I keep going back on forth about whether my next novel should be what I’m dubbing Mexican steampunk or near future sci-fi with vampires. So, I’m putting it to the test. What sounds more interesting?

Twelve Iron Horses

Sofia works in her father’s shop in downtown Mexico City, commanding life-size dolls to do her bidding and selling animals that can be animated with magic.

Marco is her supplier, carving the magnificent birds and reptiles which inhabit her shop.

A rich, young heiress orders a special creation for her wedding; the most elaborate project either Marco or Sofia have ever known.

Sofia learns that Roberto is the groom paying for the extravagant gift. Roberto once pledged to marry Sofia, but his father intervened.

Sofia decides to deliver Roberto’s 12 iron horses and never speak to him again.

Things don’t turn out the way Sofia intends when her interest in the young man reawakens.

Blood Week

El Tepos is dead, shot three times in the back. The police claim it is suicide. Since no cop in Mexico City cares about the death of an alcoholic vampire, it’s going to take his cousin to solve the murder.

Veronica can barely pay the bills with her bloodletting job, much less become an amateur investigator, but with the help of her buddy Bernardino she learns about her cousin’s mysterious blond girlfriend, who has fled to the north of the country.

Up north, the vampire drug lords will cut your head and deliver it in a cooler to your family. Up north, Veronica is going to need all her wits to stay alive.

Near future Mexico is about to get a little bloodier this week.

Filed under: Words on July 22nd, 2010 by silviamg
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I am preparing an article on movie posters which will run during Poe Week in October at Innsmouth Free Press. The article, along with my nascent status of micro-publisher (finished all the paperwork, which included getting the ISBN registration from Canadian government), made me remember one of the cardinal sins of design for horror publications: red type on black.

Red type over black (maybe even a graphic of blood splashes next to text) is the default modus operandi of many a horror zine or publisher. The train of thought seems to be that red (with its connection to blood) and black (with its connection to death and darkness) make an immediate pairing. They’ll telegraph your concept right away.

Wrong. Put together, red and black will cause eye-strain to your reader. It is very hard to read red and black. Not as hard as say blue on red (give it a try), but it is a bad combo, specially if you’ve got a whole webpage of red on black (lime green is also pretty damn annoying).

Legibility is incredibly important to your audience. If you can’t make out a title, or even worse, give up on reading something because it’s so hard, you’ve lost your audience.

Black on white is the best for legibility.

But a black background makes me look more mysterious or gothic or unique or .. stop. It doesn’t.

There’s also the fact that less in more. Colour works as an accent, calling attention to certain parts of webpage of document (say headlines) instead of being used uniformly. The larger the area you are covering the more muted the colour should be. So, long stretches of text should stay close to the black on white rule, while small areas of text (callboxes or pull quotes) could use white on black, yellow on black, etc.

Don’t overpower your text with red on black. This is specially heinous if you are using a gothic font. Wow, you sure want to make the reader work for it, don’t ya?

How do you still indicate horror without going the red on black way? Lots of ways! Like this poster from Ligeia below shows, black and white (and not a drop of red) can definitely evoke horror, but if you simply can not stand simple white and black, look at websites and blogs related to colour theory. COLOURlovers is an obvious choice. Other recommended reads on colour: The Complete Colour Harmony Workbook and Color - Messages & Meanings.

After you’ve done some research on colour, try a different and creative approach that removes the red and the black. See how you do.

Filed under: Words on July 18th, 2010 by silviamg
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We keep growing tentacles! Innsmouth Free Press is launching a Lovecraftian anthology in 2011 and need your help! We have a few brief questions which would be very helpful during the anthology development. Go here to answer the survey.

Filed under: Words on July 14th, 2010 by silviamg
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Nah, kidding. I had a good time at Digital Publishing 101 where I have now figured out that a) My method for dealing with content transfer between HTML and InDesign was on the right track b) I can make epubs without InDesign without fear of messing it up. I have used InDesign to make ePubs, but I was wondering if there was an alternative, and, lo and behold, there is! It’s called Sigil. I had been looking at Calibre, so I’ll have to test both of them.

The other good resource I learned about was ePub Zen Garden, which has some really nice Creative Commons CSS  that can be applied to your ePub files.

Considering that the market for e-books hovers at one percent right now, I don’t think this is the next best thing since slice bread, though it was good to hold a real iPad in my hands. I also got to look at the Kobo reader, which looks cheap. Then again, it is cheap.

The Kobo is used by Chapters in Canada and Borders in the US. It’s a no-frills alternative to the Kindle. Unfortunately, sales of the device have been hurt by Amazon and Barnes & Noble; both stores lowered the price of their e-readers. Barnes & Noble released a $150 Wi-Fi-only version of the Nook.

I still have huge issues with DRM, so I’m not rushing out to get the Kobo, or anything of that sort. But DRM is a topic for another post.

Filed under: Ranting on July 11th, 2010 by silviamg
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I reviewed the Japanese science-fiction novel Loups-Garous for Innsmouth Free Press today. What struck me about this book was the great characterization of the teenage heroines who were well-defined and interesting. I think many books, movies and TV shows tend to portray teenagers as annoying, self-absorbed creatures that we have little sympathy for. Witness the newest incarnation of V, or the old one for that matter. The character of Tyler is completely annoying.

The girls in Loups-Garous do much better and even if they are not perfect, and do have their odd and sometimes irritating quirks, I found them to be a good example of teenagers that work. I recommended it for teenagers and parents of teens that want to discussing some interesting sci-fi with their kids.

Filed under: Words on July 8th, 2010 by silviamg
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