To go along with the expanded distribution of Not Gods But Monsters, the future addition of A Prison of Flesh for the same, and the upcoming release of Book 3, both Books 1 and 2 are now permanently discounted on the Kindle eBook marketplace.
Not Gods But Monsters eBook to have expanded distribution
Using Smashwords, I've submitted the eBook version of Not Gods But Monsters to be available to a growing distribution of retailers, including Kobo, Scribd and Apple. The title should start showing up on theses retailers' websites over the next couple days.
Win a Digital Copy of The Fifth Era of Man on Goodreads (Aug 17 - 31, 2018)
Visit Goodreads.com from August 17th - 31st, 2018 to be able to enter in Giveaway Contests for one of 100 Kindle (MOBI) copies of The Fifth Era of Man.
The Process: Creating a Cover Painting (Part 2)
Part the second, which goes after part the first. If you haven't read the first part, go here to get an idea of the steps taken to reach this point. At this stage, with the sky box and distant background elements close to completion, all work shifted to adding details to the foreground structures.
The Process: Creating a Cover Painting (Part 1)
Before each book can be prepared for print, a cover illustration must be created. A lot of the time, this happens well in advance of a tangible release date. While the illustrative work for some of my other books has been largely character-focused, for this project I wanted to try something a little different.
Digital Sketchbook: Various
For those of you following my Instagram account, you probably know I recently purchased Wacom Intuos tablet/pen in an attempt to work on more digital pieces. As someone whose spent multiple decades as an exclusively-physical media person, this took time, like relearning how to walk. In that time, I've pulled together a handful of various character and creature sketches.
Fifth Era Sketchbook
Unlike my previous books, where there was sizable effort to produce support artwork as part of the world-building process, the development of The Fifth Era of Man took on a more minimalist approach. While there are no character illustrations, a small batch of sketches were created for some of the armor and weaponry found in the story.
The Fifth Era of Man - Semanifestures
One of the major elements of The Fifth Era of Man is the usage of semanifestures by the Progenitors known as Prae and Erudatta. This special ability, while having all the appearance of magic, is rooted in the experience of a highly-advanced scientific society.
Map of The Fifth Era of Man
Much like what was done for Not Gods But Monsters, a part of the pre-writing process was spent creating a visual representation of the world.
The Art of TFEOM: Cover Illustration
For my first stand-alone title, The Fifth Era of Man, it was my thought to try something different for the cover artwork. Unlike previous books, I shied away from a more traditional painting, instead choosing to do a mixture of hand-drawn ink on paper and digital color.
