NaNoWriMo Book Covers

Here are my imaginary book covers for past years' NaNoWriMo novels, along with a brief storyline. All images and statemets are copyright by the author. 

2014 - Troubadour’s Test 

The troubadour Sir Loriano of Vayne must deal with corruption and deceit in the wealthy city of Candelei in order to save a drug dealer’s sheltered daughter from an exploitive marriage and release Lady Tora from the Women’s Quarters so they can continue their quest to the drakken mountain. 

2012 - City of Gold 

On a quest to the drakken mountain the troubadour Loriano of Vayne and Tora are out of funds when they reach the City of Gold, Candelei. Corvid, a wealthy merchant, hires Loriano to perform at a banquet celebrating his daughter Rose’s betrothal to Lord Landris Dalmar, brother to the evil Lord Gervane. When Tora hears the names, she faints and is taken into the Women’s Quarters. 

2010 - Troubadour Quest 

Sir Loriano of Vayne and the herbalist witch Tora cross the empty lands of Miratan together to reach the City of Gold, Candelei, on the way to the drakken mountain. They must avoid the fanatical Speakers of Light and Lord Gervane Dalmar’s witch hunters. 

2008 - Sacred Mountain 

Karié and other new Chosen adjust to life in the mountaintop community. During their initiation to the Creation of Life, Barok, carried away, forces himself on Napisti, who screams and falls into a deep trance from which she can’t be awakened. Under the High Priestess’s guidance, Karié, who enjoyed her initiation, follows Napisti into the vision and leads her back into the world, but Napisti cannot face a sexual relationship, one duty of Zophra’s Chosen. 

2005 - Sacrifice! 

Karié, 14 years old, reluctantly journeys to the Sacred Mountain to present herself to the goddess Zophra for Choosing. Among the 14 applicants are Napisti, believed to become the next High Priestess, Prince Barok, and the commoner Maran. Karié wants to live in the world, but at her Presentation at age 7, the goddess clearly favored her. 

New cover is up

My new cover for THE DARK LADY'S STONE is finally up on Amazon, Smashwords, and Kindle. Do check it out.
http://tinyurl.com/lntm6lc
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/356562
I've had excellent feedback on this cover and I hope you like it.
And take a look at the book. It's an in-depth inner and outer journey of the rulers and courtiers of a far-northern land going through transition where new gods seek to supplant the old. Both the representative gods have good and benevolent sides--and not-so innocuous aspects as well. As the storyteller warns: "Beware, O Priest, how you mock the gods."
The narrator, troubadour to the countess, is a witty, good-natured fellow with an ironic sense of humor. I enjoyed accompanying him on the journey while he reluctantly changes from a flirtatious court poet, noted for his blue eyes and clear tenor, to the key figure around whom change occurs. People at all levels of society get caught up in the struggle--count and countess, priests, lumbermen, mule drivers, a young lord, and a shaman/storyteller who mysteriously appears and disappears.

New Book Cover: Redux

Yesterday I drank my coffee, dusted off my hands, booted up my computer, and went to tackle the cover upload again. Open Firefox (check). Log into Create Space (check). Find Dashboard/Replace Cover (check). Browse (check). Choose file ...
How come all the Print cover art files are greyed out? I just uploaded one yesterday. I squint at the file menu and see that the other Print covers are .PDF and this new one is .JPG.
Merde!
Back to Square 0 and contact the artist.
The gods do not want me to use this new cover!
Or maybe it's Mercury Retrograde or something.

New book cover - Aarrghh!!

