Jon Latham's Blog - Posts Tagged "lands-of-mother"
"18"
About the "Beast":
The Beast is the largest land animal native to Mother. It is brownish green in color and stands, depending on age, between twenty and thirty feet high and eighteen to twenty feet wide. The legs are disproportionately small for the body, causing the underside of the animal to be hairless from dragging on the ground, and lacking the strength to propel the animal to any degree of speed. Climbing slopes is also a problem for the same reason. Although anyone senseless enough to walk up to the Beast will die instantly, it is common knowledge that a five year old could outrun one. There are three twelve inch claws on each foot that they use to hold the carcass in place as they rip the meat away.
Although the head of the Beast is of proportionate size with the creature and full of teeth, the brain is not. It’s capacity for rational thought is suspect, at best. Some have referred to them as too stupid to live. The only consistent thought that occupies the brain is their need to eat, and they are not restricted to carnivorous diets. When hungry, they feed on vegetation. Although they do live in “Families” of four to six, they have no loyalty to one another when it comes to food. They will fight among themselves.
The Kings of the Lands have petitioned Queen after Queen to do away with the animals and been denied each time. The Queens feel the animal is easily avoided and is needed to keep Mother’s lands clean of carcasses. They only become aggressive when threatened or hungry.
The Beasts are a threat to travelers, the Kings forces, settlements and farms, because of their need to eat. In reality, the Beast prefers their meal to already be dead. They are scavengers and do a good job at keeping Mother cleaned of those carcasses. They simply do not have the speed to hunt. They have been known to feast on sleeping campers that make the mistake of camping in a valley or non-elevated area, however.
Their size and destructive nature has forced the Kingdoms to construct “Beast Walls” around cities and villages. In truth, these walls serve many purposes, but they were named after the creatures, as keeping them out of heavy populated areas was the main function.
The Beast is one of the few animals of Mother that has no fear of or respect for the Queen. To them, she is not just another “Little thing”, she is the little thing responsible for their lack of food supply.
The Beast can be frightened into a stampede by high pitched noises or by one of the smallest creatures of Mother, the Abedi. Many believe it is because the Abedi emanate a high pitched shrill, as squirrels and other Abedi like sized creatures do not concern the Beast in the least, other than as a snack.
The Beast is the largest land animal native to Mother. It is brownish green in color and stands, depending on age, between twenty and thirty feet high and eighteen to twenty feet wide. The legs are disproportionately small for the body, causing the underside of the animal to be hairless from dragging on the ground, and lacking the strength to propel the animal to any degree of speed. Climbing slopes is also a problem for the same reason. Although anyone senseless enough to walk up to the Beast will die instantly, it is common knowledge that a five year old could outrun one. There are three twelve inch claws on each foot that they use to hold the carcass in place as they rip the meat away.
Although the head of the Beast is of proportionate size with the creature and full of teeth, the brain is not. It’s capacity for rational thought is suspect, at best. Some have referred to them as too stupid to live. The only consistent thought that occupies the brain is their need to eat, and they are not restricted to carnivorous diets. When hungry, they feed on vegetation. Although they do live in “Families” of four to six, they have no loyalty to one another when it comes to food. They will fight among themselves.
The Kings of the Lands have petitioned Queen after Queen to do away with the animals and been denied each time. The Queens feel the animal is easily avoided and is needed to keep Mother’s lands clean of carcasses. They only become aggressive when threatened or hungry.
The Beasts are a threat to travelers, the Kings forces, settlements and farms, because of their need to eat. In reality, the Beast prefers their meal to already be dead. They are scavengers and do a good job at keeping Mother cleaned of those carcasses. They simply do not have the speed to hunt. They have been known to feast on sleeping campers that make the mistake of camping in a valley or non-elevated area, however.
Their size and destructive nature has forced the Kingdoms to construct “Beast Walls” around cities and villages. In truth, these walls serve many purposes, but they were named after the creatures, as keeping them out of heavy populated areas was the main function.
