Engine Punk

I've had a few problems with uploading the new cover for The Wormton Lamb. First of all I couldn't log into the Lightning Source website. It seems MacAfee didn't recognise it as a secure site and I had to create an exception report to gain entry into the customer area with my log in name and password. As I'd used the Lightning Source site before when uploading files for both The Horsepower Whisperer and The Wormton Lamb so had no qualms about this. When it came to uploading the pdf file for the new cover, the process was interrupted three times. Each repeat attempt completed less of the process, I started at 17% and ended up at 2%. A pop up box gave the following message. "An error has occurred processing your upload: An IO error occurred. Please try again or contact technical support for assistance." So, I'll have to do that tomorrow. This is the first time I've tried uploading a new file with my new computer. The last time I uploade...

The price of unleaded has fallen below ₤1 a litre. According to a net comparison site , it's down to 97.9p a litre around Liskeard. We are told that this price level won’t last because OPEC are cutting production. The low prices will encourage people to fill up. Demand will increase and the economists (who’ve made a mess of everything already) will hike the prices again due to the knicker elasticity of demand. But I remember how a few years ago OPEC were lowering prices because they were worried that consumers might find alternatives to oil. I reckon they now know that people will be switching away from oil and suing hydrogen or bio-fuels. The writing is on the wall for the oil industry even for plastics. At The Stranglers gig at Exeter University drinks were served from wibbly-wobbly glasses made not of plastic but a clear material made from plant starch. So spare a kind though for the men of OPEC. They've only got a few years left so squeeze as much money out o...

Friday saw me in the old Roman town of Exetercester to see The stranglers and they were better form than ever. The fab four work well together after several years as a five piece following the amicable departure of Paul Roberts in 2006. The current tour features all the singles played in order, although the encore has to No More Heroes. Anything else would be just wrong. That bass intro is real body music - you feel it in your chest rather than hear it. After a few health problems, Jet Black is playing with them again. He is 70 after all but you wouldn't know it from his drumming. Apparently, he invented a special bass drum pedal that has brought greater creative freedom and comfort to drummers. On Friday, JJ said Jet Black was back the dead, which was a back handed compliment. there was always something sinister about The Stranglers so a little resurrectionism adds to their mystique. I'm not a die hard fan because some of their stuff is a bit experimental for me but whe...

Tonight I've updated the files at Lightning Source UK with the new book cover design for The Horsepower Whisperer. As the original illustration featured three abreast seating and the new one doesn't, I've amended the text. It occurred to me that the Conformorians would never compromise on which side of the road people should drive on. It would be an either or proposition. Of course, in Anarchadia, they drive on the opposite side of the road on principle. So M Cadvare's personal transportation device now has left hand drive and I've amended the text to suit. I've continued to use Word when it comes to writing my books. When I use Open Office Writer, apostrophes don't come out curly. In Open Office Writer they are just little flat things that look cheap and nasty, especially when quotation marks are curly. So I open the Word document in Open Office Writer and the apostrophes appear as I want them. Amend them in Writer, however, and they straighten...

ITM Power are publicising their development of a domestic hydrogen production system and a converted Ford Focus that could run for up to 30 miles on the hydrogen produced. That sort of distance is a typical daily commute and for longer distances the car can be revert to using unleaded. ITM Power offer this approach as a real world alternative to fuel cell vehicles that generate the electricity themselves. Depending on who you talk to, fuel cell vehicles work but are too expensive. It's the platinum in the fuel cells and the amounts required. There's a big push to reduce the amount of platinum in fuel cells but for the time ITM Power's approach appeals to me. You would still have to have a big pressurised storage tank fitted to your car and that would restrict storage space but how much luggage do you need on the daily commute? ITM Power are also working on Bi-Fuel Diesels, too, so your common rail bus could run on hydrogen or biofuel diesel. You would have a kin...

The Wormton Lamb now looks like this. I came to the conclusion that the original illustration was dominated by the cars in the foreground. Now the lamb is much more prominent and the cars look more dynamic. As well as the 2CV kicking up its heels you can just make out Hob on Nosferatu riding dangerously close to its cloven heels. I have abandoned the use of marker pens - although I'll continue to use them for website drawings - and after flirting briefly with oils and acrylic inks have adopted gouache as my medium. I'd like to experiment with oils more but oils take so long to dry. It's a whole technique, too, but the paint feels fantastic on the brush and I really like the smell (although not enough to dream of eating a tube of cadmium yellow, as owner of my mates did once.) Beck said she liked the graph qualities of the clouds in my original drawing and after a great deal of trial and error I am reasonably content with them. I think they make the Giant Lamb loo...

Here is the new book cover for The Horsepower Whisperer. It's much more colourful and carries a bigger punch, helped in part by Hob's knuckles gripping the steering wheel as he punches M Cadvare's personal transportation module off the page. The gremlin can see trouble up ahead and is doing a hornpipe in his panic. We can see what's ahead, too. If you look really closely you can make out a roadblock and a helicopter in the reflection of Hob's visor. Hob is about to fost through the roadblock, effectively leak into another set of dimensions in a parallel universe, but just before he does the Conformorians will activate the airbag in the steering wheel. For what happens next you'll just have to read the book. It's a big relief to have got to this stage. Time will tell whether this cover design has more shelf appeal than the old one. I still need to upload this image onto Amazon and it will take a few days for books looking like this to be available so ...