Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 90

Book Signings, Ho!

Busy week coming up!

First, on Sunday, October 4 I’ll be appearing at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire from 1 to 3 PM. Copies of all four Action Figures novels and The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich will be available for sale, and at bargain prices. Buy one book for $12, and pay $10 for every additional book — and I’ll gladly sign them for you!

Whatever’s left will be going with me to the Sharon Public Library on Thursday, October 8 for a Local Authors Roundtable Project discussion on genre fiction. The event runs from 7:30 to 9:30 PM and the participating authors will have copies of their books available for sale.

And after that? Well, I’ll be getting back to work on Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play, the first draft of which is more than halfway done!

I’ll end with a quick update on Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups, which you may have noticed is experiencing a bit of a delay. I’d hoped to have it ready for release in September but work on Strongarm & Lightfoot took longer than anticipated, so now it is set for a November release — just in time for the holidays.

A Blast From The Past

Art and copyright George Courage.

About 20 years ago, I performed at my first renaissance faire. I’ve been involved with several productions over the years in various capacities — including as a script writer. One faire I remember with particular fondness is the Robin Hood Faire, a production of Pastimes Entertainment, and several memories of that show came flooding back when my friend George Courage (of Courage Creative) launched a fun new project.

You see, during the show’s first two years, patrons could buy souvenirs in the form of paper dolls and a coloring book featuring the Pastimes’ production’s cast. As an experiment, George recently unearthed his designs and is now selling them via Etsy under the Courage Paper Crafts banner. If they prove successful, he’s planning to do new runs based on other literary classics. I’m curious to see what else he comes up with, so go check them out and maybe buy a set for yourself!

Strongarm & Lightfoot – Kindle Release Day!

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

All right, folks, if you’ve been holding out on buying The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich on Kindle until it was released, wait no more! As of today the book is now available for the Kindle (and Kindle apps) and in print.

I’d like to take a minute to thank my advance preview readers who have already posted their reviews: Amanda Sullivan, Michael Brown, Rich Maclone, Kendall Jung, and Ralph Davis. As I’ve said here on several occasions, reader reviews are one of the most important promotional tools an independent author has, so thanks for getting me off to a strong start, guys and gals!

I’d also like to send some love to fellow authors Brian LeTendre and Jolene Haley, who also have a book coming out today: Harrowed – The Woodsview Murders, a YA horror story (last time I checked the Amazon product page still wasn’t up, so you might have to go searching for it yourself).

I met Brian at Hartford ComicCon and we talked at length about writing in general, the challenges of writing young adult fiction, and how we’re not terribly comfortable promotion ourselves. It’s always cool to meet another indie author who enjoys talking about the craft.

I also grabbed a copy of his book Courting the King in Yellow, which I will hopefully get to read before…oh, 2016. Seems like I don’t have as much reading time as I used to. Going to have to fix that. Anyway, click on the cover image below to go check out the book’s entry on Amazon and maybe grab a copy for yourself.

It’s Not Always About Me

Just a quick post today, because I’ll be spending most of the day at Hartford ComicCon, scouting the place with my wife as possible vending venue for Storied Threads next year.

Yesterday I assaulted everyone with news about the release of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot, so today I’m giving some space to a couple of my fellow indie authors so you can learn about their stuff.

First, my friend J.M. Aucoin’s Jake Hawking collection, Jake Hawking and the Bounty Hunters, is on sale for one week at 99 cents to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which starts today (arrr, yo ho). Click on the cover image below to jump to Amazon and order that.

And then Mark Aberdeen has just released the second installation of his Dex Territory series, Knight and Dex. Once again, click the cover image below to go spend some money on him.

If you absolutely must indulge your need for Strongarm & Lightfoot, the best way to do that (aside from pre-ordering the Kindle book, hint) is to hit artist Patricia Lupien’s RedBubble store and pick up something with her awesome cover art on it. It looks something like this:

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien

 

Strongarm & Lightfoot – Available For Pre-Order!

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

Man, it’s been a busy and eventful day!

And the good news just keeps on coming, because the Kindle edition of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

The Kindle edition will go on sale on Tuesday, September 22, and hopefully the print edition will be available around the same time. And remember, if you’re planning to go the Connecticut Renaissance Faire, you can grab a copy from me in person, and I’ll happily sign it for you. You can also pick up all four of the Action Figures novels, and then you can go back another day to meet one of the other authors who will be there during the show’s fall run.

Strongarm & Lightfoot – Cover Reveal!

Hey, everyone! My awesome cover artist Tricia Lupien just wrapped up the cover for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich, which means the book is ready for final prep and release! I’ll let you know when the book goes live on Amazon, but for now, let’s reveal in the glory of the full cover, with and without the cover text.

Final cover art for “The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.” Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien

I dig this cover so hard.

When I sent Tricia the character descriptions for Derek Strongarm (left), Erika Racewind (center), and Felix Lightfoot, I told her I wanted the cover to have an old-school Dungeons & Dragons handbook/module vibe. Aside from the fact it matched the tone of the story — fun, full of adventure, and slightly irreverent — D&D was my first serious exposure to the fantasy genre, so it felt appropriate on a personal levels as well as an artistic level.

