News
Dark Captives Available Now!
The novel, “Dark Captives” (working title: Reylian Orb) is out now! Please check the catalog page for the book here: “Dark Captives at REB”
I hope you enjoy it, and please, please let me know what you think!
Diranda Studios Livestream broadcast tonight!
At 6:30 PST/Az I’m going to test out my new Livestream channel: http://www.livestream.com/dirandastudios.
Inspired by some other artists Livestreams and after some folks were interested in how I use Daz, I decided to go ahead and try one of my own. It’s mainly for other dA artists to hang out and watch me create Daz Studio artwork, but anyone is welcome to drop in and say hi. I don’t mind talking about the Diranda series or any of my books as well as art.
Anyway, it’s just something fun for me to do, so anyone who is interested, I’d like to see you.
The Cast of the Dirandan Chronicles
I’ve been working on my Deviant Art profile page lately, after taking some time off. I’ve created several images lately, several inspired by Portal 2.
The latest image is linked above, a full cast portrait featuring every Dirandan Chronicles character I have designed models for so far. It’s a fun picture, with my self portrait model in the center.
There are a number of other images I have done recently, with more explanation on what they are on my dA page, but they’re here as well in the galleries.
The most fun I’ve had is doing the Portal 2 fan art, which I’ve dedicated a separate Gallery for, here.
Reylian Orb is done!
On the Tabitha Bradley website is a nice little post about the fact that the Reylian Orb is DONE! I just sent it off to the publisher this afternoon and hope to hear what she thinks soon.
Yay, yay!
Anyway, the Reylian Orb was one of the hardest books I’ve written and I really don’t know why. It sure took the longest to write (we don’t count the 2 year gap in the middle of Arcadia, you know). Work didn’t help and the knee surgery definitely didn’t, but even those aside, I don’t know what it was about this story that was so hard to tell.
I sure didn’t think it was going to be much of an effort when I started it. It was supposed to be short and easy. Just explain what happened when Jeron captured Alex and Gaston rescued her, fitting in some object called “The Reylian Orb”. In Peacekeeper, it was a ‘cool idea’, based on an older idea I’d had years ago.
Once I got into it though, it became very involved.
It became: Alex meets Jeron for the first time and What happened to make Alex so frightened of Taggart in Arcadia and what happened between Alex and Gaston after the rescue?
Other surprises came out of it, solving questions I didn’t know I had and creating ideas for other things that happened later.
It became this amazing thing that nearly ended up in the ‘unfinished’ file in December but came back even stronger when I finally got a chance to get serious with it in February, after the move.
But it’s good. I know it’s good.
I love it and I think you will too. I can only hope it comes out soon so everyone who has been patiently waiting for a new story will finally get their wish, esp Tanilen, Dena and Layne. 
HUGS!
New Art added: Nova and Cassi
Hi all. I’ve been working with Daz Studio over the weekend, being sick and not able to do too much else (cold caught while moving–ick!). So I decided to do a portrait of Nova.
You might not remember Nova too much unless you’re one of the folks whose been with DC for quite a while, but Nova is the name of the Sentient in Alex’s ship. While she isn’t a ‘person’ as most intelligent beings in the Fifth Quadrant are, Nova can create a Projection of herself in any form she feels like. Most of the time, Nova’s Projection takes the form of a young Dirandan female. And Nova’s looked this way in my mind forever. So finally, I have been able to do an image of her that does her justice.
The second picture is Cassi. This is Cassandra DeAvalon in the current art style that I have developed for all future Dirandan Chronicles character art. It’s the style that most closely resembles my hand style. At any rate, this new image of Cassi is one that I did a few months ago, I just never uploaded it to the gallery.
…It begins…
I don’t know where else to turn. I understand that you have been able to find things no one else has been able to and although I and my colleagues have been dismissive of your profession in the past, we find ourselves desperate and humbly ask for your help.
My deplorable pride has gotten the better of me and allowed me to fall for the false promises of a truly unscrupulous and evil man. He hired us to find a particular Artifact, one that had been rumored a myth, impossible to find. However, I, in my blind pride, assured him that my team could find anything, even this Reylian Orb of which he was so desirous.
I was wrong.
Now, half of my team is dead. The other half are so exhausted they may welcome death if they are pushed any further. And our employer gives us no respite. If we do not produce the Reylian Orb by the time he arrives, he will feed us to the Rysusi, of that I am certain.
