Cover Reveal: SPELLS: TEN TALES OF MAGIC edited by Rayne Hall

A couple weeks ago, I announced that my fantasy short story "Lady Bard" from Women of Foxwick had been requested to be published in Spells: Ten Tales of Magic. Rayne Hall, the editor of the Ten Tales anthologies, sent me the cover art, and I have the honor of revealing it here today as well as a short interview with the cover artist Kuoke.

Here is the fantastic cover! I love the purple in it and how the magic is erupting around the guy's hand. :)

Kuoke, how long have you been working as an artist?

Started performing a regular schedule of being an artist: 7-ish years. Actually working, 3 of those years.

Your artwork is fantastic! I'm particularly drawn to your environment artwork on Deviantart.com. Where do you get your ideas for your artwork? Do you see a building/outdoor setting and decide to paint it or do you create the image as you go?

Paint as I go. I recently posted 6 videos on my Youtube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/Kuoke) which basically show that I start scribbling until something recognisable takes shape. Truth be told, I haven't exactly preemptively come up with an idea to paint for a long, long time.

When a person commissions artwork from you, what sorts of details about the artwork do you need to create it? Or can you take creative liberties with the work, such as decide what color to paint things?

Basically a general description is enough for me to work with. For the most part people only have a loose idea of what they want out an image which, if the complexity of the idea calls for it, I would sketch up multiple drafts for them to choose from. If we wanted to get more intricate in terms of the legal specifications, the main points I try to make clear is copyright and rights to commercial distribution.

Where can people find out more about you and your artwork?

http://kuoke.deviantart.com/ or http://kuoke.tumblr.com/ act as my main art dumps for people to follow. For a more organised portfolio and business enquiries, people can visit http://cringemore.com/ and hit that 'hire' button should they need to contact me.

Thank you, Kuoke! As for Spells: Ten Tales of Magic, I still don't have a release date yet, but I'm sure it'll be soon.

Wednesday's Writing Update: September Stats and October Goals

 

Happy Wednesday!

First, I have some really cool news. Rayne Hall contacted me on Saturday. She is the editor of the Ten Tales themed anthologies, and she read Women of Foxwick and thought that "Lady Bard" would be a perfect addition to the forthcoming anthology Spells: Ten Tales of Magic. After making certain about rights and the like, I've agreed. I'm pretty excited about the exposure and the fact that it is the first time an editor contacted me about a story and not the other way around.

Oh, and I've been asked to be on a panel about blogging at the 2013 Roanoke Regional Writers Conference. It'll be my first time on a panel.

Okay, now for the general news. I have September's stats, and I'm pretty pleased with how productive I was last month.

Total Words Written: 24,825

Total Pages Edited: 628

And I published Gravity: The Complete Trilogy in print and ebook formats as well as re-published Once Upon a December Nightmare in ebook formats. I also finished the first draft of Nightmare Ever After, and it's with my critique partners and beta reader. I plan to start editing it for publication on October 15th. The only thing I've completely failed on is editing my YA Contemporary Romance novel Starred.

Here are October's goals:

1. Edit, proofread, and format Nightmare Ever After for publication by October 31st.

2. Read through The Phoenix Prophetess and make lots of notes on scenes, characters, etc. to get ready to rewrite it for NaNoWriMo.

3. Start formatting The Nightmare Collection, which will include "Nightmare at the Freak Show," Once Upon a December Nightmare, and Nightmare Ever After, for print and ebook with a release date hopefully in late November and start figuring out a blog tour for the first full week of December for The Nightmare Collection. Information about signing up to host me during the blog tour will come in next Wednesday's post.

4. Edit Act I of Starred.

5. Make an outline for The Loveless Princess, a YA Epic Fantasy novella set in the world of Foxwick. If time, begin writing the novella.

 

Also, if you'd like to add me as a writing buddy on NaNoWriMo, please do so. I'm bookworm0753 there.

Up until last weekend, I had planned to write Twelve Days of Foxwick for a December release. Day One of the stories twelve days went well, but it quickly fell apart from there. I figured I could push through or re-evaluate this novella. I've decided to stop for now and hopefully Twelve Days of Foxwick will be available November/December 2013. Instead, I'm working slowly on The Loveless Princess for a hopefully January/February 2013 release date.

So what are your October goals? How did September go for you?