<center> https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExZnFwc2dqdDNwOG41aHZiNWR5aHIxam1udjY5ZjFna3FmMjlzYWltdSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/CZEThaCwvl0OXhCdUv/giphy.gif </center>

To be honest, it’s been a turbulent last couple of years for this Hivian. There was a time, not too long ago, when I believed my publishing days were behind me. But, alas, here I am giving it another go.  

One thing I’ve always really enjoyed doing on Hive is giving you all a glimpse of *how the sausage is made* in terms of my book designs. I will even sometimes attempt to incorporate your suggestions throughout the process. I used to absolutely dread the book design process but after over thirty years of self-publishing I’ve come to view the cover design as just another step in the creative process. 

As it’s been for my last three book titles, Hive has been the incubator for this book project. I’m going to call this book, *Poems from the Edge of the Apocalypse* (many thanks to @bozz for the title idea) and will contain poems that all have a common thread of things like—unity, peace, and walking ourselves back from the edges of extremism.

The book cover idea came to me this morning in the shower, as many ideas for my writing often do. The entire concept for this cover design popped into my mind’s eye like a lightning bolt—a child, holding a colorful red poppy blossom against the apocalyptic background of a demolished cityscape. 

## I’ve used Grok to create the following image as a rough concept for the cover image. ##

<center> ![BookCover.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/ericvancewalton/EoprRy3gqZ79s5GTH7soYD291zTvJ4uW5vKaeMggbxKs8vLedw65HCmtq2r4jYRgDt3.jpeg) </center>

## I plan on having the book designer incorporate my head from the photo below of me as a child onto the AI-generated figure on the cover. For some reason I couldn’t get AI to do this. ##

<center> 
![Me.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/ericvancewalton/23wMoLw5VrDWGXWcdh5u7wCGiBzqjv4XbFCPNvDjv3jVobCsSjL6iFLxMdNfCUHLVQKmi.jpeg)
</center>

In the coming weeks the arduous process of consolidating the poems, finalizing book cover design, and writing the front-matter will begin. With any luck I hope to have this new book on the market before the end of June. 

It feels so good to be publishing again and I’ll keep you all updated as the project progresses! Here we go again, say a little prayer. : )  






<center> ~Eric Vance Walton~ </center>





Be well, make the most of this day. Thank you for reading! 








 
 
 




 
<center> (Gif from Giphy.com. First image sourced from Grok, second image is original.)  </center>

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