The Wonder Cabinet

Another Extraordinary Offer

2012-09-09T21:40:14Z

If the book DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS touched or inspired you, then you should also read the second volume in The Meditations, THE BARBIZON DIARIES - and now you can do it for free. It's a continuation of the themes in the first book, with heavier stories and greater aspirations to redemption. If you haven't read the first, start there (also for free); and if you have, you already know why you should read the second. http://coppervaleinternational.com/another-extraordinary-offer/

Tomorrow - THE DRAGONS OF WINTER is here!!!

2012-08-27T18:28:30Z

Tomorrow's the day!! The sixth Imaginarium Geographica book, THE DRAGONS OF WINTER officially goes on sale - and while I will be doing launch events at the Desert Ridge Barnes & Noble (Scottsdale) and Changing Hands (Tempe) as well as being a GoH at Coppercon 32 (Avondale), there will NOT be a formal signing tour. There ARE going to be a few opportunities for events: I'm still doing school and library visits, and I may be painting murals at some point in Texas and maybe Tennessee. I'll also be having a local event at Crossroads Books later in September - but that's it. There are several reasons, but the biggest are 1) I have a LOT of work on my plate, a lot of which is for a project I am bursting at the seams to announce; and 2) I WILL be doing a HUGE tour next year for the big finish to the series. So everything in its time. But I wanted to post this here, so those of you in far-flung locales who want signed copies won't be waiting for a local signing. The best place to get signed - and personalized books - is going to be directly from us, here. We'll have our copies in about a week, and will start shipping them the third week of September. Outside of that, I hope my readers will support your local bookstore - and I hope you all enjoy reading THE DRAGONS OF WINTER as much as I enjoyed making it!

Farewell, Ray Bradbury

2012-06-07T17:26:33Z

"This is The Man. He is the true son of Hal Foster." - Ray Bradbury, about me. Foster was the creator of PRINCE VALIANT, and from childhood on, Ray's favorite writer/illustrator. No father could have spoken any prouder words to a son, and it meant the world to me to receive them. They mean even more now. And they'll mean even more tomorrow. God protect your rocket, Ray, on this new magnificent flight. I am heartbroken with joy to have known you as I did, and I will love you forever.

The second volume of THE MEDITATIONS is now available!!

2012-05-14T22:29:59Z

The followup to DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS, Book II of The Meditations, THE BARBIZON DIARIES – A Meditation on Will, Purpose, and the Value Of Stories is now available for sale at the Coppervale Marketplace, and will very shortly be up at Amazon and B&N.com. It is gorgeous, moving, inspiring, and wrenching, in all the best ways. Early readers have already responded with five-star reviews at Goodreads. This is the trio: pdf, epub, and mobi, all in one zipped file, so you can read it on any device. All the DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS Kickstarter supporters will either be sent one directly, or given a link for a download. If DotD was my heart, this one is my soul – it’s the center of my personal mythology. Mythologies are huge, sweeping things. And the grandest stories are those with the widest arcs of triumph and despair. As much as we may want to, we may not be able to avoid the despair — but triumph is a matter of will. DotD was written for everyone, but THE BARBIZON DIARIES is an advanced course in surviving the Refiner’s fire — because some stories are too important not to share, and some stories are too meaningful to hide. If you find something of value in it, I hope you will post about it, on Facebook and at Goodreads, and send people to read DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS. It’s the primer for this one, and really should be read first. Help me spread the word, and maybe, together, we can start some good trouble that will grow larger than what I can do alone.

With luck, it’ll grow larger than us all.

Love, your brother in moxie,

James

http://coppervaleinternational.com/marketplace/the-meditations/

Something worth noting - and remembering

2012-04-24T19:15:19Z

From the end of chapter nine of DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS: "Some people see what I chose to do as 'enduring', but I think the idea of 'enduring to the end' is a terrible philosophy, and an awful way to live one's life. How you spend your days is how you live your life - and if you're spending them 'enduring' anything then you're doing it wrong. I feel the same way about regret. If everything in the past has value, then there's no reason for regret, ever. With no regret, and no fear, there's nothing left but possibility, and joy - and the realization that it is a wonderful world we live in, after all."

Free DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS - for just a little longer

2012-02-21T00:02:24Z

We're getting close to 2000 downloads of the Drawing out the Dragons ebook. Some people have gotten the mistaken impression that it involves drawing dragons, which it does - but only slightly. What its really about is overcoming the obstacles and challenges we all face so that you can lead an extraordinary life. Everyone finds something different in it - have a look, and pass along the link. You'll be glad you did.

http://coppervaleinternational.com/make-today-extraordinary/

One. Day.

