Pants... And Cover Art

Chinchbug has been on a creative roll lately. He's working on the covers for all five of the Guardians of the Pattern novels in one fell swoop because he wants to tie them all together thematically (I hope this is artist-speak for make them look cool, but you never know).

Last night he was working on the cover for Book 3, and he showed me the initial renders so I could tell him if the model looked the way I pictured the character. Our impromptu creative consultation session went something like this:

Chinchbug: So what do you think? Does he look young enough? Androgynous enough? Are his eyes and his hair right?
Jaye: Er... yeah... he looks good... but Dude, he's not wearing any pants.
Chinchbug: Well, no. He doesn't need pants. We're doing head shots, remember?
Jaye: Yeah, but... he's not wearing pants.
Chinchbug: I know he's not wearing pants. But what do you think of the rest of him?
Jaye: I can't take him seriously if he's not wearing pants.
Chinchbug: It's artistic license.
Jaye: Yeah, but--
Chinchbug (handing Jaye the mouse and getting up out of his chair): Maybe you'd like to drive?
Jaye (staring at Daz Studio interface in techno-horror): Er... you know what? I think I can live with a little pantslessness.

So anyway, here's the cover Chinchbug worked up for the soon-to-be-released short story, Facing the Mirror.

That's Cameron on the cover. He's the main character in Facing the Mirror, and he's a secondary character in most of the Guardians of the Pattern novels. Eventually, I'd like to give him his own novel, because he has an interesting story to tell, but for now, he's going to have to wait.

And in case you were wondering... he's not wearing any pants, either.

Coming Soon: Facing the Mirror

The short story, Facing the Mirror is nearly finished. It introduces two of the secondary characters who appear throughout the Guardians of the Pattern series, and another character who will probably inspire a book of his own, because I found him so intriguing. He's been whispering in my ear ever since he came barging into my head when I wrote the first draft of this story, and he's been getting louder. I don't think he's willing to wait much longer for his turn in the spotlight.

Facing the Mirror is now in the hands of my long-suffering, overworked beta reader (to whom I really need to send a nice, large box of truffles), and I'm hoping to have it out during the first part of November. I do have a blurb to share, and next week, I'll post a sneak-peek at the cover art. Chinchbug did his usual awesome digital magic on it, and it looks great.

Blurb:
Special Agent Cameron Asada has spent four years deep undercover in an attempt to deal a death blow to the Sapphire Guild, the largest drug cartel on Alpha. The things he's done in the name of his mission weigh heavily on his soul, and Cam is reaching the point where he's not sure he recognizes the man he sees in the mirror anymore.

Things come to a head when Cam finally gets the break he's been waiting for: an invitation to work for the boss himself as a psionic interrogator. While working at the boss's estate, Cam meets Miko, a powerful psion trapped behind a wall of silence. It doesn't take long for Cam to realize that Miko is a slave, handed around to the boss's associates as a reward for a job well done.

Miko's plight tugs at Cam's heartstrings, forcing Cam to examine just how many lines he's willing to cross in the name of serving the greater good. Will Cam risk his life and his career to help Miko? Or is the trail of broken minds and bodies he's left in his wake worth the possibility of victory over the Guild?

Guardians of the Pattern

The next thing on the agenda is to get my M/M science fiction series, Guardians of the Pattern, all nice and shiny and ready for consumption. The series consists of five novels, all of which are in first draft form at the moment, and all of which run around 85 - 95K right now.

There is an over-arching plot that runs through the entire series, but each story will focus on a different couple. The same core group of characters appear throughout the series, which covers the events of several years, so the characters from the first book will be making appearances throughout the series, and have important roles to play in some of the later stories.

Without further ado, here is the blurb for Psi Hunter, the first book in the Guardians of the Pattern series:

Blurb:
In a future where humanity has spread out among the stars, those few possessing psychic abilities are looked upon with suspicion at best and murderous intent at worst.

On Aurora, one of the more tolerant worlds of the Federation, Pat Cottrell works for Federation Security as a psi hunter, tracking down and neutralizing dangerous psi criminals.

Kyn Valdari works for the Institute for Psionic Research, running search-and-rescue operations, in which psions in distress are offered the chance to learn how to control psychic abilities that can threaten sanity and ruin lives.

Kyn and Pat used to be best friends, closer than brothers. Three years ago, one passionate night that never should have happened left both of them shocked, confused, and desperately wanting more.

They haven’t spoken since.

Now, the silence between them must be broken. Kyn and Pat have been ordered to investigate a string of murders that may have been committed by a psion powerful enough to kill with a thought. In order to succeed, they will have to work together to save an abused, traumatized young psion from being taken advantage of by the very organization that is supposed to save him.

Author's Note: Speculate all you like, but I refuse to explain the similarities in the last names of one of the main characters in this book and the name of the evil dude in Human Frailties, Human Strengths. Stick around… all will be revealed… although it might take us a while to get there!

I'm planning on having this out early next year, and sometime before the end of this year, I'll have a short (about 10K) prequel story coming out.

I'm an "Arthur"!!!

So when I was about four, I sauntered into the living room where my parents were having tea and announced, "I want to be an arthur."

Fast forward more years than I want to admit to, and I can finally say that yes, I'm an "arthur". Human Frailties, Human Strengths is finally finished, and is available on Smashwords and on Amazon.

Now I'm going to crawl under the rug and have a nice, long nap. And a metric crap-ton of chocolate.