As always, Tricia sent me screencaps of her work in progress, and it’s always cool to see her develop a cover image for me. She continued to justify my decision to throw money at her right off the bat when she sent me the logo she worked up…

That couldn’t be more perfect. Tricia even commented that it might be the best logo she’s ever created and I’m not going to disagree.

After that Tricia sent me shots of the main art in progress, starting with her rendition of Habbatarr, the titular lich of the story (seen here with a silly caption she added for our amusement):

Artwork by and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

I will point out that Cover Habbatarr bears very little resemblance to Prose Habbatarr, but I honestly couldn’t care less. I left the character’s look to Tricia’s discretion and imagination, and Cover Habbatarr screams D&D module cover villain, so there are absolutely no complaints here.

Then she started working in the protagonists, and this is a mid-process image; you can see the rough outlines beneath the characters, but the details have yet to be laid down…

Artwork and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

Even at this stage you can get a grasp on the characters — Derek’s boyish face, Erika’s lean physique, Felix’s scruffy, roguish nature…

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien

Those are partial inks, which start to bring in some of the fine details and fix problems with the earlier version (note that Felix’s head is smaller and his left shoulder has been fixed). Next up: the beginning of the color work:

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien

And with more of the basic colors laid down, and before the addition of a background.

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien

Hump Day Humor

Just some more silliness from my cover artist as she grinds away at the Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich cover.

Art and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

As of today Tricia is scheduled to finish off the inking/detailing and lay down the rough color. When the cover is completed, I’ll post it here along with a behind-the-scenes look at its development — and then it’ll almost be time to run out (metaphorically) and grab your copy of the book!

In the meantime, for those who missed it, here is a preview of chapters one and two. Check it out now!

October Book Fair(e)

Beware! Multiple cheap plugs ahead!

Today is the last day to grab advance tickets for the Connecticut Renaissance Faire, which begins on October 3 and runs for four weekends at the North Haven Fairgrounds in (duh) North Haven (double duh), Connecticut. I bring this up for several reasons, many of which are shamelessly self-serving.

For starters, it’s a fun show and a great day out for the whole family. Many, many of my friends will be there performing in one capacity or another, my wife will be vending her awesome wares, and seven different authors — including me — will be there to sell and sign copies of their books. Here’s the complete schedule for your planning pleasure:

Saturday, October 3: Erin Thorne (Losers and Their Friends; Deals Diabolical)
Sunday, October 4: Michael Bailey (self-explanatory, I think)
Saturday, October 10: R.A. Salvatore (the Drizzt Do’Urden novels)
Sunday, October 11: E.A. Rappaport (the Legends of the Four Races series)
Monday, October 12: J.M. Aucoin (Honor Among Thieves; the Jake Hawking series)
Saturday, October 17: A.L. Davroe (the Tricksters series)
Saturday, October 24: Deborah Ann Davis (the Love of Fairs series)

Check out the CTRF authors series page for updates.

Today’s Random Silliness

My cover artist Tricia Lupien is hard at work on the cover for The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich and has been sending me teases along the way. Apparently she was in a goofy mood yesterday and she sent me this, so I thought I’d share.

Artwork by and Copyright Patricia Lupien.

And remember to check out the first two chapters of the book here!

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – preview!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Long story short, my week in Quebec was awesome and wonderfully restful. I came home Friday and woke up Saturday ready to tackle final edits on The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot — and there was a LOT of editing to do. The narrative style for S&L is much different than in the Action Figures novels,  so my editor Julie made sure she was exceptionally thorough to ensure it read well — which it does, according to her.

Why not see for yourself? Click here and go check out the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich for free! And if you’re wondering what the story’s about, here is the official blurb:

In the land of Asaches, there are great men and women who have changed the course of history. Their adventures are honored in song; their names are spoken with a reverence normally reserved for the gods; their heroic deeds have elevated them to the status of living legends.

And then there are these guys…

Derek Strongarm and Felix Lightfoot are two hard-luck adventurers for hire looking for their big break — or an excuse to retire before they get killed. Salvation appears in the form of Erika Racewind, a mysterious elven woman with a dark secret and a lucrative job offer. Desperate and destitute, Derek and Felix agree to join Erika in escorting her young charge across Asaches.

Of course, nothing is ever so simple for Strongarm and Lightfoot.

The boy turns out to be no one less than the fabled Reaper, he who is destined to destroy the mad lich-lord Habbatarr and save the world from total destruction. The adventurers soon find themselves fighting off fanatical cultists, hordes of mindless undead, bestial Hruks with a taste for human flesh, and unspeakable subterranean horrors — and things only stand to get worse as they travel ever deeper into Habbatarr’s blighted domain.

The fate of the entire world hangs in the balance, and all that stands in the way of a global apocalypse is a mild-mannered warrior, an occasionally good-hearted thief, an ill-tempered elf, and a Chosen One with a serious attitude problem.

Asaches is screwed.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot, the new series from author Michael Bailey (Action Figures), is an irreverent take on the fantasy genre. Get ready for an epic tale filled with action, magic, monsters, quests, treasure, inconveniently located ancient artifacts of great power, curiously specific prophecies, and dangerously rickety rope bridges that someone really should have repaired a long time ago.