art

Ad Astra, Per Aspera

"Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

I haven't posted about this before now, because the ultimate fate of the Peregrine spacecraft wasn't certain until yesterday. But now I can tell the story in full.

The space enthusiasts among you probably know that Peregrine successfully launched early last week, with a planned lunar landing in February. However, a propellant leak once it reached space derailed those plans. The team made a remarkable recovery, and the craft did reach lunar distance (but the moon wasn't there at the moment) and did a lot of science before sweeping back toward earth; it burned up safely in the atmosphere yesterday.

In the image below, top left is the DHL MoonBox, which held the tiny digital record of my short stories, Apogee, Solatium, Venatoris, Re/Genesis, Fractals, Chrysalis and Starlight Express, together with the writings and art of thousands of other creators, thanks to the tireless efforts of Susan Kaye Quinn (Writers on the Moon) and Samuel Peralta (Lunar Codex).

So for a time my stories soared among the stars where they belong, before returning home. And because Sam Peralta never, ever gives up (and understands the power of redundancies!), the Lunar Codex will also be flying on at least four additional lunar missions by Astrobotic and Inuitive Machines in the next year, so those stories will get to the moon soon enough!

Ad Astra, Per Aspera

Midjourney AI Character Art, Asterion Edition

Midjourney has come a long way in a short time, hasn't it? Are these exact matches to how I see the characters in my head? Well, not *quite*, but it's so close, they make me happy.

The one issue I'm still having is that Midjourney really wants to make women look young; you have to brute force it to create an actual "adult." (*insert social commentary if you like*) And I did force it pretty hard for Maris, because she needs gravitas. ;)

OTOH, if you were immortal and could look however you wanted, wouldn't you want to look 23?

Haegemonia

Can we take a moment to appreciate this gorgeous artwork, titled “Haegemonia” by Gergely Buttinger ("Skylow"): https://www.deviantart.com/skylow/art/Haegemonia-18016851?

Is this not Alex to a T? Specifically, Alex in Transcendence, taking a small spacewalk in the middle of a dramatic battle to break into an enemy superdreadnought and turn the tide of the battle in humanity's favor? Space is exploding around her, and she's all... "I'm coming for you. Try to stop me."

Originally posted on Facebook.

Midjourney

Have you all heard of Midjourney AI? It's an AI art generation platform that is now available for everyone to try out. Twitter and Instagram are overflowing with some really incredible art it's producing (and also some very weird stuff).

The trick with it, though, is figuring out the right inputs to feed it in order to get the result you're looking for. I was, in a word, sucking at this. But my friend and fellow sci-fi writer EJ Fisch has already become an expert at it, so she was kind enough to do Alex for me. Pretty damn cool, right?

Here's a good overview of the tool: https://www.pcworld.com/.../midjourneys-ai-art-goes-live. And if you want to sign up, go here: https://www.midjourney.com/home/ (you'll need a Discord account to use it).

Originally posted on Facebook.

Cover Art Wall, Redux

It's back!!!

After almost a year in storage, my beloved cover art posters once again hang in a place of honor. Also, bonus cozy reading nook with fireplace! And plenty of empty space for many more books...

For those curious, this is the far wall of our library-in-the-making, so the posters are right at home with a plethora of books.

Originally posted on Facebook and Instagram.

Gateways

This is a rather close visualization of how I imagine the Anaden Gateways looking. It's not dead-on - the Gateway rings are smoother (so Eren can run on them, obviously (see the Re/Genesis short story)), the plasma is amber (only the Kats' Mosaic gateway is icy blue), and based on the traversing ships, the Gateways are much larger, but on whole...yeah.

https://www.deviantart.com/redwoodjedi/art/Jump-Gate-905088441

Originally posted on Facebook.

STARSHINE's New Cover

What is this? STARSHINE has a new cover?!

I've tried to keep a similar feel and color scheme, so it fits in nicely with the other covers, while giving it more of a dynamic, exciting theme (spaceships!).

The new cover is live on the ebook already. It should be available on the paperback within the week. I'll also have new paperback stock later this month for my store.

I know, all of you already HAVE Starshine, so this doesn't actually affect you. It's cool - just enjoy the shiny.

Starshine_NewCover_1600.jpg

Originally posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

New Amaranthe Swag

Check it out - I've added more "Amaranthe"-branded merchy to the Zazzle store. I have now field-tested the new t-shirt and hoodie, and the design is LIT. You can choose your own t-shirt style, too (some are cheaper than others). If you're so inclined, you can find these and more swag at: https://www.zazzle.com/store/aurorarisingapparel/products

Originally posted on Facebook.

Poster Wall Redux

Thermostat, shermostat. We aren't afraid of no thermostat!

...Actually, we clearly ARE afraid of a thermostat, since we grabbed the book posters and fled halfway across the house to get away from it.

Until this morning, this wall housed our gaming and movie posters. This wall has several advantages over the previous location:

(1) It's 30% wider, so MUCH more room to grow = more book posters = more books.

(2) The posters are much closer to where the magic happens = more inspiration.

(3) NO THERMOSTAT = ...NO THERMOSTAT

The gaming and movie posters are in the process of being relocated to the evil thermostat wall (and since it's smaller, other places around the house).

NewPosterWall2.jpg

Originally posted on Facebook.