Kalamarion Starbird Assault Corsair

The trilogy is based off a 70s era space toy that was produced shortly after Star Wars came out. Most of the depictions I've seen on the internet have this being a two person ship. But if you look at it closely, it clearly is much bigger in scale. I believe it was meant to be manned by up to 20 crewmen. Complete with crew quarters, a sickbay, engineering and bridge, this ship was meant to go places and do scientific research or military/police action. It is on this notion that I've predicated the entire trilogy.

Starbird Assault Corsair in space dock

In an opening chapter of the series, ten new Starbird Assault Corsair are staging from their space docks orbiting the planet Kalamar. This concept was taken from a Star Trek movie. I drew this back in the late 70s.

Richard Alexander Niker

Rick was the first character I ever penned to paper and has been a staple throughout the entire series.

Gunnar Lee Conrad

Gunnar came along sometime after his best friend, Rick. Gunnar was my way of putting myself front and center into the adventure.

Audra Lane Atlanta

The love interest of Gunnar, Audra is married to him and a lot of the trilogy revolves around their love story.

Casey Jenae Barker

As they have are thrown into similar circumstances in the trilogy, Gunnar and CJ are paired up through most of the series.

Colonian F-2 Flitestreak

CJ Barker's personal fighter. It seats a pilot and copilot side by side. A long stretch of book one is spent in this fighter.

The planet Reako

The planet Reako is a dark, storm shrouded water world with a ring of rocks that a chase takes place in.

Colonian F-2 Flitestreak closeup

This concept was taken from another space model I had back in the late 70s. I think they called it the Ghost ship or something like that. The entire model was made of luminescent plastic and glowed in the dark. Inside was a small scout ship from which this design was taken.

Facebook Author page cover photo

Nina was a real trooper in helping me get my Facebook page for the Starbird trilogy up and running. I understand the dynamics of writing and creating a book, but I have no concept of how she's able to produce the artwork she does.

Starbird Interior titling

Even the interior work has to come from somewhere and thanks to Nina, it's there.

Starbird cover art

Nina was kind enough to render out version of the finished cover for poster printing. I don't know how hard it was to do, but I sure appreciated it.

Final cover submission

The cover as submitted to the printers. It follows a pre-calculated printing template. Everything has to be in the correct place or it could be cut off, in the middle of a binding fold or omitted completly.

Star Bird Final Front Book Cover

The cover cut down to just the front. This would be used as the E-Book version.

Starbird in the bookstore

A sight that every author dreams of. Their book on store shelves.