Welcome to the Cosmos Collective~
I'm Cosmos, and I'll be your guide. What am I? Well, a Muse of sorts. I'm called a Celestial - and we come in as many sizes and forms as there are colours in the rainbow. Celestials are just one of the many things milling about in Astra's head. Stay here long enough and you might just get to meet some of the other interesting things going on in that cranium of hers.
This is a little website to showcase Astra's works and stories, from the magic-pervaded Ul-Zaorith to the back-burner manga stories of all genres. Keep in mind this is just a basic overview of the various creations that she's working on, both those she intends to publish and those that are just for fun or creation's sake. You'll find synopses and links to other places where you can see full-sized images or read full versions of the stories.
And of course, she does art commissions, primarily drawn by hand and/or coloured in Photoshop CS2; but occassionally she takes sewing commissions, and other design work - such as tattoo and costume design.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me!
To get in touch with Astra herself, or to order some of her creations, please check out the aptly named Contact Info page.
Enjoy your stay ~
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Why not check out some of the other websites and places Astra spends time and posts her work?
DeviantART is a well known and well-loved community for the sharing of Art in all its forms. Astra mostly posts up her traditional drawings and digital paitings, but she's also posted up photos of her sewing craftsmanship - yes all done by hand (no machines) - and occassionally her shorter works of prose.
Gaia Online is a great place to pick up commissions, as it generally has a wealth of people willing to pay imaginary gold for real art. And surprisingly it has a willing slew of artists who are willing to artistically pimp themselves out in order to collect tiny pixel items for their tiny pixel avatars. Astra is in fact one of these artists. Her username is Taro Rae, if you want to look her up.
Gaia Online is also a great interface for running your own little show. Aside from being able to post all manner of things in the forums, you can also set aside a little section of the site for Forums. Astra's is called The Otherworlds, and aside from subhosting a horridly incomplete look at Ul-Zaorith, it also hosts the game of Astra's creation called Empyreans. 1 part text RP, 1 part tabletop RPG, 1 part original art, 1 part constantly evolving world and storyline. Check out the immensity that is Empyreans, and you'll get a good idea of the magnitude of detail that Astra puts into every story she creates.
Lunaescence is a posting forum for sharing written works of every topic under the sun. True they started as a fanfic forum, but they now have a sizable collection of Fantasy, Novel, and Original stories, which fits Ul-Zaorith rather swimmingly. Astra has begun posting up chapters of her first book Legend of the Quill, and will likely continue to post them. Obviously, if she gets a good response she'll be more inclined to post up more! So go check it out and show your enthusiasm!
Stickam is a social networking site/webcam chat interface all in one. While Astra refuses to have anything to do with the Book of Faces phenomenon or MySpace or like sites, she does have a weakspot for camchat. Mostly to torment her viewers with her exceedingly random playlist, she is also contemplating doing readings of her stories, in segments of course. Again - assuming there is a demand for such a thing. Or you can simply chat with her - sans cam or mic, if you so please. In fact, you can chat to someone without even signing up, so it you'd ever like to talk to Astra in real time, see if she's Live.
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It should be stated at the get-go that aside from a couple years of self-publishing some 9 chapters of her oldest manga story, Immortals, Astra has yet to be noticed or recognized for her creative force.
So, unfortunately, you won't be able to find any of her creations on your local bookstore's shelves.
What's that you say? You'd really like to pick up a copy? Well then make some noise! Send your friends here, tell your coworkers, coerce your family. The more folks we get hollaring to see this stuff in print, the more we'll know it's a viable dream.
There's been a lot of trash printed simply because someone knew somebody. So, let's get the word out, and hopefully, Astra will meet someone who can get her foot in the door.
When you're as determnied as she is (believe me, it's kind of intimidating for a wayward Celestial like myself) I'd like to believe it's only a matter of time.
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A quick little Site Map:
Home - You are here. It's an introduction, see?
Contact Info - Here you'll find the prices and contact to purchase commissions, e-mail and other basic info should you wish to get in touch with Astra or myself, Cosmos.
Stories - Here you'll find brief overviews of each of the major stories Astra is working on - even if she's no intention of ever finishing some of them, as well as some key character bios.
Ul-Zaorith - Since nearly all of Astra's spare time is devoted to working out and learning more about this enigmatic world, including developing an RPG version, in the progress of writing two trilogies and series of 9 novels , it really just deserves its own page.
Gallery - Some of Astra's favourite pieces that she'd like to showcase to really illustrate the stories and entice you to commission some of her work.
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