I just got the hardcover special edition of Pilgrim by Mitchell Lüthi from Sentinel Creatives, which is absolutely stunning, and made this custom dust jacket for it with some of the in the book. I need to adjust the back flap, but I’m liking it so far.
Just curious if there is a varnish or a wax of some sort that would make the paint a bit more glossy looking and less dull?
I tried the Winston and Newton gloss varnish aerosol spray on my painted edges and it did nothing (and also stunk for days).
We know it will be a male author, potentially a trilogy?
What are people hoping for?
I told my employer immediately, and she called the insurance company and found out that our plans had indeed lapsed.
She just told me my plan has been reinstated, and is saying that I would have been covered retroactively had I incurred any medical expenses during the time that it was inactive (I haven’t been told an exact time frame for that yet), as she was still forwarding the premiums, despite not knowing that our plans had lapsed.
But isn't that beside the point?
Even though I didn’t incur any medical expenses while my plan was inactive, I was still paying premiums every check for insurance that wasn’t active. I’m confused about what to do next.
(This is a repost from earlier today, just a bit clearer with new information).
Location: California
I told my employer immediately, and she called the insurance company and found out that our plans had indeed lapsed.
She just told me my plan has been reinstated, and is saying that I would have been covered retroactively had I incurred an medical expenses during the time that it was inactive (I haven’t been told an exact time frame for that yet), as she was still forwarding the premiums, despite not knowing that our plans had lapsed.
But isn't that beside the point?
Even though I didn’t incur any medical expenses while my plan was inactive, I was still paying premiums every check for insurance that wasn’t active. I’m confused about what to do next.
Location: California
In May 2025 my boss was able to offer a handle of her employees health insurance. Only two of us took it.
Shortly after, the other person came to me and said they’d received a letter saying their plan was cancelled. I soon received the same notice. I told our boss and she said it was nothing to worry about.
Fast forward to this week, I call the doctor to schedule a physical and they tell me my plan is inactive. I immediately contact my employer, she contacts her broker and is told that the health plans were all cancelled.
My employer was very apologetic and said I would be reimbursed for all the times I had money taken out of my check but was not receiving health insurance.
However, is there a way I can check when my coverage stopped? I don’t fully trust that she’ll be honest about how long it’s been inactive, and may try to cheat me out of reimbursement money I’m owed.
I really wanted to like this.
I love the idea of a new fantasy author who isn't trying to totally reinvent the wheel on their first go, but rather spends their energy on the prose, and the execution of tried and true genre tropes.
Cahill, unfortunately, offers neither innovative ideas or skilled writing.
The prologue held so much promise, and really pulled me in. I was eager to read on, but unfortunately what followed was the least interesting of all the possible directions he could have taken the story, and with lifeless prose, and unforgivably bad dialogue, to boot. Instead of following the Knights of Achyron (at least for now), Cahill chooses to follow the son of a blacksmith (who doesn't know he's the chosen one!)
Ok, so no imagination there, but that's fine, maybe he does something new and interesting with the trope, or brings some flavor via his prose. It at least has to be AS interesting as Eragon if he's going to come this close to Paolini' s IP...
Nope!
Calen Bryer is just another lowborn boy who doesn't know he's destined for greatness, happens to have a direwolf as a pet and discovers that he has special connection to dragons (sound familiar??).
The story proceeds to follow three extremely uninteresting teenage boys whose primary concern is getting drunk and participating in "the Proving," a totally generic rite of passage that is just for da boyz; no girls allowed in this fantasy story! Why Cahill has decided to almost totally exclude women from the story, unless they are a mother or a sister, or being gawped at by a more narratively important male character, is beyond me.
On top of it all, the dialogue is, at best, extremely rough. Full of modern colloquialisms that really take you out of the fantasy world. Even the royal characters, the 400 year old elves, etc., speak like working class people from 2019. It just doesn't work for me.
While it's inspiring to see a young fantasy author self publish and find the success that he has, OBaF is just straight up bad, and Cahill brings literally nothing to the table. I just don't understand how totally unremarkable works like this continue to find such a wide audience and thrive. To date, OBaF has like 8 different special editions, with more on the way. I just don't get it! But maybe I should take heart as a mediocre writer with aspirations in fantasy, myself.
They’re still getting my orders from March, April, May and June ready too 😂
Where do*
I'm wondering if anyone here knows how Juniper books has access to out of print hardcover sets, such as Percy Jackson and Outlander, etc?
They sell the entire set (plus their dust jackets) presumably brand new. Are they able to get new old stock from the publisher some how? Does anyone know how this works? I assume they aren't second hand sets.
This is probably my 10th book foiling attempt.
I’m using heat activated foil.
I sand from 80 grit all the way to 3000 until the book has a mirror finish and the surface looks almost wet.
I follow Ingenious Designs tutorial to a tee, using the iron on just below the “wool” setting for heat (any lower and it just pushes the foil around).
I do 2 to 3 layers of foil and then seal it with a light coat of beeswax after.
After it cools for about 10 minutes, I take the book out of the press, and when I fan out the pages it ends up looking like this.
I simply can’t figure out where I’m going wrong.
I don’t use any size. Ingenious Designs doesn’t, either and any time I have used it’s made zero difference.
Got my Endless Edition in the mail today and made a dust jacket with the Press edition artwork, which I much prefer (and don’t have $800 lying around for 😂)
I have no idea what I’m doing. Any technical pointers would be very appreciated!
I hate resellers so much. BB please do a second run!
Why are some SF&F books sewn with acid free paper and others are glued with standard groundwood?
Really disappointing that a big(ish) title like >!Infinite State!< isn’t getting that treatment.
This was April 27 and they said 4-6 weeks until shipping begins. Has anyone received their email yet or heard another update?
-The top is gold iCraft deco foil
-The middle is what Ingenious Designs uses, just a basic gold foil quill
-Bottom is a light gold foil quill I found on Amazon
It slightly depends on the book, however I feel the middle option is slight too yellow.
I tried imitation gold leaf and had ok results. I honestly don’t think I was patient enough with the sanding process so may give it another go.
First attempt at gilding.
I sanded for about 5-7 minutes per side. Going from 80 all the way up to 400. Sealed it with a little beeswax while it was still hot.
Why is it cracking like this? I did two layers of foil, let it sit for 10 minutes, took it out of the clamp, fanned the pages and this happened. Added another layer and it happened again.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
SOLVED
After further experimenting and research, I’ve concluded that I wasn’t sanding thoroughly enough. I started with 80 grit, then 180 and finally 400. However, it seems you need to get a “mirror” finish on the paper edges before attempting to foil, which takes more sanding and a higher grit sandpaper )I’ve gone up to 1000 grit). I did not realize that you need the mirror finish on the paper before attempting to add foil, or that it was even possible to achieve this in the first place.
For clarification for those confused by the wording of my original post, I rubbed the beeswax on as a sealant directly after** **heat transferring the foil, not before.
Work in progress but wanted to share! Just for fun/practice, and my own personal library.
Artwork is by the amazing Jian Guo for the Chinese editions.
I’m considering getting the Farseer Trilogy but am curious about the paper type and binding.
Is it acid free paper or just industry standard stocked groundwood? And is the binding glued or sewn?
Is there anywhere that offers this kind of service?
I need cut it into 11" sheets. Currently doing it by hand and it's a total pain in the ass, I just don't have the space to do it properly and it takes forever.
I called a local printer, Kelly Spicers, and explained the situation and the guy said he's never heard of such a service. Am I s.o.l.?