WRITING JOURNAL: With LONGSTAR coming out soon and ORUS in the pipeline for next year, it’s time to start thinking about marketing and promotions, and one of the most cost efficient ways to spread the word about your new book release is to give a bookmark to every single human being you pass on the street. So, today, we sent off our order for 1,500 bookmarks (we use PrintPlace.com). These were designed in my ancient and decrepit version of Adobe Illustrator that is probably older than some of my readers.
Category: <span>Art</span>
I’m always on the lookout for inspiration, and science fiction art has always been my first destination for ideas. I curate one of the largest-ever science fiction-themed Pinterest boards, called Starships & Heroes, and I update it almost daily. It has thousands of images from thousands of artists, from vintage to contemporary. Check it out!
Scroll down for my visual arts blog posts…
WRITING JOURNAL: Got the markers out this morning and spent the entire day filling my entire fifteen-foot-long whiteboard wall with intricate plot details and awful situations (and a few extraordinary opportunities) for our friends Se Jong, Nkiru, Littlefeather, Toroni, Rupe, Zia and Arni. Unfortunately, I can’t show you the whole whiteboard because SPOLERS, but here’s a tiny corner with the concept for one of the exotic locations.
As a science fiction writer, I’m always on the lookout for inspiration, and art has always been my first destination for ideas. The images below are updated in real time…
As a hiker and long-time resident of the Blue Ridge mountains, I have an up-close and personal relationship with our native black bear population. Actually, not that up close, of…
It’s been a big week in my mailroom. Not only did I get my first proof copy of the paper edition of my upcoming novel GRONE, I also received a bit of original artwork from one of the most respective visual artists in Hollywood and the world of science fiction: John Eaves. It’s a sketch of one of his concept designs for the USS Enterprise NX-01 for the show Star Trek: Enterprise. Y’all know I’m a big Star Trek fan AND a fan of sci-fi concept art, so getting a sketch from Mr. John Eaves himself thrilled me to the core.
Here’s the story of how it happened:
The closest thing to fine art in the world of science-fiction blueprints, Franz Joseph’s original deck plans of the “Fabulous Starship Enterprise” fired the imaginations of an entire generation of kids, myself included, and created a energetic fandom that led to the revival of Star Trek and its eventual status as a pop-culture juggernaut.
Created in the style of Franz Joseph’s original deck plans of the “Fabulous Starship Enterprise” these fan-produced Klingon blueprints by Mike McMaster kicked off five decades of Star Trek blueprint fandom.
When I was a kid back in the 1970s and 80s, I wanted to be a starship designer. So, I did it. My mom, a patient, wonderful and talented woman…