Tatto For You

A couple of posts ago Elinor Blackwood (Ashira) was asking for me to divulge the process that goes into making my coloured images, so I shall now oblige. So, I start with the line drawing on paper (yes, a real piece of paper!) done with a sepia pencil for no other reason than I like the feel of the media and the brown looks nice. Some folk have mistakenly thought these charcoal drawings, but they are not, just coloured pencil. Having scanned the image in at 600 dpi, in Photoshop I then make a layer on MULITIPLY setting, onto which with the PENCIL tool I draw/paint/whatever it is you do in the digital context, areas of flat colour corresponding with the lines of the original drawing. Usually making a copy of this FLAT COLOUR layer – as I call it (turning off the original flat layer, thus preserving the original should anything go awry) I then mould the copied flat colour layer with the BURN tool, working in shadows and form as appropriate. Finally over the line drawing and the moulde...

About a million years ago, Ben Bryddia asked some questions and it is high time I say - HIGH TIME! - that they were answered. I shall reproduce much of his comment enclosing said enquiries here for context. "Do you have an index for all those notebooks? If so, how is it set up? Yeah, it's a strange question, but I'm curious what form of note organization you've found most helpful..." Ooh how I wish I indexed my notebooks, bit they are merely a repository for collecting thoughts as they come to me. 36 notebooks in I am starting to find it difficult to find older ideas, though it can be an adventure to go hunting for some half remembered notion I KNOW I wrote back in NB 32 or was it NB 31...? It can also drive me a little nuts trawling through every page when I just want to get on with what I am currently focused on. I am very much a scatty-headed creative type, and though there is a quite complex system of symbols to show what each note is, there is no indexing...

Hello hello, hello! Still here, still kicking about, avoiding the blank page and all that. A favourite truism of mine (heard as a sample on Ride's "Going Blank Again") goes, "even a stuffed clock tells the right time twice a day." So in that spirit I am blogging again after an extended hiatus. First, I have an interview for your perusal over at fellow author, Greg Mitchell's page. A caution for those of a less religious bent that one of the answers gets pretty religious, so bare with me. Well, I have some questions to answer, I will have a crack at one: The glorious Justine H . asks: "... How exactly did you come up with the idea for leers? Are leers able to fall in love?And where on the Half-Continent did you come up with such an epicly amazing character as Sebastipole (and his amazingly epic name?!)?!?!" Well, I think it came first with seeing something that made me think it would be "cool" to put a large box right on someone's ...

Hello all. A little while back I heard a fellow of prominently public position speak of a film and its director, saying something along the lines that the director was a self-proclaimed "geek", which the fellow took to mean "prone to making immature decisions ." What do you all reckon? Is there some truth to this?

Actually I have no idea what number of "question answering" this is, but, you know, just having fun... Alyosha asked a little while back why there seem to be few/no married folks in the MBTs , and I have to admit myself a tad perplexed by this. I too have realised such a (Freudian?) anomaly, and can only think that it is for the same adolescent reason that many spec fic novels deal mostly with the filially /conjugally unattached - it is simpler; no ties, no needed to refer back home to sooth anxious loved ones, just freedom to go and do and be as the adventure proceeds. Having said, I have quite pointedly had Rossamünd writing and "keeping in touch" with Verline , and refer in his thoughts to her and Frans and Pin, have tried (after committing the cliche of all cliches by making him an orphan) to give him filial connections that require tending - for I see Verline and the two one-time foundlingery masters as an ersatz family to our little adventurer. ... Maybe ...

The lovely RandomAlex has done a quick interview with me for the Snapshot project this year, part of the lead up to AUSSIECON 4 68th World Science Fiction Convention September 2 nd - 6 th 2010 - Melbourne, Australia ... being the 4th WorldCon to be held in Australia. I hope to go and thus for me it will be my first world con ever in Australia or out of it. And now for answers! Emma Nicole Reinmuth posits: "Just a theory... Are monsters aware of which humans possess Monster Blood Tattoos without seeing with their own eyes, and does that influence heavily whom they see as a threat? Rossamünd [we can heavily assume] is of monster blood and any action by monsters against him are taken with consideration. Perhaps it's the sense of their blood kin festering under human flesh that really grinds their gears?" Dear E.N.R. , I had not thought of it quite like that, but great late night fancy talk. I reckon it more the sight of cruorpunxis that would warn a monster off an ev...

Well, the final chapter is re-re-re-rewritten and I am now working on the US edit notes for the third draft. Thought I'd take a break to answer a couple of questions from last post. First off the rank, Alyosha asked: When Rossamund is setting out on his adventures, and receives the gift of a fine valise in which to carry his few belongings, he has a strong feeling that whoever made the valise intended good things for it’s owner. What’s more, when he’s packed it and lifts it, he finds it much lighter than he expected considering all that’s inside. On one hand, both of these things could be put down to the excitement of a young man at the start of an adventure. On the other hand, for someone who, at a later point in the story, can feel the pull of the moon even when it’s hidden behind clouds, maybe feelings of that sort have some real weight to them. Is Rossamund ’s valise more than it seems? Indeed it is, sir, well spotted! Indeed, you are the first person to do so (well to tell m...

