K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 19

Homann: A Free 18th Century Cartography Brush Set for Fantasy Maps

I’ve been heads down working on the edits for Gleam Upon the Waves, so it’s been a while since I’ve shared any new resources for fantasy map enthusiasts, writers, cartographers, game masters, table-top role-playing game creators—whoever you are. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few things up my sleeve. Today, I’m excited to announce the release of my latest free historically-based fantasy-map brush set, which I’ve named Homann.

Are you a fan of fields? Are defensive fortifications your jam? Then Homann is the perfect set for you. Based on L’Isle de Cadix du Detroit de Gibraltar, a 1788 map of the Strait of Gibraltar, by Johann Baptist Homann, a prolific German geographer, cartographer, and wig haver. (Yeah, click on his name. You’ll see what I mean.) It’s a unique map. One that seems to be at war with itself. It’s reminiscent of a battlefield map at first, but you can see how it’s mixed with the traditional cartography of its time. At the same time, it flirts with being a nautical chart, not something you often find on maps like this. But that jumbled confusion makes sense considering the messy military history surrounding the strait.

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A unique map like this means the brush set extracted from it will be just as unique. The settlements are an unusual mix of pictorial illustrations and the traditional profile-style signs more common to cartographic maps of this era. Landforms are present but serve as a secondary backdrop to the strategic fortifications. Interestingly, a lot of effort went into detailing agriculture, and it’s not hard to see the amount of time the engraver spent on fields.

Since completing my Thirteen in Twelve project last year, I’ve been seeking out resources that separate themselves from the thousands of repetitive-looking maps from the 17th and 18th century. With all those quirks I thought Homann would stand apart while still working alongside any of my older sets, and I appreciate its attention to detail. It’s perfect for a wide variety of fantasy projects.

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Homann is a medium-sized set of often VERY LARGE signs—some of the cartouches are over a thousand pixels wide—so, yeah… the detail here is fairly intense. With over 400 brushes, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of use in your work. The full set includes the following:

13 Tents90 Houses7 Towns6 Elevated Towns2 Places of Worship20 Forts7 Unique Buildings45 Fields5 “Shoreline” Fields (These are less detailed than their cousins and were mostly found along waterways.)45 Trees100 Mountains14 Mountain Pairs (Basically, two mountains close together.)6 Mountain Ranges15 Anchorages2 Battle Markers5 Map Elements3 Ships (They’re big.)16 Sounding Marks30 Unit Positions/Markers

The button below links to a ZIP file that contains a Photoshop brush set (it’ll also work with GIMP and Affinity Photo) as well as a set of transparent PNGs in case you’re using a program that doesn’t support Adobe brush files. I’ve separated them by type: Settlements and Flora, Landforms, and Cartouches. They’re black and on a transparent background, so they’ll look broken if viewed in Chrome, but trust me, they’re all there.

download homann

As with all of my previous brush sets, Homann is free for any use. I distribute my sets with a Creative Common, No Rights Reserved License (CC0), which means you can freely use this and any of my brushes in commercial work and distribute adaptations. (Details on this decision here.) No attribution is required. Easy peasy!

Enjoy Homann? Feel free to show me what you created by sending me an email or finding me on Twitter or heck, leave a comment below. I adore seeing how these brushes get used, and I’d be happy to share your work with my readers (let me know in your message.) Let us see what you make!

Things are a bit different around here

Back in early October, I mentioned that a change was coming. If you’re a regular reader, by now you’ve probably noticed things look quite a bit different. While on vacation last week, I took some time to redesign the site and move some things around. Some of this was to prep for the coming of Gleam Upon the Waves, and some of it was to reduce the amount of time I dealt with random web stuff. So… what’s new? Let me tell you.

New Domain

Well, kinda. There was always a KMAlexander.com, but before it took you to a static page. Now it brings you here. I’ll touch a little more on this in a bit. Since the domain changed, it felt more appropriate to be a little more professional with the title. The form blog title “I Make Stories” is no more. (Don’t worry, I’m still making stories.)

Sub-Domains Are Gone… Mostly

My book sites used to be on separate webpages nestled under subdomains most of those are now gone and only a few remain. (store.kmalexander.com is one.) If you came from thestarswereright.kmalexander.com, chances are you’ll have landed here. This is part of the redirect process and I’m still trying to figure out a solution. But, those webpages still exist. All my books can now found up on the menu. Which brings me to the next part…

New Book Landing Pages

As I mentioned, in the before times, I had different sites for each book, and each of those had subsites. It was a lot to juggle. With this new site, all those have been merged here! You can find them up under the Bell Forging Cycle tab in the menu. They’re a bit cleaner and will look so much better for those folks using mobile devices. Moving to a more mobile-friendly approach was a big consideration for this redesign. You should check ’em out (share them with your friends.) I think they turned out great.

