tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36528150913545930092024-03-08T03:33:26.996-08:00ut omnia beneUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger706125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-56692930640720981502024-03-04T07:37:00.000-08:002024-03-04T09:58:49.875-08:00a moment in the day: forwardIt's writing group night and my friends and I are Zooming, ready to read aloud from our pages and critique as we go. Our pages have been sent out through email and each of us in our little bubbles, me at my house, Holly at hers, Shannon at hers, Brian at his, sitting down at our computers, are bringing up each other's pages to read. My pages are left over from last week because last week we ran long. Which means I get to read first tonight. It also means I probably should have resent my same pages out to everyone this morning, but I was lazy and hoped they had them saved from before.<div><br /></div><div>"Everybody got them?" I ask.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Yes," says Shannon.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Yes," says Holly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Robin is in her car, driving home from work, and her Zoom square is just her photograph, silent, as she listens in, on the road.</div><div><br /></div><div>"No," says Christy, looking through her email for the resend that I didn't send and should have.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I'll resend it," I say. And I do. But instead of making a new email and re-attaching my pages, I just go to my sent box and find last week's email and do a reply-all forward. See what I mean? Lazy. I know full well that sometimes when you forward an email the attachment doesn't attach, but that's what I do anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wait a bit and then:</div><div><br /></div><div>"Everybody got them?" I ask.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I got the email," Christy says, "but not the attachment."</div><div><br /></div><div>Which means all she got is an email saying "Yeppity yep." Which is all I'd said in the body of my original email last week because when you're sending pages to each other every week you don't want to have to try to think of something new and coherent to accompany it every time. See what I mean? Lazy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now everyone's talking at once. Doug saying he got the attachment, Brian saying that resending the email should pop the original to the top of the inbox, me saying I'll resend, Christy saying that's okay, she'll do a search for the original. I see the top of her head on her Zoom square as she hunts via her tablet, and I'll admit: it starts to feel a little like a race, me against Christy for getting her the pages. </div><div><br /></div><div>"OK, OK, I found them!"</div><div><br /></div><div>"Alright, alright, I found them!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Christy wins. I should organize my computer files better.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now Brad, momentarily away from his desk, comes back.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Everybody got them?" I ask.</div><div><br /></div><div>Brad's clicking through his inbox: "All I got is 'Yeppity-yep.'"</div><div><br /></div><div>Zoom chaos as everyone's talking at the same time once again. Brian saying look for last week's email. Brad saying he will. Me saying I'll re-resend them. Christy saying she'll forward them.</div><div><br /></div><div>And Christy and me, we're in a race again, and now we're racing Brad scrolling for last week. </div><div><br /></div><div>"OK, sent."</div><div><br /></div><div>Christy wins again. </div><div><br /></div><div>But Brad says he doesn't see it. </div><div><br /></div><div>"I'll resend it," Christy says. And does.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still Brad doesn't see it.</div><div><br /></div><div>My inbox is full of my pages.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I'll resend it," I say, again, again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Doug says, "You should label it Yakety-yak."</div><div><br /></div><div>I say, "Don't talk back."</div><div><br /></div><div>I see the top of Christy's head again, and quick, I navigate to the folder, attach the attachment, resend the send, and finally, finally something comes through to Brad's inbox.</div><div><br /></div><div>He says, "Yakety-yak."</div><div><br /></div><div>Brian says, "Don't talk back."</div><div><br /></div><div>And if we do that, if we all stop talking, we can begin reading. I click back to my pages on my computer screen and ask for the final time, "Everybody have them?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Brad says, "Now I got all of them."</div><div><br /></div><div>We laugh. We settle in to read. After all that, this better be good.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-62908253204998699312024-02-14T06:47:00.000-08:002024-02-14T07:27:37.632-08:00Book Cover: Swanya<p><i>Swanya</i> is Jamie Yourdon's homage to <i>Snow White</i>, and a book he is producing himself in a limited run of only 100 copies. Jamie has an abundant sense of the whimsical and the imaginative, which I came to know when I designed the cover to his 2017 Forest Avenue Press novel <i>Froelich's Ladder</i> (a cover that earned me a PubWest Book Design Award). I love that he's producing an exclusive run of books, and they will even be hand-numbered for the lucky folks who snap them up.</p><p>Before he reached out to me to design the cover, he commissioned artist Lettie Jane Rennekamp to create him some original artwork for it. Look at this beauty!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnGL6tGnTpxCIjtSjBEO1rJO0aywPIwo5OjBn_imWyy9QviLxRju83nkGLCHdhsuFDCG9obS_wIztRqXEKRrgePUW0D2ff8P5sTB9XEcuHjBWyKvvTBjw-PekJUT5CFmyU2-ZDeL56oh9sBiHKxX4VXXyV9GSWUZD4-j8pkOC6ROg-iPqIqYWXpqLjRc/s3000/Cover%20swans-1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFnGL6tGnTpxCIjtSjBEO1rJO0aywPIwo5OjBn_imWyy9QviLxRju83nkGLCHdhsuFDCG9obS_wIztRqXEKRrgePUW0D2ff8P5sTB9XEcuHjBWyKvvTBjw-PekJUT5CFmyU2-ZDeL56oh9sBiHKxX4VXXyV9GSWUZD4-j8pkOC6ROg-iPqIqYWXpqLjRc/w320-h400/Cover%20swans-1.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>It's somehow both elegant and chaotic, which I love.<div><br /></div><div><i>Swanya</i> is set in tsarist Russia. "It's worth mentioning," Jamie told me, "that, in adapting Snow White, Disney's dwarfs have been replaced by seven swans — hence the cover art and, to a lesser extent, the title." </div><div> <br />I had a pretty immediate sense of how I saw the artwork being transformed into a book cover. Here's a bit of the email I sent him on Thanksgiving Eve:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>My impulse with your artwork is to use a very elegant serif font for this and to either have the text sit in empty space with the artwork in the center (so the text would be against white) or perhaps include an elegant border at the edges of the cover</i>—<i>but something that is quiet: thin lines, quiet color... a light-light version of one of the grays or blues from the artwork against white. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>With Jamie's blessing on these ideas, I started with a serif font I really love called Nicholas Cochin Italic. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6wS50unjceqFekoQEGTxI5uIoe-7FiQU4bvaKPtiNlEY7zZ6LtjwF4r9nF7OsszlLQ-cESShz8urs3Dua2fUc_irQMasbYp6zr0X48wz4-eZtGuxCM6HNvYpuTB3nCmMUIu2pvU5j8wGPBt2nmSqMvSICcLJw3cKu9gco0Z3y0277arYnh_lWPQUKPw/s2550/Swanya%20Sample%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6wS50unjceqFekoQEGTxI5uIoe-7FiQU4bvaKPtiNlEY7zZ6LtjwF4r9nF7OsszlLQ-cESShz8urs3Dua2fUc_irQMasbYp6zr0X48wz4-eZtGuxCM6HNvYpuTB3nCmMUIu2pvU5j8wGPBt2nmSqMvSICcLJw3cKu9gco0Z3y0277arYnh_lWPQUKPw/w260-h400/Swanya%20Sample%2001.png" width="260" /></a></div><div>It’s long and lean and different from your average serif italic. Like, just look at the tail on that lowercase <i>y</i>. (The uppercase S up there is my own addition for something a little extra.) I tried some samples with centered text but, to me, the artwork seemed to want a diagonal. I went small on the lettering because I love the white space. For the first samples I put together, I stayed mostly with title case (capitalizing the first letters), but did include one sample in all lower caps. To be honest, I don’t know why I didn’t think to try all-caps with my first run of samples. Maybe it was because I was more obsessed with putting together my border, a task that took a bunch of experimenting.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wajAieUQYgvENWuKjqQh7zpJkyVRJ3CgjmTxuOJFRub993j_wqmnDnlTi0ordcRyQ9yluqZn5V7xxqs2229MulAh66HrCmAm3sqX3w9UZN5aGUWosbl31e83bUr8iRuVHvszzH-4PQgJOdux5qjUK7NOYhqdMt4VlPR4rhJoRSOhpKVB9Hdd4dKrrvo/s2850/swanya%20post%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2850" data-original-width="1950" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8wajAieUQYgvENWuKjqQh7zpJkyVRJ3CgjmTxuOJFRub993j_wqmnDnlTi0ordcRyQ9yluqZn5V7xxqs2229MulAh66HrCmAm3sqX3w9UZN5aGUWosbl31e83bUr8iRuVHvszzH-4PQgJOdux5qjUK7NOYhqdMt4VlPR4rhJoRSOhpKVB9Hdd4dKrrvo/w275-h400/swanya%20post%2001.png" width="275" /></a></div><br /><div>There are loads of decorative borders out there, ready-made, but I don’t like using things that are ready-made. In my experimenting, I tried some more simple borders and one that was more elaborate. I thought simpler would be better: let the artwork sing mostly on its own. For color, I started with a pale blue, but when something felt lacking, I on impulse tried a gold color, and I was pretty happy with that direction.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZAhIY6-MFWYWSYvtglxywAasaksof_hw9RlABqPUOm396ohKD1uw51Bhn8he_-f9LAz6LW6eOyxUVmpmNrc0bynLFkb__Ggl7vvSeqhwoRysPLX887jW2ckbkQyGKffU9pztrrTVr17qREvYMX4r9jPirxpN3XM9l1zqcs909jsVrORGA8DxZ63L8R8/s2400/swanya%20post%2008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZAhIY6-MFWYWSYvtglxywAasaksof_hw9RlABqPUOm396ohKD1uw51Bhn8he_-f9LAz6LW6eOyxUVmpmNrc0bynLFkb__Ggl7vvSeqhwoRysPLX887jW2ckbkQyGKffU9pztrrTVr17qREvYMX4r9jPirxpN3XM9l1zqcs909jsVrORGA8DxZ63L8R8/w275-h400/swanya%20post%2008.png" width="275" /></a></div><br /><div>And then in putting together the border, I thought about the book's first chapter, in which... well, I won't give away the story, but I'll just say that it's an important one and its title is "...in which apples become beets."</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I thought, what if, in each of the corners of my border, there could be either an apple or a beet? So I made one of each. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFSUU9LrumpwjtG8NzfLuXdzHdQpNTsnI-zdcyk2LokmWz1d_sMSep9mFbVEtS9YEsXM4k4r3He9-P0UnzQXOXxE9R45CZjVnrdn-_XPxuGMk2bLobhkA8LKyUuIMDLTFipe4-VOqLSkd1vBiESFwUgRRhr56qMiNIcSCFOSFcUaYIkcyTZS3IgGaK7g/s1430/swanya%20post%2002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="1430" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFSUU9LrumpwjtG8NzfLuXdzHdQpNTsnI-zdcyk2LokmWz1d_sMSep9mFbVEtS9YEsXM4k4r3He9-P0UnzQXOXxE9R45CZjVnrdn-_XPxuGMk2bLobhkA8LKyUuIMDLTFipe4-VOqLSkd1vBiESFwUgRRhr56qMiNIcSCFOSFcUaYIkcyTZS3IgGaK7g/s320/swanya%20post%2002.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>(The beet lost its leaves as soon as I realized they wouldn't fit into the design.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I tried this for one of the borders I put together for my first set of samples. I added just a wash of red for my apples and my beets—and then I added that same wash of red to the first letters in my words. I liked the touch of color this added to the whole, and the lettering reminded me, in a tiny way, of illuminated manuscripts. Which felt fitting for Jamie's fanciful, old-world fairytale tale.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7MdBdjz_ubbfdkBhi_s69rRNP5AREXvr7schnKoktbxjipK7-tpBImjWM8rDsFQ-N2vE1XcyKawq8lCTKscYdKbCIyaudHbonNCHsLRP2Pm0mV6ze4xG1w_Z63HipV6SlxB87VCWs-ycm3W36kPOM7CJS9JYATZNg0sLqeBy5fee6ZyC5Z9U8TRdyFY/s5356/swanya%20post%2004.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5356" data-original-width="5243" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_7MdBdjz_ubbfdkBhi_s69rRNP5AREXvr7schnKoktbxjipK7-tpBImjWM8rDsFQ-N2vE1XcyKawq8lCTKscYdKbCIyaudHbonNCHsLRP2Pm0mV6ze4xG1w_Z63HipV6SlxB87VCWs-ycm3W36kPOM7CJS9JYATZNg0sLqeBy5fee6ZyC5Z9U8TRdyFY/w391-h400/swanya%20post%2004.png" width="391" /></a></div><br /><div>Gosh, you can hardly see the border details on this blog, can you? I definitely wanted the borders to be subtle and let Lettie Jane's lovely artwork do most of the heavy lifting. Here's a quick close-up:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTQ4I6avzkj5ZxOJ9ZfJGzQMyWbHXm-XI549aHTjIPZS4Y5jBYKzdkfH1YO93Jixmv-bLSupaz_O5lYsVICbJrUQm_edPbBksXJ8Q2jkpfTFzfZSFroEoMW9lrKZTCZ9y576AB1a-w-Y57PzWZluWALe-NJGa2Jkgv_DGN9m_1XToCfrysb4841JoMDo/s1602/swanya%20post%2005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1602" data-original-width="1055" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTQ4I6avzkj5ZxOJ9ZfJGzQMyWbHXm-XI549aHTjIPZS4Y5jBYKzdkfH1YO93Jixmv-bLSupaz_O5lYsVICbJrUQm_edPbBksXJ8Q2jkpfTFzfZSFroEoMW9lrKZTCZ9y576AB1a-w-Y57PzWZluWALe-NJGa2Jkgv_DGN9m_1XToCfrysb4841JoMDo/w265-h400/swanya%20post%2005.png" width="265" /></a></div><br /><div>Jamie liked the direction I was going in and chose the border that was his favorite (one of the non-apple-and-beet borders), saying he liked the gold over the blue. He said he preferred title on the left and author name on the right. He didn’t love the font and asked me to try some more, mentioning that he would like either all-caps or no-caps. "I wanted to jump on the apples/beets idea," he put in. "Maybe if they were bigger and announced themselves more?"<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I went back to my drawing board with different fonts and different cases, throwing in a serif font or two.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3PAHZ-LrVi9M8edKmuDjB20hUUlqRRPzWqoPvOnJFIiLMniRozeDhpvBj7-xuQNs62vEytsNuZ1YaK7YH4rRg3DTZk3nSQNXWAvAmaPLCp22AZt-gcGIlOG4hnGpaCirJVVkkfu3gy3qZ-ETULGlO3cLbj0nun7eDGk8TufPEnra-h1tTLVsZbhdAzg/s1483/swanya%20post%2006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1483" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3PAHZ-LrVi9M8edKmuDjB20hUUlqRRPzWqoPvOnJFIiLMniRozeDhpvBj7-xuQNs62vEytsNuZ1YaK7YH4rRg3DTZk3nSQNXWAvAmaPLCp22AZt-gcGIlOG4hnGpaCirJVVkkfu3gy3qZ-ETULGlO3cLbj0nun7eDGk8TufPEnra-h1tTLVsZbhdAzg/s320/swanya%20post%2006.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>I wanted to try to make the apples/beets work for Jamie, so I transposed them from one border to another, trying a couple different placements, enlarging them as much as I could without losing the balance in the border. I tried them in blue. I tried them in gold. I tried the wash of red again. After more samples back and forth and more discussion, we finally landed on Jamie's cover.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNnCbcPwLnS4NSoVc60Qx_gnPk5-EzKsS8lrHsLFdFiQPnw_hIeyZS2ggjpqzD1dcrrZoctvKVlJxE6UeqxhK6bF_O1OSavnnMWaYsKk8giAWIdUkZwYAdkJOYJAtcETDH9J4wpidbS8jRNh8BJhZIu_CO1H1l5EP1oVhsTRRKNjiVvZNp9PyJBNPDr0/s618/Swanya%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihNnCbcPwLnS4NSoVc60Qx_gnPk5-EzKsS8lrHsLFdFiQPnw_hIeyZS2ggjpqzD1dcrrZoctvKVlJxE6UeqxhK6bF_O1OSavnnMWaYsKk8giAWIdUkZwYAdkJOYJAtcETDH9J4wpidbS8jRNh8BJhZIu_CO1H1l5EP1oVhsTRRKNjiVvZNp9PyJBNPDr0/s16000/Swanya%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div>Now that we've chosen the cover, I'm into the second phase of the project: the interior. I think Jamie's interior will be fun, with opportunities for some flourishes here and there as would be fitting for this story. <i>Swanya</i> will be out later this year. More info on the artist is <a href="https://www.lettiejane.com" target="_blank">here</a>. And here's a taste:</div><div><br /></div></div><i>*<br /><br />Once upon a time, though not so very long ago, all of Russia was ruled by one man, Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of the House Romanov. Though he possessed great power and wealth, Tsar Aleksei had a weakness for superstition. The tsar would never shake hands through an open doorway. He would never accept an empty purse. It may seem distasteful for someone so powerful and wealthy to attribute all his failures to bad luck, but understand that Tsar Aleksei’s father, Mikhail Fyodorovich, had died after falling from a horse. While the late tsar had frequently been drunk, it was more generous to blame his death on misfortune than on the predictable outcome of riding high in the saddle.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>When Tsar Aleksei reached the same age as his father, who would remain forever ageless, he became obsessed with matters of life and death. He conceived of new and more absurd superstitions, like eating only with his right hand and grooming with a water basin instead of a mirror. Tsar Aleksei was concerned with more than his own well-being; he felt responsible for all of Russia. Should he die without a male heir, custom dictated that one of his brothers, Ivan or Vasyli, would inherit the throne, and neither man was fit to lead the great nation.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Happily, Tsar Aleksei had married the previous year, and his new wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, was pregnant. Tsarina Maria didn’t believe in luck, but she did believe in field spirits, who could be either mischievous or kind. The tsarina had already entreated the field spirits to grant her a son. First, to curry their favor, she’d left a bucket of shiny, red apples at the edge of the royal estate. She’d left a second bucket when she’d confirmed she was pregnant and intended to leave a third bucket when her labor pains began. Meanwhile, Tsar Aleksei slept every night with a brass key beneath his pillow—his contribution, he assured his wife, to their shared endeavor.</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-87627729024652169612024-02-04T09:17:00.000-08:002024-02-04T09:20:06.928-08:00three moments in the day: phoneSaturday in the car, heading to the store, flipping the radio on to see what I can find. I don’t know why it occurs to me, but it occurs to me, and I reach down and touch my hoodie where the inner pocket is, where my phone should be.<div><div><br /></div><div>Yep. Nope. It’s not there. I left the stupid thing at home.<br /><br />Great. What if I get an accident on the way to the store? What if I have a flat tire? What if they don’t have any frozen corn, like any, at all, in the store, and I need to ask Stephen if he’d be OK with peas?</div><div><br /></div><div>For a moment I think I'll turn back, but I’m already so far down the road. I’ll just have to manage without it. I can manage without it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, Stephen may want to text me to tell me to add something he's forgotten to the shopping list, so when I get to the parking lot I'll just send him a quick text and let him know I'll be unreachable. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wait.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>***</div><div><br /> <br />I’m pulling into the grocery store parking lot, winding my way around to the place where I always park. </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn’t have an accident. I didn't have a flat tire.<br /><br />I drive down the row all the way to my usual spot by the cart corral. Touch my empty hoodie yet again. What if they don't have the frozen corn? What if they don't have the tapioca pudding and I need to ask Stephen if he'd be OK with rice?</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd better send him a quick text and let him know I'll be unreachable. </div><div><br /></div><div>Wait.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>***</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I lead my cart out through the grocery store doors, across the asphalt, toward the car.</div><div><br /></div><div>They did have the frozen corn, of course they did. They did have the tapioca pudding. </div><div><br /></div><div>There was that moment when I was waiting for the sales lady to unlock the chained-up jeans so I could try a few pairs on, and it was taking forever, and she said why don’t you go over to the changing room, I’ll come along as soon as I figured this out, and I went over there and parked my cart and waited, and I thought maybe of pulling out my phone to have something to look at, but yep. Nope.</div><div><br /></div><div>We’ve become so reliant upon these little computers in our pockets that it's as if we can hardly function without them.</div><div><br /> I load my groceries into the back of the car and then duck into the driver's side. You know, this might make a cute little blog post, all the moments I kept thinking I could use my phone and couldn’t. I'll make a note of it. I grab my shopping list and turn it over, rifle around in the glove compartment for a pen. This one doesn't work. This one doesn't work. Fine, I'll just grab my phone and send myself a quick email reminder for later.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wait.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-57627484952790925292024-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:002024-01-19T07:02:13.398-08:00a moment in the day: soup<p>It's Thursday, just the end of the work day, and I clock myself out in my little upstairs work room. Wasn't sure I'd make it through without the power going out again. Just as I click to clock, another gust of wind buffets the side of the house and I hold my breath again. </p><p>Last Saturday at the start of the polar vortex, we lost power along with, what did they say, a hundred and sixty thousand people in Portland? We were out for about six hours but loads of folks were out for days, some still out even now, and the thaw we were told we'd start to get has brought us this ice storm and this wind instead. You start to think you'll never be able to trust your lights and your heater again.