News
One year later... paperbacks! July 1, 2016 16:30
From Jess:One year ago today, Chris wrote the first blog post announcing "Rescue Sirens." We'd just received the hardcover copies of the introductory book in the series, "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist," which we debuted a week later at San Diego Comic-Con.
The year since then has been incredibly exciting and rewarding. Chris and I have been thrilled to share our world with you, to hear what you think of our lifeguard mermaids, to see your book photos and your fan art, to read your reviews and to talk with you. There are so many more adventures that we want to take you on with "Rescue Sirens," and we're working behind-the-scenes to bring those next stories to life in new and different ways.
But it all started with "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist," and we want everyone to be able to read the book -- even if you missed out on the hardcover. The book is available in eBook format on Amazon, but we realize that nothing beats a book that you can hold in your hands, and that's why we spent part of our spring reviewing the manuscript and tidying it up to reprint it as a paperback.
Those paperbacks are here!
The paperback version is the same general size as the hardback edition (minus the bulk added by the hardcover binding), and the end of the book contains the same gallery of character artwork drawn by Chris and colored by Edgar Delgado as well as concept sketches by interior illustrator Genevieve Tsai. Clarity edits have been made; typos have been corrected; the front cover has been given a pop of vivid Miami Beach color. This is the definitive edition of "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist."
In the weeks to come, Chris and I will be shipping the paperbacks to Amazon so you can order the book directly through their website. We'll let you know as soon as they're available!
Until then, thank you all for an unbelievable first year.
Mer-May giveaway winners! June 14, 2016 18:21
From Jess:
Our book giveaway for Mer-May last month was such fun and a great success! Each "mermaid Monday" in May, we posted an image on our Instagram and invited "Rescue Sirens" fans to re-post that image on their accounts to enter for a chance to win one of our remaining first edition hardcover books, personalized by yours truly and Chris.
In addition to re-posting a "Rescue Sirens" image, we also asked giveaway entrants to share with us their favorite Siren. We did this because I wanted to include some little extras along with the copies of the books and I thought it would be cool to send items themed to each winner's favorite character, but reading about why people liked each character was an unexpected delight! I wish we would've saved them all (next time!), but here are just a few examples:
"My favorite character is NIM, because she is an animal lover with a flair for nostalgia." -euphorian54
"Kelby is my favorite rescue siren because she reminds me of myself while growing up. She's shy but pushes all her insecurities aside to help her friends or anyone who needs her help" -caymanmermaidbubbles
"Kelby has to be my favorite Rescue Siren, she reminds me of me in so many ways from her shyness to her love for mother ocean. I don't have the guts that she has to leave her family and life behind to pursue her dream, but after reading this book I have been greatly inspired. Kelby found amazing friends and a new home and I hope, like Kelby I can also find my home." -leascelynn
"It's hard to choose a favorite character but I'll have to go with Echo. Who wouldn't love an athletic girl with purple hair!" -punchy_mcfist
"It's hard to choose just one of the girls as a favorite but, I feel like Pippa is on the top of the list. Considering I see myself in her personality. Always finding the better in people and seeing the glass as half full. She's always focusing on the positive rather than the negative." -jerseymermaid9
"Favorite siren? Gotta rock the hair like Maris. Rep the colored bobs." -mosuga
Each week, winners' usernames were drawn at random, I packed up the books and goodies, and I shipped out the packages -- but it didn't end there, because all of our lucky recipients gave us a great gift by posting photos of their "Rescue Sirens" prize packages.
Neat, right? We loved seeing our books arrive safely at their new homes! And not only did Instagram user leascelynn create an awesome shadowbox to display her "Rescue Sirens" swag, but she also surprised us with this beautiful paper art of Kelby:
We were so impressed, and so touched! Thanks for all the "Rescue Sirens" love, everyone.
If you still haven't had an opportunity to read "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist," remember, you can always buy it in digital eBook format on Amazon -- but if you'd like a physical copy, we're also in the process of reprinting the book as a paperback.
The manuscript is actually at our printer's as I type, and we're hoping to have the softcovers up for purchase on Amazon sometime this summer. (It all depends on our ability to figure out this whole "fulfillment by Amazon" thing. Oof.) The paperback will feature fewer typos, a handful of clarity edits, and a revised cover design. We're so eager to share it with you all!
Mer-May giveaway on Instagram May 1, 2016 00:00
From Jess:
To celebrate "Mer-May," we'll be giving away a hardcover first edition copy of "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist," signed and personalized, every Mermaid Monday in May!
Last year, we desperately wanted to observe Mer-May -- but "Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist" was still being prepped to go to print in May of 2015, so we chose to keep everything under wraps until we knew the books would be done in time for San Diego Comic-Con. We were so close, yet so far! It was hard to let the month go by without saying a word about our new mermaid book series.
But this year, we can fin-ally celebrate the mermaid-iest time of the year, and we're doing so with a month-long giveaway!
