Riposte: Back to Black

Riposte, the fencing book I've been working on for the past few years, went through some changes last week. I was finishing up colors on the first chapter when I realized that I had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Riposte is a crime story, inspired by some of my favorite noir films from the 30's and 40's: Out of the Past, Gilda, The Phantom Lady, The Killers, and Double Indemnity. It's about revenge, betrayal, and murder... so why did I want it to be in color?

I decided to start over. I replaced the blue with gray tones on the first four pages, and showed them to Soline Scutella, my editor/publisher. We came to the conclusion that the gray tones did indeed fit the story better, giving it a sharper edge that was closer to the original mood I'd intended to convey when I wrote the story.

So... long story short: Riposte will now be in black & white (with gray tones)!

Here is one of the "color vs. black & white" pages I sent to my editor, so you can see the difference between the two versions: