First off, as you know from the last post, my wondrous editor Amanda DeBord turned in her edits of the first book of the new medieval fantasy series to me on 7/7. I am well underway on working with the red ink. It is a very healthy process, as Amanda often saves me from myself, and she really "gets it" as far as the series and what I'm trying to do with it.
Matt Perry is underway on the artwork, narrowing down design ideas and beginning initial sketches for what we hope will be at least 10 illustrations, the cover, and a bonus illustration for the limited edition version of the medieval fantasy series kickoff. Matt has some really intruiging ideas regarding the approach that he wants to take for this series of art, and I can guarantee you that it will come out first rate.
And as if that all is not enough for you...
I do have a short story that I am sending over to Amanda for a new horror anthology that she is editing together, to be released this fall via Seventh Star Press. This story is being used by Matt Perry for a special sequential art project kicking off at the beginning of September. I'll have some news posted here about that.
This has all led to some notions that I am exploring regarding a full-blown "Books of Blood" style horror anthology. I have several stories and story ideas in "The Vault" which have some thematic continuity, and are straight out horror genre pieces. LIke the short story I am sending over to Amanda that is being used by Matt for his sequential art project, these stories are very macabre, visceral, and definitely reveal a little of my Clive Barker influence...very different from the fantasy series material in the Rising Dawn Saga and the new medieval fantasy series. Matt and I are discussing doing a full blown graphic novel-style version of a series of short stories later, once a narrative version has been released. This is slowly growing into an exciting project. I don't project more than 5-6 stories for the first release, if this all moves ahead.
Stay tuned on that one for sure!
I am hopefully going to be announcing a very exciting new short film project involving H. David Blalock's novel Ascendant. We are looking at doing a short film revolving around a pivotal fight between champions of good and evil that takes place in the book, and it looks as if we are going to move forward pretty heavily in August on this project. I will be serving as a director and producer, and will be working on the adaptation of the novel elements to the screen. I am very, very enthusiastic about this project. We are already beginning to reach out to some professional Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the superheavyweight class to look at for casting the two main fighters, if that gives you any idea of the imagery and explosiveness we want to capture in this fight scene.
I am also an acting producer on a short film project with my pal Scott Sullivan, which we hope will be shooting in late August/Early September. More on that shortly as well.
I am also going to be launching a new series of blog interviews/reviews and podcasts for Seventh Star Press featuring authors, small publishers, and the like. It will be carried at the Seventh Star Blog site. It will spotlight writers and small press figures that I have met during my adventures to various Cons and other events. I will highlight books that I would like to bring to people's attention. Jackie Gamber, Lettie Prell, D.A. Adams, H. David Blalock, Nic Brown, Maurice Broaddus and Tammy Jo Eckhart are among the first batch that I will be looking to cover, as far as reviews/interviews go. I also hope to do a piece on Meadowhawk Press and another on Apex Publications.
On the film side of things, the Indie Movie Masters blog interviews are well underway, with recent visits with the indie film site Dead Harvey, as well as Ken Daniels, the director of the Fright Night Film Festival. Next on deck is an interview with Stephen and Suzie Lackey of the Con Trek series that is currently being featured on the XboX. We will soon integrate the IMM Podcast on the Indie Movie Masters blog page, and will likely have Stephen and Suzie on the kickoff interview. I hope to soon be visiting with guests such as Jon Klement of Smerdiverse fame, Wayne Clingman of Indy Film Wisconsin, Mark Racop of the Starship movies, and more!
My journey to InConJunction did go very well, by the way. I served on 4 panels, and had a fairly smooth experience all around. The Con is more of a full media event, and as such I got to participate in a couple of panels on blogging, in addition to a couple of literary panels that were stacked with some really fantastic authors (Such as Maurice Broaddus, pictured with me in front of the Apex Publishing banner.
I finally got to hang out a bit with Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications, who is located in my home base of Lexington. I hope to be doing some work with Jason with the Imagicopter project in the near future, as well as some other activities related to promoting small press in our area.
On the film side of things, I got to meet Chuck Budreau of Indy Film News, a resource and networking group for Indiana Filmmakers. I also caught back up with Mark Racop of MagicHouse Productions, who is in the process of finishing up his new sci-fi movie Starship II. I met Mark at a DragonCon a few years back, and he participated in a film/music industry conference I ran for a few years here in Lexington, and it was fantastic to get in touch with him again. His new movie looks like it is going to be really good, with some really nice visuals, so be sure to check out Starship II when it is released.
I also wanted to mention that it was a real pleasure meeting Tammy Jo Eckhart, a very good writer (I am going to be posting a review and interview with her for her book Servant of Destiny) who also happens to be the mastermind behind The Chocolate Cult. Yes, there really is a cult of chocolate now, officially!
Michelle Gussow was also awesome, and I can't wait to see her new short film, Soldier's Song, which looks to pack an emotional wallop! (and big kudos to her as a director for having a scene with a very extended single camera shot! Nice to see someone can still execute something like that in this world of five cuts per second editing)
Also, stay on the lookout for a new book by Angelia Sparrow and Naomi Brooks. I had the great privilege of getting to read this book in advance for consideration of giving a blurb, which I was happy to do as the writing was excellent and the story imaginative and tight. I can't wait to talk more about this book when it goes public.
Well, that about sums things up at the moment! Be sure to stay tuned as there are going to be alot of updates and notices forthcoming!
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