New About Section

I’ve streamlined all the stuff about me. The Appearances and Contact Info pages are now consolidated under the About section. Those pages will continue to get streamlined, but it made more sense to group them together than have them divergent. Also freed up more room in the menu and simplified things a lot more.

A New Home Page

This one is a bit odd. Since, if you come to kmalexander.com, you’ll land here, on the blog. That’s by design since this is the best place to get news and updates, and I’m not one of those authors who only post once a year. The homepage is currently a catch-all page, and it’s modeled after my old homepage. Still feeling this one out. It might eventually go away. I like the idea of the blog being front and center, but I can see an appeal for a homepage focused mostly on books. So, we’ll see how this goes.

New Sidebar & Footer

Juggled a few things around in the sidebar, and I’m still rearranging the footer. Search is now clearer, as is access to the archives. Overall, I think it’s a bit more streamlined. I’ve got plenty of working space, so don’t be surprised if I add some other stuff in that area as well.

So that’s some of the new changes you’ll find around here. Overall I think this is a solid step forward, and it’s nice not to have to fiddle with many different sites whenever I want to make simple changes. Also, being more mobile-friendly doesn’t hurt. What do you think? Leave a comment below and let me know.

If you can tell stories

“If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.”

—W. Somerset Maugham

Change Is in the Air

I’ve had this blog since 2012, and for the extent of its life, it’s looked the same. Header, sidebar, posts, pages—everything has remained more or less unchanged for the last eight years and nearly nine-hundred posts. I love it, but sometimes we outgrow the things we love. It’s something I’m facing now.

As the title suggests, a change is coming. While the WordPress theme I started with (Twenty-Thirteen) has served me well, I’m starting to run into various walls. It’s old. Which means it’s not taking advantage of new technology. It’s not as responsive as I want, and the limited space really hinders me from doing some new things I’ve wanted to do.

So, over the next few weeks, expect to see some changes around here. Most of the changes you’ll see will be visual. But the functionality will remain largely unchanged. You’ll still be able to access all of the content, download my brushes, and read previous posts, but there’s a potential that some of the changes might mess with the format of some of my old posts and pages. So I apologize in advance if that happens, it’ll eventually get sorted out.

So, keep an eye out! Changes are coming and I think they’ll be good ones.

Old Haunts: Licensed Directory Agents

Unknown Warren, Level Three, Late Night

https://kmalexander.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/05_licenseddirectoryagent.mp4

“The directory agents were a necessity born of desperate need in an ever-changing city. With so many businesses moving in and out all the time it was impossible to keep track of it all and even harder to inform every citizen. Instead of printing compendiums of information, the directory companies opted for agents placed around the city, offering location services for a small fee. It kept printing costs down and made them a hell of a lot of money.”

—Waldo Bell, Red Litten World

Visit Previous Haunts:

Local Service: Martello Warren, Level Four
Serenade on Two: Martello Warren, Level Two
Rhapsody: King Station, Level Four
Lucky Star: Denny Lake, Level Four

Study Related Ephemera:

Echoes of the Wasteland: The Repository
Read the Bell Forging Cycle

Explore Distant Margins:

This Green Sunrise Shore
No Lips Dare Speak Aloud
Did you think this was over?
A telegram arrived


Credits:

Audio from Freesounds, special thanks to: 15gpanskasupsakpatrik, bolkmar, hendmik, kyles, morgantj, nahlin83, o-ciz, rabbydaw, socializeddartist45, and theshuggie

Broll provided by Videezy

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

Old Haunts: Local Service

Martello Warren, Level Four, Mid-Day

https://kmalexander.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/03_localservice.mp4

“I leaned my head against the monorail window and watched buildings flash past. I felt sick, lost, and lonely. I was terrified. I had started to shake after collapsing into my seat. Too focused on fleeing, I had skipped buying a ticket. I hoped the conductor was feeling lazy and wouldn’t pass through the car.”

—Waldo Bell, The Stars Were Right

Visit Previous Haunts:

Serenade on Two: Martello Warren, Level Two
Rhapsody: King Station, Level Four
Lucky Star: Denny Lake, Level Four

Study Related Ephemera:

Echoes of the Wasteland: The Repository
Read the Bell Forging Cycle

Explore Distant Margins:

This Green Sunrise Shore
No Lips Dare Speak Aloud
Did you think this was over?
A telegram arrived


Credits:

Audio from Freesounds, special thanks to: emirdemirel, epicdude959, erh, ianstargem, kwahmah-02, miastodzwiekow, mycompasstv, nahlin83, nathan45100, trautwein, and yuval

Broll provided by Videezy

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

A Telegram Arrived

Time spins outward. Old doors close. New gates open. What worked in the past turns to dust in the future. Those who seek must learn to adapt.