</p><p>I switch my work computer out for my home computer, make sure it's still charged up to 100%, plug my phone into its own charger but take my old defunct phone with me downstairs as a ready flashlight. Immediately I go to the thermos of soup on the counter and start unscrewing the top.</p><p>I pour the soup into a pot and start it reheating.</p><p>It's not really soup. It's mostly broth, something I threw together on Saturday night after the power came back on, figuring I'd prepare in case the power went out again that night. And it's not really a thermos. It's a metal water bottle, insulated yes, but this thing doesn't hold the heat too long. When you first fill it, the bottle is so hot you can't touch it, but the contents cool to lukewarm within three hours. I know because I've been reheating it and letting it cool, reheating it and letting it cool ever since.</p><p>Now the lights flicker. They've been flickering all day.</p><p>Funny how much magical thinking you do in times like these. When I started making the broth on Saturday, I expected the lights to snap off again any minute, but there was something in the back of my mind that said that because I was getting prepared, the electricity would hold and I wouldn't need it. Like the more prepared you are, abracadabra, the less you'll need to be prepared. Add to that preparedness the candles still waiting all over the house and the YouTube videos I watched that claim you can cook something using nothing but tea candles and a muffin tin. </p><p>My broth is simmering, and I shut the stove off, take the pot over to the cutting board, and lift it over the insulated bottle. It's heavy in my hand as I slowly pour. With each inch of hot liquid down into the bottle, I feel an inch better about maybe making it through this night with the power on in the house.</p><p>No, I'm not going to drink it. Are you kidding? This stuff has been sitting out on the counter unrefrigerated for five days. It's not for consuming anymore. It's my jinx broth. Here just for magical thinking. </p><p>If I dump it, the power will go out. If I leave it and fail to reheat it, the power will go out. </p><p>I finish pouring. Hold the bottle with a dishtowel and screw the top back on. Put it back over on the counter. Have to stay on top of things. Have to stay prepared. And we'll be alright. Right?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-75435279218123098932024-01-08T07:58:00.000-08:002024-01-08T07:58:20.408-08:00Book Cover: Imagine a Door<p>The story of the book cover design project for the upcoming Forest Avenue Press book <i>Imagine a Door</i> ended up being more about words than design.</p><p>In a way, <i>Imagine a Door</i> is a very different book for Forest Avenue Press—and in a way, we're actually going back to our roots. Forest Avenue publishes mostly novels, and the occasional memoir. <i>Imagine a Door</i>, on the other hand,<i> </i>is a book for writers. Part how-to, part inspiration for living one's best creative life. And we did do one book that had hints of both of these themes, <i>Brave on the Page</i>, our very first publication, back in 2012 when we produced the books on the Espresso Book Machine in the Purple Room of Powell's City of Books.</p><p>As I said before, the story of this project was more about words than design. I.e., what words were going to go on this cover? The first title Laura gave me was <i>In Progress</i>. It's the phrase writers see in their Submittable queue when they've submitted a piece and are waiting to hear what an agent or publisher thinks. It's also the phrase writers use when they're deep in the writing and editing process of a book or story; that piece is a <i>work in progress</i>. </p><p>But in the wider sense, we're all works in progress, which goes back to the wider theme of Laura's book, the human side that I think sets it apart from a lot of the writing books out there on the market.</p><p>The early concepting for the graphic was a lot of Laura and me emailing back and forth, shooting out ideas. discussing what might help sell the book, what concepts might have been already done too much. Laura:</p><p>"I like the concept of IN PROGRESS as a cover—something happening, not static. Whether that’s a sentence being written or a visual cue that something is happening, I don’t know. So many covers have the crossouts like things are being edited out as part of the process of the cover, and I feel like that’s been overused. </p><p>"Likewise, I’ve thought composition book, paper torn out of a spiral notebook, notebook with spiral, etc. have all been done and re-done. Same with crumpled paper. So maybe there’s a phrase or an image from the work itself that will leap to mind as a cover option."</p><p>Then Laura saw a non-writing book that really struck something for her and shared it with me. She wondered if we might similarly let the focus be on the words with a simple element or elements adding a flourish.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk0jklXvCqLoqWZd_fkxDP4kLJI3V_QoxSsycPBDXmtcScWwqJHdK-pbQAeP26EdMvLFIsmlt0ZWZazSoynkXwbBWKS7AO092UxJn-LV14l82AVve4K7b7nHmPnkD3IW1TD7X2h6Hq-k3tNITpnl1Stk7uezVgN08de_ohyeoN1wergA3wGROHgSWvOI/s1440/thumbnail.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk0jklXvCqLoqWZd_fkxDP4kLJI3V_QoxSsycPBDXmtcScWwqJHdK-pbQAeP26EdMvLFIsmlt0ZWZazSoynkXwbBWKS7AO092UxJn-LV14l82AVve4K7b7nHmPnkD3IW1TD7X2h6Hq-k3tNITpnl1Stk7uezVgN08de_ohyeoN1wergA3wGROHgSWvOI/w300-h400/thumbnail.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><p>Not only did the elegant style resonate but the rain, itself, in this sample. I thought about the struggle that writers go through with work and rejection and how the goal of a book is often like an impossible dream. I pictured a central small image of a book with a rainbow growing out of it, signaling the good at the end of that struggle. And instead of rain, I pictured pages raining down. </p><p>I started by building my book using lines and shapes in Illustrator.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGlsjCjGz6fiUuEeoB2lx6aOR_6Z7KSaiBRy_x6jV76dpQrDpSCFYQHDcxvw4XznMZg-KQfSBkSdEfp5vh8uHRecbsoGmNDJAgVOifKASbAt6wp5EoGG7135pzhksuV09Ak0ExmVqFSQW9Wi3lRyBKg0GPlTruNO3tEXbum45QzXEG8X5TsmIuFlOqj0/s847/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="847" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGlsjCjGz6fiUuEeoB2lx6aOR_6Z7KSaiBRy_x6jV76dpQrDpSCFYQHDcxvw4XznMZg-KQfSBkSdEfp5vh8uHRecbsoGmNDJAgVOifKASbAt6wp5EoGG7135pzhksuV09Ak0ExmVqFSQW9Wi3lRyBKg0GPlTruNO3tEXbum45QzXEG8X5TsmIuFlOqj0/w400-h145/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2002.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEdLELNFhhru3lm9t2RMfirdtmJNzKuA3fzLswmln8C5q6F7_aJLct0BDE1FiR3glZuQWM5kMp7quhCDuljFiUFfB2IVrLm4U9yAZkaLzKpyRfJu98tllG0BBFb7FuyuCNWA-J0Iw_Suhw9aqdUCvOUXvZH6h65jpkhyNGzx_qW3zIhPrNYhhXAwGchA/s847/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2003.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="847" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLEdLELNFhhru3lm9t2RMfirdtmJNzKuA3fzLswmln8C5q6F7_aJLct0BDE1FiR3glZuQWM5kMp7quhCDuljFiUFfB2IVrLm4U9yAZkaLzKpyRfJu98tllG0BBFb7FuyuCNWA-J0Iw_Suhw9aqdUCvOUXvZH6h65jpkhyNGzx_qW3zIhPrNYhhXAwGchA/w400-h145/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2003.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zzqeZx9ZgzyC5pepeJljK_rEmLvHOZkgZj8ayIpzK77qlmi8HcpAgruq5A-mXpqm6QnayqIcOhxIynQSQWG26SQXigl2o78t0cth5zrajVRJaQeVoaEIf7iIstbrFMG25ZTJc5C17C2YKprTOWI39S0BDNe7mLRq_dpx1wASn_0aUKYxOWNplTeRcMA/s847/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2004.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="847" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zzqeZx9ZgzyC5pepeJljK_rEmLvHOZkgZj8ayIpzK77qlmi8HcpAgruq5A-mXpqm6QnayqIcOhxIynQSQWG26SQXigl2o78t0cth5zrajVRJaQeVoaEIf7iIstbrFMG25ZTJc5C17C2YKprTOWI39S0BDNe7mLRq_dpx1wASn_0aUKYxOWNplTeRcMA/w400-h145/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2004.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Then pages falling from the sky and collecting in stacks. The stacks were, of course, more involved to make than the pages.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4SFZ2YliCDw24aX7RKvwWeJC34YIs4Y6Y_wsqViai5t9YigY9URQFm2Bhi8XbFAUjWlHAm0so6NnhSTDAh0eT6D8WvrWC53vuqVdpQFoUKaXeu-WoVgdKmO17YxUCwtnz2JTBNmL7M1oRTOSzFK4nkUcBRHgVQqlaJMOjYDWIzjl6jdcnVjndykX9qA/s1073/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg4SFZ2YliCDw24aX7RKvwWeJC34YIs4Y6Y_wsqViai5t9YigY9URQFm2Bhi8XbFAUjWlHAm0so6NnhSTDAh0eT6D8WvrWC53vuqVdpQFoUKaXeu-WoVgdKmO17YxUCwtnz2JTBNmL7M1oRTOSzFK4nkUcBRHgVQqlaJMOjYDWIzjl6jdcnVjndykX9qA/w355-h400/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2005.png" width="355" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZbbL0jEgM2NjTivGEBs7yJ-Ci1XS8J7_kjQTXbyUCfINX3jdq6Owr9uF_3TnxrLGoX2hV2AUfgDPePOSdCQz0cahP6mlC4SQroK4N2in9jCrXlNBdzaPR5A8Y4zQOrxMBq3W1vZNxdYV2pBOwbe9mk7CDrepeHTEcgKsb16s6EobiZvGBql-rEw4MjE/s1073/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZbbL0jEgM2NjTivGEBs7yJ-Ci1XS8J7_kjQTXbyUCfINX3jdq6Owr9uF_3TnxrLGoX2hV2AUfgDPePOSdCQz0cahP6mlC4SQroK4N2in9jCrXlNBdzaPR5A8Y4zQOrxMBq3W1vZNxdYV2pBOwbe9mk7CDrepeHTEcgKsb16s6EobiZvGBql-rEw4MjE/w355-h400/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2006.png" width="355" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasFQlX1oy2yfcEuRfZ2oixHZPTZVGgrH_j9fP-QGfy2WTBd9xcN04vafQP4InMay3eXk8YMCvZPs3U7jKPCWUlcSG559OafEX9tBha0ELcJaQOH_WAkfnwYB7kWtlpbRZJae0mfvCWVarYcgf1s2ETtrG5kcznRmqWbjRJV_cnatXRWXn8s7QtylPjSI/s1073/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasFQlX1oy2yfcEuRfZ2oixHZPTZVGgrH_j9fP-QGfy2WTBd9xcN04vafQP4InMay3eXk8YMCvZPs3U7jKPCWUlcSG559OafEX9tBha0ELcJaQOH_WAkfnwYB7kWtlpbRZJae0mfvCWVarYcgf1s2ETtrG5kcznRmqWbjRJV_cnatXRWXn8s7QtylPjSI/w355-h400/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2007.png" width="355" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nCSTYtf8MIuE-Eb845quqkfqU6KPbkg5PvK802xvTFmhEVFX6EV1gbfGBIigdV_fJurFEx-W2K6WduXiJg0Q8yvjCYR0aEVanVwIuFkj7PsXAM-44UHwtkIPxSHmTxXuGo7dPVHfbpUNaZAH5qge7rbcXyfzsKbdQRowjY-VfqmaWA5XtStQjfWmNM8/s1073/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2008.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nCSTYtf8MIuE-Eb845quqkfqU6KPbkg5PvK802xvTFmhEVFX6EV1gbfGBIigdV_fJurFEx-W2K6WduXiJg0Q8yvjCYR0aEVanVwIuFkj7PsXAM-44UHwtkIPxSHmTxXuGo7dPVHfbpUNaZAH5qge7rbcXyfzsKbdQRowjY-VfqmaWA5XtStQjfWmNM8/w355-h400/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2008.png" width="355" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYjKmkWvJlUABsRY4Qp4EFAu11uddvjfUMZRL6qpycyH-bRXdFibBUi5gSfKIem67lySFsN8k-taJAkK_ShVNefbQzBXFMSMz2J7etv7rglfiqUUKQWB4pvLYUgQNbCqDhChKENoAFGuC6b3j2PrMnhXS_BFApW50ZwcRHO7hDp4avkwqV8ZvWYEPP5c/s1073/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2009.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1073" data-original-width="948" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYjKmkWvJlUABsRY4Qp4EFAu11uddvjfUMZRL6qpycyH-bRXdFibBUi5gSfKIem67lySFsN8k-taJAkK_ShVNefbQzBXFMSMz2J7etv7rglfiqUUKQWB4pvLYUgQNbCqDhChKENoAFGuC6b3j2PrMnhXS_BFApW50ZwcRHO7hDp4avkwqV8ZvWYEPP5c/w355-h400/In%20Progress%20for%20post%2009.png" width="355" /></a></div><p>I sent Laura a trio of (very similar) samples.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-evHcBmbvG8HDUjljZiMbFW6d_5dgwqfikEe5oJDDrdNMOfTuo8PpLAfX1RwD2tp6CrtCzo9sgRoBk_iYVL8IJyvfNR3BPjotNGDGqcZjQKiWwQp994W9LLaQio7oH-DIyw0G9Cf9NwNGvgl7hCgHoIWLT5Ervv1qXc2Oj5maDHmdHemFQBLyH2S0SU/s5542/examples%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5542" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-evHcBmbvG8HDUjljZiMbFW6d_5dgwqfikEe5oJDDrdNMOfTuo8PpLAfX1RwD2tp6CrtCzo9sgRoBk_iYVL8IJyvfNR3BPjotNGDGqcZjQKiWwQp994W9LLaQio7oH-DIyw0G9Cf9NwNGvgl7hCgHoIWLT5Ervv1qXc2Oj5maDHmdHemFQBLyH2S0SU/w400-h195/examples%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>And at the same time, somehow completely forgetting about the raindrops in the Seattle book example, I created some mock-ups with raindrops as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGc9usXCYvESxozWFGQMVTsvKF-FHc66WJETG7IFDr0ixEqueiiE54g9f_wB3SDoW8CXlCFOzA4JmfGwb4XYUg2dBa13E_ZSAZozzwNiz5CFeaQie65owrPMY-rPzxCqKBNEZTEveRDEBAHTgDbLFfHHbKKH73CSruXwky6bWuGX_QzV8sbuMDXiL3pw/s5542/examples%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5542" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqGc9usXCYvESxozWFGQMVTsvKF-FHc66WJETG7IFDr0ixEqueiiE54g9f_wB3SDoW8CXlCFOzA4JmfGwb4XYUg2dBa13E_ZSAZozzwNiz5CFeaQie65owrPMY-rPzxCqKBNEZTEveRDEBAHTgDbLFfHHbKKH73CSruXwky6bWuGX_QzV8sbuMDXiL3pw/w400-h195/examples%2002.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Laura was happy with what I'd come up with: "They hit the cheerful tone I hope to have, and they’re vibrant and joyful, like in looking at them you know you’ll <i>feel better</i> if you read what’s inside."</div><p>Vibrant and joyful. I loved that that's what she saw. Because not only was it the right tone to convey for the book, but everything Laura touches, including her novel <i><a href="https://www.powells.com/book/singing-lessons-for-the-stylish-canary-9781941360613" target="_blank">Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary</a></i> and this new project, is vibrant and joyful.</p><p>The rainbow made her think, what about trying a sun coming up out of the book instead, for the version with the pages tumbling down. "With rays like a child would draw, but cooler. Bands/triangles of yellow becoming part of the background." </p><p>After she suggested this to me in an email, Laura headed off to go visit a friend who had new baby chicks. She followed that up with the roller derby. All the while, she was sending messages about her thoughts about the cover and its imagery.</p>"After I wrote about the sun with triangle rays I realized that might look religious. Not what I meant! But maybe a sweet sun with lines for rays might still work." <div><br /></div><div>and</div><div><br /></div>"I do think I like the rainbow better, and I like the tiny bit of lots of color in there."<div><br /></div><div>and</div><div><br /></div>"Just thought of a flower growing out of the book—bright green stem and bright petals."<br /><div><br /></div><div>and almost immediately</div><br />"Just to add onto that flower idea, what about a bunch of flowers springing out of the center of the book, like a magician's bouquet? Illustrated with simple lines. There could be yellow and red flowers against the blue on the pages cover."<div><br /></div><div>Laura's snippets of thought throughout that day felt like that same thing again: vibrant and joyful.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I liked her idea a lot. Creation. Growth. I set to work and had more samples waiting for her when she got home.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wXI_2wQFqeSojB7ssnN-oBXhP9y12_a91s8apHd3uxbMqgSPwS9RcjrMIps9U2Iz9MjcQ2NxbugbK-jTmxMQkMiFf2oswk_Iww-cS4MS_tE_bbl3IN4V8gMf-lY8LDAmxcWfAl5wvkEfXIyXlmHeSvaHPQU5okxNVvussu-lqYik6RcnHjdaIUAkC5g/s5482/examples%2003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5482" data-original-width="3706" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wXI_2wQFqeSojB7ssnN-oBXhP9y12_a91s8apHd3uxbMqgSPwS9RcjrMIps9U2Iz9MjcQ2NxbugbK-jTmxMQkMiFf2oswk_Iww-cS4MS_tE_bbl3IN4V8gMf-lY8LDAmxcWfAl5wvkEfXIyXlmHeSvaHPQU5okxNVvussu-lqYik6RcnHjdaIUAkC5g/w270-h400/examples%2003.png" width="270" /></a></div><br /><div>She chose the one with the five flowers. She liked that so much that we ended up turning that blooming book into an icon for her then new Substack <a href="https://laurastanfill.substack.com" target="_blank">The Bright Side</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDAu1ReM3wGDEunnhItdSL9m9UCw8PQKPQsCbYVQ1ZWjM9q9D91dpjfFT8-iBgQC0cIlTQIwpGQ5I7XeVKTt7xWgHrLgO5X5pny-WGbKTDYFdx6FMNTkpFmVJojQVI5FC7qlBYZihU6tKglfQI4I4plnY8qAp-t7hj8LAyUSN8rN-dwfP6YAAaPC0Kiw/s810/flower%20book%2003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="810" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHDAu1ReM3wGDEunnhItdSL9m9UCw8PQKPQsCbYVQ1ZWjM9q9D91dpjfFT8-iBgQC0cIlTQIwpGQ5I7XeVKTt7xWgHrLgO5X5pny-WGbKTDYFdx6FMNTkpFmVJojQVI5FC7qlBYZihU6tKglfQI4I4plnY8qAp-t7hj8LAyUSN8rN-dwfP6YAAaPC0Kiw/s320/flower%20book%2003.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>That was back in April of last year. Since then, the focus of the cover turned to words. Proposed changes to the title, long discussions about the perfect subtitle. Also during this long time, Laura was working on future upcoming Forest Avenue Press releases, so progress on <i>In Progress</i> started and stopped, stopped and started.</div><div><br /></div><div>First she decided to add a word to the title. She was considering <i>Work in Process</i> (which she thought had probably been done), <i>Manuscript in Progress</i>, and her favorite, <i>Pages in Progress</i>. I grabbed that last one and played with a couple samples.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3iIWY0Pz4zQrw3VZzKxuBd7e8-UgVe6x5VwDOUMak4_Q4nSoKQKEEa4zKsBam7551mZQWPCYnHPkmTQHsIPXe1ykiqD9lZlEvxQc2wlaCiVGD8HgzS7HuI2I3K-41VEOjHbTpQqy8QPYvv-W6vqDWUp34M9tjcjeMWEnC9CEnqBw5snE63rU7wMAWIU/s3706/examples%2004.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="3706" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3iIWY0Pz4zQrw3VZzKxuBd7e8-UgVe6x5VwDOUMak4_Q4nSoKQKEEa4zKsBam7551mZQWPCYnHPkmTQHsIPXe1ykiqD9lZlEvxQc2wlaCiVGD8HgzS7HuI2I3K-41VEOjHbTpQqy8QPYvv-W6vqDWUp34M9tjcjeMWEnC9CEnqBw5snE63rU7wMAWIU/w400-h291/examples%2004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>As you can see, changes in words caused a need for changes in the pages fluttering down.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then at the end of May, she asked me what I thought of the title <i>Imagine a Door</i>. "From a design standpoint, I feel like the papers framing the title will conjure the shape of a door, and we won't need to add a literal door. There could be a key or a keyhole or something if we felt like it needed something literal," she said. "The subtitle would be something like: A writer's guide to loving the work, ignoring the hubbub, and building a sustainable creative practice."<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to wait until l completely sure of the title before I did any more tinkering with cover design. Laura ran the idea by some others, she and I continued working on other upcoming Forest Avenue titles, and it wasn't until August that we settled in to work on this again. By then <i>Imagine a Door</i> was set in stone, although the subtitle was not, and discussion on that continued for quite a while.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiVapdPd45l80vilutIq0vjkJ2kUvAa8eub-5_Dt4F54KxJmiDF5nLo6_S6TKhl1fPVPiFIeh0eNfudcKpvkagpgUR5k2p4aYUIs0vxpWkIslzVSoSh8LXWp4XDwQ56IRQlX9dBywk4sp5X5xioU1DsUhtssN_F2AZTGxKOOePY7d5HEztRmGWulHY6wU/s3706/examples%2005.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="3706" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiVapdPd45l80vilutIq0vjkJ2kUvAa8eub-5_Dt4F54KxJmiDF5nLo6_S6TKhl1fPVPiFIeh0eNfudcKpvkagpgUR5k2p4aYUIs0vxpWkIslzVSoSh8LXWp4XDwQ56IRQlX9dBywk4sp5X5xioU1DsUhtssN_F2AZTGxKOOePY7d5HEztRmGWulHY6wU/w400-h291/examples%2005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Continued, in fact, all the way up until the end of November when we finally settled on what will work best. I think it's fitting that the cover design process for a book about words and writing was so focused on words themselves. (And I pop this final cover in (sans stand-in blurb, so just use your imagination) knowing full well that sometimes subtitles get altered yet again at the very last minute because it is the priority of a press to change its mind.)</div><div><br /></div><div>When prepping for this post, I couldn't remember if there were more interim titles, so I emailed Laura. She had this to say:</div><br />"I had, like, a million titles for this project. The in progress and pages in progress were only the latest iterations of me panicking about what to call it! Finding IMAGINE A DOOR happened after the original cover, right? I think I needed you to see the book in your head, to create a visual for it, in order for me to land on the right title. To believe in its existence."<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRJvnNREWlcUO_XC3V_mXZUACZ78Cu-yi_1GC-8cfST7QkATs-iDx1ixuBYsSAcVl9KRtJRMGO2RonTCXXcayr9szW-60UhcW72DMqx2ekU__FkLzNrYWkN106rMMXuZ5Kw1t50zaLR_qa-gDnxj7493cPOrbaKrbLmCsNSpTRogVutHa1UQ_QfOQK1g/s600/Imagine%20a%20Door%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRJvnNREWlcUO_XC3V_mXZUACZ78Cu-yi_1GC-8cfST7QkATs-iDx1ixuBYsSAcVl9KRtJRMGO2RonTCXXcayr9szW-60UhcW72DMqx2ekU__FkLzNrYWkN106rMMXuZ5Kw1t50zaLR_qa-gDnxj7493cPOrbaKrbLmCsNSpTRogVutHa1UQ_QfOQK1g/s16000/Imagine%20a%20Door%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div><i>Imagine a Door</i> will be out in 2025. It will have a foreword by Beth Kephart, author of, among many other things, the Forest Avenue title <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/wife-daughter-self-9781942436447/62-0" target="_blank"><i>Wife</i> | <i>Daughter</i> | <i>Self</i></a>. More information on Forest Avenue Press is <a href="https://www.forestavenuepress.com" target="_blank">here</a>. And here's a taste.</div><div><br /></div><div>*</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Some books fly into being in a matter of months or a few years. Others—like my debut novel—take more than a decade. There’s no “correct” timeline, regardless of what writing coaches and your author friends say; if you decide on a self-imposed deadline, and that helps you focus, great. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>But manuscripts take the time they take. In the early drafting of </i>Imagine a Door<i>, I gave my neighbor Chrysia daily updates during our dog walks. More accurately, I offered stagnation reports. I couldn’t seem to get past the first ten thousand words. I kept adding and subtracting, refining and rethinking and erasing and rewriting.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Ten thousand became kind of a joke between Chrysia and me. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Sometimes I had 10,071 words.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Sometimes 10,842. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>After paddling around that word count mark, surging over then dipping under, I decided to slice my draft into separate Word documents. I couldn’t count words at the press of a button anymore! A more organic narrative began to emerge once I stopped trying to measure my progress.</i></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-34709250593485294352023-12-31T08:48:00.000-08:002024-01-01T14:24:07.396-08:00Book Cover: Forever Blackbirds<p>Recently, I designed a book cover for the forthcoming novel <i>Forever Blackbirds</i>, written by my good friend Dian Greenwood.</p><p>Not only have I known Dian for years, I was in a writing group with her for years (well, two writing groups, actually), and I got to know <i>Forever Blackbirds</i> through the many different pieces she would present in group as she wrote and wrote and edited and edited. Now it's coming together as a finished book—actually one of two. <i>Forever Blackbirds</i> is the first in a duology surrounding the life of Marta Gottlieb: born in a small village near Odessa, Russia; escaped, with her family, the political turmoil of the early twentieth century to immigrate to America through Ellis Island; settled in the small town of Elgin, North Dakota, with little more than her family legacy (a precious Russian Easter egg) and her spirit.</p><p>I've loved getting to know the many iterations of this wonderful book, and Dian and I worked closely on the cover (and interior) together, which was a lovely experience.</p><p>The book takes place in two timelines: the early days of the family's immigration, and Marta's life in the 1940s. In thinking on cover ideas, I wondered whether we'd want to put the 1940s on the page or the early teens or both. Dian had ideas for imagery: North Dakota farmland, vast wheat fields, a church (Marta's connection to her religion figures strongly in the story), Ellis Island, the Fabergé egg. Dian took some pictures for me of a church she liked, and I gathered more images we could use for fodder. </p><p>Here's one of the church photos. Isn't it pretty!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimm4wMkRlGskf_RoXJxk0vB6ekcYFcjkkEUR0tEZX47ITZWj63FZ3l8zxxHV89iDsrds8TyKhU0tXbWJItBz0RRlDbvbE-SxpKs9NOAuQShR0ZU46-sZ0u4V-8D0oTrAo6VaXH8i73Buv_C_6txayviDsej_y4T5tjecSXdAvzqkyqn5G0xouUG12jYFk/s1704/church%2002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimm4wMkRlGskf_RoXJxk0vB6ekcYFcjkkEUR0tEZX47ITZWj63FZ3l8zxxHV89iDsrds8TyKhU0tXbWJItBz0RRlDbvbE-SxpKs9NOAuQShR0ZU46-sZ0u4V-8D0oTrAo6VaXH8i73Buv_C_6txayviDsej_y4T5tjecSXdAvzqkyqn5G0xouUG12jYFk/w281-h400/church%2002.png" width="281" /></a></div><p>Since the larger portion of the story takes place in Marta's 1940s present in North Dakota, I figured we should focus on that timeline first. I looked through images and gathered some great ones of midwest farmland, which I shared with Dian. The one she liked most was this beautiful field with a moody sky, courtesy of Albrecht Fietz on Pixabay.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYs5NPpw5KBt1R7osGc8Ffw8BqppHUn0Yiw5Q3RgYdwNGDW-SvlICwX6dYmKn08DAJVxHzOfhTX09YMC-z77OwyW09GrC_Zz4dhjcVSBlfzNmpT9BJcdbTl-XXD-Ph3JpIpTLpb_FJoo8-kKp7Icedq9WlHA6Roke-MH59pr3PWtiS4E18XvEGePSF1SE/s4798/grain-4858574%20Albrecht%20Fietz%20Pixabay.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3167" data-original-width="4798" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYs5NPpw5KBt1R7osGc8Ffw8BqppHUn0Yiw5Q3RgYdwNGDW-SvlICwX6dYmKn08DAJVxHzOfhTX09YMC-z77OwyW09GrC_Zz4dhjcVSBlfzNmpT9BJcdbTl-XXD-Ph3JpIpTLpb_FJoo8-kKp7Icedq9WlHA6Roke-MH59pr3PWtiS4E18XvEGePSF1SE/w400-h265/grain-4858574%20Albrecht%20Fietz%20Pixabay.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I love that little break in the clouds.</p><p>This became our base for a number of different cover iterations, some also incorporating the early teens timeline and some not.</p><p>I started work with the combo idea. I found this great image of barges bringing immigrants to Ellis Island on Wikimedia Commons.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5wTJtKrqusd7B0BIyQIFum6wJYUiUJEfXIRgP77bDhh5Zyb1WQqGYBmRd__gH6kT0Oi5taTRpcGpDeZW8_XElylDG0xrvotYemfweMeHevdkblev7H2lviqCfl2z4WXo1DD14OvptISAi62AorkLeiIuWZv5glV4xGebYKw4w1zDLaDfEFWb3ZvDTJg/s4835/Barges_at_Ellis_Island_LCCN2014710701.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3315" data-original-width="4835" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5wTJtKrqusd7B0BIyQIFum6wJYUiUJEfXIRgP77bDhh5Zyb1WQqGYBmRd__gH6kT0Oi5taTRpcGpDeZW8_XElylDG0xrvotYemfweMeHevdkblev7H2lviqCfl2z4WXo1DD14OvptISAi62AorkLeiIuWZv5glV4xGebYKw4w1zDLaDfEFWb3ZvDTJg/w400-h275/Barges_at_Ellis_Island_LCCN2014710701.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I isolated the barge on the right, and then I worked way too long trying to smush the two images together, the barge and the field. Well, to elegantly blend the two, but it was hard to get them to work together well. The barge kept looking like it was weirdly sailing through the wheat field. I wanted to keep the color of the landscape and bring the barge in in sepia to evoke age, but the break between the two color schemes made it look, to me, like something just out of frame was on fire and sending muddy smoke into the sky.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArk25HAKtMJyxvi72mSJD6dIncgwjyCdKdaUcA3o8_I3ZxArJsEAsq2z7RbebM1WIKLkHzK49ge4seUZgZas4-3HqWp3hyphenhyphenUZPT8kkGGL8Us_SL5rGO7cFOBymaClXSATQGJxhVgY8ps6nv3n4FBfoJRhyYOsrn5nXLKcVOCQXakO5yYMEoVICt2dyTPc/s2700/03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArk25HAKtMJyxvi72mSJD6dIncgwjyCdKdaUcA3o8_I3ZxArJsEAsq2z7RbebM1WIKLkHzK49ge4seUZgZas4-3HqWp3hyphenhyphenUZPT8kkGGL8Us_SL5rGO7cFOBymaClXSATQGJxhVgY8ps6nv3n4FBfoJRhyYOsrn5nXLKcVOCQXakO5yYMEoVICt2dyTPc/w266-h400/03.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p>But I was happy with the font choice and Dian was too. I wanted something that suggested vintage but not in an over-the-top or cheesy way. Then I created the F for <i>Forever</i> in Illustrator. We were happy, too, with the flying red-winged blackbird that I added to the scene. We wanted to have a literal blackbird element for the cover, not only to reference the blackbirds in the title, but a bird would lend a poignancy to the imagery, symbolizing journey, freedom, perhaps longing. In this combination, it just looked like the bird was fleeing the phantom fire.</p><p>I liked the idea of including the Russian egg, which is an important object both literally and metaphorically, in the duology. I found a bunch of images of Fabergé eggs on a stock photo site. Unfortunately any images of real, historic Fabergé eggs were not available for commercial use, and any that were available were either fakes or modern. </p><p>Now, I do happen to be married to <a href="https://stephenodonnellartist.com/home" target="_blank">a fine artist</a> who has designed and incorporated his own Fabergé eggs into his paintings. I asked him if he'd be willing to let me borrow one, and he was happy to do so. It was fun to work with his art and try to incorporate it into my design.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QjAtvd2ZkGRCOeM49afCogSl-2vmJ8fDGSpm7k_HlVIf-28pLKlKHn4EBLRzwYj1C5qLr8c8czFPam88ijih51VXp_TM9o72LA8Dnj82RVBoWMw3-6x7Eq1QSS6Rw4LsNG67iGuFEg8bZz5UWAZ0Ch3xmUZbfJmTDpJ_lL2mQWz51iY6tYOHyr41e7s/s2700/04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QjAtvd2ZkGRCOeM49afCogSl-2vmJ8fDGSpm7k_HlVIf-28pLKlKHn4EBLRzwYj1C5qLr8c8czFPam88ijih51VXp_TM9o72LA8Dnj82RVBoWMw3-6x7Eq1QSS6Rw4LsNG67iGuFEg8bZz5UWAZ0Ch3xmUZbfJmTDpJ_lL2mQWz51iY6tYOHyr41e7s/w266-h400/04.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p>And I tried getting that barge in there again.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uU7GhS78YxVIZcIoWB4Pg9pDQqE4KrbKDTLMFGCY5ycCh7B799Aa8yOX7MA-eC0I2V8xwvtZTuWbKPXfcxi1pISYjYWyjolyvQdh57DIaSSJ7kqT4d_lXbGbwF8lK9pn3ovoIaBMvr3bX0t-U8p6z5lLUP5ePBcpsHwnaOXnguvJ9l-0mY9El5XhE8Q/s2700/05.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uU7GhS78YxVIZcIoWB4Pg9pDQqE4KrbKDTLMFGCY5ycCh7B799Aa8yOX7MA-eC0I2V8xwvtZTuWbKPXfcxi1pISYjYWyjolyvQdh57DIaSSJ7kqT4d_lXbGbwF8lK9pn3ovoIaBMvr3bX0t-U8p6z5lLUP5ePBcpsHwnaOXnguvJ9l-0mY9El5XhE8Q/w266-h400/05.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p>But at the same time I was experimenting with a simpler approach. There was something more evocative to me about letting the eye fall on that vast wheat field and that big, moody sky with our one blackbird flying by. Dian liked this direction too. She liked the idea of centering the blackbird in the hole in the clouds. I gave her a handful of different iterations.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvyTQ3kYGt8N20D1fbZtKjlUwHUfwgz5V9H_hOAvKEz_IA7cDRyNKMZ-5jv-_FUZghdjpxOnbgeE-P5a7ijDhpPDa5OGj2HiF_A-hRly3ESPRGB8omtgd6hZb6TvpB3NPFiPUJtLJKWH1EZnV05GnVzzguv4_tjHe-l_1WjKyH_I-lRah72ZpwqSHuws/s3119/samples.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3119" data-original-width="2100" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvyTQ3kYGt8N20D1fbZtKjlUwHUfwgz5V9H_hOAvKEz_IA7cDRyNKMZ-5jv-_FUZghdjpxOnbgeE-P5a7ijDhpPDa5OGj2HiF_A-hRly3ESPRGB8omtgd6hZb6TvpB3NPFiPUJtLJKWH1EZnV05GnVzzguv4_tjHe-l_1WjKyH_I-lRah72ZpwqSHuws/w270-h400/samples.png" width="270" /></a></div><p>Now, if you could zoom in really close, you might see that I added a tiny church. That church I took from Dian's own photographs. It was fun that as we got close to the end of this design journey, I could add an element that came from the very first imagery I acquired for the cover. And a tiny touch of Dian's own photography. </p><p>Once Dian chose her favorite formation and we added this great blurb by Maryka Biaggio, we had our cover.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7pr7MWR98QnpAkpb7PySEaGjzQKvGOsoa3QIch4i408eIX4X5Ize5btz_u_3v5vQpXUENQQdNtlUmbtZq9T3cybIibSP3ffNWdUov9sB_4bjTgYbrMCbn0pblx31dnziiJ5VK_a6LoWw3nBIo_CX8ZZ9OxUsW9b5SDJrdS7lEuM0AR-k-OYBs_ELL78/s600/Forever%20Blackbirds%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7pr7MWR98QnpAkpb7PySEaGjzQKvGOsoa3QIch4i408eIX4X5Ize5btz_u_3v5vQpXUENQQdNtlUmbtZq9T3cybIibSP3ffNWdUov9sB_4bjTgYbrMCbn0pblx31dnziiJ5VK_a6LoWw3nBIo_CX8ZZ9OxUsW9b5SDJrdS7lEuM0AR-k-OYBs_ELL78/s16000/Forever%20Blackbirds%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><i>Forever Blackbirds</i> will be out in the Spring. Dian's recent novel <i>About the Carleton Sister</i>s can be found <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/about-the-carleton-sisters-9781647424404" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Here's a taste of <i>Forever Blackbirds</i>, from Marta's turbulent childhood, before the family escapes to America:</p><i>The window revealed a first glimmer of gray light lifting into the sky against the whole cover of snow. Mornings like this I recalled the night our barn burned in Russia, flames rising outside Father and Mother’s upstairs bedroom window. The shouts of men carrying torches that awakened Father, then Mother. By the time Father pulled back the heavy drape, the barn was already gone, the flames exploding from the stored hay, flames leaping so high they threatened the outbuilding where Father kept the tools. The wild and frantic shriek of animals kept rising from the yard where they’d been set loose. Thunder, my favorite horse, long gone into the blackness surrounding the barn.<br /><br /> The blizzard had already blanketed the path to the outhouse. Best to make the tea and put on rubber boots before going out. There would be no quiet moments again until the house darkened and everyone went to bed.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-53630740507397066622023-12-21T06:51:00.000-08:002023-12-21T07:16:33.799-08:00Book Cover: Trust Me<div>For the book cover for the upcoming Forest Avenue Press book <i>Trust Me</i>, a novel by Scott Nadelson, I had one particular idea that popped into my mind, which I ran with. I usually like to tinker with more than one concept in the early stages of a cover project, but once in a while, something gets into my head and grabs hold.</div><div><br /></div><div>The seeds for this idea came from publisher Laura Stanfill, who sent me notes on her thoughts:</div><div><br /></div><i>Scott Nadelson’s book I already have cover ideas from the nature in the book. Mushrooms! A king bolete! I love the idea of at least one mushroom because of the title TRUST ME, and how there’s a scene where the tween daughter doesn’t quite trust that her dad has it right about which kind is edible. But also the book takes place in an A-frame cabin in the woods and the triangle shape matches their family—divorced parents, with their 12-year-old in between them. Isn’t that cool? He wrote that intentionally which I love. And another idea is doing something structural that would evoke the 52 short chapters, time passing, weekend after weekend.</i><br /><br />This, by the way, is a king bolete mushroom. Huge!<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIonBMOsAuaROGzp_5798CtAusMwRecYboAP2Cqp3x8eW5sVlBPZb_9dKcNAWSZh0kb2gI3bXn6kOt7pw_h_IsQ_YpZJiSQLeZfuBliB58PpSQzp_xxgzRQu4jV65hE3SBjtpUZgvFZ3-_opsq-YBxstW-sPww9TrGrP5NiG76DJ46PDJw3z7d2z6bgMU/s1200/King-bolete-feature-image-1.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIonBMOsAuaROGzp_5798CtAusMwRecYboAP2Cqp3x8eW5sVlBPZb_9dKcNAWSZh0kb2gI3bXn6kOt7pw_h_IsQ_YpZJiSQLeZfuBliB58PpSQzp_xxgzRQu4jV65hE3SBjtpUZgvFZ3-_opsq-YBxstW-sPww9TrGrP5NiG76DJ46PDJw3z7d2z6bgMU/w400-h400/King-bolete-feature-image-1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Reading Laura's ideas. I instantly had an image in my head of that king bolete mushroom, front and center, with the title written inside it. The letters of <i>Trust Me</i> would hug the shape of the mushroom as if growing organically inside it, the longer <i>Trust</i> inside the wider cap and the narrower <i>Me</i> in the stem.<div><br /></div><div>I took the rest of Laura's notes and my imagination built the woods around my mushroom: trees in shades of green, a path leading somewhere, the A-frame cabin partially hidden in the overgrowth.<br /><br />The text I started freehand in Illustrator, fitting the letters inside the shape I created for my mushroom. The first rendition was... crude.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW2w0zh474uC6H2WCpnCtgBgXLHg3vvREm2zuHkOf8q56eTXuAau2hG3ew-aIBGUqFId2NVhVM3MAR479eCKhBTW-i8NGrdcqioidBvn8cZtRLn6pJzF3GYIs6QxnLkCCrsr_d2MUg4QndvtT-tYFlURkxihI73sGmATHobYfeTOqQJZ2yhJh64U3Ulk/s1839/mushroom%20lettering%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1839" data-original-width="1596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHW2w0zh474uC6H2WCpnCtgBgXLHg3vvREm2zuHkOf8q56eTXuAau2hG3ew-aIBGUqFId2NVhVM3MAR479eCKhBTW-i8NGrdcqioidBvn8cZtRLn6pJzF3GYIs6QxnLkCCrsr_d2MUg4QndvtT-tYFlURkxihI73sGmATHobYfeTOqQJZ2yhJh64U3Ulk/w349-h400/mushroom%20lettering%201.png" width="349" /></a></div><br /><div>Edges of the letters were fighting each other and looking way too scrappy. But it gave me a starting place. The more I refined the more I used the mushroom itself to create the letters. To do this, I took the shapes of the cap and the stem...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6kFLPqxvAa4WoiwqriR_O19TCocW9RDF7uH-hHZKpaDH3SN6DAoNhGzl2sOZqHHV8Eu1vCAzzuvnZfGvmrm1o36VV_-JH-9N8oYwJxLuIVCahFriqRPy3qpHokHnPfh1qSqczC4kVDzJYIvU97KcrLFyMTB3g_66Mc2fva_3Etx1rtTb5QfWk0DqpIw/s1821/mushroom%20lettering%2002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1821" data-original-width="1572" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj6kFLPqxvAa4WoiwqriR_O19TCocW9RDF7uH-hHZKpaDH3SN6DAoNhGzl2sOZqHHV8Eu1vCAzzuvnZfGvmrm1o36VV_-JH-9N8oYwJxLuIVCahFriqRPy3qpHokHnPfh1qSqczC4kVDzJYIvU97KcrLFyMTB3g_66Mc2fva_3Etx1rtTb5QfWk0DqpIw/w345-h400/mushroom%20lettering%2002.png" width="345" /></a></div><br /><div>and turned the solid into outline.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs9lBmUEpMNAcfhFpEFHGq615hdz30cCC1KwsZoFsU-bdGsoctWU9vkHoJJYNeaCkGGTUYlLfA6MemxgT15vM6VfIt_zPGUVFDoQce7wIrsdOZiIw7zzWjNnzYCzDTlZx2CWTFby4ZZ2ViQNL3VaBq5DdZrlkCYZC5oWvnwdLMF5m-0XQN7NlE6YfIvVE/s1821/mushroom%20lettering%2006.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1821" data-original-width="1572" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs9lBmUEpMNAcfhFpEFHGq615hdz30cCC1KwsZoFsU-bdGsoctWU9vkHoJJYNeaCkGGTUYlLfA6MemxgT15vM6VfIt_zPGUVFDoQce7wIrsdOZiIw7zzWjNnzYCzDTlZx2CWTFby4ZZ2ViQNL3VaBq5DdZrlkCYZC5oWvnwdLMF5m-0XQN7NlE6YfIvVE/w345-h400/mushroom%20lettering%2006.png" width="345" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I fixed the outline so that it grew inward from the edges. That became the outer border for my lettering.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I took that inward-facing outline and turned <i>it</i> into a solid shape and gave that shape another inward-facing outline.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1orhzaiz4P8DaL9SldFMMHTuUJU1S5ipMJT79LdShxM2JFHYRB39KLYezPQpoQgZQ-t5QiMdJziLLcI2WQeTnFAjMXiPf9BEnQQD72VQvjer3P3IWWtC8BUuTTAr6BugWWu-6m3HPThFMJm-AWIras1_owVKMMoe6DTf_1wz0KLXPtf9UjyLXueJG4E/s1572/mushroom%20lettering%2005.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1572" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1orhzaiz4P8DaL9SldFMMHTuUJU1S5ipMJT79LdShxM2JFHYRB39KLYezPQpoQgZQ-t5QiMdJziLLcI2WQeTnFAjMXiPf9BEnQQD72VQvjer3P3IWWtC8BUuTTAr6BugWWu-6m3HPThFMJm-AWIras1_owVKMMoe6DTf_1wz0KLXPtf9UjyLXueJG4E/w400-h231/mushroom%20lettering%2005.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>I turned that outline, too, into a solid shape. And that solid shape became parts of letters. For instance the tops of the <i>T</i>s in <i>Trust</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2xe8I6UgZ9pw_6mbtZNhtZOvUqFzI9oO7p8a45NVMGU2FN3gsh11XJ-Mjkp8kxac5hF9AqWal3rq-38QfPVh_-ugtF2E1kOjaLspAooZTfNXYoETNKa7wVnmvLBntvV30fbPLOF7WvhkBXtm8Up6ILN-XJ0fDiXqmWEkIwC-5gwSBQkVm6P9X3Q78zI/s1572/mushroom%20lettering%2008.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1572" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2xe8I6UgZ9pw_6mbtZNhtZOvUqFzI9oO7p8a45NVMGU2FN3gsh11XJ-Mjkp8kxac5hF9AqWal3rq-38QfPVh_-ugtF2E1kOjaLspAooZTfNXYoETNKa7wVnmvLBntvV30fbPLOF7WvhkBXtm8Up6ILN-XJ0fDiXqmWEkIwC-5gwSBQkVm6P9X3Q78zI/w400-h231/mushroom%20lettering%2008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>You can see how I added shapes in tan to demarcate the edges of the tops of the <i>T</i>s. And the blue border shape demarcates the bottoms of the <i>T</i>s. I cut these tan and blue shapes out of my yellow pieces, changed the color, and had my <i>T</i>s.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54Nfit9xV8J4IjZkJSFIsi8IZ7U7VzD5zs9Z2CXNat06QXgQXrjD2skGvgy3zjOD9XoAQUEwp1pdVr2W0IH_5RXXLjUM20PPbQUeikvsERJIE15ud3JII3rrJYU5xkFpbZpcnPf4hqrOchbU_uQDaP9npV6roSDA_5nilxPdzFwEFVG2oJBx0ZT0peLA/s1572/mushroom%20lettering%2009.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1572" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54Nfit9xV8J4IjZkJSFIsi8IZ7U7VzD5zs9Z2CXNat06QXgQXrjD2skGvgy3zjOD9XoAQUEwp1pdVr2W0IH_5RXXLjUM20PPbQUeikvsERJIE15ud3JII3rrJYU5xkFpbZpcnPf4hqrOchbU_uQDaP9npV6roSDA_5nilxPdzFwEFVG2oJBx0ZT0peLA/w400-h231/mushroom%20lettering%2009.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I used that same process to reshape much of the lettering in the title. Then I was creating my woods around the mushroom, moving things around, adding detail. I sent Laura a quick sample the work in progress.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcN_IhwnX6WiVGxzw6-yfusLDuqJQHx-neyXrHWTSXF-oFOcQXaRrvWL6Sb9puugS7BFgg742tYjn5qakTqyntbGyzjxfkGiT0ytJBA1lHvpjgysrtrcDb_3O-49zl9-S5jm7aLyD6jVggotBoR1GxqlX-nuvtmclM5jfxVxnQ-hE2uu44_Yi_FGR7oU/s2700/Trust%20Me%20Sample%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcN_IhwnX6WiVGxzw6-yfusLDuqJQHx-neyXrHWTSXF-oFOcQXaRrvWL6Sb9puugS7BFgg742tYjn5qakTqyntbGyzjxfkGiT0ytJBA1lHvpjgysrtrcDb_3O-49zl9-S5jm7aLyD6jVggotBoR1GxqlX-nuvtmclM5jfxVxnQ-hE2uu44_Yi_FGR7oU/w267-h400/Trust%20Me%20Sample%2001.png" width="267" /></a></div><br /><div>When Laura saw the first draft, she really liked it but tossed out the idea, what if I removed the mushroom and kept the mushroom shape of the lettering; would that evoke the mushroom on its own. I thought that was a super interesting idea but wasn't sure I could pull it off, especially with the open space created by the <i>T</i>s. Then she thought about it and came back to say she didn't think that was a good idea after all and we should keep the mushroom. But she did worry that the design was too flat. She wondered about adding some little pops of color. But not too much. The flowing lettering and the mushroom shape had the potential to slide into psychedelic territory so getting too groovy with color could be dangerous.</div><div><br /></div><div>The first step I took was to bring up the saturation of the whole design to make it brighter. Then I thought about how to add extra pops of color. I thought about some purple flowers—not the really... flowery kind but something more spiky that could just add a spray of color. Like these.