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 Reece
Notley is one of my dearest friends, the sister I
never had, and it felt strange to ask her interview
questions. But while I know her, the rest of you don't.
She's been a graphic artist for the past dozen or so years.
She works in a steel tower in downtown San Diego, where you
can see the top sides of birds as they fly by. She is the
editor and chief of
Three Crow Press, an incredible writer, and the main
artist for Morrigan
Books.
She is a collector of classic cars with a 79 Firebird and a
69 Mustang. I have the pleasure of riding in the awesome
steel beasts often, and you should all be so very jealous of
that. She was born and spent a great deal of her childhood
in Hawai'i, bouncing between the Big Island, where we met in
college, and Oahu where she attended Kam School.
Reece taught me about the blues, heavy metal and how to
drink in college, and I will love her for that for the rest
of my life. Sure as hell wish she could do my book covers
when I'm published. Drops of Crimson would not exist without
her. I stole the name of the magazine from a short story by
Reece that I published in the premiere issues, and all the
graphics for the site were made by her for me.
1 – How did you get involved in
doing covers for Morrígan Books?
Tammy Moore. One day she grabbed me and threw me under the
Morrígan Books bus. In reality, I think she said to Mark
Deniz; “Oh, I know a graphics person.” I blame Tammy. Whom I
love. But I blame.
2 – What are your favorite mediums?
I haven’t fit into a medium… Oh! Um…Photoshop. I do like
photography. I would say photos really.
 3
– What are the big no nos about doing a cover?
A cover has to grab a reader from across the room. It can’t
be too busy and too muddied in colours. I prefer simpler
covers to complex ones. Also, no more than three fonts
(which is a rule for any piece). Spell the authors’ names
right. And try to keep a title to under five words. Keep
ahead of the colour and image trends. You’ll notice a glut
of headless women over the past few years, especially in the
urban fantasy world. It’s okay the first couple of times but
after that, it looks like three year olds got a hold of the
family camera. I’m waiting for my mother’s famous
Thumb-on-Vacation shots to take over the urban fantasy
covers soon.
4 – Do you do any graphic work beyond Morrigan covers?
Yep. It’s partially how I feed the cats.
5 – How long have you been doing graphic arts?
I don’t really consider myself an artist. Maybe a designer
but even that’s pushing it. I’ve always liked art but I
don’t think I could put my name up under the artist sign. I
think we’re all designers of some sort. I’ve been one since
I could hold a crayon.
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– What is your favorite cover that you’ve done?
Dead Souls. Hands down. God, I love that spider.
7 – Is there a classic book that you wish you’d done the
cover for?
There are a few books I’d love to do. Josh Lanyon’s covers.
Donald Kingsbury’s Courtship Rite. I’d have to say Alice in
Wonderland.
8 – What books have you read lately?
Um, I beta for a few authors so I have some things that are
lurking on the horizon. I think the last book I’ve read
recently has been Marjorie Liu’s Darkness Calls. I am also
going to be dragging an actual book with me on vacation.
Conspirator by C. J. Cherryh will be making the trip along
with a couple of others I couldn’t get on the Kindle. I hate
not having books on Kindle to read, even if I actually
purchase the book to keep. I also purchased Josh Lanyon’s
Snowball in Hell so I’ll be probably reading that on the
plane.
9 – Care you share a bit about your writing?
God, um… I hate/love writing. I think I can say for every
writer that we hate it and hate what we write and hate what
we create and then alternatively love it. I’d like to tackle
really large issues and be wonderfully philosophical but
let’s face it… we can’t all have that in our writing. I
think I at least want the reader to escape with me for a few
hours. I think that’s always best.
The best compliment I’ve ever gotten was: “Why did you do
that to the car?”
L ipton
questions:
1. What is your favorite word?
Tatsu.
It’s my birth year. I have a strong alliance with it.
2. What is your least favorite word?
Can’t.
This usually is said right before I haven’t tried. I’ve
always felt that just make an effort. Don’t immediately
throw down and say no. Even if you fail, the try is worth
everything.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or
emotionally?
Music.
It helps to have music playing when I write or design.
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or
emotionally?
Discordance.
Sometimes things aren’t working and I have to back away from
it. Come at it from another angle. It also sometimes takes a
bit for me to figure out that it’s not working and therein
lies the need for a breathing in moment. Or a shot of
whiskey.
5. What sound or noise do you love?
A V8 engine. Seriously nothing can… yeah, we won’t go there.
It was almost number three. Also thunderstorms.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
Those anti-bug noise machines. The ones you plug in.
They’re marketed as “inaudible for humans”. I don’t know
what humans they are using but those things drive me nuts.
It’s that almost near the tip of my ear sound that I can
feel in my chest. Makes me want to claw out my ears.
7. What is your favorite curse word?
Probably fuck is the most used but the favourite would be a
Portuguese swear word I learned as a kid. Probably because I
confused it all the time with the word for “faeire or
brownie” and used them interchangeably… usually to my
mother’s chagrin.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to
attempt?
Coroner.
9. What profession would you not like to do?
Accountant.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say
when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
What would I like to hear? Hey you did okay!
What I will PROBABLY hear? Let’s talk about what you did to
your sister.
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