2012-02-19T21:09:29Z

The great Will Eisner once did a comics story that took place over ten minutes, and ended with the line, "What's ten minutes in a man's life?"

It is, as it turned out in both the story and in many circumstances in the real world, very, very significant.

Yesterday, I offered a free ebook of DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS - A Meditation on Art, Destiny, and the Power of Choice, to everyone who chose to enter their name and address and click a download link. I stated as my goal that I would like to give away ONE THOUSAND books in twenty-four hours. And now, after just that ONE DAY, more than 1100 people have taken me up on my offer, and started reading the book that I consider to be the most meaningful thing I've ever written.

In just one day, people have already begun to tell me that this book is changing their lives - and I am humbled, and grateful. And now I would like to share the reason that I chose to do this.

My recent keynote address as the Guest of Honor at the LTUE Symposium at Utah Valley University brought the room to its feet for a long standing ovation, and for the rest of the day people shook my hands, and hugged me, and cried as they spoke, and thanked me for what I said in that presentation. It continued into the night at the restaurant where I ate, and at the signing, and then, at my hotel, via email. Some notes I got I was able to respond to in person the next day.

One note, I wasn't.

Emily Adams, my Book Babe and handler for the day, is the only one I shared this with at the time, because I was still processing it, and wasn't sure... I wasn't sure how to encompass all the emotion that I felt in reading this one particular letter.

Someone who may not even have been registered for the Symposium, but who was a fan, and nevertheless wanted to come, had attended the keynote.

They intended for that to be one of the last acts of their life.

One hour later, they changed their mind, because they believed I was speaking directly to them when I said, "I am here to say one of the most important things one human being can say to another - I believe in you. There is magic in the world, and I can show you where it is. And I will not let you fall."

The next morning, this person wrote me a note to thank me for being there, and for saying what I did - and to tell me they had informed friends and family of their circumstance, and now people knew, and they were going to a hospital to get some help.

And I cried, and bumped into walls while I got dressed, and then Emily and her hubby picked me up, and I went back to the Symposium, where I thought about the thousand different obstacles that had to be overcome for the Symposium to happen, and for me to attend, and for me to give that keynote address in that one hour, when that one person needed it more than anything.

Ten minutes. One hour. One day. They are significant measures of time when they contain something meaningful. I wanted to do something meaningful that lasted more than an hour, and reached more people than I could reach on my own, and so I called upon you, my Dragon Army, to help me - and together we helped start changing the lives of more than a thousand people in a single day.

I don't have anything more to say about what has already happened, except to note that it is YOU, each of you, who made this a magic and spectacular twenty-four hours: it is YOUR conviction that this book is meaningful that fired up people's imaginations, and got them to reach out for something they didn't realize they needed until they started to read. You did this. And knowing that, all I have left to say is a question, and a challenge...

You made something EXTRAORDINARY happen in just one day.

What can you do with a WEEK?

Show me.

I believe in you.

Here's the link. Pass it on - to EVERYONE.

Make today extraordinary

Your brother in moxie,

James

On August 28, 2012...

2012-02-02T19:58:44Z

…The penultimate adventure of the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica will be loosed upon the world…

Game ON.

2011-12-14T18:48:10Z

The books are here. And they are BEAUTIFUL.

I'm commencing signing 2500 books, and packing prints, books, and bookmarks into packages to be shipped to you all as soon as humanly possible.

Anybody wanting extra copies (or who hadn't ordered them via the Kickstarter campaign) can get them via Coppervale. They won't be shipped with the Kickstarter rewards, but we'll do our best to get anything ordered out before Christmas. Go here to order: http://coppervaleinternational.com/marketplace/the-meditations/

Dear Jeff Bezos...

2011-12-12T19:59:13Z

There’s been a lot of discussion about your recent addition to Amazon of an app that people can use to scan items in stores – items which they are then asked to purchase from Amazon instead of at their local store. In addition to (in all probability) getting a lower price on the same item, they’ll also get five bucks for using the app. I think, as a business move, this is brilliant. As a PR move, it seems to have been a bit of a misstep.

I’d like to make a suggestion to undo a lot of that PR damage, and in the same move give you some positive PR that will be all but unassailable by your critics.

