Well, FINALLY, D8 is done...above is the last-minute front panel, with the usual grunge/distressed silverpoint filter applied. Just a quick note to say that the manuscript is completed, and only the illustrated centerfold and some illustrations remain to be done and inserted.

More about DOPS VIII in a bit, currently pressed for time...

WHOA, NELLY!!!

It's been quite a year; DOPS V, Psalmsinger, came out in May of 2014, and then I took a lengthy break from DOPS, though I finished D5 after releasing Collin O'Daurc. D5's final cover is posted below--folks may recall I was having quite a time deciding on what to put on on there. Ironically, one of the cover prospects, a big portrait of Falco and Akele (which I muttered resembled the art in a comic book or graphic novel--not a bad thing but not appropriate for DOPS), has been scheduled for the frontpiece of DOPS VIII! Yep, D8--you read that right.

But, first things first--here's the D5 cover (though the DOPS V-release is old news by now):

And in answer to a question regarding the lion's profile, that's Ossian, the giant lion/tiger/jaguar cross who is acting mascot of Hiram Cochrane's tramp freighter, the Psalmsinger. I've also been asked why I had "flipped" the big poppy on the back cover, since those who saw the layout in its original pre-flight state evidently preferred it reversed. I had to mirror the image to accommodate the bar code, alas.

Though there's only been one posted review of D5, fans of the DOPS series cite this as one of their favorite volumes; the general consensus is that it's simply a lovely story, poignant in its way, in that it does bring to resolution to Cass & Lawrie's long-languishing relationship with all its (sometimes funky) twists and turns. (This in turn opens a whole new can of giggly worms, of course.) And, I'm inclined to agree that it's a beautiful book; I've been surprised every time I've re-read it, which is more times than I've read any of the others, even D4 (Espiridion), which was until then my favorite. 

NOW--BIG news. (Well, sort of. If nothing else, it was expensive.)

Collin O'Daurc is going to the big book fair in Frankfurt, Germany! It will be displayed in both the adult Fiction both, and with Young Adult books. And, in its final format, it got a bit of a cover update, which I think is an improvement in that it includes everybody's favorite giant monkey, Tully.

I re-read the book a month or so ago, and I have to agree with readers--while it's definitely not my usual style (which most folks assume is DOPS-style), it IS a groovy read, and fer sher one of a kind.

But, rolling right along...

D6 and D7 were released in August, on the 13th and the 20th, respectively.

My friends (some of whom are DOPS fans) know the story of how this warp-speed release schedule occurred.

DOPS VI, Nightingale, stalled at about 225 pages and sat there while I finished what's come to be known as "The Monkey Book" (Collin O'Daurc). That Falco-and-Akele cover was lurking on the sidelines too, since I figured that since I didn't use the sucker on D5, I might possibly get away with sticking it on (to?) D6. (Ah....NO.)

D6 is a pivotal book in the DOPS series, because that's where the Cass/Lawrie and the Abel/Baron/Pilea storylines finally cross. And, it pulls heavily on material I wrote back in the 1990s and early 2000s. As I believe I've posted (a looong time ago) the first written material in DOPS, with the exception of a couple scenes in D2, had D5 as its time-frame starting point. So, I had to go back and write all that stuff which led up to it (i.e., D1, 2, 3, 4 and some of 5). And of course, I like the new stuff better than the old stuff, especially since I'm having to stick characters like Mario, Gaston and Cap'n Cholley, who originally didn't exist, into the old material I'm currently updating in D8, which is a nuisance.

More about D8 in a bit.

Anyway, I had a certain amount of material I had to cram into Nightingale, which takes its name from the Great Lady Kanga in the African Congo caldera of N'Dolo. And when I finished cramming, I had an enormous bloated tome that was only about 18 pages shy of 1000. Yep, a thousand pages long, I kid you not. And, not a dull moment anywhere (chock full of fights, actually, as books with both Baron and Pilea tend to be), at least I hope not.

Well, I got the illustrations done and the manuscript designed and pulled together, and got ready to submit it--only to be told by the printer that 823 pages is their limit! (Aw, nuts. Yeah, I actually did say that.) This left me with a dilemma that I had to solve, and fast, since I'd already given notice that the book was coming out. And I stick to deadlines whenever possible, even my own private deadlines (just good discipline).

The choices were obvious; I could either chop off the extra pages and splat them onto the beginning of D7 (which was supposed to be The Drums of N'Dolo), or I could split D6 approximately in half, wherever the story best lent itself to allowing a break. Lazily, I tried all sorts of ways to finagle this, but nothing doing--I was royally screwed either way, since I'd still end up creating extra illustrations...and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I do NOT like to draw, though I'm a professional illustrator and designer among other things. And, I draw exclusively on a computer touchpad, in Paint Shop Pro though I use Adobe PhotoShop's filters and model in ZBrush on occasion. I don't use a graphic stylis/tablet, or a mouse. Which means it's even more of a pain in the yutz than the pen and ink I used to to use.

