Posts Tagged ‘pencil drawing’
Cover Painting for ‘Meniscus: Reckoning’
In preparation for the release of ‘Meniscus: Reckoning,’ the next book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series, I have finished the painting for the cover.
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The painting is based on the pencil drawing ‘Travelling the Lip.’ It shows six travellers as they cross the treacherous El’ban Elevations, on their way to rescue James, imprisoned in El’ban. The group, in order, are Kotildi (the wild alien ‘wolf’), Belnar (one of the Slain), Odymn (heroine of many of the stories), Daniel (also a Slain), carrying Danny (Odymn and Daniel’s baby), and Don’est (the Dock-winder child, with her long neck).
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To be consistent with other covers, I need a distant view of the Meniscus moons (Cardoth roe and Cardoth grill’en), a mid-range view of the travellers, and a nearer scene from the book. Campfires are a common theme in the story and who better to sleep by the fire than wolf-like Kotildi?
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I was pleased with the painting. For a couple of days, I showed the travellers as black silhouettes against the Elevations. In the end, I gave them some colour, to suggest clothing and hair. I love the browns, blues and yellows in the painting.
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To make the painting fit the space on the book cover, I made some alterations in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). I brought the moons closer to the mountain silhouette and moved the fire and sleeping Kotildi closer to the travellers. In the end, the image fit well with the cover design. Here is a sneak peek at the final cover.
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I am now re-reading Meniscus: Reckoning for the last time, making a few revisions as I go. I have also sent the proof to my beta-reader for her reactions.
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I plan to release Meniscus: Reckoning in early May. I am looking forward to my reader response!
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All my best!
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
new book coming soon! Meniscus: Reckoning
Today, after many hours of editing and formatting, I sent for a proof of my new book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series. Meniscus: Reckoning will be out in early May. This will be the story of a perilous journey to a distant city, over difficult alien landscape, to rescue a member of the Human Resistance. The book is set in the El’ban District of Meniscus, a city mentioned but not visited in other books in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series.
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To find out a little more about the steps from draft to proof, have a look at the whole story here. Below is a peek at the first draft of the cover for Meniscus: Reckoning (the final cover will be a painting of the scene).
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All my best!
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
soundscape and birdsong
These last two weeks have been fun for bird watchers. I saw my first dark-eyed junco, just back from a winter spent to the south. I also heard that lovely, impossible-to-imitate song of a winter wren. And I have cleaned up our feeding area so the spring birds will be easier to watch.
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This weekend, I am looking forward to talking with other bird watchers about my new poetry book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong.’
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I am looking forward to the event, hosted by the folks at the L.P Fisher Public Library, who have been so supportive of my writing through the years! Wish you could come and hear me read …
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All my best!
Jane
including ‘sound’ in writing
I am so proud of my new poetry book ‘mnemonic – soundscape and birdsong’ (Chapel Street Editions, 2024) because it focuses on including sound in writing. Of the five senses (vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste), most creative writing focuses on vision. It is a bit of a challenge to include the other senses in order to give a more complete idea of the sensations contributed by your surroundings.
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My book includes bird song as a main part of the soundscape. It also includes other sounds: the singing of a rock skipped across a frozen pond, the call of the spring peepers, the clinking of ice in glasses, the sound of a kettle boiling over a woodland fire.
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For ways of including sounds in writing, you can look at some of my earlier posts here, and here.
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I think my favourite poem in the ‘mnemonic’ collection is about my Dad who took us along the Yarmouth shore to find iron pyrite (fool’s gold). The sounds in this poem focus on the shorebirds. Here is a short excerpt:
4.
he takes us prospecting
we wedge into crevasses
keen for pyrite gold
cube within cube
embedded in stone
we always forget the hammer
we chip and scratch with fingernails
reach across rock
dare the waves
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a sanderling cries
quit quit!
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shorebirds
befriend me
a dowitcher sews a seam with her bill
bastes salt water to shore
the sanderling shoos back the tide
terns
plunge into the ocean
and complain they are wet
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I hope you will have fun incorporating sound into your writing.
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All my best,
Jane
new poetry book: ‘mnemonic’ …
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drear November: Project #3 – preparing a new trail
A week ago, my husband gave me this year’s Christmas present – a new length of trail for us to walk. He flagged some trees to open up an old trail in our grey woods. Then he hired some local men to fell the trees, cut them in four foot lengths, and set them to the side of the trail. Today he was out with the tractor, taking out some of the high spots.
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Last weekend, he took me for a walk to scope out the new walkway. It’s still very rough but you can see the final trail if you use your imagination. Over the winter and next spring, he will clear the stray branches, smooth the bumps, and fill the hollows. The trail is 750 steps from beginning to end. It loops the back half of our acre lot and extends to an old road on the property behind us which we also own..
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One of my favourite parts of the trail is a small clearing I visited with my Mom years ago. She found Ghost Pipe, also called Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), growing there. This is an odd plant that does not contain chlorophyll. It is white in colour and the flower has between 3 and 8 waxy white petals. The flower occurs, as the name suggests, at the top of a stem bent like a pipe. Mom loved her find so much, she put a ring of shingles around the plants to protect them from trampling.
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In later years I have visited the site regularly although I have never seen the Ghost Pipes again. A few years ago, I put an iron bird feeder there on the surface of a big hardwood tree. The feeder has the image of Saint Francis of Assisi.
