Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Cover Art for The Tainted City!

Poking my head out of my writing cocoon to say: The Tainted City has cover art, woo hoo!  (Also, the book is now available for preorder at Amazon!).  The artist is the enormously talented David Palumbo, who did the art for The Whitefire Crossing.  Check it out:

Cover art for The Tainted City
I don't know about other authors, but for me it's both amazing and surreal when I first see cover art for my book.  I guess because the art is the first proof that the manuscript you've slaved so hard over is going to be a real, honest-to-gosh book sitting on the shelves...something other people will actually read.  (Whether or not that idea inspires glee or panic depends on the day!)  First all I can think is a resounding, Keanu Reeves-style Whoa.  And then all day I keep running back to the computer to peek at the art again, like it might've vanished when I wasn't looking.  (Just the other night my husband had to be all, "Quit staring at your cover art and finish writing the darn book!")  Can't wait to see what the final cover design will look like, with title and all!  And in the meantime, yes, back to finishing the story...             

11 comments:

  1. I get to comment first! :)

    Once again, Dev and Kiran in an action shot. This picture, by the Lou Anders rule, suggests the focus is going to be first and foremost on the city rather than the mountains.

    And yes, in all that blather, let me say the obvious--it looks good.

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  2. I like the balance of it enough to wish there didn't have to be words written over it later on.

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  3. Paul - the King of Comments strikes again! :) And yep, between the title and the art, hopefully people will know it takes place mostly (but not entirely) in Ninavel.

    Maz - Heh, reminds me of that awesome cover painting Michael Whelan did for Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings...where after they put Sanderson's name & the book title on the front in hyoooooge letters, you could barely see the gorgeous art. (& I thought, what a shame!!!)

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    1. They made that cover into a wallpaper (which I dutifully downloaded).

      I'd love it if they did the same for your cover.

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    2. Paul - you can always email Night Shade and request it!

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  4. Seeing one's book cover must be kind of like a sonogram: a glimpse of your child while she's still growing, waiting to be born.

    Only this one is in color and has cool bolts of mage lightning. :-)

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  5. Maine - heh! Also, with cover art you can tell what the heck you're looking at. (Mostly.)

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  6. I pre-ordered it yesterday, and just noticed it in my basket with the title added. Looks great.

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  7. Maine, thanks for the preorder! (haha, kind of a head trip to think that people can preorder the book when I haven't finished writing it yet...though soon, darn it, soon...)

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  8. Really enjoying the art, but I got a feeling that it'll look even better with some text. I think it'll contrast well with the simplicity of what's there currently.

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    1. Well, if you want to see it with title & such...there's a preliminary version up on Amazon (somewhat to my dismay, since right now the Amazon image is an old version of the cover art, where Kiran's hair is short & light brown instead of long & black like it should be...not that anybody but me will probably notice or care about the hair, haha!). Hopefully we'll have a final approved version with title and everything soon and I will post it here!

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