new Vorkosigan book cover art
Aha. The cover for Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen has emerged from the process into the light of day.
I had very determined ideas of what I wanted for a cover for this book, iconic and thematic, and I pretty much got them. Although, as usual, communicating them had its hazards.
One of the things I have learned over the years is that one cannot convey precise visual images with words. If you are talking to art people, you have to show them pictures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNd_h... (Which pretty much sums up every cover art conference ever.) My artistic talents, alas, are vestigial, but I did my best with this sketch:
After some back-and-forthing, this is what I got:
A friend of mine called the DNA strands "Lego colored", heh, but we tried a different version with quieter hues, and they just disappeared into a muddy sort of nothing in the image. Trust me, this works much better.
I just pray it also works to sell the book...
Which will be released in hardcover on Feb. 2, 2016. Baen is indeed planning an eARC, which will be for sale as per usual off their website in due course, probably mid-November but perhaps a bit earlier. I'll keep you posted.
The cover art is by my very old friend Ron Miller. http://www.black-cat-studios.com/ Ron and I first met when I was in college and he was in art school, back in Columbus, Ohio; the first art he ever did for me was some pen-and-ink pieces for the one-shot fanzine my friend Lillian Stewart (now Carl) and I produced in those first fannish days (1968). A mere 47 years later, we're working together again.
Ta, L.
I had very determined ideas of what I wanted for a cover for this book, iconic and thematic, and I pretty much got them. Although, as usual, communicating them had its hazards.
One of the things I have learned over the years is that one cannot convey precise visual images with words. If you are talking to art people, you have to show them pictures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNd_h... (Which pretty much sums up every cover art conference ever.) My artistic talents, alas, are vestigial, but I did my best with this sketch:
After some back-and-forthing, this is what I got:
A friend of mine called the DNA strands "Lego colored", heh, but we tried a different version with quieter hues, and they just disappeared into a muddy sort of nothing in the image. Trust me, this works much better.
I just pray it also works to sell the book...
Which will be released in hardcover on Feb. 2, 2016. Baen is indeed planning an eARC, which will be for sale as per usual off their website in due course, probably mid-November but perhaps a bit earlier. I'll keep you posted.
The cover art is by my very old friend Ron Miller. http://www.black-cat-studios.com/ Ron and I first met when I was in college and he was in art school, back in Columbus, Ohio; the first art he ever did for me was some pen-and-ink pieces for the one-shot fanzine my friend Lillian Stewart (now Carl) and I produced in those first fannish days (1968). A mere 47 years later, we're working together again.
Ta, L.
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Love the cover!! Thank you for sharing your inside view of the process. It's interesting to know that you got even a small say in the design.
Interesting - the 3 strands of DNA tell us something.
Leah wrote: "Love the cover!! Thank you for sharing your inside view of the process. It's interesting to know that you got even a small say in the design."I actually got quite a large say, but it was challenging to do so effectively.
Ta, L.
Howard wrote: "Interesting - the 3 strands of DNA tell us something."So I hope!
More on the contents of the book later, closer to, at least, the release of the eARC.
Ta, L.
I just reread most of the series this past month in anticipation of the new book. Our local library is still trying to obtain some of them for me. (Some came from donations to college libraries.) I owned all of the Vor series in hardcover but my daughter absconded with them and now claims they are hers.
Preorder time! Thanks so much for sharing the cover & process.
Funny how you specified the title to be at the top in 'classy yet readable font', and instead you got the title at the bottom in inverted dark font with stars inside. Probably the right decision to put your name front and center though, because your name is more likely to to sell your book than the title, and to be honest at this point your name is probably sufficient to sell a book completely on its own.(SPOILER ALERT) The image of DNA combined with 'red queen' in the title finally clicked in my head as to what the book is likely about. It's not just a reference to Cordelia's hair! I'm somewhat curious how you'll explain the molecular workings of the kind of ATGC replacements that can form the pictured tri-part bonds, not that it will matter next to your characters and plot. Oh anticipation!
Andrew wrote: "Funny how you specified the title to be at the top in 'classy yet readable font', and instead you got the title at the bottom in inverted dark font with stars inside. Probably the right decision to..."The geneticists of the Vorkosiverse can make DNA sit up and beg, to be sure -- Guppy, herms, quaddies, kitten trees, poisons that can dissolve bones, etc. -- though in general I find it best not to try to specify the practical details too closely based on current tech, as it goes out of date too fast. Although this book won't be getting into the most exotic side of things, at least from Cordelia's galactic point of view. Barrayaran Jole still has some catching up to do.
