The Cliffs of Insanity

Even more for the Horribledays to be over, I want money for a commission. acook will do the cover of the next book for me on commission and she's so good at what she does, I'm thinking it would be the best cover yet. What I have in mind is Orphaeus and Cadmus traveling, the Staff of Cadmus being a kind of focal point that contrasts with their faces. I'm already looking for good pictures of Barry Andrews and Danny Elfman to give her ideas of what I want. Even though the book's name is The Blood Crown, I don't want a picture of the crown because of it's deadly nature. All that could be pictured would be the crown and I want Cadmus in the mix somewhere. He is, after all, the star. Orphaeus having such a big part in the book dictates that he's also a must have for the cover.

I thought about the picture that luvthyjoker drew of Cadmus and Faust, but it wouldn't work out. It would mislead the reader. Even though Faust plays a major part of the book, the book isn't really about him, it's about the grudging bond formed between Cadmus and Orphaeus and their quest for the Blood Crown. I would very much like to include the picture of Cadmus and Faust inside the book if that's doable. It's something I must ask theafaye if she doesn't read this and answer me before I have a chance to ask.

I asked m0usegrrl about it, but never got a reply back, so I don't think she's interested in pursuing other ventures in the realm of the Vampire.

Anyway, acook would ask for an initial commission to do the picture and I don't blame her. She's a fantastic artist with her back against the wall financially. The least I could do is pay for the piece of art she comes up with. It would also give her some recognition, just like I want to give gunslingaaahhh and luvthyjoker. I want to help as many friends as I can in this grand adventure of publishing. They've been so good to me, I cannot let the favour just slide. I may be a high-functioning sociopath, but I do know right from wrong, and I always always protect my friends. I don't use people, no matter how much they deserve it sometimes, and acook is one of the few who do not deserve it.

I told her I'd draw a loose sketch of what I wanted and then she can run with it. There's no rush really. The second book won't be out for a while.

I'm taking a break from proofreading. All the words are starting to melt together. How am I supposed to see if I've made a mistake when everything looks like a jumbled mess? I can't stand proofreading. My third go at The Blood Crown is, I must admit, going faster than I expected. I did pretty good finding the flaws the second time around. Right now I'm listening to "The Saddest Song I've God" by Annie Lennox. Not very conducive to productive reading. I do love her though.

Considering the end of The Augury of Gideon, I'm thinking about going back to the original ending, then beginning a new story with a surprise. It's something to think about. Maybe I'm just jumping the gun a little bit.

I need to contact Meg to see if I can use her picture of Cadmus and Faust for The Blood Crown. The image is inexplicable, but more than appropriate for the importance of their encounter to the narrative of the story. If only she'd write me back. I think I'm gonna try to Facebook. I've also written m0usegrrl, but she hasn't written me back yet. Her image would be much different, being a representative of Orphaeus and Cadmus, with the Deaghydhen staff, in travel mode. I'm not sure which I'd prefer, but 'The Sainted Confessor' was so important to the narrative of The Blood Crown. I don't know. I wish I could draw the cover, but I've discovered that my hands are too shaky to draw in the way I used to, which makes me feel really bad because I wanted to draw Claire for paisleydaze and Everett for gunslingaaahhh. The Claire picture, before it got damaged, looked like crap and the Everett picture still looks like crap.

I think I just talked myself into a depression..

I have to ask Sophie before I post any Relics-related art. Since she just had her baby, this is probably not the best time to bug her about such. I've never signed with a publisher that dictates everything I do regarding my writing. It's kind of weird, but in a good way. I feel like I'm a part of something and, if I just toe the line, I'll be helped in innumerable ways. I'm gonna give it a week, then contact Sophie about the art. That's a long enough waiting period, methinks.

My official word count for the day is 5025. That's with a nap and several interruptions. I'm proud of myself. I'm waiting to hear back from m0usegrrl as to whether or not she has a hi-res version of the picture in the icon. If I don't hear from her by Friday, I guess I'm gonna give Amy the go-ahead to use the smaller version, if she can at all. I was really hoping to use this image for a couple of reasons: 1) The image is just so incredibly Cadmus. m0usegrrl really caught his spirit in that picture. 2) I want to help m0usegrrl get her name out to as many people as I can. There have been certain individuals who've been of great help to me. I want to do the same for them. So here's hoping she can find a higher res version of the Cadmus Art file. If I don't hear anything by Friday, we may have to go a different route, which will really make me sad. I might ask if the Cad Art could be featured on the back of the book instead. We'll see.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. I'll get up at an ungodly early hour and begin ingesting caffeine and writing like a fiend, laughing like Renfield from Tod Browning's Dracula. It's no wonder Aunt Tudi wakes up in a cold sweat every morning. I would too, if I lived with me...which might explain my penchant for getting up so early.

Onward and upward, as someone somewhere said to someone.

I told gunslingaaahhh, but the image has gotten stronger and just won't go away. I see Cadmus with his fingers hooked over the rim of the chalice, very poetic in appearance. His head is off to one side, his face is turned down slightly, but his eyes are cast upward, looking directly at...you. There's no expression on his face or in those eyes, just pure determination and a sense of ownership when it comes to his beloved cup. The cup is encrusted with all manner of unpolished and uncut precious and semi-precious stones, giving the receptacle a soft sheen of obvious power. Maybe a candle off to one side? Maybe not? Not sure. The image does remind me of the ink sketch I drew years ago, which was based on the lighting effect of a solitary candle in the presence of the Pariah. I need to go through my collection of B images to see if I can find a picture close enough to what I'm seeing in my head. Cadmus isn't the spitting image of B, but he's close enough to use any number of photographs as references for the illustration I see in my head. Now it's just a matter of finding someone who is willing to draw this picture in the next month or so.

Now, I need to find Carl's non-Facebook email address because I've the feeling I'll be waiting 1000 years if I don't reach out to him some way other than Facebook. Ugh.

So I got up early this morning, ready to go over to Wellford and kick some so-called authoritative butt, but we got a phone call letting us know the gas man will be here sometime this morning. It's 11:30 and we're still waiting on him. As soon as he delivers gas, then it's off to Wellford to talk to Chief Guy (definitely a guy's name), then to the store to buy some groceries. We have half a box of baking soda and an uncooked pinto bean in the kitchen. Time for some food.

While we wait for the gas man, I'm scanning a fuckton of 3 million year old art work that was crappy when I created it and it's crappy today. Finding all this art recently has gotten me in the mood to try to finish Claire for paisleydaze and also try my hand at drawing Everett for gunslingaaahhh. Whether or not these projects will turn out to be as craptacular as the other art I've scanned remains to be seen. In the meantime, I'm gonna upload the crappy old art to Photobucket and post here shortly. I'm also going to put in on Facebook because why should my LJ pals be the only ones to suffer? I'm an equal-opportunity misery giver.

Hm...just got off the phone and the police chief won't be back in the office until Monday. So I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to throw down on the City of Wellford. I hate waiting.

Okay, I've compiled what prophecies I already know. I'll have to go mad to summon up more, so that'll be fun. Good ole Gideon. Based on Syd Barrett in spirit, but not in looks, he said such wonderful things before he set himself on fire at the Woodstock Festival. Good times, man. Good times...



( the prophecies )

Thank again to booraven22 for the moleskin journal. You are a beautiful soul!

Click the link and read her essay on the Joker/Harley dynamic. It's a good read!


It is too late now because... by *arafel3873 on deviantART