Guilty as charged: I love Halloween more than I love Christmas. I used to be dazzled equally by both. I adored the lights, the glitter, the rich mythology. Both are consumer frenzies, but I hold that less against Halloween than I do Christmas. Not so much the fault of Christmas. It’s been hijacked by both ultra-conservative…
Read More Orange Orchids & a Halloween shirtI’m shamelessly neglecting my #Inktober duties. With so many disasters both natural and manmade in the news right now, I wanted to pull away briefly, and post two old-but-fun pieces inspired by Autumn. ‘Baltic Blue 1 and 2’ are large acrylic paintings on canvas, approx 22″x36″, done around 2009-2010. While pure fantasy, they were inspired…
Read More Autumn landscapes: Baltic Blue 1, 2A few years ago I posted this excerpt of a rewritten fantasy short story, ‘Red Amber’, a M/M erotic romance about creativity, grief, pride, and lost love. Here’s the current mood board for it. While I’m waiting on edit letters for THE PURIST, I’m settling back into this story. I have 12K of it written, so…
Read More ‘Red Amber’ updateI’m contracting THE PURIST to NineStar Press for a release date sometime in 2018. It almost certainly *won’t* have this cover, and possibly not this title, but I look forward to seeing what NineStar does with it. Way back in 1996 or 1997 I wrote a 6K short story set in my Lonhra Sequence fantasy…
Read More ‘The Purist’ has a home with NineStar PressThis book (two books, actually) holds a wistful joy for me. The two stories woven within are pure McKillip at her best: lyrical, mystical, with down-to-earth protagonists and a way of bringing the eldritch in for tea. I encountered the first book in 1992 at a World Fantasy Convention, and the second in the summer…
Read More Cygnet, by Patricia McKillipMany of my book art sculptures are represented in the US and internationally by the wonderful folks at Vamp & Tramp Booksellers. http://www.vampandtramp.com/finepress/c/cranedesigns.html A large catalog of works can be seen by scrolling down the pages on the right side of this blog. Look for Book Arts & Text Based Art, for pieces from…
Read More Crane Designs Book ArtSince I’ve a nice uptick in sales lately on this M/M space opera romance, here’s a mood board of my original art inspired by the story, cover background from Natasha Snow, and images from Alphonse Mucha, The Nature Conservancy, and Pinterest. I don’t know any other way to respond to the anniversary of 9-11, or…
Read More Moro’s Price mood boardSo much news to absorb in the last week or so: Charlottesville’s aftermath, Trump’s Phoenix speech, the solar eclipse, religious riots in India, North Korea, Hurricane Harvey… I might touch on all those later, but let’s look at two hilarious gaffes in recent social media. Both of them embody privilege, legal-but-morally-suspect corruption, and astounding condescension…
Read More Big Fails: Lani Sarem and Louise LintonOr: the state of LGBTQIA SFF and Romance publishing in 2017. Tl:dr…diverse authors may be courted by large publishers not so much for the value of their stories, but for the cachet of representing them as proof of diversity in publishing. Unagented authors and agents need to be wary of this possible trend, and plan…
Read More Diversity BingoFinally, finally, after way too many years of having only a vague idea what Sfassa, one of the main characters of THE PURIST, actually looks like when she’s human-ish, Hayley Amber Hasselhoff (yes, David’s daughter) showed me the way. I also owe a shout-out to model and wrestler Lindsay Hayward, and the other stunning plus-size models…
Read More Sfassa in Sirrithani guiseThese lovelies arrived today from AZ Art Supply: Richeson 10″ Female Right and Left Manikin Hands. 2/3 articulated, posing hands in blond wood (probably box, lyptus, or poplar, I’ll have to check.) Meant as an artist’s drawing aide, I find they make amazing jewelry models. I’m resisting the urge to woodburn henna designs on them,…
Read More Show of HandsGolden Acrylics makes some wonderful ‘open’ paints with built-in drying retardants. They don’t stay mixable anywhere as long as oil paints do, but they don’t dry instantly on canvas (like regular acrylics might, especially in Arizona summers.) This makes the Open Series really fun as plein air tools, along with a pack of canvas paper…
Read More Horizon: acrylic sketchOne of the best side-effects of online novel-pitch contests: the community around them. Whether or not a writer makes the cut (agent request, mentorship, etc), most writers can find new friendships and even collaborations within the larger pool of the hopeful and hopeless. Mark J. Engels and I met during a pitch contest in 2016…
Read More Mark Engels: ALWAYS GRAY IN WINTEROr in other words, the Twitter phenomenon that is #ThinkBIGSundayWithMarsha, begun and hosted by media entrepreneur Marsha Wright. Okay, many of us roll our eyes at those inspirational quotes slapped on lovely or heartwarming posters, and presented in slim metal frames. You know, the ones your boss and mine put up on our office walls?…
Read More Unrelenting OptimismTrying another sales portal, this time on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraneHanaDesigns I’m conflicted about Etsy. They’re the best game in town for many crafters. They’ve made some colossal blunders in the past, and I feel terrible for them that the only way they can save the company now is at the cost of their allegedly benevolent company ethos.…
Read More CraneHanaDesigns now on EtsyThis has been a *long* time in the works, but I’m so happy to see ‘The Gear’d Heart’, a new steampunk serial by AG Carpenter. I’ve read it in an earlier beta form, and seen the kickass sequel. Now’s the chance to get in on a charming, devious, and dark story, via Patreon!
Read More The Gear’d Heart, by AG CarpenterAll glories I have wrought by hand and gift of seeing, All dreams I have brought from dreamscape into being, All mysteries I’ve taught, however fast or fleeting, Mingle toward the truth I’ve sought: streams at the Sea completing. Spirit of Probability, Spirit of the Single Path, I have sought you. You are not here.…
Read More Artist’s InvocationA teaser for a piece called ‘Enlightenment’, which I describe in more detail here. I love book art. It’s one of my default settings after 20 years. ‘Can I make it into a book?’ is a question I now apply to everything from spam emails to a set of cocktail swords found in a thrift…
Read More Book Art Jewelry: EnlightenmentIn the mid to late 1990s, on the late-lamented site SFF.net, I hung out with a group of amazing writers who gave me courage to push forward with my own writing. One of those was Helen Davis. I was lucky enough to read the first few drafts of what would become ‘By Blade and Cloth’.…
Read More ‘By Blade and Cloth’: Helen E. DavisI’m thinking about this for a fantasy short story cover. Still revamping the previously (anthology) published 25-page story, but seriously thinking about self-publishing this and some of the more-obscure Lonhra Sequence side stories. I have a lot of them. Granted, this cover will be mostly taken up by text, but I like that it directly…
Read More Playing with cover art