The giveaway will take place on Instagram. Here's how to enter:
- Follow @rescuesirens on Instagram.
- Every Monday, we'll post a different image -- repost that image with the hashtag #rescuesirensbook and tag @rescuesirens. Your account has to be public so we can see it! Sorry, giveaway accounts aren't eligible to win.
- Tell us your favorite Rescue Siren. In your image caption, share your favorite Rescue Siren and why she's your number one. Is it heroic Nim, shy Kelby, fierce Echo, sweet Pippa, or cool Maris?
- Tag a friend and increase your chances! Think your friends might like "Rescue Sirens"? Tag your BFF (best fin forever) in your image repost and have your username entered into the drawing twice.
The fine print: you must have a United States mailing address (or a friend who has one) so we can send you the book if you win. This giveaway is not affiliated with or endorsed by Instagram in any way.
If you don't win one week, you can always enter the following week; simply repost that week's new image and follow the instructions as before. There are five Mondays in May, so you'll have five chances to get your hands on a hardcover copy of the book!
Good luck, buoys and gills!
Nim and Kelby, drawn by Brianna Garcia April 23, 2016 17:29
From Jess:
One of the artists that Chris and I like to pester visit with the most during comic conventions is illustrator, storyboard revisionist, and color stylist Brianna Garcia. Her drawings are fun, joyful, and utterly beautiful, and she herself is such a pleasure to talk to! We'd been wanting to commission her for quite some time, and we finally asked if she wouldn't mind drawing two of our Rescue Sirens: Nim and Kelby. Luckily for us, Brianna agreed!
Working with her was a breeze; after we briefly described what we were thinking about, Brianna went off and came back with four awesome sketches of Nim and Kelby being BFFs (best fins forever) together. The hardest part was choosing which version to bring to final!
(Click to enlarge.)
Any one of them would've been amazing, but we finally decided on the second of the four sketches. The endearing expressions and the poses that showed off both girls' mermaid tails helped make this our favorite, so Brianna cleaned up her drawing and gave it a striking paint job:
WonderCon sketches March 30, 2016 11:11
From Jess:
In between our continuing work on the next stories in the series and the reprint proofread, Chris and I made the time to drop by WonderCon, held this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center over Easter weekend. You know the saying: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy -- and, as we have to remind ourselves, getting out and getting inspired is so much better for the quality of your work than just keeping your nose to the grindstone all the time. Fortunately, WonderCon was a font of inspiration!
Toting a 9"x12" portfolio full of Bristol and character reference sheets, Chris and I visited a few of our favorite artists and asked if they would sketch our Rescue Sirens. While two of the artists took their pages home to work on them after the convention, we came away from the show with a trio of wonderful new drawings, each wildly different from the next but equally delightful.
First up: Pippa, skillfully sketched by HBO Digital Products production designer Claire Hummel. Chris and I are pretty convinced that Claire is magic; she can draw anything from a mermaid like Pippa to an armored triceratops to a gorgeous rocky landscape to a Disney princess in painstakingly historically accurate clothing -- and she does it all so quickly! Plus, Claire might actually love the National Park Service more than we do (which is saying a lot), and talking to her is always a pleasure. We were so happy that she agreed to draw one of our girls, and pleased as punch that she chose Pippa! You can see more of Claire's fine work at www.clairehummel.com.
Next: Maris, stunningly illustrated by freelance visual development artist Casey Robin. We've been wanting to find an excuse to collaborate with Casey for ages now; her artwork is adorable, her enthusiasm is infectious, and she draws gorgeous mermaids and fairytale creatures. While Chris and I generally suggested that each artist we approached draw the mermaid that she or he thought would be the most fun, we really wanted Casey to draw Maris. Lucky for us, Maris was the mermaid that Casey wanted to draw, anyway! And, as you can see, her graceful colored pencil illustration turned out perfectly. For your daily dose of sweetness and light, visit www.caseyrobin.com.
The last of the three commissions that we collected from WonderCon, another sketch of Pippa, is from an artist new to us: Chrystin Garland (also known as Lady Garland), a comic book artist currently working on the "Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems" miniseries! We learned of Chrystin's cute, quirky work from Casey Robin; both artists contributed to the recent "Curiouser & Curiouser" and "Sweetheart Show" galleries, and Casey said that Lady Garland would be the perfect person to draw bubbly, boisterous Pippa. She was right! =) We're crazy about the high energy and cartooniness of this piece, and Chrystin herself was a joy to talk to. To see more of her art, including her work on the "Adventure Time" comics, check out www.ladygarland.com.
How cool is that? We love seeing our lifeguard mermaids drawn in other artists' styles; it's so much fun to discover how other people choose to interpret our characters, and we can't wait to receive the final two sketches that we commissioned at WonderCon when they're finished! As soon as we have them, we'll share them here on the blog as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. In the meantime, we hope you've had a marvelous March!