A Quick Writing Update

So, it seems to have been ages since I last posted here. Oops. But I found a big stash of old articles I wrote when I was the "Guide" at About Creative Writing for Teens. The site no longer exists, so I can use the articles however I like. So I think I'm going to start posting them here. I'll edit them some, probably, because my views on some things have changed over the years.

But, the reason I started this post was to say something about the writing I'm doing now. When I first started this blog, it was a way to keep track of what I was working on publicly, with the idea that if people could see when I was being lazy, I'd be less likely to be lazy. So I'm going to try to start doing that again. This could mean lots of very short posts like back in the old days, so be warned.

Anyway. Right now, I am just about to start on today's word count on Dark Stranger, the sequel to Milk Sister. It's coming along very well, at 44, 234 words, and I think it's just about to head full speed into the finale. But I also seem to be leaving a lot of unanswered questions, so there's going to be a third book, most likely. Milk Sister was Maddy's tale, Dark Stranger is Dubhghall's, and untitled book 3 will be their story together. Or something. Then again, I did introduce a pair of interesting new characters in this book, who also have a story...

Other writing news... Reindeer Girl (aka White Foxes, Full Moon) is being serialized at JukePop Serials. Soon I'm going to reach the end of the bits I've written and start writing new stuff. Fortunately, I know more-or-less where it's heading. Aeryn Daring and the Scientific Detective, by alter-ego Calliope Strange, which was formerly serialized at Doctor Fantastique's is now also being serialized at JukePop. It's been finished for some time, so it will appear a chapter at a time until the end (14 installments). After that, I plan to write the next chapter in Aeryn's story. Especially if the current book proves popular.

And finally, now that this update has already gone on longer than I meant it to, Kentaurs. I had a reader (a fan? Do I have a fan?) ask if/when there would be a sequel to A Madness of Kentaurs. The answer is, this summer, if all goes well with finishing up the projects listed above. It'll be called Melanippe's Odyssey, and though it's not a direct sequel (Octavian and Ixion probably won't be in it, except maybe at the end), it will tie into the larger story.

So, there. That's what I'm up to. Now I need to go get Dubhghall a little closer to finding Maddy and figuring out how to escape his destiny.

(PS. I will come back to this later and add links. I'm on my iPad right now and the Blogger app is a bit of a pain for doing much other than text. Edit: JukePop links added (and pictures, too!))

The Pan-Chronic Adventurers Guild

Here's something I seem to have spent most of the day working on (and which has confirmed the fact that I really need a new computer as every little thing I did seemed to take a million years for my poor little old Macbook to process).

There are still things I'd like to tweak, but I wanted to finish it for a contest that ends tomorrow, and I was getting frustrated with how long everything was taking, and I still can't figure out where all the weird grey cloudy bits in the dropshadow are coming from, because (I thought) I got all the weird stray bits of colour out of the original image (results of a background mistake early on). But anyway, for now, it's done.

Once the files are done processing, it'll be available for purchase through Indy Planet (where you can also get issue 1 of Fey).

I do want to do another version, because I was especially happy with how the satyrs' feet turned out, but then I ended hiding them behind the text in this version. Here's just the satyrs so you can see what they look like uncluttered:

The colours are actually rather brighter in the pre-adding-to-Blogger versions, but whatever Blogger does to compress images always seems to dull and blur them a little.

Step 2: Satyrs in Colour

Just the flat colours, which is why they look, well, flat. I still have to add shadows and highlights. Plus, these aren't necessarily the final colours. I'll probably still tweak them a bit.

Work In Progress: Time-Travelling Satyrs Illustration

Writing Wednesday: Sharper Pearls

So yeah, I didn't quite get around to posting the final sea things cards update, but I'll get to it soon. I also have some pictures of our resident porcupine wandering around in the front yard to share. But it's Wednesday, so it's writing update time.

I got my story "Sharper and More Fragrant" added to Smashwords and Kindle (it's up now at Smashwords, from whence it will be distributed to various other venues; the Kindle version should be live in the next day or so). This is the story that eventually led to the novel I'm back at work on, formerly known as "White Foxes, Full Moon" (which title I'm now using solely for the short story that I later expanded into the first third of the book), and which is now probably going to be called Reindeer Girl, Fox Woman. Maybe.