Thus, I split D6 in half, which meant that D6's second half became the new D7, and the old D7 will be the new D8 and D9, since I can't possibly cram all the rest of the original DOPS material into 1 book instead of 2 and still close out the DOPS series before the second series begins (yep, there is one).

I grumbled massively as I did all this, of course, for new illustrations weren't the only inconvenience; I now had to come up with a new Epilogue for D6, and a new Prologue for D7--as well as a new title, cover design, frontpiece and dedication page for D7. And, I hadn't been able to come up with a design for Nightingale in the first place, since Falco/Akele were no way gonna cut it.

I was also grumpily burnt out by this time, and so I took the wussy way out; I scrounged up two of the "emergency cover" icons I'd squirreled away in case of DOPS-burnout. They were good drawings; as covers they may or may not, well, suck. 

The "emergency" D6 over:

The cobbled-together "emergency" D7 cover

Hopefully, everyone will assume that StormFlight refers to the ordeal spawned by the killer typhoon of D6/7, and NOT the Standard Poodle kennel owned by Ken and Cheryl Takamura! It IS the same name, granted...but hurricanes it IZ; Poodles it iz NOT.

Both poster-boys are Aroyo, btw, but he looks really stuck-up on D7's cover.

Thus ends the saga of the one-that-became-two, and it's not something I'm anxious to repeat, though if D8 keeps puffing up the way it is with the insertion of the original material....I think I see a crack forming..........

But, regarding D9 (old D8); The Drums of N'Dolo finishes out the DOPS series, in that most of the main characters go their separate ways before re-convening (though in very different settings) in the JaVaReyo series, which takes up where DOPS left off but now takes place mainly in South America in stead of North, as with DOPS. The Quad will still be featured, but the emphasis shifts south for the JVM books. 

Also...there's a vicious rumor going around that Lawrie dies in D9, which is the catalyst for the new series. Mmmm, could be...but then, how could J2 be titled Ai-Domingo???

Incidentally, you may have noticed new alliances forming in D6 et al (e.g., Baron and Everett, and the shifting of John Birdee's character to prominence); there was also the intro of Kanga, Deacon Moldau, Raul (Taloosi's husband), Hiram, Nat, Ossian and the crew of the Psalmsinger in D5, and in D6/7, Emilio Juarez and his flight crew of the Sea Knight helicopter ("Flopsy"). These are characters who will figure prominently in the JaVaReyo series (named after Marisco's former estate). Also  present are Lawrie's clan, the Lawrentias ("Lawrie" being an anglicized version of the Lawrentia name). And, risen to main character status are Caupoc, Ramon and Jean-Michelle, with a good deal more being seen of Marisco as well; and Mary Beth and Akele aren't forgotten by any means.

So, that's my book update after a looong absence--but, a lot's been going on after all, so I hope I am forgiven.

Well, finally, after about 25 years of my saying I'd write it, Collin O'Daurc was written in little over 3 weeks. It's a shortie for me, 314 pages total, and a quick-read. You can plow through it in a couple of sittings. It's for sale as a paperback at Amazon, and the Kindle book is $2.99; you can get ePub at Smashwords.com, and the fully illustrated/formatted PDF from me.

Collin predates DOPS by at least 8 years in concept, but I couldn't come up with a plot until I decided to make it short, silly, and funny. Whether it's also good is another matter; it's a definite departure from DOPS, but then, all my non-DOPS books are.

Here's the jacket for the paperback:

We'll see about a sequel; I did start one, Island Water, but no guarantees on a release date since March of the Spiny Lobsters, part of the same collection of children's picture books as Sally Lightfoot's Journey, has been underway illustration-wise for some time (the text, in verse like Sally, has been finished for some time). Also underway, of course, is D6 (aka DOPS VI, Nightingale) , which has a measly 168 pages so far...not a whole lot when you consider it's likely to become another whopper like D4 (Espiridion).

Well, that's all for now...I can't remember now if I've posted the tentative cover front cover design for Spiny; if I did, well, here it is again!

Well, here it is the new year, and I've not done a thing on D6 (DOPS VI/NIGHTINGALE) for months now, I guess. In a way I'm sorry about that, because I know people are anxious to hear how it goes with Cass & Lawrie, and find out who the 6 folks are who get married.