The Beast is one of the few animals of Mother that has no fear of or respect for the Queen. To them, she is not just another “Little thing”, she is the little thing responsible for their lack of food supply.
The Beast can be frightened into a stampede by high pitched noises or by one of the smallest creatures of Mother, the Abedi. Many believe it is because the Abedi emanate a high pitched shrill, as squirrels and other Abedi like sized creatures do not concern the Beast in the least, other than as a snack.
The Sisterhood
When the first Queen of Mother, Queen Emily DeShields, saw the problem that was arising from the children being swept without anyone to care for them, she created and instilled the law that all new arrivals were to be processed and supported by a separate entity that was to be the responsibility of the Kings of the lands. This entity would be housed in a separate building within each city and village and would be referred to as "The Sisterhood".
It was also the Queen's intent that the sisterhood handle trials of perpetrators of crime. To that end she forged six staffs. There would be one for each Supreme High Sister of each land. These staffs were forged and infused with Queenstone to be multi-faceted tools. They were named the "Staff of Truth". one facet provided the sisters of the lands to detect falsehood. Those sisters that were found to be infallible at the practice were known as "Trial Sisters."
When women would request to become sisters, they would go through a series of interviews and testing and if accepted would be sent to the Supreme High Sister for appointment. The Supreme High Sister would conduct her own interview and end the process by explaining that the sisterhood is a lifetime commitment and not a job. If the woman still wanted to be a sister, she would be touched by the staff and her new life would be confirmed.
The Supreme's of the lands decided for the sake of the element of surprise, they would keep one of the abilities of the staff's power a secret and so instructed each sister to not speak of it. Keeping secrets was not something Queen Emily was fond of, but when the Supreme's explained their reasoning, the Queen relented. Knowing the power of the staff talisman, the Queen added that it might be best to keep the knowledge of the staff out of the Chronicles as well, to eliminate the possibility of physical harm to a potential thief.
As an added tool to help them maintain their secret, the sisters developed special attire. This was a one piece pullover knee length short sleeve dress made of a heavy light gray material known as a "Grock". Any sister that was outside of a sisterhood, either on days off or vacation was permitted to be in street clothes, but while inside the sisterhood, whether on duty or not, they were never to shed the Grock. The Grock, along with the white headband all sisters wore was what would identify them as sisters. It was highly unattractive and the sisters would suffer many comments from the citizens, which was the plan. Look harmless.
Sisters were considered to be without personality and devoid of emotion and most of the citizenry considered that to be a requirement of acceptance. Although the sisters were always helpful to the peoples with nearly every request that wasn't ridiculous, they were also mysterious and always suspicious which caused most people to be leery. No one stopped by a sisterhood just to say hello.
Registered in the chronicles as a sanctuary, most looked upon the sisterhood as an orphanage, because of the children and the sisters efforts to get those children without parents, into family homes as "Accepted". The sisters were relentless in this endeavor. It wasn't a matter of space. The sisterhood was a massive building. Usually the largest in the city or village. Children, however, were inquisitive and the sisters were concerned one would find a way past the locks and descend into the lower level, despite the rules against it. The lower level of each sisterhood was a prison.
Queens would come and go and the Kings of the lands would change based on the whims of those Queens. Kings would come and go and for the same reasons the kingdoms would change, but the sisterhood was the one constant. The sisterhood, mysterious, unwavering, and suspicious of all, never changed regardless of the whims of Kings and Queens. Never changed, that is, until the sweeping of "18".
It was also the Queen's intent that the sisterhood handle trials of perpetrators of crime. To that end she forged six staffs. There would be one for each Supreme High Sister of each land. These staffs were forged and infused with Queenstone to be multi-faceted tools. They were named the "Staff of Truth". one facet provided the sisters of the lands to detect falsehood. Those sisters that were found to be infallible at the practice were known as "Trial Sisters."
