The Search For The Perfect Image

In between being busy and distracted by life's happenings, I've been diligently trying to find-create the perfect cover for HADEAN ANGELUS, and so far nothing.  My original idea for a cover, just fell apart, and my second idea... I can't seem to put it together just right, thus forever delaying the release of the book, I mean, without a proper cover I can't do anything!

I had originally planned to have the book out this coming tuesday, which--if you read the book--would have been a perfect date for it! but sadly, not everything happen as planned, so the release date remains up in the air, until this business of the cover can get resolved. I'm going to crossed my fingers that it will be all done before thanksgiving, since that would also be a perfect date.  Stay tuned.....

Hadean Angelus MCMLXXIX-Volume One-The Twins: Synopsis version 2.0

Ok, so I know I posted an "official" synopsis already, but in the back of my mind I wasn't 100% satisfied (when am I ever satisfied with anything, really?) so I tweaked it a bit and I've come up with a slightly longer, more detailed version, which I may or may not used as the official one.  See if you like this one better:


"Nethan Dohav is dead."  And with that grim announcement, the sprawling, apocalyptic world of Hadean Angelus begins.

Seven years ago, the global conflict began with an explosion, sending the world at large into a steady march towards total destruction.  Now, with the planet engulfed by unchecked chaos and with no discerning end in sight, seventy-nine nations have fallen while millions of lives have been lost.  At the homefront, the youth rebels against the totalitariam Regime; running away from home while being labeled terrorists, bringing forth a civil war that divides the nation even further.

Banding together, the runaways organized themselves and formed the Guerrillas, swearing to take down the totalitariam Regime and take back control of the nation.  But in the midst of this power struggle, a second, mysterious rebel group known as the Insignia emerges, threatening to bring the world to an end.

As one of the leaders of the Guerrillas, Netham's untimely death will set in motion a series of events that will lead his successor, the young Valentina Valentine, to uncover shocking truths about not only those she thought of as allies, but Netham himself, and put her on a collision course with the shadowy figure at the head of the Insignia; a showdown that will ultimately decide the fate of the world.

Introducing "Hadean Angelus MCMLXXIX Volume 1: The Twins" The Official Synopsis.

The World We Once Knew no Longer Exists.

Of the one hundred and ninety-six nations that stood at the start of the global conflict, only one hundred and seventeen remain.  In a scant seven years, seventy-nine nations have been seized, decimated or simply erased from the face of the earth.

Rise of the Totalitarian System.

It’s no secret that within the hierarchy of old men that constitutes the Regime, corruption runs rampant. The Regime has taken our rights away; they know our every move, make our decisions for us, and even go as far as act as if they know our very thoughts dictating what we think or say.  An entity that instills fear cannot be trusted to rule, but without an alternative to turn to, it cannot be stopped.

The Youth in Revolt.

With the national draft reinstated, the youth rebelled against the Regime, refusing to be shipped to their death at the battlefront. Running away from home and leaving their families behind, they are now fugitives being hunted down by the Regime.  Organizing themselves, they start fighting back, until their confrontation with the Regime explodes into a civil war.

The Fight for Control.

With a nation torn apart by the global conflict and the battle between the Regime and the youth rebel groups, a third, mysterious entity collects itself and makes a play to overpower everything, take the nation, and bring the world at large to an end.

Novel #2 Update: Hardest Part of It All--The Crucial Synopsis.

And here I was so happy that the editing part was completely done, and I was almost halfway done with creating the right cover design, when suddenly someone reminded me of one tiny fact that I have completely forgotten about: the book's synopsis.

And my heart sank.

Not because it is an impossible task, but because summarizing your novel to one or two paragraphs has got to be the hardest part of writing a novel, period.  You have to sell the novel to the potential reader, convey just about everything, or at the very least, the most crucial aspects of the story without giving any surprises away!  Which sometimes means omitting amazing details that would for sure drive people to buy/read the book, but you can't give those details away because they serve a larger story and their impact needs to be discover while reading the book, not on a summary.

So I have stop all work on the cover design, to concentrate on the synopsis.  I must have written about 10 different versions of the synopsis for VIOLET HILL, until I landed on the version I ended up using for the official release.  But VIOLET HILL, when compare to book #2, was a piece of cake.  VIOLET HILL might have been a bit difficult to summarized, but the story itself is very straightforward compare to the new novel.  The new one is perhaps the most complex story I've ever dreamed up; it is a huge, sprawling epic from which book #2 is only a fraction of. 

I already feel a headache coming on......

But fear not, I'm known for putting myself in this type of "against the wall" situations and finding my way out. I am a higly intelligent, confident, practical, resourceful being, and though it may take a dozen drafts, I will end up with the perfect synopsis for it.  Which I will then post here, along with the official reveal of the novel's title.

stay tuned.....

Book Number 2-update

Finishing the editing was probably the easy part.  I have a clear idea of the cover design I want to utilize for my upcoming novel, the only issue is getting that idea to work.  When I was looking for the cover image of VIOLET HILL, I wanted (of course) an image that would represent the story or more importantly convey the feeling of the book, and the image I choose, which I believe I was lucky to come across is perfect: the upside down view to a basement dead end.

For anyone that's read VIOLET HILL, you know that I couldn't have picked a better image to represent the novel. A sense of dread, being trapped with no escape, desperation, claustrophobic fear, and your world and everythig you know completely shuffled into something unknown.  That's all right there in the cover when you read the novel.

I want the cover of book 2 to be just as perfect as that of VIOLET HILL, and so far I haven't being able to nailed it, but I'm positive that I'm going to.

Fingers crossed.

What a Hurricane Can Make You Accomplished.

So this weekend, we, the people of the northeast cost, had to deal with the passing of hurricane Irene. Though there wasn't much damaged at all around my area (NYC) asside from hours and hours of heavy rain and wind, I was most concern with losing power, so I stayed up, burning the midnight oil to finished my final revision of my next novel.  And I'm very happy to say that the mission was accomplished!!

Granted, we did not, in fact, lost power for a second, but the important thing is that I feared we would, so it made me sit down and not moved until this revision was done, otherwise, I can bet I would still be working on it for another week or so.  So even though Irene did cause a lot of damages and some lives were lost, for which I'm very saddened, in some weird selfish way, I have to say thanks to it for pushing me to do what I should have been done with weeks ago.

Next up: working on the cover/backcover design, the pages layout, and overall look of the novel, before my late October/early November publishing deadline.

Wish me luck.