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghk96LShV8SvApD_P9bMkq-9Shn0anKDmbpYf3uXI-HpRcxyuYThO_1Cds_Ly9wgRHIroTCTzv8JJ-uS21Tvbtm1gXXV8oc8ZbO48SprGXgWMpbigtYZ3B_XIv-990GhYO8ipSFXW7n_FeFQbSoVGfqbWhOD0Q6S6lbIMkggwDHIGg51fHGeujNVQ7X78/s1348/thumbnail.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1348" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghk96LShV8SvApD_P9bMkq-9Shn0anKDmbpYf3uXI-HpRcxyuYThO_1Cds_Ly9wgRHIroTCTzv8JJ-uS21Tvbtm1gXXV8oc8ZbO48SprGXgWMpbigtYZ3B_XIv-990GhYO8ipSFXW7n_FeFQbSoVGfqbWhOD0Q6S6lbIMkggwDHIGg51fHGeujNVQ7X78/w400-h269/thumbnail.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And what about a bird in the upper right? A yellow bird to balance the warmth of the yellow windows in the A-frame house.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I thought about Laura's word <i>flat</i>, but not just in the context of color. In my early draft, the artwork was pretty flat simply because I hadn't yet added all the detail. The path had some texture but not enough. The swipe of greenery running behind the mushroom and through the trees was one flat shape with no added detail at all. But those updates would come. What I was really thinking about was the mushroom. What if I added just a little more dimension to the mushroom?</div><div><br /></div><div>Once I had these changes made, I wasn't sure the bird was necessary. It felt a little superfluous. I sent Laura a sample with and a sample without.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHyEEHz0dxNd9qlTNqdcgQaDf-4W43nrPgZlMXQi7WqKAv9peA7WN5VxvHwyhMTE-zJE2UvRJiCCCogB7-DVrMskLkXQkWd6S9cuEgzCRodiqqD5Zj5XqgvIyDD4W-XfjKEfhGHMF71C5771gyTMpffBg5tddBv806Nz4YYJkdTDKBi4ogm3h1en1EHU/s3631/sample%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="3631" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHyEEHz0dxNd9qlTNqdcgQaDf-4W43nrPgZlMXQi7WqKAv9peA7WN5VxvHwyhMTE-zJE2UvRJiCCCogB7-DVrMskLkXQkWd6S9cuEgzCRodiqqD5Zj5XqgvIyDD4W-XfjKEfhGHMF71C5771gyTMpffBg5tddBv806Nz4YYJkdTDKBi4ogm3h1en1EHU/w400-h299/sample%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Laura preferred it without the bird. We sent it to Scott for his thoughts.</div><div><br /></div><div>I love when something small surprises you with its effect. That little added highlight on the mushroom made such a difference. Laura said, "I love the lighter blob on the top of the mushroom. I'm amazed that a blob could change the whole tone of the cover! I mean the colors are adjusted too but for me, that blob puts it into sweet/family tone."<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>But would Scott like it? I felt a little anxious, because I'd only given him one thing to choose from. Maybe he wouldn't be in favor of any of it. I could certainly jump back to the drawing board, but my brain had only spat out that one idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>He said, "Exciting! I love the A-frame and the color scheme and of course the mushroom. I just showed it to Alexandra and Iona, who both have a better visual sense than me, and they were less crazy about the title font inside the mushroom—they thought it was too Alice in Wonderland whimsical, maybe suggesting a younger readership than what the book is aiming for. I can see their point, though I also think it's eye-catching."</div><div><br /></div><div>So, yay! But also ack—we were veering into psychedelic territory again, albeit of the younger form. </div><div><br /></div><div>I went back to my mushroom shape outlines and came up with lettering that still hugged the shape of the king bolete but wasn't quite so Mad Hatter.</div><div><br /></div><div>With this change in lettering, and some more refining of the details of the forest, we had our cover. And it was good that we scrapped the bird, because it gave us room for this quote from the fabulous Laurie Frankel—which this creaky, old blog isn't presenting in full sharpness, so:</div><div><br /></div><div>"Scott Nadelson beautifully, movingly sketches the balance between turbulence and poise, wonder and boredom, bravery and vulnerability that is being twelve, or raising someone who is twelve."</div><div><br /></div><div>One last thing to note about the lettering. And I hadn't noticed it at all, and certainly hadn't engineered it this way. One of the first things Laura noticed was that the word <i>US</i> stands out in the center of <i>Trust</i>. A fitting bit of serendipity for this book.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDj836crDL3Bu-CRVUv3IOmiFGqMQrImkYB_ndSKDY3UDz-F3XuBwsE9v1H5UQVjQ-RIrThHsrrU8tB1CJWMlojXYYFKcMGMFygr1Lf-tJmlmNyg9Ai9O0ZpPfgS9bHuqIOWTFfnQt9yEUlBaDnEV5HSw0TXQaxv98tNOneWd4P8HPW8EEIMjqtXy5sM/s600/Trust%20Me%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDj836crDL3Bu-CRVUv3IOmiFGqMQrImkYB_ndSKDY3UDz-F3XuBwsE9v1H5UQVjQ-RIrThHsrrU8tB1CJWMlojXYYFKcMGMFygr1Lf-tJmlmNyg9Ai9O0ZpPfgS9bHuqIOWTFfnQt9yEUlBaDnEV5HSw0TXQaxv98tNOneWd4P8HPW8EEIMjqtXy5sM/s16000/Trust%20Me%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div><i>Trust Me</i> will be out in fall of 2024. More information is <a href="https://www.forestavenuepress.com/news/acquisition-trust-me-by-scott-nadelson" target="_blank">here</a>. And here's an excerpt:</div><br /><i>She has one hand on her hip, head tilted to the left, so her hair falls across her neck. The way her braces push out her lips gives her mouth a permanent pout, made sour by the scrunching of her eyes. It’s a disconcerting look, not only because it resembles the one Veronica turned on him so often in the last years of their marriage, when she was debating how long she could stay in it, but because it sits on Sills’s face so naturally. Only twelve, and she doesn’t have to work to make him squirm. Twelve and a half, that is. She reminds him every time he objects to her sitting in the car alone while he goes into a store, or to her walking by herself to the diner on the highway, where, if he doesn’t order a burger and salad for her, she’ll eat nothing but a shake and fries. I’m twelve and a half, for crying out loud, she’ll say, and he’ll reply, Exactly, before walking with her to the diner though its food gives him cramps.</i><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-13183151415954791202023-12-18T13:46:00.000-08:002023-12-18T13:47:12.770-08:00Book Cover: The Sign for Drowning<p>This fall I had the good fortune to be contracted to design two different book covers for two books for one of my most favorite presses, 7.13. One was <i>The Sign for Drowning</i> by Rachel Stolzman Gullo. The novel originally came out in 2008 from Trumpeter Publishers, and this is its reissue. Publisher Leland Check had these succinct words to say about the book when he reached out to me:</p><i>It's a terrific novel about grief, about the Deaf community, written quite beautifully.</i><br /><br /><div>In the story, the narrator, who is a teacher to Deaf children, is haunted by the death of her sister, years earlier, to drowning. Here's the original cover.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPuqc2gw_dnDF_hRiIZ75ixpIv2JeOFK_Zd2YQ5jLHFWve4g2hPMilm_dk3g3J0L34fm7IHsdqyuX8Sdc8xHK2EBb1g21A1s_jzLq1ksN1IALYAVc6NHyQKpZkhIfsL9XR21CjOuYDdhUQ-eilmGnu8cTGdDpZ34eJrs2xHHmV5m95SmWeXThNexOeiE/s1010/61Zct0QnZTL._SL1010_.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1010" data-original-width="655" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLPuqc2gw_dnDF_hRiIZ75ixpIv2JeOFK_Zd2YQ5jLHFWve4g2hPMilm_dk3g3J0L34fm7IHsdqyuX8Sdc8xHK2EBb1g21A1s_jzLq1ksN1IALYAVc6NHyQKpZkhIfsL9XR21CjOuYDdhUQ-eilmGnu8cTGdDpZ34eJrs2xHHmV5m95SmWeXThNexOeiE/w260-h400/61Zct0QnZTL._SL1010_.jpeg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div>To start things off on this new edition, Leland had Rachel give me some thoughts on covers and cover elements she liked. She shared an article on book cover trends and said:</div><div><br /></div><i>This article speaks to me and I like the idea of handwritten large title and flowery stuff- flowers symbolizing ephemeral. We might play with imagery in book from the The Little Prince. The flower enclosed in a fence. Or not. I had a review in the Sarah Lawrence magazine that used the African violets that Adrea falls for…<br /><br />Also, here’s covers I find beautiful.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGe2W5gOAM5jkF74uP4gKSCdMt4yYJ1Ikcdb26SBHWSvoQJeh4ZASWembmOvJ3OVnLoK0KFqr-QX5nTc1NlC7hyphenhyphenqbFxByzIXzEiS8e98ZJ3RUyuf7wYJDbtYeQ9HzguNPYVXhcwhVGbzJU5NUDOYulP6KcM6pqshFwT1GYwHNzSPLFpGSwmova5sKFRjg/s4917/book%20covers%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3676" data-original-width="4917" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGe2W5gOAM5jkF74uP4gKSCdMt4yYJ1Ikcdb26SBHWSvoQJeh4ZASWembmOvJ3OVnLoK0KFqr-QX5nTc1NlC7hyphenhyphenqbFxByzIXzEiS8e98ZJ3RUyuf7wYJDbtYeQ9HzguNPYVXhcwhVGbzJU5NUDOYulP6KcM6pqshFwT1GYwHNzSPLFpGSwmova5sKFRjg/w400-h300/book%20covers%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>She also shared this image that she thought might make an evocative cover:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqz6_i1leebCGqjPCZ1hLtLdCx8MbVSnPyV5dFhBC5TluhzDq-msFsXbmEz-nv59IuEhp7epy-mJtzxT3QhAfvHrGIO3CKR40uxHSjz4n69GeKLEOZ0yCd4nm1nwUZaOto2AD9O4GuGOqUeXOQlUSEwuMcMJ14Y13u4yY3MqdPaGxUF9soTDqpvHa0WQ/s6000/hand%20over%20ocean%20photo.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqz6_i1leebCGqjPCZ1hLtLdCx8MbVSnPyV5dFhBC5TluhzDq-msFsXbmEz-nv59IuEhp7epy-mJtzxT3QhAfvHrGIO3CKR40uxHSjz4n69GeKLEOZ0yCd4nm1nwUZaOto2AD9O4GuGOqUeXOQlUSEwuMcMJ14Y13u4yY3MqdPaGxUF9soTDqpvHa0WQ/w266-h400/hand%20over%20ocean%20photo.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>In some book cover design projects, I come up with or am given a concept and run with it, working on that one design until it's good. In many projects, I work through two or three concepts in rough form, show them to the clients for feedback, and when the clients choose their favorite, I refine from there. With <i>The Sign for Drowning</i>, I shuffled through many different concepts, creating and showing, creating and showing, until we finally zeroed in on what spoke to Rachel.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started with her notes on liking big, hand-drawn lettering, flowers, specifically African violets, and her idea of drawing on <i>The Little Prince</i>, which is a book that figures in her story. With the African violets, I scattered them across water, floating the lettering, which I hand-drew, on top. For the <i>Little Prince</i>, I experimented with the single rose from the story, swirling the stem and threading it through the lettering, and in this instance my reference to water was a single drop hanging from the flower.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kS5DZ3mNYBII8NzNU2nOhyzIF7wNbOhBoaVNsjHiu-I_7me0J7XEsRGjWyR96MTjc8FYaqUv25mMjgx63LzGlceM36zEKiOtInCeyxIxWJBM1zP4sbYRykwQbll3f8cK06WYaaaqpYMwRC1R7BE1Vim-U_v23qBM2yjXRDb1dI6y_YVwn5SyF1ijV44/s3374/samples%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="3374" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3kS5DZ3mNYBII8NzNU2nOhyzIF7wNbOhBoaVNsjHiu-I_7me0J7XEsRGjWyR96MTjc8FYaqUv25mMjgx63LzGlceM36zEKiOtInCeyxIxWJBM1zP4sbYRykwQbll3f8cK06WYaaaqpYMwRC1R7BE1Vim-U_v23qBM2yjXRDb1dI6y_YVwn5SyF1ijV44/w400-h304/samples%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>When I shared these rough drafts with Rachel and Leland, I also mentioned that I thought the photo of the hand dipping into the water might be a little too on the nose but that I could certainly try it. I reminded then that these concepts were in their early stages and that I'd add things like texture and detail down the line if they liked where I was going with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rachel said:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Wow! It’s amazing to see a new cover coming to life! I like the rose one quite a lot. I’d be very interested to see you add texture and detail and how it develops further. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><i>I like that there’s something off or mysterious about the long circular stem and just one rose. It makes me curious. </i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I can’t help but want to see one version with water, but I hear you about on the nose. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>BTW- My last name has a Z in it- Stolzman. Hope that doesn’t change everything- just kidding!</i><div><br /></div><div>OOPS.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, I'd obviously gone too subtle with the water in my African violets design (there are rings around some of the flowers, but you can't really catch the nuance from the images that show on this blog) and she couldn't tell it was water at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Leland said:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Yeah, I also really like the rose direction, and the idea of incorporating water in some way into that design.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I’m open to photography and testing it out. But to me, the rose is a winning direction. But it’s Rachel’s book and therefore, her cover...</i></div><div><br /></div><div>So I stuck with the rose direction and added water to it. Of course laying my swirl of stems and leaves in water meant I should remove the drop from the rose. I also replaced the simple, single-layer leaves, which were mostly just three or four leaf shapes that I'd reproduced, with individual leaves with multiple layers of detail.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEP0IFejnsi8nJVaVPkmKVM6aRHRXrTzzwKIqrnyBNSTq_jPIPxseV7md6tlz6Lxc-7XdqBMK_Nmc2dHoAKUnemOd2bYJhZ9LpmoaZmzQYe1TcRSRHn8xX00SbAc3WlX3-DeTT31SscxEC6W4kdgLALMINhhsjIxBfzSXSVgcUaZGrtcuah5Q59izlAg/s2550/The%20Sign%20for%20Drowning%20sample%2003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEP0IFejnsi8nJVaVPkmKVM6aRHRXrTzzwKIqrnyBNSTq_jPIPxseV7md6tlz6Lxc-7XdqBMK_Nmc2dHoAKUnemOd2bYJhZ9LpmoaZmzQYe1TcRSRHn8xX00SbAc3WlX3-DeTT31SscxEC6W4kdgLALMINhhsjIxBfzSXSVgcUaZGrtcuah5Q59izlAg/w260-h400/The%20Sign%20for%20Drowning%20sample%2003.png" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div>Seeing this new version, they began to rethink, wanting to move toward something more somber. Rachel suggested I read a certain scene in the book and look for concepts and elements there.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I tried a new handful of ideas. The sister's drowning death happens from a yellow blow-up boat, so I thought about a tiny yellow boat, alone, in a wide field of water. I tried the violets again with fewer of them and more water. I on impulse one day created a scrappy, sketch-like version of the hand-touching-water photograph. Because the scene Rachel suggested I read has the narrator by the ocean at night I created two concepts in that vein, one highly playing on the phenomenon of bioluminescence that the narrator experiences in the scene. Within these concepts I tried different layouts and fonts, including more hand-drawn lettering.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wQJkTgx4FskXZd2pfZpmE0gFPVNwDuKxZJHeQtDgTew8zOvWZMRp9FhMfMf7zT3qh_asHWtIhhBoYD7w06McqXq5daaXbkMpPUoQSoa3gERImN802bCQseXgXQl9QfTpFwAMRGYiewB_qd6e_5koMZ3uTO4bQ1FjVnNX3IJvXsFTELsbZroi1LFgrXc/s6851/samples%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="6851" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7wQJkTgx4FskXZd2pfZpmE0gFPVNwDuKxZJHeQtDgTew8zOvWZMRp9FhMfMf7zT3qh_asHWtIhhBoYD7w06McqXq5daaXbkMpPUoQSoa3gERImN802bCQseXgXQl9QfTpFwAMRGYiewB_qd6e_5koMZ3uTO4bQ1FjVnNX3IJvXsFTELsbZroi1LFgrXc/w400-h304/samples%2002.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>As before, these were unpolished. I could, for instance, try adding some texture to the hand-lettering to make it look like it was, say, drawn with a pen. But that would happen after a concept was chosen.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, none of these concepts were chosen. While we went back and forth on a few designs, particularly the bioluminescent beach, honing in on that idea, Rachel shared a painting her cousin Faye Stolzman made, that was quite lovely.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54o-2PHwJPJtYYxIqFqQ2zyWG7thlteIYVJMEzSkDbD0tyksuHHT0pBUVI0NtgcOmo4ap3ohrhIjfju0ybg5Gz6NoJ76rUzNxA7dAmJRpU44zQdXlNY4HSimJE5ilTDVsg6Wp-SIk6_Gaox2TFAuNDEEOuFVZ-D3v3qIrl9wOhJswzp980OUcVcPw3Ok/s2600/IMG_7480%202.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1520" data-original-width="2600" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54o-2PHwJPJtYYxIqFqQ2zyWG7thlteIYVJMEzSkDbD0tyksuHHT0pBUVI0NtgcOmo4ap3ohrhIjfju0ybg5Gz6NoJ76rUzNxA7dAmJRpU44zQdXlNY4HSimJE5ilTDVsg6Wp-SIk6_Gaox2TFAuNDEEOuFVZ-D3v3qIrl9wOhJswzp980OUcVcPw3Ok/w400-h235/IMG_7480%202.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I tried a sample or two using it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzRwXoKLrvEAW6zgSTKosSnW9uYHla6xARxSTprNZRFA6FqG74ZRJlnwBbn8kWN9KYsvr-yl7ZxD5qQ8FQvs0wiDGM_JRt5Cuxl8Ri8vLZrJ_PXsgNNDgI3mGNSlsidB7xLw41RsBEG7r48hQB4Iq9wesmYgoqGanaYTW2MyJprqPYg8MQyhZgSWrzuU/s3384/samples%2003.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="3384" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzRwXoKLrvEAW6zgSTKosSnW9uYHla6xARxSTprNZRFA6FqG74ZRJlnwBbn8kWN9KYsvr-yl7ZxD5qQ8FQvs0wiDGM_JRt5Cuxl8Ri8vLZrJ_PXsgNNDgI3mGNSlsidB7xLw41RsBEG7r48hQB4Iq9wesmYgoqGanaYTW2MyJprqPYg8MQyhZgSWrzuU/w400-h301/samples%2003.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And suddenly we were off on a new direction. Rachel and Leland really liked the painting, and we tinkered with it (I played with layout and Rachel asked me to try some different fonts)...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7qluJd6LeYh8EB4ecS27sikG3f_S_xW8Yxu7NyyHp_gTsSZtIISop5SoiasumXVBFYAqsqSsTxNucZ7WDWRwe0C6odnc7xrgpRyJISZjaWDAdlKO8zGZWzKwDEab1NJM_5ejKGkaIm_caLZZBq7HessS5UFd0f_t6oh3u6kATVTpfNHRrH-iFnuk-Es/s6851/samples%2004.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="6851" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7qluJd6LeYh8EB4ecS27sikG3f_S_xW8Yxu7NyyHp_gTsSZtIISop5SoiasumXVBFYAqsqSsTxNucZ7WDWRwe0C6odnc7xrgpRyJISZjaWDAdlKO8zGZWzKwDEab1NJM_5ejKGkaIm_caLZZBq7HessS5UFd0f_t6oh3u6kATVTpfNHRrH-iFnuk-Es/w400-h304/samples%2004.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>...until we settled on a design. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShQsgkioPV53pqFlsuKRHrIj3Ecf5zCmFj6Ghjn1qjn05ucThWiJ8ff512tcxUWrMNwuIis6-NB-MsCQZf_EZE3Rcw1oMmtgrDRfeHTTnF9OnixmxIQsT6eoB6AY9fsCxMWnEIwJzm86DhZmN-ENn9RzqAHIDdzn56BWy48fZC94LemwHFlaRkdvupNM/s2550/Sign%20for%20Drowning%20sample%2001C%2001%20regular.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2550" data-original-width="1650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShQsgkioPV53pqFlsuKRHrIj3Ecf5zCmFj6Ghjn1qjn05ucThWiJ8ff512tcxUWrMNwuIis6-NB-MsCQZf_EZE3Rcw1oMmtgrDRfeHTTnF9OnixmxIQsT6eoB6AY9fsCxMWnEIwJzm86DhZmN-ENn9RzqAHIDdzn56BWy48fZC94LemwHFlaRkdvupNM/w260-h400/Sign%20for%20Drowning%20sample%2001C%2001%20regular.png" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div>The problem then was that the photographs Rachel was able to get of the painting were not high resolution. Faye was still working on the painting so we gave her some time to get to a place she was happy with and then she took some more, higher-res photos. Once we got the images, the shoreline and, more importantly, the clouds had changed and the lettering didn't fit the same way, so I did some photoshopping to combine a couple different passages along the long painting to create the space I needed. Also Rachel was interested in me trying some hand-drawn lettering again, and some more versions with the font, so there were more samples back and forth.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxUXwSptvMuDBbFQfV_mMPeS2jy8mjI2s5efNbziUJRasnO1xXabm6GmI8iRqheyT2Q2rd_SlI0_tlS02TQD9z6MHPettgSUqCb1E1YMMLLNPKNHyMkJZj_yb3FK8GMqDCYh2lxl8wgMSAbTcT5L2589yd1AbVPcSbtEtm8xrCAXXmoLYI1fEASj-AAE/s6851/samples%2005.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="6851" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxUXwSptvMuDBbFQfV_mMPeS2jy8mjI2s5efNbziUJRasnO1xXabm6GmI8iRqheyT2Q2rd_SlI0_tlS02TQD9z6MHPettgSUqCb1E1YMMLLNPKNHyMkJZj_yb3FK8GMqDCYh2lxl8wgMSAbTcT5L2589yd1AbVPcSbtEtm8xrCAXXmoLYI1fEASj-AAE/w400-h304/samples%2005.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>In the end, she zeroed in on the version she liked best. It's interesting how far we came from the elements and concepts I started exploring in the beginning, but I'm so happy we found a cover that Rachel could love, and one that uses beautiful art from someone she loves. <i>The Sign for Drowning</i> is a book ultimately about human connection, and with the cover, we got a human connection we hadn't bargained on.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDrrzokQi-0WWkj107Loi8KMmmYQTJ8WMXaNz2yLJyT4IxOzxJe_GdSNAxhecdLgLCORWjpA5JN_mW1BRdtKnW3R537vVd_e8P8Wjk0gCvurUk_askYyiayfcHCnpS1ve62t_E0CtmohFWzKKFSZMEy_NJRuc95YLIrVU9Yzs8VlGvIHaTAS7ITBXAmo/s618/The%20Sign%20for%20Drowning%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDrrzokQi-0WWkj107Loi8KMmmYQTJ8WMXaNz2yLJyT4IxOzxJe_GdSNAxhecdLgLCORWjpA5JN_mW1BRdtKnW3R537vVd_e8P8Wjk0gCvurUk_askYyiayfcHCnpS1ve62t_E0CtmohFWzKKFSZMEy_NJRuc95YLIrVU9Yzs8VlGvIHaTAS7ITBXAmo/s16000/The%20Sign%20for%20Drowning%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post%2002.png" /></a></div><br /><div><i>The Sign for Drowning </i>is out now. It can be purchased <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQGKTM4W" target="_blank">here</a>. And here's an excerpt:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>We have been reading </i>The Little Prince<i>. Not the usual image of a mother reading to a child. We face each other. She watches my eyes and my hands. Adrea is deaf as a stone. She says that I named her.