Many years ago, I fell in love with the lore surrounding the Heavener Runestone and the YA novel Glome’s Valley was born. Since that time, I’ve written a sequel, Return to Glome’s Valley.  I loved the characters and the setting, and the saga of Glome and the Heavener Runestone lived on.

Then at an author fest I met Jeff Provine of Okie Comics. He publishes (and writes most of the stories) for Okie comics – comics by Oklahomans about Oklahoma.  I talked to him about writing a comic about the Glome’s Valley story.  He liked the idea, but the books were too long to make into a comic book.  After that I wrote a short story for him, Stone of Thor, based on the books and characters.  I had so much fun!

I entered the short story, Stone of Thor, in the OWFI annual contest and won second place in YA short story category. But the fun was just beginning.

When I wrote the short story, Jeff helped me hone it into something that would work for comics.  We went back and forth several times by email and he made it better each time with suggestions and taught me along the way the art of comic book writing.  It is a whole new ball game from novel writing. Getting that short story into those tiny panels and making it not only concise but exciting is an art.

Then came Mike Kennedy.  He illustrated the story and brought it to life with his art.  It was so exciting to see how someone else imagined your story, your characters, and the setting.  I am amazed.  Mike is no light weight.  He recently illustrated a comic book cover for Marvel comics and teaches art. I’d hit the jackpot.

This week I saw the pages for the comic book that will come out online in September and will hopefully be printed as well.

Check out Mike’s art in the above picture and be sure to look at www.okiecomics.com online.  Jeff and several artists/writers have put together comic books you can order or see online.  Stone of Thor is coming out this fall.

What are you reading this week?