I’d like to suggest you create a new app – a seasonal one, that’s valid from the day after Thanksgiving until midnight on Christmas Eve. For the purposes of my suggestion, and because it’s the field I work in, the app would be limited to use in independent bookstores. With this app, which we could call “Santa’s Apprentice”, for any customer who scans a book in an independent bookstore – and then purchases that item at that store – Amazon would donate five bucks to a program that provides free books to kids at Christmas.

You still get the market data that all the experts seem to think you’re after – but the independent bookstore gets the sale, and some kid who may otherwise be getting nothing under the tree will have a chance to get a beautiful book of their very own. I’m already doing something similar as an individual, but charities like Kids Need To Read would be an excellent recipient for those donations, and are practically primed to start just such a program.

Making smart business choices has been the hallmark of your professional career, and it has certainly benefitted your company. Doing something like this is another arena altogether: it’s doing something that would not only help your competitors in a time of economic uncertainty, but would also help to give children some hope and happiness at a time in our world when both are sorely needed. And as PR, it’s as simple as Gimbel’s sending customers to Macy’s in Miracle on 34th St. It’s a move that generates both goodwill and profits.

Too often, I’ve seen kids – who will never get a Christmas present – out on street corners at this time of year with their parents, who are selling decorated pencils, or other little odds and ends just to try to make ends meet. Those are the kids I’m going to be giving presents to this year – as many as I am able. And I can’t for the life of me imagine approaching such a kid and telling them, “I have the ability to give you a book of your very own for Christmas – but I can’t, because my shareholders wouldn’t like it.” I bet you couldn’t, either.

Mr. Bezos, you have demonstrated beyond any doubt that Amazon is both successful and powerful. I hope you’re willing to demonstrate, to your own benefit, that Amazon can be good, too.

With all best wishes,

James A. Owen
Author, Independent Bookstore Owner, and Senior Apprentice to Kris Kringle

Just because it ought to be said

2011-09-29T18:11:42Z

I would not be able to do ANY of the cool, interesting, fun, and exciting things I do without the support of the fans who enjoy my work, and especially the support of the friends who believe in me and have been there when I needed them. I work hard – but there are a lot of people pushing the cart I’m driving, and for all of them I am truly grateful.

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Originally published at Coppervale International. You can comment here or there.

A Thousand Brilliant Batman Stories

2011-09-01T19:16:37Z

Anyone even peripherally exposed to comics knows that there’s a paradigm shift underway at DC (publisher of Superman, Batman, and a gazillion other well-known characters) right now: they are rebooting most of their line, and starting EVERYTHING over with new number one issues. They’re also rebooting most of the iconic characters’ backstories, in order to re-present the entire pantheon as an anywhere-you-like-jumping-on-point.

I popped over to the local shop (Moose Cave, in Show Low, Arizona) to grab the lead title, JUSTICE LEAGUE, because 1) it was Wednesday; and 2) I’m a huge Superman and Justice League (of America) fan, and I really wanted to read it.

I also really want to read a handful of the other upcoming titles, like ACTION (because they made some changes to Superman) and GREEN LANTERN (because they’re changing very little). But the one book I’m MOST looking forward to reading this month? The original NEW TEEN TITANS graphic novel “Games”, by creators Marv Wolfman and George Perez. It isn’t part of the reboot, but a twenty-years-in-the-making completely retro book set in the creators’ (and, to me, the characters’) heyday.

It will have NOTHING to do with the new continuity, at all. But having only read about it, and seen a few pages of art, I already know I’m going to love it – because it pushes all of MY particular buttons – and it fits the continuity that means the MOST to ME: one set a quarter-century ago, in terms of the publishing timeline.

Continuity has long been an embedded part of the comics reading and buying experience; commercially speaking, it feeds the ‘habitual entertainment’ that Larry Marder observed our hobby had become. New comics day (which always existed, but merely shifted from the convenience store to the specialty shop) is the day you popped in for the newest issue of whatever you were reading. And the continuity – the larger arcs as well as the smaller details – kept you hooked.

Every once in a while though, the publishers would drop a cherry bomb into the continuity of things, and shake everything up. And in recent years, that’s meant interweaving tighter and tighter threads of continuity into EVERY title, so that missing ONE ISSUE might throw you off with your understanding of everything else going on in the line. (Or worse, realizing that missing one issue or five makes no difference at all.)

Which brings me back to ‘Games’. One reason I’m expecting to enjoy it is that it’s going to be a COMPLETE story. A ‘Done In One’, as Maggie Thompson says. And that’s a great, rare thing these days. It’s also where I have to wonder if DC, in their pursuit of the reboot goal, might have missed an even cooler (and possibly more lucrative) one.

