Showing posts with label Highland Sorcery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Highland Sorcery. Show all posts

Where Love Really Does Conquer All



                                                             Coming Soon (Mock up Covers)





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Writing The End

There's not many better things than writing "The End" on a manuscript you've been working on for months.Second to that is getting through your first round of edits and sending the thing off to your editor. That's where I am now with Highland Illusion.

Out of all the Highland Sorcery novels this one has given me the most grief to write and I'm really not sure why. It's just been a bear. It's also a little different than the rest so maybe that's it.

First, it's less action and more relationship building than how I tend to write. I love action. About 90 percent of this book takes place in the same building. The Same Building!

Also for a little switch-up, the hero in this one tends to be the damsel-in-distress more so than the heroine. But he's the only human in the midst of a colony of vampires who are all stronger, older, and predatory. Plus there is no hiding anything he is feeling. The heroine--vampire, also stronger and older than him--can sense every nuance of what's going on internally with him so when he's feelin it for her, there's no hiding where the drop in his blood pressure has gone to.

I also go into religion more in this one. I couldn't help it. In the previous book Highland Son where Lance was first introduced, he is the son of a religious fanatic who preaches that anything with magic is as evil as the monsters running around eating people. Well guess what, Dad? Lance has magic. He can cast illusions, the same illusions that have been saving your butt. So dad tries to kill him. Try coming out of that with an intact love of God and religion. I don't think so.

So who does he become attracted to? A Christian vampire. Yup.

Anyway, it's written, it's off to edits. Want to read an excerpt?

