Cover Reveal: Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

Behold! Another brilliant creation by the ever-talented Irene Langholm (see all my other covers for more of Irene’s work).

Cover image and Design by Irene Langholm
Cover image and Design by Irene Langholm

Synopsis: If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept —  was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.

Genre: Urban Fantasy (Adult/New Adult)

Release date: June 21, 2013

 — Giveaways & goodies to be revealed here throughout June!!  

Skyping with Irene…

So I just finished a great Skype chat with Irene Langholm, who is the brilliant artist who has done all the covers for my books. While the chat ended very well – we were discussing the cover for the soon to be released Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic – it started out a little embarrassingly … for me. You see, Irene requested I send her a sketch of my basic idea for the cover.

Ahem.

I cannot sketch, or draw, or paint … but – in the spirit of cooperative creation – I made an attempt.

Yes, this my attempt to sketch a book cover idea ...
Yes, this my attempt to sketch a book cover idea …

Note all the fine details I included – the figure is obviously female, one of her hands is caressing the Y of the word deadly … the glowing ‘door’ is hanging on some sort of grid and the woman appears to be standing (on her heels) on water … um … that’s not right …

I’m surprised Irene didn’t fall over laughing. Well, perhaps she did, it would be difficult to tell during a text based chat, but she was very understanding about my perspective issues, and even thanked me.

I have a feeling the finished cover will be a bit more … hmmm … what do I want to say here … well, perhaps we’ll have to do a comparison when Irene sends me what I know will be a work of art.

At least I spelled everything correctly … beside that ‘D’ … I guess I had trouble with that.

Ah, it’s good to know your shortcomings, no?

bits of Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic

I’m working my way through the 2nd draft of my new WIP, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic. It’s an urban fantasy. Here are some of my favourite bits from this week’s writing (unedited and unproofed, FYI):

 – from Monday:

I flung myself at the bus, attempting to not simply collapse on the stairs of the open door.

I couldn’t breathe. The driver didn’t find this particularly charming. I tried a smile, and got an answering one in return. Though I think he might have also just noticed my heaving chest. Good, maybe that would distract him from the fact that I had no fare.

“Hi … “ I managed to speak between gasps, but was becoming uncomfortably aware of the yawning darkness of the vampire-filled night behind me. “Thank you for stopping.” Okay, so it was just one vampire. He was one too many.

 – from Tuesday:

“How did you know I lived here?”

The wolf shrugged. “Smells like you.”

“It smells like me?” I echoed, because, when surprised, I tended to be an idiot.

“Yes, your magic is tasty.” This time the wolf did show her teeth when she smiled. I thought that might indicate the conversation was moving in the wrong direction … the woman-eating direction, and not the good kind.

 – from Wednesday: 

I didn’t answer. The conversation had gotten too serious, too quickly for me. My guard was down. I was feeling soft and malleable after the terrifying evening and the yoga class. I was feeling like leaning on Hudson would be a terribly easy thing to do … right before he broke and probably ate my heart … though I think, according to my research, werewolves generally frowned upon man-eaters.

 – from Thursday:

I’d protested the change of location but Sienna had insisted my living room wasn’t the right spot for an earth-based spell, and, countering my suggestion of a park, she laughed and murmured something about needing the protection of the wards.

I hated it when Sienna murmured about magic. A murmur had led to many a close call in our youth. I’d lost my hair at sixteen because of a murmured caveat. It took two months for the skin to grow back on my left hand when I was twenty, also due to a offhanded ‘foot note’ murmured by Sienna.

Why I kept following her into these situations was pure stupidity on my part, but it seemed she always caught me just at the right time — this time I was angry and needing to prove I wasn’t just worthless garbage to be left on the side of the road.

Hence the dirt that was now coating the ass and legs of my second favorite pair of jeans. The floor was actually hard packed, but still dirt rubbed off.

 – from Friday:

Gah! I didn’t end up writing Friday. Boo.

What have you been working on?

It’s the little pleasures that buoy up this large canvas of life

This week I am transcribing my handwritten 1st draft of my new novel, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic, into the computer. Once this process is completed, I’ll have a 2nd draft ready for story editing (etc). I’ve done this for all my novels, excepting After The Virus, and I’m rather attached to the process … it forces me to write the 1st draft with little – or minor – editing … I fix everything – or expand or subtract – in my second pass.

Bear sketch business card by Jessica Gowling
The Bear holds my place patiently and without judgement of pace or quality.

Last December I purchased some ‘let it snow’ notecards from Jessica Gowling‘s Etsy shop, and, when I received the package in the mail, she had included this mini bear sketch business card. I adored the mini card so much I immediately put in on the magnet board next to my desk. Now I am using it as a notebook marker to hold my place after I finish a day of transcribing. I love bears in general, and this one specifically.

So, thank you, Jessica for sharing your art with me (and the world, of course).

It’s the little pleasures that buoy up this large canvas of life.

I seem to have made an error …

… in judgement. I mistakenly got up from my desk a few moments ago – in the middle of writing a scene – to grab a quick snack. By the time I’d sliced up an apple and grabbed a cookie (or two … okay, maybe it was three) this had happened:

Leo stakes his claim
Leo stakes his claim

Note how he completely ignores getting his picture taken. If he even blinked, or acknowledged my presence in any way, I might not feel as bad about hauling him off my WIP.

leo_overview
Leo from above . What can I say? The picture reveals all.

And, don’t even think about making a play for that pen. He’s backed by his gang:

thetrio_hardatwork
The trio, hard at work thwarting the writer. It’s a tough job, but some cat has to do it.

So, yeah. I was hoping to have this draft completed by the end of next week … maybe I’ll crack open a can of cat food … or crinkle the treat package … am I a complete pushover?

————–

WIP: Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic, 1st draft
On the headphones: “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers
In the fountain pen: toffee brown ink
Chocolate of the Day: 70% Madagascar, Amano

38,400 words and counting ….

… handwritten!

clairefontaine_filled_CTandODM

 

I couple of months ago I completely splurged on some clairefontaine notebooks. It was a splurge, because I just scrawl out a first draft, copy it into the computer, and never touch the handwritten draft again.  Nor am I interested in collecting such things, I usually recycle them. However, I found my hand aching – enough to be distracting – and had read that my fountain pen would be more compatible with this paper, and it totally is … smooth and lovely … my hand may still ache after a couple of hours, but not due to the pen/paper.

So today, just now – actually in the middle of a scene – I filled my first one of these notebooks. That’s 192 pages, averaging 200 words per page. So, 38,400 words completed on my newest novel, an urban fantasy, Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic. I’m just beyond the midpoint, and have a habit of being more wordy in the set up than in the resolution, so I’m probably on track for a 60,000+ word novel. Super cool.

Okay … I’m off to grab a fresh notebook and finish the scene!