Sorry, I don’t really have any news to report in terms of my writing. Blood of the Wolf is coming along steadily and should be ready for a summer release but not a lot else is happening right now.
However, a very successful author recommends that, to build a brand and connect with readers, all writers should talk about things other than their work, so I thought I’d share this with you…
You’ll probably be aware of my love of music, and it’s mostly metal of the heaviest kind that I listen to. My favourite band is Jethro Tull though, and I even bought a cheap flute a few years ago (an Artley, and from the serial number it turns out it was born in the same year as me – 1977!).
When my books started to sell and I earned some extra money I thought it would be nice to have a framed image of Tull’s singer/guitarist/flautist Ian Anderson, so I commissioned a really talented artist to do something for me.
We chose this as the image to work from:
This is the first work-in-progress image the artist sent me. You can see the layers of detail he was working on here:
Here’s the final image, before he rolled it up into a tube and posted it to me from the USA:
And here it is, framed and on my dining room wall.
Unfortunately my wife made me take it down from there, hahaha! But it’ll be finding a new home very soon and I can’t wait – I think you’ll agree the artist – Iain Stone – made an incredible job of it. He drew the entire thing using a pencil and it blows me away that someone can be so talented. I’m proud to have this one-of-a-kind artwork on my wall!
If you fancy having something similar done, check out Iain’s website. His rates are very reasonable and he works fast.
To see Ian Anderson wearing this outfit , check out my favourite Tull song (if you’ve read Wolf’s Head, this song inspired the part where Robin and Allan play the part of minstrels):
STEVEN A. McKAY - Historical Fiction Author 