Highland Illusion


New York City


Lance stared up at the octagonal tower at the top of St. Michael’s Chapel. The moonlight slashed down upon it, creating intricate shadows across the ancient building. The chapel had survived more than three hundred years, withstanding the great fire, the fall of the two towers, and also the air strikes the navy threw at the city in their attempt to slaughter all the monsters that had flocked to the once densely populated island.
It was almost fitting that the oldest enclave of vampires in America had taken up shelter there.
To say he was nervous to walk inside, even with Deverell vouching for him, was a chasm of an understatement. They’d driven in the old jeep for days, abandoning it when it finally gave out, and then kept to the shadows and traveled mostly at dusk and night to stay out of the sunlight on Rell’s behalf. The sun’s rays wouldn’t outright kill vampires, but rather acted as radiation poisoning to their sensitive flesh, a terminal effect just the same.
Once they had the vampires onboard, their numbers and swiftness of attack in getting the anti-rift serum into the Sifts’ population would give their world—their future—the advantage they desperately needed.
“Are they in there?” he asked around the growing lump swelling his throat.
Oui.” Deverell’s gaze scanned the roofline and then the columns supporting the portico. “They are all around us, dozens of my brethren. I sense their presence.” Which meant they also knew about them being on the street just outside, unprotected, yet what human really had protection around a colony of vampires? Would the old treaties between mankind and vampires still be honored? Or were they long ago forgotten, a casualty of the Sifts’ uprising.
Taking a wary step forward, Lance squared his shoulders, trying to look confident, knowing the vamps inside would detect the frantic racing of his heart. “Well, let’s get this thing done.”
“Hello. You inside.” Deverell spread his arms wide, showing he held no weapons. “We come in peace.” His long coat fluttered beneath his outstretched arms.
Lance crooked a half grin and copied the vampire’s pose, stretching his arms wide. “We come in peace?”
Deverell shrugged. “It seemed fitting.”
“Fitting and ridiculous.” An amused voice spoke right behind Lance’s shoulder, causing him to flinch. Damn, vampires moved fast. He hadn’t felt or heard the approach from behind. He twisted his head to look at a rangy vampire grinning at him, two long eye-teeth pressing against his lower lip. “And you brought lunch.” His nostrils flared, sniffing Lance as though he was meat rotating on a spit.
A hiss of irritation bristled off Deverell. “He’s my friend, August. Under my protection.”
August leaned back, disappointment quieting the eagerness of his breathing and dismissed Lance from his attention to focus fully upon Deverell. “Why have you come then?”
“To help you,” Deverell stated blandly. “To help us all. We’ve a means to rid ourselves of the Trogs once and for all.”
August’s eyes narrowed. He smoothed his hair back from his distinguishable widow’s peak. “You don’t say.” Shrugging, he turned on his heel toward the old church’s entrance. “Come along then. And bring your pet. Don’t want it left unattended out here all alone.” He grinned at Lance. “There are predators about.”
Trogs? Lance mouthed behind August’s back. The humans had first labeled them as Sifts but Trogs was as apt a name for the horrible carnivorous beasts as any.
Deverell shrugged, eyeing the vampires slinking in the shadows around them.
“I thought they’d show a little more enthusiasm at a chance to be rid of the Sifts,” Lance admitted.
“I as well.” Deverell frowned. “They must not believe us.”
“You did say they’d be hard to convince.” They passed through the doors into the muted interior of the church. Light from a dozen tall candles rubbed a low shine upon the large chapel, throwing dozens of marble angels scattered about in shadow and light. Sculptured faces seemed to follow their progress through the considerable space. Most of the pews were gone, the few left were pushed back against the wall or arranged in clusters for sleeping or conversing, rather than in neat rows facing the pulpit and large cross for worship.
Lance blinked, stumbling a step at a flash of memory pushing behind his eyes. Kneeling between two long pews, no, not kneeling, hiding, his small body curled over his knees, his sister pushed up against him, trembling, their mother whispering, “Be still, be silent,” as she dragged them into a church for refuge as though church walls could keep out hungry salivating monsters.
“Deverell,” a feminine voice, brimming with welcome pulled Lance back to the here and now. She glided toward them with the sinuous grace of a cat. Satiny black hair fell to her hips as straight and still as glass. She took Deverell by the forearms and kissed his cheek. “You’ve returned to us after all.” Violet eyes tilted. “I admit I believed you perished beneath the teeth of the troglodyte beasts as so many of our brothers and sisters have.”
The dozen or so vampires within the chapel were gathering closer, fluid of movement, detaching from the walls like fog rolling in from the sea.
Grinning, Deverell ran his hands down the female’s arms until he was clasping her wrists. “Lost to the monsters, Oriana? You know me better than that.”
She smiled demurely.
Standing beside her, August watched them steadily. “Deverell claims he has the means to rid of us the Trogs.” He shared a meaningful look with Oriana.
“Oh?” A sleek brow lifted. “That is…interesting. And unnecessary. We’ve come upon means of our own to rid us of the foul beasts.”
“Means of your own?” Deverell tilted his head, dipping his long dark hair along his shoulder. “And what would those means be?”
“A discussion for another time.” Oriana glanced pointedly at Lance. The vampires obviously didn’t want to discuss anything in front of him, an unimportant human. “For now, you will be our guests. August, be a lovely and show them where they can refresh themselves.”
It took every ounce of Lance’s restraint to remain quiet and let Deverell take the lead. Sometimes playing unassuming was the best course. They hadn’t traveled all this way to be summarily dismissed. They had a way to stop the Sifts and the vampires would listen.
The signs of his frustration must have showed through the rhythm of his pulse or the flash of heat beneath his skin for every gaze turned on him curiously. Deverell’s grimace warned him to get it under control. He couldn’t forget that he was in the midst of predators every bit as dangerous as the Sifts, old treaties with humankind remembered or not.
“This way.” August indicated they go ahead of him through the adjoining door to their right into a narrow corridor.
Coming from the other end of the hallway, a female stormed toward them. Head down, every muscle of her lithe body was tight. Fists clenched, she wasn’t paying any heed to her steps until she was nearly upon them, stopping short before crashing into Lance.
Mere inches shorter than he, her face snapped up to almost the same level. Shiny dark eyes took him in, a flash of scrutiny before they slid away to focus on August.
Lance wasn’t as eager to cease his own scrutiny of her. It would take a lifetime of practice to be able to manifest an illusion as captivating as the reality before him or the expressive qualities of the downturn of her lips.
“What is it now, Celestine?” August asked with the tint of annoyance.
Celestine. Lance stared at the slight blink of inky lashes against dusky skin.
As though feeling his perusal, her gaze fell back to him, and damn if his pulse didn’t set off to win a speed record. The quirk of her brow proved she detected the change in rhythm and understood the cause of it.
Caught, he decided to roll with it and gave her his cheekiest full-of-himself grin.
Amusement curled her lip and she leaned in close, her breath a whisper at his neck and glories help him, if his fate was to be devoured by a monster, let it be her.
Petit chat.” Indulgence purred through her husky voice and then she was pushing past him and Deverell, tossing back to August, “I need to speak with Oriana.” She paused, cautious. “We haven’t enough. It’s too soon to…” She shook her head, setting soft black curls to swaying about her shoulders, then clamping her lips shut, she strode off.
“Problems within the ranks?” Deverell arched a brow at August. “Come on, August, whatever it is you’re planning, you really need to hear us out first. What we have to say may be of a benefit to whatever it is you have cooking. You know me, you know my history. I would never come here if it wasn’t important.”
August stopped, lips flattened, and indicated they go through one of the doors near the end of the hallway. “Yeah I know you. That’s why we’re going to have you wait right in here until Balius returns.”
“Balius is back with the colony?”
Standing outside the room, August’s grin turned predatory. “Back. And in charge.” He swung the door closed in their faces.

