Stories from a clever mercenary in a wild world.
I tend to get a picture in my head and draw it over and over and over until I feel I’ve actually drawn it well.
In this case I was desperately trying to come up with a silhouette for the cover of The Badlands Job. Granted, we’re still in the editing stage (somewhat complicated by the launch of the River Rebellion), but since cover art is hard and inspiring, I figured it wasn’t too early to start.
Before I realized that large tents are unwieldy for medieval/Renaissance transportation, her flaming ring of fire was just suspended with nearly invisible cables. Cirque du Solei would have been proud.
There is an astonishing lack of glass trees on the internet. I can see a resplendent work of green glass in my minds eye, but I can’t quite translate it to paper. That’s what words are for, I guess.
I had this idea the other day…Zare Caspian t-shirts. One friend got excited, another looked at me like I was crazy. I know, I know…it’s not Star Wars or a movie or part of internet pop culture like Looking For Group or XKCD (yet). But this is the age of fandoms, and wearing your geekery proudly. I have a collection of geeky t shirts that just make me happy.
But what books have t-shirts? Would anyone even wear a book based t-shirt? I think so. If someone had given me a Misty of Chincoteague t-shirt when I was 12 I would have worn it into the ground and asked for another.
Pride & Prejudice has t-shirts. So does Percy Jackson. (Granted, Percy Jackson has a movie, also, and so does P&P, but they are books first and foremost, more than even LotR at this point, in culture’s eyes).
As it turns out, there are plenty of books that have t-shirts. Best sellers and required reading, but still.
Then I got to thinking…what book would I wear a t-shirt for? Possibly Pride&Prejudice. Or Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie. If I found a cool Beowulf t-shirt I might wear that. As much as I like The Hunger Games, I wouldn’t wear a Hunger Games t-shirt just on principle (merchandising seems to fly in the face of the books, doesn’t it?).
The Attolia Books. Definitely the Attolia Books. In fact, why aren’t there any of these? Google reveals only a handful of sad little Cafe Press designs. I wonder if I could design one.
Basically, if there was a cool t-shirt for a book that I loved, and it was a reasonable price, there is a good chance I’d buy it.
Couldn’t hurt to tamper around with Zare Caspian design ideas. Maybe, if nothing else, I’ll make myself a cool t-shirt to wear. Maybe someone else will want one, too.
The Legend of Zare Caspian 