Evolution of a Book Cover – Final

I found it fascinating how a book cover evolved from ideas in my head into a custom, hand-drawn bit of art. Joe Kawano talked me through the process (he must have a lot of patience!). Graphics ahead. Oh, Amazon link first, then pictures.

{{{[[‘The Vista’ Amazon Page]]}}} – Buy it here!

First draft –

Joe made it clear this was not how the finished cover would look. I must have sounded freaked out by the entire process. I was.

Second draft –

Things were taking shape. Naturally, I was also buried in the complicated mess that happens the first time you try to get a book online. Then this happened.

Third draft –

Needless to say, this was pretty exciting. I’d read may things about online book selling, and a custom cover seems to be a big plus for marketing. Holidays rolled around and things slowed down for both of us. I got this gem in my email one morning.

If Joe didn’t live 2000 miles away, I’m certain he could have heard me wailing like a banshee. Or something.

I’m pretty sure I squee’d like a fangirl. No, that’s not a real word. Than more slow torture showed up in my email, almost daily.

And then this.

More tweaking.

Finally, we worked around to this.

And now for some PR.

Blurb – ‘The Vista’ by S. A. Hoag

Team Three has a secret, one they think they’ve kept from all but a select few colleagues. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Allen, MacKenzie and Wade are Vista Security’s top officers, part of the first generation post-World War 3. They’ve trained all their lives to survive and thrive in a cold, hostile world. Their secret – they believe they are genetically enhanced and are unquestionably connected psychically. Hidden away in an enclave in the Rocky Mountains, they’re also at the forefront of the movement to see what’s left of the outside world. Not everyone in The Vista is as eager to venture forth.

As they attempt to learn the truth, their mere presence makes them targets of a vicious renegade with the means to destroy everything they know. Facing exile or worse, Team Three has short time to figure out who is enemy, who is friend and how to save their home and themselves.

