Chrystalla Thoma's Blog, page 12

A new anthology is launched – “Ride The Moon”

 

The moon is sun’s competitor and it controls the tides of our fortunes. The moon is mysterious and it hunts in the night among the stars. Male or female or androgynous – one does not know – it possesses great powers and it rules those who prefer the dark.

The ancient Greeks called the moon “Selene” (or Selana, depending on the dialect), probably from the word “selas”, ancient word for “light”. For the moon is bright and lights up the night. Her symbol is the crescent moon (she wears it on her head like Diana with whom she’s often identified, and like Isis).

 

For this anthology, the lovely people at Tyche Press decided to go beyond the usual and common themes associated nowadays with the moon (vampires, werewolves and man men running naked in the streets…) So they asked for something different.

What came out of this effort is beautiful and strange, and as crazy as the 19 amazing authors participating (well, I’m crazy, can’t really say about the others, some of whom are very well known Canadian authors…)

Who they are? Here is the list:

Krista D. Ball, On the Labrador Shore, She Waits
Marie Bilodeau, The Buried Moon
Kevin Cockle, Dowser
David L. Craddock, Shara’s Path
Theresa Crater, White Moon
Isabella Drzemczewska Hodson, Husks
Ada Hoffmann, Moon Laws, Dream Laws
Claude Lalumiere, The Secondary 4 Class of Prettygood Park High School
C.A. Lang, Tidal Tantrums
Amy Laurens, Cherry Blossoms
Billie Milholland, Small Seven’s Secret
Tony Noland, Sunset at the Sea of Fertility
Jay Raven, Bitter Harvest
A. Merc Rustad, With the Sun and the Moon in His Eyes
Rebecca M. Senese, Moon Dream
Lori Strongin, A Moonrise in Seven Hours
Chrystalla Thoma, The Black Mermaid and the Moon
Shereen Vedam, Aloha Moon
Edward Willett, Je Me Souviens

 

Where to find the book?

On the official Tyche Press site

On Amazon

On Barnes and Noble

 

My story is called “The Black Mermaid and the Moon” and here is how it begins:

Semor surveyed the quiet streets, his heart thumping against his ribs. Everyone with a bit of sense would stay indoors tonight. It was a full moon, a dangerous and ill-omened time when everyone and everything showed their true face.

But if he turned back now, his life was forfeit, and he’d never see Adelia again.

He stalked the narrow streets of the town, stacked high with stone buildings, crowded by whispering trees. The moon silvered the cobbles and gave the foliage voice. A bird flapped down from a roof and he pressed himself to the shadow of a doorway as it writhed and grew, scales forming on its legs and curled claws and it screamed, taking off, black against the moon.

The black mermaid, the sea goddess, lived off these shores, in the haunted waters of the bay. While traveling around the world, seeking answers, he’d heard rumors that she collected the souls the currents of the world brought her; that she kept them in oyster shells and clams and nursed them.

Semor didn’t believe in gods or fate, but in desperate times one did desperate things.

Unlike other creatures, the black mermaid did not transform, and did not exist at any other time; it was the full moon that brought her to life, carved her out of water and darkness.

So here Semor stood, mercenary fighter and faithless man, in search of his lost soul.

 

A new anthology is launched – "Ride The Moon"

 

The moon is sun's competitor and it controls the tides of our fortunes. The moon is mysterious and it hunts in the night among the stars. Male or female or androgynous – one does not know – it possesses great powers and it rules those who prefer the dark.

The ancient Greeks called the moon "Selene" (or Selana, depending on the dialect), probably from the word "selas", ancient word for "light". For the moon is bright and lights up the night. Her symbol is the crescent moon (she wears it on her head like Diana with whom she's often identified, and like Isis).

 

For this anthology, the lovely people at Tyche Press decided to go beyond the usual and common themes associated nowadays with the moon (vampires, werewolves and man men running naked in the streets…) So they asked for something different.

