Wow! What a whirlwind-ride it has been to bring this book to the world. As I look at this website, I am totally blown away and amazed by the talent of the contributing artists that I was blessed to find. Their individual efforts brought my mental creations to life in a way that far surpassed my wildest expectations! It is with that in mind, that I want to sing their individual praises.
First, I want to recognize Laura Carson, the young lady responsible for the illustrations in the book. I came into contact with her through a friend of a friend. I had just finished the first draft of the book, when I decided I wanted to have illustrations. I sent her the book and after she read it, she sent me her initial sketches. I was floored! It was almost like she was in my mind and saw what I saw when I was writing it. Well, that’s not completely true. Her drawing of the Vothax looked nothing like how I had pictured the flying dragon-horse . . . However, I loved her vision of it so much, that I actually went back into the book and changed the description of the monster to match her drawings!
Next, is Mr. Duncan Long. His cover artwork is amazing! You can see a lot of Duncan’s work on illustrations he has done for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Delirium Books, Ballistic Media, American Media, Fort Ross, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and many small publishers. I found him on the Internet and working with him was a real pleasure! As a first time author, I had found several things about the self-publishing world to be very daunting, but the one thing that went as smoothly as silk, was the creation of my book’s cover artwork, thanks to Duncan. He walked me through the entire production process and set me totally at ease. He asked me for a general description of the characters to be used on the cover, which I provided, and the next thing I know, there they were! Right out of my head and on to the cover! He did it all from just general descriptions . . . well, that’s not 100% accurate either. When I was writing the book, I visualized Jesse looking like my middle son, Nick. So I sent Duncan his eighth grade picture and said, “Make Jesse look like him, but lose the braces and glasses, and make his hair dark and shaggy.” Yes, world . . . Duncan did it perfectly, and Jesse’s face is that of my son when he was younger. I also sent him a copy of the sketch Laura did of the Ghavwey, and he reproduced them flawlessly!
Finally, the man responsible for the amazing 3D artwork seen on the website is Kristopher Lee. As I am self-publishing, that means I’m self-marketing as well. I decided that a book trailer was the way to go, but I had seen several book trailers on-line and most were sort of boring, kind of like glorified Power Point slide shows. I wanted mine to be live-action, but writing sci-fi/fantasy poses a lot of problems for a ‘low budget,’ self-produced, live-action trailer. Enter, Kris Lee! I stumbled across his 3D animation demo reel on the Internet and had an instant connection with him from the moment I contacted him. He took Laura’s drawings of the Ghavwey, K’thul, and Shadow Knight and recreated them in their 3D forms, as well as, taking other creatures from the pages of the book and conceptualized them and created them from scratch! The live-action footage is being shot soon, and then Kris is going to use his digital magic to animate the monsters and bring them to life in the video!
All three of these artists are amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone who could use their professional services. You can find links to both Duncan and Kristopher’s sites on the Secret of Otherworld site, and you can contact Laura through Jesse Steele’s fan sites on both Facebook and MySpace. As for me . . . I will be using their talents again for book two of the Otherworld trilogy, ‘Jesse Steele and the Shadow Knight of Otherworld’. Until then, thanks guys! I am not only thrilled and humbled by being able to use your art in the telling of my story, but I am also blessed to be able to call you all friends!
KUDOS!
January 12th, 2010Reflections
January 11th, 2010As I sit here at this old keyboard yet again, I reflect upon the amazing journey I have just taken. I remember growing up and my mom always telling me, “Robin, you’re going to be a great writer one day.” Of course, growing up, all I wanted to do was play music, so I would just smile and tell her, “No, Mom, I’m going to be a rock star.” Life sure has a funny way of changing one’s priorities.
Although this new journey began for me back in 1993, it wasn’t until July 7, 2007 that I took its first steps. I woke up from a VERY vivid dream at 3:00 A.M. with a strong sense of déjà vu and a compelling urgency to write it down so I wouldn’t forget. The dream contained every little detail of the ‘Otherworld’ trilogy; all the plots, subplots, and the main characters, complete with their personalities. It was so intense and familiar that I knew I had to write it down so I could preserve all the detail. Wouldn’t you know it? At three o’clock in the morning, I couldn’t find a pad of paper to save my life! After rummaging through the entire house, I ended up in my recording studio, rifling through the drawers where I keep lyric notebooks. I found one dated 1993 and started flipping through pages, trying to find a blank page to use. What I found nearly knocked me off my feet! In those pages, I ran across sketches of some of the characters in my dream, as well as a two page, hand-written synopsis! It then dawned on me why it all seemed so familiar . . . I had the SAME dream in 1993 and had woke up and said, “Wow, I’ve got to write this down so I don’t forget it.” So I did . . . then promptly lost the notebook. Go figure.
I started writing ‘Jesse Steele and the Secret of Otherworld’ the very next day. It wasn’t an easy task trying to juggle a job and family, especially with four of my six kids still at home. In fact, the only time I had to write was late at night, and I remember several nights, falling asleep at the keyboard and waking up to find that I had typed several pages of a single letter that my hand fell on while I slept. But all in all, the story unfolded organically and the book virtually wrote itself.
It took nearly a year for the first draft to be completed and another year and a half to complete the many following drafts and edits. During that time, several events happened in my life. I became a grandfather and I lost my mom. My only regret in this entire journey is that my mother was not able to read my novel before she passed away. I know she would have been proud . . . and probably would have said, “I told you so.”
So, here I am, once again at this keyboard, working on book two of the trilogy, as well as a couple of other projects. I am a writer, just as my mother predicted. But whether I’m ‘great’ or not is not for me or even my mom to decide . . . it’s up to you, the reader. It is however, my sincerest hope and prayer that as you read Jesse’s adventures, you will allow him and his extended family, Javier, Kai-ying, and Sarah to enter your minds and hearts as I did, and share with them their love, sorrow, pain, and triumph. It truly is an amazing journey, and it’s just starting. Thank you for making it with me.