It's getting there, honest! There are 1.5 scenes to write, and the end will be reached. (And then there'll be endless edits and rewrites...) But progress on the fifth Artisan-Sorcerer novel is moving forward. I have the front cover waiting. Watch this space for the reveal. There are new covers for the others in the series, too. A publication date? I'm not going to rush this. The end of October, perhaps? Is that too optimistic? Time will tell.

Our Lives in Books , compiled and edited by Bob Stone, should be available on Amazon by Thursday July 23rd. One of my non-fiction peices, Reading is a Journey , is included in its pages, and I'm really looking forward to reading what everyone else has to say about their favourite novels. Here's the contents list: Click on the image to view it larger

 

  In recent weeks, I've been busy creating new book covers as I have almost finished writing the first draft of the 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel. It's been tricky ensuring the details on the covers are right, that the figures look exactly like the characters in the story in my head, and that the covers, when viewed together, present a clear visual theme to prospective readers. I'm not ready to reveal the covers just yet. I need to sit with the designs for a while, waiting to make sure they're right. The image above is an older "explainer" graphic, which I will need to update to match the new, improved covers. I've now pinned-up print-outs of the covers so I can patiently study them over the next week or so. There is so much to consider, such as text size, visual language, creating a visual hook, and so on. Back in my art school days I took Design, and Critical Studies, amongst other subjects. The courses didn't touch on book cover design, unfortunately, ...