The internet is a really cool way to connect people across the globe. Yet, for all its awesomeness, these connections can be too easily severed when someone goes offline for whatever reason and you never hear from them again. I’ve had this happen several times over the years I’ve been online gaming, and once again it struck when The Summoner’s cover designer’s web site shut down with no idea of what happened and no way of finding out. I hope he’s OK because he did a really great job of Frankensteining at least six separate stock photos to create the original cover that still graces the paperback version.
While it’s a great cover, it doesn’t really strongly brand the series — something I decided I wanted when I put book 2 out. So I asked a new designer to touch up the cover and do some magic with the branding. See the result for yourself:
Looks pretty cool, huh? 🙂 And there’s no doubt this is book 1 in a series. I’m really pleased with the look and plan to use this designer going forward — he makes such epic fantasy illustrations, that I want to hang them as posters on my wall! Now I just need to finish book 2.
And on that note…
I took a small break from writing this past month, which is ultimately a good thing. See, I’m not one of those plot everything ahead of time writers. I explore the story and get to know my characters as they react to situations and sometimes surprise me. While I know the main characters pretty well, I have several new characters and more fleshed out side characters that needed some loving. So, while it means no book out for summer which is a bummer, it does mean that when it does come out, it will hopefully be well worth the wait.
May the rest of the summer be free of Mother Nature’s wrath and may yours be enjoyable! I need to get back to writing… so blog you again next month! 🙂