HoC 6 back cover- blurb

Well, here's the back cover of the main series conclusion! Exciting, no? We're excited for it. Normally, we don't worry about the blurb (the back of the bk's selling words) until we're nearly done with the tale.
However, this time, we did things out of order and feel the book still sounds exciting. Yay!

So far we're enjoying putting the story's skeleton together! Draft 2 is still in the works: A lot of ideas to add, many wrinkles to straighten out, and a major need for consistency is being worked on.

Enjoy this fun tid-bit and continue to hang in there, ladies and gentlemen. Book 6 will make its appearance this year.

-T. Erickson

HoC 6, Book Cover

Well, here's your look at the new cover!

(Just completed over the weekend.)

Note, we're still on Draft 2. But the art can give you some ideas about what will be in the book. ;)

-T. Erickson

Taps Fan Art - MaskedSugarGirl

One of my friends/favorite artists MaskedSugarGirl aka MSG has done some art work of my favorite HoC character, Taps. She uses her own version of clean Anime. I enjoy her style and love to see Taps in it.

Here's Taps, with the rainbow surrounding her.

If you know my character Taps, you'll recall she loves the rainbow because to her, it represents God's promise (Gen 9:13-16).

*If you're going to look up her link, I will warn you, it's connected to deviantart, the art site is NOT family appropriate.*

Taps and Angel.

Angel is a character, owned by MSG. In our minds, Taps adopts Angel and raises her. Here, they're ice skating. Taps is teaching the young girl not to fear winter and to enjoy it.

This has to be my favorite picture that she's ever done of Taps. It was blue (my favorite color) and it had a magical feel to the entire piece.

Taps with a raspberry lollipop.

Taps loves kids.

She enjoys raising them in a God centered home. She loves helping them through their trials and cheering them on when they succeed.

(All of these characters belong to MSG. We have loads of fun thinking up their stories and how Taps ends up coming across all of them.)

Taps and Victor C.

Because in our creative minds, the two of them belong together. (Here, they're dressed up as Paul and Nora from Pete's dragon.)

*If you're going to look up her link, I will warn you, it's connected to deviantart, the art site is NOT family appropriate.*

Taps and Victor C.

A beautiful romantic picture between the two of them.

*If you're going to look up her link, I will warn you, it's connected to deviantart, the art site is NOT family appropriate.* (Also, if you try to look up StravenLite on deviant art, the artist isn't on the site anymore.)

Well, I think that about does it for today. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Hopefully, sometime later, I can post some more art that others have been kind enough to do for me.

Thanks again MSG!

-T. Erickson

HoC 6 Update. Book and Cover

Hello Dear Readers,

Working on draft 2 now. Oddly enough, it's been easier to work backwards.

The illustrations are in various stages of completion. Generally, as I read, I write ideas down for the book illustrations that are used in that chapter. I sometimes will draw an object to make the reader wonder how it'll fit in. Other times, I draw the characters (my favorite thing to do).

The cover is near completion. Yay! Mom is working hard with our cover artist to get the final touches done. Then we'll paste the title and our names on it and I'll post the cover. You'll get a first hand look at the cover. We hope you'll like it.

Much love,

T. Erickson

HoC 6 "Trumped" - Edits - RabbitAndCat

Hello Readers,


No doubt you're wondering: "When's book 6 coming out?!"

Well, I'm hoping by summer. But I'm not making any promises. Due to a promo, we're going back through the books and re-writing pieces of the first book to clarify the plot.

Honestly, we'll be going through all of them so everything is as smooth as we can make it. We can only do so much editing before our eyes cross and we don't see the errors anymore.
When we get the much needed cash, we'll pay for professionals to edit. (BTW, for some editors, it can be $3.00 USD per PAGE! Times that by a 300 pg bk! $900.00...ouch!)

Once Bk 1's redo is done, then we'll jump straight back to HoC 6. It's nearly 300 pgs right now and this is just the rough draft 2nd stage (generally there are anywhere from 7 to 10).

So, book 6 will be called "Trumped" and will be the final book for the main series.

Then mom and I will cool our heels on the HoC world for a while. She'll work on her 40+ more books and I'll feel very accomplished and move on.