What came out of this effort is beautiful and strange, and as crazy as the 19 amazing authors participating (well, I'm crazy, can't really say about the others, some of whom are very well known Canadian authors…)

Who they are? Here is the list:

Krista D. Ball, On the Labrador Shore, She Waits
Marie Bilodeau, The Buried Moon
Kevin Cockle, Dowser
David L. Craddock, Shara's Path
Theresa Crater, White Moon
Isabella Drzemczewska Hodson, Husks
Ada Hoffmann, Moon Laws, Dream Laws
Claude Lalumiere, The Secondary 4 Class of Prettygood Park High School
C.A. Lang, Tidal Tantrums
Amy Laurens, Cherry Blossoms
Billie Milholland, Small Seven's Secret
Tony Noland, Sunset at the Sea of Fertility
Jay Raven, Bitter Harvest
A. Merc Rustad, With the Sun and the Moon in His Eyes
Rebecca M. Senese, Moon Dream
Lori Strongin, A Moonrise in Seven Hours
Chrystalla Thoma, The Black Mermaid and the Moon
Shereen Vedam, Aloha Moon
Edward Willett, Je Me Souviens

 

Where to find the book?

On the official Tyche Press site

On Amazon

On Barnes and Noble

 

My story is called "The Black Mermaid and the Moon" and here is how it begins:

Semor surveyed the quiet streets, his heart thumping against his ribs. Everyone with a bit of sense would stay indoors tonight. It was a full moon, a dangerous and ill-omened time when everyone and everything showed their true face.

But if he turned back now, his life was forfeit, and he'd never see Adelia again.

He stalked the narrow streets of the town, stacked high with stone buildings, crowded by whispering trees. The moon silvered the cobbles and gave the foliage voice. A bird flapped down from a roof and he pressed himself to the shadow of a doorway as it writhed and grew, scales forming on its legs and curled claws and it screamed, taking off, black against the moon.

The black mermaid, the sea goddess, lived off these shores, in the haunted waters of the bay. While traveling around the world, seeking answers, he'd heard rumors that she collected the souls the currents of the world brought her; that she kept them in oyster shells and clams and nursed them.

Semor didn't believe in gods or fate, but in desperate times one did desperate things.

Unlike other creatures, the black mermaid did not transform, and did not exist at any other time; it was the full moon that brought her to life, carved her out of water and darkness.

So here Semor stood, mercenary fighter and faithless man, in search of his lost soul.

 

Rex Rising takes 3rd position in cover contest

Hi guys. Sorry I disappeared again (my usual vanishing act), but I've had so much work it's ridiculous – between freelance translation jobs, cleaning a family apartment for rent and trying to edit my novel.

But I thought to pop in and let you know that I had entered Rex Rising in a cover contest over at the You Gotta Read Reviews blog, and it got the 3rd position!

Now, it may not sound like much – but it gets the book exposure through the announcement and it will get a month of free advertising in their sidebar!

Besides, I'm absurdly proud because I'm also the cover artist for this one (not so for the winners of the first two places, where the author and cover artist are two different persons).

So… yeah. Happy.

Here is the link: Cover Contest

And here is my official badge:

 

 

Have a great day everyone!!!

Interview with guest author J.A. Beard

Today I have the pleasure to have as my guest author J.A. Beard who has just released his YA paranormal novel THE EMERALD CITY, while he's soon to release a regency paranormal romance and a fantasy novel.

Chrys: Hi J.A. and welcome to my blog! Why don't you tell us a few words about yourself first?

J.A.: Hello, I'm J.A. Beard. I like to describe myself as a restless soul married to an equally restless soul. My two children are too young yet to discuss whether or not they are restless souls, but I'm betting on it. I like to call myself the Pie Master, yet I'm too cowardly to prove my skills in an actual baking competition. So, really, I'm merely a Potential Pie Master.

Chrys: Pies are heavenly, so I hope you get to baking soon and send me one (albeit a virtual one)! As for writing, I see you already have passed the "potential" stage and are now a published author. What genre(s) do you write and why?

J.A.: I actually like to dabble in many genres, but my manuscript focus in recent years has been on fantasy, paranormal, historical fiction, and combinations of those.

Fantasy and paranormal works appeal to me because, outside the writing context, I'm a very skeptical sort. I don't believe in magic, psychic powers, or anything like that. I sometimes joke that the only magic I believe in is the magic of compound interest (I forget where I first heard that joke). It's terrific fun for me to imagine worlds where those sorts of abilities exist and influence people—a nice bit of escapism.

