Hello my friends!  I have a lot going on. A lot a lot.

But you know what? It's good stuff. I like it.

The Expo was great - someone wants to license a piece of my art, ahhhh, and someone else scolded me about selling my for too little. Thanks for the support, random strangers!

We're making some serious progress on the manuscript for She Is the End. Here's an excerpt of a conversation with Alex:

Alex: The showdown in Episode IV is SO GOOD, honey. This might be better than the rooftop scene [in Episode VI]. Your book can't peak in Episode IV!

Me: Thanks! IT DOESN'T.

(I promise it doesn't.)

Anyway!

Since Tuesday is Museday (and sometimes the muse is killed by work, but not every week), I'm going to give you a little inspiration collage, which in turn was inspired by how much Joe Terzieva's Pinterest page for Lost Generation helped me get a feel for his book.

Here's a collage of stuff that inspires me when I think about Milo. His character card is going to be based on Mucha's Winter.



Oh, Milo. So angry. So sad.

:)

Now, as for the Review-a-Thon... it's gonna be freakin' amazing!!! I hope you're telling everyone and their cousin's dog  to post reviews on the 19th. I'm so excited!

Authors, if you want in on our review exchange, please email me at cara.c.weston@gmail.com to get on the list!

Finally....

Strap on your hacking gloves, screw in your neon lights, and PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK:

Deus Hex Machina by Amanda Orneck:
A devout hacker collaborates with a streetwise gang leader to investigate magic in dystopic Orange County.

Y'all don't even know how much I like cyberpunk dystopias. Am I headcanoning Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie from 1995 as the main characters? Yes. Yes I am.

Have a wonderful evening!

First things first: We're in THIRD PLACE!  OMG man, I'm so jazzed about that.  I love being able to say that even for a brief moment, DHM was winning this here contest.  There's still a month to go, and a lot can happen in 40 days, but for now, we're there!

Okay, I'm about to head back into the world of DHM, but I wanted to share some inspiration images that I've found that describe the feel of the book. Now, these aren't mine, they are from artists on Deviantart, but they give you a better idea of what DHM is about.  First up is a hacker:

This is part of a painting called "Hostile Takeover" by Omen2501, and it does a great job of illustrating the sort of hacking gear Isidore RAM might be dealing with -- well, minus the pool of water (probably?).  I dunno, water might be an interesting medium for an interface. Hmmm...I'm going to need to think more on that.

Secondly is the racing mech:

This awesome concept was created by muzzoid on Deviantart. When Isidore heads into the world to investigate the mystery she stumbles on in the Grid, she gets caught up in a mech gang headquartered in the Tustin blimp hangers.  Granted, by this time Tustin is beachfront property, so that's a little different.

In any case, this is the sort of story I'm writing, and I hope it gets you excited to read it!  Now off to get some writing done so you CAN read it!