Challenger Storm Goes "Undercover"...

"Undercover Reviews", that is!  Over at the New Pulp Fiction Blog, Nick Ahlhelm gives his take on "The Isle of Blood".  Thanks for the review, Nick!  More Storm is on the way...

After "The Isle of Blood", What's Next...?

I've discussed this before in a few interviews, but I want to confirm it here as well: the second Challenger Storm book is in the pipeline, and about halfway complete at this point.  The title is "The Curse of Poseidon", and it's shaping up to be a pretty fun ride for me so far: Storm and the MARDL crew versus ancient superstitions and piracy in the Aegean Sea near Greece.  My writing-speed at this time varies from "sluggish" to "non-existent" so I can't accurately predict exactly when it'll be done and submitted for publication, but I'm trying to get it out there.

In the meantime, the seed for another Storm adventure has been planted, and it's rapidly grown pretty big... so big that it's nudged all other plans for subsequent Challenger Storm novels back by a peg or two and has forced me to consider restructuring my planned timeline of the entire series.  I can't give very much info at this point other than the title (which was partially suggested by Storm fan and MARDL feedback-scientist Bob Besco): "Challenger Storm: White Hell".  (I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you...)

I have other projects I'd like to work on as well: other series, stand-alone one-shots, things like that.  It seems silly to talk about future projects when my productivity rate is so damned slow, but I find that it helps me to actually work on things if I talk about them publicly... in that way, I look like an idiot if I don't follow-through with my announced plans.  I'm a little jealous of the infernally-prolific writing-machines awesomely-talented fellow writers I'm acquainted with: I'm in awe of their sheer output, and it's all quality stuff.  If you're not familiar with these folks, check the links to the right and start clickin' and buyin'... you'll be glad you did!

Michael Kaluta's Artwork for "The Isle of Blood"... Yet Another Pair of Nominations!

Congratulations to Michael Wm Kaluta for his 2011 Pulp Factory Award nominations for both the cover and interior artwork for "Challenger Storm- The Isle of Blood", and to the rest of the nominees as well... there was some fantastic stuff put out in 2011!

"Terrific, a Six-Demon Bag!"

A mini-interview with yours truly has been posted over at Josh Reynold's blog.  It is pretty brief, but it was a blast to do.  Thanks, Josh!

"The Isle of Blood"... Nominated for the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards!

The book is up for a total of five nominations: Best Novel, Best Cover Art, Best Interior Art, Best New Character, and Best New Writer.  This is obviously a really cool moment for me.  Thank you for the nominations & votes, and congratulations to all the other nominees!

Visualizing "The Isle of Blood": The Kaluta Sketches

One of the major selling points of "Challenger Storm: The Isle of Blood"... ok, THE major selling point for a lot of people, I'm sure, is the amazing artwork of comic and illustration legend Michael Wm. Kaluta.  Airship 27's Ron Fortier made the official announcement regarding Michael's involvement at last year's Pulp Ark, and while I wasn't there myself I did hear a recording of that panel over at The Book Cave.  It certainly caused quite a stir and interest rose for the then-upcoming book.  We'd been sitting on this secret-weapon for a little while, and we were happy to have finally been able to start talking about it.

If you're familiar with Kaluta's art (and you'd better be... if not, get on that link up there, stat), then you know his style instantly: an extremely intricate melding of Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles; these elements often raise his work above the standard "comic-booky" feel of others in the field and into the lofty realms of high-art.  His work can be very decorative and florid, and his more thematic illustrations can be hyper-detailed and intricate.  It's always been these elements of his art that have long made Michael Kaluta my favorite artist: the fact that he's basically the first guy to visualize my character in publication is just awesome.  He's a consummate professional who brings a lot of dedication to his art, and he certainly didn't skimp on any of these qualities when he did his work for "The Isle of Blood".  I'm honored to have had him aboard Challenger Storm's inaugural flight.

After the jump below are a few of the rough design sketches he did in preparation for the cover and interior illustrations.  Just from these roughs alone, I could tell that he wasn't phoning-in this assignment.  He pulled no punches here, and if you've seen the finished product you know that his work on my book was 100% Kaluta.

Christmas, Another Review, and Some "Stormy Weather"

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, from Challenger Storm and MARDL (and me, naturally).  I hope the holidays were truly joyous and filled with wonder for you and yours.

Another review of "The Isle of Blood" is up over on Amazon.com, this time from reader Michael Brown.  So far, I haven't heard anything too negative about the book... I guess I've done something right, and I'm glad to hear all the positive feedback for my debut work!  Work continues (somewhat slower than it should be) on the follow-up...

Meanwhile, here's a tidbit for you: the version of "Stormy Weather" that Storm is listening to during the book's epilogue.  Now, I didn't set out to make a pun or anything with the song's title, I just needed a song that would be popular and new during the year it was set (late 1933, to be exact) and wanted something with that melancholy feel that only old-records can provide.  A quick search or two later and voila! I had my song.  And I've loved the song from the first time I heard it.