The Broken Path is published

03 Apr 2013 5 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books Tags: ,

At long last — I’ve published The Broken Path, sequel to The Story Trap.

story_trap_broken_path

You can buy The Broken Path as an e-book:

I’m still working on the print version, but that is coming soon! Watch this space.

Book description:

What if a story came to life?  If the characters stepped off the page and into our world?

Rebecca has recovered from the coma but she still longs for the places she saw and the people she met in the coma-dream. Writing helps her bear her loneliness, but things get out of control when the characters from her stories come to life in the streets of Cape Town.  And Miss Mouse, the Antelope Girls, Hyena and the rest don’t exactly blend in with the crowd.

Cape Town in winter is a harsh place to be homeless. Esther, the witch who tried to kill Rebecca, is still at large. Rebecca has to keep her people safe until she finds a way to get them back into their story. She turns to her sisters for help but finds that they have secrets of their own. And Rebecca’s gun-packing neighbour is getting far too interested in her strange visitors.

The Broken Path: Cover reveal and first three chapters

24 Mar 2013 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress Tags:

I’m almost ready to publish The Broken Path, sequel to my book The Story Trap. The last stretch always takes the longest, so rather than waiting until everything is done I’m celebrating by showing off the cover and making the first few chapters available. I’ve also dropped the price of The Story Trap to 99c till the end of April.

So. Here it is, the cover for The Broken Path:

broken-path-cover_medium

Those of you who have read The Story Trap will recognise the water-witch references 🙂

In the new story I brought back some of my favourite Story Trap characters like Miss Mouse and Hare. Esther has not given up the fight, and Pippa has to come to terms with her wounded hand. Some new characters feature too, like Rebecca’s nosy neighbour Clare and her gun-happy boyfriend Ryan.

You can read the first few chapters here.

Do you want to be notified when this book is published?  You can join my new release mailing list

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like

Introducing Porcupine

23 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: ,

More work in progress illustrations for The Broken Path:

This time, a character called “Porcupine”.  She’s standing in front of the fountain in Company Gardens, late at night.
The first few lines:

porcupine_wip1

Then the rest is painted in using only black and white:

porcupine_wip2

The drawing is nearly done:

porcupine_wip

Do you want to be notified when this book is published?  You can join my new release mailing list

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like

Broken Path cover: Work in Progress

17 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: ,

I finally got going on the design for the cover of “The Broken Path”.  It’s a challenge, as it needs to work on its own, and look similar enough to the cover of “The Story Trap” so show that it’s a sequel.

Rough sketch:

rough_cover_wip

Interesting things happen en route, I like the fresh look of this hand by itself, and the black version is also interesting:

coverwip1

coverwip2

I’m playing with doing an open version of the hand as well:

coverwip3

And this is what it looks like at the moment. Very unfinished still:

coverwip4

A night visit to the museum

15 Feb 2013 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: ,

Another work-in-progress for my book.  This time, depicting a scene where a witch visits the Museum of Natural History after hours.  This is not a finished drawing. Not happy with it yet, but it’s getting there 🙂

museum

A story about a little girl and her dog

09 Feb 2013 4 Comments

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: ,

Work in progress: the first of the “plates”, or  full page illustrations of significant moments in my book.  Here Rebecca tells her sister Pippa a bed time story, like the ones she used to tell when Pippa was a little girl.

story2

 

I do these drawings by hand on paper first, then scan them in and paint the rest in Photoshop.  I like working in black and then erasing the excess away to create a sort of lino-cut feel.

wip

Want to be notified when this book is published?  You can join my new release mailing list

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like

Chapter Crabs

08 Feb 2013 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: ,

Working on the little drawings that will go at the end of each chapter.  Something like this, maybe:

crabs

Here is another one:

crab_front2

 

Story Drawings for The Broken Path

07 Feb 2013 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 1 My books, All my drawings Tags: , ,

Yesterday I started (at last) the illustrations for my book The Broken Path.  Just rough pencil sketches so far. This is a scene where Rebecca tells a story to her sister Pippa:

story

And a whole lot of crabs:

crab_front crab_top_simple crab_top

Want to be notified when this book is published?  You can join my new release mailing list

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like