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Our first contact was a spring day in her classroom at the Huntington School. I frowned at the stained rug, ripped books, bare barred windows. Frowned at the eight special foster children. Her rounded tense back suddenly curled against my shins. She was sitting on my feet, facing away, holding herself. An introduction.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I looked down at this unfamiliar five-year-old child, her head resting on my knees. Her hair was neatly parted down the middle, braids curving down each side like rivers rushing to reach the back of her neck. Lowering myself to the floor, I was careful to keep my legs steady and not jostle the girl. She spun around, placing her small feet on top of mine. She wrapped her arms around her knees, looked directly at my face and then away. I read her name tag and signed, “Hello, Adrea.”</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>She pursed her lips tentatively, broke into a smile. Two rows of perfect baby teeth. Slowly she brought out one grubby hand, signed carefully, “My name is—” then in a rush, “Adrea,” as I had.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I’d skipped a letter, a loose fist, two fingers over the thumb, two fingers under the thumb—N. We’d made a truce, unknowingly, that would be permanent.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I put aside the book. We need to talk about a flower that loves. Adrea wants to know what I believe. God, I need to know her every belief. We agree a flower can love, so can a plant and a tree. Lying on Adrea’s bed, the sun boasting and rain tapping down, hands that talk, flowers with heavy hearts, what possibility would I dare deny?</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Surely there’s some scrap of bible that a stone overheard.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Now she’s Adrea. I’m the mother who never conceived. She is the child who entered this world soundlessly, as silent and swift as a drowning. But I must not think of these things together.</i></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-71409481004107238232023-12-12T07:00:00.000-08:002023-12-12T07:20:53.645-08:00Twenty Years<i>The very first emails Stephen and I sent to each other, exactly twenty years ago. And how we continue the conversation today.</i><div><br /></div><div>DECEMBER 12, 2003</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gigi</b>: Hi—I'm a member of the Rufus Wainwright message board. In which I go by circusgirl. Anyway, I was in Portland recently on a visit and made it a point to stop by the Froelick to see your exhibit. Wow. I just wanted to say you're quite a talent, in both aesthetic and content. I really enjoyed seeing your pieces in person. They're so lush. When I peeked at the Big Venus on the website I thought it was done in oils. I think my favorite pieces are the Castor and Pollux and the Toilette of Medusa (hope I'm not mis-stating the titles). The Medusa I love for so many reasons. It's so beautiful, but the idea behind it, the significance, just goes in so many layers. If I'm not being unclear. I love the paradoxes--the mythos/mythos, man/woman, good/evil, ugliness/beauty. Very cool. Castor and Pollux I thought was just so pretty and poignant. But I liked them all. Forgive me for sounding silly, but I just left impressed enough to feel the need to call upon you and gush a little. <br />Hope you get your wish. <br />GiGi</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Stephen</b>: Thanks so much for your e-mail. I love hearing what people have to say about my work. I do my little paintings, all alone at home, and then - bang - they're out there for everyone to see and interpret for themselves. They're so specific to me and my life/experience, but it gives me such pleasure to have people find other storys [sp] there. <br /><br />All that, and I just saw RW last night, in concert for the first time - and met him after. He was so amazing; I can't get over it. And I'll be seeing him in Seattle on Sunday...! <br /><br />Thanks again for your thoughtful words. <br /><br />SteveO<br /><br />*</div><div><br /></div><div>DECEMBER 12, 2023</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Stephen</b>: If your Aunt Kathy hadn't given you that Rufus Wainwright CD, and if I hadn't stayed up late and accidently seen Rufus performing on David Letterman, and if we hadn't both become fangirls at pretty much exactly the same time and hung out on his message board with all the other fangirls, and if I hadn't said something on there about my upcoming art show, and if you hadn't come to Portland to visit that same Aunt Kathy, and if you hadn't found a way to see my show, and if you'd never had the idea, the compulsion, to send me that "fan letter," that first email, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE TWENTY YEARS LATER. I'll never get over the - impossibility - of us ever finding each other. And the bridge, the final link that made all those ridiculous coincidences add up to anything at all, was your bravery in sending that email.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gigi</b>: I remember at the wedding you said, "No Kathy, no party." It occurs to me, too, speaking of the ridiculous coincidenceness of it all, that the whole stack of serendipity would have fallen apart had I had the chance to see <i>Strangers on a Train</i>. My trip, with Mom, to see Kathy was pretty much us hanging out at the house, eating, and going over to visit with Heather and family. I loved all of those things but wanted to have just one other experience to take away from the trip. One thing to get out and do. I told Mom and Kathy I'd read about the art show and maybe we could go see it, but they were more interested in staying in. I saw that <i>Strangers on a Train</i> was playing just down the street at Cinema 21, and I thought, great! That can be my thing. I can walk down and see it by myself. I think that had I gotten to see the movie, it would have satisfied my little goal, and I never would have gotten to the gallery, but when I walked down to the theater, it was closed. And then, really, the other bit of serendipity was that I got car sick. We decided to take a drive and get some lunch, and that would have been it, but I in the back seat (and with Kathy driving in her bat-out-of-hell way) was queasy by the time we stopped to eat. Oh! And then we couldn't find parking, I think. Kathy wanted to stop at some place that was like a food court but in a storefront downtown, and she couldn't find a place to park. And I looked, and there was the gallery. I said, how about you drop me here and I have a look at the art show, you find parking, and by the time you come, I should be feeling better. And that's what happened.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Stephen</b>: So, we need to watch <i>Strangers on a Train</i> tonight, don’t we?!</div><div><br /></div><div>It’s hard to remember how we were, <i>who</i> we were at that moment, that instant you hit send to that first email, the instant I began to read that first email. We’ve both told, at various times, the story of how you were stuck in a marriage to someone you didn’t love, that seeing an art show – something different, anything different – was a thing you could take for yourself, just you, something to help you endure the sadness and boredom of a situation you felt there was no way out of. </div><div><br /></div><div>But who was I when I read that first email? Where was I? I guess, as far as love, the idea of a romantic relationship, I was nowhere. Floating. Comfortably hopeless. Comfortably alone. The way I’d been since about the age of twenty-two, when my only other relationship had ended – a very toxic relationship – and there’d been nothing in between. It’s a long time between twenty-two and forty-five. I didn’t have a chance to learn how to be the half of a couple, to learn how a relationship works; I’m so grateful you’ve always been so patient with me. But I think I was ready, actually. Maybe a year, two years before that email, I’d been in love for the first time in more than twenty years. Untold, unrequited. And when he moved away, I was heartbroken. Such a ridiculous and overused word, but that’s what I felt. But if I hadn’t been broken in that way, I don’t know if I could have been ready to love you, to be loved. Because that love I had felt, that breaking, opened something in me that had been closed for so long. So that’s what I mean when I say I think I was ready.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gigi</b>: It's interesting that you say that that unrequited crush (does it belittle it to call it a crush?) is what made you ready. Because it was you telling me about that, and letting me read the unsent letter you wrote to him, that I think turned our penpal thing into something crushy for me. The way you wrote about what you felt about him, the lovely words and the ache in it, the story of it. Up until that, I think for me our back and forth was about the excitement of getting to talk about interesting things with an interesting person, the fun of learning about someone (learning about someone like that, penpalling like that, is addicting and one topic leads to another, leads to another, and I so needed that conversation at that time), but the intimacy of your letter to him sparked something for me. Well, your paintings sparked something too, that very first time I saw them, but I wasn't paying attention to that as we chatted...</div><div><br /></div><div>(You had to know I'd be all for watching <i>Strangers on a Train</i>, of course.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Stephen</b>: Of course! </div><div><br /></div><div>And, yeah, it was definitely more than that with him, so maybe crush isn’t the right word. </div><div><br /></div><div>And maybe neither is your “crushy”? Haha! But, really, I think the openness we were willing to share with each other so quickly – it was some sort of instinct, I think – was what gently walked us toward something beyond being just penpals. And made our eventual twinned admissions of what we certainly did call a “crush” later, at that midpoint in the emails, inevitable. Even though our present life circumstances were so different, we arrived at our inexplicable friendship wearing – just like they say – our hearts on our sleeves. It’s like the machinery of the thing was already set before the first email. But, really, it was all so random. And I know that neither of us had <i>any</i> conscious thought that we were heading toward a romantic relationship, that that was anything either of us even wanted, that things would quickly lead to that. But the crazy miracle of it was that we fit together so well, our peculiarities responding so precisely to the other’s peculiarities. So once we found ourselves in that completely unexpected place, it just had to be what it became. We just had to be what we became.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gigi</b>: That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? What we became. When you suggested we mark this occasion by sharing the old emails, I cringed because… there’s a way I don’t like who I was back then, so dorky and self-conscious and trying so hard to seem smart and sophisticated. Honestly, my first reaction to your idea was shame because I didn’t want to feel who I was back then. But this exercise isn’t about who we were but who we became—because of each other—and that’s better. </div><div><br /></div><div>We became better. More tolerant, more willing to compromise, more open. I’ve become more confident because of you, a better person, I’d like to think, because of being with you.</div><div><br /></div><div>And what have we done in these twenty years since my first dorky, self-conscious, trying-to-seem-smart-and-sophisticated email? Produced two books together, attended art openings and readings, supported each other’s creative careers, performed as a mother-daughter singing duo (as married couples often do), bought a house, beautifully decorated that house (well, mostly you did that), cared for two dogs and one cat, made and shared many friends, laughed, fought, grew, frolicked naked on Bayocean Spit, necked on stage at the Portland Opera, stood together through some very hard times, paid the bills, did our jobs, stuffed our faces and watched movies, wrote emails and more emails.</div><div><br /></div><div>And here in this, another email, that I’m sending to you before we get together to stuff our faces and watch a movie, I want to say, here’s to the next twenty years of learning and becoming, of emails and regular life. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4C2tFQcmYQ_lIxrCuVoj40-lAaptwgJ_yLh607sHqVhs-FiiixiTP61nH_QDdcdeb9uOAZ1oLY2RlTCxtoA7PET6zQmXJhCyz1vwW5uYbL-7TY2WW2A-ej48GL-hInzsYNUFUh5t_0PKVCPaef5gIvsJaVRVi7C4nCKcY6u5t1hEZVB-A56yfI5MJwY/s883/domi%20smaller.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX4C2tFQcmYQ_lIxrCuVoj40-lAaptwgJ_yLh607sHqVhs-FiiixiTP61nH_QDdcdeb9uOAZ1oLY2RlTCxtoA7PET6zQmXJhCyz1vwW5uYbL-7TY2WW2A-ej48GL-hInzsYNUFUh5t_0PKVCPaef5gIvsJaVRVi7C4nCKcY6u5t1hEZVB-A56yfI5MJwY/w340-h400/domi%20smaller.png" width="340" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Photograph by our friend Domi Shoemaker, circa 2012.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-23004575066815039252023-12-10T09:34:00.000-08:002023-12-10T09:35:46.454-08:00a moment in the day: shore<p><i>(I wrote this back in the summer, sort of as a way to help process what had happened, but I didn't feel comfortable sharing it, so it just sat in the queue. Stephen and I were talking about this time and I remembered the post, mentioned it to him. He said, why don't you share it. So I am.)</i></p><p>It's a Sunday, not our normal day, but my writing group, the Gong Show, is meeting in my backyard to do a little special critique work on one friend's pages. We call ourselves the Gong Show because we always start the session with a strike of a gong or singing bowl, a sacred musical object, and Brad has brought a gong with him. It's small, the size of a dinner plate (you should see the size of the one in his basement), and it has a loop of chain through it, which he uses to hang it from the slats of a small side table not far from the big table we're all sitting around. </p><p>Brad has also brought along a copy of the book <i>The Remnants</i>, by our friend Robert Hill. To add a little extra bit of the sacred to our opening ritual, before we start in on our workshopping.</p><p>It's been just one day since we learned that Robert has left this earth. It's been nine days since my good friend Mara, who I knew since I was six and she was four, left this earth.</p><p><i>Left this earth</i>, a convoluted phrase. But I can't say <i>died</i>. Not right up close to their names like that.</p><p>Our way of talking about death is often about traveling through space: left this earth, passed on, departed.</p><p>When Mara was in the hospital and we were spending every day there, going back and forth from home to walk Nicholas, Stephen and I would walk the long hospital corridors mostly in silence. One time, he asked me, "By now, if you were alone, would you be able to find your way?" </p><p>Through the maze of hospital halls to the tiny waiting area where our group of family and friends routinely camped out at the edge of the ICU, going in and out of Mara's room, visiting, sitting while she slept, bearing witness, keeping vigil.</p><p>Short answer: "No." Not with my horrendous sense of direction. But then, walking, Stephen and I came toward yet another intersection in the pathway, and I tested myself like always: do we turn left? And getting closer, I saw that left led to a doorway, so no, we don't go left, we go right.</p><p>We turned right and kept going.</p><p>"Actually," I said, "maybe. Because every time we come to a crossing, it seems like there's a short way and a long way, and we have to take the long way."</p><p>That phrase stuck in my mind as we walked: we have to take the long way. It seemed to really be saying we have to do the hard thing. But it could also be saying we all have our own particular journeys to take, however lost we feel.</p><p>Now, in our backyard, the Gong Show writers sitting around our backyard table, Brad is flipping through his copy of our friend Robert's book, looking for the passage he wanted to read to us. A crow swoops over the lawn and lands on the birdbath, dunking its beak in the water. </p><p>"OK," Brad says, and clears his throat that way he does that sounds like a small, sudden explosion. He reads:</p><p>"There is a shore we see from the distance when we are young and we think we are the first to see it and we are the only ones who know it is there, yet as we near it closer and closer it gives way to a shore more distant that is the real shore we are born to want to reach. It is the shore that made the first cave dweller leave the comfort of his cave and his cousin the spear wielder find in the air a reason to do more than just live; it is the far shore that drew to this spot, this New Eden, the men and women who made what they could of the time they had here, and who traveled from here to an even more distant shore that no one will be left to recall."</p><p>Traveling, moving, going forward.</p><p>Brad closes and sets down the book, hits the gong.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-438936289260422692023-12-02T10:32:00.000-08:002023-12-02T11:06:21.856-08:00Book Cover: Half-Light<div>The first thing I want to say about designing the cover for Stephen O'Donnell's short story collection <i>Half-Light </i>is that it was a complete collaboration. All my designwork is a collaboration of some sort, of course, but in this instance it was really the two of us working side by side at every step.</div><div><br /></div><div>Especially since the natural direction was to use his own artwork. Fine art is what he's known for, of course, and, well, how could we not, when we had this embarrassment of riches, and more, laid at our feet? </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqTRcmOL2erJYz_yvxU_tTYWQ2QJC3TJhIkLBgN7i_dE-q2AsDCL8dRgvlOjGc-bPv6uuqKbkKHsqNiBePn9cQcQv0uKaQ303cxa4ttLnE98iBdLhQs0LeikXmdFPPHB1EJ3CmNEe-f_K0x2gY2zkakkj32BRvJtAiUWoY-VAaR4WtTni7-ueps_9lwc/s5665/paintings.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5665" data-original-width="5165" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqTRcmOL2erJYz_yvxU_tTYWQ2QJC3TJhIkLBgN7i_dE-q2AsDCL8dRgvlOjGc-bPv6uuqKbkKHsqNiBePn9cQcQv0uKaQ303cxa4ttLnE98iBdLhQs0LeikXmdFPPHB1EJ3CmNEe-f_K0x2gY2zkakkj32BRvJtAiUWoY-VAaR4WtTni7-ueps_9lwc/w365-h400/paintings.png" width="365" /></a></div><br /><div>So much beauty for the picking. We only had to pick.</div><div><br /></div><div>That was harder than you might think. Stephen's writing comes from a very different place than his painting. Here's Stephen from the afterword of the book:</div><br /><i>I’ve joked, while putting together this collection, calling this the most depressing little book ever. But, honestly, to me it isn’t actually depressing. Because, as someone always searching out beauty, I recognize it in so many, often unexpected, forms. Because beauty isn’t always pretty. Often it’s sad and lost. That’s what I find I’m compelled to write about, that’s what is there inside me.</i><div><br /></div><div>So yes, we should use his art to adorn the cover, but what painting could fit these beautifully "sad and lost" stories? The monkey wearing the pearl necklace? The drag Belle Époque self-portrait with the squirrels crawling all over his elaborate up-do?</div><div><br /></div><div>The one piece I thought of immediately was <i>Autumn into Winter</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDNkrj-mrYrqy3khrE90I-fF8XKkxYKHJwRjjvtbjHuJ9Q5vN6aiK766RTDu4_26_9jVyfQA2FHC1sZ3K-ZyxXR21g3R7ikm0uHMAA_Vbc9iTN9XA0vvswq7jnIUt3F5jnMtzKubSMJn8qRbSweaL22rgUBG4m8sN5U_hPydpGDII1At8Do4hHQuUakA/s2674/Autumn%20into%20Winter%20-%20acrylic%20on%20panel%20-%2030x24%20-%202015.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2674" data-original-width="2136" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcDNkrj-mrYrqy3khrE90I-fF8XKkxYKHJwRjjvtbjHuJ9Q5vN6aiK766RTDu4_26_9jVyfQA2FHC1sZ3K-ZyxXR21g3R7ikm0uHMAA_Vbc9iTN9XA0vvswq7jnIUt3F5jnMtzKubSMJn8qRbSweaL22rgUBG4m8sN5U_hPydpGDII1At8Do4hHQuUakA/w320-h400/Autumn%20into%20Winter%20-%20acrylic%20on%20panel%20-%2030x24%20-%202015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>It's magnificently somber, quiet, introspective. Not only does the tone fit, but a detail from this piece accompanied one of his short stories, "From the Streetcar," when it was published previously in <i><a href="https://www.nailedmagazine.com/features/s0rvhsmm54b0vv9jfd7q1q1eiwadn1" target="_blank">Nailed Magazine</a></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>But Stephen didn't really like this idea. It felt like too much <i>him</i>. I got that, so we sat down at his computer and went through his image files of his paintings together, looking for anything that might fit. Maybe a painting that featured a book or books in some way. Maybe a painting whose subject had some connection to the elements in his stories.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were getting pretty discouraged when we discovered a folder that had <i>Autumn into Winter</i>, but not the completed painting: rather, a photographed work in progress. His pencil sketch with a wash of yellow paint on top, which is Stephen's first step in beginning the painting process.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHvq-774ZmrH3fIw0Li2YdixOyMDqqy8lFQRYRybGRirS2OQuLT3j6xCL6HogNSRqyCa8v1RClqhzkNYCO0dvc7LRZ9uZ58pfwHofBmk85CxRtso9vU4Rt7F13hIOtBOpvQt4hR2rpYKMRRYXAM3xeTB5EwziVuIJzUiDReEPvZeSfqkpufUIEx2veGo/s4971/version%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4971" data-original-width="3900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtHvq-774ZmrH3fIw0Li2YdixOyMDqqy8lFQRYRybGRirS2OQuLT3j6xCL6HogNSRqyCa8v1RClqhzkNYCO0dvc7LRZ9uZ58pfwHofBmk85CxRtso9vU4Rt7F13hIOtBOpvQt4hR2rpYKMRRYXAM3xeTB5EwziVuIJzUiDReEPvZeSfqkpufUIEx2veGo/w315-h400/version%201.