In recent weeks DC released a number of ‘Retro’ books: single issues with the tone (and relevant creative teams) of books from the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s. I’ve only seen the house ads – but obviously SOMEONE at DC recognized that there was value in, say, reuniting Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire on a JUSTICE LEAGUE book. Even if only for a single issue.

My question is, why aren’t they doing this ALL THE TIME?

Elsewhere on the net, my friend Mario Boon commented, “Imagine if they did the entire relaunch of the nuDC as 52 done in one issues? Imagine that? An entire story in 20-30 pages? With a beginning, middle and end? A real “pilot”?”

That would have been PERFECT. But imagine this: what if the Retro Books/Done in One idea were part of the ongoing publishing plan? What if continuity were more of a storytelling convenience than an apparently necessary foundation?

It isn’t important for me to reconcile the TEEN TITANS of my kids’ generation with the TEEN TITANS of mine. I enjoy them both, even though they are COMPLETELY different. The look, stories, everything – but I love them both. What if this were not the exception, but the new norm, to have different creators doing THEIR versions of the characters?

A few years back, during one of the mega-event-crossovers, a writer pal suggested that I could draw one of the segments (knowing I love DC stuff, but have never done much with the company professionally, outside of writing ONE introduction). He said he could get me in the door – but I’d have to match the current ‘house style’, and mimic the eleven OTHER artists working on the books. I declined, in part because that wasn’t a career goal of mine – I wanted my OWN identity, and I wanted any work I did to be recognizably MINE.

Friends who have worked for DC maintained a similar creative integrity, and to great results: Paul Pope did a glorious turn on BATMAN YEAR 100, and it looked like few Batman stories published before or since. Jeff Smith did a great turn on Captain Marvel. And Wednesday Comics was, in many ways, a near-perfect creative experiment – partly because they selected some great creators and then mostly let them Do Their Thing.

There are lots of great reasons for DC’s line-wide reboot. I hope it brings – and keeps – lots of readers. But after missing a few months’ worth of comics (due to working on deadlines and, until recently, no local place to shop) I find myself caring a LOT less about reading BATMAN INCORPORATED #8, in which I have no clue what’s happened since Bruce Wayne died, was replaced, came back, was replaced, died again, etc… even though I love the writer and thought the art was nice. It was still part 56 of a 70 part story (I’m being facetious – but only just barely).

TEEN TITANS: “Games” will be one book, by two of my favorite creators, set in my favorite continuity. And I’m excited just at the thought of it – as I’d be for a LEGION OF SUPER HEROES book by Levitz and Giffen…or WONDER WOMAN by Perez… or BATMAN by Bill Sienkiewicz or Garcia-Lopez… or SUPERMAN by Barreto… or…You get the picture.

Continuity is great (see: last few decades); new approaches are great (see: animated TEEN TITANS); but Done in One stories can be created for both NEW readers as well as the longtime fans. And to me, that would really be the best of all: not to have a thousand-part Batman story, but to instead have a thousand brilliant Batman stories – whether or not they all fit into the continuity.

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Originally published at Coppervale International. You can comment here or there.

Boom

2011-08-05T04:25:18Z

Power has been restored. The Fortress of Solitude is back online. Twice the memory; double the speed; and all the Awesome. If you hear the echo of thunder in the distance, fear not – that is simply my barbaric yawp, and it is an harbinger of things to come. Soon.

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Originally published at Coppervale International. You can comment here or there.

The Best Kind of Magic…

2011-06-30T16:56:51Z

…is Magic that can be shared.

At a few minutes to Midnight – which is when all the best kind of Magic happens – I announced a new project, one which a lot of people have been waiting for. Please, contribute what you can, and help us spread the word to make something really wonderful happen!

THE DRAWING OUT THE DRAGONS PROJECT

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Originally published at Coppervale International. You can comment here or there.

Writing You Can Swear By (Or At)

2011-06-25T04:32:08Z

I’m writing this piece to inform everyone who bought MythWorld Book One: The Festival Of Bones in the last twenty-four hours that you are now the owners of a collector’s item – because the vesion that was first released is not the current, permanent version that’s for sale now.

