
Spider Wars is published at last. Today's blog marks a new milestone in my publishing progress. I have rearranged the home page (titled Welcome) so that only my published novels appear there. The single exception to this is Philip Marrow, Jr. The Private Eye, but that book will be published in February so I left it there. (available thru Amazon in mid-February)
The photo to the left in this blog was taken with my iPhone to keep the resolution low, but the colors altered somewhat. (Actually, I like them better in this photo than what is actually on the book covers.) There is a reading sample on the SAMPLES page of this website. Just go to the navigation bar near the top of any page. Also, there is general information about Spider Wars on the Welcome page.
In doing research for Spider Wars, I learned about and then obtained a copy of Herzog's documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, about Chauvet, the French cave that contains 30,000 year-old works of art. These are even older than those found previously in the cave at Lascaux, France, which suffered from allowing tourists to visit its premises. The lessons learned from that "tragedy" have caused the Chauvet cave to be well protected. It is a wonderfully done documentary, but I noticed two things I wish they had added. They used very powerful electric lights to illumine the beautiful ancient paintings. I wish they had also been able to simulate an illumination as if by camp fires and primitive torches (I know they could not contaminate the air with real fire, but there are modern facsimiles that might have sufficed. The uneven surfaces used as "canvases" plus the natural contours of the cave lend their own mystique, but I would have liked to also see the artwork in what might have been the lighting the painters actually used. Secondly, and more importantly, there were comments from artistic experts, but since my background includes play and art therapy with children, I would very much have liked a developmental perspective from an art therapist. Why? Because art therapy takes into consideration developmental milestones that children go through, which is revealed in their drawings. I was impressed because many "primitive" cultures have art that resembles the rudimentary efforts of young children. The art in the cave at Chauvet is very different in that respect. It is developmentally much more mature. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to click on the link above and take a look for yourself. If you read Spider Wars, you will probably understand why this cave art so particularly interested me, and how it relates to my story.
By some time in February, there will be five published novels described on the Welcome page. In addition, Singing Winds Press (which remains closed to submissions—and you can find out more about that on their website) has also published two novels by other authors for a total of seven books their first year. Way to go! In the foreseeable future, SWP will continue to offer autographed copies of all their books, which you can check out at www.singingwindspress.com. That, of course, includes my novels and you can also find out about that on the store page of this website if you are interested.
To all of you who have purchased one or more of my books to date, Thank You Very Much!
So, what's next? Once Phillip Marrow, Jr. is in print, I will focus on another "new" series that begins with Country Cousin In the Wild Woods. (That was actually my second completed novel, originally with the working title: Welcome to the Country, Cousin, but I decided that was too long, and changed it to Country Cousin. However, more recently, I did an Internet search and found one or more other books by that name, so in the end I have just as long a title as I began with LOL)
The photo to the left in this blog was taken with my iPhone to keep the resolution low, but the colors altered somewhat. (Actually, I like them better in this photo than what is actually on the book covers.) There is a reading sample on the SAMPLES page of this website. Just go to the navigation bar near the top of any page. Also, there is general information about Spider Wars on the Welcome page.
In doing research for Spider Wars, I learned about and then obtained a copy of Herzog's documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, about Chauvet, the French cave that contains 30,000 year-old works of art. These are even older than those found previously in the cave at Lascaux, France, which suffered from allowing tourists to visit its premises. The lessons learned from that "tragedy" have caused the Chauvet cave to be well protected. It is a wonderfully done documentary, but I noticed two things I wish they had added. They used very powerful electric lights to illumine the beautiful ancient paintings. I wish they had also been able to simulate an illumination as if by camp fires and primitive torches (I know they could not contaminate the air with real fire, but there are modern facsimiles that might have sufficed. The uneven surfaces used as "canvases" plus the natural contours of the cave lend their own mystique, but I would have liked to also see the artwork in what might have been the lighting the painters actually used. Secondly, and more importantly, there were comments from artistic experts, but since my background includes play and art therapy with children, I would very much have liked a developmental perspective from an art therapist. Why? Because art therapy takes into consideration developmental milestones that children go through, which is revealed in their drawings. I was impressed because many "primitive" cultures have art that resembles the rudimentary efforts of young children. The art in the cave at Chauvet is very different in that respect. It is developmentally much more mature. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to click on the link above and take a look for yourself. If you read Spider Wars, you will probably understand why this cave art so particularly interested me, and how it relates to my story.
By some time in February, there will be five published novels described on the Welcome page. In addition, Singing Winds Press (which remains closed to submissions—and you can find out more about that on their website) has also published two novels by other authors for a total of seven books their first year. Way to go! In the foreseeable future, SWP will continue to offer autographed copies of all their books, which you can check out at www.singingwindspress.com. That, of course, includes my novels and you can also find out about that on the store page of this website if you are interested.
To all of you who have purchased one or more of my books to date, Thank You Very Much!
So, what's next? Once Phillip Marrow, Jr. is in print, I will focus on another "new" series that begins with Country Cousin In the Wild Woods. (That was actually my second completed novel, originally with the working title: Welcome to the Country, Cousin, but I decided that was too long, and changed it to Country Cousin. However, more recently, I did an Internet search and found one or more other books by that name, so in the end I have just as long a title as I began with LOL)