Deverell turned to Lance as the bolt locked into place. “Balius. That is unfortunate.”



Making of a Book Cover: Highland Son

I've been at it again, making book covers and lots of them. 

Four to be exact for my newest series A New Dawn, a continuation of the Highland Sorcery series.
I don't make covers for other people because that's not really where I want to focus my time and energy, but I gotta say, I love making my own. Searching for just the right cover model is fun. I always go for the expression, more so than looks...

Original picture for AlexanderAnyway, here's the picture I used for Alexander. I just love the way the photographer Konradbak captured him in motion...and the intensity on his face is perfect.

Shirt to overlap Highland Son coverThe only thing I don't like about this is that he's shirtless. It doesn't fit with the brand of my books, which are more action and behind-the-door snogging, less skin. And since I don't want readers expecting something they aren't going to get, I try hard to keep everyone clothed. So the next step before I bought the picture for use was to see if I could find a shirt to cover the poor guy up with.

I found this picture with the model's body turned in close to the same position.

So now I have the two pictures. I overlaid the shirt picture on top of Alexander's picture, sized it to fit, tilted it a bit to fit more, and then used the eraser tool to erase everything on the top picture except for the shirt. I also had to get a little creative with the cloning tool to fill in more of the shirt color where I erased the shirt guy's arm which took out some of the shirt.  (Weird sentence. As a writer I should do better, but as a lazy person this moment, I'm going to leave it.) The bottom of the shirt is a bit fuzzy but the words will camouflage that a bit. Not too mention it draws the eye up to the face since it's more in focus. That's what I tell myself anyway.
Before and after saturation on photograph of Alexander


So now I have a shirt on Alexander.  But he's kind of gray. So I saved the picture into one layer and then used the saturation tool to pull up more color. He's just about perfect now, except I want a different background.

Kay, I cheated a little here by using a background I already had. I loved the greenish building scape cover for Highland Shapeshifter. So I pulled up that original cover (I already own that picture for use) and cropped a background out of it from the left bottom corner below her arm. So now that little piece will be Alexander's background.
Cover for Highland Shapeshifter

Once that photograph was cropped and sized for the background layer, I overlaid the saturated picture of Alexander over it and went to work with the eraser tool, enlarging it to work to make sure I erased around every strand of hair very carefully. It's painstaking work, but worth the time and effort.  


So here he is. He, of course, is missing an arm because that's where the original picture's edge cut off. So that is obviously going to be where I crop it for the ebook copy. I saved this version to be able to use some of that for the back cover when I work on the paperback jacket. 
So after cropping and adding the title and author name (moi), which takes only a few minutes because I already have a series template saved so that all the books in the same series are uniformed. 
Voila!!!

Now, to move onto the cover for the paperback. The trick there is knowing how large the spine needs to be depending on how many pages (or how fat) the book will end up. Once I knew that, I got to work. I had to add a little more to the back cover because what I had cropped out of Highland Shapeshifter didn't go all the way to the edge. So what I did was take the photograph (two pictures up) before I added the words and flipped it horizontally into a mirror item. Then I slid that along the edge of this picture. If the bigger was larger, you'd see a mirror version of Alexander on the left side. In fact I had to use the cloning tool again to paint part of his jacket out. If you look closely you can see the line where the two pictures meet. So, don't look that closely. Well, okay, go ahead. 
Paperback cover jacket for Highland Son

And remember how I said I made 4 covers? Well, that's because I wanted to put all the series covers on the back cover jacket. Cool, eh? I learned that trick from my friend Suzan Butler, cover artist  and author extraordinaire. She knows all the neat things to do. 