I also formatted and posted "Cobbleshore Knit" but it's still in conversion. It should be completed by later today at Smashwords, and in a day or two on Kindle. "Cobbleshore Knit" was originally written with a completely new character, but I re-wrote parts of it once I realized the drowning man was actually Torin Danickson, the young man who captured the selkie girl in "Sealskin." It's a standalone story (at least I hope it is), but obviously connected.

And that puts me nearly halfway through the stories that make up the Frisland cycle. Unless I write more. I'm trying now to complete a half-written story that connects "Hollow Bones"/"Remembering to Fly" with "Great Skerry" (and also, in a background sort of way, to "Fox Point Dragon").

Phew. Sorry about all those titles all at once.

In non-Cobbleshore news, but still in Frisland, I should soon have the second part of Aeryn Daring and the Scientific Detective written (under the pen-name Calliope Strange). The cover is nearly done, too, largely because it's the same as the cover of chapter one, but in a different colour with a different flying machine image. I'm lagging a bit on the printed versions, as they require an entirely different sort of formatting, and also because I want to include an image in each chapter that will be full-colour in the deluxe (letterpress-printed cover) version and greyscale in the cheapo (photocopied cover) version. And I have yet to draw them.

And in completely non-Frislandish news, I have a new story in my head called "A Pearl Beyond Price." It's a fairytale thing with sentient dolls (creepy), weird sex (really creepy), and possibly incest (really, really creepy). All the creepiness means it gets to be by Nic Silver, instead of by Niko Silvester, because despite the fact that Nic and Niko are both me, Niko writes nice things and Nic writes weird shit. Nic Silver also wrote Brother Thomas's Angel.

Satyrs, Again

I decided to tackle the colouring of my steampunk satyrs digitally (though I may also do a pen/ink and watercolour version later. Here's the cleaned-up scan of the pencils.

I have to decide now if I want to add the background elements first, then colour, or colour, do a background separately, and then drop the one on the other.

A Few New Books: Fans and Rayguns

I added a couple of things to the Etsy shops today, items I've been working on over the last little bit.

One is the first of a series of little raygun journals. You may recognize them as the monochrome spectrum books I posted a while back, only with monochrome paper rayguns on the covers.

The black one (way above) is now listed in my anagramforink Etsy shop, and the white one (above) will probably go up tomorrow. The actual spectrum of colours will follow soon after.

I've also got a handful of little greeting cards with the same motif, only in more colourful versions. I'll post more about those in a few days, once I get organized and get them posted for sale.

Second, I finished and posted a transforming book. Well, not really, but it works as both a blank journal and a fan. It arose from me complaining about the heat and BillyZ saying, in jest, that I should make myself a book-fan (or fan-book). So I did. The blue one (above) is now listed in my WhiteRavenArts Etsy shop. The red/gold one (below) will remain unlisted until I order some brass screw posts which I plan to do soon, as soon as I decide what else I can't live with from the same supplier.

[BFG] Dr Shallowgrave, Before the "Dr"

Writing again which is good. And it turns out the infamous Dr Sophia Shallowgrave, during her student days and thus before the "Dr" part, is a character. I hope she doesn't take over the novel like she tends to take over a conversation. This is Maring's story, and to a lesser extent Watcher's. But anyway, here's one of the things she said today:

I’ve already declared my advanced degrees to be in cryptobiology and alchemistry. Which sound like crackpot disciplines, but are actually more scientifically advanced than the stuff they call science in Europe or America. Really I was supposed to be looking for new species this trip. But there’s no reason I couldn’t do a monograph on a lost people, too.

So there's the possibility that I may have to actually write her monograph on the Hill People of Frisland. Shouldn't be too hard. I had to read enough of them in my anthropology student days.

Weekly Wishlist: Raygun Pendant

It's no secret that I love ray guns, and I thoroughly adore this pendant from Blue Bayer Designs on Etsy.

Blue Bayer Designs is one of those shops that I browse frequently, and from which I would love to buy numerous items. The crow and raven skulls in brass or silver are also on my "someday" wishlist. Also, Blue Bayer belongs to the Cabinet of Curiosities Etsy Team, which is something I aspire to. Once I've got the right items listed, that is (hint: things in jars black and white photos and book moth specimen shadow boxes, to start with).

