Great Big Announcement! Two New Coloring Books!

With the holidays right around the corner, this announcement couldn't come at a better time. Fans of artwork and coloring books alike will love these because I'm not releasing one but TWO new coloring books!

The first to come by (hopefully) the end of the month will be the Wilde World of Reptiles and Amphibians. It will boast over 40 lifelike images of amazing creatures to color. Alligators, crocodiles, frogs, toads, lizards and snakes of several types will grace the pages. A glossary in the back will tell you what animal you are coloring just in case you aren't sure. I drew all images from photo models for the best details. It will be a fantastic animal experience! If you've been following my work recently, you have already seen quite a few examples. There are pictures in this book however that will not be available anywhere else.

The second book is this years major project. It's a life parody with gory humor called Zombie Town USA!  The premise is what it would or could look like if zombies carried one with society. It will be loaded with over 30  images filled with hidden jokes and zombie easter eggs! Current votes from my test viewers put it at nothing less than hilarious! But there is one more very special point. There is a group called Southern Geekfest and they are some awesome geek people. Their noble leader, Rafe White invented his own zombie persona called Reanimated Rafe.

Well, as a special nod to Southern Geekfest, Reanimated Rafe will be in the book! Rafe knows what he looks like but isn't allowed to share that just yet! But he can now tell you that his zombie persona will be in this book!  I aim to have  it out by the last week of September or first week of October!

You only get to see this information right here and the books will be available through Amazon! Stay tuned for more incredible updates!

This board game just got a makeover!

My adventure board game, Galaxy Zento (based on the characters of the epic universe by same name) just got a huge makeover. There is a lot that's really cool about this and I'm going to spell it all out right here.

First, why the makeover? Because of the new layout being used in the expansion set. At this point in the planned sets I have for this customizable game (two sets include new boards) it just seemed like a good time to make sure there's a uniformity in the cards. Even a couple of my harsher critics really liked the new layout. The open art at the top of the card gives the artistic feel I was aiming for. The framed text gives the look that players wanted. Yay, compromise! But wait, I hear another question brewing.

But dang it, Dave, what about all the copies of GZ that people have already? Excellent question! Glad you asked! Because here's the truth of it. Not that many people have a copy of GZ yet. So here is what I'm doing. Everyone who has a copy so far is getting a whole replacement set of cards absolutely FREE. That's just my way of thanking them for their support.

But are you going to change the layout again? What then? No. I will not be changing the layout from this point on. New cards will have the same layout. The only way that may change is if GZ gets picked up by an publishing company with new agreements and whatnot, even then, not much should be changed.

So, you see, this really was the best time to do this. Right now, I'm waiting on the first set of new cards so I can check them over. Once I've done that, barring any corrections, I'll relaunch the board game and the expansion should happen very soon after that. Finishing touches are going into the expansion artwork now. If you would like to check out all the new art and card effects for the board game, you can do that HERE.

Check out the expansion set (what's done so far) HERE.

So what's next? That's easy! Next will be my fifth book and second novel in the Chessmen series: The Queen's Gambit.  It's a novel that will be jam packed with even more action than the first. After that will be GZ Tales volume 3 with work starting on the New York expansion of the game. That doesn't even include the juicy surprises I'm working on!  So keep those dice a rolling and we'll see you next time for a new and wonderful update.

February Update!

Bad Wolf Bar-Con is only a few short weeks away! As in, less than three! That's at the Bad Wolf Bar and Grill in Marrero, Louisiana on March 12! We are very excited to get there! And yes, that's a link to the event page on Facebook. I will have a small stock of all four of my books and will be demoing the board game. It should be outrageous fun. So, for those of you anywhere near that area, don't miss out! (And don't forget Southern Geek Fest in April!)

Writing is continuing on Chessmen 2 with so much action, your head will spin. Ever see a Minotaur take down a whole starship? You will in this story. It's the most astounding line up and collection of characters I've put together yet and the whoop-ass just does not stop. The image I'm using for this post is of Warhorse and he's in it too. I'm really having too much fun with it.

Artwork has started for the expansion set to the board game. If you haven't got your hands on it, you still can at The Game Crafter and the page for the game itself is right HERE. Check out the description and give it a whirl. For try before you buy, there is something of a free print and play available on the Board Game Geek page, HERE. You can at least see all the cards and the rules. I will say the actual game does look way better than the PNP. And it's only 44.99; not bad for trying out a new game. And when you buy the game you support growth for GZ!

GZ is more than just it's stories. It's stories, books, games, and aiming for so much more. We want GZ to go everywhere it can. That means toys, apps, miniatures, and who knows what else! It's started out much like a lot of ideas start out. I just do this at my home right now with a laptop and a few cute programs. The building will never stop.

What can I say? I love making heroes and I love making their stories.

Speaking of stories; if you send the words "free book" to Galaxyzento@gmail.com, you will get a free PDF of my first novel, Chessmen: Opening Moves. You will also be added to a mailing list (NO spam) that will lead to future sneak peaks and more. I don't send out to it very often, but when I do, who knows what coolness I will send your way. Hope you'll join in!

Coming up is also a little thing I'm calling "The Mad Men of March". No universe is complete without its crazies and I'm going to post all new artwork of them!

This brings me to one more thing that has had a very interesting outcome. Last year (and still recently) there's been some significant hating on the artwork for Galaxy Zento. It was so much that it actually made the artwork controversial. Well, today I thank the haters because they actually increased visibility of GZ by a good strong leap. Not everyone is going to love the looks of the game or other art representation, and that's fine. What they don't understand is that the artwork carries a special meaning. It's dedicated to people with disabilities who keep on struggling for their dreams, no matter what.

