Jarrat and Stone are back ... and I'm stunned

Words fail me. I mean ... words ... just ... fail. What can I say? Have a look at these, and be amazed:

Ooof. It's like looking at stills from the movie. These are two "renders" out of a set of 10, all of which are online at Jade's Adventures in 3D -- and they're also uploaded at about twice this size, so go ahead, click the pic to see the larger shot. The Jarrat renders went up first, telling a scene from his POV. The Stone renders went up yesterday, telling the same scene from his POV.

They leave my fingers itching to write NARC. And I can't, because I'm churning my way steadily through Hellgate, and 2010 is about getting that whole series finished. This is sheer, unmitigated torture! I ask myself, could I possibly squeeze in a Jarrat-and-Stone short piece, something "only" around 50,000 words or so? In fact, there *is* a story which has been slated to be the high-action prologue to the next NARC novel -- and you all know what happened last time I did this. STOPOVER was supposed to be the opening "kaboom" for APHELION, and it ended up being taken right out and published on its own, because at 45,000 words it was a) too long to be an opening act, b) would have pushed the overall length of APHELION to 230,000 words, which is monstrous; and c) was quite large enough to be published as a pocket-size thriller.

Hence, I find myself literally, and enthusiastically, adrool ... and asking the question in all seriousness: can I squeeze in a NARC short, if I work, very very hard, fueled by the rush of seeing these pictures?

Stay tuned!

And please do link over to Jade's blog, where pictures like this are commonplace, what's more, she'll tell you how to do it yourself:

Cheers,
Mel

ICE, WIND AND FIRE ... break out the bubbly!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this one, above, only needs to say a half a dozen or so:

IT'S HERE, IT'S PERFECT ... THANK GODS!

To be just a little more wordy about it: the proof copy of ICE, WIND & FIRE was delivered to DreamCraft a few minutes ago. It was checked thoroughly, and Jade popped this shot and emailed it over to me. I'm uploading it right now, and I can tell you that the journey to Amazon.com has already begun. However, if you want the paperback ahead of time, you can already get it direct from the manufacturer, CreateSpace. (Amazon takes about an extra 10 days to get a title into their catalog). If you're in a hurry, you can in fact get it right now. If you need if for a birthday, something time-sensitive, here you go:

Buy the damn' thing now!

And a heart-felt apology to Rie, who donated the copy to be quite literally guillotined out of its bindings. Rie: You are looking at YOUR copy in the above image. Jade assures the both of us, it will be back in the mail to your address tomorrow -- it's too late to make it to the post office today.

Speaking of Jade, did you see this:

This was a mockup cover done to illustrate a point she was making about how 3D art is perfect for book covers ... notice the byline. The illustrious author of this piece is one John J. Doe. I took one look at that cover and said, I WANT IT. Now, don't hold your breath, folks: I have Hellgate to finish this year, and a NARC novel to do, and MINDSPACE is being packaged very soon. But this piece here is calling to me. It's seducing me. When the book comes back your way, it probably won't be called by the same title, but you will see it wrapped around a Keegan. Because every time I look at it I get this weird feeling that whispers in the back of my writer's brain, "You know this book, you've told this story, you just have to remember what it is..."

Is that weird, or what?

Cheers, guys!
Mel

ICE, WIND & FIRE -- five stars at Rainbow Reviews!

Many thanks to Rainbow Reviews for reviewing the twentieth anniversary reissue of ICE, WIND AND FIRE, and it's my pleasure to report ... five stars!

Here's the complete review: http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/?p=4141

Brilliant ... I'm gratified -- delighted!

Now, if the proof copy of the paperback would just be delivered. And I know it's Christmas holding everything up, but it's 10 January already and patience is wearing thin.

While I'm on the subject of thanking people vastly for their input, feedback and assistance, I must thank Jade yet again, for the most amazing NARC visualizations! Have you seen these:

Capt. Kevin Jarrat

Capt. R.J. "Stoney" Stone

Sgt. J.C. "Gil" Cronin: and look at the unit badge!!

Sgt. J.C. "Gil" Cronin displays the descant squad's much vaunted physique!

I'm reliably informed that the next character to be tackled head-on is Harry, and I can't wait to see this. Makes my fingers itch to get back into these books. However, I just picked up the threads of HELLGATE, and am promising myself that I'll go right through both books without letting myself be diverted again. (This should have been the plan for 2009, but GLBT Bookshelf came along, and the rest is history.)

So ... massive thanks to Jade, whose blog/site has developed into one of the most gloriously beautiful sites on the web: http://3d-adventures.blogspot.com/ ... and to Rainbow Reviews for a wonderful review of ICE, WIND AND FIRE!

Cheers,

Mel

Jarrat and Stone on Christmas Eve...

It's Christmas Eve here, but I could swear it was Christmas morning. I just received one of the best presents I ever had, and better yet, it's something I can share with you. It's this:

They came through as attachments on an email about 90 minutes ago ... and I'm floored. I am seriously still on the deck, wondering what hit me. These characters just came to life -- they just walked out of my imagination and onto the screen, as surely as if a movie were being made! Jarrat and Stone have become real, live entities.

You can see the original blog post where they appeared here, and also the excerpt from EQUINOX which they were used to illustrate, here. (I've chosen an excerpt from each of the 27 titles on my backlist, and I'm putting up 2 or 3 a week. I have half a dozen up now -- Jade put up a couple of them for me, in particular those which are ... illustrated. Like this. Jade: "thank you" is too simple a thing to say, but if there's better words, I haven't learned them!

Oof.

Christmas Eve is warm, humid; the overcast is breaking up at last -- it actually rained last night! We were supposed to get a storm, but if it broke, I didn't see it. Christmas is upon us, so...

Merry Christmas to all! May the season be happy, safe, and one to remember!

Cheers,

Mel