You can read more about the artist in this Etsy featured seller interview.

And finally, apologies for not keeping up with the Weekly Wishlist posts if you were looking for them. It just felt like other peoples' art was taking over this blog, so I needed to take a break. Now, onward.

Busy Getting Nothing Done

It seems to be the story of my life: I'm busy pretty much all the time, and if I'm not actually making or writing something, then I'm reading or doing research. Even when I play videogames, I'm working, because I work for a gaming website. So I've been busy all weekend, and have crossed almost nothing off my to-do list. I really need to write some articles. And get some product made for the Halifax Crafters spring market, which is in a few weeks.

To be fair, I didn't just waste the weekend. I did organize my stock of existing product to get some idea of what I need to make. There is a batch of half-done tiny pocket journals, and I will have to do a batch of Japanese-binding jewellery. And I came up with an idea for new product. One of the things I've been wanting to do is make greeting cards from my illustrations, but I haven't had any I liked well enough to use. But now (you'll see if you read on) I have a couple of images I like. So next time I'm in Truro or Halifax, I'll visit Staples for some of those pre-cut greeting cards that are made especially for inkjet printing on. My large-format Canon photoprinter does really nice prints, so that end is covered. I'm also going to do magnets. I just have to decide how many of each thing I'll be likely to sell, because I'm short enough on funds that I don't want to buy more supplies than I actually need.

I've mentioned ATCs before--that is, Artist Trading Cards. They're little trading card sized piece of art that you trade with other artists. Or you can sell them, in which case they're called ACEOs (Art Cards Editions and Originals). I made one a little while ago to trade with a fellow Etsy Steam Team member.


Leonardo's Clockwork Scarab was made in a hand-coloured edition of 15, two of which stay home (one for me and one for BillyZ), two are on sale at Etsy and ArtFire, one has gone to CreativeEtching, one will go to a trader partner in . . . Sweden, I think, and 9 are left to trade.


Doktor Valentine's Discombobulation Ray was an experiment in markers, which I'm not so good at. A last minute application of pencil crayon highlights saved the image, and it'll become magnets to sell at the fair, and later online. I haven't put it up for trade yet, as I'm rather fond of it, but if the magnets turn out well, I'll either sell the original on Etsy, or make it available for trade.


Aeryn Daring in Sepia was a less-successful experiment with sepia drawing ink. I'm not fond of how it bled, though fortunately it's really only noticeable up close. I also don't like how the paper texture is so visible--guess I'll have to buy the good watercolour paper soon. Otherwise, it turned out OK, and it's up for trades. I may do magnets from this one, but I haven't decided yet.









Valkyrie I'm very pleased with. It was an attempt to get away from the over-detailing I tend to do in inks, and just use a simple outline with basic washes. I think it's successful for what it is, and it will become greeting cards. Maybe magnets, too. I've entered her in a couple of mythology-themed ATC contests, and when those are over I may put her up for sale on Etsy. If the greeting cards turn out well.


The Fox & the Grapes illustrates an Aesop's fable and was an attempt to get myself to use more dynamic perspective. It's actually a detail from a larger image that has more vines and leaves and the rest of the fox's tail--I'll probably go back now and do the whole thing on a postcard. This is another one that will be greeting cards (and maybe magnets). I'm hanging on to it for a while, but will probably sell or trade it eventually.

We've had more spring birds showing up, despite the recent snow, but that's a post for later. Right now I have a big stew to make.

Weekly Wishlist: Nocturnal Time Piece

See how I cleverly changed the title of this post so no one will notice I forgot to post it yesterday? Heh.

Anyway, this week's wishlist pick is a very cool nocturlabe by Whystler's Workshop on Etsy.


It's plastic, which I don't normally like, but the difference here is that it was made by a 3D printing process from a digital file, which is just really, really cool. I like the idea of using the latest technology to produce an item of very old technology.

And it's actually functional, too, so you can take it outside at night and, assuming the sky is clear and there aren't any hills or trees in the way, find the north star and figure out what time it is.

ACEO: Leonardo's Clockwork Scarab

One of my fellow Etsy Steam Team members offered some very cool copper and brass etched ACEOs (Art Cards, Edition and Originals) to trade and I piped up saying I'd make a tiny linocut. Well, turns out 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches is really tiny. Not that I can't do a lino that small, it's just that I came up with a design I really liked, but which was way too complex for lino. So instead I did an ink drawing and scanned it, then added some gears in Illustrator (thanks to the "Gears" typeface from Scriptorium which came in a pack of faces I bought a while ago for doing titles for my comics).