Anyhow, have a great one!

T. Erickson

HoC 5 is OUT!

Go here to purchase the digital version: Fourth Corner

Blurb: 

The cards are stacked against Sarah and her friends. 

In the battle at the Tapestry, thousands of Lurkers are attacking. 

No one can be sure they'll survive.

People are dying and with them, magic.

Sarah had believed Taps would save them,

But Taps isn't on their side anymore.

The most powerful idolized Club ever has taken a new form.

Sarah thought the day couldn't get worse.

Until the Bone Lady showed up...

*The book was actually released on Dec. 19, 2017. I just haven't gotten it up here until now.

*Author Note: We will continue to work on HoC 6. We want to release it this year, but we don't know the exact date, yet.

-T. Erickson

TapsTapestry Comic Strips 1 & 2

Ok, without further ado, I'm posting (finally) the first 2 HoC comic strips:

1.

and

2. 

*Author/Artist note: Please keep in mind, that these comics (unless stated otherwise) will chronologically take place between Bks 3 & 4, during nearly a 3 year period where Sarah and her friends are working on helping another character survive.

It's been a while since I announced I was working on these, but I'm getting back in the habit now. I'm hoping to eventually post one per week.

-T. Erickson

HoC 5 Update - Illustrations - Advanstic Comics

Hey HoC fans,

We're going to discuss the illustrations for HoC5! Yeah!

To warn you, this round, some of the pictures in book 5 will be my Advanstic style. "Advanstic" meaning advanced stick figures.

EX:

This is an advanstic comic I did, based off of Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph a while back. I took the idea of an average work day and just filled it in w/Sgt. Calhoun and Fix-it Felix being cute. Turned it into a "I'm thankful for you" card.

Back to HoC 5, the reason I did this is because it helped the illustrations go quicker for me and focuses more on expression/feeling of the chapter than the beauty of art.

I feel my advanstic conveys everything quickly. Here's hopin' you'll be able to get a good laugh out of the last chapter heading (Chapt. 31).


-T. Erickson

HoC 5 Front Cover

Hello HoC Fans,

It's been forever since I've updated you on what's happening. Well, here's a look at the front cover of Book 5:

We're hoping to release bk 5 in December. I'm not sure on the exact date. I still have 10 or so illustrations to work on, we have one or two more edits to do, and a book blurb to pound out.

We actually had to split book 5 because it was getting too big. So, there will be a book 6. (Yay!) Though it won't come out until next year. But that's okay, cause it'll leave you with a whole lot of speculating to do during the waiting process.


-T. Erickson

HoC Quiz - What suit do you belong to?

HoC Suit Quiz

Many want to know to which of the 4 card suits would they belong? Or if they would be a cross-suit (a blend of one or more suits)?

Here are what each suit's talents are:

♥ Hearts: known for their love, friendship, healing ability, and leadership.

♦ Diamonds: known for making cash and keeping it, keen appraisal (can tell you how much something's worth or if it's real), musical ability, and gracefulness.

♣ Clubs: known for their loyalty, battle prowess, weapon knowledge, and strategy.

♠ Spades: known for gaining the trust of magical plants and animals, lure of flora & fauna, and what each can do, they can also get the plants or animals to share their secrets (if given enough time).

* Make sure you have a paper and pencil handy! This quiz is done the old fashioned way.

1. If you were being chased by a lurker (a floating skull ghost), what would do you?

a. Run for my life! 

b. Find the closest magical residence (with high lurker resistance) and hopefully the person will let me in. 

c. Grab my weapon of choice and go after it! (Charge!) 

d. Find the closest kronos rose and put it on my person. Lurker’s can’t hurt what they can’t sense. 

2. If you found a baby unicorn, how would you care for it?

a. Look for its mother, foals are never far from their mothers and this foal is brand new. 

b. A baby? Crap! Not my line of work! Uh, help! (looks around) 

c. I would stretch out my hand and pet its head. 

d. Pick it up and take it home. It would be a welcome edition to my stables! 