But then I thought, "Hey, since I used the same background on two covers, they should match real well." Since I was playing in photoshop anyway, I decided why not update my blog. It's been a while anyway. So I meshed the two covers together and came up with the new heading above. I'll stick it here too for when I decide to update it again.

Clover Autrey blog header

And then, since I'm having a new series release party on facebook next week, (You're all invited by the way, just go over and "like" my Clover Autrey Books facebook page so you'll be sure to get the posts.) I thought I might as well go ahead and make a cool banner to advertise it. I had to flip him horizontally again since the facebook profile picture takes up the bottom left corner. And, well, he's still missing that arm...
New series Release Celebration for Highland Sorcery A New Dawn
Anypooh, that's it for now. 
Highland Son, Alexander's book, is for sale on the kindle and also for sale on the nook.
It's at all the other retailers through Smashwords.
The paperback is in review and will be ready for purchase at Amazon and Barnes &Noble toward the end of next week. 

And in case you are wondering, I'll be posting the transformation of the other three cover photos within a few days. 

11-12-13

A Highland Sorcery Christmas book cover
First, a very happy 11-12-13 to you. I imagine there will be lots of weddings today to get this date!!!

With Christmas and Thanksgiving around the corner, I wanted to have a tie-in holiday tale to my Highland Sorcery novels and this made the perfect segue, giving each couple from the first four books a chance to come back to the same time period and reunite and celebrate just being alive.

The only problem? I don't write fluffy holiday features. Be warned: A Highland Sorcery Christmas isn't your normal holiday fare.

It takes place in two time periods, where the twenty-something son of Toren and Charity (from book one) is now the leader of humanity's survivors. Alexander is so close to weakening the monsters who have replaced humans at the top of the food chain. But when he gets near one of the beasts to test his formula, the monster takes a bite out of him and mentally downloads everything Alexander knows.

Now it’s up to his family to fight for his life in the past and the future if they are to save him and spare the world.

Not exactly your usual holiday get together. There be monsters this season.