Then I wrestled with my laser printer for a while until I determined that it wasn't going to print onto printmaking rag paper no matter how I cajoled or threatened it. So I printed the images onto rag paper with my lovely Canon Pixma Pro9000 photoprinter instead. It may be time for a new laser printer. Here are some of the cards, not yet coloured.


Next I have to see if the photo inks will withstand water. If they do, I'll tea-stain the paper to age it, and then hand-colour with watercolours. If they don't, I'll carefully tea-stain only the very edges, then hand-colour with pencil crayon. I need to get these done, because the one I'm trading for was in today's mail.

So if you want to trade, let me know. I'm doing 15 of these, and one's spoken for, plus I'll keep one or two. Whatever's left I'll put in my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

And, in case it isn't obvious, it's a scarab beetle, with clockwork, and wings inspired by one of Leonardo daVinci's flying machines. I think I'm still going to attempt a tiny ACEO linocut, but not a scarab flying machine. Maybe just a simple beetle.

Wednesday Wishlist: Tiny Robot by Industrial Fairytale

I knew Industrial Fairytale was going to make an appearance in the Wishlist sooner or later, it was just a matter of choosing which marvelous thing to feature. Scrolling through her Etsy shop today, I realized that of course, it must be Tiny Robot. So here is "Tiny Robot and His Cold Metal Heart."


Industrial Fairytale is Sarah Dungan who, aside from making adorable tiny robots, cephalopod pendants and other delightful polymer clay things, also does lovely illustrations (and you can consider her self-published art books on the Wishlist too, even if I didn't include a picture) (actually, most of the stuff in her shop is on my wishlist). She's a fellow member of the Etsy Steam Team (there's a logo link over there in the left column somewhere, if you want to find out more), has her own blog, and co-runs the Cephalopod Tea Party blog. You can find more of her work on her website.

Wednesday Wishlist: Steampunk Heart

Monster Kookies makes wonderfully fantastic anatomically correct heart pendants. Like this one:


They're sculpted in polymer clay, painted and embellished. I love how this one looks like clockwork. Others look like little scientific heart models, and one even looks like wood.

You can find these very cool hearts at the Monster Kookies Etsy shop, along with zombie cupcakes, clockwork birds and other cute-creepy things. Go look, it's fun. You can also find Monster Kookies work on deviantArt.

Airship Blueprint

One of the things I'm working on right now is a commission for a large-scale blueprint-style airship drawing. I recently posted six concept sketches on my Flickr and had the client look at them. He sent me his comments and ideas, so now I'm working on a sketch that incorporates everything.

The Jules Verne is Frisland Air Ships' flagship, and is most famous for having carried the infamous Dr Sophia Shallowgrave around Frisland on one of her early exploratory journeys. Currently, the Jules Verne is a luxury passenger liner, with regular sailings to Frisland's far north, as well as to destinations overseas.

DAV Santos-Dumont. Darwin Aero Vessels prefers to keep the gasbag entirely separate from the gondola and observation posts, and frequently chooses non-rigid and semi-rigid designs.

Though Frisland Air Ships currently builds only rigid airships, it has experimented with semi-rigid designs, such as the Lebaudy-Julliot.

The pirate ship Flying Fish may have been constructed by the pirates themselves, as there are no records of it being built at any of the shipyards or workshops in Frisland.

Courier Ship Shooting Star, built at the Mountain Vista Shipyards in Peak City, Frisland. This ship features a single steam ray cannon, multiple black powder rail cannons and two experimental steam propulsion units.

The HMS Sgian Dubh was secretly constructed for Queen Victoria by Frisland Air Ships of Darwin, Frisland, as the Royal Air Navy's flagship. Armaments by Darwin Cannon & Sidearms Manufactory of Darwin, Frisland.

Now I think I'll repost this over on BFG, due to the extremely geeky nature of this particular project.

Wednesday Wishlist: Octopus Love

So, it's getting close to that love-it-or-hate-it holiday, Valentine's day, and to celebrate I present to you the perfect Valentine's gift for your sweetheart. If your sweetheart happens to be me.


