Monster Runners • October 2017 • Adam Furgang

I'm happy to announce that my next novel, Monster Runners, is scheduled for release in October 2017.

Kindle Edition of Braxton Woods Mystique is FREE Today!

Run over to Amazon and download the Kindle edition of my novel, Braxton Woods Mystique. It's FREE today!

Free Braxton Woods Mystique Kindle Edition

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great summer!

I'm running a free promotion for Braxton Woods Mystique. The Kindle Edition will be free on Friday, September 30th. Read it on your Kindle or any device with the Kindle app!

Over the next few months, I'll be announcing and adding four more dates to this promotion.

Thanks to all my fans. Thanks to all my friends. Thanks to all my family.

Please pass along the news. Spread the word!

The Kindle Edition of Braxton Woods Mystique will be free on Amazon on Friday, September 30th.

Braxton Woods Mystique Spotlight & eBook Giveaway

C.B.Y. Book Club is running a spotlight and eBook giveaway for Braxton Woods Mystique. You get to read about me, my debut novel, and you even get a chance to win an eBook of Braxton Woods Mystique. Check it out.

Braxton Woods Mystique Official Release

After years of hard work and anticipation, it is finally the release date of my first published work of fiction, Braxton Woods Mystique.

Thanks to my agent from Trident Media Group, Mark Gottlieb.

Thanks to my publisher from Ravenswood, Kitty Honeycutt.

Thanks to my editor, Mary Harris.

Thanks to my cover artist, Robyn Diaz.

Thanks to my wife, Kathy Furgang, and our two sons.

I'm eternally grateful to all of you.

RUN TOWARD WHAT SCARES YOU… After losing everything in a fire, Leo and his mom move into an unfinished development far off in the middle of Braxton Woods. As summer vacation begins, Leo and his new friends set out to explore the land behind their homes. They are alarmed to find sinkholes, horrific creatures, electrical disturbances, and even a buried carnival from long ago. Despite their growing fears, they are drawn toward solving the extraordinary mystery. Little do they know they are about to unearth a sinister force and discover a dark, forgotten secret from the town’s past. Ultimately, they must overcome the willies, heebie-jeebies, creeps, shakes, and shivers as they chose danger over a far greater threat—a dull summer.

Paperback

Kindle

Braxton Woods Mystique eBook Now Available for Pre-order

I'm happy to announce that my novel, Braxton Woods Mystique, is now available for pre-order in eBook format on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, and Google Play Books.

The book also has a nice home over at Goodreads now. 

Soon it should be on Barnes & Noble, and I will update this post with fresh links as more venues for the book become available. 

Next will be the soft cover print edition! 

Braxton Woods Mystique Cover Development: Part 3

This is the third and final post about the creation of the cover art for my upcoming upper middle grade novel, Braxton Woods Mystique. The novel will be released in spring, 2016. Return to this blog in the future for an exact release date. Read the first post in this series here and the second post here. 

final cover by Robyn Diaz

As soon as sketches began to arrive in my inbox from Robyn Diaz, I was instantly pleased and knew in my gut that the pairing was a good one. Robyn was already familiar with my idea for a buried carnival and how kids would discover the unknown, which was mixed with fantastical elements, darkness, and unseen forces at work. Even years earlier, when the buried carnival idea first came to me, Robyn and I had discussed a children's picture book—one that Robyn would illustrate. That project got away from us, and I decided to complicate the idea by turning it into a novel. It would be almost three full years before I'd finish the manuscript, find a agent, and have it placed with a publisher. Joining forces again with Robyn on the artwork for this project was entirely meant to be. 

I showed Robyn my many cover designs, as well as my sketches, and asked if she could keep the four main characters on the cover, along with a few elements from the story. Robyn loved the idea and got to work straight away, making sketches for me to look over. 

My sketch on the left and Robyn's sketch on the right

My sketch on the left and Robyn's sketch on the right

After Robyn had interpreted my sketches—and moved past my limited compositions—she started to produce fresh ideas and compositions of her own. This is the point at which she took the cover in a direction I'd never been able to do myself. The sketches were way beyond any composition I'd be able to come up with, and I knew that Robyn had cracked the cover conundrum and landed on some incredibly dynamic ideas.

  

Once we decided on one of her sketches as a jumping point, she then moved to color and wowed me beyond anything I'd imagined in my own head. As time went on, I was continually blown away each and every time Robyn would email me an idea, picture element, or work-in-progress during the cover process.

I feel blessed to have such a great cover for my first published novel. Robyn has a gift for drawing, painting, composition, coloring, and that extra special something that can't be taught—combining it all together into a beautiful piece of art that continues to draw the eye in. The anticipation of seeing her art on the cover of my novel has easily eclipsed my anticipation of getting to finally see my own words in print. 

Below are a few more images of the cover in progress. Robyn already has a children's picture book out—Philo & Sophy. You can purchase that here. You can check out more of her amazing art at her website here. 

Braxton Woods Mystique Cover Development: Part 2

This is the second of several posts about the creation of the cover art for my upcoming upper middle grade novel, Braxton Woods Mystique. Read the first post in this series here. 

final cover by Robyn Diaz

Every time I've written a novel I've approached it with the attitude that it would be published. I am, of course, not immune to crazy doubts and worries just like anyone else, but I still feel it's important to remain positive and have some measure of faith in what I am writing. I feel that if I do not believe strongly in my work, no one else will either. With this in mind, creating mock covers has always been a fun way for me to pass the downtime when I'm percolating ideas between writing sessions. Dreaming ahead to what a cover might look like is great fun for me, and because I have art and design skills, it helps me to visualize the finished novel in my head. 