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I think of this little grove as ‘Mom’s Park.’ My mom has been gone more than 20 years but her love of plants, and her aim to protect them, is with me every day.
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I have written about Mom’s Park in the past ( here ) and repeat the poem I wrote for that post here:
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ghost pipe
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in grey woods
Saint Francis
cast in iron
watches wild
life pass by
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red squirrel
ceaseless jitter
white-tailed deer
pauses, listens
a chipmunk
runs the log
fallen tree
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time also
passes by
Aralia
and bracken
replace white
ghost pipe, once
grew here, all
nature a mirror
of our lives
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When the path is more defined, I will put a small bench in Mom’s Park where I can sit and enjoy our grey woods.
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With this post, I will thank my husband for such a thoughtful gift. These days, walking in our woods is synonymous with keeping up my health. But our grey woods will always be my favourite place to meet with nature.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra )
Book Launch! Adventure on another planet!
On Saturday, September 17, from 11:00 to 4:00, I will be at Dog Eared Books in Oromocto to launch the next book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series — Meniscus: The Struggle.
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This book is number 11 in the series and features brave humans, aliens (both endearing and nasty), and strange worlds to explore. I will be there to talk about alien abductions and alien worlds, my illustrations, alien genetics and other books in the series. And you’ll have a chance to explore Dog Eared Books, its huge selection of second hand books, books by local authors and unusual gift items.
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If you love adventure, science fiction and a touch of romance, you will enjoy this series. Join Abra as she and her friends try to understand the alien Dock-winder language and find some secret to overthrow the evil overlords.
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In the book. and the Series, you will find some interesting characters: Drag-on, the Hooplore (looks like a lump of wet spaghetti); Don’est, the Dock-winder child (consistently annoying); Nate, the evernell (his whiskers explode when he is afraid); the Gel-heads (green and slimy); and the Dock-winders (aloof and autocratic).
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I will have a life-sized Dock-winder and Gel-head with me. You have to see them to believe
them.
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Hope to see YOU there!
All my best!
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)
adding books to Little Libraries
Had some fun today. Drove around to a few Little Libraries in our area and left some of my books. I was impressed to see books for both kids and adults. The Little Libraries were well constructed, keeping the books dry and safe.
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I left copies of my books in the Little Libraries on:
Smith Road in Geary, New Brunswick
Beaumont Lane in Rusagonis, NB
The Covered Bridge Park in Rusagonis, NB
Covered Bridge Estates in Nasonworth, NB
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I left two books in each Little Library, some poetry, some mystery, one science fiction:
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If you haven’t visited a Little Library before, try it! Look for one of my books or a book that would interest you or your child. I saw all genres of writing, some Nora Roberts, a ‘Game of Thrones’ and lots of mysteries. Just take a book to leave in exchange for the one you take!
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If you would like to read one of my books, they are available at Westminster Books in Fredericton and Dog Eared Books in Oromocto.
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All my best,
Jane
now available: a glimpse of dragon
a glimpse of dragon, second poetry book in the ‘glimpse of’ series, is now available at Westminster Books in Fredericton.
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The book is illustrated with my black and white drawings and considers extraordinary things in ordinary life. These are poems about comets in the sky, ghost cars in the covered bridge and dragons lurking in the campfire.
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campfire dragons
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dragons prowl
in balsam
backcrawl in amber
blisters of pitch
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dragons lurk
under mantles of smoke
blacken the stones
spurt throatfuls of fire
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dragons leap
to the Draco sky
watch us grow small
with sparking eyes
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close their lids
and sleep in flight
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You can also order a glimpse of dragon at Amazon, click here.
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I hope you enjoy ‘a glimpse of dragon.’
Jane
a glimpse of dragons
This year, I am continuing to gather my various poems into categories for publication. I intend to publish three books of poetry in the ‘a glimpse of…’ series.
So far, I have published ‘a glimpse of water fall,’ a collection of poems about waterfalls and the way lives can sometimes take a ‘downwards’ turn. In 2012, the manuscript for a glimpse of waterfall won Honorable Mention in the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick’s competition for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize.
Next year, I will publish ‘a glimpse of sickle moon,’ poems journeying through the various seasons of the year. In 2020, the manuscript for a glimpse of sickle moon won Third Prize in the Bailey competition.
Later this fall, I will publish ‘a glimpse of dragons.’ This poetry collection is about the mysterious events in my life that take imaginative reasoning to understand. The title comes from the idea, in the Dark Ages, that unexplainable celestial events were the actions of dragon-kind.
I have gathered six types of poems into this collection and I illustrate many of the poems.
1. those ordinary things in my life that seem imbued with magic;
2. my ‘observations’ of dragons;
3. unexplainable events in my life that would fall into the category of ghost stories;
4. my encounters with magical people;
5. poems about my deep appreciation of sky and the awe that accompanies trying to understand the reality of space;
6. a tribute to the crow, an animal I feel kin to, and the dark women I associate with crow-kind.
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The poetry book ‘a glimpse of dragons’ will be published by kdp and available in paperback on Amazon in December. The book will also be available from Westminster Books in Fredericton.
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Take care in these days of pandemic,
all my best,
Jane
nichepoetryandprose 