That being said, the addition of supernatural abilities and aspects to a story allows a sort of philosophical and sociological exploration as well. You get to start asking questions about how people would react if they had certain abilities or how a society would be different, for example, if a medieval government had professional telepaths. What impact would the mass creation of magical automatons have on a rural slave-owning society? Would a modern American high school student abuse special powers? Why or why not?

The interesting thing is that when you start asking these questions, the answers can suggest a lot about human nature (or at least a particular perception of it). So fantasy and paranormal works, while being fun on a purely escapist level, also help me explore my thoughts on human nature.

My love of historical fiction flows naturally from my love of history. I'll never have a time machine to visit and interact with the past, so the closest I can get to time travel is directly engaging the past via the creation of historical fiction. Although I've always been interested in history, it's not until I started working on historical fiction that I really became engaged with the day-to-day lives of people in the past.

Chrys: I've always wished for a time travelling bubble (although personally I wouldn't like to step out of my bubble, just observe…) What can you tell us about yo ur writing projects and recent releases?

J.A.: I just released my debut novel, a young adult urban fantasy, THE EMERALD CITY.

With the aid of my editor, I'm finishing up edits on two other projects scheduled for release in February and March respectively, A WOMAN OF PROPER ACCOMPLISHMENTS and MIND CRAFTER.

A WOMAN OF PROPER ACCOMPLISHMENTS is a slightly alt-history (sorry Americans, we lost the Revolution in this timeline) sweet Regency paranormal romance.

MIND CRAFTER is a fantasy story focused around a young telepath who gets drawn into a dangerous conspiracy involving a religious cult.

Though I'm also working on the sequels to the above, I'm also working on a historical thriller planned for release in the fall. This story will be set in Heian era of Japanese history.

I'm "cheating" a bit in that I have several novels I'm releasing this year, but most of those manuscripts were completed previously and were just in need of some editing.

Chrys: They sound like very exciting projects. Tell us about your latest release?

J.A.: THE EMERALD CITY is a loose modern YA urban fantasy re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz. Kansas teen Gail Dorjee has tried to escape from the pain of her parents' death by retreating into a hard shell of anger and sarcasm. When her aunt and uncle ship her off to an elite Seattle boarding school, Osland Academy, she spends her first day making enemies, including the school's most powerful clique, the Winged, and their leader, the ruthless Diana.

Social war and the school's uptight teachers are only mild annoyances. Mysterious phone outages, bizarre behavioral blocks, and strange incidents suggest Osland is focused on something much more sinister than education.

Now Gail has to survive at the school with a pretty pathetic assortment of potential allies: her airhead roommate, Lydia, and, Leandra, a cowardly victim of the Winged. There's also the small matter of the handsome but cold Nick, a boy who seems interested in Gail. He just happens also to be Diana's boyfriend.

 

Chrys: Echoes of Oz. Interesting! Anything else you drew inspiration from for this book?

J.A.: I like musicals. A couple years back, the Broadway touring production of Wicked rolled into town. Now, for those unfamiliar with it, it's an adaptation of a book by Gregory Maguire. His story is a revisionist retelling of the WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West. Although it adds some details and changes character perceptions, it's still firmly set in L. Frank Baum's Oz.

After watching Wicked, I became inspired. I wanted to write some sort of Oz story, but writing something directly set in Oz didn't really appeal to me. I'd been on a reading streak of YA paranormal/urban fantasies at the time, so the idea of adapting Oz to a more modern YA setting seemed like a good plan. After all, Dorothy wasn't an adult when she traveled to Oz.

I'm originally from the Pacific Northwest, so I immediately thought of setting the story in Seattle, which has had the nickname "The Emerald City" for a while now.

Given that my immediate inspiration for this story was a musical, some of that also made it in. Obviously, I don't have a sound track or anything, but a character with a beautiful singing voice plays a key role in the plot.

 

Chrys: There are many versions of The Wizard of Oz and lots of YA fantasy around. What is special about this book – what sets it apart?