The Vista: Book 1 of The Wildblood series takes place in the near-future where the Earth has been nearly emptied of human beings by a short and devastating world war. Venturing beyond the safety of their valley may be the best move Security has ever made; it’s absolutely the most dangerous.

~~~~~~~~~~

S. A. Hoag is an author, lapidary artist, very amateur astronomer (“I just look at the stars, I can’t name ’em.”), and accidental desert-dweller. Born in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, more specifically Salida, she has lived in a number of cities in a number of states before crash-landing in the New Mexico desert. Not Roswell, however. Science Fiction has always been her first interest in reading and writing; many other genres sneak into the novels and that’s alright with her.

Where to find her –

‘The Vista’ Amazon Page – Buy it here!
S. A. Hoag, Author Website
Blogging It All
Sheila’s Facebook
And her Twitter

#sfrgtt Teaser Tuesday

The Vista has been out nearly 2 weeks. It’s been interesting, and now I need to get on with the business of writing. Marketing, well, I’m still figuring that out. Here’s a last teaser before I move on to the novella prequel.

The Vista at Amazon.

Soundtrack to The Vista

This is the soundtrack to The Vista. Music is my muse.

Soundtrack
The Vista
book 1 of The Wildblood

main theme – In the End, Black Veil Brides

The Last in Line – Ronnie James Dio
Voodoo – Godsmack
Dreamline – Rush
Stranger in a Strange Land – Iron Maiden
Perfect Strangers – Deep Purple
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly/A Fistful of Dollars/For a Few Dollars More – Hugo Montenegro

last dance- I’ll Follow You, Shinedown

Available now at Amazon! Yes, this is the link.

#8Sunday

Welcome to my latest installment of #8Sunday. This is from The Vista, my first published novel and Book 1 of The Wildblood. In the next week or two, I’ll be moving on to the prequel, which should be released in June. I’ve really got to get thinking about a more interesting title for The Blackout.

Anyway, check out all the other authors at WeWriWa. There’s a great selection here.

And now, my 8.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“About Mac,” she told him. “I don’t know where that’s going. I don’t know where you and I are going.”

“That’s not something even Gen Ens can predict,” Hunter told her. “I can’t compete with Mac, anyway you look at it.”

“I never expected you to.” It frustrated her, not being able to control the situation. Wade had warned her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vista by S. A. Hoag, available now!

Blurb

Team Three has a secret, one they think they’ve kept from all but a select few colleagues. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Allen, MacKenzie and Wade are Vista Security’s top officers, part of the first generation post-World War 3. They’ve trained all their lives to survive and thrive in a cold, hostile world. Their secret – they believe they are genetically enhanced and are unquestionably connected psychically. Hidden away in an enclave in the Rocky Mountains, they’re also at the forefront of the movement to see what’s left of the outside world. Not everyone in The Vista is as eager to venture forth.

As they attempt to learn the truth, their mere presence makes them targets of a vicious renegade with the means to destroy everything they know. Facing exile or worse, Team Three has short time to figure out who is enemy, who is friend and how to save their home and themselves.

The Vista: Book 1 of The Wildblood series by S. A. Hoag takes place in the near-future where the Earth has been mostly emptied of human beings by a short and devastating world war. Venturing beyond the safety of their valley may be the best move Security has ever made; it’s absolutely the most dangerous.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SFFS – Hunter & Shannon

This is my first post with SFFS – Hello! I hope to make this a regular stop, as long as I have something new and interesting to post. Today I’ve got a snippet between Hunter and Shannon, 2 parts of an almost love triangle. Yes, it’s complicated. Emotions get that way. As much as The Vista isn’t a romance by definition, it should be. Without it, there’d be no story. So, here it is.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“What do you want me to say, Hunter?” she asked.

“Nothing, I want you to listen.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Later, when this is over, I want you to know if you ever need me, all you have to do is ask. Anything, anytime. I mean that.”

She nodded.

“Will I be your second, when we’re finished in Colorado?”

“I don’t know,” she confessed.

“It doesn’t matter. What I said, I meant.”

They watched the empty valley for awhile, until the wind started. Shan hoped it didn’t mean snow. Hunter hoped it did.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vista is available now at Amazon.

Ask Me

I’ve been out on the internet, seriously trying to figure out the whole marketing thing. No idea how it’s working, but here I am.

Ask me. Questions about my writing, my books, my hobbies and other interests. Nothing creepy, please.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Vista, available now on Amazon.

Teaser Tuesday

So it’s Tuesday already? Huh. The week has zipped by; the book has been out 5 days. Wow. Also, check out the SciFi Romance Group on Facebook. Click on the banner to be magically transported there. But finish reading my blog first.

And now, a Teaser for Tuesday. This is from The Vista.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It always started the same. Shan could hear the helicopters, feel the beat of their blades against the cold morning air, somewhere far in the distance. It only sounded like one, but she knew there were two. After a few moments, she realized she wasn’t at Depot South. They were UH-60s, Black Hawks, painted in desert camo with no other markings. One was armed with a pair of M60 machine guns, the other had a TOW missile system. Security hadn’t been able to lure them away. She was in The Vista. The helicopters had found them.

Thrashing around, she sat up, going for her gun hanging from the bedpost. And it was over just as fast. Shan was shaking, from the cold and from the nightmare. It was sometime long past dark. It had woke Wade too, and she knew he was home in The Vista. She waited, wrapping the blanket around herself. Moments later, Mac was there. He didn’t bother to knock.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vista, available now on Amazon.

WeWriWa #8Sunday

Ah! I’m baaaaaaaaaaack. Been absent for a couple weeks. First off, check out WeWriWa! A whole group of authors just waiting for you to read 8 sentences and get hooked on a story.

My 8 for today, from the prequel novella to The Vista, working title The Blackout. Because I’m so clever at titles. This bit is a car chase, first draft. I plan to release it in June, 2015.

~~~~~~~~~~

There was more gunfire and the front-running Security vehicles were hit repeatedly. One spun out, leaving the blacktop and plowing up an enormous amount of dust.

For a moment, Shan thought it was going to roll on the steep slope. Then it did, going five hundred and forty degrees before it came to rest on its roof, mostly obscured by the billowing cloud of dirt.

“Allen, get Green,” Wade barked on the air.

“Hang on,” she warned Taylor, locking the brakes up and going off the road, skidding to a stop not even a full car length away. She had her safety harness off before the car came to a full stop. “Cover us, Taylor.”

~~~~~~~~~~

And why I’ve been AWOL – I’m finally online! The Vista went live on Amazon April 16. Check it out!

When Ideas Happen

After a long few days of getting my first published novel online, I was calling it an early night (1am), having a shower and getting some sleep. Nice warm shower, quiet house . . . and then the ideas and plot twists for book 2 started popping into my brain. Not just one, hoards of them.

I’m never going to complain about getting ideas, but they do seem to happen at odd times. When I’m asleep, or shopping or out on the road somewhere travelling. In this age of electronic devices, I need to start keeping a spiral notebook and pen at hand again. Write down every bit, sort them out later.

What tricks to you use to wake up your muse? Mine is music, or insomnia. I prefer music.

My weekend is almost upon me, I have a novella to finish the first draft on. Pleasant dreams!