3. You see someone picking on a small kid at school. What do you do?

a. Demand to see their pedigree chart, so you’ll know where their bad attitude started. 

b. Get a teacher to fix the problem. They have more authority than you do. 

c. Slip a rose whip thorn on the offender’s seat before they sit down. 

d. Threaten them. 

4. What would you do if you were lost in the Diamond Palace?

a. Why would I even go there? 

b. Shout for help! There’s a lot of servants around here, they’ve gotta know how to get to the beginning! 

c. Enjoy myself. It’s where I belong! 

d. Pulling a clinging vine seed and a pot of dirt from my Devine Design pockets and head to the closest window. I’m making my own ladder! 

5. What would you do at a rich boring party?

a. Make the best of it. It’s a wonderful opportunity to make friends. 

b. Socialize and climb ladders. I’m a pro at this! 

c. Has anyone seen my baby griffon? (searching under the food buffet) I think it crawled out of my leaf apron when I wasn’t looking. 

d. Hope some bad guy attacks soon. 

6. What is your choice of weapon?

a. Shield. 

b. ANY! 

c. Weapon? Can’t we all just…get along? 

d. Manticore or panic pansies, I can do either. 

7. What do you want to be remembered for in this magical day and age?

a. Being the best fashionista EVER! 

b. Finding a cure for some disease that’s injuring the magical community. 

c. Taming the most terrifying beast known to magical kind. (Wish me luck!) (Thumbs up) 

d. Beating Taps’ bodyguard records and making many of my own! 

8. Who would be your best friend from the book series?

a. Sarah. The sweet, caring individual who’ll help wherever she can. 

b. Cameron. Daring, courageous, and has a camo-hoodie that can hold weapons (and more) in each patch. Enough said! 

c. Zack. Kind, smart, easy to get along with. 

d. Arianna. Popular, musically talented, shares her lunch with any and all. 

9. What would be your choice of lunchbox avatar?

a. A gold knight 

b. A paper bag Doberman 

c. An arrow wielding elf 

d. A meatball 

10. If you had an arch-nemesis in the HoC series, who would be yours?

a. Tippi Tightpants 

b. The Lurker King 

c. The Bone Lady 

d. Tempest, King of the Sea 

11. What does the name “Taps” mean to you?

a. Do you mean the refined Realm Keeper? 

b. The first and only a gob monger. 

c. The Child’s champion. 

d. Only the best, most extreme, hard-core Club there’s ever been! She’s my hero! 

12. Who’s your favorite teacher from the HoC series?

a. Yaz, the R&M martial arts teacher. 

b. Madam Sullivan, the world re-known singing diva. 

c. Kory, first knight at the Tapestry. He knows all you can about lurkers. 

d. Tut, ancient enough to cough sand but don’t let that put you off, he knows more about the magical world than most. 

13. How would you react to receiving a royal reward and recognition?

a. I’d throw a party and invite everyone! 

b. I’d hang the metal/trophy on my wall. 

c. I’d use the trophy bowl as a dish for my rawgahog. 

d. I’d ready the speech I’d of prepared for such an occasion. 

Answers:

1. If you were being chased by a lurker (a floating skull ghost), what would do you?

a. ♥

b. ♦

c. ♣

d. ♠

  

2. If you found a baby unicorn, how would you care for it?

a. ♠

b. ♣

c. ♥

d. ♦

  

3. You see someone picking on a small kid at school. What do you do?

a. ♦

b. ♥

c. ♠

d. ♣

  

4. What would you do if you were lost in the Diamond Palace?

a. ♣

b. ♥

c. ♦

d. ♠

  

5. What would you do at a rich boring party?

a. ♥

b. ♦

c. ♠

d. ♣

  

6. What is your choice of weapon?

a. ♦

b. ♣

c. ♥

d. ♠

  

7. What do you want to be remembered for in this magical day and age?

a. ♦

b. ♥

c. ♠

d. ♣

  

8. Who would be your best friend from the book series?

a. ♥

b. ♣

c. ♠

d. ♦

9. What would be your choice of lunchbox avatar?

a. ♣

b. ♦

c. ♠

d. ♥

10. If you had an arch-nemesis in the HoC series, who would be yours?

a. ♥

b. ♣

c. ♦

d. ♠

11. What does the name “Taps” mean to you?

a. ♦

b. ♠

c. ♥

d. ♣

  

12. Who’s your favorite teacher from the HoC series?

a. ♥

b. ♦

c. ♣

d. ♠

  

13. How would you react to receiving a royal reward and recognition?

a. ♥

b. ♣

c. ♠

d. ♦

*Now, add up how many of each suit you have. *


-If 1 suit far outweighs the rest, you're a double of that suit. (You have the double's special ability for that suit.)