Note that the cover shows three strands of standard double-helix DNA, not any strands of triple-helix DNA, so don't get too carried away. Symbolic visual icon, not textbook illustration.
Interestingly, according to geneticist and SF writer Dr. Joan Slonczewski, triple-stranded DNA does occur in our real-life world; I unfortunately don't remember exactly what she told me about it. Not where I'm going this time, though.
I quite like the transparent font in the title. I think it refreshes the bland (but, it turns out, compressible) block type, and is certainly classier than the gold foil mooted at one stage.
Ta, L.
Oops, I read the three colors of the DNA strands too quickly and assumed they were indicating individual nucleotide strands.Triple stranded DNA would be a good form of error checking and might even cure cancer! But also would slow down evolution.
The transparent font is fine. I was just making fun. Agree gold foil is declassé - rainbow sparkle foil is where it's at! :)
there is a (supposed) summary of the plot in the "vorkosigan saga" wiki page -- is that true???
Jaie wrote: "there is a (supposed) summary of the plot in the "vorkosigan saga" wiki page -- is that true???"You'll have to give me a link?
Ta, L.
Thank you for the link! I laughed so hard that my husband left his own computer to come in and find out what was so hilarious. Much laughter ensued. Glad you got (at least most of) what you wanted on the cover.
I'm not looking at the wiki link, and I hope they're wrong on the plot summary in any case. What fun would that be, to know all the plot ahead of time??
it is a two sentence outline... distressing though.
Jaie wrote: "second from last on the "works" section!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosi..."
Ah.
Well, not wrong exactly, but wildly incomplete. Sort of like that legendary TV guide description of The Wizard of Oz: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman
she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again.”
Spoilerific indeed, although only for the first chapter. I very strongly recommend waiting and getting Cordelia's version. It will all make much more sense then. At least for as long as she's talking... (Miles didn't only inherit his charisma-field from his Da. Double dominant, the world doesn't have a chance.)
Ta, L.
oh i'll wait !! i'm sure it will be worth it :)
Speaking of 3-strand DNA, wasn't that a key part of the story in Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntire?(I was reminded of this book recently when GoodReads popped it up on my Recommendations page. I'd call it a blast from the past.)
I just pre-ordered. The cover is very nice and I do hope it sells books. I can't tell you if it will though as you had me by putting your name on it.
Actual quote from, I believe, a book publisher, inscribed in a book which I won't name: "The artist assures me the cover is based on life, his wife having had her head grafted onto another's body and bananas grafted onto her finger tips."
All you have to put on a solid white cover is the word Vorkosigan and my 70 year old body would mow down any football player you would put in my way in order to read THAT BOOK!
Oh, that is LOVELY! So pleased for you to get such a classy cover!
I love your cover art sketch. This post made me remember to pre-order the book, too, so good job marketing Lois.
"I just pray it also works to sell the book..." Sorry, but I have never bought any of your books by its cover, I bought 'em, because they're written by you! Granted, the first one was based on a recommendation. FTR I own every book you have written in hardcover, paperback, and e-book, but I no longer read "paper," so I hope the e-book comes out soon after the hardcover. (You once signed my PocketPC in Seattle.)
Bob wrote: ""I just pray it also works to sell the book..." Sorry, but I have never bought any of your books by its cover, I bought 'em, because they're written by you! Granted, the first one was based on a re..."Baen is pretty good about getting their e-editions out promptly, and of course the eARC will be out sooner than that.
I can hardly wait, either.
While of course we hope the cover will be attractive to new (and old) readers, I have no idea what a new reader will make of this book, frankly. I think it will be readable as a stand-alone, but, as Gandalf once said, "Against some, I have not yet been tested."
Ta, L.
Irrespective of what Wikipedia has to say about the plot, I find myself visualizing Gent.Jole traveling with Lewis Carroll's Red Queen, which would not be too far off the mark, imho, what*ever* mischief Lois has dreamed up this time around.
