More good stuff on Engine Punk Limus

I'm continually impressed with the material this other blogspot is throwing up - Engine Punk Litmus.

It's been set up by a fan - I know ! I can't believe it! Huge grin!

Anyway, everything on here so far provides an accurate example of the Engine Punk aesthetic and I have to say that so far these are all in tune with what I had in mind when writing my tall stories about Nick Hob and The Wild Hunt.

It would appear that, somehow, I have struck a chord with other people and not only understand what I was on about but are coming up with more examples.

So - I would like more people to join in because I don't know where this is leading. I'm going to have a word with the administrator to see if other people can contribute. I would like to see what you lot think is Engine Punk. I'll still get worked up about Vintage Things but exploring the Engine Punk Aesthetic isn't just about me anymore - your views count!

New book cover for The Wormton Lamb

The Wormton Lamb now looks like this. I came to the conclusion that the original illustration was dominated by the cars in the foreground. Now the lamb is much more prominent and the cars look more dynamic. As well as the 2CV kicking up its heels you can just make out Hob on Nosferatu riding dangerously close to its cloven heels. I have abandoned the use of marker pens - although I'll continue to use them for website drawings - and after flirting briefly with oils and acrylic inks have adopted gouache as my medium. I'd like to experiment with oils more but oils take so long to dry. It's a whole technique, too, but the paint feels fantastic on the brush and I really like the smell (although not enough to dream of eating a tube of cadmium yellow, as owner of my mates did once.)

Beck said she liked the graph qualities of the clouds in my original drawing and after a great deal of trial and error I am reasonably content with them. I think they make the Giant Lamb look much bigger. She has her head in the clouds and they give depth to the drawing.

It uses the same template as for The Horsepower Whisperer so subsequent books will look similar but without slavish conformity. I want a clear brand identity and I reckon I've got one that has scope to develop as I produce new books.

I'm going to have a break from painting for a bit but one thing I've learnt is that I really must keep my hand in. It's like my guitar. Or using one of my old cars or riding my motorbike. I don't have time to do it as much as I'd like but a little and often keeps everything from seizing up.

New book cover for The Horsepower Whisperer

Here is the new book cover for The Horsepower Whisperer. It's much more colourful and carries a bigger punch, helped in part by Hob's knuckles gripping the steering wheel as he punches M Cadvare's personal transportation module off the page. The gremlin can see trouble up ahead and is doing a hornpipe in his panic. We can see what's ahead, too. If you look really closely you can make out a roadblock and a helicopter in the reflection of Hob's visor. Hob is about to fost through the roadblock, effectively leak into another set of dimensions in a parallel universe, but just before he does the Conformorians will activate the airbag in the steering wheel. For what happens next you'll just have to read the book.

It's a big relief to have got to this stage. Time will tell whether this cover design has more shelf appeal than the old one. I still need to upload this image onto Amazon and it will take a few days for books looking like this to be available so if you're quick you might end up with the earlier design, which will shortly become a collector's item - as I keep saying.

But I feel I can now move on to the next stage in my publishing adventure. There's the small matter of publicity to tackle and a new video for Youtube. Then there are e-books and MP3s of me reading from The Horsepower Whisperer. I haven't updated my website with the long awaited Forthcoming Attractions yet, either. There'll be many changes in the next few months but now that I have a cover image that satisfies mt scrutiny I no longer feel distracted by a feeling that I could have done better.

Another milestone - my first return

My local bookshop in Liskeard is the only one so far to take The Horsepower Whisperer on a "sale or return" basis. This week they rang me to say, to say, to say - well, they want to give me my book back. It hasn't sold and the owner is selling the bookshop.

I went in on Saturday and picked it up. The book shop in Liskeard is called The Book Shop so you can't really miss it and it does exactly what it says on the shop sign. Except that they hadn't any luck with The Horsepower Whisperer.

Funnily enough, people have told me that they'd seen my book on sale in The Book Shop but they obviously hadn't bought it.

The shopkeepers, though, had done a very good job of looking after it for it looked like new and wasn't at all shop soiled.

The Book Shop is changing hands since the lease is up and the current owner reckons she's too close to retiring age to renew it. So I'll introduce myself to the new owner when the time is right and show them The Wormton Lamb when that's ready. With their new covers both books should prove irresistible.

But for now I have a collector's item in the form of my first return. It's a very early version of The Horsepower Whisperer, without the red stripe down the spine and with the original cover illustration depicting Nick Hob with rather red raw hands. I realised that he looked like he had dermatitis and re-drew him with more flesh coloured hands.

So I'll sign this very early copy of The Horsepower Whisperer and pass it on to some deserving soul who will be able to sell it in 10 years and pay off their mortgage. All those people who looked but didn't buy have missed an investment opportunity.