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><br /><div>Seeing that image was one of those moments. I looked at him and he looked at me, and we knew we had it. It gave us the mood we wanted but without Stephen's image being quite so up close and personal. There was also plenty of room to add text and not so much detail that that text would get lost. It was perfect. Well, near perfect.</div><div><br /></div><div>I said at the start of this post that the design work for the cover was as much Stephen as me, and one way he really got involved was in putting his artist eye to our chosen artwork to make it perfect. He took the piece into Paint Shop Pro and adjusted the color, saturation, and tone until he had a few versions that he really liked. Then he passed them back to me to lay down the text.</div><div><br /></div><div>He wanted something simple and elegant for that. I made him some samples.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgguQZFYXGNd9DQH327XQuUytlOIkDB-OYiTgMcTSWExIbU5OYa31RGWXLrhvCqJfu5klBo9RdaMvTbAQ6lrTXch5quiJX0Ndiu9LrrK_2ytGGHGAvjatK-8p-_qSK9D-RhZBl8-I6gXlqlhVhl9HI7cyUvOgaCKaijhcDuamYQl8BIT52q5mvo8PJ9MCs/s5202/samples.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5202" data-original-width="5149" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgguQZFYXGNd9DQH327XQuUytlOIkDB-OYiTgMcTSWExIbU5OYa31RGWXLrhvCqJfu5klBo9RdaMvTbAQ6lrTXch5quiJX0Ndiu9LrrK_2ytGGHGAvjatK-8p-_qSK9D-RhZBl8-I6gXlqlhVhl9HI7cyUvOgaCKaijhcDuamYQl8BIT52q5mvo8PJ9MCs/w396-h400/samples.png" width="396" /></a></div><br /><div>Once he chose the layout he liked best, we tinkered with the font color for the yellow in "ten stories," down to the most incremental adjustments in shade, until it was exactly what he wanted.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcW3fUTjOGzoQrjtmoVgoXgg6SEOX3EcMVloLckyglJPaiC3d6cPJ4JGztHaeNk124dsBQd3UKDO0QVC3wmdNgCOdG8OlCldZ790tOIpJhY9kITlea4Zs31aWRhzU_6m_n3lo-NIuuj4y4750C783-tQwa4uDH0SsPMBpMgC6FCUdfkxXFwpYMnqYE3U/s618/Half-Light%20front%20Cover%20400%20pixels%20wide%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcW3fUTjOGzoQrjtmoVgoXgg6SEOX3EcMVloLckyglJPaiC3d6cPJ4JGztHaeNk124dsBQd3UKDO0QVC3wmdNgCOdG8OlCldZ790tOIpJhY9kITlea4Zs31aWRhzU_6m_n3lo-NIuuj4y4750C783-tQwa4uDH0SsPMBpMgC6FCUdfkxXFwpYMnqYE3U/s16000/Half-Light%20front%20Cover%20400%20pixels%20wide%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div>OK, in the end we did one print run and then went back to the drawing board to update the artwork color again. The original final was yellower, and Stephen decided, once he'd seen it in print, that he wanted something less bright. The above is our final-final. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <i>Half-Light</i> project gave me the chance to design not only the cover but the interior as well, and when you have your fingers in the whole of a book, design-wise, it can be a special thing. It lends a cohesion to the book and it lets you add extra details. It was fun to take the artwork and type treatment from the cover and apply it to our title page. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnlqapIqw7pmNFZAEC-tJEbELlPTkGMgRpW-eJdnlWieDmGtHTf6_vRgVq2TFsoKtmjYFEtfUzM6mA_Me2fYj-xRUiBtm6Bt2cxfUKmwZPSTMakRHt3Sng4QCqcirjBWtMJb6uAlT0F1eaPrfumJHbaqnkz4U5r1A6Z4r_d3qSCVglqbSbMs1g7FNaYGE/s2625/Half-Light%20title%20page%20sample%2005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2625" data-original-width="1688" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnlqapIqw7pmNFZAEC-tJEbELlPTkGMgRpW-eJdnlWieDmGtHTf6_vRgVq2TFsoKtmjYFEtfUzM6mA_Me2fYj-xRUiBtm6Bt2cxfUKmwZPSTMakRHt3Sng4QCqcirjBWtMJb6uAlT0F1eaPrfumJHbaqnkz4U5r1A6Z4r_d3qSCVglqbSbMs1g7FNaYGE/w259-h400/Half-Light%20title%20page%20sample%2005.png" width="259" /></a></div><br /><div><i>Half-Light</i> is out now. It can be found <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/halflight-9798891219748" target="_blank">at Powell's Books</a>, or ordered directly from Stephen <a href="https://stephenodonnellartist.com/publication-half-light" target="_blank">through his website</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>And psst. Now that the collection is finished and out in the world, Stephen is working on what he says he thinks might be a novel.</div><div><br /></div><div>For a taste of <i>Half-Light</i>, here's an extract from his short story "The Leaves at the Top," which is set during the Depression.</div><div><br /></div><i>Lying there in the shade of the tree, she laughed again thinking of that stupid boy who’d left her there. Figured he was pretty desperate to try and do that thing, the thing that boys have to do, that they have to prove, that he was picking up strangers off the road. In the two weeks she'd been on the road, most of the people who'd helped her out had been good enough folk, offering what they had. Which was pretty much nothing, all anyone had these days, anyone on the road. She stayed clear of the camps, afraid to rest, afraid to get slowed down by other people. She was mostly able to catch rides in the backs of trucks that somehow had room for one more, and she was glad enough to help watch out for the children she rode with, letting the mothers of babies get a little sleep. Everyone was so tired, seemed like the whole world was tired. </i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>There were men, too, men by themselves, who sometimes gave her rides. Men who gave her some money when they were done with her. One middle aged man, bald and pale, said he couldn't pay her after he'd said he would, after he'd done what she said he could. Said he'd lied about having it. She hauled off and bloodied his nose, before she grabbed her valise and slammed the car door behind her. He was so shocked, her standing at the side of the road cussing him up and down, that he just sat there, the motor running, blood running into his wide open mouth, before he slammed the car into gear and tore off.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Since she was eight years old—almost half her life—she had been learning what men were, what they wanted. And what they didn't care about. Who they never cared about. They didn't care, so neither did she. She wasn't afraid of men. And that's why she could laugh if off that way. Laugh that some boy would think that she would be too afraid, too dumb, that she would let him do it to her. Do it for nothing. That's why she could lie there after that. Lie there in the shade of a huge eucalyptus tree, in the warm of a fine California afternoon. She could breathe in the strange gray green smell of the tree, look up into the highest branches, the turning gray green leaves that disappeared into the color of the sky. And let herself think of nothing.<br /></i><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-51147219091681037482023-10-19T07:28:00.011-07:002023-10-19T13:57:07.626-07:00Book Interior: Against Common Sense<p>Recently, I designed the interior for the first book published by Limit Zero, a new indie publisher that has secured distribution via University of Hell Press. I don't always blog about interior design, not unless it comes with a bunch of bells and whistles like the super fun UHell title <i><a href="https://utomniabene.blogspot.com/2022/08/book-interior-glory-guitars.html" target="_blank">Glory Guitars</a></i>, but a few things make this project unique. </p><div><br /></div><div>First, I am good friends (and writing-group members) with the author, Brian S. Ellis, the author of, most recently, the terrific novel<i><a href="https://alienbuddhapress.wordpress.com/2023/01/30/spotlight-pretty-much-the-last-hardcore-kid-in-this-town-by-brian-s-ellis/" target="_blank"> Pretty Much the Last Hardcore Kid in This Town</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Second, because this is the first book to come out through Limit Zero, I was told that the styling I used in various spots throughout the book would likely become interior branding for LZ titles moving forward. So, I paid extra attention to things like the table of contents and epigraph, wanting to match all the elements up well with the existing branding created for Limit Zero by designer Joel Amat Güell. It felt cool to have a hand in the styling of a small press, even if in a very small way.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book, <i>Against Common Sense</i>, is poetry—really excellent poetry that's full of not only Brian's fabulous word magic, but also beautiful nerdiness (he's got a poem in there called "Dos Command Upbringing") and loads of story. My plan in starting to lay out the main body of the book was to quick toss the text down and then go back through to pretty it all up—but it wasn't quick at all. Because I kept stopping to read every poem. I'm in love with this collection, and that made it extra special to have the chance to work on its design.</div><div><br /></div><div>Limit Zero has very specific branding that was created, as I said, by Joel Amat Güell. Notice the font and placement of title, author, and logo on the front cover (the artwork is a detail from a painting by Brian by the way).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CjlLMubAQQ4NZJH7TEpH93iQ64QQQ3HxcFB9IXpiaLO-lZ7NS6_nrJO3z9HPs5czyA9Q2H8PBPAPNAawfLBnxqzpqGsPsFaKr3lKNUSsHSzQx34zbGIJ1IYcMsH6U-HNRhh6sg06mRtXrp-e3Yj4Jtqb8r3KvE7iRo5amoiF9DEqy4RSFqcFYjLKAE8/s1388/IMG_1091.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1388" data-original-width="1033" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CjlLMubAQQ4NZJH7TEpH93iQ64QQQ3HxcFB9IXpiaLO-lZ7NS6_nrJO3z9HPs5czyA9Q2H8PBPAPNAawfLBnxqzpqGsPsFaKr3lKNUSsHSzQx34zbGIJ1IYcMsH6U-HNRhh6sg06mRtXrp-e3Yj4Jtqb8r3KvE7iRo5amoiF9DEqy4RSFqcFYjLKAE8/w299-h400/IMG_1091.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><div>All LZ books will be styled that same way. </div><div><br /></div><div>And the back cover.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TFbApLzhFgBiJFKu5tMF2cLU5B6bSCrHMtEsFQO_kwYLmvN-SGqLAxEcGbyDkceHcEMh-LqlqSoD3R213UxqByNmQOFYQOMHoRDW5Q330i2A5JzRmHJfbX-oocyq-7PV13ojbSJUa6QqWtQgMfNrgWgxTfmeLg6pMAbe6xTPrI5juxKnScfrnzQLn-g/s1482/IMG_1092.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1100" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TFbApLzhFgBiJFKu5tMF2cLU5B6bSCrHMtEsFQO_kwYLmvN-SGqLAxEcGbyDkceHcEMh-LqlqSoD3R213UxqByNmQOFYQOMHoRDW5Q330i2A5JzRmHJfbX-oocyq-7PV13ojbSJUa6QqWtQgMfNrgWgxTfmeLg6pMAbe6xTPrI5juxKnScfrnzQLn-g/w299-h400/IMG_1092.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><div>LZ styling is very geometric, very left-and-right. I wanted to reference that with the interior design. </div><div><br /></div><div>Title page spread:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8s6oaNuOiuVEdo0MsTi8xzuz8GqC3qvPvjlHh8BjBaM4wnUj4ew9FOyWwPaQddxPc8Fyrwb7c_WnJVvhI7z3FBp4j62eDNLBEFZhEFBWaYtp0KbYGnqr-lTjS_0Uhz9xnEnxCicH4q2tCWQAMuqGU6GgmY5svOmb6iLOnheyo28byJAHSOdb3SKPetxk/s3150/ACS%20title%20page%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3150" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8s6oaNuOiuVEdo0MsTi8xzuz8GqC3qvPvjlHh8BjBaM4wnUj4ew9FOyWwPaQddxPc8Fyrwb7c_WnJVvhI7z3FBp4j62eDNLBEFZhEFBWaYtp0KbYGnqr-lTjS_0Uhz9xnEnxCicH4q2tCWQAMuqGU6GgmY5svOmb6iLOnheyo28byJAHSOdb3SKPetxk/w400-h305/ACS%20title%20page%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div>Keeping the press name and location in gray so as not to get in the way of the left-and-right of the title/author and logo.</div><div><br /></div><div>Table of contents:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnhfuuwBqokdMClTLSiYqbU8zdfGgAu2X7ZoKrIbryPbFwa4-6jU6Vtn7igUSCSkFxAob-vsXqxEe05zJh7FGmgOR6T4TokJ5f95ncHxB7wX5G5FTHdfEFtrDtCzJKSh3bgAo1YJn0-qZkiDj4tTybChSJcLOITYpoAUikASMqxVea0Cenmkz0R1QCU4/s3150/ACS%20table%20of%20contents-01%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3150" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnhfuuwBqokdMClTLSiYqbU8zdfGgAu2X7ZoKrIbryPbFwa4-6jU6Vtn7igUSCSkFxAob-vsXqxEe05zJh7FGmgOR6T4TokJ5f95ncHxB7wX5G5FTHdfEFtrDtCzJKSh3bgAo1YJn0-qZkiDj4tTybChSJcLOITYpoAUikASMqxVea0Cenmkz0R1QCU4/w400-h305/ACS%20table%20of%20contents-01%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFL98ygHvXm9ZfWNBhiu7B77cuWlgOEXj17TMZxSpvZOvzQA4eoML_Uq5EwOL5c1Dt12sIObjIvOGccCsJg0SBQj4Uusp8CQHfHF8vflCN_gS0oCOpzosFo43l9MTW2Yq5a-p3DfWHuIMc1gBUkoC2fdiOUbdCHEeLfXSKtP7VxmcQWPEuF0X9sJDCtM8/s3150/ACS%20table%20of%20contents-02%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3150" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFL98ygHvXm9ZfWNBhiu7B77cuWlgOEXj17TMZxSpvZOvzQA4eoML_Uq5EwOL5c1Dt12sIObjIvOGccCsJg0SBQj4Uusp8CQHfHF8vflCN_gS0oCOpzosFo43l9MTW2Yq5a-p3DfWHuIMc1gBUkoC2fdiOUbdCHEeLfXSKtP7VxmcQWPEuF0X9sJDCtM8/w400-h305/ACS%20table%20of%20contents-02%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There was something juuuust so slightly subversive to me about the right-justified contents sitting by themselves on that second spread—and you don't want to know how much thought I put into whether to pin that epigraph to the left or the right.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>But the most striking thing about working on this design came when I got into the body of the work, the poems, themselves. Brian has a lot of lines in his poetry that don't fit on a single line of space in the book. When that happens, the publisher likes to let it land as it wants on the page but then indent the first word of the second line. Like so:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqiGzOAg67KPpENX2-tGtx6f5H1YAvY3RE67lFULAkFcVhl9M30DgpdxOAa8uTqKPhdNd1KsQyPuCin2ifM2Ya4celpTB8VlRJPuGlAlJMaVGm9WQwbSRwneJ9PUOxXkdgdMEQMg5Gg4h38-wd1RLfXnxQwacj6QJBE2H2ee7lGDGzlqIYw5E1wt0JOY/s1440/indentation%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1405" data-original-width="1440" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmqiGzOAg67KPpENX2-tGtx6f5H1YAvY3RE67lFULAkFcVhl9M30DgpdxOAa8uTqKPhdNd1KsQyPuCin2ifM2Ya4celpTB8VlRJPuGlAlJMaVGm9WQwbSRwneJ9PUOxXkdgdMEQMg5Gg4h38-wd1RLfXnxQwacj6QJBE2H2ee7lGDGzlqIYw5E1wt0JOY/w400-h390/indentation%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>In my first interior draft, I did just that. But then we wondered if Brian would like to look at some of those long lines and add breaks where he thought he'd like them. I sent him a note with the interior file in progress and a copy of his manuscript with the indented words highlighted and he went through it. When he was done, he'd decided to create new breaks for 90 percent of the hanging lines.</div><div><br /></div><div>He wrote back: "Only a few times did I want a single word or phrase to be indented on their own line, but there were a few words that I felt could carry the weight of the empty space around them. I made notes in the word document, and you can go through them. There's a lot! (Sorry. ((not that sorry.)))."</div><div><p>As I went through his notes, I tried to predict, on each new page, where he'd want each line break. I mulled the weight and importance of every word, thinking down into the tiny details of what makes Brian's poetry work. I can't really describe it here, but it was a kind of intimate experience. And when I predicted correctly, I felt smart. And when I predicted wrong, I felt I learned something.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1cG1ykStxgk1ZylmPiWmpFsmnDLVRywcu3JwVmqEqqQnfuMoUPDiKEqSowAfNw5sbLDmjmwsCbgmcZyDAr5VU-KtBrA3xzlUuL6bzuVYrYYl4KOGX5FXEBDdqnnvhUAVv-ChNsmtEJejVCe9r4MTkcdpElDJ5IS2QV2LFHGhoWfVrXFflQTWYtk-_fg/s1440/indentation%203.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="1440" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1cG1ykStxgk1ZylmPiWmpFsmnDLVRywcu3JwVmqEqqQnfuMoUPDiKEqSowAfNw5sbLDmjmwsCbgmcZyDAr5VU-KtBrA3xzlUuL6bzuVYrYYl4KOGX5FXEBDdqnnvhUAVv-ChNsmtEJejVCe9r4MTkcdpElDJ5IS2QV2LFHGhoWfVrXFflQTWYtk-_fg/w400-h369/indentation%203.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><i>Against Common Sense</i> officially comes out on October 24. Brian has a launch event at Zidell Yards, Saturday, October 21, at three o'clock.</p><p>Meantime, though, here's a taste:</p><br /><b>Feed the Bite </b></div><div><br /><br />The first thing they teach you <br />about what to do <br />when a human being bites <br />you, is to not follow your instinct. <br />When another person sinks their teeth <br />into, say, your arm <br />your instinct will be to pull away <br />to jerk the arm back <br />and, in doing so, <br />lose a lot of flesh. <br />It seems strange that our instincts would be wrong <br />on this, that human evolution has delinquent <br />standard operating procedure when it comes <br />to bite attack. You would think natural selection <br />would have accounted for this, <br />but even that ancient and advanced technology <br />fight or flight sometimes contains errors. <br />The best possible scenario <br />if you ever find yourself <br />being gnawed upon by another <br />is to take your free hand, <br />if you have one, and place it gently but securely <br />upon the back of the head <br />in the same place you would cradle a newborn, <br />and then, commit a maneuver that is often <br />referred to as feeding the bite. <br />This requires moving towards the damage <br />when everything is telling you to pull away.<br />You will move towards the injury <br />turn your body into a harness <br />contort around the violence <br />push forward until you find the back wall of pain <br />wait until the jawbone <br />releases <br />and then, <br />let go. </div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-71707413093797252372023-08-19T09:25:00.004-07:002023-08-19T12:02:42.253-07:00Book Cover: The Queen of Steeplechase ParkThis is one I've been obsessed with.<div><br /></div><div>I guess I get obsessed with every project, but with <i>The Queen of Steeplechase Park</i>, I've been even more obsessed. I've known the book and loved the book for a long time. Author David Ciminello brought it in various iterations to two different writing groups I've been in. This book that is a love letter to New York, to early twentieth century nostalgia, to Italian cooking, to his beloved great aunt Amelia P. Aguiar (after whom the protagonist Bella is based) is lushly written and over-the-top in the most wonderful way. Here's the publisher description:</div><div><br /></div>The Queen of Steeplechase Park<i> is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato. Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, she is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis and her top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peek-a-boo striptease routines, a queer mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back home, to the scene of her Original Sin, where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix.</i><div><br /></div><div>When David's submission showed up in the queue for Forest Avenue Press's January-February open submission call, I got very excited. Before the book was even chosen, I had a picture in my head of what I would do if I got to make the cover.</div><div><br /></div><div>It would begin with Bella, of course, front and center and big as life. Smiling confidently and dressed as a beauty queen.</div><div><br /></div><div>I pictured the trappings of Coney Island around her: the Ferris wheel, the parachute jump, maybe a roller coaster or the steeplechase ride itself. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68HgV8Cr0-apKcvgMawwaHE-GquZTS_4lDdszONNZGe-IWQaeWFofFoyUI9bWxMpX7gtiSENdTkRkiBdt_PwQsE0WfO6SPaYk6RQ7Aq9ItQ9pvJRPppR2snrV1An_prFCGnOeZx9FRuoCNThZDC3mUPWhQSdK4j28JkgJK9jqK1Hiar3vCDwj9H2K4ZQ/s1600/s-l1600.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68HgV8Cr0-apKcvgMawwaHE-GquZTS_4lDdszONNZGe-IWQaeWFofFoyUI9bWxMpX7gtiSENdTkRkiBdt_PwQsE0WfO6SPaYk6RQ7Aq9ItQ9pvJRPppR2snrV1An_prFCGnOeZx9FRuoCNThZDC3mUPWhQSdK4j28JkgJK9jqK1Hiar3vCDwj9H2K4ZQ/w400-h256/s-l1600.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLdX4jExteiUObZYBVsc90CGSiEyJwn79XkwGVvJdwUnKliZfFXJ2bdrHLeHtOdcbcdHmkhJfOyazofJxQvLKaNiVDtzvUfN0ZNjrtqM1UXCnlwh7HQ736U_rhysTWh6GG20XSzJ_-vjMlomd_Taknq0MkyyK0YnIPMJOMgGwzw0OmrVf9C2tEfI22LA/s1200/56f69e25dd0895d15c8b48b5.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLdX4jExteiUObZYBVsc90CGSiEyJwn79XkwGVvJdwUnKliZfFXJ2bdrHLeHtOdcbcdHmkhJfOyazofJxQvLKaNiVDtzvUfN0ZNjrtqM1UXCnlwh7HQ736U_rhysTWh6GG20XSzJ_-vjMlomd_Taknq0MkyyK0YnIPMJOMgGwzw0OmrVf9C2tEfI22LA/w400-h200/56f69e25dd0895d15c8b48b5.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVbm45_r4dbm_smSnerbusn5NmY7onRG_GwPUrahKLjhpe7PWjU4XEaPEBISXdDnixDsgRQIMXhgDhW0encFmBSXsaQk1kFtKH4zAqh7uT2ZF0o_kEkes3QhIG2S15BAjgHDMSgcNUkPUjoncqwbKsUEU9J5dTTBFjsF0Uqc-Cyknecv6zmw-M3qinyI/s1275/image_access_800.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1275" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVbm45_r4dbm_smSnerbusn5NmY7onRG_GwPUrahKLjhpe7PWjU4XEaPEBISXdDnixDsgRQIMXhgDhW0encFmBSXsaQk1kFtKH4zAqh7uT2ZF0o_kEkes3QhIG2S15BAjgHDMSgcNUkPUjoncqwbKsUEU9J5dTTBFjsF0Uqc-Cyknecv6zmw-M3qinyI/w400-h251/image_access_800.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And just as importantly, there would have to be food. From the book:</div><div><br /></div><i>When Bella wasn’t dancing and stripping, she was cooking. The stove in the Neptune Avenue kitchen was never without a simmering pot of her tomato gravy.<br /><br />Her lasagna Bolognese made Lolly scream.<br /><br />Her lobster and crab ravioli made Oui Oui kiss her feet.<br /><br />Her fettuccini carbonara made Minnie leap.<br /><br />Her homemade peanut brittle made Peanut trumpet into the trees.<br /><br />Her cacio e pepe brought Chester to his naked knees.