Much photo editing went into this cover! One of my earliest cover designs.
Today in 2018, I published my medical horror short story Side Effects May Vary. It’s one I wrote back in college(!), but there’s a lot of striking imagery in it that I still enjoy. You probably will, too–it’s a quick snack of a read.
I’d like to redo the cover sometime.
That is all!
Cover for THE WITCHING LICENSE; vector illustration by Danielle Williams
Today we’re celebrating The Witching License‘s FIFTH book birthday! Wow, that went by fast!
This was my first vector book cover illustration. This was extra difficult for me to make (I was, and still am, still not very adept with vector illustration), but my hard work paid off and it turned out nice. (About a year later, I took the moon, shrunk it, and used it on the back cover of The Capramancer Next Door)
This was also one of the first titles I made available in LARGE PRINT format. I’d like to do more of these in the future, especially now that Atticus would make that process a little easier.
If you’re in the mood for a bittersweet comedy about regrets, you’ll probably like this!
I’ve got two book birthdays for you today!
For the fantasy fan, we have The Capramancer Next Door, which has become a reader favorite. It turns 4 this year! This is one of my favorite books to give to newcomers because it’s got adventure, comedy, and talking goats, and if you’re down with that, you’re probably game for my other work.
Get your copy of THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR
Not into sweet and furry? Like Kafka more? You should check out my story The Bureaucrat: An Uncanny Satire. Especially if you’ve recently been trapped in a phone tree that made you want to punch a wall. This story can help you feel better (well, maybe not your fist, but your soul, sure).
Learn the fate of THE BUREAUCRAT
Everybody loves blue fire
Four years ago today, I published my dark fantasy short story Hello, Wizard with an ugly cover. (Last year, I changed that.)
Why am I mentioning chicken years with this book?
Because even though it’s a dark fantasy, there are chickens in it.
DISTURBING chickens.
That’s just the way I roll.
Find out what the heck chickens are doing in this short story
On this day five years ago, I released dreamy short story Day of Silence, Day of Sound. In this story, a woman living in a post-apocalyptic outpost discovers that sound is disappearing from the world. There is also a white shepherd dog, which is kinda neat.
I’d like to redo the cover sometime, but I’m not entirely sure what to put on it, to be honest with you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wow! Today is the 4th birthday of my epic sci-fi novel Steel City, Veiled Kingdom! (Better known round these parts by its nickname, SCVK.) Hoo, BOY that went fast. Seems like I just released it yesterday!
This is one of my most popular books. If you like your sci-fi novels heavy on the wonder with a little horror stirred in and peppered with humor, you might like it, too! Click the cover to find out more.
But what’s even MORE exciting is that this book’s little brother is on the way! That’s right, SCVK’s sequel is launching soon! It’s a stormy sci-fi drama called The Guests of Crooked Neck. It’ll be releasing first to Kickstarter in 2024. Check out the cover!
The Guests Of Crooked Neck is a moving science fantasy about grief, pride, and being seen. This standalone novel set in the Worlds of Everlush universe takes place soon after the events of Steel City, Veiled Kingdom–but you can read it as a standalone novel just fine.
As a story, Crooked Neck is the inverse of SCVK: where SCVK was an epic adventure spanning a few in-story years, exploring all corners of the galaxy through the eyes of a single character, Crooked Neck is an intimate drama switching between three main characters that stays put in one small town for a single weekend. But both books contain colorful characters and engrossing worlds.
If that sounds like it’s up your alley, I hope you’ll click the button below and join me on the journey of launching the second Worlds of Everlush novel!
Click here to be notified when The Guests of Crooked Neck launches!
Happy book birthday to DEBUTS AND DRAGONS (2019), a fun underdog story about a drab dragon! Here’s some art I’m working on of one of the characters, Pinnacle Smokebelcher:
He’s not a major character or anything, but with that name I couldn’t resist doodling him! Read DEBUTS AND DRAGONS today and see a ton more weird dragon names!
Happy Book Birthday to THE PURRFECT CHRISTMAS (2016), a heartwarming Christmas story that’s got it all: humor, ghosts, and pets teaming up to save a widow’s Christmas! It’s a hopeful and happy holiday story that makes an easy last-minute digital stocking stuffer, especially for young readers.
Today we celebrate 2 book birthdays. Yes, somehow I wound up publishing two stories on the same day (but different years). They’re also entirely different in tone.
From 2017, we have THE BUREAUCRAT, which is like something Kafka would have written if he had ever had the nasty misfortune of encountering a phone tree. It’s had two covers so far and I’m thinking it needs a third. Here’s the original cover (by me, when I was first learning how to photobash things) and the most recent cover (art by Christian Bunyan)
Get your copy of THE BUREAUCRAT
Next, we have THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR, from 2020. This one’s become one of my favorites–I think it’s because it has a lot of things I like in it (adventure, magic, talking animals, male and female co-leads, an optimistic ending). Also, people keep sending me smiling photos of themselves with the cover, which makes me happy, and not just because I illustrated he cover myself. 🙂
I hope to revisit these characters someday in a Christmas adventure! Ah, so much to write, so little time!
Celebrate with your own copy of THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR.
Today my dark fantasy short story Hello, Wizard turns three. (Three!! Where does the time go?)
To celebrate, I decided to redo the cover. Less grunge, more spooky, I think!
If you’re in an introspective mood and like a little edge to your fantasy, you’ll enjoy this short story.
(Also there are chickens.)