" (Miles didn't only inherit his charisma-field from his Da. Double dominant, the world doesn't have a chance.)"Most of the people who admire Miles' tactical brilliance seem to think that it was inherited from his father. That always makes me laugh because, at least to me, most look more like Cordelia's strategies.
I haven't noticed anybody discussing Miles' inherited tactical brilliance.
Oh, how I LOVE those words: New Vorkosigan Book...
Jaie wrote: "it is a two sentence outline... distressing though."You can get quite a bit more if you go to http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/New_...
Karenhunt wrote: "Jaie wrote: "it is a two sentence outline... distressing though."You can get quite a bit more if you go to http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/New_..."
You might want to add the publisher's book description to that, as seen ferex on the Amazon page, following the header "Future Imperfect"... It will also likely be, perhaps with a little tweaking, the dust jacket copy.
I'd thought of posting that here, though it seemed premature, although if it's up on the booksellers' sites, I suppose it's public fodder now.
Ta, L.
Lois wrote: "Karenhunt wrote: "Jaie wrote: "it is a two sentence outline... distressing though."You can get quite a bit more if you go to http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/New_..."
You might want to..."
THANK YOU!
I´ll breathe deeply and wait for the release :)
Lois wrote: "Karenhunt wrote: "Jaie wrote: "it is a two sentence outline... distressing though."You can get quite a bit more if you go to http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/New_..."
You might want to..."
I'll see what I can do! Thanks,
Karen
In Real Estate it's location, location, location. In publishing it's cover, cover, cover. Read an article in First Magazine about designing the cover for the UK edition of the new Harper Lee novel. The graphic designer created twenty iterations! Compared to that, you whizzed through the process. So thrilled by the news of your new book. I would buy anything with your name as author-cover art be damned.
I wonder how useful covers are for e-books.For my purchases, it is author, author, author.
Much much MUCH better than the paperback cover for 'A Civil Campaign'. I was embarrassed to be seen with that one. My wife gave me strange looks every time she saw me with it.
I was very quick to get an ebook of it just to hide THAT cover.
I like this one, even though it doesn't look much like the OTHER book covers in this series.
Kevin wrote: "Much much MUCH better than the paperback cover for 'A Civil Campaign'. I was embarrassed to be seen with that one. My wife gave me strange looks every time she saw me with it.
I was very quic..."
I was offered a -- non-embarrassing, actually -- cover in the style of the immediate two predecessors, in this case a well-painted landscape-with-aircar, but I was quite set on this iconic idea. I now have to pray that it also will work in the marketplace.
Over 30 years, my cover treatments have varied wildly, even from the same publisher. It would be very hard to maintain a "series look" over such a span of time.
Ta, L.
I swear that I saw a page for Gentleman Jole discussions, but I can't find it. I don't want to post anywhere that will spoil the book for others. In that (maybe imaginary) page you mentioned that people could post typos also - at loc 5016 of 5262 (sorry, reading it on an iPhone 6+) When Cordelia is speaking about a factory, you have "He'll be so glad to see you. Him rather. You are requested and required..." I'm not sure how the "Him, rather" fits in. At location 4549 of 5262 right before the mini-zoo expedition returns"Its rust-red fur, Jole considered, was about the only attractive part of it, assuming you ignored the smell" I think that I understood that the smell made the fur disgusting - but you might have meant that the smell was attractive - it's an imaginary creature, so I suppose it does not matter - but I like things to be clear in my imagination! (By the way, loved the book! Can't say more about why without spoilers!!!)
Jill wrote: "I swear that I saw a page for Gentleman Jole discussions, but I can't find it. I don't want to post anywhere that will spoil the book for others. In that (maybe imaginary) page you mentioned that p..."Hi Jill --
The spoiler thread has been bumped down to the second screen, here:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Final corrections have already gone in, and the file to the printer, so any more corrections are going to have to wait for another edition. I think I did actually catch that thing about the fur myself, though I don't remember offhand what I did about it. The "him" refers to the engineer Kareen has in tow. Which is what C. would have said, but I agree it would have been clearer to say, "The engineer, rather."
Anyway, you're most welcome to go to the spoiler thread and burble all you want.
I think I may start a fresh such thread when the hardcover releases, as this one is getting a bit unwieldy, though it's also slowing down.
bests, Lois.
I suppose no one should mention the short military genius comparisons here, especially not his brother Mark.