Excerpt

The stormy wedge of dirty sky rocked sideways. Tight between Ethan and Dez, Alexander’s shoulders rubbed along their stomachs. His legs bounced, knees bent over their arms as they carried him over the rough terrain.
“It won’t stop. I need another pressure package. Now.” That was Bekah. The hard tension against his stomach released, but just as suddenly came again with more sharpness as a fresh gauze package was shoved against his wound. Somehow Bekah had tucked herself behind Dez and was keeping up with their pace so she could keep pressure on the bleeding gash.
Alexander shuddered, the sweat on his cheek mixed with the dampness along Bekah’s arm, reaching over his torso. The Sift had taken a chunk out of him.  
“You’re going to be okay.” Her voice rasped near his head. “We’re getting you to help. Just a little ways more. You keep on breathing, you hear me?”
Breathe. Right. That was important, wasn’t it? Everything narrowed down to pulling oxygen into his struggling lungs, but it hurt. 
An iceberg had somehow wedged inside his chest, blocking the air passages and with any attempt to expand his lungs, the icy shards bit into his flesh from the inside out.
The graying world tilted, his head lolling back, falling between the canyons of Ethan’s and Dez’s shoulders as they carried him uphill.
“Richards, run ahead for Lenore.” That was Bekah barking orders again, though she didn’t seem to be talking to him this time. Out of all his aunts, she was the bossiest.
The dusky sky disappeared, replaced by a smudge of gray cement ceiling of the parking garage his Holdout forces used out in the field. His forces. Alexander grinned at that even as metallic tasting blood trickled between his lips. Dez and Ethan had been among the first to believe he had a way to fight the overpowering Sifts, well, after he’d proved himself by saving Ethan’s neck with a shot of sorcerer’s flame. Some days it was good to be the last sorcerer on earth. He should have used it on the Sift today. He just hadn’t seen it before it dropped on him.
“What’s happened?” He heard Lenore a moment before her worried face moved above his. Her voice tightened. “Put him over here.”
Alexander felt himself being swung up into the bed of an abandoned pickup. His head swung with the movement too. Hissing, he curled in around his stomach, but was immediately pulled flat by several hands.
The saturated pressure package was yanked from his side and the pain of it made him blind, his scream caught in stolen heaving breaths.
“What happened?” Lenore’s knees jabbed into his hip where she knelt in the truck bed. Her pixie features strained. “Is this a bite?”
Nausea filled Alexander’s throat. Serrated teeth clamped into him, tearing a chunk of flesh away in a flash of scorching shock and pain. He struggled to get up, get away from all the bodies pressed around him, all the hands holding him down, locked on his arms and shoulders and legs, held fast and vulnerable for the monster to get him.
“Sift got to him.” The slim hands pressing onto his shoulders flexed. “We couldn’t…it was so fast.”
Lenore’s head snapped up, dragging the strands of her hair along his saturated shirt. The ends of her pale hair lifted, tipped in shiny wet red. “But you killed it. Right? You killed it.”
The vibration of collected fear flowed between the group of fighters surrounding him. Being crunched on by a monster carried its own particular horror, one you wouldn’t think could be topped, but when a Sift sank its teeth in you, the nasty beast captured your memories.
“Tell me you didn’t let it get away.”
“It escaped through a hole it tore out of the air,” Dez snarled it fast and hard, the staccato bark of a fired rifle. “Col jumped in after it.”
Lenore jerked back. The press of her knees lifted, preparing to flee. Alexander floated after her, trying to follow all the movement, keep his focus.
The weight on Alexander’s shoulders lifted as Bekah reached across him and latched onto Lenore’s wrists, keeping her in place.
“There’s nothing you can do for Col. He’s out of our reach. But Alexander needs you now.”
The women stared at each other, faces close above Alexander, swaying in and out of his waning focus. It was hard to latch onto anything. He just wanted to get away.
“Can you heal him?” Bekah gritted out and Lenore recoiled like someone waking from a nightmare.
       “I don’t…” She flinched again. “Yes. I won’t let him die.” Lips set, Lenore’s hands moved over the cavity that was his wound and Alexander bucked. All the hands holding him pressed down harder.

                                                     nook                  kindle                 itunes


Also out now and on sale through the month of November, the first 4 Highland Sorcery novels all together for the price of one. See where the adventure begins...


nook                          kindle

Making of a Book Cover: Highland Sorcery Christmas

I really enjoy playing around with Photoshop. I'm not an artist by any means and I seriously just know enough to cause myself trouble, but I think I have a half-way decent eye at finding the stock photos that will work. I mostly go for the model's expression on whether they capture the feeling I hope my book evokes.

This Christmas book is a first for me as it has no cover model. I wanted something that said "Christmas" with just a glance, but also "monsters" because for the life of me I cannot write a fluffy happy everything's harmonious and joyful story to save my life. I wanted a book where all the main characters from the first four Highland Sorcery novels got together to celebrate just being family all in one place...and as it happens, one time too, since they have all been traveling back and forth through time.

Well, I got them all together. *Clearing throat and ducking*. But it wasn't easy and they had one heck of a fight on their hands to get there. It basically goes: Toren and Charity's son is in danger (in two time lines), they kill the monsters, so yeah, let's have Christmas now.

Best freakin plot ever, right? Brings all sorts of Holiday cheer. In case you're wondering, that squishy sound is my eyes rolling.

Back to the cover:

I started out searching for something Christmasy: Loved this picture because the ornaments have a kind of Scottish pattern on them. (Note: I play around with the pictures and make mock-ups before buying them so this still has a watermark. My favorite place to purchase stock photos is Dreamstime.com.



Then I went searching for the perfect monster breaking into their happy little Christmas. The monsters actually come through rifts in time so this one breaking through the wall seemed perfect.
 I also found this broken ornament that symbolized a disrupted Christmas nicely. Well, I think so at any rate.
Next I layered the three photos on top of each other to see if they would work together. Using the eraser tool, I erased the bits I didn't want like the glob of red ornaments and the gray wall the monster was coming out of. I also used the clone tool to blacken over the top of the monsters snout and teeth so I would just have a clawed hand, since my monsters' faces don't look like that at all.