J.A.: Well, it does seem like there's a dearth of English-language YA urban fantasy/paranormal books out there focused on Asian-American protagonists. The main character in the story, Gail Dorjee, is a second generation Tibetan-American. Although she's rather thoroughly Americanized in terms of culture, that ethnic identity allowed me to play around a bit with some Buddhist thoughts as Gail confronts her various trials and travails.

I thought it was an interesting way to build the character and her psychology. It's also fun because Gail's like any other American teen, there's a tension in the way she was raised and the way she wants to behave. Ironically, Gail wasn't originally going to even have that sort of ethnic background.

I'd read about a controversy concerning a cover update for Cindy Pon's Asian historical fantasy novel, THE SILVER PHOENIX. I won't rehash the controversy in detail here, but the summary version is that a newer cover seemed designed to strip out some of the ethnic elements of a story that was actually set in an explicitly Asian setting. There was some suggestion that this was to appeal to book buyers (at the wholesale level, not the individual reader level) who may be leery of a book with an Asian protagonist. The newer cover, unfortunately, also has the added problem of being boring.

I thought that was a shame if true, and it started me thinking about YA books and diversity. I'm African-American, and to the best of my knowledge there are zero Asians or Asian-Americans of any sort in my family tree. So it's not like I have a particular personal ethnic axe to grind.

The original WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ was a quintessentially American tale. Mr. Baum wanted to make an "American" fairy tale. I thought a lot about how America is different in the 21st-century than it was in Mr. Baum's day. We're obviously a lot more ethnically diverse and even religiously diverse. I thought it'd be fun to have a character that American teens could identify with as someone who still very obviously a product of American society, but still highlighted that modern diversity in a hopefully non-stereotypical way.

In the end, I'm rather glad I did it. In the end, building the character the way I did really ended up enhancing the story in a way I wouldn't have predicted.

 

Chrys: It sounds wonderful. Do you have a favorite scene in the book?

J.A.: That's hard to say. There are many scenes I love.

There are some great scenes near the end of the book where Gail's forced to confront head-on her grief over her parents in a way I hope comes across as powerful yet vulnerable. In the end, this is a story about a teen girl already dealing with something horrible, the death of her parents, and being further pounded into the ground by both standard-issue high school garbage and spooky supernatural happenings. She's a strong-willed girl, but I tried hard to make sure her emotional wounds weren't brushed aside just by the needs of the plot. I wanted a likable pro-active girl who still, like many people, young or old, has emotional wounds she has to deal with.

In contrast, my other favorite scenes involve Gail's roommate, Lydia. She's the Scarecrow analog. The other students call her "Brainless" and she's a notorious airhead. At the same time, she can always put a positive spin on things and has some great one-liners.

 

Chrys: What kind of research did you do for this story?

J.A.: Not much really, particularly compared to my fantasy and certainly compared to my historical fiction WIPs. I had to research Tibetan myths a bit, but that's about it. The story is set in modern times in a region I'm familiar with. The only thing I double-checked on a lot was what elements were in the original WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ versus the movie. The former is in public domain whereas the latter is not. I definitely don't want to step on anyone's intellectual property toes.

Chrys: Heh, I can imagine!  Tell us, if you weren't a writer, what would you be?

J.A.: Well, I've tried my hand at several professions, but currently I'm working on my PhD in microbiology. I do love science, but I think I love writing more. Fortunately, for now at least, I'm able to do both.

 Chrys: It's really odd to me that you don't write science fiction (or at least not planning on releasing any this year) although you have such sound foundations in science – but maybe it has to do with the escapism you mentioned (which I can understand very well…)

A different question: what person or person(s) has/have helped you the most in your career?

 J.A.: My wife, Bethany. She has been encouraging when I needed it, but also critical when I needed it. She's a freelance editor, so hasn't been afraid to tell me when my stories needed work.

It is a bit awkward, though, when your wife reads through a manuscript and declares, "This ending is terrible!"

Chrys: Lol!Thanks for telling us so much about your writing and your stories, and good luck! One last thing: Where can people learn more about you and your writing?

