The SLUSHPILE Blog

This morning I received the first mock-ups for the new cover for Conviction: a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Skylar Hamilton Burris. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, the current cover on Conviction has long been a thorn in my side. It was what we had at the time, and I [...]

The Proofs arrived on schedule late Friday afternoon, and I think we have really outdone ourselves with James Spurr’s One Sloop and Slow Match. It is a beautiful book, thanks to the generous donation of an image for our use from the Michigan Mairtime Museum’s Peter Rindlisbacher original “Flight of Little Belt”
I was well-pleased with the [...]

I have had word from the printer that both books we had in production (one completely new title – James Spurr’s One Sloop and Slow Match, and one new cover on  a previous title – Gail MacMillan’s Ceilidh’s Quest) have both gone through the process with flying colors and the proofs were overnight shipped to [...]

Whoops!
Yesterday, I posted the preliminary cover for Caledonian Privateer. We’ve moved on to version 2 since then, and the second version (below) is the one we will actually be going with.

Ceilidh’s Quest has finally gotten its cover updated to reflect its February Maxwell Award Win. This is what it looks like now:

 For those interested, here is the upcoming cover for Gail’s next book, Caledonian Privateer:

 Caledonian Privateer is the next title we are releasing, and as much of the prelim work is already done on it, [...]

One Sloop and Slow Match made its trip to the printer yesterday. If I got everything right the first time around, we should see a proof in about a week.
The shipping off of a new title to the printer is always a liberating feeling. The main focus of my attention for months is suddenly done and [...]

Yesterday, I was forwarded the first review for James Spurr’s One Sloop and Slow Match. Here’s what it said:
One Sloop and Slow Match is a captivating and spellbinding masterpiece.  The reader is transported back to a time when Great Britain’s naval forces were locked in a desperate struggle with the United States’ rag tag fleet [...]

Jim Spurr’s One Sloop and Slow Match is as ready as I can get it. The author edits are all accounted for and addressed, the text block is formatted and ready to go with the exception of: Maps and Diagrams. Once I receive placement notes on these, I can drop them in and get the [...]

Today I’m starting out in a good frame of mind. My Adobe is now working again, no thanks to Adobe Customer Service, BTW. If I were rating their performance, I would have to give them an F. Nice, friendly, polite — yes, they were all these things. But Solutions? Nothing there. In the end, if [...]

Friday saw the finish of the new cover for Sworn for Mackinaw, it’s release to coincide with the debut of Jim Spurr’s sequel historical novel, One Sloop and Slow Match.
Here’s a look at the new (left) vs. the old (right):
 
 
 
 As noted on this blog previously, the words ‘Book 1 Great Lakes, Great Guns Historical [...]