lucifersprize | I Got Gorgeous Gift Art from Meus

...and I'm gonna squee over it.

It was such a lovely surprise to log on and find a whole set of art for 'The Unsuitable Slave' .

The detail is incredible, the depiction of the dark war-torn world they live in and of course the seemingly commanding and confident warrior Prince Jensen with the quietly courageous and oh-so insecure Prince Jared. I just love the colors, the images that were chosen and of course the way it was put together. She is so talented in her manipulations and graphic detail. The art post includes this PDF/PUB cover, a header, chapter banners and snatchable icons - and they make the story look like -woah this can't be mine! But it is, and I am so flattered and honored and feel so loved all at once. You really have to go take a look here where it is all proper size (mine is sized for a small screen) and give

meus_venator the love she deserves.

(More pretties --->)

The art also gave me the opportunity to step back and look at the past year - because I started to post The Unsuitable Slave, in WIP in August last year and it seems like a lifetime ago. I am a different on-line animal thanks to the support from the people who read and comment and 'participate' in my fic and I am so grateful for it all. I was writing to challenge myself and had agreed as a dare with a friend to put it somewhere 'public'. I had written House of Broken Souls and was reasonably succesful at hiding in my corner, despite being found by a few encouraging souls - I'm looking at you

buttercup22,

cheebles,

firesign10 who were such great cheerleaders (and if I missed some of you, I apologize). I thought well hell, I may write some more.. . and Unsuitable Slave was born.

I remember the first time

meus_venator showed up in my comments for The Unsuitable Slave, almost exactly a year ago and suddenly I felt very, very visible. Soon after, a couple more turned up. It was scary as hell, because the plot for Unsuitable Slave was long, complicated and very dark in places, and I was determined to stick to it. Well, she kept showing up and along with

sylsdarkplace she offered practical advice and I gradually became more relaxed. I remember being TERRIFIED the day I posted my nastiest chapter and I didn't want to look at the reaction I got (I'd never seen any of the kink/dark comms at this point). But I did, and the relief when it was still encouraging feedback was unbelievable. In fact the relief at being accepted despite what I write was incredible, and it probably changed the way I participate on LJ ever since. So, I didn't want to just say thank you for the great art but for the support I've had from the her and from sylsdarkplace and every beta who has put up with me, each reader who ever encouraged me by commenting on my fic. It all means that I'm still here, still writing, still enjoying it .. and posting out to comms with it too.

And jumping up and down over pretty , pretty J2 Art ...

((HUGS)) to

meus_venator for reminding me of all that in such a great way.

So, yeah, there's that.

~~~

I Got Gorgeous Gift Art from Meus_Venator ...