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Her spaghetti and meatballs made the entire house sing, “We love you, Belladonna Marie!”</i><div><br />I pictured the ingredients of Italian cooking all around her: huge, sumptuous tomatoes, cloves of garlic, basil leaves. Maybe she'd be rising up out of a pile of these grand ingredients, or maybe they'd make a frame around her... or no, maybe not a frame. Bella is too full of life, I thought, to be contained within a frame.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, this cover for a book we hadn't even accepted yet: I could almost taste it!</div><div><br />Another reason I craved this project is that it's a period novel and I'd get to play with the time period. I wanted to give it the look of an old movie poster or one of those wonderful vintage food advertising prints. The texture of the paper, the rich shading.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg44wpxCKJtgN_78ZY9I22Wf7_dR2D6oLgZ9F1emfoZTPhCKhEG_3BkFkQ8V5FCax9-h8aaMdri45GQkVODfKswZKcHW7PwEof8NZFXSXwFKjkR5T5GD0W90zqLj_BTPnjYN_aDQvI3oRh7DGBytHgku2NhlovlqZe2HhupJZq5CFA3F63oCfxdoh1xESs/s4819/vintage%20ads.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4137" data-original-width="4819" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg44wpxCKJtgN_78ZY9I22Wf7_dR2D6oLgZ9F1emfoZTPhCKhEG_3BkFkQ8V5FCax9-h8aaMdri45GQkVODfKswZKcHW7PwEof8NZFXSXwFKjkR5T5GD0W90zqLj_BTPnjYN_aDQvI3oRh7DGBytHgku2NhlovlqZe2HhupJZq5CFA3F63oCfxdoh1xESs/w400-h345/vintage%20ads.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>David had ideas, too, and I was excited that his thoughts lined up so well with mine. He was sending Laura images of some of those same vintage ads and others, pictures of tomatoes. One thing he wanted was to use a picture of the actual Bella.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCR2X5C09M2uks1-rjoUU_E9vfCIgmRHpUN-WpYGfdwYZu9Hl1jnNKJO8I0joxI3XZM-ss1u2IItPpIYzn4B-PeT845KhhFs5uDtf-KKKEzBKBOqgMkFThKGaOE8IaoGNVdt_JCxJAAfsD5ozdeqJeoMc3FrsiTZgoMSuUgddBJcj8NeWarhhfc5tbfU/s463/Bella%20Book%20Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="347" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCR2X5C09M2uks1-rjoUU_E9vfCIgmRHpUN-WpYGfdwYZu9Hl1jnNKJO8I0joxI3XZM-ss1u2IItPpIYzn4B-PeT845KhhFs5uDtf-KKKEzBKBOqgMkFThKGaOE8IaoGNVdt_JCxJAAfsD5ozdeqJeoMc3FrsiTZgoMSuUgddBJcj8NeWarhhfc5tbfU/s320/Bella%20Book%20Cover.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>Look at her there, strutting her stuff on the beach! Unfortunately the resolution/quality of the photo wasn't good enough for print. But I resolved to create my Bella to reflect the vitality, the boldness, the sparkle and fire of the Bella David had created for his book.</div><div><br /></div><div>I particularly liked this Italian food poster he had sent in. Her open and strong, joyful expression, her head thrown back, her sexy but not rail-thin figure. I decided to use her as one of the models for my Bella. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBvv0uMLp5ApW9Zy7uRUyVqto2p74rwt_0VY-P-omp2xny0abYAH_UxoPZHbW7Ko6EB--DeWWs62yakHPacYPJOUNg0cppAEkTIulKEqF2wVJA98bB91hlsKWVRlsWQ1LgKvR7F7BKTXWwyO8YzJQNetdmktoSFkc3e1Wj3WHBpbnx3kB9F616oylLmA/s1037/thumbnail.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="843" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBvv0uMLp5ApW9Zy7uRUyVqto2p74rwt_0VY-P-omp2xny0abYAH_UxoPZHbW7Ko6EB--DeWWs62yakHPacYPJOUNg0cppAEkTIulKEqF2wVJA98bB91hlsKWVRlsWQ1LgKvR7F7BKTXWwyO8YzJQNetdmktoSFkc3e1Wj3WHBpbnx3kB9F616oylLmA/s320/thumbnail.jpeg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div>To scope out a set of legs and a hand-on-the-hip pose, I looked through vintage pictures of beauty queens until I found this photo of Bettie Page. She was in a similar position to the actual Bella in David's picture, but it gave me more detail to work off of, including shoes.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31FOGTgKLloAPXtVqww-RfIpPsV4jj0PxKQaa7fHXhg9-4cnCgh4ZNL409uuLJAHDRBB5WQmtnkYCa9juYWhMLZwlJtAHSYTO7vFoAd98xLwJotS7ee-bA26-HN2AbzdP-XIqJmufgJ3VqFLQjvTZaYsqdEH-NxeUj7gYC1n2hYg0q1k6t-H37pt8yZQ/s904/food-queens9.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="660" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg31FOGTgKLloAPXtVqww-RfIpPsV4jj0PxKQaa7fHXhg9-4cnCgh4ZNL409uuLJAHDRBB5WQmtnkYCa9juYWhMLZwlJtAHSYTO7vFoAd98xLwJotS7ee-bA26-HN2AbzdP-XIqJmufgJ3VqFLQjvTZaYsqdEH-NxeUj7gYC1n2hYg0q1k6t-H37pt8yZQ/s320/food-queens9.jpeg" width="234" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>In early summer, I lost a close friend, and then almost immediately all three of us, Laura, David, and I, lost another, Robert Hill, who was a Portland writer and one of Forest Avenue Press's authors. During that very sad time, I was immersing myself in work on David's cover, and on building my Bella, specifically. Laura was working on <i>Soul Jar,</i> our upcoming anthology. Somewhere in the middle of things, Laura and I had this text conversation:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Laura:</i> I’m okay. Looking forward to the work I guess. Just to pour energy into something. This weekend I was happiest when working on the garden. (Or not even happy, but not feeling dull inside and quite as lost as the rest of the hours.)</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Me:</i> I understand that. And we have to be able to be happy, too, when the garden makes us happy. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Then both of us at the same time:</i></div><div><i>Me:</i> Building Bella is making me happy </div><div><i>Laura: </i>Totally. I love that you are working on David’s cover. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Laura:</i> JINX!</div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgan9O78jKF2miVuUjjFUVeY7gz4ySj8QTl6OWjec8mI9dQUQyTXGUyUkyxZyzUnbsCD2SEnmhaGYdih3wPWJHn5H4vDIieKRMUebIGEW9mLSJvkzhwnfj-hDYAG_ZZbfngUcU6AHakszC1riOWVP0TQRd6zW--CWb1Z_kKrchD6wdu2oQru2jtPTaxFwk/s2678/bella%201.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2678" data-original-width="1384" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgan9O78jKF2miVuUjjFUVeY7gz4ySj8QTl6OWjec8mI9dQUQyTXGUyUkyxZyzUnbsCD2SEnmhaGYdih3wPWJHn5H4vDIieKRMUebIGEW9mLSJvkzhwnfj-hDYAG_ZZbfngUcU6AHakszC1riOWVP0TQRd6zW--CWb1Z_kKrchD6wdu2oQru2jtPTaxFwk/s320/bella%201.png" width="165" /></a></div><div>Here's the first version of Bella, which I built in Illustrator out of various overlapping shapes. She definitely wasn't a beauty queen yet. But wait. She got better. That early in the game, she was very simple layers filled with flat color which would approximate the areas of future shading. I based her pretty closely on my source material, knowing that closeness would change the longer along I got in my process.</div><div><br /></div><div>Along with Bella, I built a bowl for spaghetti, and you can see that I used the scalloped design I was seeing in those Italian food ads.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I liked the idea that Bella would be impossibly holding up this heavy bowl of pasta with her fingertips like her joy for food gave her superhuman strength.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started to put together a simplified version of the Steeplechase Park Ferris wheel.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMBouNSb_A_qosZ0ftfYkU0L-_yXwC_BY7d7hFVwn50JnfucR2Z7-lxRy5Zz-xkHRSnY6RwKePKezkLL4JAI5UK4BGL8A4JsCTwHynejU2yC8vXDfjz4e17mThVZ2JjusRAOvRmfy_aiRfp9NUVXhk-GPOj3WlGkqp7KwJVv7_8KAiBRp3nfB5TUdnh4/s2099/ferris%20wheel%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2099" data-original-width="2033" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMBouNSb_A_qosZ0ftfYkU0L-_yXwC_BY7d7hFVwn50JnfucR2Z7-lxRy5Zz-xkHRSnY6RwKePKezkLL4JAI5UK4BGL8A4JsCTwHynejU2yC8vXDfjz4e17mThVZ2JjusRAOvRmfy_aiRfp9NUVXhk-GPOj3WlGkqp7KwJVv7_8KAiBRp3nfB5TUdnh4/s320/ferris%20wheel%201.png" width="310" /></a></div><br /><div>And a classic roller coaster.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq29MIudvaVbvhhqyizdekZimtWD9jDP-SyIMkDKKS9Ad55Rza7IwuRQRIPEXZcYHv3yCK_-wWhNUEMgcCMlL2gHuPnIf-fhpegGwh8z_jFMqKgbnvGXDSuHw0Dcb60beS2k-Ff6CRcEWLFdVm8-xFY3m7ROzjOloQZUOwWONTqxw7kWLgc4bOCxzTEIM/s1963/roller%20coaster.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="1963" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq29MIudvaVbvhhqyizdekZimtWD9jDP-SyIMkDKKS9Ad55Rza7IwuRQRIPEXZcYHv3yCK_-wWhNUEMgcCMlL2gHuPnIf-fhpegGwh8z_jFMqKgbnvGXDSuHw0Dcb60beS2k-Ff6CRcEWLFdVm8-xFY3m7ROzjOloQZUOwWONTqxw7kWLgc4bOCxzTEIM/w400-h191/roller%20coaster.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And Steeplechase Park's iconic parachute jump.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-vc-aj25LqOLO8x1KVXMvAPJ6zPWu50hT-RDRL6r2rezqnvN6bAgJr64Yag-TM7zuJO_QtO9-8RPYDfU-Kl6affMjPujbO_rqTWsSFCms-BMnkoUai2CUAygyG3izedUXrmG5gCqw0_E4iKsuLpPty2WCPkU5bJ-9tcGBqNBu3wUidqGD-482YMPlWU/s1932/parachute%20jump%206.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1932" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-vc-aj25LqOLO8x1KVXMvAPJ6zPWu50hT-RDRL6r2rezqnvN6bAgJr64Yag-TM7zuJO_QtO9-8RPYDfU-Kl6affMjPujbO_rqTWsSFCms-BMnkoUai2CUAygyG3izedUXrmG5gCqw0_E4iKsuLpPty2WCPkU5bJ-9tcGBqNBu3wUidqGD-482YMPlWU/w400-h179/parachute%20jump%206.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I found pictures and pictures of beautiful vegetables and built tomatoes, basil, garlic, red onions. Alright basil isn't a vegetable.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRWnYR9VExyNCyr-5hbssysZyISz9DvkdKC8CYEB10y0XECyzKzkWTo7JIcckSC_CHXT0ZQrykJ1H6UlhD7xEFE8GCx2cXxhvSFMGEqxa3JyjoeKxBSYIB0XJvuGm_zR3A4HIHosmPCBZJIYTI4hEmuEP5PZzYqIHHuoWRjRU08VtQzrs_FKcVQ0dXIM/s1514/vegetables%203.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1514" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRWnYR9VExyNCyr-5hbssysZyISz9DvkdKC8CYEB10y0XECyzKzkWTo7JIcckSC_CHXT0ZQrykJ1H6UlhD7xEFE8GCx2cXxhvSFMGEqxa3JyjoeKxBSYIB0XJvuGm_zR3A4HIHosmPCBZJIYTI4hEmuEP5PZzYqIHHuoWRjRU08VtQzrs_FKcVQ0dXIM/w400-h194/vegetables%203.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Maybe there could be a ribbon wrapping around Bella—like a beauty queen's sash but also maybe like a banner advertising the best show on the boardwalk. Ooh, and maybe that's where the title and author text could go.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0PTk6mbk0-LFlRIrYWmSF1G5ho3PIED7A6uojV7yctfJhxjtxzmbe3pDsLlXy2WoSndLVDxHfarb7qiT7LJyblw13H_CyrYDOlKQ7rWaUUxMF6hN7a-UH3IkRNEKDhf0EXtfytSxZFWdB2ryxsSqU-q558ZxVXzOMuZIfYkjAXvNmzHQYt5e0PUrqE4/s1800/banner%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1638" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO0PTk6mbk0-LFlRIrYWmSF1G5ho3PIED7A6uojV7yctfJhxjtxzmbe3pDsLlXy2WoSndLVDxHfarb7qiT7LJyblw13H_CyrYDOlKQ7rWaUUxMF6hN7a-UH3IkRNEKDhf0EXtfytSxZFWdB2ryxsSqU-q558ZxVXzOMuZIfYkjAXvNmzHQYt5e0PUrqE4/s320/banner%201.png" width="291" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsaGASsZn1-Nh7y-yOo_niWIkUVnvM7wTZuTc_j47b6ouyHFJBwv_OsO9RnCXYzFxJR2Hk-XQTDxPE-atO21fnPvfdC9ER53yv5ExVrSvQIkPkpZqR43aQlBWvhTVPzUlt3-RPu5B3pVEti4MNR-2eX1-1MElmNl_yNNVDwQsoebUbhC9qABt4hFE8IwM/s2937/06e84e6c341229bdda07d7c1c25b1200.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2937" data-original-width="1565" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsaGASsZn1-Nh7y-yOo_niWIkUVnvM7wTZuTc_j47b6ouyHFJBwv_OsO9RnCXYzFxJR2Hk-XQTDxPE-atO21fnPvfdC9ER53yv5ExVrSvQIkPkpZqR43aQlBWvhTVPzUlt3-RPu5B3pVEti4MNR-2eX1-1MElmNl_yNNVDwQsoebUbhC9qABt4hFE8IwM/s320/06e84e6c341229bdda07d7c1c25b1200.jpeg" width="171" /></a></div>I popped in some chunky text using a stand-in font, but including the star detail that I found in this great poster for the 1943 film <i>Coney Island</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then once I had my elements, I started to arrange and refine. I played around with color. Added some silhouettes behind my spread of Italian ingredients. Bella had an empty bowl for a while but then I finally added spaghetti and meatballs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5Z_VyTFJvVn_YU-G5aEAGxilTrir88rHNCkOVZ_2CUT72232WW0_f0WF96Cs9Jc1RrStDBT3WJ3wBs4AjI4bw2am7vZG9H3364XHmdxYysOOD6p-BZXnwaxmMW6msUUpAsNWAVCdgEiRO3S5wnI9P1uY6x7HicN3E0PkxnoYo381VZBDWtfUmwCxyaQ/s5535/layout%204.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5535" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-5Z_VyTFJvVn_YU-G5aEAGxilTrir88rHNCkOVZ_2CUT72232WW0_f0WF96Cs9Jc1RrStDBT3WJ3wBs4AjI4bw2am7vZG9H3364XHmdxYysOOD6p-BZXnwaxmMW6msUUpAsNWAVCdgEiRO3S5wnI9P1uY6x7HicN3E0PkxnoYo381VZBDWtfUmwCxyaQ/w400-h195/layout%204.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>At this late moment in the process, I decided to double-check the history of my landmarks, annnnd... the parachute jump did not arrive in Steeplechase Park until after the book's finish. Oops.</div><div><br /></div><div>So bye-bye, parachute ride. I did some more refining, added a burst of rays shooting up behind Bella, tried a night view with fireworks. I'd already been working so long on this project, as well as some others, and we were starting to come close to deadline. When Laura checked in with a nudge, I sent her a few samples of where I was.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeykGXLvzU3d1tMKVpTsJLr8RVI03142hbi0zhaV5E98iU4HKO5r9JF402HmEfh32tWJak1wsn4kJhbYskD-Y7_7Mb3Qe90wo8War85E817TJzD5wwrhnkD4ID2s4Eve8n2Ys9Gli5QoOo4JxQCk3v7lh1EaVBaFpTNPmZHnn5v7cEWSoxmKMk1qBB4s/s5535/layout%205.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5535" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjeykGXLvzU3d1tMKVpTsJLr8RVI03142hbi0zhaV5E98iU4HKO5r9JF402HmEfh32tWJak1wsn4kJhbYskD-Y7_7Mb3Qe90wo8War85E817TJzD5wwrhnkD4ID2s4Eve8n2Ys9Gli5QoOo4JxQCk3v7lh1EaVBaFpTNPmZHnn5v7cEWSoxmKMk1qBB4s/w400-h195/layout%205.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>We knew we weren't going to make that deadline, but we both wanted to get a cover that would best sell the book and would make David happy. He was happy with the early samples and had some requests, mostly around Bella, who he wanted to see be "much more voluptuous—bodacious. Big breasts and ample hips (think Adele before the ridiculous slim down, Claudia Cardinale at her most voluptuous)."</div></div><div><br /><div>He sent more pictures of the real Bella, and examples of hair and shoes he imagined she'd wear. Open-toed shoes with toenail polish. He asked, could we have more spaghetti and meatballs in the bowl, could I get rid of the red onion nestled in with the vegetables at the bottom. As I refined further and sent more samples, he asked about an even bigger bust, even higher hair, even more spaghetti. "(can it touch the top of the book or even bleed off the cover?)" I like this close-up screenshot on my file in Illustrator, showing the names I'd given to the various layers I was adding in response to his feedback. <i>More Bella. More spaghetti. More hair.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0j8xQ9Z5Y9XnJLAWY6YkxkLo0OkEuroDmpNXIDn_iiKA_ueaKL6XtYVZLua77c9hVRxSUUt0_tskqARMf8fySGs8vbOmhGLi5wNv4coD0Qo80pls2EE7hk-bueqypf9rVtj7MdlOjQqhZtuXKK4RyZJjgeFFq3szGLBRqK0QyviLC_n6ZmiRggr1yfcI/s1390/more%20more%20more.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="1390" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0j8xQ9Z5Y9XnJLAWY6YkxkLo0OkEuroDmpNXIDn_iiKA_ueaKL6XtYVZLua77c9hVRxSUUt0_tskqARMf8fySGs8vbOmhGLi5wNv4coD0Qo80pls2EE7hk-bueqypf9rVtj7MdlOjQqhZtuXKK4RyZJjgeFFq3szGLBRqK0QyviLC_n6ZmiRggr1yfcI/w400-h171/more%20more%20more.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>It feels fitting, as <i>The Queen of Steeplechase Park</i> is all about <i>more</i>. All about, as David wrote to Laura, "abundance—even excess."</div><div><br /></div><div>Another detail he asked about was maybe a halo of stars around her head "like a Saint or Mary" to reference the often-irreverent religious aspect of the book. Laura thought this would probably be too busy with all the detail already in the cover, but she wrote to me suddenly with an epiphany based on that request:</div><div><br /></div>"The daylight cover, I love, for the colors and summery feeling and the softness, but what if the stripes around her continue behind her legs? Like her belly would be the center of the stripes, they'd encircle her? That might be enough of a religious aspect without the stars (or with them). You could leave the tomato colorful outlines but the stripes would go where the tents are."</div><div><br /></div><div>I loved what moving the burst of rays to center on her belly did to the design. Whether or not it got to the religious aspect of the book, it just made the whole thing better, more dynamic. I added a shine of yellow-almost-white, like a glow, also, close in around her. More samples:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaJdC2bTJCCfsb5xCmjEz5VTscG42WiZTOOXKgcdva9EQsAcAn3M9FhbA5cjiibVMSzV4nR3fhTwqJZxzH3nZsDg40SD9GelEPLCZMLgge1EIu_Q0sIVhfHsq0f624Q6opB-AaHM__MMNA2DRR39ToDdQGM0onS0q_dawA7n8bUs_GcAsShkrkyb8xpg/s5535/layout%206.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5535" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfaJdC2bTJCCfsb5xCmjEz5VTscG42WiZTOOXKgcdva9EQsAcAn3M9FhbA5cjiibVMSzV4nR3fhTwqJZxzH3nZsDg40SD9GelEPLCZMLgge1EIu_Q0sIVhfHsq0f624Q6opB-AaHM__MMNA2DRR39ToDdQGM0onS0q_dawA7n8bUs_GcAsShkrkyb8xpg/w400-h195/layout%206.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>This old blog. Examples never drop in with their original sharpness, but hopefully you can get an idea of things from what you can see.</div><div><br /></div><div>We honed in on the design with the purple sash and bowl, and I started the shading/texturing process.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's probably some quick way, or semi-quick way, to create a texture like a vintage poster, but I don't know what it is. I didn't want to just add a grain effect or something. And yes, my process was probably more painstaking than other designers would bother taking on. But it's the way my brain works, and I wanted the texture to look really real. I found this print on Wikimedia Commons. I don't know how much of the texture you can see from this image, but it's there.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DscYosT4RhkWWGUaO_8G_DrmNZNzbgn2yP8ZtRX2W_3B2bbjNN7I-MlLJUDbJsZPXhPbBLlaQCCbWaJuY6i_nE7AIuXQiW-0IcmKWHcyN7Z_m6bYKkhq5dPtAsuY0lBeQWXGhf15G6Li_md1CzppnEqoU2EcWqALfqmNM2GjFY7dnMyjIZaD0-Af0vc/s3818/Grammar_School,_Ipswich,_Suffolk._Transfer_lithograph_by_C._Wellcome_V0012772.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2370" data-original-width="3818" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DscYosT4RhkWWGUaO_8G_DrmNZNzbgn2yP8ZtRX2W_3B2bbjNN7I-MlLJUDbJsZPXhPbBLlaQCCbWaJuY6i_nE7AIuXQiW-0IcmKWHcyN7Z_m6bYKkhq5dPtAsuY0lBeQWXGhf15G6Li_md1CzppnEqoU2EcWqALfqmNM2GjFY7dnMyjIZaD0-Af0vc/w400-h250/Grammar_School,_Ipswich,_Suffolk._Transfer_lithograph_by_C._Wellcome_V0012772.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And from that, I created my own blank textured paper that I then made copies of in various of the colors from my design.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DC5i1QzirEuzA7HjY2_skdOz-rzHMdX4Iqla36s3rZcAN7ky6BJP9d4ww12LizhWH1qGnaWR79X-6vIBiHowhyrrG0LUysPfelvlCN6SriIHe8nQHDgfXo0mPwfeYxfHbmBUzUU0g5FYO1S6TkIYSv8FdPNoS9CqXLuf_ohyMJKbcf0LMwe1E-I6Rp0/s5692/texture%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4388" data-original-width="5692" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DC5i1QzirEuzA7HjY2_skdOz-rzHMdX4Iqla36s3rZcAN7ky6BJP9d4ww12LizhWH1qGnaWR79X-6vIBiHowhyrrG0LUysPfelvlCN6SriIHe8nQHDgfXo0mPwfeYxfHbmBUzUU0g5FYO1S6TkIYSv8FdPNoS9CqXLuf_ohyMJKbcf0LMwe1E-I6Rp0/w400-h310/texture%201.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Then I married each shape from my design with that colored paper by making what's called a clipping mask of each shape. Here are some of the layers of one bunch of basil.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsIL5JZc3JgCCvfoltpV2ueU8ywhlTfXOewC3sn49wyXe-JqqErAhVt6JzH1TPTYVHOUjfvjoj1-qD9APoCAPrF-2FTbDDhQOq3kQPOhyB15q-GydacyJfnpk-9sWsmJ7iJhVWjyT_v2ZjiQ3vOB_oo5N2uiSz8Bc-MOugJhd9ppTIM85KJPgTDyK5yE/s784/basil%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="784" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQsIL5JZc3JgCCvfoltpV2ueU8ywhlTfXOewC3sn49wyXe-JqqErAhVt6JzH1TPTYVHOUjfvjoj1-qD9APoCAPrF-2FTbDDhQOq3kQPOhyB15q-GydacyJfnpk-9sWsmJ7iJhVWjyT_v2ZjiQ3vOB_oo5N2uiSz8Bc-MOugJhd9ppTIM85KJPgTDyK5yE/w400-h260/basil%201.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I took those pieces into Photoshop, layered them on top of each other, and created the shine and shading by erasing away what I didn't want from each layer.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs11hUvwSo5TZN1HAiwYsy5CJKnYCnxomX8_h7XCXygoKj-bj3g23xKj2oO3lNa6sCeoo3eluuEpGtZjUN9JdHIheyblLb65DLOETm4-5xalNuGE5hq9uLzlaBeMCzFHVLuyko8Jb_al5YqnX3XMkZLAr1RSgx79rCOSvu5copTyodDz1XeeaBxiYdTGc/s342/basil%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="342" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs11hUvwSo5TZN1HAiwYsy5CJKnYCnxomX8_h7XCXygoKj-bj3g23xKj2oO3lNa6sCeoo3eluuEpGtZjUN9JdHIheyblLb65DLOETm4-5xalNuGE5hq9uLzlaBeMCzFHVLuyko8Jb_al5YqnX3XMkZLAr1RSgx79rCOSvu5copTyodDz1XeeaBxiYdTGc/s320/basil%202.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Again, the reproduction in this blog is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea. It's sort of like painting but backwards. Or inside-out. It took a while, but it's what got me from this:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62xE2eantqJRdaZvJ3Fky71GWitBdZUNVSHBgaO6iJfgvM3AaJ7o096BMFcKGP08aH-FEeEQGlbe3rOKST4sHV6OvYa0nFQ_4naLVFCyevRs4CL7M5v6-g8z2nOiJSmdw1xtphu17jn3SJt7HSpg-NiS2SXLCxgeUUusTDMmhVPCzd2QXfOBcilp6oFI/s755/ingredients%201.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="755" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62xE2eantqJRdaZvJ3Fky71GWitBdZUNVSHBgaO6iJfgvM3AaJ7o096BMFcKGP08aH-FEeEQGlbe3rOKST4sHV6OvYa0nFQ_4naLVFCyevRs4CL7M5v6-g8z2nOiJSmdw1xtphu17jn3SJt7HSpg-NiS2SXLCxgeUUusTDMmhVPCzd2QXfOBcilp6oFI/s320/ingredients%201.