I made an editorial judgment call, one which I’d already been debating, and talked myself out of making until we’d actually published the book. Then, I realized I was still debating it internally – which, to me, is significant. My subconscious doesn’t mess around. If I’ve made a choice that isn’t resonating with my core beliefs, then it lets me know by basically itching at my brain until I give it my conscious attention

I didn’t write the MythWorld novels for kids – but then again, I didn’t write the Imaginarium Geographica novels for kids, either; it was a YA editor who liked them the most, and the rest of that tale changed the course of my career. Still, the MythWorld books were definitely written for a more mature audience – mostly, I thought, due to the complexity of the stories I was telling

However, the Imaginarium Geographica books were also very, very complex – and being read by kids as young as ten, with no comprehension problem. So what was the difference

Simply put, sex, and language. And far more language than sex – mostly in the form of casual swearing – although the sexy scenes, while still relatively tame by most standards, are more sensual than sexual, and extremely effective. (See Chapter Three, for my favorite example.

And herein lay my problem: my readership consists of a very large percentage of teens (no problems with sex and language) and an equally large percentage of pre-teens (which also includes their parents, teachers, and librarians – which is where there may be a problem with sex and language in the books.

That wasn’t my biggest concern, though. The casual swearing was – because, you see, I don’t swear. Hardly ever.

Oh, don’t get me wrong – I believe in it, as a use of language; it’s a form of exclamation, and often extremely appropriate. There’s a recurring swear word in MythWorld Book Two that absolutely MAKES the book… but I digress. Swearing is useful, and fairly common – I just simply don’t engage in it much. And neither do the characters in my books – the books I write now, that is.

But then, a decade ago, I was still finding my way around creating characters in prose – and in MythWorld, this resulted in a lot more casual swearing than I’d recalled. And the concern I had over most of those uses – most, but not all – also brought me back to three scenes where a few lines alone might have made the book less appropriate for a younger reader. Let me be clear: I’m not worried at ALL about a thirteen year old reading these books. It’s the bright ten year old I’m concerned about. And if I wouldn’t want my own almost nine year old reading those few scenes as they were (or worse, asking for specific lines to be explained) then I didn’t want to put my readers, or their parents, or their librarians in that position, either.

And if you think one word won’t make that big a difference, try a little experiment next time you’re in a crowded grocery store: yell “Flurkle!” at the top of your lungs, and see who gets offended. Then try it using a different word that begins with “F”. See what I mean?

I’m not a prude, and as I said, swearing and profanity has uses in the right places – and most of my uses weren’t the right places, so I changed many of them, often with one word switched, or deleted, or with a diplomatic rewrite of a sentence. And I went back to those other scenes, the sexy ones, and took out a couple of lines and changed a few words so that while the scenes were still sensual, they weren’t going to make the book something inaccessible to my younger readers.

As I said, I never wrote any of my books for kids – they were simply marketed that way, and so kids make up a huge part of my readership. A readership I plan to keep reading everything I write. And if I can continue to create compelling enough stories to keep my older readers too, then it’s a win all around.

So, that’s it in a nutshell – there were no major changes of content, just a few alterations. Because I want ALL of my readers to be able to continue following down the roads I’m creating, and being able to make changes like that without lessening the story is what writers do.

Man alive… sometimes this job is harder than it looks. I swear.

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Originally published at Coppervale International. You can comment here or there.

And, One...

2011-06-17T23:56:38Z

Remember - life is nothing but a series of choices, and you always have the opportunity to choose the direction it takes. For me, in this moment, my choice is to believe that everything that has come before, everything in the past, is merely the Prologue.

The real work begins right now. Here it comes.

Two...

2011-06-17T19:55:56Z

Quotes by Dag Hammarskjold: 1) Life yields only to the conqueror. Never accept what can be gained by giving in. You will be living off stolen goods, and your muscles will atrophy. 2) Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road. 3) Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.

Three...

2011-06-17T18:53:01Z

My books, lectures, and my efforts online all serve in some way to both encourage others, and to reaffirm what I believe myself about my own goals. Arguments to the contrary have been gently and diplomatically tolerated: "You can't do that!" will be met with a Cheshire grin and "Watch THIS." Protestations past that...not so much. None of us gets to set limitations on someone else's belief - or potential.

Four...

2011-06-17T18:24:45Z

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world" and this is precisely what I am choosing to do. The world is already changing - and those who are deliberately choosing the changes they want and actively seeking to make them happen are the ones who are shaping the changes. A choice to initiate change should be a declaration of intent - NOT a request for permission.

Five...

