Why Wait?

When you receive exciting news, then the question becomes, why wait to tell people?
Although not a normal posting day for me, I thought I'd share the art and cover design for the book.

Here is my name as seen on the book.

Here is the book cover itself with its lovely curling title and mysterious natural environment design.

As well as the title art. A curling script that stands out admirably on the cover design

Sometimes All You Hear is a "Knock"

This story is called "Knock" and I used a single line prompt to start it.

“She was drifting off to sleep when there was a sharp knock at the door…”

Eliza restlessly moved her arm out from under the covers and shivered. The air was too cold. She should have turned the temperature up. The knock came again. It imperiously rang against the wood. Her eyelids rose slowly as heavy as weights. Her mind was fuzzy as she threw back the covers. The air hit her like a vise, squeezing her breath out of her lungs. Her feet danced across the cold floorboards. Her robe hung on the doorknob and she shrugged it on over her nightgown and lightly stepped to the door. The knock came again urgently beating the wood. 

“Alright, alright,” she muttered. Her fingers swept through her hair, once, twice, until it felt a bit more settled. Her hand rose to cover her mouth as she yawned. Hot air steamed into her hand.

Her fingers lightly rested upon the door handle and she stood on tiptoe to peer through the peep hole. She couldn’t see anything. The doorstep was empty. The distorted image bubbled and she frowned. Keeping the security chain on the door, she unlocked it and opened it a crack. The night air whistled past her into the house and still she saw nothing. Her welcome mat was slightly shifted, but she may have done that herself when she came in earlier. An owl hooted nearby, startling her. She shut the door, closing it with barely a sound. The lock clicked back into place and she turned around to go back to her room.

“Hello, Eliza.”

She froze. Her eyes darted around from the living room to the sitting area, to the hallway. Her eyes were finally drawn toward the stairs and she gasped.

“Brendan.” She stared hard at the dark figure sitting on her stairs. His legs were thrown carelessly on the floor, he rested his elbow on a stair behind with careful ease. His hair was still in a buzzcut. His army jacket was bulky over his arms. The silver dog tags at his neck gleamed. He shifted and there was a jangle as the tags hit each other. “Brendan?” she backed up against the door. Her arms crossed around herself. 

“Yes, Eliza. It’s me.”

“You’re dead,” she choked out.

“Actually I believe what they sent you was MIA, not a death certificate.”

“They said you were as good as dead.” Eliza slid to the floor, hugging herself tighter. “They said…”

“It’s okay, Eliza.” He sat forward. He didn’t move toward her, but his eyes never left her face. “I’m here now.”

“How? Where did you come from?” She looked away. Had she forgotten to lock the back door?

“You let me in.”

He moved forward so that he was crouched in front of her. His hands rested on her knees. She was shaking. The cold of the floor soaked into her skin like water. Her teeth chattered and he slid himself beside her. Their shoulders touched and her head ached to rest on his shoulder like old times. Her head felt foggy as if she was almost asleep again.

“Are you really here, Brendan.”

“Of course, I’m really here,” he said as she drifted off to sleep.

Ode to a Bookstore

Although not really an ode at all, I just like the way it falls from the tongue.

We should really appreciate bookstores, and libraries, a lot more than we do. They offer us endless ways to travel and entertain ourselves.

I feel myself relaxing surrounded by the familiar call of stories. The bookstore welcomes me, ushering me across the threshold. Its wooden tables and single seats scattered about offer the privacy and isolation craved by book lovers. To immerse oneself it is vital to fully have a deprivation of other senses. Another more hidden power must come alive in your mind. It must draw you into the realm of novels, of possibilities and adventures.
The books lie quietly, silently luring prospective readers with the images of their covers. Try me. Open us. Stay.
Far off lands, distant times or familiar cities and modern day - where shall you travel. How will you choose? Do you reach for a familiar storybook, reliving a past journey to experience it all again, lingering on your favorite scenes.
Or do you crave the thrill and mystery of a novel whose pleasures you have yet to know, reveling in the surprise it brings you. I shall awake from this journey in a daze.
A dreamy haze will settle across my vision. The story seeming more real than the other things I experience. A shade drawn over me and my real life so that I am sleepwalking while awake.

I have news that my book can be found as an e-book for Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon. The release is a little over a month away, but it's so exciting to see it on other websites! Also if you search for it, you can see the cover design.

Creatures Big and Creatures Small

I'm done! Sorry, momentary need to express excitement for the end of the Fall semester and exams!

If you create your own world then you also have the opportunity to create your own creatures. I took advantage of the fact that "kraken" is a known monstrous name, but I created my own kraken. First, I actually wrote all of the details about what it should look like, then I actually tried to draw it with those specifications. So it has a three-horn crown and walrus-like tusks in its mouth. It has claws that are webbed for its forelimbs and then it has flippers at its back. This picture doesn't show the tail, but it has a snake-like belly and scales like a fish.

The Kraken

 So, when you're creating a creature that is made-up you can use characteristics from real animals. It's how you integrate them that determines if the creature seems believable or not. Sometimes my creatures do seem real, but other times they turn out a little funky like this mixed creature below. It was just a test to make something, but it didn't really turn out. The result is a strange little creature that was poorly brought into existence.

A squirrel-chicken-otter creature (Unnamed currently)

From the Ground Up

Something that I enjoy is drawing my characters or creatures. This is one of the ancient forces of the world. A "Lord" of nature and anything of the living earth. It's an important distinction because I have another force of the earth, but she is more of the destructive side. So, Flornavyn is life and all of the plants are his creation. He is mentioned by name in Island Whispers, but very briefly. He can take a "human" shape, but I like to think that he is more this amorphous shape that is shifting and inconstant. He is leaves and vines, grass, dirt, all mixed together. He is the earth in conscious form.
Of the primal powers, he is the youngest.

Flornavyn "The Green Man"