Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom cover revealed!

It's been a long time coming but the day is here that I can finally reveal the brand spanking new cover for my second steampunk book, Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom! As promised, my awesome blog readers will get the first peek a few hours before I spread the word all over the Internet. As I know, these are slated for a June release. I don't know the exact day but when I do, I'll be doing some really fun pre-orders with special features for my "Sky Pirates" new and old. Also, be on the lookout for a huge blog tour which is in the works now.

First off, here is the new tweaked cover for the first Thomas Riley novel which has been re-edited and with the first chapter of book two at the end. (Out on Zova Books)The new chapter will not only provide a fun teaser for book two but will also answer a few questions left by book one.

Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom is a darker book, a true act two if you will where a now even more famous Thomas and Cynthia leave their home country of West Canvia again in search for unlikely hero, Sam Burgess. In their latest adventure, Thomas and Cynthia's loyalty is put to the test as they face a new and even crazier evil genius, Doctor Wolfgang Gerhard who is in control of the very secret and world changing airship, the Maelstrom, which has the mysterious ability to control the weather. So without further adieu... the cover for Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom by the fabulous, Will Routon.

Debutantes & Divas

As I hinted in previous posts, Lizzie has started a new children's clothing company! We're very excited as she's a really talented seamstress and has a unique eye for fashion. This kind of started with they idea that she would make top quality princess dresses for girls but it's blossomed into much more than that. In addition to the dresses, she also makes jackets, fashion dresses, skirts and tops. And that's just the beginning. There are plans for a bunch of new styles and a line of childrens books. (Be on the lookout for a really fun Kickstarter soon.)

She already vended at The Chocolate On The Beach Festival in Ocean Shores, WA last weekend and this Saturday, we'll be at The Fox Island Craft Fair in Fox Island, WA. There are a ton of events coming up and of course I'll keep you posted on where we'll be.

In more cool news, Will Routon, the same artist that did the Thomas Riley cover art, did the first princess (Princess Mia) logo that you see above and we're in talks now to hopefully have him do a lot more in the very near future.

In addition to the traveling, Debutantes & Divas has a
Facebook Page
Twitter Page
and Online Etsy Shop

Also check out some product pics from our test shoot:

January Blog Stats

It's that time again! January was a great moth blog-wise and the results are in with my old band, Fall With Me took the top views last month with my Nashville vs. Washington post coming in second and the Blackout/Wedding post getting the bronze. Of course, last place is solidly owned my this post, ole last place blog stats.

Nashville vs. Washington was so fun that I'm planning a Nashville vs. Washington Part 2 where I will explore general differences between the South and the North West. This one will include beer and more fashion to name a few topics.

In quick other news, I've been talking a lot with Zova Books in preparation for the book releases and with the fabulous Will Routon as he puts the finishing touches on the cover art for Thomas Riley and The Maelstrom.

Beer, Princesses, and Books

It's time for a little update on the Valentino family for a fun glimpse into some things coming up. While we've been in a sort of holding pattern on some things, we've also been gearing up for some really cool things in the future.

Beer

Everyone knows we love beer in this household. We're self professed (and official) Beer Knurds according to the Flying Saucer in Nashville. Adopting a snout to tail sort of attitude for beer, after drinking, we've been stripping and collecting the labels and caps on beer bottles for some fun art projects coming up. We then recycle the glass at a local collection center. If all works out as planned and the pieces turn out like we think they will, we might add these to a bazaar-style shop that we'll test out soon.

Princesses

 

Lizzie is a bad ass seamstress. She can make professional quality clothes in nearly every different style. After making a perfect replica Snow White and The Huntsman dress for Halloween for Kaya, we thought making princess dresses and kid's fashions would be a fun endeavour. So she's been working hard and perfecting her skills while building up some inventory for a clothing company which we'll reveal more about later. I thought it would be fun to have another you heard it hear first sort of post. So be on the lookout for kick ass kids clothes, and new original fashions. Also a kickstarter... gasp!

Books
I'm waiting for word on the dates for the reissue of Thomas Riley and the second book, Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom. I did get the almost finished cover art from the awesome Will Routon and I have to say I love it! It's an action packed piece that I feel like is a wonderful act 2 in the series. It has a darker feel than the first cover which fits the story nicely. I'm not allowed to show you yet and I was going to post a teaser but blogger isn;t recognizing my cropped image... Grrr. Sorry. As always, the second I hear anything about the books, I'll post it here first.

Thomas Riley Cover Art

It's official! The cover art for Thomas Riley is in. (Now I'm stoked to see what the whole thing looks like.) Anyway, enjoy!

The ebook will be available before the print version comes out on October 23rd on Echelon Press, but I'm not sure exactly when. Trust me, I'll let you know as soon as I do. I know I've blogged about this before, but the illustration was done by the magnificent Will Routon.

Go on... click it... I dare ya.

The Creation of Thomas Riley

As you know, all the artwork for Thomas Riley was done by Will Routon. He has done some really awesome work for me in the past for Fallon,(which I will blog about in the future)and again he knocks it out of the park with his concepts, imagination and pure freaking skill.

Another cool feature Will brings to the table (no he is not an action figure) is that he can visualize from written descriptions. Every time he does work, I send him a character description and we talk a little (usually over some sushi & sake.)about what I am looking for. What happens next is Will uses his secret power where he can actually crawl into my mind and see exactly what I am thinking. Every character or scene he has drawn has come back as a freakishly identical model of how I envisioned the characters.

I am going to show you the process, well, because it is really cool!

Part 1
First off, Will made a show piece from my character descriptions. Here, he jumped right into the genre with a daguerreotype portrait. It looks like he did this with a pen...


Part 2
After making sure he had nailed the characters down (and indeed he did), Will moved on to an actual scene which we had discussed. I wanted it to have a movie poster style. Here is one of his first sketches.


Part 3
The Next Step was adding texture, light and details to the sketch. You can see the characters and derigibles take shape. He also removed the robot which he just thought was cool but unfortuneatley was not in the story. I think the expressions also are a wonderul indication of their personality. Even in the first show piece, you can get an idea of what Thomas and Cynthia are like.


Part 4
Then out of nowhere, Will brings the illustration to a new level, adding a lot more lighting effects, clouds, depth and balance to the composition. Notice that he armored and modified the derigible which is how they are in the novel. Again he must have gotten into my head, becasue I don't recall telling him that. I was giddy when I received the first sketch, by now I was beside myself with excitement.



Part 5
Finally, Will litterally goes above and beyond. He puts more depth in the clouds, gives Thomas and Cynthia belts, armlets, and gadgets as well as frontal cannons on the derigible. I still marvel over the lighting in Cynthia's hair and the filigree details in her corset and sleeves. Go on, look closely. There are 100 details which I personally see more and more of each time I look at this. Notice the relfection in the goggles, and the tear drop shaped windows. The list could go on and on. At this point, the illustration looks more like a photo than it does a cartoon.


Fin
Keep in mind this didn't happen overnight. This took a little over two months as Will spent countless hours on this piece. There were about 12 other reenditions of this with tweaks and little changes that I opted not to show you because I am pretty sure you got the point. I hope you enjoyed this little walk through of what it took to make the cover for Thomas Riley. The best part about it is that instantly the reader knows what to expect from the story without reading a single page. I wish Will had a website so I could link you to him, but he doesn't. He is a true artist that does what he loves while avoiding a lot of internet presence. Then again, judge for yourself. With this kind of talent, does he really need a web site?