R.B. Wood's Blog, page 34
November 14, 2011
A Guest post by SHAY FABBRO
"A Cover Story"
by Shay Fabbro
Everyone says a great book cover is the key to the success of the book. It's the part of the book that customers will see before they see anything else, whether it be while browsing in a book store or looking for a new book for the Kindle or Nook. An author really needs to make a good first impression right off the bat.When I was thinking about the cover for The Chosen, I knew I wanted to have something depicting the aliens from the planet Gentra. This world has always held a special place in my heart. As I was designing the planets in The Chosen, I KNEW that one of them had to be one that evolved under water. I remember the day I first learned of the thermal vents found in the deep oceans and the life that evolved to live in the conditions found there: hot, no light, tremendous pressure. I often try to imagine what the first scientists must have been thinking as the light from the submersibles illuminated this underwater world that had never seen the light of day. The creatures they found there were numerous and fascinating. That ecosystem has always been fascinating to me.The original cover for The Chosen shows a Gentran with a large vent in the background, with a dwelling attached. There's even a light on in one of the rooms. My artist says it's the room where the portal is housed. It's a little sinister for those who have already read the books; the portal going to take the Guardians to their new planets so they can train the Chosen. It's not a very pleasant process. If you want to find out more, you'll just have to read the book ;)My amazing cover artist has done all of the covers for my books and with each one, he gets better and better. He mentioned wanting to re-do the cover for the first book at the same time I was thinking of re-doing the cover. Coincidence? Perhaps. I like to think of as the Universe speaking to the both of us to make a change that will hopefully introduce more readers to the Portals of Destiny series. Eric wanted to do the cover in a manner similar to a movie poster, with many different elements from 
the book rather than just one single entity. There's a humanoid emerging from a portal and a Gentran at the bottom right who is in the process of entering it. And floating menacingly above it all is a portion of the enemy the Chosen must fight: a Mekan. The symbols along the left and right are important as well but I'll leave that to the reader to discover as well ;) I feel this new cover captures multiple elements of the book as well as showing a person, which is perhaps more familiar than just having a little pink jellyfish/octopus guy swimming around. The old edition of The Chosen is only available for a limited time on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online in both paperback and e-book formats. The new edition with the new cover will debut November 28th. Once the new edition comes out, the old cover will never be seen again! If anyone wants to get a copy of the first edition, now is the time to do it!
Please visit www.shayfabbro.com for excerpts from The Chosen as well as two other books in the Portals of Destiny series, Shattered Destiny (book 2) and The Mad Lord Lucian (novella).
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorshayfabbro
Twitter: @ShayFabbro
November 12, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 12 November
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus stops in Canada this fine fall day so I can have a chat with author PATTI LARSEN—prolific writer of The Hunted series and so much more. I sit and answer a few questions over at her blog My Writing Life.
Drop on by: http://pattilarsen.blogspot.com/
November 10, 2011
The Magic Mystery Blog Tour - 10 November
We've entered the last week for The Magical Mystery Tour, and the tour bus is beginning to smell like old pizza and trashed manuscripts!
We take our bus overseas to jolly ol' England and visit with author and frequent Word Count podcast story weaver, MATTHEW MUNSON, author of Falling from Grace and all around fantastic friend.
He's posted an interview with me and i hope to have hie review of The Prodigal's Foole soon.
Vist his site, Life From The Front - Dispatches From Viking Bay to give it a read here: http://vikingbay.blogspot.com/2011/11/fellow-author-visits.html
November 8, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 8 November
Today's Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus stop is a little closer to my home in Boston, where we visit with one of the "ReaderCON 9" of Pubwrite fame, the glorious K. VICTORIA SMITH and her site, "Storyteller's Grove"
Ms. Smith posts a lovely 5 star review of The Prodigal's Foole.
Please take a gander: http://kvictoriasmith.blogspot.com/
Peace
November 6, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 6 November
We head back down under for today's Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus stop and spend a bit of time with JONATHAN GOULD at his blog "Stories that Stand Out from the Crowd."
I write an piece about what outstanding writing means to me and the most thoughtful comment to today's article will win a FREE ebook copy of The Prodigal's Foole.
Head on over to read, comment and potentially WIN! http://daglit.blogspot.com/2011/11/rb-wood-writing-that-stands-out-from.html
November 5, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 5 November
Today, the Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus circles the strip in search of parking, tickets for "O" and that one blackjack table that will pay out.
Yes we are in the city of adult fun and escapades, Las Vegas visiting with SFWA member, writer and editor of Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted, MERCEDES M. YARDLEY who offers up her review of The Prodigal's Foole and a rather funny picture of yours truely.
You can find it on her site, A Broken Laptop by clicking here: http://abrokenlaptop.com/2011/11/04/r-b-woods-the-prodigals-foole-review/
Enjoy!
November 4, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 4 november
We stop nearish to the capital of the US in our brightly colored tour bus today as a part of The Magical Mystery Tour!
I hope all the shiny colors don't make the nations stuffed-shirts nervous...especially since we are hanging with homoerotic writer, artist and designer, SESSHA BATTO!
I've written up a piece for her on the making of The Prodigal's Foole trailer. Chech it out at Sessha's Author's on Show website.
Enjoy!
Here's the link: http://authorsonshow.com/sessha-2/
November 3, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 3 November
The tour bus continues with a stop back with the talented and rather awesome LEAH PETERSEN again this week as she posts a rather funny interview as a part of her 5MinuteInterview series.
Check it out here: http://www.leahpetersen.com/2011/11/5minuteinterview-w-rb-wood-of-the-prodigals-foole/
I'm having WAY too much fun with this tour but eventually I'll need to get on with book two...
Peace
November 2, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 2 November-UPDATED
Not only does The Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus head thousands of miles away, it's actually heading into summer at our destination!
Yes, today we are in the land down-under. Our stop is with fellow Urban Fantasy author and comic book aficionado EMMETT SPAIN writer of the London City Novel series.
I do a quick "6 Words or Less" interview with Emmett, and he reviews The Prodigals Foole on his London City Blog.
Check it out: http://alondoncityblog.blogspot.com/
Well, we have a double-dip tour today! Along with our stop in Australia, we also stop in New England with author AL BOUDREAU Who also interviews me and posts his 5-star review of The Prodigal's Foole. Stop over to his Wordpress Site to have a read.
Al's site is here: http://alboudreau.wordpress.com/
Thanks to both EMMETT and AL for their reviews! Time spent with both is time well spent!
November 1, 2011
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour - 1 November
The Magical Mystery Blog Tour bus is staying over night down south!
A day after launch for The Prodigal's Foole, I'll be hangin' with LEAH PETERSEN who posted a marvelous review of my book yesterday (Find it HERE) and whose very popular micro-writing competition, #5MinuteFiction, runs today.
See, I'm sticking around, not just because of Ms. Petersen's southern hospitality, but because I'm the JUDGE for 5MF!
So sharpen your writing skills folks, because the winner of todays competition will win a copy of The Prodigal's Foole!
5MinuteFiction happens every Tuesday at 1:30 PM Eastern Time!