When women would request to become sisters, they would go through a series of interviews and testing and if accepted would be sent to the Supreme High Sister for appointment. The Supreme High Sister would conduct her own interview and end the process by explaining that the sisterhood is a lifetime commitment and not a job. If the woman still wanted to be a sister, she would be touched by the staff and her new life would be confirmed.
The Supreme's of the lands decided for the sake of the element of surprise, they would keep one of the abilities of the staff's power a secret and so instructed each sister to not speak of it. Keeping secrets was not something Queen Emily was fond of, but when the Supreme's explained their reasoning, the Queen relented. Knowing the power of the staff talisman, the Queen added that it might be best to keep the knowledge of the staff out of the Chronicles as well, to eliminate the possibility of physical harm to a potential thief.
As an added tool to help them maintain their secret, the sisters developed special attire. This was a one piece pullover knee length short sleeve dress made of a heavy light gray material known as a "Grock". Any sister that was outside of a sisterhood, either on days off or vacation was permitted to be in street clothes, but while inside the sisterhood, whether on duty or not, they were never to shed the Grock. The Grock, along with the white headband all sisters wore was what would identify them as sisters. It was highly unattractive and the sisters would suffer many comments from the citizens, which was the plan. Look harmless.
Sisters were considered to be without personality and devoid of emotion and most of the citizenry considered that to be a requirement of acceptance. Although the sisters were always helpful to the peoples with nearly every request that wasn't ridiculous, they were also mysterious and always suspicious which caused most people to be leery. No one stopped by a sisterhood just to say hello.
Registered in the chronicles as a sanctuary, most looked upon the sisterhood as an orphanage, because of the children and the sisters efforts to get those children without parents, into family homes as "Accepted". The sisters were relentless in this endeavor. It wasn't a matter of space. The sisterhood was a massive building. Usually the largest in the city or village. Children, however, were inquisitive and the sisters were concerned one would find a way past the locks and descend into the lower level, despite the rules against it. The lower level of each sisterhood was a prison.
Queens would come and go and the Kings of the lands would change based on the whims of those Queens. Kings would come and go and for the same reasons the kingdoms would change, but the sisterhood was the one constant. The sisterhood, mysterious, unwavering, and suspicious of all, never changed regardless of the whims of Kings and Queens. Never changed, that is, until the sweeping of "18".
The Cover of "18"
“Who are those people on the cover of your book?”
Easy question. Easier answer. Especially for those that have finished the novel.
The middle character is, naturally, Queen Melanie. The “18”th queen of Mother.
On the left, holding the sword, is Marie Mercer. The captain of the Queen’s guard, the Own.
On the right, riding the Rigger, is Kristen Muller, who, at the beginning was the mild mannered and eager to please Queen’s Lady. Those that have finished know the story, but I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t finished.
In the background along the top of the mountains are a set of eyes. Hmm! I’m not telling you. At least, not yet.
Now that the question is answered, let’s talk a bit about the making of the cover.
The cover was designed and set to scale by Steven Hammond.
Steven is the author of the “Rise of the Penguins” series. You can check those out on Amazon and you can learn more about Steven at: http://www.stevenhammondbooks.com/ and on Instagram@stevenhammond12 .
I, personally, had little to do with the cover, other than hashing suggestions out with the publisher, and then providing Steven with some famous people that I thought the characters in my mind resembled, so that he could get bone structure and muscle tone ideas. Steven took it from there.
His first challenge was reading the initial draft, which he did and then sat down and sketched out a basic design with a few ideas of his own. Just basic shapes, layout and positioning.
Once approved, he moved on to developing the characters, as well as working on the Rigger. The Rigger was the size of a riding horse, and there was nothing else for him to go on, so Steven pictured a mixture of a hyena and a wolf, which for me was pretty accurate.
Once preliminary sketches were finished it was time, once again, to submit them for feedback. He got the feedback and made the changes necessary.