With a little placement, here's the mock-up I came up with at first. (Again, notice the watermarks since I haven't purchased all the pictures yet since I may not use them. That's what I like about Dreamstime. They allow you to play around with their images first.)

As much as I like how this turned out, it also seems a little busy, especially when you take into consideration that it will mostly be viewed as a much smaller thumbnail on most of the distributor sites.
.
So I played around some more, got rid of the Scottish ornaments (glad I didn't buy it yet--maybe next Christmas?) and moved and angled the monster's hand a little bit. Then I went back to Dreamstime and purchased the two pictures so I can legally and honestly use them, and started over again, darkened the font color, and here's the final version.

It will be officially released on November 2nd, because when else would a Christmas with monsters be released except on Dia de los Muerte I ask you?

But it is also listed for preordering at Smashwords and hopefully soon at Barnes and Noble as well for the whopping price of $1.99. 


Also out now is the boxed set of the first four books in the Highland Sorcery novels. Four books for the price of two. 

.

What Magical Wielder are you?

Just for fun...

Making of Highland Moon Sifter Cover

This one took a lot of tweaking. I started out with this stock photo from Dreamstime. Well, minus the modesty slash. I saw it months and months ago while I was looking for another cover and just fell in love with this model's hair and facial expression. I bought it right then. In fact, this is the only cover model that I've ever written a character to match. Usually I just see the characters in my mind, but Bekah I wrote seeing this picture. This is her. That's a first for me.


However, even though Bekah is naked quite a bit throughout the book since time traveling doesn't allow anything material, like clothes or weapons, to go through, half-nekked people on covers gives a different impression for what's inside the book. I don't want to be misleading, so the search for a cover up ensued. That was really hard to find something that fit the way her body is twisted kind of sideways.
Finally I settled on this poncho.  And it kind of fit on her. It was fun getting her arm in front of it.

I also had to get rid of the hot red jalapeno key chain she was holding since, like I said, nothing material can travel through time rifts, including red key chains. That would have come in useful in the 13th Century though now that I think about it. Too bad.
  
Okay so next came the background. This brown one is kind of bleh, plus as this is the last book of the series and the characters are back in 13th Century Scotland where the first book began, I wanted to have the same purplish cloudy look to it that Highland Sorcerer has. Then I thought it'd be cool to throw in the moon since Shaw gets his magical power from moonlight. 
Okay, well it made sense to me and it took less than five minutes to find the perfect moon shot.
Added the purple saturation.

Next I placed Bekah onto the Moon background.
Added the Title and stuff... And softened the edge of the poncho on her shoulders and 
Here we have it... 

And the Series is complete!



Book Lovers' Buffet

Final Day of the Sale so I hope ya'll stock up for Summer. Whee!!!


                                                                        Bouquet Buffet
125 Authors, more than 170 eBooks, all types of romance genres, all coming together for one heck of a great sale bouquet buffet style. All books will only be .99 cents for 3 days.





I have 2 books in the sale, Death and Kisses and The Vampire and the Highland Empath, the 2nd in the Highland Sorcery series.
Ya'll won't want to miss out on this once a year event. See you over there where I'm loading up my eReaders for summer!!!



New Release: Highland Shapeshifter

For the Kindle       For the Nook        Paperback 

Flung into the 21st Century, Highland shapeshifter Col Limont needs to find the healer Charity Greves in order to get back home and save his family.

However, the healer’s sister, Lenore, is determined to do everything she can to keep Col from dragging her sister back to 13th Century Scotland into his family’s supernatural war. But when monsters and a strange yuppie trio also try to stop him, Lenore has to reconsider her options.

But by helping Col, she’ll lose her sister.



