Tomorrow doesn't always mean the next day

OKAY I LIED
BUT I CAME BACK, AT LEAST!!! 


So, since school is over for briefly a week and it is also getting warmer, I'm now on Spring Break. 

Let's do this shindig!!!
Lol a sketch of (l to r) Momo, Lily, and the ever vivacious Violet preparing to do... something...in their sleepwear
Drawn by dear friend and Treasurer, Jasmine Sylvester.
Thanks!!!

COMMENCE PARTYING!!!


I merely jest about the partying. As any good, sane person would know, partying may relieve some stress but too much of a good thing is never really good. Meaning its bad. I'd also like to say that I have never gone to a party, although I have gone to some involving cake, presents, and screaming children.


Anywhoo back to the main thing--I'm going to Las Vegas, y'all! With my parents and younger sister, we will tackle the Strip (not its counterparts the Pole however) and lounge in the luxury of the Mirage. Also, shop. Shop. Shop. Shop. 


For me, I would very much like to go to Bauman's Books.

Yes. There IS INDEED a bookstore on the Las Vegas Strip. See here.


In fact it's the only bookstore on the Strip. Yeah, yeah, I'm secretly an old man in a young girl's body but, my goodness, this place sells such cool stuff! Like the first edition printing of Cat in The Hat, that isn't covered in gunky little kid-prints or slapped with a library sticker! And it's not just old stuff--everything from the 15th century to the latest novels sell here!!!


I'm totally bugging my mom. Besides, there's a pretty nice foodie place nearby as well. Eh....


Of course we'll be go see the other entrancing attractions as well but I think you guys have your own plans as well so I wish you the best, happiest, and awesome Spring Break EVAH!!! But not to "crazy" as I would hate to see some poor soul getting arrested by the popo for trying to recreate Project X. Which, by the way, has to be the most horrible idea for a movie, and is prompting many impressionable teenagers to create or improve upon this really really REALLY crazy party. Yeah.


As I've promised from my last post, I would tell you more about the winnings and book cover for English Expo. So, the book I've read, Everyone Dies, by Micheal McGarrity, is a crime-fiction-mystery-horror novel that explores the notorious and deadly side of serial killers. Especially convicted serial killers with a grudge and their parent's house. It starts off like a bad romantic novel (but not too bad) as police chief Kevin Kerney starts a new, peaceful life with his wife and future child. Then things turn to crap. 


A prominent gay attorney is brutally shot out his home apparently in the midst of jogging. Then, more and more deaths, inflicted on both human and animal in the most cruelest and savage ways possible (trust me it gets pretty gory further into the novel), with threatening, calm notes left, that clearly state: "everyone dies. the last will be the two you love the most." 

Not so picturesque, not to mention I'M FREAKIN' GOING THERE FOR COLLEGE!

Aaaaaand like most heroic cop men with equally heroic wives (this one is serving in the military actually!), Kevin Kerney searches for the killer. 


I'm  a big fan of crime (but not a big fan of doing them, goodness no) and was attracted to this book as it was on the Young Adult list. The others meeehhhhh weren't as interesting. 


I liked it. It was kind of obvious in some areas but I found that the mystery was taken out as the writer also wrote part of the story in the killer's POV, although it was in brief, needful excerpts. Some, not as much. Kevin is also kind of an a-hole but what entitled cop isn't? I suppose it was probably because I read into a series without bothering to read the first book, so that I could better understand this character, but even that alone didn't alienate or confuse me. Quite a page-turner, and the increasing levels of tension and murders were enough to keep reading through. 


It was a realistic take, too, at serial killers, as most writers tend to exaggerate or glamorize vicious crimes for the sake of keeping a paycheck. (I mean you, Dean Koontz!) The possibility of homicidal feelings emerging in an otherwise "nice" person after a wrongful, brutal encounter with the police are quite plausible, and I've seen it before. Not to mention that New Mexico, or at least Albuquerque, is infamous for the many shootings and gang encounters that proliferate the state and further adds to the reality of this really happening. I don't know about you, but the cops in Abiqui can be quite dirty. 


If you would like to know more, you can always go here. It's an informal but really informative website that offers and updates current corrupt cop occurrences (such as cover-ups and revenge killings) around the Four Corners. If thats not your cup of tea, don't even click it. (Because, sadly, its all very too true.) I know it made me and the librarian sick to our stomachs and heavy on our hearts. 


Otherwise, written in a proper but not too proper style that fits the genre, its a novel that offers a quick and dirty mystery that, depending on you, may or may not stick with you for a long time. 


Sorry for the lengthy review but thats just how I roll with my books. 


So! What did I do for the cover? Well, I did it in black and white with minimal color, as I found overuse of color to be distracting and not very meaningful, especially in book covers. Such covers pique interest instead of crazily done, headache-inducing ones. HERE'S AN EXAMPLE.

Good book design!!!

WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING HERE?!

I opted for this. Now, as any good designer would know, book covers should not just grab, hell, YANK your attention and demand your eyeballs to look at it!!! If there's any good advice I'd like to digress, it's to make drawings/posters/covers/illustrations/whatever look so good that people would steal it.

Yes. Steal it. 

Here is my book cover, done in ink, permanent marker, and a red colored brush pen. Sorry its a photo and not a scan but my mother's hogging the computer as of now.

Chillin' like a villain

Personally I find it to be one of my more better covers. I'm still learning. So, what I was going with, and what I told the judges, was that the red colored objects served as integral symbols for the killer. Such as the red cloth he's wiping his gun with--it serves as his last, final action before committing his last crime. As for the red dot on the map, which details the back roads and dirt paths in Santa Fe, it shows the location of Kevin Kerney's future house, and also serves as the stage for the final climax. The red circle circles Kevin's photo in a newspaper clipping, as the final target, amidst the already killed targets above him. And the red highlighting on the book, about Samuel Green, the best and worst serial killer ever (seriously read THIS but thats if you want to okay?). The killer emulates this SOB like a girl emulates Barbie--and so takes notes of his killings and makes sure his are done in a clean, efficient manner.

I chose the setting of his small home (actually the home he was raised in, but he killed his parents and lives there alone despite the overall creepiness) and room with all of his tools because it is only briefly mentioned in the book. In fact its only a couple of pages. I found that really unsettling and interesting at the same time, as if Micheal McGarrity, the author, wanted to keep him enigmatic, like most boogeymen. 

So I decided to waylaid future readers into thinking this was a novel about a murder mystery through a serial killer's view. The reader goes into this book, thinking, wow, does EVERYONE really die?! But you don't really "see" the killer until the end. And for the reader, who knows nothing of the symbolism and history, will go in headfirst, until they finish, flip the book, and scrutinize the cover. Thats when they have the OH!!! moment. 

I love OH!!! moments, because you feel like Einstein and a brain-dead bug at the same time. 

So that's what I was going for.

Hope you liked it!