Retro Rocket Ships and The Future of Romance

Starship Sketches, 12/12/12

If you had asked me several years ago what sort of fiction I would like to write I would have said, “fantasy.” Or perhaps “urban fantasy.” The fact that I chose to place my romantic story in a science fiction tale did come as something as a surprise to me, I must admit.

However, having ventured into space, I realized I needed a conceptual model for my alien culture’s style. Would they be ultra-high tech? Would they be colorless and efficient? Superheroes like in “The Avengers?” Nah! Nothing like that for me!

Although this book is not Steampunk, as many of you know, I do lean in that direction. Ornamentation has all but disappeared in our world today and I feel this is a true crime. I decided to bring ornamentation back in a big way in my book(s).

There are primarily two alien cultures mentioned in the book. I have decided they dress in clothes reminiscent of our 18^th century with starships that look like something out of a Jules Verne fantasy. In the forthcoming novel (whose title Matt and I are still sparring over) you will see quite a bit of a small starship, the hero’s “gig.” Although I have described it in the book, I thought it might be good do some drawings to try to get the feel of the sorts of ships the Tazegans might use.

I’ve been taking a look at retro rocket ships for the past few days to see what I can use. Apparently, something happened in the late 1960’s (NASA’s space program perhaps?) that turned all the previously colorful “Buck Rodgers” type spaceships into either enormous battle ships in space (all gun metal grey) or hunks of junk (Millennium Falcon - style). Now please don’t get me wrong, I love the Millennium Falcon and I grew up with Space Battleship Yamato, but in my world…well that’s just not going to work. I much prefer something more romantic with bright colors and rounder lines. I mean, why not add a little bit of color to your space adventure? Tonight I was asking myself questions like "why can’t a starship have a figurehead?" and "why not add stained glass to the viewing ports?" So there you go. My thoughts on spaceships. Expect something pretty colorful in my version of science fiction. That’s all I’m saying.

Things to Come

I haven’t spoken much about my new novels thus far. At this point many people know that I’ve been writing them, but not much more than that. Today, as the first draft of Book II is completed, I feel ready to start talking, especially as Book I is now being prepared for market.

So what is this all about? Why have I turned to writing all of a sudden? The truth is that I have been a writer for a very long time, my first published non-fiction article came out in the mid 1980’s. I have been writing fiction for even longer though, having finished my very first novel at 17. Over the years I have written quite a bit of fiction, all Fantasy or Sci-Fi, but these works were never meant for publication, instead being a way for me to create something truly enjoyable for myself.

This changed with the demise of our webcomic, “Privateer Princess” back in 2009. Matt and I knew there’d be a novelization at some point to continue the story but we had some initial confusion over which one of us would write it. As it turned out, I was the one who made it happen, and I am delighted beyond words that I did. What an experience and what a joy!

I make no bones about the fact that my book is a love story, and politely suggest that if you don’t like love stories, you probably won’t like this one. However, if you do… :-)

Mine is not a sedate, drawing room story, it’s an adventure! It takes the characters from one side of the world to the other, out into space, and then back to Earth again. It’s full of elements that I believe all good love stories should have - great challenges, dangerous missions, nasty villains, roguish heroes, and tomboys who are finally learning to wear dresses. The fact that this book also has space pirates, half-alien street gangs, world-conquering alien warlords, and lots of super-powered people living side by side with humans is just the icing on the cake. It’s a story about finding family and the place where you fit into your world. It shows that no matter where you were born (on this planet or any other) love is transcendent and won’t always wait politely for the right moment to be answered. It’s about true love.

So that’s a little bit about the book, a taste of things to come. In the coming days I’ll start talking more about the writing of the book, and some of what makes a good science fiction story to me. But for now, I wish you all a good night and a happy 12/12/12! What an auspicious day to begin writing about a brand new adventure tale.

Love to all...

-Sara

Dum-Dums

"Dum-Dums" - pen & ink and watercolor pencils,
Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook.

A few days ago I finished the first draft of the second book in my science fiction series. To celebrate (and because I was very tired and hungry) we went out for pizza. They gave us two lollipops with the check. Now, I'm not a lollipop type of gal myself, but I thought they looked so sweet I thought I'd draw them when I got home. After so long writing it was nice to do some sketching once again.

Sketching this Weekend

Not too much to say about these drawings except that I’m becoming more disciplined about using guidelines and it’s rather fun substituting colors for black pencil.

Studio News for November

Heart Ravenna - the hero of "Privateer Princess" soon to be seen in a novel

I haven't been blogging much lately but I thought it might be time to do some updating today. So here's the scoop. I’m just now finishing up some children's book illustrations for a book coming out on Kindle this weekend. More to follow on that when the book is up on Amazon.

Editing is going well on Book 1 of my new Sci-fi/Romance series. Expect to hear more about that soon too. I have about half of Book 2 written at this point and that’s been distracting me somewhat from the editing of Book 1. I want the first two books to come out pretty close together and now they can. Additional books in the series will be forthcoming coming in 2013. :-)

I’ll be rehabbing the "Privateer Princess" website pretty soon to give it a facelift as an advertising platform for the new book series which, in case you missed the news, is the novelization of the webcomic story. (Although the novel plot is somewhat changed from our original comic plot, my Muse apparently having some new and quite new cool ideas about plot changes.) So now Snow Wolf’s and Heart’s adventures will be continuing in novel form. *squee*

Finally, I’m about to start working on my Christmas/seasonal cards for 2012. Upper Case Books in Snohomish has asked me to make a few exclusive cards for them this year and I’m very excited to do it. For those who find themselves visiting the store, they are also carrying copies of my coloring book, "My Day at the Horse Show." You can find it in the local author section.

I do love that store! It’s so nice to be collaborating with an independent book shop in this day and age.

So that’s about it from here at the studio. I now must run along and start drawing for the day.

Cheers to all!

-Sara

Steamcon IV

Sometimes things work out even when they don’t. Last Sunday, October 28^th, Matt and I happened to be having lunch down the street from the hotel where they were holding the wonderful Steamcon IV. When we realized this we hurried over but were just in time to see people packing up their valises and heading out. However, intrepid girl reporter/artist that I am, I did manage to snap a few photos of some clever costumes and one very handsome airship pirate.

Here’s a sketch I did today in honor of airship pirates everywhere. *swoon* I just love these guys. 

Lekanis Lid – finished at last!

Lekanis Lid, colored pencil

Gosh, it has been quite a while since I’ve worked on this particular piece. Here, at long last, is the Lekanis lid finally finished. (Links to earlier posts are here: part 3, part 2, part 1.) Phew! This piece has been hanging around my studio, being worked on glacially slowly, for several months now. This week I was just so tired of seeing it that I decided I just needed to finish it up and put it away.

This colored pencil piece is 6.5” x 7” and was created on cold press Illustration Board. It’s mainly Derwent Drawing pencils with a bit of Prismacolor highlighting at the end.  My original intention in using the Derwent Drawing pencils was to create a matte finish for the piece that looked similar to the original terracotta. I’m happy with the results as the piece does have the look of an ancient Greek Red Figure terracotta. :-)