I'm Allliiivvveee..! Over at Bookface [ TM] (where I am I think spending far too much time... maybe) Jane Hart Mason was good enough to ask me: Howdy... I hope you don't mind if I ask you a quick question, and I promise not be hurt if you don't have time to answer, or if it is your rule not to or whatnot. I am working on a little story of my own (not really to publish, just for my kid), and although I know what happens next and so on, I just can't seem to get it done. It may just be writer's block, but I am wondering if you have any tips or method as to what you do when this (if this?) happens to you. I have heard some writers set aside time to work on their stories, and even if they can't get anything written, they force themselves to sit there and think about it at least. Have you ever had any success with this? Mayhap you are one of those who is able to just pour it all out without pause, and if so please disregard this query. (I wish! DMC ) ... to which ...

Almost two weeks on (!) I surface from the Sea of Words - the Pontus Logia - to say what a swell time I had at Conjecture 2009 ; met many amazing folk - organisers, readers, writers and editors alike - though no one from here (thank you for asking Portals ). Apologies to you Klesita for not letting you know earlier, would have been great to meet you - I could have answered you questions that are still rattling about my noggin, directly... How about I do so now anyway. The one most on mind is... One of the things that intrigues me more is how Clementine, been so far away from everywhere and more over been so far inland, became a centre of power. Most centres of power become that because their position is strategic in one way or another. What is strategic about this place? I must admit when I look at the placement of Clementine/ Benevente on the map I do scratch my head a little and wonder how it got to be so powerful. Its strategic significance is not nearly as relevant in the curr...

monday comes bearing a "nosy personal question, Mr Cornish: I was just re-read Foundling again and am suddenly wondering if you have some sort of deep-seated, sweat-inducing terror of, when traveling, accidentally getting on the wrong bus/train/airplane. [I'm talking of course about Rossamund's incident with the Rupunzil and the Hogshead.] because i am a paranoid traveller myself, and that situation certainly struck a chord with me...did you have some sort of bad experience, or is it just the product of an over-anxious imagination?" I think it is the latter, though now that I ponder it, I certainly have an at times morbid concern for missing my stop - may be that is it? Ben Bryddia was wondering... "Since it's not socially acceptable to be abroad without a hat of some sort in the Empire, does Europe's refusal to wear one say anything about her personality?" I reckon it does, yes... especially in light of her rather ironic observations of Rossamun...

'Bout time I posted don't we think! E N Reinmuth was pondering... "If memory serves me right it was your interview on either the Today show or Mornings with David and Kim that got me out searching for MBT -Foundling, (technically I saw the gudgeon design before Lamplighter was even published, whoot !) and you said that you had gone to a publisher for a different story, and upon leaving you had dropped your notebook which held details of the world of the HC , and in turn the publisher asked you to write as many words a week, etc etc, leading to Foundling. Might I ask what that initial story was?" Yes you may! It goes a little like this... ' Tis a long story I shall attempt to make short. I trained back in the early 1990's as an illustrator in Adelaide, South Australia. In 1995 I moved to Sydney to pursue illustration work with magazines, newspapers and advertisers. In 1997 I began as a cartoonist at Burgo's Catchphrase working there and as a freelance i...

Just back from Brisneyland (being Brisbane for the uninitiated) having attended the Aurealis Awards night where, if you'll recall, Lamplighter was shortlisted in the Best Young Adult Novel category. Alas alak , I have to content myself with the shortlisting for I can reveal to you all now that Melina Marchetta 's (of On the Jellicoe Road and Looking for Alibrandi fame) first foray into the spec fic world, Finnikin of the Rock (Penguin/Viking) took the honours. Congrats to her - I'd be lying if I did not admit I was a tad bummed, but I got over myself and and very happy to have Lamplighter on a shortlist. The other winners of the 2008 Aurealis Awards by category were: best science fiction novel K A Bedford , Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait ( Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing) best science fiction short story Simon Brown, ‘The Empire’ , Dreaming Again (Harper/Voyager) best fantasy novel Alison Goodman, The Two Pearls of Wisdom (Harper Collins ) best ...

Well, it is near two weeks since the peep of the year and have you heard anything from me..?! I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction : Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski , Macmillan Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman , HarperCollins Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas , HarperCollins Savvy written by Ingrid Law , Penguin USA Airman written by Eoin Colfer , Hyperion Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce , Scholastic Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson , HarperCollins Graceling written by Kristin Cashore , Harcourt Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins , Scholastic Wake written by Lisa McMann , Simon & Schuster ... and (*drum roll*) Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA. A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-...

It is about time I answer Pearlius ' question: "About how old is Europe? She looks either a very tired young woman or a good looking old woman." I have always thought of the Branden Rose as about 29, as we currently know her, more in the line of a tired, world-weary young(ish) woman who has seen and done about as much as there is to see and do in the Half-Continent. I have to admit I think I overdid the careworn-ness of her portrait in Lamplighter , just a touch too haggard perhaps - ah well, live and learn. Pearlius was also wondering: "...does Europe have any heroic, awesome scar that she can show off?" I reckon she would have the scars, yes, but would be unlikely to show away with them... not her style I am thinking. (Perhaps if you asked nicely..?) I have been over to the Monster-Blood Cult on FaceBook started by Patrick Brooks. I have not said hello yet (on account that I do not have a Bookface account :) but perhaps folks from our neck of the woods coul...