***


Resolved, she edged forward and dragged the heavy tarp off the creature underneath.
And stared.
It was just a man.
He sat against the sewage pipe, arms pulled behind him, either tied or handcuffed. His head hung forward, dark hair obscuring his face. His jeans were ripped and loose, as was his dirty T-shirt, splattered with blood and mud. Cuts and abrasions speckled his arms and she’d guess there were more under his shirt and on his face. Anger at his harsh mistreatment rose up in her.
“You’re into trafficking humans now?”
“Ha!” Starch flung his large hands up. “Hardly human. Shapeshifter. And a powerful one at that. Took three ghouls and a troll to subdue him and that was after they tranqed him.”
“Is he still drugged?” She crouched down beside the guy, squeezing her hands into fists to hide the anger. This wasn’t right. “What’d you give him?”
She touched his arm and he flinched. Her heart went out to him. He looked young and innocent. A year or so younger than her, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Too young to be caught up in whatever mess this was. Her instinct was to soothe, but she couldn’t show any softness here. Grabbing his chin, she lifted his head.
And the world narrowed down to a pair of mossy green eyes.
Energy shot into her, buzzing strangely across her skin in a lightning rapid pulse. An instant familiarity burned through her, as if she knew him, though she was certain she’d never seen him before, but there was something. Staring into his battered face, a connection rippled between them, tangent and swift and then was gone as quickly as it came.
Stranger still, she wanted that connection back. 


Cover Reveal in the making

I love seeing the transformation a cover goes through. And I'm so pleased with how this latest one turned out for Highland Shapeshifter.

Here's the original stock photo: What caught my eye was not only the movement of the shot, but the worried expression on the model's face. So far I've loved all the girls on the Highland covers for their melancholy looks. On each of them, I'm drawn in, wondering what they could be thinking about.

Yeah, yeah, in reality, they are probably hoping the photographer will hurry up and take the shot, but...


Then it got tweaked a bit. Even though it will be cropped for the ebook cover, a version this size will be untouched for when we start working on the paperback size. It will be a little tricky since she is smack in the middle so the back cover area will have to be expanded, but that's for later.

This one below has been tweaked a bit, removing her reflection behind her. Later on the weird shadow on her leg will be removed and the brightness in the top left corner will be toned way down.


Next, it gets cropped. That was a little harder to decide which way to go because there is so much movement. The general photography rule (as my Sweetheart photographer husband is apt to point out) is for the subject's face to always look inward on the largest "rule of thirds" space. However, I liked the movement of her hair and hand lifting outward. It just felt more active, like she was on the run (which she is throughout most of the book) so I broke the rule and had it cropped so her face is closer to the edge, like she's looking off the page.

Below, notice the shadow from her dress on her leg is gone. She also has some weird nipplish going on with how she's leaning down, and since I write on the Sweeter side, I don't really want that, but some strategic letter placement with the title should take care of that. The things you have to look out for, right?

Here's the final copy. The light at the top corner is toned down a bit to give more focus on the letters. I really wanted a green on green, but the background was so busy, it was just hard to read and not showing up, so I went with kind of a white and green combination, which fits with the title lettering of the first book in the series with lighter and darker shades so it keeps a good continuity between books. I love how it turned out and can't wait for this book to come out this month. So what do you think of it?


The Making of a Book Cover

Thought you might like to see the transformation a cover has to go through.
This is the original picture I purchased from Dreamstime.


Then it got flipped horizontally so that when it goes to print there will be enough picture for the back cover. The cat was also removed since there are no cats in the book. No offense to cat lovers. It also went through some intense color saturation to make the heroine pop as well as dodged and burned to bring out the details like the rain. 
The above transformation will be kept for when we are ready to create the cover for the paperback version with plenty of room for the back cover blurb.

Cropping for the ebook version comes next and then the title and author fonts and placements. So here's the final version ready to go to market as soon as the final draft is complete. For more information about the making of covers, visit my husband's website at patautrey.com.







Wuthering Heights

SoHo Publications just came out with a new paperback version of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I can't help but notice the similarity between their cover and my cover. *grins*
Actually that's the hazard of using stock photos. Once bought, we have the right to use them, change them, but others can purchase the exact image and do the same. 


So am I upset? Gonna panic and change my cover? Not hardly. It's bound to happen, but how awesome is it that I have the same cover image as Emily Bronte's only classic?  Wuthering Heights, people. It's Wuthering freaking Heights.
Can't get much better company than that.
It makes me feel as though Emily Bronte and I are connected now.
Although I will say, I prefer her other covers. *another cheeky grin*