Erik Wecks's Blog, page 6
May 20, 2014
The Far Bank of the Rubicon is coming to Kickstarter
So Kickstarter it is for this novel. I will have more information in a day or two including a start date and a chance for those of you on my blog to get a sneak peak. For now enjoy the video I made for the project.
May 19, 2014
Cover Art Revealed! The Far Bank of the Rubicon
First the bad news—Jason Gurley is phasing out of doing cover art. He is only keeping the door open for Amazon…. sigh. So I had to find a new way to get a cover for my forthcoming book The Far Bank of the Rubicon. Truly I panicked when I found out.
However, I am more than excited to say that I have now purchased the rights to use a painting by science fiction conceptual artist Andre Wallin as the cover for The Far Bank of the Rubicon.
Wallin did the conceptual art for the film Oblivion which was gorgeous! If you haven’t seen it watch it just for the look. It’s truly a delight for the eyes.
Wallin’s also done work for the video games Elder Scrolls Online, Last Man Standing, and Wasteland Two among others. You can take a look at his whole portfolio on his website.
If you can’t see it already, click the more tab to see the amazing piece of art which will be used on the cover of my forthcoming book.
It’s truly a better outcome than I thought possible when I heard that Jason wasn’t going to be doing covers any longer.
May 17, 2014
Book Description Reveal!
I am really getting excited about bringing you my next Pax Imperium novel, On the Far Bank of the Rubicon. Over the next couple of weeks, you can expect frequent announcements. I have a HUGE announcement about my cover, which will blow your mind! But I can’t say anything about that quite yet.
Tonight I am happy to start the festivities by presenting you with a description:
All young men face adversity as they come of age, but few grow up as they defend themselves against a crusade to stamp out their way of life. Only the sons of the House of Athena mature as they confront their own annihilation.
The hopes of the family rest with Jonas Athena’s older brother, Stephen. Raised in the spotlight, the two boys rebel against the bars of their gilded cage. Stifled and alone, the adolescent Jonas takes up a secret friendship with the one person who can relate to his plight, the daughter of his father’s biggest rival. But when an unwanted war is forced upon them all, the House of Athena looks to Jonas to represent the family as a soldier. Now, Jonas must choose between the freedom he craves and serving the family he loves.
On the Far Bank of the Rubicon is volume one of the Pax Imperium Trilogy by Erik Wecks. It begins immediately following Wecks’ critically praised first novel, Aetna Adrift.
So what do you think? Ready to read it?
photo credit: Bellah via photopin cc
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May 12, 2014
Meteor Shower, Storm, or Dud?
Meteor showers are such a gamble. Often it seems when the media talks about them they don’t live up to predictions. Like many natural phenomena they’re amenable to math but unpredictable in specific. So you might stay up all night to see nothing or you might witness something spectacular. It’s a crapshoot.
NASA put out the short video above because quite soon it looks like Earth is due to cross the path of some material laid down in the nineteenth century by comet 209p/linear, a rather dim comet that crosses Earth’s orbit every five years.
On May 24 North America could get a good show with 200 meteors per hour…or not. No one knows. Things are predicted to peak between midnight and 2AM Pacific time, but keep your eyes open because it might come early or it might arrive late.
Featured image photo credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center via photopin cc
May 11, 2014
Draft Completed!
May 9, 2014
Infographic: Traditional Publishing vs. Indie Publishing
A side by side comparison of both traditional and indie publishing models. Any questions?
May 6, 2014
Author David Bruns Gives Aetna Adrift a Looksee
David Bruns is a fellow speculative fiction author who recently left the tech field to write full time. Before his career in tech, he graduated from Annapolis and spent six years as a submariner in the United States Navy. So when David wrote me and said that he had written a review of Aetna Adrift, I sat up and took notice. When he gave it five stars on both Goodreads and Amazon I pleased to say the least. I will take it as a sign that at least something of my handwavium, obfuscation and pure technodrivel passed muster.
Here is a quote from his review on his website.
Wecks does a couple of things really well in Aetna. For starters, he has done some fabulous world, er, universe-building, laying the groundwork for a lifetime of novels on both sides of the conflict. Especially appreciated were the neato, sci-fi details, like fishing with submarines on a planet covered with ice, life aboard a Unity orbiter and futuristic medical technology.
Woohoo! If you want to read his full review you can find it here. While you’re there sign up for his mailing list and pick up a short story of his for free.
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April 28, 2014
I’m Starting my Own Convention: Story Con 2014
Story Con! is a convention laser focused on helping readers find their next great book. As I explain on the Story Con! website my hope is that readers can come and preview a hundred books on a single day and find enough reading material to get them through the rainy season in the Pacific Northwest. Did I mention it’s free? The 2014 event will take place on October 18th at the Fort Vancouver Regional Library. Head on over to Storyconvention.com to find out more. To keep up on what’s new with the convention make sure to sign up for the mailing list. Its on the right side of the page.
photo credit: martinak15 via photopin cc
April 27, 2014
Meet the new Neighbor!
So how do you find something in space if there isn’t a bright star nearby to light it up? The answer: heat. The Spitzer telescope studies the infrared light—read heat—given off by objects in space, and recently we found something pretty awesome! We have a new neighbor.
Located only 7.2 light years away from good old Earth, object WISE J085510.83-071442.5 now ranks as the fourth closest object to our solar system. That’s basically across the street.
So just what is our neighbor? Well, that’s kind of hard to say. You see, it’s giving off its own heat with a maximum temperature of around 9 degrees fahrenheit, so its possible that it is a brown dwarf. A brown dwarf is a protostar which failed to gather enough mass to heat up all the way to sustainable fusion. Scientists only discovered the first brown dwarf in 1965, although they are thought to be extremely common. However, scientists have estimated the mass of our new neighbor to be only about 3 to 10 times that of Jupiter, which would make it the smallest and coldest brown dwarf ever discovered. So it’s possible that our new neighbor is actually a gas giant planet which once orbited another star but was then ejected to wander in the dark of interstellar space.
Whoever the new neighbor is, it’s pretty cool that we found him when he wasn’t shining brightly in our night sky. We have to do something about that name, though. WISE J085510.83-071442.5 just doesn’t roll off the tongue. Any ideas?
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April 26, 2014
The Eternal Manuscript: Writer Jason Gurley Finishes Eleanor!
Writer Jason Gurley, Will Hertling, and Myself get together to chat after Jason finishes a manuscript he’s been working on for thirteen years.