Next, Steven dove into Photoshop to flesh out the sketches. Most of Steven’s experience was in charcoal and oils, so digital painting was new to him, but he soon became experienced. He started with the background, mountains and landscape, and then came the fun part. The characters. Time for layers.
Each character had multiple layers. Melanie alone was nearly twenty, ranging from a line drawing to multiple layers for the hair coloring. After the first iteration of digital painting, it was time for another critique, which brought on more tweaking.
From there, it was time for that unique thing that Steven does. Pyrography. He converted that digital painting onto a wood burn. A book cover from a wood burn! The subtle details could have been lost and that is not something you can make a mistake on. You can’t exactly erase the boo boo. It took about a week, but he got it done.
Then Steven put his photography experience to work. He photographed the wood burn, made some tonal adjustments, did a little cropping and took it in for approval from the publisher. It was decided wood burn wouldn’t show up well as a cover.
Undaunted, Steven went back to Photoshop and spent a goodly amount of time merging the wood burn with the original digital painting. Voila! It was done.
The entire process, start to finish, took a couple of month’s to complete, but did provide a unique and distinctive cover.
Steven described it as “A great experience, full of frustrations and accomplishments, and more than a few long nights of eye strain and an aching hand.” He is also ready for book two.
Easy question. Easier answer. Especially for those that have finished the novel.
The middle character is, naturally, Queen Melanie. The “18”th queen of Mother.
On the left, holding the sword, is Marie Mercer. The captain of the Queen’s guard, the Own.
On the right, riding the Rigger, is Kristen Muller, who, at the beginning was the mild mannered and eager to please Queen’s Lady. Those that have finished know the story, but I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t finished.
In the background along the top of the mountains are a set of eyes. Hmm! I’m not telling you. At least, not yet.
Now that the question is answered, let’s talk a bit about the making of the cover.
The cover was designed and set to scale by Steven Hammond.
Steven is the author of the “Rise of the Penguins” series. You can check those out on Amazon and you can learn more about Steven at: http://www.stevenhammondbooks.com/ and on Instagram@stevenhammond12 .
I, personally, had little to do with the cover, other than hashing suggestions out with the publisher, and then providing Steven with some famous people that I thought the characters in my mind resembled, so that he could get bone structure and muscle tone ideas. Steven took it from there.
His first challenge was reading the initial draft, which he did and then sat down and sketched out a basic design with a few ideas of his own. Just basic shapes, layout and positioning.
Once approved, he moved on to developing the characters, as well as working on the Rigger. The Rigger was the size of a riding horse, and there was nothing else for him to go on, so Steven pictured a mixture of a hyena and a wolf, which for me was pretty accurate.
Once preliminary sketches were finished it was time, once again, to submit them for feedback. He got the feedback and made the changes necessary.
Next, Steven dove into Photoshop to flesh out the sketches. Most of Steven’s experience was in charcoal and oils, so digital painting was new to him, but he soon became experienced. He started with the background, mountains and landscape, and then came the fun part. The characters. Time for layers.
Each character had multiple layers. Melanie alone was nearly twenty, ranging from a line drawing to multiple layers for the hair coloring. After the first iteration of digital painting, it was time for another critique, which brought on more tweaking.
From there, it was time for that unique thing that Steven does. Pyrography. He converted that digital painting onto a wood burn. A book cover from a wood burn! The subtle details could have been lost and that is not something you can make a mistake on. You can’t exactly erase the boo boo. It took about a week, but he got it done.
Then Steven put his photography experience to work. He photographed the wood burn, made some tonal adjustments, did a little cropping and took it in for approval from the publisher. It was decided wood burn wouldn’t show up well as a cover.
Undaunted, Steven went back to Photoshop and spent a goodly amount of time merging the wood burn with the original digital painting. Voila! It was done.
The entire process, start to finish, took a couple of month’s to complete, but did provide a unique and distinctive cover.
Steven described it as “A great experience, full of frustrations and accomplishments, and more than a few long nights of eye strain and an aching hand.” He is also ready for book two.