An urgent telegram has arrived for you, its source seems familiar and I think you’ll find its message fascinating.

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There are portents hidden in plain sight, revealing much to those brave fools willing to study the signs. The repository is the simplest way to track those elements which have come before, but there are other sources as well. Take heart, my friend, in time much will be revealed.

See you soon, roader.

Want to stay in touch with me? Sign up for Dead Drop, my rare and elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. I work hard to make sure it’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

#NationalReadABookDay

Today is National Read A Book Day! (Slightly different from Book Lovers Day celebrated on August 9th, or World Book Day observed every April 23rd.) Yeah, it’s an unofficial holiday, but it’s a great excuse to ignore the news, avoid social media, and spend some quiet time reading a book. I’m currently reading Jen Howard’s Clutter: An Untidy History and Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians and would recommend them both.

Need a book to read? Read one of mine! You can get physical copies pretty much anywhere, and ebook copies are available wherever people sell ebooks. To make it as easy as possible to nab one of my books, I’ve included direct links to purchase below, as well as handy links to sample chapters. With Gleam Upon the Waves coming soon, now is an excellent time to jump into the world of the territories.

Book I: The Stars Were Right


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Gleam Upon the Waves Cover Reveal

As it was foretold in bygone days of yore, August 27th has arrived. As prophesied, the cover for Gleam Upon the Waves will be revealed. Let’s begin, shall we?

https://kmalexander.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/gleamcoverreveal.mp4

You can see a bigger version below. Click on the image to view it larger.

[image error] The cover for Gleam Upon the Waves
In the lower depths of the city of Lovat, a King Tide rises. On the mantle of this aberration rides a vile stench that permeates the city from root to crown. When a job comes along for Caravan Master Waldo Bell and his crew offering a chance to slip away, it’s easy to be interested. When it comes from the city’s newly elected mayor, it’s impossible to ignore.
Outward bound on an enormous floating casino Wal finds himself out of his element. This won’t be routine caravan work. This job is more diplomacy than delivery, taking Bell Caravans out of the shadowed warrens and off dusty trails to the canals of Empress, the mysterious capital of the hermit-nation Victory.
But, things are never simple in the Territories. As the situation grows increasingly complicated and sinister forces begin to circle, Wal will discover darkness runs deeper than he ever thought possible; reality is not what it seems, and a new apocalypse is closer than anyone predicted.

 

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I’m sure you noticed that like all the previous Bell Forging Cycle covers, the background image was another piece by the late 19th-century French artist, Gustav Doré. I love Doré’s work. Here I used the Plate I engraving from Doré’s illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours entitled: The Deluge it depicts a scene from the story of Noah’s Ark as humans and animals struggle to save themselves as floodwaters rise. Tides. Floodwaters. Waves. Boats. Lots of nautical themes happening here. Wonder what that means? Hmmm.

Funny enough, Jon Contino nailed down the lettering for this cover years ago—way back when we were locking down the look for Red Litten World. I fell in love immediately, and it’s been hard to stay quiet. Jon’s distinctive approach to typography has always worked perfectly for the Bell Forging Cycle. His visceral and emotional approach to design has helped capture the sense of unease in the series and solidify the tone in a way that helps it stand out. He outdid himself with this one. 

From a design perspective, I think it settles perfectly within the series as a whole while maintaining a unique voice of its own. Look how great it looks in the lineup:

[image error] The Bell Forging Cycle Books I–IV

Huge thank you once again to Jon for helping me out with this. (Also, he’s got his own book out now and you should go buy it.) There will be more to come in the future. Gleam Upon the Waves is due out later this year, so expect more announcements with launch dates and the like and a sample chapter for you to read. I cannot wait to get this one into your hands. It’s been a long time coming, and I think you’re going to love it.

What do you think of the new cover? Which cover is your favorite? Why? Leave a comment. Let me know!

Need to Get Caught Up?
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If you’ve only read a few of my novels, now is the perfect time to nab my previous books and catch up on the series before Gleam Upon the Waves drops. Order from any of the retailers below or support your local indie book shop and have them order it for you.

• Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Kobo • iBooks • GooglePlay •

Did you know you could have gotten a sneak peek early? It’s true! Sign up for Dead Drop, my elusive newsletter. Subscribers get news, previews, and notices on my books before anyone else delivered directly to their inbox. It’s not spammy and full of interesting and relevant information.  SIGN UP TODAY →

A Dual Character

“Language, any language, has a dual character: it is both a means of communication and a carrier of culture.”

—Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o