 J.A.:  jabeard.com

I'm also on the net at:

Facebook

Goodreads

Twitter

Google+

THE EMERALD CITY purchase links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Random Writing Rants Blog Hop – and a Rant about Hopping

When you are in the process of choosing a book to buy, after being drawn in by a beautiful cover and a snappy summary. do you check the first pages to see what the writing is like? Do you hope the voice of the narrative will grab you and not let go? Do you wish for a story and characters to make you forget about your everyday life?

Do you get disappointed from time to time, close the book and start your search anew? And do you know why you were disappointed, why the writing and the story let you down?

Who better to talk about such moments, such issues, than writers. Writers can not only identify the problem in a story, be it the characters, the flow, the choice of words, the narrator's voice and other issues, they can also offer solutions.

Therefore for all of you who are interested readers and writers, 7 authors have organized a small blog hop – one week – to rant about issues in writing and their ideas and solutions.

As for myself, I have a small list of writing rants, some of which will be discussed by the participating writers, such as the lack of a distinctive narrator's voice, crowds of main characters who each get their own point of view, annoying heroines who keep screaming and slapping people, stereotypical plots, wooden writing with lots of telling, lack of different voices in dialogue, heroes who seem to be doing nothing for pages, descriptions of clothes and furniture that go on and on…

But let's face it, we each have a pet peeve, something that annoys us so much we throw the book against the wall (or in the case of ebooks, click to close the document with unneeded force…).

Mine is what is often called "head hopping".

"Do you hop from head to head?"

What it means is this: while James is the one telling his story from his point of view of the events, and we're seeing everything through his eyes, suddenly we hop into Anna's head and we know what she's thinking and can see how James' blue eyes narrow at her. Then in the next paragraph/sentence, we hop back into James' head and learn that he likes Anna a lot and she looks pretty with her hair up like that. And then we hop into his mother's head and then his brother's and then the dog's and then his puppies'!

Let's be clear, this isn't a rant about the amount of characters having their say in the story (that's another rant, and I itch to say that more than 4-5 characters, people, that's a lot already) but let's stick to this: head hopping. The slip can seem easy and to the inexperienced writer it is. You can often find signs of it in the first page, the first paragraphs when the main character is doing this and that and rubs his "beautiful brown eyes" or purses his "fine, shapely lips". Not omniscient, not by choice: by mistake.

If I find signs of head hopping in the first pages of a story, then I close the document and go in search of an author who has studied her/his craft and really has taken the time to learn how to write.

I wish you all a very nice day, and make sure to follow the schedule, to see what the other authors have to say about writing:

9 Febr: A. Merc Rustad – On Voice

10 Febr: Marie Dees – Building a Novel from Nothing

11 Febr: Krista D. Ball – Avoiding the Heroine Stupid Juice

12 Febr: Marion Sipe – Rant on Stereotypes, Cliches and Tropes

13 Febr: Ada Hoffmann – On Blundering

14 Febr: Amy Laurens – When Less is More

My Minotaur and other news

Some months ago (okay, perhaps more than half a year ago) I posted some excerpts from an urban fantasy novella I was writing about Theseus and the Minotaur. Yeah, so I have a fascination with Greek mythology.

Hey, I'm Greek (Cypriot). There's no escaping that fact, and I guess it's true that you often write about things you know well and have been raised with (though not only…)

Well, my novella, called (gasp!) "The Minotaur", has been accepted for publication with MuseItUp Publishing!

That's the Canadian publisher who also released my UF novella Dioscuri. That's not a coincidence, since The Minotaur takes place in the same alternative world as Dioscuri – a world where the mortals have by mistake woken up the ancient Greek gods. A Resistance group is barricaded in the secret passages inside the Acropolis Hill in Athens, and squadrons are sent out to battle monsters as they emerge from the underground and the construction sites where the mortals have unwittingly broken through the gods' slumber…

This novella takes up again the theme of brothers struggling against mortal and divine parents and their fate.

