Author photo – R.J. Sullivan Fiction

New Author Photo Reveal

With my science fiction novel Commanding the Red Lotus due out in a couple of months, I wanted to take an author photo that reflected my love of the genre as well as the content of the book. I tend to take themed author photos anyway, something Seventh Star Press peer Michael West and I have in common.

In any case, I had an opportunity to pose in front of a green screen while local A/V guru Frank Smith III was filming John F Allen and I for the opening credits of our upcoming Two Towers Talk Show. I asked him to take a few still shots and drop a background behind me, and wham, bam, a near-instant author photo was created.

It speaks to my love of SF, and also has a not-entirely-intended callback to The Adventures of Superman, and what the heck, that ain’t a bad thing.

The official black and white version to be used in the novel:

I must say, I do rock in this, and my super-power of gut-suck was used to great effect. So another component has fallen into place. The manuscript is with an editor, and soon Seventh Star Press will officially reveal the awesome artwork created by Enggar, and the book will be out in time for convention season. I can’t wait to share it with you all…well, actually, I guess I can. But I’m very excited for that day to come. Stay tuned, there’s lots of excitement ahead!

New Author Photo

With the release of Darkness with a Chance of Whimsy now just a couple weeks away, I wanted to do something new and interesting with my author photo. In a way, I see the short story collection as the end of an era, the time when I was finding my voice and discovering who I was as a writer and what I have to say. While this question will never entirely go away, I feel like I’ve started to get a handle on this in the past five years, and I wanted to celebrate the moment alongside my most popular creations that have been so important in growing my readership.

I brought this “family portrait” idea to Nell Williams, who has done several awesome CGI creations for me in the past. She was as excited about the concept as I was and brought her “A-game” to the task to make the idea a reality.

So here is the official author photo as it will appear in the collection.
Left to Right: Rebecca Burton, Maxine Marie, me holding the Magical Mermaid Mug, and Fiona “Blue” Shaefer.

And here’s a color version for fun:

Darkness with a Chance for Whimsy is a collection of ten short stories and is on track to come out in ebook and paperback by Seventh Star Press in mid-June. I will definitely have copies of the book for sale in time for Inconjunction in Indianapolis over Fourth of July weekend. Stay tuned for more details.