This is the Octopus Love pendant from OctopusME Jewelry on Etsy. Each piece is hand cast in sterling silver from real octopus tentacles, then hand finished. I love just about everything in this shop, but mostly the tentacles.

Wednesday Wishlist: Octopus Pendant

For this week's Wednesday Wishlist, I bring the truly wonderful work of Sheryl Westleigh (aka noadi on Etsy). I had such a hard time choosing one piece to feature here that I have to recommend you go browse through her whole shop. It's "Squid & Science Inspired Jewelry"--truly an artist after my own heart.


I finally settled on the Orange Octopus above to show you, but I love them all. Each one is hand-crafted from polymer clay and you can tell from the photos how lovingly made they are. Not only are there octopuses, there are also squid, cuttlefish, nautiluses, and things in jars! (And yes, I would happily trade a calendar or book or something for one of these. Or real money, if I had it.)

Wednesday Wishlist: LaMech

Part two of promoting art and craft and getting myself blogging regularly is the Wednesday Wishlist. Basically, this is going to be cool, mostly handmade stuff I find online that I would buy for myself if I had the money. Sometimes I will buy them for myself. But if you're looking for gifts for me (hint, hint) here is a good place to start. Or, you know, cool gifts for anyone. Anyone cool, that is.

My first pick is actually something that was near the top of my to-buy-when-I-have-money list, but has now been removed, on account of I'm trading a Flying Machines calendar for one. So don't buy this for me, but do buy it for the other cool people in your life.


This is the Mechanical Companion (LaMech for ladies and GeMech for gents), made by the tremendously talented Haley Moore (aka toenolla) and available for purchase at High London Mechanical. Or if you prefer Etsy, you can also get it there. See more of Haley's work on her deviantART page.

2010 Flying Machines Calendar!

On Tuesday I finished the last printing I needed to get done before the new year: my 2010 "Flying Machines: possible and improbable" calendar.


On Thursday I trimmed, hole-punched and packaged all 30 of them, and of course signed and numbered them. I had already pre-sold two at the Halifax Crafter's Market, and had two other people interested in buying when they were finished. So I've now sold 5, will keep one for my files, and will probably use 5 or so for gifts. So that leaves 19 for sale in my Etsy shop and my ArtFire shop.

The calendars are printed on one of my favourite (non-handmade) papers for letterpress: Mohawk Via Vellum 80 lb cover. The 100 lb is nice, too, but doesn't fold as well for greeting cards, so I usually buy the 80. The vellum finish gives it a soft texture that doesn't interfere with the printing as heavily textured papers sometimes do. I chose warm white for this, rather than my usual cool white--although cool white tends to have less affect on the ink colour, the warm white seemed better suited to the subject matter, and goes well with the brown ink.

I printed the names of the months first, using a different historic wood type from the Dawson Printshop's collection for each month. I added a lot of transparent base to the ink, and printed relatively lightly in order to get all the texture and imperfections of the old wooden type to show up. For printing the wood type, I used the shop's Vandercook Universal 1 proof press.

Then I printed the numbers and the images at the same time, from polymer plates. I used quite a bit of packing on the cylinder to bring up the pressure and get a nice deep embossment (technically debossment, I suppose). The letters for the days of the week were printed the same way, only with a different colour of ink, of course. The polymer plates were all printed on the shop's Vandercook Universal 2 proof press, a very rare press (apparently only 50 or so were made).

All of the images except two are ones that I found in my various history of flight books (I have a small collections). Many of them are Victorian, and a few of them were in full colour, which meant I had to remove the colour in Photoshop before converting the files to vectors. The two images that weren't ones from my own books came from a file of miscellaneous images on the Printshop computer. Some of the machines pictured actually flew, while others are simply exercises in imaginations.

I'm going to post a contest here soon, where you'll be able to win a copy of the calendar. I think what I'll do is make it a trivia contest, where you'll have to identify some of the machines--maybe which ones actually flew, for example. More on that very soon.

Best Promo Video Ever

What a great way to promote your work this is. (I have one of his rings. It fell behind my desk and I'm going to have to move the whole desk to get at it. Grrr.) I could totally see Dr Shallowgrave in something along those lines, though I'm not sure how I'd work my art/craft into it . . .