By the time everything fell into place for Braxton Woods Mystique, I had already collected so many ideas for my cover that I decided to take on the design myself, rather than use my publisher. I'm grateful to have had that option, because the process has been a remarkable journey. And the creative process took on a whole new meaning once I knew the book would actually be published. 

An early photo manipulation of mine that started to morph into a possible cover.

As time went on, I created more and more designs to solidify the ideas floating around in my head. When working on graphic design projects, I love creating many variations of similar ideas—I learned this from a Andy Warhol documentary—and then trying as best I can to forget them. Once a work of art is created and partially or completely forgotten, then I can see it fresh again, as if it was not my own. That allows me to be more critical of it. I find this is much easier with writing than it is with art, but if I produce a lot of designs quickly I can then come back a few days later and pour over them with a more critical eye. 

Below are many of the cover designs I had originally created for Braxton Woods Mystique, some even before I knew the book would be published. I used mostly photographic material for these designs and sometimes manipulated images in various apps or programs to give them a certain quality or create a mood. 

After coming back to these various designs I pressed on, but I was beginning to have doubts that I should be doing my own cover. To my most critical self, most if not all of the designs I was creating felt flat. The designs lacked the whimsical, child-like quality that I felt a middle grade book should have. So I decided that an illustration would help solve that problem. However, another problem quickly took its place. I have a background in illustration. I could certainly sketch, draw, and create my own cover if need be. But I wasn't sure I was the right artist for the job. My "style" of art is very specific and often on the oddball end of the spectrum. It's also very recognizable to those who are familiar with my work. 

One of my own pieces of art from 2013.

After some back and forth in my head, I concluded that I needed a fresh perspective to bring my cover ideas to life. This conclusion felt right to me and had me thinking of the "Art of..." film books that first got me excited about art as a kid. The work of many artists were usually included in the concept sketches of my favorite stories. The ideas were big enough for more then one point of view. After having written the entire book, I wanted an artist's style and thought process other than my own to help bring my cover idea to life. 

Luckily I know a lot of very talented artists, but my friend Robyn Diaz had the style that seemed most suitable for this project and could communicate with this young audience. When I finally contacted her, I knew I had done the right thing.

In my next post, I will conclude with Robyn's many concept sketches, the back and forth process we went through, and the wonderful cover that resulted. 

My initial cover sketch I provided
to my friend Robyn Diaz. 

Thanks for reading.

—Adam

Braxton Woods Mystique Cover Development: Part 1

This is the first of several posts about the creation of the cover art for my upcoming upper middle grade novel, Braxton Woods Mystique.

Final Cover by Robyn Diaz

The development of the book's cover art happened slowly. I have a background in art that goes back much further than my writing career—so any time I write anything, my mind conceptualizes visual images to accompany the work. I will often sketch out characters, items, or locations for a manuscript as I write. Braxton Woods Mystique was no exception, and I produced more behind-the-scenes art for this project than for any one I had ever done previously.

Growing up, I was always fascinated by the "Art of..." books that were released about my favorite films. I enjoyed seeing the many sketches of what was conceptualized by artists and designers during the process of movie-making. Seeing what might have been for films like Star Wars, Blade Runner, Time Bandits, and Rock and Rule had me entirely fascinated, and these books were directly responsible for my decision to become an artist. These early conceptual sketches also helped open up films to me, beyond just what was on the screen to a larger world where I could let my imagination run wild. I could build the world in my head, beyond what was on the screen. Seeing such examples of creative art and imaginative thinking influenced my childhood playing and eventually led to my love of writing. Novels, obviously, are not films—but making sketches and thinking visually helps me to create a real image of unformed ideas in my head. Writing after sketching has always been easier for me.

A few film art books that inspired the creation of much of my own art and imaginative play growing up. 

Below are some very early sketches I did while I was writing Braxton Woods Mystique.

One of the very first sketches I did for the novel. 

This is my bird's-eye-view sketch of the central location in the story.
Five model homes built in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a 7-mile dead end road.

Leo and his friends come across abandoned equipment
in the woods behind their new homes. 

More character and location sketches

My very first cover sketch and my early title for the novel. 

As time went on and I finished the novel—it took me two years—I eventually reworked the title to Braxton Woods Mystique because I did not want the fact that there is a buried carnival as the entire focus of the novel. Covers can evoke quite a lot from readers, and I did not want to give the false expectation that the book centered around a buried carnival and nothing else. The story is a mystery that unfolds for the characters, and hopefully for the reader at the same time. And I never wanted to give away too much too soon. Hopefully this post and the reveal of these sketches piques curiosity rather than spoiling the mystery too much.

There is a popular saying attributed to H. P. Lovecraft that Stanley Kubrick used to quote all the time. Because I a huge fan of both creative thinkers, I have come to apply it to my work too: 

"In all things mysterious – never explain." —Lovecraft/Kubrick

In the novel I do explain quite a lot, but I don't explain everything. I have faith in the infinite vastness of each reader's unique mind, and that their imaginations will help to fill in the few blank spots I've left to make the story as rich and exciting as possible. 

In my next few posts, I will show and discuss my many cover design drafts and how I eventually abandoned them all for an artist friend of mine who ultimately created the final cover for the novel. 

Thanks for reading.

—Adam