Folks might notice my rather enthusiastic response to Jack so excellently putting up an Unofficial Forum in the form a snazzy link image to that very same place! Thank you very much, sir!/... I guess that answers the poll question then... Plus: Carlita's expectoratingly insightful question: "If anything, happens if a leer catches a cold and still uses his sthenicon. And what would happen if a wit or a fulgar caught a cold? Would they just be miserable, or would their transplanted organs cause them trouble?" Any of the H-c's more knowledgeable physicians would heartily recommend to any leer with a strong head cold to leave off using the sthenicon or olfactologue until the malady had passed. To ignore this advice can be both very messy (can you imagine a snotty sneeze inside a box), painful and will very likely extend the duration if not increase the severity of a cold. I guess that means, too, that hay fever suffers with dreams of leering best find themselves a new ...

So, I am thinking I shall keep up with this blog (indeed, that was my hope and intention) - I very much look forward to a forum happening though (hint hint - am I allowed to do that...?) - probably a powerful benefit I see is having some kind of section where questions are asked of me so I can clearly see what I have and have not answered. I am afraid to think of the number of questions that have gone unanswered here at Monster Blog Tattoo because I lose track of them in all the comments. Sorry to anyone who feels a bit snubbed by such an oversight, please, if you dare, ask again. In light of this contrition I shall now attempt to answer a question. Dear portals was axing a quekstion ... "So far all the Haacobin Empire's armies seem to all be made up of foot soldiers and suchlike. from what I know about history, cavalry always seems to be a great asset to any army, so why does the Empire have none.Sorry if they do have some, but with the definition for the Armies of the Empi...

(Following to be read with some strange accent in mind - I have no idea why, just cause...) Please being 'Hello!' to my good friend, the Handsome Grackle . (Cease with accent, please.) He is what is called nadderer - a sea-nicker, a water-dwelling monster - with neither head nor tail, but both at once, being able to walk on either end when he/she/it ventures on land. A very very robust creature, it recovers quickly from hurts, so much so that he has been swallowed more than once by much larger sea-beasts, travelled the length of their alimentary canals before being "poo-ed" (if I may use that word...) out again, relatively unharmed to get about his/her/its business. Oh what fun... There have been many excellent questions put to me here over the last couple of posts. Unfortunately I do not have time right now to address many of them - but I hope a couple of answers might suffice for the mo...? P ortals was wondering, "I have questions about lahzars' weapons....

Taylor - by email - asked this recently: "I have a question that has been rankling at me for a bit as I've become immersed in Monster Blood Tattoo, and it is this: In a world as monster-ridden and monster-phobic as the Half-Continent, why do people tend to have a negative view of lazhars, skolds, scourges, and any kinds of terotologists? I realize people might be a bit afraid of them due to their powers, but, for example, why does Felicitine refuse to allow Europe to stay at the Harefoot Dig? Or why, when Europe comes to see Rossamund at Winstermill, do most people "habitually disapprove of her trade"? It always seems that people are disdainful of those who have altered themselves for the protection of the Half-Continent, and in a land where showing the slightest bit of sympathy for monsters gets a person exiled or worse, this seems a bit narrow-minded of the population. What do you think?" To which I responded: I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head ...

Well, that was a (tongue in cheek) offering last post. Could it be possible? Would it be probable? If ever they married I would expect Sebastipole to get eaten at the end of the wedding night like some poor male praying mantis. Monday had a question (similar to one I received via email from Nick Nitsch of Nashville): "What kinds of music are most prevalent on the h-c?" Such a topic is indeed not distracting but fundamental to my conception of the H-c - there is a beautiful piece by Strauss (the younger I think) Invitation to a Dance which though actually truly too new, has been an abiding inspiration to me. Monday rightly deduces that there are regional and social differences, but in the main when I think music for the Half-Continent I think late Baroque (as it is called in our world) and early Classical - Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, counterpoint and the private chamber ensembles merging with and developing into Boccherini , Mozart, Haydn - essentially what is sometimes called...

... or AWDC - as I have just cunningly coined it. I am going to reveal this knowing full well there are many authors out there who do a goodly bit more in a day - and my publishers will be crying "Write faster, dang it!", yet since fellow word-wrestler R.J. Anderson has asked I shall dare to admit: 1000 words/day *wince* I have had brilliant days of 1500+ (even 2700 one day) but when all is averaged, time searching through all my notebooks for the right snippets of information and periods a.f.k. (away from keyboard) are included (including several trips interstate) it works out to the above. If you want to go on the usual word count I achieve on the days I actually write it creeps up a little to about: 1300 words/day or so. I feel a bit better about that. I hope this helps Ms Anderson - how does it compare? Dare I ask what ADWCs do you other writers achieve?