But, the good new is that Collin O'Daurc is only a few chapters away from completion, and that it is a fantasy and a quick-read that will be little over 300 pages (for me, extremely short!). COD actually predates DOPS, by about ten years; but I never did anything about it except to decide that the main character was based on a hairstylist I used to know, who was from England. Why? Dunno. Just is. Other main characters include artist Paul Gauguin and Tully, a giant drill. What's a drill? It's the largest of the Old World monkeys, weighing over 100 pounds, and frequently mistaken for being in the baboon family. They look quite a bit like the mandrill, another huge primate famous for its red and blue face and equally colorful rump, but drills are black and white with touches of russet, and stockier. They also have the scariest teeth of anything capable of going on two legs.

What's next? That, I'm afraid I don't know--perhaps back to DOPS, perhaps on to other things! In any case, I wish all of you a very happy new year, and thank you for your visit!

22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards

Entry Title Sally Lightfoot's Journey

Author: C. S. Walkingheart

Judge Number: 4

Entry Category: Children's Picture books

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”. This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference, it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking.

*If you wish to reference this review on your website, we ask that you cite it as such: “Judge, 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.” You may cite portions of your review, if you wish, but please make sure that the passage you select is appropriate, and reflective of the review as a whole.

In some cases, you may see special or out of place characters/symbols in your commentary. For example, you may see that a character/symbol replaces an apostrophe, copyright, and other "symbols". These substitutions occur for various reasons – and are unavoidable. They are often [programming] misinterpretations due to encoding, installed fonts, web based content/sources etc. Since the “content”[data] of the commentary is comprised of data sent from several different computers (programs, fonts etc.,) and from the internet (online entry system), you may at times see an interpretation of what had been an apostrophe, dash, quotation mark etc.

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 5

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 4

Well, I just received a judge's review of a contest I didn't remember I entered! It was evidently a Writer's Digest-thingie I entered purely on a whim, as I don't as a rule enter competitions/contests.

The review concerns "Sally Lightfoot's Journey", and considering the book was written in verse which is NOT a popular venue these days for children's books, it's quite complimentary. However, the things the judge mentions as "errors" I was fully aware of, and it's one reason I don't submit my books to publishing houses but publish them myself. The often-eccentric, quirky verse I use in picture books and the early-20th-century prosaic style of DOPS is not considered marketable by contemporary publishing houses, and I frankly couldn't care less. Which having said is not a criticism of the judge's words (which are appreciated!); it's simply that my often-uneven style is what it is and I don't particularly care how marketable it is. And, "Sally" is a quarter-century old; the original manuscript perished in a house fire. The illustrations are modern, and completely different from the very abstract watercolor originals, which were done in pale pastels! In this case, I do like the replacements better.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here's the whole kit 'n caboodle.

Oh...and in reference to the judge's comment that crabs don't swim, many of them do, one of the most famous being the Atlantic Blue Crab of Chesapeake crab cake fame, which has paddle-shaped fins on its rear legs (I believe crabs are decapods).

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”. This scale is strictly to provide a point of reference, it is not a cumulative score and does not reflect ranking.

*If you wish to reference this review on your website, we ask that you cite it as such: “Judge, 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.” You may cite portions of your review, if you wish, but please make sure that the passage you select is appropriate, and reflective of the review as a whole.

In some cases, you may see special or out of place characters/symbols in your commentary. For example, you may see that a character/symbol replaces an apostrophe, copyright, and other "symbols". These substitutions occur for various reasons – and are unavoidable. They are often [programming] misinterpretations due to encoding, installed fonts, web based content/sources etc. Since the “content”[data] of the commentary is comprised of data sent from several different computers (programs, fonts etc.,) and from the internet (online entry system), you may at times see an interpretation of what had been an apostrophe, dash, quotation mark etc.

22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards

 

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 5

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 4

Production Quality and Cover Design: 5

Plot and Story Appeal: 4

Character Appeal and Development: 4

Voice and Writing Style: 4

Judge’s Commentary*:

This is a beautiful book.  The illustrations are outstanding.  I like the bordered pages.  I like how the text fits perfectly into the illustrations with different colored fonts for maximum readability.  The illustrations contain so many creatures that the adult reader can make a search game out of finding Sally on each page.  I like the glossary of other interesting sea creatures at the end of the book.  The story is slight, but it gave a great depiction of the sea life of a crab.  I like the bit of tension when Sally falls to the bottom of the ocean.  Knowing crabs don’t swim, I did wonder how she could get back into her own world.  Reading a story in verse to a young child is fun.  However, writing in rhyme is one of the hardest genres to do well.  The rhymes have to be almost perfect, which is difficult to do without forcing the rhymes by rearranging the natural order of the sentences. Normally we would say, “Grows careless, not careless grows .”   Forcing also cause us to add words we wouldn’t usually say, i.e., without delay.   The plural of fish is not fishes.  Sometimes we can get away with assonance (as in coasting/approaching or sound/down which have similar vowel sounds) or consonance (leisure/pleasure, which have similar consonant sounds).  It depends on the editor’s standards.  More important than the rhyme is the rhythm of the verse.  Writers who have read their verse many times know how to fit the syllables into the proper stressed and unstressed beats.  However, the adult reading the verse for the first time tends to stumble over inexact rhythm or reads it with strange pronunciation.  Your first two lines have the correct number of beats in each line, but they don’t match.  Sea is a stressed beat while in the second line the word country puts the stressed beat on the first syllable of the word.  That was actually the worst instance; it’s a shame it was on the first page.    I actually liked the “A child’s line” verse that you didn’t even try to rhyme better than some of exact-rhymed verse with forced elements.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and if I hadn’t been judging it for this contest, would have overlooked the minor errors that I mentioned to point out what to be aware of in future writing.  Good luck.

