New Interior Artist - Jared Sloger - Introduced!

I'm excited to officially announce, Jared Sloger, as my new interior artist. Jared is from Omaha, NE and we met through my brother, Baron, initially. Baron attended Jared's church (his father Lou, happens to be the pastor of ,Grace Baptist Church Of Papillion). I received a phonecall asking if I could help connect Lou and Jared to people in Orlando when they came to Central Florida to visit colleges and the famous "Full Sail" art school. Short story... I put them in touch with a few connections, but as I was looking over Jared's work (he graduated from Metropolitan Community College with an Associates Degree last year)

I recognized his talent and asked him if he would like to showcase his work in the form of doing the chapter pictures for book 2 in my series.

Innitially I was going to have 20 chapters in book 2, so Jared was going to complete that many. As I finished the book, I realized it was twice as long and the chapters needed to be broken down. So instead of 20 chapters, book 2 has 39 chapters. I am pleased to announce that instead of small chapter pictures, I have worked with the publisher to have full page artwork included for many of the chapters.

I know Jared would love to get your feedback. You can find him at http://www.jaredsloger.com/

and see other artwork in various genres. I will also have a new artist's corner in the revised website, which should be out sometime in mid to late March. You can also find some of Jared's work on my Facebook page. Just log into Facebook and type in my name and you'll find me!

I've enclosed a few pics for book 2 and will continue to roll out more as we approach publication date. Thanks! Eric

More of Mount Dora!

I made another trek over to Mount Dora to take a few more pics. The publisher wanted some retakes for the inside cover of book 2.


No... this picture won't be in the book! Just me having a little fun with my version of Ryann's sword and shield. That is the real shield for book 2. It's on the front cover.


My daughter, Kara, took a bunch of shots and in the end, while some were very good... the sun was causing me to squint. Soooooo... this weekend we took some more photos inside with decent lighting and they're going to photoshop me out and then back in! You blog followers are now in the know.


If you've read book one, then you know that the lighthouse in Mount Dora is a key landmark - well in book 2, it's even more so.


The pic on the left is of my son, Kyler. We had a fun time walking around town and getting a free cupcake from the shop I mentioned in the previous post!



CONTEST # 7 - WIN A COPY OF "RYANN WATTERS AND THE SHIELD OF FAITH," BEFORE IT GOES TO THE STORES!

If you haven't entered contest number 7 yet, then do it now! Send your answers to eric@ryannwatters.com. All of the answers are here on the blog. Here are the questions:

THE DEADLINE IS APRIL 1st !

1. Who is the new interior artist for book 2?
2. What is the name of the football player who is a client of mine?


3. What character is sitting on my keyboard?
4. Who is on the cover of the comic book I am holding on my trip to New York City?

5. What Super Hero is in the background of the picture of me and cover artist Corey Wolfe?

EXTRA: What is your favorite book by another author who was on the Fantasy Fiction Tour with me? (Blog and fantasyfictiontour.com)

Great Day to Visit Mount Dora!

FUN in MOUNT DORA!

My son, Kyler and I headed over to Mount Dora today. For those up north, I'm sorry to rub it in... but it was 78 degrees and Sunny! My first reason to make the trek, 20 miles over to Mount Dora, was to get some pictures taken for the expanded website (coming soon) and for the jacket cover of book 2. I wanted to get a picture of me by the lighthouse. I give you a preview in my next blog entry.

The other reason was to check out some of the newer stores I hadn't been in yet. My favorite shoppe today was by far - Cupcake Delights.

Judy is the owner and a super lady. I took quite a few pictures of she store and then went inside to introduce myself. It ends up that she has a 6th grader, Taylor, so I gave her a copy of my book. In return, she treated me to a few cupcakes for my kids. So... if you make your way to Mount Dora when your visiting Orlando, be sure to stop in, say hello to Judy, and tell her you read about Cupcake Delights on my blog!

If you want a “bakers’ cupcake” that will melt in your mouth and disappear long before you're ready for it to (causing you to try another) then stop by. You’ll get a warm welcome and a mighty fine cupcake.

Judy lives in Mount Dora, Florida with her husband Kyle and their daughter Taylor. She knew Mount Dora was a perfect place to start a cupcake shop. It’s a great little town and an awesome place to visit!

I couldn't agree with these comments more. I have a dream of buying a place in Mount Dora one day and opening up a bookstore / coffee shoppe. Help me sell a million copies and it's a done deal :)

By the way... you can slobber all over your keyboard by checking them out on the web at:

http://www.mountdoracupcakes.com/

Clacking Away on my Keyboard

DRAGONS

Clackity Clack Clack... goes my keyboard as I go back and continue revisions on book 2. I was a tad premature on turning in my manuscript (see previous blog entry). With the friends I have made in the Christian Fantasy genre, I was honored to have Donita K Paul, offer her assistance in "polishing" my latest work. So now, we are going back and forth daily on two chapters of my book and all I can say is that it is a fantastic blessing.


Donita is awesome and I get a kick out of the comments she makes in regards to my story as well as the suggestions. This will not delay the printing process, but I guarantee that it will make book 2 a more enjoyable read!


Off to the right we have my version of "Sorcha." One of the key characters in book 2. As you can see from my screen saver above that, I really like White Dragons! I have several other characters from my book in plastic figurines, which I custom paint for realism and motivation.


Here is a close up...

