 December 28, 2011 - 6:37pm |  I finally finished my book, Discovery, and the full thing is now available for download. An early version of the story's prologue was published in Star Frontiersman issue 16. An earlier version of chapters 1-4 were supposed to be in issue 17 but were cut for space. Now you can get the entire story in its final form.Downloads of the electronic version (free) are currently available at DriveThruRPG, RPGNow, and DriveThruFiction. (I linked to the PDF versions but there are also ePub and mobi version downloads as well.) I also plan on putting it in the Kindle and Nook stores. There will be a print version available ($7.00) at the DriveThru... sites as soon as it gets approved by the print publisher. The offical webpage for the book is the Discovey book page on my New Frontier Games site. Cover art by AZ_Gamer. Enjoy. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 December 29, 2011 - 12:57am | Got it will take some time to read but Thank you for publishing it. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 December 29, 2011 - 8:37am | Congrats Tom. Think I'll wait for the print version, prefer to hold books that don't eat power from the smart phone. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 December 29, 2011 - 3:47pm | If you're going to do a print version, can I redo the cover for you? No offense, but that cover does not inpsire confidence in the contents. I know how smart and creative you are, so I don't need the cover to tell me anything, but a good cover makes all the difference in attracting attention. Name your price by PM and we'll negotiate. For a friend, you would pay me only if you make a profit. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 December 29, 2011 - 10:03pm | Wow, really, seriously... "no offense", you don't think maybe that comment would be more appropriate for a PM would ya???? I don't know if Terl will take offense to it but I certainly don't like having my work bashed like that in the forum. I don't think artisitcally I would have gone with the blue background but there certainly isn't anything wrong with it and I certainly have seen so called professionals do a hell of a lot worse. |
December 29, 2011 - 9:59pm | As to cover: loose the blue border, do white lettered copy for title and author and make the picture 100% of the cover. You just need a picture with portrait layout. QED. That will make it look more professional. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 29, 2011 - 10:41pm | The blue does go with the blue border rules set |
December 29, 2011 - 11:00pm | @jedi: What you described was exactly the plan but I got impatient  and just wanted to get it done so I framed one of the images that AZ had sent me that I liked (and which he had recommended). All the good stuff is his and all the bad parts are mine. I'm actually still working with AZ to get a full cover image to use on a final version.@Ascent: Truthfully, I'm not too worried about the cover on this one. It's a free book and the price should overcome any deficincies of the cover layout. And since it is still digital, I can always change it if I want. The print version has the files out to the printer but I'd be really surprised if they came back without any problems since this is my first attempt to do this. Which means I can still change the print version as well. (Actually I can still change them even if there weren't any problems.) As AZ_Gamer said, he did the cover image for free to help me out in his spare time. Although I'd be interested in hearing via PM what you would expect to get for a 9"x12" 300 dpi full color image. I've got at least two more books in the queue at the moment and will need cover images for those as well over the next couple of years. BTW, Discovery has been downloaded 87 times in the 29 hours since I first posted it. That's an average of three downloads an hour. Since I expected no more than a couple hundred or so downloads total, I'm more than happy about the outcome so far. I wrote the book for me. If anyone else enjoys it, that's just a bonus. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
December 30, 2011 - 2:53am | I wasn't talking about his image. I was talking about the overall presentation. AZ's image looks fine. But it doesn't cover the entire book and it's not designed in a way to allow a title within the image or to attract the eye. I assume, too, that Tom has chosen a 1-color process. It is the presentation that offends the eye. The blue background, the gray border on the image, the boring font, the lack of interesting detail. AZ, forgive me for not being more clear. That said, if you could do a version of your image that leaves room for a title and has an eye-catching background behind the ship, then I encourage that. If you could also make it monochromatic so that it at least has 1 color, it would be more interesting. I recommend a higher contrast as well, so we could see light reflecting off the planet and the hull. As for the overall presentation (Title and image placement and art direction), you need someone with some artistic skill to do it. I offered because I assumed you didn't have anyone to do it. Just matching the color to the original box set does not make it attractive. People shouldn't make their first work a throwaway. Often the first work is the best work because more sweat goes into it, so therefore it deserves more. As for the story inside, so far, it's comfortable to read as far as I've read in the opening pages. If you're still offended, I don't know what to say. I'm just telling you the truth. PM does no good when it's obvious that everyone is going to be thinking the same thing. Might as well face it head on. I really don't get this deal people have with doing something like that in PM. It's in the public domain and it has nothing to do with chastising anyone. I'm not going to be the only person to mention it. If you can't handle a little criticism, then doing it by PM isn't going to solve anything. If all you want is kudos, then you're going to end up with a pretty silent response to your work, because people always have something to say both good and bad. I'm human, I have an opinion and a right to state that opinion. I stated it straight forward. I didn't make any great attempt to make anyone feel good about it because I had nothing good to say about it. I didn't say anything about the art itself initially because I don't like 3D digital art unless it's done by a master artist (and by "master", I mean a true master), so I never comment on it. If I did, people would get tired of hearing me say negative things about 3D digital art. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 December 31, 2011 - 6:50pm | Awesome Tom! Welcome to the small-press publishing world. :-) I shall also wait for the print copy. We should make an Ad for Issue #18 that it's available. Tordia, while reading Discovery by TomS I was reminded how much money you owe me. - Groko |
December 31, 2011 - 8:53pm | I thought Groko was dead? Or was it Tordia? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
