Suspense

Announcement, Book Launch, Writing Journey

THE TRAILHEAD #04

THE LATEST  In this issue, I discuss the cover and design of THE TOWPATH, as well as some inspirations behind it. THE COVER REVEALED This blog template doesn’t support inline images (at least not that I’m aware of), so I can’t post the cover here. However, you can easily see it on The Towpath Overview page or within the Image Gallery, via my concept imagery. I didn’t want to just take some bland photo of it lying on my desk—anyone can do that. Besides, what fun would that be? In a future post, I’ll take you behind those concepts and composite images, as well as some of the others I’ve done using good ol’ Photoshop… with a tiny smidge of AI tech. Moreover, I’ve also routinely posted imagery to The Towpath Novel Facebook Group and on my Twitter(X) account—so, some other places to engage. BEHIND THE DESIGN In the world of literature, I’ve always heard that an author’s expected response to their completed cover design must range from, “It’s amazing!”, to “It’s astonishing!”, and every gush-filled adjective in between. As you can guess (and as I’m finding out), authors don’t have a lot of say on their final cover design. This is why I was pleasantly surprised that my input was actually factored in, perhaps way more than I was expecting. When the creative process was about to kick off, Collective Ink (the publisher), provided a form to capture any ideas an author has for their cover design, while fully caveating that the artist doesn’t have to use or consider any of it. I was also invited to upload any inspirational images or even sketches (which I did provide, but I need time to work up the courage to share that embarrassment with you).  Given I had a glimmer of an opportunity to influence the design, the Visual Designer/creative in me couldn’t resist. I combed through my own photography as well as hundreds of royalty-free images using the platforms specified by the publisher. Eventually, I found the image of The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath trail that you see on the cover, which appeared set during the right time of year in which the story takes place—the June-July timeframe, when the forests of Northeast Ohio are at their lushest and greenest. For that image, my feedback to the artist, Nick Welch—who’s an award-winning graphic design specialist out of the UK with over 25 years of experience designing book covers—was as follows: “Here’s an actual photo of The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where much of the book is set, and the trail is central to more than one key scene in the book. I do like how there’s a bit of mystery for what’s around that last bend.” Additionally, while yes, the title of the book is The Towpath, and it would make sense to show, you know, the namesake trail within the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that inspired it, the cover also needed to communicate the central sub-genre, Time Travel, and also convey some danger too. After all, this isn’t exactly a kid’s book, even if teens are some of the main characters. As such, here’s some additional guidance I offered Nick without any expectations it would be used: Hence, perhaps you can begin to see how the swirling clock motif in the foreground evokes the spiral and the color purple serves as an accent in several areas, including the text on the upper left-hand side on the front cover, and the leading characters for each paragraph on the back cover’s description copy. Nick also darkened the hollow in the trees where The Towpath trail vanishes into that last bend, which I think serves very well and evokes the danger I was hoping for. I admit I had mixed feelings when I first saw the final design given this book has been my baby for over seven years. However, I’ve fully embraced it, even to the point of building all my other conceptual imagery around this central design, hoping to thematically foreshadow it so it would make perfect sense when I shared the final design (which is now) with my followers and subscribers. Well, there you have it. I’d love your feedback on the final design. My goal is to earn the right to publish more books, so even if your thoughts don’t benefit this one, there’s a chance you might help me in the future! WHAT’S UP NEXT I’m going to start looking into the publicity side of things, which I admit makes me squirm, as self-promotion doesn’t come naturally to me. That said, it’s a necessary evil, even for authors who are fortunate to publish with even the largest of publishers, such as Macmillan or Penguine Random House. More to come on that topic. In the mean time, let’s stay connected. Here’s where else to connect with THE TOWPATH and its author (yours truly): Well, that’s all for this post. Until next time! Sapere Verdere. For more on The Towpath:

