Shoutouts to Talent behind Beckoning from the Stars!
- Shannon Smith
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Hello Dreamers
Beckoning is coming along nicely thus far. The editor is finishing her first pass on the book and the coverart is looking gorgeous. I thought I take a moment during to show case these people who are not me whose playing a vital role in the book.
Editor Isabelle Betita
The brave soul that took on this daunting task of editing this twisted piece of work would be Isabelle Betita. She specialises in fantasy and horror, and has edited many books for Simon and Shuster, and now as a Freelancer on Reedsy. Titles include The Dreaming Dead, From Grey, and The History of Bees.
I do hope the manuscript when she got it was in good shape, not that I doubt her, but that the poorer it was the more work I would need to do to make it polished and market-ready. Once the story is in your hands you can judge overall quality of prose, and know that a second pair of eyes did look it over to ensure its a tale worth telling.
Cover Artist AJ LaFrance
The guy I had that did Whispers of the Abyss wasn't available this time around, and I don't want to sit on a manuscript for too long, so I thought "Well, he was just editing together stock photos with titling text, I can do that." Course, there is a limit to my ablity in visual arts, which brings us to AJ LaFrance, a painter in the Ottawa area I meet at CanCon known for his noctucal-themed paintings on plywood.
Yes, there is a 'copy'... well original... of the coverart in a physical medium out there. I described the monster to him, and the rough state of the world, and he got to it. The results speak for themselves.
Just in General
I would give thanks to Toronto Sci-Fi and Fantasy for their help and encouragement, some of the events I'm going to might not be possible without them. I also want to thank my readership, small as the community currently is, for their encouraging words. Also my family for giving me the kick in the pants needed to pursue this.
Just, thanks all around. Its going to be big!