Please, Miss T’Kayn, I ask–no, I beg of you–please help us. If not for me, for my team, who never deserved this.
Professor Darran Cass
“This is me, expressing myself…”
So I quit my job today. After 3 years, I finally had it. Earlier (the last few weeks of 2010), I had decided to make some changes so that I could concentrate on my job more, thinking this would reduce my work-related stress and make it easier to work with the person who shares my office space. This didn’t help. The fellow employee hasn’t changed at all. In fact, things have gotten progressively worse since November (they weren’t that great before) and after a small-ish computer disaster (that this person made seem like a much larger disaster than it actually was) the atmosphere in the office was awful.
Today, this person called me a ‘fucking idiot’ (note, I only use those kinds of words in my writing). That was it for me.
I’m done.
I’ve had it with this person. I actually kind of liked my job and I like my boss, but this person (who has job security, I don’t) has made working at this office a nightmare.
Since I work for my father in law, I’m not walking off the job (like I would otherwise) but I’m working until they hire a replacement (if I can stomach it long enough). Then I’m writing full time and going back to being a stay at home mom, which I like better anyway.
This comes at a really bad time for us, since we’re moving right now.
I hope REB will consider publishing me again.
-JK
Image: Jennifer Aniston in “Office Space”
Blogging and websites
I have been thinking about blogging lately, about what I use my sites for and why I don’t blog more.
I’ve had a presence on the Internet, in one way or another, since 1995. Most of that time, it’s been some iteration of Diranda, beginning with the DIC (Dirandan Information Centre) up to Diranda.com/Diranda Studios and on to the present incarnation as this blog, Diranda Studios.
With the renewal of tabithabradley.com (which was squatted for 2 years by some company in southern AZ) I have a dedicated official author site where I can write anything having to do with the work published under the pen-name Tabitha Bradley. Of course, this leaves Diranda Studios kind of up in the air as to what I want to do with it.
I have always liked the idea of using this site as a clearing house for Dirandan Chronicles information, if interested people wanted to see it, as well as using it to host my gallery, since I have complete control over what is in it (as opposed to places like Deviant Art and Renderosity, which are both great art communities but are limited in various ways).
I never have been able to collect enough interesting Dirandan material to make an “Info Center” site (ala 1995) and my art tends to be done in sporadic bursts of creativity or deadlines to create a better looking cover than most e-publishers seem willing to offer.
I’m turning this blog into a personal journal-type blog, with Diranda information and publishing and art-type stuff as I see fit, saving the “pro” stuff for the Tabitha Bradley location (since I bought the thing, I should use it!).
So expect to see a lot more World of Warcraft stuff, opinions and rants on this site, because if I’m in a mood to write, who knows what kind of stuff will come up! And yeah, a lot more opinions about the e-publishing industry in general, particularly when I’m ticked off at it (like I have been for a couple of months now).
I’ll keep the professionalism, but on Tabitha Bradley, not here, which is pretty much where my heart lives anyway.
-JK
New Tabitha Bradley website
I am working on building my author website at http://www.tabithabradley.com so that this site can concentrate on the Dirandan Chronicles and my art Gallery.
Some new and interesting things have come up in the several weeks since the convention. I should be finishing up The Reylian Orb soon and will let you know as soon as it’s out and available for sale. This book will be available in print as well as ebook formats and I’m sure Dirandan Chronicles fans will find it intriguing.
I am going to be participating in NaNoWriMo 2010, so if you’re also doing it, drop me a NaNoMail (username: Diranda. Click the image to the left or the link in the blogroll) and I’ll add you to my buddy list.
More news and updates on the website, the book and on the new project I am planning will be posted soon.
Updates and more art
After two weeks of fun with my knee, I’m out of the brace and back to work, it seems. I’ve gotten some significant progress on the Reylian Orb this weekend and am definitely looking at finishing it up shortly. While doing that, I have done two more quick character sketches. One is Kazi Gerik, Samuel’s second and House Commander of VonTesmar, and the other is Joshua Wetfire, the mysterious Head of Security 
from Vendalli’s. Both of these are pretty basic pictures, since I am looking at characterization rather than personality overmuch, but I thought they might be nice to put up anyway.
More very, very soon!
Good Risings,
Tabbi
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