-If you have 2 that are close or even, you're a cross-suit! (Which means you get to dabble in both suits.)


(Edit) 11/30/17

P.S. There will be more on this when I release more on what each suit is known for.

-T.Erickson

Working on some Taps Comic Strips

I've decided to work on a big Taps project.

Surprised? Probably not. She's my favorite after all. ;) 

In any regard, it's going to feature many of the HoC cast. But, I will say it'll take a bit before you see all of them. Especially since our cast has 60+!

I plan on doing anything during Taps' lifetime, which covers over 300 years!

I mostly want to focus on humor and/or adventure. Only the future can tell. I don't know how many I can get out during the week. I think it'll be whatever suits my fancy.

I know from the work I did on the first comic strip today, it took around 7-8 hrs! 

But, take into consideration, I had to think up & make the logo too. I worked from start to finish on the rough draft through the flat color. (Sorry, no shading! Maybe I'll worry about shading something big for the holidays.)

It's going to be done in my advancstik style, so I can save on time (believe it or not).

So, here's to a good day!

Update: I'll be working next week on the 4th draft of book 5.

After book 5, I will be taking a break from the HoC series and working on another unfinished project. But, I plan on working on the comic strips during it.

-T. Erickson

Top Notch Market Logo

Here's the official Top Notch Market logo.

Taps owns the market, hence her hat and bow tie are centered.

The 4 suit symbols are represented to show that all 4 suits are allowed to buy and sell there (all houses are welcome).

The rainbow, Taps sees as God's promise (Gen 9:13-16 KJV), so it's there too. Plus, His love encircles all.


Top Notch Mareket logo (C) T&M Erickson


-T.Erickson

HoC 4 is OUT!!!

Yes! It's finally out and ready for reading!

Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NABUW69/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1480291627&sr=1-6&keywords=Michelle+Erickson


Enjoy! :D


-T.Erickson

HoC 4 Udate

Hello All,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I update facebook, but I don't update here as often. Gotta fix that!

In any case 44/52 chapters are complete for the final go through for book 4! I have 5 more illustrations to do and the art will be complete.

So, hopefully, the book will come out Thanksgiving weekend! :D


-T. Erickson

Book 4 Update - 7th draft

Hello All,

We were handed back the copy from our first pre-reader. Yay! Mom's finished fixing all the small mistakes. Now we need to discuss cutting chapters and rearranging a few events to make it flow better.

More good news, I've completed all 52 RDs! Now I'm doing the Line Art (or LA). I'm on 18/52. Some of them are really detailed, others are simple. Some have more than 1 subject in them so it gives the readers more to look at.

Mom is also having her books uploaded to other places now: Kobo, Nook, iTunes, 24 Symbols, Page Foundry, Scribd, Toline. (HoC series will be added later.)


Keep happy,

-T. Erickson

HoC 4 Update-Sept or Oct?

Hello Wonderful Readers,

There's a lot we've been working on. So far, we've got 50 chapters in bk 4! This could change. We're currently having our first pre-reader read bk4. It's on draft 7 at the moment.

I've been working on the rough drafts for the chapter headings. They're the usual run of emotions (the rainbow spectrum!). This round, more of them are complicated due to what I found exciting in this book and because I have more time.

We have a lot more battle and emotions are riding high as we complete this book and head onto the final book in the series: Fourth Corner. Believe it or not, we have some of book 5 written (in its earliest form, but still it's exciting).

Questions you may have:

Q: Will there be deaths? 
A: Many.

Q: Are the lead characters some of those deaths? (Sarah, Ransom, Dee, etc.)
A: Perhaps. You'll have to read and find out. ;)

Q: Are Sarah and Ransom finally going to be bf/gf in this book?
A: They want to be and are constantly begging us to allow it to happen. Hmm...

