Paul D. Brazill is at it again. Paul, a mild-mannered, tea drinking, croissant consuming writer (Ha! What the hell am I saying!?) is the creator of the Drunk On The Moon series featuring his PI-turned-Werewolf character, Roman Dalton.The series is about to be re-issued . . . and ultimately expanded on . . . in the near future. And here is the new cover for the re-issue. Snazzy, huh! I think so.
For those of you may not know the series, Paul did something quite unique. He developed the character Roman Dalton and then he went out and invited a few of his writer friends to write stories, taking up Roman as the main character, and continue the series along. Each writer sketched Roman's personality a little bit differently. Making the series, and the character, far more interesting.
'Insatiable' was the title for my offering. Basically the story was about Roman being asked to solve a couple of bloody homicides a few days before his 'sickness' took over and converted him into a raving, blood thirsty killer. But he could feel the sickness coming on . . . and so the story was a painting of how a Werewolf tried to act normal even though he was beginning to look at everyone around him as a form of snack food.
Dark Valentine Press is bringing the series out sometime this summer. Roman, as Paul tells me, was born first in the pages of Dark Valentine Magazine--the ancestor to the current publishing house. When DOTM became available DVP jumped on it immediately.
Paul also said that he might open the portal up again invite writers to contribute again. Hope so. I would love to offer a little ditty that came to mind the other day.
Now, for something different . . .
Javier is one half of Carmona Brothers of Madrid, Spain (the other half being Jesus). Brilliant artists. We've worked on a number of different projects for some of my writing. And now we're working on creating (hopefully!!) a kick-ass graphic novel. But that's down the road just a bit since we've just started . . .
But Smitty needed some kind of book cover for the short story series. Like I've mentioned before, there's something like twenty-eight short stories . . . . with more coming . . . so I wanted to create an image that would be spot-on visually describing what the stories would be about.
What you see here is just the first visualization of the final product. But notice the eyes. If you've read any of the stories you've noticed how I emphasis Smitty's black eyes. I think this brings that out nicely.
There are going to be changes. Smitty needs to be dressed in a business suit. Or at least a sport coat and slacks. But what struck me as fascinating is this on-going conversation Javier and I are having in trying to get the image right. Creativity at its best. Quite stimulating. And it brings up another point that's crossed my mind often. I think a writer who is trying to create a . . . if you will . . . a brand-name character . . . should seriously be involved in creating the artwork. Why not? Your character is going to be around for a long time if you're successful. Might has well make sure you can stand looking at the guy.
More Smitty imagery will be coming . . .
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