Introducing Cora

This time last year I was quite excited about the cover reveal for The Sphinx Project. This year, I'm excited for a very similar reason. There is so much to say, I'm sure I've missed something. Settle in, this is going to be a long story.

The Beginning

A long time ago, before I wrote The Sphinx Project, I spent some time researching a variety of story ideas including the Addonexus. The idea of humans controlling elemental powers has always been intriguing, I was always a huge fan of Storm from the X-Men and I grew up watching Captain Planet. Even though I decided to go with The Sphinx Project, the idea for this story never faded. It stayed at the back of my mind, growing and evolving. Every now and then I thought about writing it, but things kept getting in the way.

Through a fansite I was working on at the time I became aware of The Arcane Vault. Between themselves and their parent company, Lasermach, they've produced licensed merchandise and promotional products for an impressive array of companies including Penguin Publishing, Dreamworks, Disney and Marvel. I soon began working for them as an intern, creating the product descriptions accompanying their (for the most part) Vampire Academy products.

As part of their association with Penguin Publishing they designed a series of logos for the various elements represented in the Vampire Academy series. I loved the images and the history behind them--they'd been based on the ideas of Aristotle and the balance of fire, earth, water, air, and the combined body. Unfortunately, Penguin decided to go in a different direction with the concepts.

Some time later, as part of my internship, AV approached me about doing something with the elemental symbols. They were proud of them, understandably so, and didn't want the hard work to go to waste. After pondering them for some time, Cora's world seemed to unfold before my eyes and I took my ideas to AV for their opinion. They'd never imagined an actual novel, before I approached them. They liked the idea and told me to go for it. I had previous commitments I needed to fulfil prior to commencing the project, but with them out of the way I can finally get to work on the story.


The Evolution

Initially I planned a simple story but over time the idea of a serialised novel became rather attractive. I liked the idea of a book in the format of a television series--a series of intertwined short stories. I also like the idea that my readers could influence the path my characters chose to follow. I do, of course, have the story planned, but things can change.

Approximately once a month I will be releasing an ebook episode. Each of these will be exclusive to Amazon for three months before being availabe through all good digital retailers. When all are complete I shall bundle them into a single volume. This volume will be released as both an ebook and a paperback with a brand new, beautiful cover.

Over the next few weeks the Arcane Vault will also be premiering the first of their Cora merchandise.


Have Your Say

In the next few days I'll be blogging about the world in which Cora lives. For now, it's time to start as we mean to go one. Below I've listed several points. I would love to know what you think. If you'd like to know what you think:

1. Would you prefer for every episode to be written from the same person's perspective or would you like some variety? How about two narrators? Perhaps three?
2. If you were an elemental, which power would you prefer and why?
3. What sort of merchandise would you like to see? T-shirts, bookmarks, key rings...

Meet Cora

If you'd like toget your hands on a copy of Cora you can find it on Amazon now!

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