Curiosity Kills - new

Back in April 2005, I decided to self-publish one of my novels, a little thing called "Gemutations: Mercenaries and Angels"

There are several things I regret about how I handled the book... From rushing through editing to get it out there, to letting their artists have too much leeway with my art...

Case in point
Here is the source material for the image above, which was what I sent them in order to do the cover:



Here is what they did to my image:

[link]

I was to say the least unhappy with the coloring (when the background looks pretty damn amazing). But I didn't have the money to actually make the needed color scheme changes (I was already pushing quite a bit of cash to get the book on shelves).

So this image is something I've been meaning to redo, my way, for a long time. I finally sat down to knock it out...I love vacation!

EDIT: I meant to include the excerpt from the story off which this picture is based...so here we go:

The shark-man paused abruptly mid-stroke while chasing a large rockfish. He raised his nose almost like a dog testing the wind. She hunkered down closer to the rock as he turned to face her hiding spot. He was motionless with the exception of a flick or two from either his hand or foot, and those odd fins at his elbows moved constantly to maintain his position in the water. His lip curled slightly into a half smile, and he made deliberate strokes toward her position. "Oh shit," Angelina muttered torn between staying put to see if he actually knew she was there, or make a run for the surface and hope she could outrun him. As it came closer and seemed headed straight for her rock, she panicked.
She kicked off the rock with as much strength as she could muster, hoping to gain an advantage with the extra distance. She swam hard, not looking back, and not wanting to know how close the creature was to catching her. Her effort availed her nothing, for within yards of the surface a large webbed hand closed over her faceplate and dragged her back. The other arm wrapped tightly about her waist, and the creature angled his feet up twisting them both in the water and swimming back towards the depths.