Update

This piece entitled C9rcle by Ian Llanas of a raving nightclub hit the same target as Payoff from last week. Thanks to this work, I now know that there will be at least one pivotal club scene in the hi-tech science fiction story brewing on the back burner.

Here’s to hoping the story doesn’t start percolating before I’m ready to capture the contents.

©2014 Ian LlanasYou can find more by Ian Llanas at:
http://ianllanas.com
http://ianllanas.deviantart.com
https://www.facebook.com/IanLlanasArt

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Update:
#1 — ABB:Samhain Shenanigans has gone out to my Alpha Readers (I believe they’re worthy of capital letters). Which means we’re about two weeks from launch! My apologies for not hitting the February publication date. It’s been a tumultuous new year.

#2 — My publisher just relayed that they’ve hit a snag with the ABB:Yuletide Yield cover art. They still have the same plan to get an artist for the next three covers and assure me that I’ll have a cover to drool over by mid April. They don’t my saliva is acidic! Unless they read this. Then they’ll know… And they’ll have it ready… Right, EP?

—Zeek (EJ)

So, I’ve had this hi-tech science fiction story pinging around my head for the past few years. While I have a solid grasp on the main character and conflict, I haven’t moved forward with it because a time travel element kept trying to force its way in. Thing is, the main idea doesn’t need time travel, but–without it–I kept hitting a wall on how to layer the subplots that spark the main conflict.

This piece entitled Payoff by Jonas De Ro made the story come ringing back with a small twist… The time travel seed didn’t handcuff itself to force me to think about it too. Now I see that a few key subplots can be explained through a character (the kind of character with the misfortune of ending up with a gun pointed at their head, quite often).

Now, I have to do some groundwork to discover who this character is and figure out why the trigger wasn’t pulled that very first time…

©2014 www.jonasdero.beYou can find more by Jonas De Ro at:
http://jonasdero.deviantart.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jonas.dero

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Update:
#1 — The site has been redesigned to get away from the heavy use of black. While I thought it looked stellar, I noticed the few sites that I go to with a similar look tend to be a good deal darker than the stuff I get into. Brightening the site made quite the difference in the feel and allows for the art I feature to pop on it’s own instead of struggling up from the background.

#2 — With ABB:Samhain Shenanigans moving toward publication, my publisher has started to look into getting the cover art together for ABB:Yuletide Yield to close out the first trilogy. One sentence got me hyped up. “We are going to shop…to have the same artist for this project onboard for the next cycle of Baxter novels.” (I’m hoping this comes to pass as I’d love the covers to have a consistent art style to them.)

—Zeek (EJ)

In honor of the upcoming trailer of Star Wars: Episode VII coming out this weekend, I present Clinton Felker’s take on the Imperial Throne Room if the scene (or franchise) were set in Feudal Japan.

When I stumbled upon this piece, I (shamefully) didn’t see the Star Wars connection. My eyes soaked in the set up of The Emperor’s Royal Guards and equating them to golems, then traveled to Vader (who I didn’t recognize as Vader), then to The Emperor, and it wasn’t until I focused on the symbol on the throne that the entire piece snapped together. After feeling wowed, then silly, I retraced the path my eyes took through the work and enjoyed it again.

The three of them, tirelessly standing guard, painted a scene…

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Holy Gods! The lock popped! Carmen dropped the lock picks. She worked the thin, rough edge of the barely cracked open, dark wood door. Her fingers, used to more delicate work, ached. Inch by inch–have to get in–it opened just enough. Scraping herself badly on the wood, she wiggled through, and forced it shut behind her. I can always buy more tools, but can’t unkill myself if the temple guards best Ragan and Kelmer. She tried not to think of the men fighting in the outer room. “I’ll let them in if they call out.” Her brow knotted. Her conscious called her a liar. Carmen patted her back-up tools and, trying to ignore the sting of betraying her remaining friends, she kept her shoulder pressed into the deep grooves of the door—oak and smoke?—and flicked the switch to drop the latch. Why does it smell like smoke? Forced pounded into the door. Like when she had twisted to avoid the minotaur’s sharp, old-blood stained horns only to have its wide, flat head plow into her sternum, Carmen flew away. She gripped at the snapping pain in her shoulder. Reflexes tucked her head, rolled her, and put her back on her feet facing the door to see the new horror chasing her. Decades of dust puffed from the oak. Amazingly, it held. She groaned. What in Kolity hit the door? The cloud leant a holy air to the wood. “Dear Gods of Oak, save this soul.” She stifled a moan, scrambled to it, and managed to get the crossbeam to engage. An angry wail screamed down the hall. She jumped back. Another slam rung against the wood. Another puff of dust filled the air. This one lighter, as though the door could yawn at whatever was trying to break it down. Her gaze went to the white-steel hinges. They didn’t even rattle. Xul’s—the group’s Jack of all languages, master of none, not even his own—translation of the script on the map came back to her. “And the door of brimm-oak, before the three statues, leads to the treasure.” Ready to see what most of the party had died for, Carmen turned. The large statues, set in platemail of their age, stood sentry around a smaller door, a door like the one behind her, one they could never enter. The statues… They’re looking at me and—impossible—breathing! © Ezekiel James Boston

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©2014 cgfelkerYou can fine more by Clinton Felker at:
http://cgfelker.deviantart.com/

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Update:
Okay, I didn’t change the visibility of my inspiration posts scheduled to post while I was on vacation and getting Birthday Bedlam ready to go. This means the posts went up, but, only I could see them… And I didn’t know that everyone else couldn’t.

So, um, sorry about that.
—Zeek (EJ)

With Project 1 (Working Title: Baxter’s Birthday) in the hands of my first readers, I’ve cracked open Samhain Surprise (Formerly Project 2). This will be a direct follow up to Baxter’s Birthday and, even though it continues with the same character, will stand on its own.

In other news, James Artimus Owen–the cover artist for One Horn to Rule Them All–has released a mostly inked version of his WIP. Really looking forward to getting this hot anthology in my hands and reading the other stories… particularly the ones by Peter S. Beagle and Todd McCaffrey. Only one more month!

PS. James has hinted at possibly selling prints. I’ve got my fingers cross, wallet ready, and a space picked out for it on my wall.

Click to enlarge.
You can find more by and about James at:
http://coppervale.livejournal.com
http://www.heretherebedragons.net