The fact that I can still do any of this, is pretty amazing. Those who actually get to know me (and I'm pretty approachable) know that I have multiple sclerosis and autism. I'm losing the coordination in my hands to a point that many daily tasks can be difficult. Yet, I still manage, with great effort, the artwork and writings that you see. I walk with a can and I'm one step away from a wheelchair. A lot of people would give up and just sit in the corner. I won't do that. I fight and I do my best to inspire others to do the same. This especially goes for my son (who has autism) who needs to see that his disabled, at home Dad doesn't ever give up.

The fact that I can hold up one of my books or my game and say "I did it all, even when my body didn't want to" speaks volumes.. Eventually there will be other artists and designers, but for now, this is the start of it all.

That's the update for now. More news coming soon! Hit me up for that free PDF!

Profiles and more: update

So, I 've been working on the wikia pages and have a lot on there now. Still not everything and I still need to figure out how to put up some kind of menu that helps with navigation. That has me kind of stuck. However, whenever you see a notice on my facebook page, it links to the picture on the wiki, and in turn links to the profile.

I really hope that I'm making my character profiles entertaining to read. Many of them have book plans on my desk. I can only hope that by continuing to do what I do, something will come of it somewhere. Hopefully something good. For those who have commented to me on these, THANK YOU! I'm so glad that you are enjoying the show.

I'm going to post some links to the wiki pages. What you will notice in these teams pages is more links to the members of that team. Everything should be completely linked back and forth so you can navigate easily regarding every member of the team. These are the links to the Team pages so far:

Ankhforce

Chessmen

The Darksiders

Jordain Family (Maestro)

Crusade

Carnival of Fear

The Fables

There are a few single characters in there as well and I will have to post some updates later on them. But each team page has a full list of all members.

I'm still networking on my project both locally and on Facebook and DeviantArt. There are some places that aren't working out for that, but you can only do what you can do right? So I hope you'll check out the work at the wiki. It's still under construction but more is on the way.

I'm still brainstorming on showcase short stories. I want to work up a schedule that will mesh with my other writing. It's a juggling act but well worth while. And please note that on the wiki or here comments are welcome!

Firing up the Wiki!

I'm taking the advice of a few other internet pros and using a wiki for the character profiles instead of a full website. While doing a big website would be awesome, it's just not financially available right now.

Honestly, all the marketing and anti-marketing that goes on between hosting companies doesn't make it any easier, but that's for another discussion.

At Wikia, you will find the Galaxy Zento Wiki! On this wiki you will find the pics you've seen so far along with brand new full character bios. Now you can learn all about the characters you've seen. This blog will still contain information too. Short stories will be posted on occassion as time allows. Currently, I'm up to my eyeballs in projects. The front burner projects are:


Chessmen book 2
Illustrations
Wikia profile pages

Everything else I do has to be worked into the schedule from there. Of course, new illustrations will be posted at DeviantArt (where you can purchase magnets, postcards, and more of any art you like), Facebook, and EVERYTHING gets noted at the Facebook fanpage. Hey, that's enough cross-reference to knock out a politician!

So far I have over 20 profiles up to enjoy and comment on. Hope to see you there!

December update

Wow, is this month getting started off with a bang!

First, I'm getting some of my best art yet done and moving on towards my big goal of all those illustrations. My Christmas shopping is very close to done, yay. I just bought a new artpad with 100 large pages for those illustrations and....

I have my first official guest artist, Brian Rogers! Be watching for my posting on him, it's in prep now!

This month I also plan to launch the website! Oh yes! There will be lots of awesome information and activity going on there! I plan to have character bios, artwork, short stories, and a forum too! So I really hope that all the Zento fans and more will join in! I'm pretty excited about this, can you tell?

I've about got the flavor of the query letter ready. Yes, it takes a while and should for a good query letter. You really want the ideas to simmer in your brain for a good two or three weeks before you finish them on paper. That includes writing and rewriting until you think it's good enough. Fortunately, I'm not doing it alone. I have some great support here and proofreading help. I have people to bounce ideas off of. It's really great.

So, I hope you stay tuned in, some great activity coming this month!

Touch ups

I'm almost through the touch ups on the Chessmen novel. I've found a lot of problems with my "it's" and "its" being mixed up. I really don't know why I keep doing that. Good ol grammar program does help by marking it at least.

We have a copy of this years Writer's Market and I need to start going through it and seeing what there is in information on agents and publishers.

There's still a lot of illustrations to do and I'm adding pics over at Deviantart. For the fan page, I've actually caught up with myself and now have to post my custom miniatures to fill in while I do more illustrations.

I have had a couple of artists show interest in the Guest Artist project. It will take time.

The current count in three weeks at Deviant art is 359 page views and I'm on four peoples watch list.

On the Facebook fan page, current likes are at 38. I would really like to see that number climb some more. People are looking and I love that. I've had some very nice correspondence and I love that too. There has been a very nice show of support. It's still a good start, and still early too.

So, it's just a short update today as I catch up on a few things around here. We just got our dog home from heartworm treatment and I had to make a hundred mile trip yesterday to a neurologist. As for that dr trip? There's more testing to do. I had lots of blood drawn to do an "auto-immune" panel. An auto-immune" condition is a disease that causes your immune system to attack itself or other points of your own body. MS is an auto-immune condition, but we still don't know if that's the one we are dealing with.

Looking forward to posting more soon!