Cover, Continued

Can you see this image on the cover of For the May Queen?

Or what about this one:
As I talked about here, here and here--oh, and here, too--Merge Press has asked if I'd like to have any input on the cover of my novel, so I've been searching high and low.

My friend Nancy has been playing around with the image I like best to try to make it more colorful, more noticeable.

I like this image because it's both playful and nuanced. It feels a little happy, a little sad--and a bunch quirky. In its original manifestation, the colors and placement were nothing eye-catching. Now, Nancy's magic has made it come alive.

I also love the image because the novel's narrator, Norma, is a redhead who does not have a "perfect" body. And because we can't see the face in the image, it allows us to imagine Norma for ourselves as we read. Finally, the flower evokes the "May" of the title--as well as girl/womanhood and sexuality.

I think it's got it all.

Do you?

Would You Buy a Book With This Cover?

As I wrote about here and here, I'm helping my publisher seek image ideas for my novel, For the May Queen (for a synopsis, go here). Here's another one I just found. I like it best, I think, so far because it's the most nuanced.

To me, this image says sexuality, girl/woman, May, darkness and light. I like the colors and the composition.

What think you?

Not a Typical Tuesday

I was at the hospital all day today with my mom. She has fallen twice in the five weeks since my father died. It's been a rough, rough time to say the least.

When I got home tonight, our neighbors invited us over for a glass of wine--and sent us home with a casserole dish full of the best pasta dish I've ever eaten. I'm filled with the buzz of good wine and gratitude for friends.

And more good stuff in the midst of it all: Merge Press has announced on their website that they're working on the release of my novel.

And as requested by Merge Press, I've still been seeking out suggestions for a good cover image for my novel, For the May Queen (as I wrote about here). Below is one that appeals to me--it's very different from the "album cover" feel of the other one I was considering--but I'd want to crop out the wine glass since it looks too swanky for a dorm novel.

Would you buy a novel with this image on the cover?

Judging A Book By Its Cover

What does the image above make you think about? How's it make you feel? Would you buy a book with this image on the cover?

The Merge Press people have asked me to search around on Istockphoto.com for images I think might be good to incorporate on my novel's cover. This is one of the cool things about working with an indepedent press: they solicit your input.

If you have image ideas that you think might be good, I'd love it if you'd send them my way. For guidance, here's the official lowdown on my novel:

Only hours after 17-year-old Norma Rogers' parents drop her off at the college dorms, Norma finds herself drunk and nearly naked with three strangers. This is the opening to FOR THE MAY QUEEN, an edgy romp of a novel about a young woman’s sexual misadventures her first year away from home in the early 1980’s. The strip poker event is the first of many experiences that prompt Norma to question who she is—and who she wants to be.

Norma's relationships with an array of characters induce her to grapple with society's messages about women, sex, and freedom. These characters include Jack, her aloof on-again, off-again boyfriend; Goat, her antsy dorm neighbor; Liz Chan, a pot-smoking sorority girl; Benny Moss, a nerdy guy who has a thing for Liz; and Paul Fellows, Benny's roommate, whom Norma calls “Chuck” because he reminds her of Charlie Brown. Chuck, a witty aficionado of old films, dubs her “Norma Jean.” Chuck plays a pivotal role in Norma's discoveries about life's possibilities, as does Norma's roommate Stacy—a beautiful, kind, and somewhat mysterious blonde.

Many tumultuous events take Norma (and the reader) through an array of troubles, pleasures, and thrills: from drug use and ominous encounters with strangers, to rowdy parties and road trips. In the midst of these incidents—which are peppered with 1970's and 1980's pop cultural references—Norma reflects on her desire for freedom (sexual and otherwise). Reinforcing these themes are the intermittent appearances of her middle-class parents and her sister, as well as her best friend from high school whose life in a small town—as she prepares for her upcoming wedding—is poles apart from Norma’s. Ultimately Norma comes to see that there are many ways to live and love.

FOR THE MAY QUEEN is a lively look at college sex, the double standards of promiscuity, and the fact that sex and sexuality are always so much more complex than they seem. A smart yet highly readable, madcap yet tender novel, FOR THE MAY QUEEN is packed with surprising plot twists and unforgettable characters.