The idea is to have a trilogy of siblings-from-mythology novellas, probably closing the cycle with a tale of sisters instead of brothers – possibly Andromeda and Medusa (and Perseus…)

In other news:

I have submitted a proposal to write a (non fiction) book about dragons, and although I don't hold a contract yet, it looks like it's going to happen. I will announce it when it's for sure, of course, but I'm already thinking about illustrations (because I love the idea of such a book and have wanted to write it for many many years…)

I hope you're all having a great day!

 

Extinct, Angels and Free!

We celebrate a year since the Extict Doesn't Mean Forever anthology was published by the amazing author and editor Phoenix Sullivan with a gift:

The anthology is FREE TODAY ONLY to download for everyone on amazon (US, UK, DE, FR, IT and ES)!

17 stories from authors around the world tackling the topic of extinction and the possibility of return – through cloning or time travel or many other variations – to our present. From saber-tooth cats to dinosaurs, Neanderthals and (yes!) angels, this anthology is a wonderful ride for anyone interested in the topic, but also in good speculative stories in general, well written and based on solid science (yes, even the angels!).

Amazon US

Amazon UK

But that's not all. The stories of the anthology are also available individually, if you take a fancy to a particular theme and don't want the rest (although for the life of me I can't think of why, but maybe it's the covers? Aren't they amazing?):

Each story will also be free today and tomorrow on amazon.

So, did I mention angels?

My story is called The Angel Genome. It's my take on the idea that a different race of humans, called angels ("messengers") by the people of their time and now extinct, left behind enough DNA to clone one of them, and the implications of this act.

Although it may sound more like fantasy than science, that's exactly what we're planning to do (doing?) with the Neanderthals, the mammoth and other extinct species. Something that some years ago still belonged to the sphere of the fantastical is now a real possibility.

It is also a very personal tale of loss and love for a woman who thought her life had ended with the death of her son, until she meets Zeph, the little boy cloned from the angel DNA. Angels don't have to grant miracles to save someone, as Lucia finds out.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Read what the other authors (and the editor!) of the Extinct anthology have to report today!

Phoenix Sullivan – Extict Doesn't Mean Forever

Peter Dudley: "Distractions"

Kenneth Burstall: "Connect"

Scott Thomas Smith: "In Ring"

Shona Snowden: "Blood Fruit"

Rex Rising free today – update on the series

My novel Rex Rising is free today (has been since yesterday) and lots of people have downloaded it, and will hopefully read it. Since this is Book 1 in a series, I hope that means readers will look out for Book 2 once it's released.

Which brings me to the series update.

Book 2 – Rex Cresting – is due to be released end of February – in a month's time from now! Don't think I wrote this sequel in a week. It took me months (started working on ideas for it last spring, started writing in August last year) to put down "on paper" and then another month of revisions to make it readable. Currently it's being read by beta readers and I'm gathering their comments so that I can start working with them next week. The cover is done, and now it's the final stretch to release date!

Book 3 – Untitled as yet – has been outlined and about 1/8 of it has been written already. Writing has been postponed until revisions on Book 2 are done.

Meanwhile, a Companion book for the series is also in the works – with a bit of everything belonging to the world of the Seven Islands – from short stories featuring minor characters such as the boy Mantis (from the novelette HERA) and Jek and Afia from Rex Cresting, to recipes, glossaries, information about the parasites, the world setting and much more.

I'm having a great time, living in this world. I hope you do too.

Liebster blog award and other news

Good morning and happy hump day!

First of all I would like to thank the wonderful author Barbara G. Tarn for awarding me the Liebster Blog Award. Like me, Barbara isn't a native speaker of English. She writes novels and screenplays but also has a talent in art, so she also creates graphic novels and makes illustrations! Check out her books on Amazon and Smashwords (and check out her website for more goodies!)

The Liebster Blog Award originated in Germany. Liebster means dearest or beloved, and Liebe is love.

In accepting the Liebster Blog Award, the recipient agrees to:

*Thank the person who gave them the award and link back to that person's blog

*Copy and paste the award to their blog

*Reveal the 5 blogs they have chosen to award, commenting on their blog to break the news!

*Hope those people in turn pay it forward by accepting and awarding "The Liebster Blog Award" to bloggers they would like to honor.