Well, a couple things are in the works, to happen very soon, the most important being the gallery page in my store, where folk art will be for sale at low prices since these are quick and colorful scenes, primarily from DOPS. I have two 16X20s, scenes from Waraq, ready to go; they have to be photographed and uploaded. They'll be $250.00 USD each, which if you check on random artists' web sites, is a steal. I've been an internationally-collected artist, with works sold for thousands, but these are something new for me, quick and easy compositions where in some cases I've just taken the caps off the paint tubes and drawn directly on the canvas.

I don't particularly enjoy either creating art or being around artists; I'm more of a scientific bent, myself, for all that I'm a pro-illustrator. But it's a talent God has given me, and as such I use it and teach others how to do the same, since everyone DOES have the ability--if the can print your name, you can draw; if you can write your name legibly in cursive, you can illustrate. It's simply finding the method of learning how that works for you.

At any rate, as soon as I can, I'll be adding the gallery page to my web site, the store of which is now open for business. Bear in mind, though, that only PDFs are sold at this time, and you'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your whatsit to read them.

The second thing is the cover for DOPS VI, Nightingale:

 

This is the mockup of the D6 front cover inset; there were several other designs, one of which I'll probably end up using farther on in the series since it's similar to the D1 cover.

But this lovely lad is Falco Lawrie, the third oldest Lawrie (Baron being the second, and Mar-Ti/Marten, called simply "Lawrie" or "Lor" by his friends, being the eldest). The girl is none other than Akele, and the two of them effectively have given Cass, Lawrie and Abel the boot off the cover-spot for the time being. Change is good, eh?

I'm not sure about who/what goes on the back cover yet; it may well be Anais, the fourth-oldest of the Lawries, and thought of as Falco's twin because they're physically very similar though she's about a year younger than he. But, I'll probably put Cass and Lor on there somewhere, since D6 heralds major developments/changes for them both. Abel is for the most cooling his heels, getting on Baron's nerves (of course) in D6, though he does get into some interesting scrapes...

After all, D6 is where the two storylines, Cass's and Abel's, finally converge!

IT'S ALIVE!!! (holler)

Well...I hope, anyway. The store is now functioning, supposedly. Needless to say, if anyone buys a PDF and the sucker doesn't download, or there are other problems, contact me at Pilothead.Press@gmail.com, or Sanderling.Shores@gmail.com (grownups and kids' books, respectively).

For those of you interested in the ongoing nuts-and-bolts progress of this publishing odyssey, I used Adobe Muse CC 2014 to finish the web site (I originally used Muse CS6, which was replaced by Muse CC, and finally Muse CC 2014--note that they are NOT the same, and while you can open older Adobe program files such as those created in versions CS4, 5 or 6 with CC 2014, you cannot open files created in CC 2014 with older versions, including the most-recent CC. You must "save down" to the desired older format(s) IN CC 2014 in order to be able to access your most recent Adobe program files!)

Anyway, once the site itself was up, it was/is hosted by Adobe Business Catalyst; because I have an Adobe Cloud membership I get up to five free sites. The kicker is that if I wanted to turn it to a commerce site using BizCat, I'll probably end up paying fees for embedding a shopping cart, etc.. I don't want this, so I reviewed a number of set-up-your-own-store sites, like Shopify and Wazala, which you can either link to your store, or use their code and embed it directly (gaaah!). I chose Wazala because it's by far the simplest (pronounced "cheapest") and for a monthly fee I created a simple 3-page site which is in effect my Pilothead Press/Sanderling Shores store. As of this afternoon, the store has been taken out of demo-mode and is hopefully "live" so that you can download the PDFs offered there, all 7 of 'em so far (i.e., DOPS I thru V and 2 kids' books).

Thank you, by the way, you who have been giving me feedback on Shadow-Dogs; I had serious doubts about the book and had honestly not planned a sequel, but it looks as if I may continue the story after all.