Cover Ideas

Hired a Fiverrrr artist I'd worked with before to brainstorm ideas for the Paris book. So many directions I could go with that one, but so far I've not had much luck roughing something up.

Last time, she had two ideas, one a variation of something I'd played with before (in fact it is the background on my Wordpress author's site). The other was new; I'd thought about a graphical treatment, but I hadn't thought of going literal with the "fox."

My other problem with graphics is the exception; I couldn't figure out a graphical style for the London book.

Well, here's my revisit. Instead of the protagonist, a literal fox. That makes for a lot more freedom in graphical styles.

The Fox Knows Many Things -- Athens, a Classical Greek focus, a pottery-centered plot. So that one is obvious. A fox, perhaps with grapes, in red-figure or even black-figure style.

A Fox's Wedding -- Japan, though runs across multiple periods. Sumi-e and the Edo-era prints are both referenced, as is Heian-period artwork (and this gets closest to the specific historical moment key in the plot. In any case they'd all work, and all identify as Japanese setting. And the fox as messenger for Inari is all over the plot, and the climax is in the snow with the motif of "blood upon the snow" so an Edo woodblock of a fox in a snowy landscape with red torii gate...

Sometimes a Fox -- Paris, with the specific period being 1900, although rather than Art Nuevo the artistic focus is Impressionists, going back to 1870 and also including the poster art. If there was a human figure I'd totally reference the poster of Aristide Bruant. There is also Steampunk, but the light focus of the "en l'an 2000" cigar boxes would be a better match. Still, for the fox, would be hard to beat the old sign for Le Chat Noir, with a fox in place of the black cat.

Fox and Hounds -- London, but the focus is very much the early part of the London Blitz. Which was puzzling me for a while; although there is some Blitz-related public-service stuff it isn't interesting enough as a distinct style. Thing is, although it is a minor thread Linnet (the writer of the Blitz Diary at the center of the plot) is a science fiction fan and period pulp magazines, including a name-drop of Frank R. Paul, is in the text. Still, this doesn't seem a direction that would be clear to the reader. Perhaps a very simple graphical treatment using the meme-able (also name-checked in the novel) "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster. With some obvious war-time touches.

After all that, the next book is probably 1950s, desert, Atomic tests and UFO craze, and '50s pulp or advertising look might be appropriate. Also state-side, I want to do something with Viking re-enactors and folk music circles, something with vintage warbirds and a lot of US-oriented W.W.II stuff, and maybe a noir-mystery-thing in SF but somehow also involving Boston...

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When you are crawling through collections of design fonts you (well, I) have this reaction of wanting to write the book that goes with the font. Thinking about recognizable art styles gives me so many ideas, from Byzantine mosaic art to...

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The other thing my Fiverrrr had suggested was maps. She had grabbed one of the generic "compass on top of old map" images but the terrible thought is to find appropriate maps. With possibly an appropriate artifact, though not all of the books have an obvious one.

"Knows" -- Okay, this one isn't obvious. A nautical chart of the waters to the south of the Attic Peninsula, given how much boat business there is in it. Or one of the modern maps created trying to track the voyages of Odysseus. However, since this is an introduction to a series about an archaeologist, a diagram of an archaeological dig might be the thing. Artifact-wise, could be a potsherd, but I like the idea of the clay Owl of Athena.

"Hounds" -- the London Underground map, or a period map of Bazalgette's sewers. And although there is a Roman coin that starts the adventure off, this is Penny in archaeological field school and the artifact on top of the map should be a dirt-encrusted archaeologist's trowel.

"Wedding" -- okay, maps falls down a little on this one. Possibly a floor plan of the Transcendence cult headquarters. Or a modern map of the Gion district of Kyoto. Or an old map of the straits where the naval battle that caused the Sword to go into the ocean. Artifact is absolutely a magatama bead.

"Sometimes" -- modern Paris with the clues marked. Or Montmartre in period. Or a map of the 1900 International Exposition. Artifact-wise...I dunno, maybe something steampunk.

But looking at this list, even with consistency in title layout (a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" swoosh?) and color-grading, it might be hard to get them to pull together as a single series. Probably better off with graphic styles.