~~~~~

The Vista, now available on Amazon!

And It’s Here – My First Published Novel

‘The Vista’ Amazon Page

Blurb – The Vista by S. A. Hoag

Team Three has a secret, one they think they’ve kept from all but a select few colleagues. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Allen, MacKenzie and Wade are Vista Security’s top officers, part of the first generation post-World War 3. They’ve trained all their lives to survive and thrive in a cold, hostile world. Their secret – they believe they are genetically enhanced and are unquestionably connected psychically. Hidden away in an enclave in the Rocky Mountains, they’re also at the forefront of the movement to see what’s left of the outside world. Not everyone in The Vista is as eager to venture forth.

As they attempt to learn the truth, their mere presence makes them targets of a vicious renegade with the means to destroy everything they know. Facing exile or worse, Team Three has short time to figure out who is enemy, who is friend and how to save their home and themselves.

The Vista: Book 1 of The Wildblood series takes place in the near-future where the Earth has been nearly emptied of human beings by a short and devastating world war. Venturing beyond the safety of their valley may be the best move Security has ever made; it’s absolutely the most dangerous.

~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt from The Vista

A storm moved in after nightfall, the rain almost ice as it fell from a black sky. No thunder, sparse lightning and that was the worst part of it – the broken, eerie silence between downpours. Shannon didn’t like being in the city for any reason. Twice a week, four months a year she was anyway. It was her job. They might say ghosts weren’t real, but most of ‘them’ had never spent a night in the long dead place. Sometime after midnight, she gave in and headed for home.

Crossing the Continental Divide, the rain turned to snow, huge white flakes splattering on the windshield and not melting. The road was mostly clear. Static on Shannon’s radio was thick, but minutes later, she understood two words. Code Seven. Active aggressive incident outside the outer perimeter, but active aggressive still. She kicked it into overdrive and came down the mountain full tilt, pushing the car and pushing her luck on a road known to devour Scouts.

Then the outer marker merely went ‘blip’ as she passed it. If there was an alert, proximity warnings would have gone off all over Security. Alarms should be sounding in Dispatch and her car. She stared at the radio for a moment, realizing what she had stumbled in to.

Wargames. The call-out wasn’t real.

“Car Ten, radio check. Alert status,” she said on the air, dead calm. She’d been a Scout more than three years. Calm was what they did, it was the only
way to survive. The Vista was still far enough away for most of the reply to be static.

“Alert Six, Car Ten,” Dispatch responded. No alert. Things happened when she was on the other side of the divide for half a day. She missed wargames. It was too late to pretend she had known and Shan went for a timed run. The adrenalin wouldn’t let her slow down anyway.

In the dark, a flicker of taillights warned her she wasn’t alone. At this time of night and this time of year, it would be someone who knew it was a practice run. As Shan came up behind them, she recognized the car. Team One was a
Guardian team from her station that had just rotated back to her schedule.
She flashed her high-beams for them to clear the left lane. There was no immediate response.

They were supposed to be in radio-silence too, but hell, no one had bothered to tell her about the wargames. “Move it over, Lt. Hunter,” Shan warned on the air. She shared some expletives with the junior officer, knowing who was driving simply by reputation.

Team One did indeed move right. Shannon passed them like they were parked, turning on her emergency lights as she went around the rusted out carcass of a semi trailer not even a mile further down the road.

“She’ll do what?” Hunter asked his partner Dallas, amused at her tirade and understanding exactly what she’d said.

“You heard her.” Dallas knew better than to think it was funny. He knew Shannon.

“Fuck up my life permanently,” the younger man repeated, smiling to himself. “Does she get that from Wade?” he wondered.

“Cmdr. Wade rarely swears. She gets that from Maj. MacKenzie.” Dallas emphasized the rank of her Guardian team to make a point.

“Senior Security,” Hunter shrugged as her car disappeared in the night. He wasn’t particularly concerned about her attitude and Senior Security officers were known for being eccentric. It would be twenty minutes before they caught up with her, but only because she stopped.

~~~~~~~~~~

S. A. Hoag is an author, lapidary artist, very amateur astronomer (“I just look at the stars, I can’t name ’em.”), and accidental desert-dweller. Born in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, more specifically Salida, she has lived in a number of cities in a number of states before crash-landing in the New Mexico desert. Not Roswell, however. Science Fiction has always been her first interest in reading and writing; many other genres sneak into the novels and that’s alright with her.

Where to find her –

‘The Vista’ Amazon Page – Buy it here!
S. A. Hoag, Author Website
Blogging It All
Sheila’s Facebook
And her Twitter