My Latest Accomplishment

On June 27, 2022June 27, 2022 By Steve CampbellIn News, Life, and OtherLeave a comment

It was a pleasure to put the finish on “Night of the Hell Hounds” short story in my Green Crystal series of Fantasy e-books over the weekend. It was more pleasurable to publish it with its new content and cover art at Amazon and not have any problems.

I still get excited when I see my books for sale at bookstores. It isn’t pride I feel, but accomplishment after countless hours of arduous work. It isn’t easy work being an author. It’s even harder being a self-published one. If writing and creating cover art weren’t fun (and they are a joy to this old guy), I wouldn’t bother with the trials of publishing.

Slowly, though, my newly edited 8-book Green Crystal series is making a comeback to Amazon’s sales pages. These books replace the old ones published from 2013 to 2015 and feature new cover art. Unfortunately, they have their old Amazon ASINs, so anyone who bought the old e-books will have difficulty replacing them with the new ones. I know Amazon says you can contact them and request the new ones, and they claim it’s fairly easy to do. It isn’t. And for that, I apologize that I have no control over it. I suppose if you hound them enough they’ll give in and let you read the new copy.

A possible solution to the above problem may be for me to release them as paperback books. That way, you’re sent the new copy. It’s an enticing idea. I’m right now envisioning the entire series published as a paperback. If so, it will take a few years or more to do. I have plenty of projects on my To Do list already.

“Night of the Hell Hounds” is listed as Young Adult, 4,500 words, and 99-cents at Amazon U.S. It’s also available at other Amazon markets. The following link will take you to the U.S. market. Click Here.

If you buy and read my books, please leave some reviews. There was a time when I sold my books at my website in the 1990s that I garnered a lot of reviews and feedback from my readers and fans. Nowadays, not so much, which is a shame. I learned a lot from them, and we had lots of fun sharing ideas and lists of our favorite authors and books.

Anyway, thanks for joining me today. Peace and love to you and may good reads and wonderful art fill your days.

Character Art

On May 29, 2022June 8, 2022 By Steve CampbellIn DrawingsLeave a comment

It was a joy (and probably therapeutic) to create some new character art for my Vree Erickson books. Below are the characters in the Green Crystal stories and the Luminary Magic ones.

The art is mostly graphite drawings that I ran through some computer programs to enhance the images. I did this because the gray-scale scans from my scanner often ended up dark and “muddy” looking. Brightening them via the scanner destroyed a lot of high-value detail, so I experimented with some art/photo enhancement programs until my copies passed muster and weren’t storage hogs.

First up is Vree.

Vree Erickson character drawings — Vree Erickson is the main protagonist of the Luminary Magic series of books

Next is her friend Nick from the Green Crystal series of books.

Nick Corwin character drawings — Nick Corwin is a main protagonist in the Green Crystal series of books

If you follow this blog, Lenny needs no introduction.

Lenny Avery character drawings — Lenny’s appearance has changed a lot since his creation 50 years ago

His twin sister Gaylene is Vree’s best friend. I think Devil’s Advocate is the best 2-word description of her.

Gaylene Avery character drawings — Gaylene is smart and musically inclined and deserves to be more than a minor character

Gwynessa is a Fae who becomes trapped in a green crystal pendant in the Green Crystal series of books.

Gwynessa Liriel character drawings — Gwynessa is the offspring of an Enwen Aili and a Rivvik Hiora, two kinds of Fae creatures that dwell in the woods and forests of Ridgewood

Last but not least is Vree’s cousin Whitney. She plays a major role in the Luminary Magic series of books.

Whitney Clark character drawings — Whitney is a Luminary witch and lives on Russell Ridge, next door to Lenny and Gaylene Avery

Thanks for joining me.

Join Me

On May 19, 2022 By Steve CampbellIn News, Life, and OtherLeave a comment

I posted last about my new website Vree Erickson at https://vreeerickson.wordpress.com. It features the writing aspects of my life, which I’ve discontinued here. I want to focus on the art side of my life here, if and when I get around to it. If not, I may close this site and put my money and efforts in my writing website. I’m giving both projects a year before I make any decisions.

Meanwhile, you may wonder why I’m doing this. Why not leave things alone? The answer is brand. One of my followers, whom I’ve followed for ten or more years, writes often about brands and what they mean. For this website, the brand has been twofold: art and writing.

This site began in 2011 as a place to feature my art, then became a place to feature my books two years later. I’ve since stopped making art in favor of writing, mainly because I lost my art studio, but also because I enjoy writing more.

If you like my books and enjoy reading the “behind the scenes” of writing them, who the characters are, excerpts from my books, challenges, and more, please join me at Vree Erickson. I think it’s a better deal than offering a newsletter.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading.

My New Website and Blog

On May 9, 2022 By Steve CampbellIn News, Life, and Other2 Comments

Good news! I launched a new website yesterday here at WordPress. It’s called Vree Erickson, and it’s going to deal exclusively with writing and publishing my Ridgewood stories. I’m inviting all my followers here to follow along on this venture. The address is https://vreeerickson.wordpress.com.

As you can see by the address, it’s a free site and will have ads. I don’t plan on putting any money into it by upgrading unless I get over 100 legitimate followers. (I say legitimate because I’m wary of the authenticity of some current websites that have no content and/or logos, and the “authors” have no public profile photos. But I digress.) If sales of my books increase, I may consider buying a Pro plan. But only if sales become good enough to justify the upgrade.

Meanwhile, I’m changing the appearance of the website here at stevenlcampbell.com, which will go unnoticed to everyone who follows me via the WordPress Reader function. I’m old-school, however, so I like visiting websites than reading posts via the Reader. It’s a more colorful world that way. If you do too, take a look around.

Anyway, I hope you’ll join me on my new venture.