Q: Is there going to be another Oblamay chapter?
A: No. We originally had 2 chapters of the next oblamay but it tended to bog the story down.We cut those chapters out.

Q: Will bk 4 come out at the end of August, like you said?
A: September, hopefully.

Q: Why do you keep switching the release dates for bk 4?
A: Would you give an important dinner guest a 1/2 made meal? No. And we won't either. We want your taste buds to dance and sing with all the wonderful savory storylines we've come up with, leaving you begging for more! "Bring on the dessert!"

Hopefully that answers some of your questions and will let you know about the progress.

-T. Erickson

HoC has a new label look!

God works in wonderful ways and at times through others.

Hannah Bischoff has become our typographer for House of Cards. She's done an amazing job at making the books look official. (We've now got a logo/trademark! How cool is that?)

For those who are wondering: "Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point size, line length, line-spacing (leading), letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space within letters pairs (kerning)." -Wikipedia

Hannah's also been kind enough to start teaching me how to use social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, etc), something that I'm not as connected with as I need to be. 

I'm looking at this as a wonderful way to connect with others, who'll want to spread the word of an amazing book series that is ready to make its place in the hearts of readers forever.

Update:

HoC 4 will probably not be ready until August 2016. Sorry guys. But we did complete RD 3 yesterday. RD 4 is in the works. Hopefully, things will go a lot smoother now.

-T. Erickson

HoC Bk 4 Update!

Hello Everyone,

There's a lot going on. We're still working on the 3rd RD of book 4. We're working on setting everything up just right. 
Soooo...we're probably not going to get the book out in June. (Sorry! :( But you understand, you wouldn't want to give someone a half baked pie.) Hopefully we'll have it out by the end of July.

I've got a long list of illustrations to do, 41 so far. Could develop into more. (YIKES!)

Meanwhile, have a funny sketch I did with Sarah and Taps discussing Tippi (tight pants): 

Hope it tickled your funny bone. It made me smile. :D

-T.Erickson

Siren Call - Cover, Sneak Peek!

Well Ladies and Gents,

Here's HoC bk 4's cover!

That's Sarah on the front. She's looking back at Ransom, her date. She's wearing a special pair of gloves to make her dress more formal. You might recognize the roses in her hair from book two, they were a gift.
Does she look a little different? Her hair has gone from brown to blonde. Why? You'll find out inside the story.

The car behind her is a Rolls Royce limo. And yes, the driver knows exactly what they're doing! It's a SUITE car, and if you've read the series, then you know what this baby can do. BUT, it's not the limo that first chased her. This particular limo is grey.

Behind her is an ice cream parlor: Good E's Ice Cream Shoppe. It's special today is: Rocky Road. (I thought it was a fun gag.)


Hope that tickles your speculation until we can get the book out. We're hoping for June. But we'll see how fast I can get the inside illustrations done.

-T. Erickson

HoC Bk3 is Out! :D

Slap Jack: House of Cards Bk 3 is finally out (digitally) and ready for purchasing!

Go here to purchase: HoC Bk3

The blurb on the back:

Sarah survived the first two weeks at the Tapestry! 

Taps adopted her and she now has siblings that were also orphans. 
She's becoming more confident using her magic. 
Ransom is in love with her - she sees it in his eyes and feels it in his heart, even if she's too young to do anything about it. 

On the flip side: 

Her bodyguard was murdered and it remains unsolved. 
Taps is not only a cursed ghost, she and Sarah's brother are infected with a werewolf virus. 
Sarah still isn't sure what Dee is, but glad she's nearly finished knitting her brain back together. 

On the bright side of things, her friends are safe! 

She thinks. 
Maybe. 
Hmm...is anyone safe in the magical world? Ever?


I know it's late for me posting this (it was released April 14th of this year), but we've been busy with Books 4 &5! Our artist is already working on book 4's cover.

Once these books are finished, (we're thinking 5 or so for this series), I'm hoping to update this blog with more pictures and info on the main cast.

So, here's hoping for many accomplishments and that our books will be widespread and known in the next year!

-T. Erickson