book V.
Captain Davage/Syg: Captain Davage originally spent most of the story flat on his back, dying from a mysterious curse. Syg, seeing her husband dying, lost her mind. I restored his health in The Machine plotline and he and Syg conduct a parallel investigation in the background.
Thomasina the 19th: Thomasina existed in the story for a long time, especially during the “Cursed Captain” days. After I abandoned that plotline, I had no idea what to do with her–I even considered cutting her for a while. Eventually, it occurred to me to take the demure church-going woman from Saga and change her into a slightly crazed, green-haired Xaphan woman.
Sam: Of all characters, it was Sam who underwent the most radical and all-encompassing changes from beginning to end, such that she is unrecognizable from when I started. Sam did not begin life as a powerful Monama princess, quite the opposite–Sam was a lowly servant in a Calvert laundry room with bad eyesight. I actually liked Sam as she was and I was heartbroken to cut away her best scenes hauling laundry and transform her into a clawed, black-eyed Monama. (I resurrected Sam’s original look with Joy–the Black Hat staying at Aunt Pardock’s castle. Joy looks exactly as Sam once did). Her shy nature also resembles Sam’s.Sam was adept at creating Killanjo, little mental automatons that could cause misfortune. Sam was recruited into the Spectres and was tasked with placing a Death Killanjo on the shoulder of Captain Davage. Sam couldn’t go through with it and the Killanjo she created was full of goodness. Countess Sygillis detected Sam’s Killanjo and imprisoned it in a jar kept in a hidden room in the castle. When Kay first heard Sam’s voice in the chapel, he was hearing the voice of her Killanjo–in fact the first part of the story was originally called “The Lady in the Bottle.”
I’ve added a selection with Sam in her original incarnation in the FREE SECTION, so, if you want to see Sam as she was, give it a read.
Book V, The Temple of the Exploding Head, will be released in early 2012 by Loconeal Publishing.
Bowl Naked
RG
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
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.
Not much is known regarding the Pre-History of Kana (pronounced: kay-na) prior to the arrival of the Elders at the beginning of the EX Time Epoch. Kana was found to be a bountiful world while the nearby star Codis was ideal to support the 25 Elders themselves. Kana was rather depleted of life, with only the Monama peoples living to the south. There were hints of a pre-cursor civilization scattered about the planet, but no serious effort was made to investigate as the Seven Tribes spread out over the planet and claimed it theirs.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 Temple is a plague and a curse upon Kana and has caused the Elders living near it no end of misery, however nobody, not the old heroes or the scholars or heads of the Science Ministry or even the wise Sisterhood of Light themselves ever suspected its existence. The Sisters never bothered much with Pre-Elder or Non-Elder lore.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