2011-06-17T17:59:09Z

When we were young, our potential seemed unlimited, but that potential diminished (or narrowed) either because limitations were impressed upon us, or we chose to believe limitations were inevitable. They aren't. The potential is always there to be chosen, embraced. I don't speak for anyone but myself in this - but I plan to demonstrate what I believe. What I have chosen.

That Cheshire Grin

2011-06-16T17:20:45Z

The Best Magicians always raise your expectations before even setting foot on stage; they prepare you to see something extraordinary, and your breath quickens; your pulse races; because you WANT to believe that's exactly what you're about to see. The preparations are nearly complete; the stage is set; and my cheshire grin tells you all that you need to know: prepare for an Extraordinary Summer. It begins tomorrow.

A Modest Awesome Proposal

2011-06-15T17:58:43Z

My friend Shelly Kennedy recently pointed me in the direction of http://awesomefoundation.org/ where they are doing some interesting, and yes, Awesome things. They offer a no-strings-attached thousand dollar grant to people who want to do their own Awesome things.

It was interesting enough that I decided to submit a proposal. This is what I sent (via their online form):

Project Title
The Little Whatsit Learning Center

Describe yourself, your project, and how you'll pull it off
I'm an author and illustrator of the YA fantasy series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica; the author of the motivational/inspirational book for middle schoolers (and everyone else!) called Drawing Out The Dragons; and I'm on the Advisory Board of Nathan Fillion and PJ Haarsma's charity, Kids Need To Read.

I frequently speak at schools and libraries, and so I'm well aware of the difficulties that these organizations are having these days with keeping enough funding coming in to stock the shelves and hire trained personnel to run the facilities.

Using my publishing and public speaking activities as a support base, I plan to start a non-profit reading and tutoring facility for children called The Little Whatsit Leaning Center, where kids will have access to books; receive tutoring in reading; and where they'll be taught how to resolve conflicts peacefully through creative narrative - in other words, they'll write new chapters in their personal stories, and create a more awesome life. All completely free.

How would you use the money?

I have a small commercial property on the main street in the town where I live and work. The grant money would be used for paint and electrical repairs, all done by volunteer labor, so that we can begin turning the property into the first Little Whatsit Learning Center. We have teachers already lined up for the tutoring; donations lined up to start the library; and advisors in place to help formally organize the nonprofit. We just need help cleaning up the place we'd like to use.

Whatever their response, I had some plans already going for this - but the grant would certainly help get things started. And it would be both interesting and Awesome if they agree. We'll see what happens! ;)

In The Flow

2011-06-14T23:42:02Z

Enough of my fellow writers with whom I spent last evening (at Changing Hands Bookstore, where I conducted a writing workshop) have posted publicly about how much they enjoyed my seminar that I can reveal one last lesson about believing in your own ability to do quality work that has value: I improvised the whole thing. Seriously. Other than the metaphor about the Eggs Benedict, what I did was nothing more than being in the Flow - and trusting in where it would take me.

That was awesomely fun

2011-06-12T16:15:10Z

BOO-Freaking-YAW. Going to browse the newsstand at DFW airport, saw a girl reading THE INDIGO KING. I asked her if I could take a look at the book, then pulled a purple pen out of my briefcase, sat on the floor as her family watched, drew a Dragon, personalized it for her, smiled, said "you're going to LOVE the next one." , winked at her, and walked away.

Edited to add:

They're about a hundred yards away at another gate. I think they've shown the book to everyone on their flight. The girl's mom keeps stepping out to the walkway and pointing me out to people. I'm sitting here grinning and posting stuff. Just too much awesome fun to be had.

Edited to add:

Her dad was apparently looking me up online, and figured out I was the real deal. They're boarding now, but he just came over to say thanks and shake my hand, and his wife brought me a Diet Coke, because she just read something about my Book Babes(!). Their daughter was too shy to come over, so I waved, and she waved back. There are moments - this being one - that I absolutely love my life.

On Process: Illustrating an IGMS Cover

2011-06-09T18:34:43Z

The photos below are the progression of the recently-completed cover illustration for issue 23 of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, specifically, for Scott M. Roberts' story "The Discriminating Monster's Guide To The Perils Of Princess Snatching".

The first step is the general layout, to decide how to best use their widescreen format:

Next, I do full pencils:

Then, partial inks:

After that, I go bonkers with the pens, and finish inking the whole thing:

Then, based on my color guides, my brother Jeremy lays in the digital colors, and together we tweak the details until I'm finally happy with it. The finished result can be seen here, at the IGMS site.