First of all, thanks to everyone for your well-wishes and prayers for my wife and newborn son, Cal-L. Both of them are doing great. Last week was busy. My daughter lost her first tooth, we cared for a newborn premie, and I got my book deal from Shadow Mountain Publishing for A Tale of Light and Shadow, due out July 29, 2014. The details aren't ironed out yet, but I've submitted to them my requests for changes to the contract. We'll see what they say in return over the next week or two.

In the meantime, the process of publishing Psion Alpha moves forward. Today I'm going to post below three of the concept images that Britta and I are working on. These are based off of my thoughts and her sketches. Again, these aren't final products, but the next steps as we try to figure out the awesome final cover. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Okay, the book deal isn't IN MY HAND yet, but Thursday it will be. This morning I met with Chris Schoebinger and Heidi Taylor, the head of Shadow Mountain Publishing, and his assistant. Both are really great people, who I've enjoyed working and meeting with over the last several months.
Today, we reviewed my first draft for a short story called The Fool and the Crocodox. The short story will be a digital download (free) to interest people in the first volume of A Tale of Light and Shadow, which you remember as Flight from Blithmore. They liked it and offered some great feedback, which I'll be working on immediately so I have time to get Psion Alpha formatted and published as soon as it's back from editors.

After going over their suggestions, they introduced me around the office to their Art Director, Richard Erickson, and his team. Then I met their marketing directors and publicists. Very cool. As usual, I left with an arm load of free books, and an appointment to go back Thursday and pick up my contract for review.

This whole process has happened so slowly that I'm not really in shock. I'm just glad and grateful. It started back in March when they contacted me about their interest in Flight from Blithmore, now 7 months later, my first book deal. I'll put up a post next week about the contract process.

My new son. Born Oct 15 at 6:50 AM weighing 5 lbs. 8 oz. Still haven't named him yet.

So Psion Alpha is nearly done. The first 3 chapters are now available to download and read on the Psion Beta website, which you can link to from here. For your pleasure, I will post the next stage of the Elite symbol that Britta and I are working on.

I'm on the "read-through" stage of Alpha now where have the computer read it to me while I read along and make small changes. This helps me catch sentences that don't sound right, fix small continuity errors, and get a feel for the overall flow. Blazing through the book in 2-3 days is really an important part of editing because it helps me experience what most of my readers will experience as they read it.

After Psion Alpha is finished, I'll have to decide what to work on next. I have several options, and all of them sound enticing. I'm thrilled to be so close to having the Psion series completed. Only one book left! Part of me wants to dive in and finish the series.

On the other hand, Super Six is waiting for me, and I already have a publisher interested in it. Plus I'm super invested in the story right now. And on the third hand (what???) A Tale of Light and Shadow 2 (formerly Storyteller's Tale) is rearing to go. Two drafts done and lots of ideas for the 3rd draft.... That will be the easiest of the three projects.

Part of the problem with Psion Omega is that I haven't plotted it at all. Yes, I know how it ends, yes I have lots of ideas for the story, but so far it's only ideas. So technically Omega is the farthest from publication.