More AI Artwork, Atlanta Comic-Con Again

Alyssa Carson, the warlord Grendel in his younger years, and a creepy hominid predator. Also the Atlanta Comic-Con at Georgia World Congress Center 7/18-20 and another virtual panel

Awhile back, I sent everybody some generative AI images of characters from my books. Did they match up with your views of the characters — Amber Webb, Alonzo and Catalina Merrill, and Havarth Grendelsson/Hayes Merrill — or did you imagine them differently?

Here are some more:

Alyssa Carson, Battle for the Wastelands and Serpent Sword

Alyssa Carson is protagonist Andrew Sutter’s love interest, a cavalrywoman in the army of rebel chieftain Alonzo Merrill. Here’s the text I fed Magic Studio to generate the images:

“Cowgirl with honey-colored hair wearing duster and slouch hat.”

If I was doing this before I wrote the book, I could have used the basic description to generate something I could use for a more detailed one — her cheekbones (high), eye color (blue-ish from what I can see), lips (full), etc. Since a big part of Andrew’s arc in the first book is struggling with his growing attraction to Alyssa while not knowing if his girlfriend Cassie from his destroyed hometown is still alive, I could imagine more focus on her appearance from his point of view. I obviously describe her appearance in the books, but those things aren’t the focus.

(Younger) Grendel, Battle for the Wastelands, “Son of Grendel,” and Serpent Sword

I fed the AI a short paragraph describing actor Mads Mikkelsen wearing black brigantine armor and carrying an M-16. The smoking ruins in the background give me Dark Tower vibes, plus it reminds me of some of the series’ Michael Whelan covers.

(I wonder if that’s where these glorified plagiarism machines got inspired, considering the last e-mail depicted Amber Webb looking like Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.)

I’m describing the character as “young Grendel” because the gun in this image is obviously not an M-16 or M-4 (one of the series’ “Old World repeating rifles” or simply “repeaters”). Chronologically this might be before he started salvaging them and using them to equip what would become his Obsidian Guard. That said, he does have a silver-fox thing, so he might not be that much younger than the mid-50s Grendel of the books.

(One example of AI’s imperfection is I initially tried to include Grendel’s tiger-skull helmet, but I ended up with a bunch of cat-people like some medieval version of Wing Commander. The character’s original inspiration was the Kurgan in his medieval phase from the original Highlander film.)

“Run, Hide, Feed” Protagonist

My short horror story “Run, Hide, Feed,” which is currently out for submission, is told from the perspective of a near-human predatory hominid whom I specifically avoid calling “vampire.” The ancestors of our “hero” might have inspired the fear of something that seems almost human. As humans grew more powerful and organized, his kind retreated into the shadows and their numbers dwindled. The unnamed protagonist is, on first glance, a strange-looking homeless man, living on the verge of starvation because he fears killing and eating another person will bring unwanted attention.

Until he sees news stories on storefront television discussing modern-day mass shooters a little too much, that is. I’d imagined our protagonist as younger (and clean-shaven), but living on the streets might have prematurely aged him and it’s not like he has regular access to a bathroom or razor.

Here’s the text I fed the AI:

“Creepy homeless man dressed in rags with a thin face, long stringy black hair, high cheekbones, large yellow eyes, sharp teeth in a mouth that's too large, retractable talons on fingers.”

This is the image I referenced in a previous email that looks like something noted fantasy artist Frank Frazetta would have done. Not sure what’s going on with that single braided beard-strand.

This one gets his creepy long fingers and his claws right. His having retractable talons in his fingers and that the yellow eyes might be tapetum lucidum (why cats’ and dogs’ eyes glow in the dark) suggest his kind differ from Homo sapiens much more drastically than Neanderthals or Denisovans. Perhaps something like hares and rabbits, which look identical but are so genetically different they cannot interbreed?

As I referenced in a previous email, similar beings appear in the second Wastelands novel, Serpent Sword.

Indie Book Fair TODAY, (Maybe) An Anime Show July 5-6, Returning to ATL Comic Convention In A Month

In case you didn’t see my email last week, I’ll be splitting a table today with Lynette Bacon-Nguyen at 2nd and Charles on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw, GA as part of an indie author book fair. I had a good run at a book signing there on 5/31, so hopefully lightning will strike twice. The book fair will run from 10 AM to 4 PM.

It’s possible that on July 5-6 I’ll be splitting a table with Lynette at Charlie’s Collectible Shows Summer AnimeFest 2025. I have only the most basic experience with anime enthusiasts, so we’ll see how receptive that crowd is. We’re currently on the waiting list, so it might not happen.

However, I’m definitely going to be at the Atlanta Comic Convention July 18-20, an absolutely massive event with hundreds of vendors. I first attended in 2018 with C.S. Johnson and did very well. Back in 2021 I attended with Vanessa Giunta and decided to give the show a break for a few years as it recovered from COVID.

Well, based on pics Cineprov has posted from more recent events, it looks like attendance has well and truly recovered. Lynette and I will be splitting the table at this one as well.

This will be the first time I’ll be bringing Serpent Sword and The Walking Worm to this particular show. I’ve also got StickerMule stickers based on the Thing cover and 3D printed bookmarks and keychains Lynette made on her 3D printer, so if you’ve bought books from me there before, I’ll have new stuff. :) I’ve also scheduled The Thing in the Woods to be $0.99 for e-book for all retailers to coincide with the show.

(Virtual) Movie Monster Panel

I’m on this virtual panel on movie monsters. I bring up the Crestwood Monsters series I remember from elementary school in the early 1990s that it turns out a bunch of the other panelists read too. I also talk about the 2016 film The Monster, the mother/daughter alcoholism drama with a lizard-vulture monstrosity that just drops in. :)

(I tweeted the review on my old blog to one of the actresses — I’m pretty sure it was Zoe Kazan — who “liked” it.)