Draft Cover Art: A STAR IN THE VOID In some ways, it is that first sight of a cover that makes a book seem real to me. Until that moment, what I'm working on is simply words on a screen. The art suddenly makes it so much more. I am thrilled to share with you the draft version of Chris Howard's art for A STAR IN THE VOID. I have been fortunate indeed that Chris has been my cover artist through the entire Halcyone Space series. In some ways, it is terribly bittersweet to be revealing this, the final cover of the series. Some of you may already know that I have something called aphantasia. It means I don't have a functioning mind's eye. Until a few years ago, I had no idea that my brain operated quite that much differently than most, but it seems as if I have a very different OS than is typical: If I close my eyes and imagine something, I don't see it. I see static. A large nothingness. It's not that I don't know what things look like, but I definitely can't see them in my mind. Seem strange? Well, to me, when people describe inner visions, I can't help but think that's pretty radical - that they walk around all day hallucinating! Anyway, how this relates to book cover design is that I have no ability to imagine what a cover might look like and then describe it to an artist. Fortunately, I've been working with Chris long enough both to trust his artistic vision and feel comfortable to give him notes that help him itirate a cover. For A STAR IN THE VOID, all I knew is that I wanted Ada May on the cover. While she's not a point of view character, she is essential to every part of this story and the series. In fact, she is the driving force behind nearly all of it. So I gave Chris some of the descriptions of May from the text. I also explained the significance of the title to him (spoilers redacted): The title refers to a lot of things: the wormhole . . . looks like a star in the void of space; it's a metaphor for hope and a distant goal. One of the things another character (Dev) often says is "morningstars don't belong in the void." She and her family are from one of the permanent shanty town/refugee camps on Earth. Morningstar is her family name and both her parents died after accepting mining contracts off Earth. In some ways, Dev *is* a star in the void. From that, Chris sent me an earlier version of what you see here. Along with his explanation for some of the elements in the image: Here's what I was thinking about for this scene: Ada finds a broken vase with scattered and dead Morningstar lilies, and with everything in ruins, she still finds one stem that's intact and blooming. . . . She picks up the flower, and from our prespective it just starts to eclipse the one very bright star in the background sky. Maybe it's a reminder that there was once a home here, with beautiful things in it, and that's all gone, but this one last lily seems to be hanging on to life. I didn't want to cover her face with a helmet, so I was also thinking this didn't really have to happen--it's just symbolic of the the perseverance of your characters, and this could be what Ada's imagining . . .? Or it could be someone's dream, a wish, hologram? But you tell me if that makes sense, or works with the story. I did want to carry the colors of the flower and green stem into the field suit she's wearing, either those are the colors woven into the suit's high-tech materials, or maybe the protective plates in the suit have some sort of chameleon function that will pick up the colors of the environment and change with it? She's all about the AI, right, so I assumed her clothing is intelligent. Morningstar lilies are really common in Japan. I saw them everywhere when I lived there--even growing in our front garden. I don't really see them here, but I'm thinking the symbol works either way--morningstar has meaning, but a flower represents life. Up to you. It's not yet finished, but it's enough for me to know that Chris nailed the emotions I wanted the cover to convey. Cover art works best (In my opinion) when it evokes the feel of the story rather than depicts a specific scene from it. And while there is not scene in this book or any of the 4 that proceeded it where Ada May picks up a lilly from the wreckage of a planet, it's hard for me to imagine any other cover doing a better job. A STAR IN THE VOID will be available Summer of 2018. Stay tuned. Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Sale Nearly 50 science fiction and fantasy books on sale for $0.99 each, multiple retailers This sale runs through March 3, 2018 and includes my first published novel, the contemporary fantasy THE BETWEEN. This is not Shakespeare's Oberon and Titania. And Lydia has no desire to be their chosen one. Welcome to the subtle war between overt and covert magic, where every choice has consequences. THE BETWEEN, Changeling's Choice book 1: a modern take on the myths of Faerie. |