It’s a book! Almost!

In early June, Mike Underwood from Angry Robot Books sent me a picture. It was the rough draft of the cover to Windswept. That’s when it hit me: it’s really happening.

Now, it was really happening when I signed my contract with AR. It was happening even more when the check cleared. But I’m weird, in that I don’t think something’s going to happen until I see the thing itself. And, while I don’t have the real, physical book in my hands, that rough sketch was a concrete step toward publication.

It took a few weeks of back-and-forth until AR came back with a draft that everyone agreed on. I opened the email and saw my cover. Then I had to wait until the public unveiling, which happened yesterday. Click on the picture below to look at a bigger version (and, as a bonus, the first chapter).

Art by Jessica Smith. Find her at http://artofjess.com/

Isn’t that cool? Jessica Smith is the artist, and I’m really happy with the way she captured Padma, the Ghosts, and Santee City. Plus I got a cool blurb from my friend Daryl Gregory.

There’s still work to do. There are edits and marketing plans and convincing a few bar owners to let me and a bunch of people show up so I can read and sell books. And there’s the fun of the actual release (which you can help by pre-ordering a copy). But, for now, I got a cover. Soon, I’ll have a book.