Patrick Swenson

So on this day, summer of 2013, my author website goes live, with just one year to go before the publication of my first novel. And what’s more, I have a blog that will most likely crosspost to a few other venues, most notably Facebook and/or Twitter. There’s an old LiveJournal site still kicking around too that has gathered cobwebs since I joined Facebook, but maybe these posts will slip over there too.

This is a short catch-all post to start with. First off, I want to thank Jeremy Tolbert of Clockpunk Studios for the fine work (and the excellent instruction and support) getting this website off the ground. Even as I type this, he’s behind the scenes, giving feedback and adding those last little touches I’ll need on the admin side. It’s fabulous to have a site looking so snazzy.

I also want to thank Jordan Grimmer, who did the artwork for the banner. What a talented artist! There’s a link to his website at the bottom of the site. Since it’s too early for any kind of book cover artwork yet, I gave Jeremy some character and scene descriptions from The Ultra Thin Man to give to Jordan, and he got to work right away and nailed it. This has been a scene in my head for many years. Jeremy took that art and those colors and worked the site around it, including that cool thumbnail of two of the characters for new blog posts on the home page.  I’m pretty lucky. The plan was down the road to switch out this art for the cover art for the Tor book, but right now I can’t even imagine there being anything else there.

I couldn’t deal with the empty placesaver for the novel so I made a mockup cover with Jordan’s header art.

What a new process this all is, having a website strictly devoted to my writing, and primarily due to the sale of my first novel. Time will tell how it’s all going to pan out, but for now, I’m along for the ride. Hope you enjoy tagging along.