I really love the original yellow and red cover on DARK LADY'S STONE with Loriano playing to the Stone with the image of the Lady. Many people have commented favorably on it, but many others said it wasn't a good cover and would turn readers off.
So I finally got a new one to see what will happen and went to upload it to Create Space. It was endless frustration! I think The Gods are firmly against that new cover! Or maybe it's my resistance to change. First I couldn’t figure out where, on Create Space’s setup/ cover screen to input the new file. So I phoned them, and their representative quickly pointed it out. (Why I hadn’t seen that in the five times I’d looked???) So I hit “Upload cover." “Browse.” And I got a message to update Adobe on my browser. I don’t WANT Adobe on my Safari! Why did I get Firefox & Chrome except to have a browser with Adobe? And why do I need Adobe to upload a .PDF anyway? I kept hitting "Later" and "No." Create Space wouldn’t let me proceed. Update Adobe or else!
Back to Square 0. Open Firefox. Log into CS again. Find Cover Setup. Hit Browse. Choose File. I choose the file. Hit upload. And it starts loading—Ta-Da! Two-thirds of the way through a message flashes: Upgrade Firefox. Screw it! I hit Later. And thank the gods my cover file keeps loading. When it finally finishes it looks just like the old cover. I go back to my folder, double-check my artwork files—and it is the old cover!! And furthermore CS is reviewing my submission and I can’t make further changes until they finish. 
Aarrghh!

Tidbits ...

Life After RWA
     I get a lot fewer e-mails. I was on two RWA listserves and some days I'd spend over half the morning just reading it. At times I wonder what everyone is up to.

New Book Cover
    I'm getting a new cover for Dark Lady's Stone. It's got a quite different feel from the first cover, but it's beautiful, and I can't wait for the Create Space/Print version to arrive. I'm making little changes in the front and back matter to accommodate it.

Blood Moon
     Don't ask how many astronomical phenomena I've slept through, but I was determined not to miss this. I set my alarm for 2:45 a.m. and donned my winter coat and fleece lap robe. We turned out all the house lights--kind of spooky to navigate through the darkness--and gathered on the driveway. The moon hung over the field, a shining silver sliver. (Love the alliteration.) Stars were glorious--Orion, Sirius, Taurus, Pleiades. We waited, but nothing seemed to happen. Then zing! The red shadow advanced, creeping over the bright silver and soon the whole moon was covered. We watched for about 20 minutes, then the cold got to us and we retreated into the warm house.

My New Novella is Out

Last week I published my novella The Whitewood Kitarra on Amazon.com through Create Space. Sheri McGathy again designed a gorgeous cover. It will soon be available through Smashwords and Kindle as well.

In The Whitewood Kitarra, a young singer-poet, Sir Loriano of Vayne comes to the Karaskan court for Summerfest to find a new patron at Countess Elisse's prestigious tournament of verse. He must confront his past disgrace and learn to use his unique gifts in order to compete. We meet his master, Anton of Pareskon, and several troubadours and singers.

In the year since this story first appeared in Sword & Saga Press--thank you, Hunter Ligoure, for ongoing support--further research into 12th Century musical performance indicated minor changes in a couple of scenes. And I've also added a historical note.

Book cover does its job

Sheri McGathy's cover for Dark Lady's Stone is really working. 

Yesterday I went to Postal Annex to mail a copy of my book to a family friend. Another customer pointed at the cover, "Oooh! I want to read this one! And I've got some friends who'd like it, too." So I gave her several of the cards I've printed up with the Amazon and Kindle links. 

Then the manager (who was packaging the book) said, "Several local authors have sold a lot of books placing them here. We'd love to carry yours. It looks really interesting." 

So I came home and ordered half a dozen. 

Progress to publishing

Lots of happenings. I found a musician for the cover of The Dark Lady's Stone and the artist found a Hi Res version, as well as a big black Standing Stone. I checked out 2 versions of the cover with friends, wrote a blurb (That is HARD!), and I should have the final this weekend. The editor's had a few delays, but she'll try to get my manuscript done by the end of next week. Oooo! It's all so exciting!

New Adventure!

I'm deep in the throes of self-publishing The Dark Lady's Stone! I found a free-lance editor to go over my final manuscript for the little things I've undoubtedly missed--grammar, spelling, typos, missing words--and as a bonus she's a poet, who can help with Loriano's troubadour poems. I am also working with a cover artist to come up with a way to depict my story. She and I have spent many hours looking for suitable images on the web. It's a joyful and frustrating process. Standing stones are easy, but I hadn't realized how hard it is to find usable pictures of a guy in his early 20s with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes who doesn't look too modern or too wimpy. I wish I were a skilled enough artist to paint my own hero.