Im Fiction
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Verse 2 print edition now OUT!
🕑 Added 2022-11-29 14:23:35 +0000 UTCNow officially available from Amazon shops around the globe!
Featured above is the full-sized cover illustration from the paperback and hardcover editions of Paradise After, exclusively for your eyes, my friends!
Shop links and description updated on the series' page on my website:
https://ngeki.wordpress.com/a-hero-past-the-25th/
The work was approved pretty quickly and has actually been up for almost two weeks now, but I wanted to get my own copy first, read it through and see if it prints as intended before telling anyone about it.
There are always a few things to fix. Or a few hundred.
Let's look at some pics!
Here's the paperback version!
I'm still too poor to afford a hardcover version of my own book.
Yeah...
A few words about the cover illustration.
It was spiritually inspired by the works of "the Bible artist" Gustave Doré. You may have heard of him. I hope you have. He gave the big book a visible face and brought it closer even to many of those who aren't otherwise religious people.
Doré also illustrated the famous edition of Dante's Inferno, referenced multiple times in AHP25.
So it was thematically suitable source of influence in this case.
"The Creation of Eve" by Gustave Doré (1865).
Alas, I had only about three days to work on the illustration. I would've liked to put more time and detail into it, but reality got in the way. But I'm still pretty satisfied with how it turned out, all in all.
Hope you may bring yourself to agree.
Moving on!
I've found there are some small variations between printers in how they handle trimming. I've ordered author copies both from UK printers and EU printers in Poland, and even though the guides in the file are the same for everyone, some printers may cut a larger than intended slice off the cover, which causes the text elements to become decentered, and I'd have to adjust margins to deal with that...And you probably don't care about any of that.
But, just in case you feel like printing your own book. There are a zillion small things to consider.
And whaddya know, we didn't make it without some hiccups in this release either.
You can see here the cover has shifted slightly in the binding process, causing the front image to bleed partially over the spine. It's correctly positioned at the top, but slides towards the bottom...The title is also a bit tilted. Yikes.
This is a printer error, and if you get a copy like this, you can probably request a replacement if you want to. As a countermeasure, I've made the spine slightly wider, so it shouldn't turn this ugly, even if they screw it up again.
I've said this before, but I'm trying to build reputation of putting out quality stuff!
Hey, I'm a Bachelor of Design too, I should be able to do better than standard selfpub covers. But I'm also half blind and have not an ounce of talent in me, so it's an uphill battle. Please don't expect too much, okay?
Reasonable expectations!
Haha.
The interior follows the same text styles as Royal Banquet. I hope to stick to this in the future releases too. Provided I'll be able to do any more.
Why do the images have a yellowish tint?
Because it's winter here and very, very dark.
As with part 1, only the table of contents has imagery.
As much as I'd like to do a fully illustrated edition, there is simply no such time or energy. If we had an illustration per chapter, that'd mean 26 pictures in this part alone. I'd die. And it would also drive out the portion of readers who dislike my art and want to imagine the characters on their own.
I encourage use of imagination. Always.
But if there are scenes you'd like to see illustrated, I could always try to do something here on patreon. I mean, that's kinda what this whole page is for, to answer your requests. There haven't been any so far, but my ears are always open.
Also, note the new chapter division. It's a lot lighter read now, with shorter chapters.
At 352 pages, it's pretty heavy! Physically.
Well, mentally too. But I'm glad I did it.
* * *
Well, what do you think?
I swear, this is the last time I'm posting about this book here. Somehow, it keeps sucking my time like a black hole.
Next time, something completely different!
Stay safe, everybody and see you again soon!
