Getting the visuals right

Emily Voss is thin, tough, wiry, with a couple of piercings, tattoos, pale skin and a tendency to dress in dark colors. That probably sounds detailed, but it isn't. It leaves a lot to the imagination. I only ever describe one of her piercings. I never describe any of her tattoos, or their locations. I say she's wearing ripped jeans and a leather jacket, and I let the reader infer the combat boots from the context.

That's deliberate. When you read a novel, the images form in your head, not mine. My job is to set the tone and leave you room to fill in the rest - which is why the same book feels different to each reader.

But some things I have to paint for you, because you have no external reference for them, or because the details have to be a certain way for the story to work.

The nuclear shelter

This image is a place in Philadelphia where something terrible happened to Emily seven years before the book opens. It's also a place she has to return to, knowing what happened there and yet not yet understanding the half of it.

It's an important location, in Emily's past, in her present, and in her future, if she manages to have one.

I can't draw so I used AI to bounce ideas around until I saw something that gave me the atmosphere I was after. It doesn't exactly match the scene as I imagine it, but it gets some of the way there. The charcoal-drawing style is doing as much work as the elements in the image. I'm trying to convey a sense that the place has been waiting, in a way.

You'll have to tell me if it works. Maybe you can come back to it once the book is released and the scenes are painted with words as well as pictures.

The Cover

I've received the first draft of the cover design and I'm fairly happy with it, although some changes are in the works.

The Urban Fantasy section of every bookshop is a wall of variations on the same image: hero with a weapon, facing the camera, urban backdrop, some visible element of magic. The genre needs covers to be recognizable, which makes originality difficult and risky.

I've opted to have Emily facing away. She isn't glamorous, and I'd rather readers imagine her face as a function of her character, rather than have me pick one.

What about a cover makes you reach for a book? Let me know, I read every email.

And while we're on the subject of books...

Author Spotlight

I used to talk about the work of other authors in this newsletter, and I'm going to start doing that again, a little, from time to time.

On this occasion, I want to propose one list of giveaways around the theme of speculative fiction (primarily fantasy), as well as three authors whose work you might be interested in, that you can explore, although the genres are a little different to my own.

First, the giveaways.

Free tales of the Fantastical is the title, and clicking on the banner above, or this link right here, will take you to the (long) list of samples, previews, prologues and books available for download.

Now, two free-to-read items:

The Survivors by Richard Rimington

In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.

Her plan to avert galactic catastrophe will unite a band of survivors who have faced every imaginable danger and disaster. 

This is a prequel to a longer work by the same author.

Click to go to "The Survivors"

Haunted House Flippers by K.L. Brooks

A haunted house is hard to flip—unless you’re Sam and Haley.

He’s a golden-hearted contractor. She’s a deadpan realtor with a gift for seeing ghosts. Together, they flip America’s most possessed properties.

In this funny paranormal short story collection, Sam and Haley tackle six fixer-uppers with serious supernatural baggage:

• In a 1980s Tudor revival, a flying set of keys kicks off an unexpected meet-cute.
• A 1920s mansion hides something deeply wrong in a mirror.
• Spiders aren’t the worst thing in this 1840s cabin - a ghost keeps using Haley as a time-share.
• Gremlins have taken over an 1880s Queen Anne Victorian, and they are not house-trained
• A 1970s ranch still echoes with the heartbreak of its resident rockstar
• Sam’s late grandmother is still calling the shots from beyond in a 1901 farmhouse

Each house needs more than just a coat of paint—they need an intervention or maybe an exorcism.

Click to go to "Haunted House Flippers"

The Shard Born by Laurie Bowler

Some connections defy death itself. In a village carved from mist and secrets, an orphaned girl discovers that the most dangerous thing isn't grief - it's hope.

On the mist-shrouded edge of a rural English village, seventeen-year-old Kali Peterson is haunted by loss, thrust into a world of ancient secrets after the sudden death of her parents. Sent to live with her enigmatic aunt, Kali’s new home is a labyrinth of shadows—where every locked door hides a story, and every villager’s glance hints at tragedies long buried.

A spellbinding Gothic Romance that weaves grief, supernatural mystery, horror and forbidden desire into an unforgettable story. If you love atmospheric settings, tortured heroes, and love that transcends the boundaries of mortality, then you'll be consumed by this dark, beautiful novel.

Go To "The Shard Born" on Amazon

That's it for this newsletter. Thanks as always for taking the time to read.

Nick.