Second-Story Man Release Party

Today is the release date of my book 'Second-Story Man' and I'm having a Release Party at the Dreamspinner Press blog site. Come check out the blog to learn more about the book.

In the meantime here is a SketchUp image from the interior of The Hide Away. It's a little bar that the main characters from the book visit often. One of the nice things about being a writer and a designer is my ability to truly visualize the places that I write about. In fact, I made some changes in the book to the description of this bar once I completed this design.

The bar fits into a space, behind a facade, on the Universal Studios backlot circa 1950. But this interior never truly existed. When I designed it I was looking for a trendy industrial look with remnants from an Art Deco past.

This is just one of the interesting places in Michael's World. I'll keep posting more, but for a preview take a look at my later posts at Dreamspinner Press blog.

Brownstone Hotel

This is the primary location for the action in my novel Second-Story Man. The Brownstone Hotel is (fictionally) the place where second-story man, Carlos meets Michael--by climbing into his window!

There are two open windows up on the second floor. Carlos actually enters the window on the right, nearest the street light, by climbing up to the top of the segmental pediment. It's not as easy a climb as he had hoped it would be.

The building is based off from the Brownstone Street buildings at Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, circa 1950. Check out my author website to learn more about Michael's World.

In other exciting news I've got a guest blog on Anne Barwell's Drops of Ink blog. Learn more about my novel and me at the link.

Second-Story Man

Offering a would-be thief a second chance is risky—especially when he could steal your heart.

Carlos had it all: a good-paying construction job, a truck, a rental house and his girl. Then he lost his job and everything else along with it. Desperate, he turns to crime—only to fail in his first attempt when he accidentally climbs into the wrong window. Carlos has to rethink his life when his victim becomes his only friend.

Michael has lost too many times in love. Prince Charming won’t be knocking at his door, with its do-not-disturb sign permanently in place, when fate finds Carlos climbing into his window. Michael’s compassion for this down-and-out lost soul turns to friendship. But Michael can’t allow things to go any further and still feel safe from heartbreak.

There are no accidents, and the second-story man discovers that in life and love there can be a second story.

Coming May 29, 2015

Fuel Barge Final Details

Here are the final details of the Fuel Barge hatch. All of the colors seen in these details were called out on production drawings. The shades were selected based upon the common shades of orange, red, or yellow seen during the series run.

The "open" and "close" buttons were actually called out as painted details. They had no dimension at all and did not glow. The fuzzy edge of the "A"on tank "A-11" is due to the fact that the pattern for this  SketchUp model was created at a much smaller bit size and pasted onto the tank.