Well, it turns out that the queen visited the set of Game of Thrones yesterday, and, in a move that was the greatest disappointment to the internet since Firefly was cancelled, entirely failed to sit on the Iron Throne.

Or so we were told.

I know better. After the cameras and the journalist had gone, and the lights were turned out, she returned to take her rightful seat and stare down at the remains of the rivals who had defied her. How do I know? I sneaked in and took a photo. So, here is incontrovertible evidence:

Some credits:

The photo of the Iron Throne is by Leandro Amato on Flickr.

The skulls: http://elevit-stock.deviantart.com/art/E-S-craneos-308023161

The background: http://elevit-stock.deviantart.com/art/E-S-Serenity-Chapel-145663237

The queen herself materialised through pure, dark will.

Thank you to all.

So, I have been attempting to upgrade my Photoshop skills. In the old days, that simply involved undoing the top of the skull, removing the Photoshop-cortex and replacing it with a newer model, but you know the way that brains are made these days, what with being impossible to upgrade components yourself.

Anyway, I’ve been reduced to actually having to practice to get better. I know, right?

Most of my Photoshop work I do when I’m designing book covers or websites, but that doesn’t always give you the opportunity to practice the things you’re not good at, so I’m starting to do some ‘photomanipulations’ to practice my techniques.

I’m putting them up on deviantART (along with a few of my covers which I’m particularly fond of), which is an awesome place to see other people’s work and to get stock you can use for making images.

Here’s my first attempt:

There’s a larger version available on deviantART, if you enjoy staring at really big things. Like elephants.

I’m not an artist, and I don’t think I ever will be, but a few years ago, I wouldn’t have had a hope of doing something like this.

Here’s the stock I used to make the image.

• The model
• The background
• The street lamp
• The bats (they’re there; they’re just tiny…)

In other news, Steph and I have been together 13 years today, which, wow, is a long time, right? Neither of us could have imagined when we met at Clarion West back in 2001 that we’d end up here with our two lovely, amazing little boys and careers as professional writers. It’s been a fantastic 13 years. Thank you, sweetheart.