My blog winners are all fellow writers, published and fairly well known (one day everyone will know their names!) and they are:

Jean Davis

Arlene Webb

Emily Lark

Cindy Borgne

Marie Dees

Check out their blogs and find out why I chose them – for their fun, wonderful stories and the wealth of information they provide both to readers and authors.

Thanks again to Barbara for including me in this fun blog tour.

 

And the other news… Well, I love you all and wish you a great day!

The story of a book cover: Rex Cresting (or: with a little help from my friends)

Self publishing has its drawbacks and advantages, and sometimes both are rolled into one. Having control of the editing process is both a gift (nobody can force you to change anything in your text) and a nightmare (maybe you should have changed something in your text!), having control of the price is both good (hey, you can lower the price to sell more, then raise it the next day to earn more) and bad (hey, maybe you shouldn't have lowered the price, you're not earning anything), and so on.

Same thing with covers. Having total control of your cover is a fantastic thing. When you're published with a traditional publisher, you have little to no control over your cover. Sure, you can send in your suggestions, and hope that, a) they are taken into consideration, and b) if they're taken into consideration, that it be done with talent and inspiration and not simply as a list of objects to put together on a page (hey, she wants a horse! here, a horse, next to it a mountain, and a woman. Presto!)

Now, if you're self publishing, you can pay a good artist to make you a great cover. If you have the money, that's the best solution. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll find gems, great artists trying to make themselves known who offer affordable prices.

Or, you might want total control of your cover and be crazy like me, and make your own covers. Because, you know, I've always wanted to do that. Even if I have no training in graphics.

Total nuts.

But I'm nuts with good and talented friends who step in to help me.

This time, for the sequel of Rex Rising – Rex Cresting – I decided that I wanted to keep the same face and use the other half…

First reaction:

Friend: Oh no, this looks exactly like the cover of Rex Rising!

Me: Um, I know, but I will add things to make it different…

Then, I wanted to add references to a cat on the cover, since a cat plays a role in Rex Cresting, and also certain numbers, very important ones. For the cat, after much deliberation, I decided to use paw prints. From a cat. Right.

Friends (omnibus): Er, Chrys. This is like a cover for children. Cute, yeah, but… Not what you need.

Me: I want paw prints!!!

Friend: Yeah, I know sweetie, I understand, but it looks cutsie, it's like for kids, you know, boy scouts…

Me: Paw prints! I want!

Friend: okay, calm down. Here, have some paw prints.

Here:

Me: Omigod, look, a pawprint on his cheek, how cute is that! Squee!

Friend: Ahem, yeah, as I was saying, too childish.

Me: I want!

Friend: Sigh…

Okay, I thought, I'm sure they're all wrong and I'm right (surprise, huh!). All I need to do is change the position of the pawprint and all will be well. Also, I will place the all important numbers on his lip – yes, on his mouth. Why, isn't that a great idea?

Me: squee!

Friend: okay, not changing your mind, are you? *heavy sigh* Well, at least let me work on it and mold the numbers and paw prints on his face? *desperate plea*

Me: squee again! Thank you, Jean!!!

Beautifully done, both the numbers and the paw prints – yet the response was the same – childish. Not what you need.

Me: But I want!

Friend: Think again.

Me: aaaargh! You're right…

Difficult to accept that my first instinct wasn't the best, although I set my foot down at changing the image for another – which may be a mistake, but I'm too much of a mule to concede.

So, enter another wonderful friend with her wonderful partner (thank you Ty and Dave!) who offered to try out some other effects for me.

Still stuck on the idea of the cat, I asked him for scratches from the cat's claws (are you laughing yet?) and again for the darned numbers, because I'm more than just a mule – I'm the worst mule you ever met!

The results were beautiful!

So I was looking at these, top quality work, beautiful… And they didn't do what I wanted – and worst of all, they weren't taken from the book. In the book he doesn't have numbers on his lips or scratches on his cheek! I wanted the elements in the picture, but they weren't working.

Then I remembered something else, something from the book itself, and here things finally clicked. So it is with great pleasure and pride – and with heartfelt thanks to my wonderful friends who made this happen – that I present to you the cover for Rex Cresting, due out at the end of February:

Friends: Coolness!

Me: I have the best friends in the whole world….