Historical Events, Writing Journey

THE TRAILHEAD #05

THE LATEST It’s been a minute since I last posted (in February). In this issue, I’ll share some ruminating thoughts on the recent solar eclipse that many of us experienced in North America—and the incredible coincidences needed for it to happen—plus, some historical reactions to these kinds of events (which are a bit scary), and a look back on some prior works that got me to where I am with my debut novel. REFLECTIONS ON THE APRIL 8 SOLAR ECLIPSE Were you along the path of the solar eclipse that happened on April 8? I was, from my vantagepoint in Cleveland, OH USA, and I am still marveling at how extraordinary the path of totality was. It was simultaneously dusk and dawn at one point, the diffused light that fell upon our neighborhood as surreal as a Dali painting. Then, the darkness of totality happened, the light posts lining in our neighborhood’s front yards winking on one-by-one to the tune of barking dogs and gasping humans. And when I say it was extraordinary, there was something that felt “designed” about it. Is it just me, or did you feel that way too? If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, let me explain by posing a question: what are the odds? What are the odds that the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, yet is 400 times further from the Earth than the moon; hence, making the two heavenly bodies identical in size—at least, from our minute vantagepoint on this spinning blue marble? The math is near perfect. How did nature, God, or whichever higher power you believe in create this? If your brain works the same way as mine, something about seeing the black disc of the moon slide past the brilliant sun—almost like an eye occluder covering one eye for a vision exam—felt purposeful. Then, as it perfectly covered the sun save for the slender corona, it felt like a divine design that we (or some other creatures) are meant to see and experience. Or perhaps there’s some other purpose that defies our knowledge or ability to understand it. Maybe it’s meant to be an occasional reminder, communicating, “Remember, all this can go away at any time. That precious life-giving star is all you’ve got. Appreciate what’s been given to you—don’t F it up.” I know these thoughts sound like tin-hat ruminations, but I couldn’t help but wonder… what are the odds? And why? HISTORICAL FREAK-OUTS If you lived back in 1806, your thought process might’ve been very different. And by what’s been recounted by local Northeast Ohio historians, your pre-knowledge of this incredible event could’ve led to your death. Take what happened with the Wyandot tribe in what is now a Cleveland metropark (Hinckley Reservation) and not far from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where THE TOWPATH takes place. A Wyandot woman was able to predict a “great darkness” that would fall over the Earth. Her insistence of this freaked out the tribe and she became viewed as evil, or some kind of witch, and was later hanged over the nearby river for others to see: a warning. A couple of weeks later, when the eclipse DID happen, the tribe understandably got spooked and assumed it was the woman’s way of exacting posthumous vengeance. While this event of course ended tragically, it’s incredible that she was able to predict it—at all. She must have had uncanny knowledge of the movements and patterns of the Earth, moon, sun, other stars, and time itself. It makes my head spin to imagine just how she went about acquiring this knowledge and studying/understanding it to the degree that she could predict something of this nature. Then again, the ancient Mayans—who predated this North American Tribe by centuries—had remarkable knowledge of the stars, were exceptional mathematicians, and keen observers and recorders of time. So, there’s a part of me that also feels that we modern humans with all our glowing technology and conveniences have lost some important connections with our planet and no longer marvel at the heavenly events swirling around us—that is, if we’re even able to get away from our own light pollution. Hence, we tend to think it’s beyond comprehension that people of the past could understand and calculate these things because our own comfort and ignorance has gotten in the way, and this so happens to be a subtle theme in THE TOWPATH. In fact, because we can’t grasp it, we often assume it had to be aliens, divine intervention, or some force that gave our ancestors this special knowledge. Maybe that’s true… but maybe not? THE WRITING JOURNEY All this looking to the past has made me feel nostalgic, and I often overlook those past efforts that landed me where I am: which is on the cusp of releasing a debut novel. Had I not gotten my feet wet with some short stories, I doubt my writing and self-editing abilities would have landed me a traditional publishing contract. The following are a couple of works that I rarely, if ever, promote (they are FAR under the radar on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other distributor channels), but I’d like to share them with you nonetheless since they are part of me and my journey as a writer. And heck, maybe you’d like to check out these stories and their respective anthologies, which contain some great stories from some talented, unsung writers (wink wink, nudge nudge). My contributions: SHALLOWEEN  Featured in GHOSTLIGHT, THE MAGAZINE OF TERROR Sam Haines is a cantankerous senior whose affinity for Halloween goes to the extremes—much to the chagrin of his immediate neighbors. Despite warnings from his wife to keep a “low profile,” Haines conjures up an antagonistic game of judgment for trick-or-treating children and their helicoptering parents. But is Haines the only antagonist on this cold and dark Hallows Eve night?  Purchase the anthology on Amazon. REIGN, REIGN Featured in THE DEVIL’S DOORBELL: AN ANTHOLOGY OF DARK ROMANCE Recovering drug

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