If you want to see more, let me know and I'll put a few up of Ryann, riding the Pegasus, Adain, also in book 2 and the main character, Carwyn, who is a white unicorn.

Thanks,
Eric

Whoopee! Shield of Faith Manuscript Submitted

Today is a cause for celebration!




I have officially submitted the manuscript for book 2 in the Annals of Aeliana series - Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith. It ended up being 95,250 words and 400 pages versus 55,000 and 224 pages for book 1. It will be in the editors hands for a few weeks and then back to me for revisions. In the meantime, they will be working on layout for the cover and interior pics etc.

I will try and post some of the art work to give you a taste of what's to come! It is very exciting. I have mentioned that I have a new interior artist, Jared Sloger, and he is doing an amazing job. Corey Wolfe is still the cover artist and updated the Aeliana map, inside, to expand to 2 pages instead of 1.


For now I will leave you with a still to be revised front cover for book 2 and the back cover. I'd appreciate any comments you have. Some of the issues still under consideration are whether to put "Book 2 in the Annals of Aeliana Series" line on the front or along the spine. What do you think? Also, the moon will be removed from the backcover (in case you're looking at the details) and there will be two moons on the front. If you've read book one, you know what that's all about.


I had a totally different idea for book 2's cover, but when I was visiting the Northwest this past summer with my family, we visited Corey Wolfe in Portland, OR. It was then that I say down and brainstormed with Corey. He listened to my idea for the cover and then asked me if there was another scene in the story in which a lot of characters are involved.

He sketched out the idea for this scene as we talked. Ryann is on the Pegasus, Adain, and Liddy and Terell are on the White Dragon, Sorcha, escaping from the Black Unicorn, Narcissus. There are thousands of bats chasing them, but also hundreds of Hugons on the ground. Hugons are part of the bad army of Narcissus and are "half Human and half Dragon." I know, such a clever name! I also had a chance to work in "the Shield of Faith," with Ryann carrying it. The White Unicorn, Carwyn, is the hero of the story.

Thanks again for your feedback. I can't wait to share the story with you. Look for it on my website http://www.ryannwatters.com/ in pre-release in April and on Amazon and stores in May 2009.

Eric Reinhold meets President Bush!

Well... sort of. The above photo was taken at "The Gathering 2009" in Orlando last night. It is an annual event specifically designed for those who manage church bookstores. It lasts for 4 days, but for Wednesday night they invited around 30 authors from numerous publishers to attend, be a guest at a table of attendees, give a 30 sec. talk on our book and then go to the convention hall to sign books and interact with the rest of the attendees.

The Presidential Impersonator above is John Morgan, who resides here in Orlando. John was at a Dreambuilders meeting I went to one morning here in town when I gave away a copy of my book to the 35 men in attendance. Apparently that made an impression on him that a financial adviser could become an author and he decided he would write a book. He's a very funny guy and does stand up as "W" at corporate events and other functions. A strong Christian, his book is published through the same publisher as mine (Creation House) and is titled: "My Life as a Bush... and my heart for imitating Jesus."





It was a fun morning, today, as I met with one of my favorite clients, Hall of Famer NFL Cornerback, Darrell Green, formerly of the Washington Redskins. He's down here in Orlando to help train college players preparing for College All Star Games and the NFL combines.

A great Christian man who is also quite savy as a business owner. You can check out more about Darrell at www.darrellgreen.com.

Yeah! I've finished Book 2!!!

Wow! I can't believe that I've finished the draft of Book 2, "Ryann Watters and the Shield of Faith!"

For me this was a big feat. Book 1 was seven years in the making. Granted I only wrote for around 1-1/2 years of the seven, but none the less, there were revisions and a lot that went into it. Book 2 was outlined over the first 3 months of 2008, then between work, vacations, the Fantasy Fiction Tour, more work, and family commitments, I wrote Book 2 (which is almost twice as long as book 1) in the remaining 9 months of the year.

Yes, this is a picture of me in "my dungeon," as my wife Kim refers to it. Details include my sword, in the background from the Fantasy Fiction Tour (courtesy of Real Armor of God - www.realarmorofgod.com) and the shield I purchased from them. The shield is awesome, in that it has a white unicorn on the front, who is the main character in book 2. The shield also shows up on the front cover. Next, you may notice 3 figures on my printer. Yes, they are Ryann riding a Pegasus - Adain, a White Dragon - Sorcha, and the White Unicorn - Carwyn... I'll take a few close ups for another blog.

Corey Wolfe, my cover artist, finished the map for book two, which is an expanded map from the first book. I love the way he drew, "The Island of Skulls." He did an awesome job on the cover for book 2 and I'll get it posted soon.

I also have an artist making his debut by drawing the chapter pictures for book 2. God has gifted this young man with amazing talent and I want to save a special blog posting just for him to introduce a few of the interior pictures. I know you're going to love them. They really help the story come alive for the reader.

Right now I am going through my own editing and should have that completed by next week to forward to the publisher's editor. Everything is on track for a store release date of May 5, 2009, but I'll have some pre-release copies available on my website and special book signings in April. I am also looking forward to getting feedback from a few of the authors from the Fantasy Fiction Tour (www.fantasyfictiontour.com) including; Donita K. Paul, Wayne Thomas Batson, and L B. Graham... thanks guys for whatever insights you can provide! My daughter Kara (13) has been very diligent to provide me her comments along the way, from the eyes of a young teen. EJR