Hello again dear readers!
Well, 'future readers'. The book isn't out yet. That is how time works.
I only have two pieces of news for you today on this glorious morning, but they are substantial. Well, maybe not substantial but they make me happy.
First, in an unheard of story; I have submitted my final revised draft for The Life Engineered to my editor ahead of schedule! Or at least on schedule. I'm not late. Years from now when I bemoan never having made it as an author I will blame it on my inability to follow the traditional methods of the craft and doing things on time. Working with Clete Smith, my developmental editor, has been an absolute joy. I had a feeling that he 'got' the book and understood the characters and where I wanted to go with the story. I don't know what the future holds for this series of books but if I can somehow manage to have Clete edit all of them, I think we'll have better books for it.
Second, and this one is particularly exciting to me; we have a new book cover illustration!
God dammit it's gorgeous isn't it? The illustration is the work of my friend Eric Belisle. Eric is an amazing artist who's done work for Wizard of the Coast and Paizo Publishing and many others. He's also one of the first people who read The Life Engineered and I wanted him to do the cover because I knew from his comments about the book that he would do it justice. As you can see, he hit that one right out of the park. Much like my editor, I hope to be able to work with Eric again in the future on more books. Check out his other works here and if you're looking for someone to toss money at for art, consider his services.
There's still some work to be done for the design but with this illustration as a foundation, we're looking at a very strong start.
On a final note for this day: if you missed my appearance on the Sword & Laser panel at Nerdtacular, check out this cleaned up and edited version of the panel.
Cheers,
JF
