What's in a Name

Names carry emotion. Think about the first person you met named Mary, John, Katie, Jason...the next time you met someone with the same name, you compared them to the first person you met with that name. You may even have transferred some of the emotional attachment of the first person to the second, because of the name.

I generally like men named Sam. Why? I've got a cousin with that name, and he's a great guy. I can be distrustful around women named Kate or Katie when we meet, because the first two bullies in my life were both named Katie. Guys named Rob are heavily scrutinized by my family because, in the words of my mother, "We've known too many Robs."

What does this have to do with the Undead Bar Association? It explains Maryanne's attitude about names. With three books in the series published, I can finally say that, and give examples.

Maryanne never calls Matthew Califf by his first name. She always refers to him as Califf. (See books Matriculated Death and Shadowed Demise). Why? Matt Hawthorne. Maryanne has serious emotional baggage where he's concerned, baggage so heavy, she can't bear to call anyone else Matt (see Binding Deceit).

Likewise, Maryanne refers to her boss as Mr. Drake, never Sam or Samuel (see Binding Deceit). Why? Sam, from the book Shadowed Demise, holds a special place in Maryanne's heart.

Between you and me, it's better for Maryanne to keep a line between Sam and Mr. Drake, since the two are such total opposites (plot hint).

So, what names conflicts are coming up? You could help me decide. For book 4, there will be opportunities for readers to name characters.

Stay tuned. Details tomorrow.

Binding Deceit - Exclusive Information on the newest Undead Bar Association Book

Binding Deceit, Book 3 of the Undead Bar Association Series, is now available through Amazon and Kindle.


The Kindle edition is on sale for $2.99, through May 1.

The Undead Bar Association (UBA) was scattered. Some members hunted the undead, cheerfully taking on supernatural cases. Others turned resolutely to new careers and fresh relationships. One member, Maryanne, tried to escape the supernatural and her friends. She moved back to the one place where she thought nothing strange could happen, her hometown - Amarillo, Texas.

You can run from the undead, but you can't hide, even in Amarillo. It doesn't take long for Anthony the ghost to find Maryanne, and drag her into an adventure that's too much for her to handle. Conjoined ghosts, evil sorcerers, undead professors, zombie cows ... what's a gal to do? Good thing Maryanne's got the rest of the UBA to turn to. Of course, getting help means she has to call them, and risk them learning the secret she's kept hidden since law school.

For more details about Binding Deceit, including exclusive information about how Book 3 fits into the master story arc of the Undead Bar Association website, visit www.undeadbarassociation.com

And now, for you UBA blog readers, the inside scoop on the series from the author.

M.M. Wells says:

Binding Deceit is the first UBA book set in Amarillo, Texas. It won't be the last. This is Maryanne's hometown, and it becomes a focal point for the series. Roughly ever third book will be set in or near Amarillo.

Why have a home base, and why in Amarillo? Three reasons. One, there are great UBA characters in Amarillo, characters from the original blog stories that I want to keep. Two, travel is about to ramp up for this series, and we all (readers, author, and character), need a home base. Three, Amarillo is a little messed up, and that makes it perfect for the UBA.

In addition to the reasons for having a home base, there's an added advantage: a bonus story line. There's a new monster in the series, living in Amarillo. What is it? Hmm. I'm not telling, not yet. Not for several books. There will be clues scattered throughout the series, in the Amarillo books in particular. The amount of information will build and build, leading up to single book that will feature the monster.

Though I'm not saying what the monster is now, I will tell you this: the individual was introduced in Binding Deceit. Want another hint? Right now, there are four possibilities. I'll keep them all in play until near the end. Then, I'll narrow it down to two. Maybe by then, you'll have it narrowed down to one.

The next book in the series, Book 4, will shake things up a bit. Courtesy of our new found enemy, the Vildru, three of the UBA characters will be taking a trip back in time. What happens to them in the past will shake the all, Maryanne in particular. The book will be told from Robert's perspective. The history of Texas is in play. One wrong move, and the UBA may change the outcome of the Red River War and the face of Texas.

Book 5 will be set in New Mexico. In Binding Deceit, there's some marked tension between Maryanne and a member of the original UBA, and that will come back to haunt them both in Book 5. And, they're not the only ones bothered by it. How can Tanya and Charles have a happy wedding, when their best man and maid of honor won't speak to each other? Of course, that becomes the least of the UBA's problems, once the Vildru and ghosts arrive.

Expect an announcement about Book 4 soon, hopefully in the next week. There are big things coming.

Binding Deceit: making a book cover

Binding Deceit, the 3rd book in the Undead Bar Association Series, publishes April 22, 2013. Today I'm revealing the cover art, and more. I'm sharing the background of how the cover is made.

First, the press release cover art:

In the foreground sits the mascot and cover boy of the Undead Bar Association, our darling skull, Skully. Wrapped around Skully, in full attack mood, we find a bindweed vine. Bindweed figures prominently in the Binding Deceit story, to the point it inspired the final title.

So, how did we get Skully and the bindweed on the cover? We started with a photoshoot, one of the resulting photos being this:

 

 

 



That's the beginning of the cover's foreground.

Next, the background. Several book scenes are set in historic Llano Cemetery in Amarillo, Texas. So for the view of the cemetery through the broken window, this photo was used:



The stained glass window posed some challenges. It would have been great to use a photo of some of the stained glass at Llano Cemetery for the cover, but we couldn't get a good closeup photo that worked for digital art. In the end, the easiest antique glass to take a photo of was the piece hanging on my living room wall:

Now we've collected the pieces. Let's put them all together in Photoshop, add a large dose of imagination, and make it work.

Here we see everything layered, color added, and the first piece of glass broken out of the window.

Next, we broke out some more glass, strategically, so it looked like the bindweed vine was responsible for the damage. This revealed the cemetery on the other side of the window. Also, we added toothy maws to the open bindweed flowers.

Now, for the fun part and some little touches. We went crazy with creepy color, added shadows under the skull and bindweed leaves, and cleaned up some of the glass and foliage.

There you are! Cover art from photos, directly inspired by the book.

Look for Binding Deceit on April 22.