Something super cool... Walked into a local bookstore a while back, and they had my hardcover displayed face-out right next to Jeff Vandermeer’s newest Southern Reach novel!
So amazing when a store sees the cryptic abstract cover and is like “this is cool” and puts it face-out. Plus Absolution has a similar chrome-foil element to my cover, so I thought they looked really nice together.
That’s all. Just a fun little something.
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Another small peek at the first chapter. Plus a new abstract design.
The first of many... But really though.
Still one of my favorite images of the surface of the moon. The contrast, the austerity… it speaks so strongly to my minimalist self.
This image features on the custom endsheets of the COLOR OF A MIRROR limited edition hardcover, providing a really cool shift from the black of the cover to the white of the pages.
Only 100 hardcover copies printed. Find it here:
colorofamirror.net
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Image credit: NASA & Project Apollo Archive
Custom Edits/Formatting: Me/ArtificeLux
TONIC (n.) - Badass, cybernetically-enhanced, industro-punk star of the dark future.
A WIP of my previous line-drawing post, this is my newest artwork for Color of a Mirror, featuring my main character!
Really trying to stick to my love of minimal, restricted color palettes (plus leaving it mostly black-and-white fits the noir feel of the book). A lot of work for me to figure out the lighting and materials--and then leaving her cybernetic arm disconnected was a late decision; I really like the asymmetry it provides, but I also love how it fits with her character arc.
This armor she's wearing is part of her concert attire, a reclaimed outer-space exosuit painted in a red-glow-in-the-dark finish. It's a piece of her character that I've always had an idea in my head of what it would look like, and to be able to finally visualize it like this is so much fun.
More progress to come on this.
(Painted entirely in Photoshop, with some 3D lighting reference work in Daz3D.)
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If you want to see Tonic's vibe from a music perspective, I have an ever-evolving playlist on Spotify. Periodically, if I hear something new that feels like her, I'll add it in, but overall I try to keep the flow nice.
And if you haven't had chance to read the book, there are still physical copies of the first printing or e-book, both available through my website.
Knife. I love this one; it can be so many different things.
Dragon, Coiled Around a Dwarven Column
(Actual Size: 1 inch x 1 inch)
It’s always nerve-wracking submitting writing for review, especially with the understanding that not every book is for everyone. Not to mention, some of my favorite books I didn’t finish the first time I picked them up. So yeah, reviews are very subjective.
So when I got my first critic review last week for Color of a Mirror from Kirkus Reviews, I was prepared for it to be some mixture of bad and good—and hoping for more of the latter. I’m so stoked to say that their final verdict was “Get It,” even going to on to call this unusual noir sci-fi story “Intricate, next-generation cyberpunk with a head-spinning finale.”
Just wow. Talk about head-spinning.
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A little about the book for those of you who may be new to this project: it centers around a cybernetically-enhanced musician who just wants to be a rockstar—which is apparently too much to ask. When one of her songs is used as the soundtrack to a viral homicide, she’s catapulted into the spotlight, only not like she’d imagined. Instead of following an action-heavy plot, the story is more focused on the interior dilemmas and relationships of the characters, as they strive to make it in a world that will crush them without a second thought.
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Check out the full Kirkus Review for a really good, spoiler-free write-up.
Sample the original soundtrack on Spotify and other major platforms.
And if all this makes you think you’d like to read the book, drop by my site here.