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>to this:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvaYDpki8lfTo808dIu3xYhUKUjVb06cp-GV6Bd_t2yGujTXE-MYdgvZuR9WFm8JgJhduL-swk_FtkQ3grVSaimMTf1gPQTiu-wuzhpMb9ih2x_iO893u5MdqU8O_eemXynCnOZ4AcCbOPKiiiSgZR_UaNlPA_dGU5RtRn4Sn43EZmrvv9PO0WbmzAok/s755/ingredients%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="755" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJvaYDpki8lfTo808dIu3xYhUKUjVb06cp-GV6Bd_t2yGujTXE-MYdgvZuR9WFm8JgJhduL-swk_FtkQ3grVSaimMTf1gPQTiu-wuzhpMb9ih2x_iO893u5MdqU8O_eemXynCnOZ4AcCbOPKiiiSgZR_UaNlPA_dGU5RtRn4Sn43EZmrvv9PO0WbmzAok/s320/ingredients%202.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now as for Bella, I had sort of Frankensteined her together, so I wanted to make completely certain that I had everything in the right place. Luckily, I live with a fine artist who specializes in, among other things, the human form. I printed Bella out and asked <a href="https://stephenodonnellartist.com" target="_blank">Stephen</a> to have a look. He discussed it with me and even gave me some pencil guides, which I took back to my desk for more refining.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQrC5ziT9-0CERk0rJ7SOb8gluqtg7tXgIG6Vf04NVXThZ0MyTBCRz9qlDkwAqePnPW3r4uGgEULftrIcWx-6tsYfL972WLeHhsX-Wag6bPOARjt0MLsDSh-3SnLwg5xJzKjvd5xtGb97s_xOBKboVDni1Qq8Z0NJeEt_x5IQ0sx7eGrgURQvbJTAkRc/s2016/from%20stephen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQrC5ziT9-0CERk0rJ7SOb8gluqtg7tXgIG6Vf04NVXThZ0MyTBCRz9qlDkwAqePnPW3r4uGgEULftrIcWx-6tsYfL972WLeHhsX-Wag6bPOARjt0MLsDSh-3SnLwg5xJzKjvd5xtGb97s_xOBKboVDni1Qq8Z0NJeEt_x5IQ0sx7eGrgURQvbJTAkRc/w300-h400/from%20stephen.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Some of the steps in Bella's metamorphosis.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxVSSnm-e_s0dJUgU5Fq8uUvjhP2qqccKOMXUPVECgN4jxVuuBj9uCXtpm7OTQw1ECky5LW-5n472PZ6sfKM1uubCiTMNfGURYlO7rnGcwJgMwxUoPAcr-TQ_Q83ZOiZ0gfuykgwtYPm-ZrnF5hXUZpoF-tLLowsvimB7ZAMJfJ6gCKm9mjaXgjH8yo4/s4064/Bellas.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2464" data-original-width="4064" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmxVSSnm-e_s0dJUgU5Fq8uUvjhP2qqccKOMXUPVECgN4jxVuuBj9uCXtpm7OTQw1ECky5LW-5n472PZ6sfKM1uubCiTMNfGURYlO7rnGcwJgMwxUoPAcr-TQ_Q83ZOiZ0gfuykgwtYPm-ZrnF5hXUZpoF-tLLowsvimB7ZAMJfJ6gCKm9mjaXgjH8yo4/w400-h244/Bellas.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>After a little more tinkering here and there, some flag garlands to add a little something more to the background, and a great blurb excerpt from author Blair Fell, we finally had a cover that we all liked, and which I hope would make Bella proud.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QefmCz_VSLiQGYgT1r0wAKmkVl1vnvqBU2HY4bOdWxh6gAIWadF2oWPVo96-e2-Aji3F0-ib--pAOWwuo--hIoLFyupLx7-cVjj1mTqc3B8THJfwVd8sKs5YEPwRiNIzsZlynPQ8_gt2g-gksY08kPJg6r4xbTre5DG3Ug33X0PdmpMnTPU-f_MLAoM/s600/The%20Queen%20of%20Steeplechase%20Park%20front%20cover%20400%20x%20600%20px%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QefmCz_VSLiQGYgT1r0wAKmkVl1vnvqBU2HY4bOdWxh6gAIWadF2oWPVo96-e2-Aji3F0-ib--pAOWwuo--hIoLFyupLx7-cVjj1mTqc3B8THJfwVd8sKs5YEPwRiNIzsZlynPQ8_gt2g-gksY08kPJg6r4xbTre5DG3Ug33X0PdmpMnTPU-f_MLAoM/s16000/The%20Queen%20of%20Steeplechase%20Park%20front%20cover%20400%20x%20600%20px%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div><i>The Queen of Steeplechase Park</i> will be out in May of 2024. More info is on the Forest Avenue Press website <a href="https://www.forestavenuepress.com/news/davidciminelloacquisition" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think this excerpt, which is the opening to the novel, will give you the perfect taste:</div><div><br /></div><i>Had William Randolph Hearst known about her he would have inked her onto the front pages of his newspapers directly above the banner headlines barking about the war crawling across Europe. Walter Winchell would have broadcast about her on </i>This Is Your World! <i>They would have told you how beautiful she was. How men dropped in front of her and howled. How Einstein created a new theory and how Freud folded his cards after she lit one of his cigars. Hollywood could have made her a great big star. She would have taken Bette Davis and wrung that bug-eyed hambone dry. King Kong would have let go of Fay Wray, dropped that dizzy dame those one hundred and two Empire State stories, just so he could hold her in his gargantuan hand. Glenn Miller would’ve raised his baton and crooned, “Come on, baby! Front my band! You can swing! I know you can!” Pity was never a song she chose to sing. Her anthems were always “Shoo Shoo Boogie Boo” and “All of Me!” When she Coney Island cooch-danced, air-raid sirens rang, Lucky Strikes lit themselves, and palm trees sprouted out of Coney Island’s sand. After her Cooking Spirit swooped in, meatballs were never the same. Everyone wanted to taste her tomatoes and dip their bread in her Sunday gravy. Had he met her, David O. Selznick would have ceased his search for his silly Scarlett O’Hara and cast her in a Technicolor epic all her own. Fiddle dee dee! Frankly my dears, there was no one like her!</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-43563698914023584822023-08-11T13:07:00.001-07:002023-08-11T13:07:34.014-07:00Book Cover: Moss-Covered Claws<p>Recently, I was excited to be asked to create a new cover for the short story collection <i>Moss-Covered Claws </i>by Jonah Barnett. The book, published by Blue Cactus Press, came out two years ago, and I loved it and blurbed it. When the second printing got low and Blue Cactus started prepping for a third, they decided that it would be fun to give it a whole new edition with new content inside and a cover refresh. Publisher Christina Vega contacted Laura Stanfill, publisher of Forest Avenue Press, to be a consultant on the project, and Laura has been acting as a go-between, tossing out ideas and helping me refine my work.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptvhvYxxSZWeC6Fub63SC-TzzzZYKyaDt-4NpG7ve7XpsDnq1hSyrcURN92rvy857bJWLrudO82OP2VoL2150YJy2KrS9SHQ1-qL4bymyOLmyPkogSjP9P7Jg64aVgV854nIgILZBPfsQQ0jyWosZhiXPRyBnvAayYNiNTjLwmnvAUKxbQAvPePGH/s2093/MOSS-COVERED-CLAWS_Front-Cover-for-Kickstarter.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2093" data-original-width="1544" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptvhvYxxSZWeC6Fub63SC-TzzzZYKyaDt-4NpG7ve7XpsDnq1hSyrcURN92rvy857bJWLrudO82OP2VoL2150YJy2KrS9SHQ1-qL4bymyOLmyPkogSjP9P7Jg64aVgV854nIgILZBPfsQQ0jyWosZhiXPRyBnvAayYNiNTjLwmnvAUKxbQAvPePGH/s320/MOSS-COVERED-CLAWS_Front-Cover-for-Kickstarter.png" width="236" /></a></div>The main element of the original cover is a painting by Sam Breaux. Look at that cool minotaur! For the redo we wanted to keep that art and build around it. <p></p><p>(If you look close, you may notice that the author's name is one letter off from the name on the cover of the book. Originally their name was Jonah Barrett. But after being recently married, Jonah and their partner decided to combine their two last names into something new—and the best combination turned out to be only one letter different. I love that this new edition of the book also serves as a bit of a celebration of that new name.)</p><p>I met on Zoom with Laura, Chris, and Jonah to discuss the book and throw out ideas. Then Laura emailed with a comprehensive rundown of her thoughts. Right away, she had super fun ideas about new approaches. </p>"I wondered if you could create some kind of layer effect around the monster that would give it more dimension," she suggested. "Maybe even looking like the monster is being torn out of the background of the painting or separated from it somehow."<div><br /></div><div>She also said: "You are so awesome at frames and borders. I’m not sure if a border would work with this illustration as-is, but I could also see shrinking the art and putting a border around it, or making it look like we’re viewing it through a telescope or cave or something—distorting the space on the outside."</div><div><br /></div><div>Jonah forwarded a great collection of imagery to use for fodder as well, including some fonts they liked and an array of vintage book covers. Thinking on Laura's ideas and Jonah's fodder, I started picturing the cover of Moss-Covered Claws as a storybook gone rogue, where at first it looks like a sweet old-time fairytale book—but the monster in the forest is ripping its way out and into your world.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started simple, with the paper of the illustration tearing to reveal the title text behind, the minotaur popping out of that confined frame. I knew I'd need to do some toning to the original artwork, but I figured I'd wait until we had a colorway decided for the cover before I did any tinkering. I would also eventually want to add some shadow behind my emerging minotaur. (And I would also-also eventually notice and fix the typo that sneaked into (or more specifically out of) the terrific blurb by the equally terrific Sequoia Nagamatsu, a writer I was fangirling all over the whole time I was working on this cover, I can't lie.)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_8urPtZI8X8pcF5fXLdJ_AubCUTxr7-jSOm0o07F7DNirK7pFXe2GwV6G0OWIHnrTWRklaT9bhkdt3YsoO7326AyBjxo707FL9Kp-mg9uwEUQqO7TQlTSO5yik7cgTXu2w4hzBWYVS1Qn3h_xZRii4Klqng_Ljnpi6OhMlVLNsrj9FY6exhiPfAq/s2100/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20sample%2002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_8urPtZI8X8pcF5fXLdJ_AubCUTxr7-jSOm0o07F7DNirK7pFXe2GwV6G0OWIHnrTWRklaT9bhkdt3YsoO7326AyBjxo707FL9Kp-mg9uwEUQqO7TQlTSO5yik7cgTXu2w4hzBWYVS1Qn3h_xZRii4Klqng_Ljnpi6OhMlVLNsrj9FY6exhiPfAq/w286-h400/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20sample%2002.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div>But with Laura's suggestion of working with borders, and Jonah's examples of vintage book covers, I started to get a little more fancy as I went along. Jonah liked fonts with a swoop in them, so along with my chunky, modern-looking original font, I folded in a more classic font that I could get fancy with, for the text that lived within the bounds of what I was thinking of as my storybook portion.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINxZJav9LODYvbDL5CFEW9yAF1_U2yRRQHrxZqLZwTZ-yvvuu2EKjYwwuihCj6mViQQEMYhAqZRSTeSQKuZqDSNDOrKQvqyVgci8EWDkXPJo04EIL9OeDbC7HOfreCKQKHWgbzEEGx-0QvzyT8TjabDpBRYRrjb_jWCTDfYetcZs9Gd15qw0HnhMc/s2765/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2004.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2765" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINxZJav9LODYvbDL5CFEW9yAF1_U2yRRQHrxZqLZwTZ-yvvuu2EKjYwwuihCj6mViQQEMYhAqZRSTeSQKuZqDSNDOrKQvqyVgci8EWDkXPJo04EIL9OeDbC7HOfreCKQKHWgbzEEGx-0QvzyT8TjabDpBRYRrjb_jWCTDfYetcZs9Gd15qw0HnhMc/w400-h184/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2004.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">(You might notice some dropouts at the very bottom of the painting in a couple of these samples. That's where the painting ends, and I knew I may have to photoshop a little more in to make the layout I wanted work—but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.)</div><div><br /></div><div>There was back and forth with Laura and I came back to her with more samples. This time I dispensed with the paper tear, playing, instead, with the idea that the minotaur is busting through the border, itself.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUlanO-nTMXlKPy-NXeMvkZwK7q8E18aYj9dEl23gWdLurfSIhOjwZYq1ZMY6B3ZCDxhJAoc5UIO7LuKSuMrP8HCifdBeP9UCSeCX5754IwAlSURBBbdRNamdgbYPFL8c8-5LeKVfmiWU15tSoFq-5zxYymfIHe6uMmqgWvJohYSzVs6gt3jFOiff0/s2765/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2005.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2765" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUlanO-nTMXlKPy-NXeMvkZwK7q8E18aYj9dEl23gWdLurfSIhOjwZYq1ZMY6B3ZCDxhJAoc5UIO7LuKSuMrP8HCifdBeP9UCSeCX5754IwAlSURBBbdRNamdgbYPFL8c8-5LeKVfmiWU15tSoFq-5zxYymfIHe6uMmqgWvJohYSzVs6gt3jFOiff0/w400-h184/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2005.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Getting more elaborate with the border and futzing with the title, even, in this last sample, cracking it up a little.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ802XyvUbvd7xWjT8zY-kV6noA0WVUrQMv3MVyqIToFSBDqtvzPgVBADVBYGP-WEV4O6VRtrLWGVH7PivKTFFR9Jhbbj_d3qGAe645hc4oHZdEhJibsMt5V3QfPnFmSMinGawbTFwemO6RysERG_r_0KCzemMM5_Yj5_qUPbWKKL9Gbf22AFVKipv/s2765/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2006.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2765" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ802XyvUbvd7xWjT8zY-kV6noA0WVUrQMv3MVyqIToFSBDqtvzPgVBADVBYGP-WEV4O6VRtrLWGVH7PivKTFFR9Jhbbj_d3qGAe645hc4oHZdEhJibsMt5V3QfPnFmSMinGawbTFwemO6RysERG_r_0KCzemMM5_Yj5_qUPbWKKL9Gbf22AFVKipv/w400-h184/moss-covered%20claws%20array%2006.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>As sometimes happens when you get more and more elaborate with your tinkering, Jonah, when we shared samples with them, preferred the most simple. The no-border approach with the paper tear at the top and bottom. They had some suggestions for tweaking, including updating the title color because "I don't like yellow. Maybe it's because I hate sunshine, who knows." Haha! But they also had a new suggestion: "What if the cover took on more of a Jules Verne vibe? Think old dark green covers with nice gold type, and a bookplate-ish illustration (there's probably a better word for this) based on the minotaur painting."</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the example of Jules Verne they forwarded along.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2Oih5gPprwfuZaOXJGryNu28hQv8g2oy6yCPr_yUWwObtgCqE1qy9l-mWP2uzvQqJ2Df_emOIFbcGl_sgJ4DnNQoUG61HuZexYGbUQALo8DO-ZrBRPrSoOMR0HPIyILDD4Zr6RMZjuv1mcLG5QQJ6a87H3HCZVxBBXMupAqA-7bQlVyGa-nDY_N-/s792/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days-by-Jules-VErne-5th-4-e1643123281594.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="613" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA2Oih5gPprwfuZaOXJGryNu28hQv8g2oy6yCPr_yUWwObtgCqE1qy9l-mWP2uzvQqJ2Df_emOIFbcGl_sgJ4DnNQoUG61HuZexYGbUQALo8DO-ZrBRPrSoOMR0HPIyILDD4Zr6RMZjuv1mcLG5QQJ6a87H3HCZVxBBXMupAqA-7bQlVyGa-nDY_N-/w310-h400/Around-the-World-in-Eighty-Days-by-Jules-VErne-5th-4-e1643123281594.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>And here's one of my own that I had saved because I love, and have a file of, those wonderful vintage book covers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMJI582RmCodYWFnybqmHefodbnFddGHaakhPSmQxGPpVqHDhd-JOYG7-OX64_ypo72R4letzMDQKYiysocCNeJ3C3GSuf0sqzuQDhrEWPA5rE5Yjhx6Z26e1qWMFS0P6NT6ET3w_93YIbD5Y5bK5rn1lbt39ZgNesvtcS2RG_DOz0ncbuPdFCFAm/s1793/AAA%20mine%200b83df49f5df8cdcc7708d02b8f4d073.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1793" data-original-width="1244" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMJI582RmCodYWFnybqmHefodbnFddGHaakhPSmQxGPpVqHDhd-JOYG7-OX64_ypo72R4letzMDQKYiysocCNeJ3C3GSuf0sqzuQDhrEWPA5rE5Yjhx6Z26e1qWMFS0P6NT6ET3w_93YIbD5Y5bK5rn1lbt39ZgNesvtcS2RG_DOz0ncbuPdFCFAm/w279-h400/AAA%20mine%200b83df49f5df8cdcc7708d02b8f4d073.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I got really excited about the prospect of going full-on Jules Verne with this book cover. Sometimes I muse on the question, what are the dream projects. The ones that give me the most joy. And again and again I think it's those projects where I get to go all in on a theme—and particularly where I get to have the book cover be something more than a book cover. Like how the cover to <i><a href="http://utomniabene.blogspot.com/2016/01/book-cover-city-of-weird.html" target="_blank">City of Weird</a></i> got to also be an old pulp magazine cover. And the cover to <i><a href="http://utomniabene.blogspot.com/2017/01/book-cover-queen-of-spades.html" target="_blank">Queen of Spades</a></i> got to also be a playing card. In a way, it's like being a set designer for the movies. How immensely fun would it be to get to create a set that's New York City in 1955 or Amarna in 1346 BCE? To try to be absolutely meticulous in creating something genuine. I like book covers that allow me to do that: recreate and emulate. </div><div><br /></div><div>So yes, I got very excited at the prospect of emulating, of recreating one of those fabulous ornate Victorian-era book covers.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've done something like that before, with<i> <a href="http://utomniabene.blogspot.com/2015/10/book-cover-reveal-froelichs-ladder.html" target="_blank">Froelick's Ladder</a></i>. That one was such fun. But it was a modern take, and for <i>Moss-Covered Claws</i>, I would let the design stay in and of its time.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I did have plans to work on Jonah's tweaks to the paper-tear cover, but first I couldn't help myself. I started playing with a Victorian-era design.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started by building a decorative frame for the painting. Designing a piece...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjrbNGNNnVxrAuo4Peb8SBJQUniY_Q4uIgMXDNQYI-Rg-zjyjpYGCIWytuG1wkEce5M-9mdMDWuouBmiUwkPqwOVmv_uGj6pZ9ayE4CJvtiIg2TYdzYmhEwM8hpT7He9gnwWU8BIruRv3gIasHV7QJG8yIn1baYM7w4Q_3Z9URQY08gEmthmjLqM-/s2100/MCC%20post%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvjrbNGNNnVxrAuo4Peb8SBJQUniY_Q4uIgMXDNQYI-Rg-zjyjpYGCIWytuG1wkEce5M-9mdMDWuouBmiUwkPqwOVmv_uGj6pZ9ayE4CJvtiIg2TYdzYmhEwM8hpT7He9gnwWU8BIruRv3gIasHV7QJG8yIn1baYM7w4Q_3Z9URQY08gEmthmjLqM-/w286-h400/MCC%20post%2001.png" width="286" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Duplicating and rotating it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqAh0h_eBOW24cPbrejIHhjwXdz1rc_mW5xB41CbCnfcsvj8LR_nrTH3hY1aZIpg06RFqnK-QJNlXOGDoJZhfGLMryl-pac0bUoUkI1yg2wYHGEHy-Rkeduxzosas0QjmHERpQYfZi5l62hq3HInk11tGMdl3guITFAvJP8QPLu_tqTAeJggyezq8/s2100/MCC%20post%2002.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqAh0h_eBOW24cPbrejIHhjwXdz1rc_mW5xB41CbCnfcsvj8LR_nrTH3hY1aZIpg06RFqnK-QJNlXOGDoJZhfGLMryl-pac0bUoUkI1yg2wYHGEHy-Rkeduxzosas0QjmHERpQYfZi5l62hq3HInk11tGMdl3guITFAvJP8QPLu_tqTAeJggyezq8/w286-h400/MCC%20post%2002.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Adding another detail to duplicate and rotate, duplicate and rotate.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzDcYrtedEnqBCkUc1sDIi6bUcVzTHYoPJCOzdrFLT_B5Bq7Qg9ftjd2XN3VE_zQ33U5qsGVAZtCgJsDu-AA6nNx-gXYYsgL5B4KmV23b7nKVot5lbEUKgACZPPyhPsnkms4N4c5qvHZNWv7H7UxJP7bb36ZtL2f3oq6PzyirKp72VCndMPnfsqD_/s2100/MCC%20post%2003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzDcYrtedEnqBCkUc1sDIi6bUcVzTHYoPJCOzdrFLT_B5Bq7Qg9ftjd2XN3VE_zQ33U5qsGVAZtCgJsDu-AA6nNx-gXYYsgL5B4KmV23b7nKVot5lbEUKgACZPPyhPsnkms4N4c5qvHZNWv7H7UxJP7bb36ZtL2f3oq6PzyirKp72VCndMPnfsqD_/w286-h400/MCC%20post%2003.png" width="286" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When I had a frame, I started to build banners to place my text inside.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbyksgsK9utz4MLfud7bPDHfR35cIXDyomdnFoXhdATxpT699LmqugbUFt8MTsaLqgiZnb3C4nU9huOw2bvUkTUxGObzhBXozU2p4lrKznrswd69VXJneedOkFtbO-F-0P2YcnIOY9pMlRwcncSyDHkRIZKqjnI4ST-92TUva1NZsA7P-No98GH7P/s2100/MCC%20post%2004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUbyksgsK9utz4MLfud7bPDHfR35cIXDyomdnFoXhdATxpT699LmqugbUFt8MTsaLqgiZnb3C4nU9huOw2bvUkTUxGObzhBXozU2p4lrKznrswd69VXJneedOkFtbO-F-0P2YcnIOY9pMlRwcncSyDHkRIZKqjnI4ST-92TUva1NZsA7P-No98GH7P/w286-h400/MCC%20post%2004.png" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>And then I spent an inordinate amount of time creating what I thought would be the best scrollwork to fit the space.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3jWMiFhcFvCv0HcK_Ee1tr3qr8vjN9fhhnWGAOaSnEUhzAirShEL1_qFU-4V_r35-y5z3mJD80X15dPmm1Bp_Vl8G2ZcQBcGsHMqYsivqgX3ExPEng9ngNt_0sqcs59qUwoRV2A7LAZlUUXP4dA1EujrccNN7T3mhBucvB33Ea3JhrZSorCLEWoV/s999/MCC%20post%2005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="667" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3jWMiFhcFvCv0HcK_Ee1tr3qr8vjN9fhhnWGAOaSnEUhzAirShEL1_qFU-4V_r35-y5z3mJD80X15dPmm1Bp_Vl8G2ZcQBcGsHMqYsivqgX3ExPEng9ngNt_0sqcs59qUwoRV2A7LAZlUUXP4dA1EujrccNN7T3mhBucvB33Ea3JhrZSorCLEWoV/w269-h400/MCC%20post%2005.png" width="269" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There were other steps, of course. Finding fonts I liked and working the text in. Fiddling with the color of the minotaur painting until I liked the tone and contrast and vibrancy. Adding all the tiny details. But most important was going back to Laura's original idea of the minotaur breaking out of the background. When I shared this direction, it was obvious that I wasn't going to go back to the paper-tear concept. We had our cover.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmx7rJB71bWEqkoVjbD-NvaJ41A8w8lE5eDUHUbAYPTvrFsgY_MuCWIACvMDb4i56-wKPuZCKx-RNzaCF9buU0sxvxY2-qnYLy2mqyQpYO2ElPQQLn4evnYmAeVuqGcEBk760dSR49M6THyJ9kJUb0g3QQYPk9-aUnwZ-YCgCYpeLRg_OR4ilp01DX_s/s560/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmx7rJB71bWEqkoVjbD-NvaJ41A8w8lE5eDUHUbAYPTvrFsgY_MuCWIACvMDb4i56-wKPuZCKx-RNzaCF9buU0sxvxY2-qnYLy2mqyQpYO2ElPQQLn4evnYmAeVuqGcEBk760dSR49M6THyJ9kJUb0g3QQYPk9-aUnwZ-YCgCYpeLRg_OR4ilp01DX_s/s16000/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><br /><div>As an addendum, with a design like this one, and a nice, thick spine width, you can even get fancy with the spine.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLge7a5Up_A-QesoRspwIYkY9kMWfeYjHyVn52srJuuHT8zqQXIpmsjtQMEVteKBgjcMMai7ngvtjjatuWg_ItR7iFtX2amZWrX-H8ofPgvjJ4-2L8h4mwanIbF9TshB03oqZURx7oUQuqd3AJAsqGAOjmYrBXiWdZHKPNxRNX3X7sNdN7im5Z1wlVz0c/s2100/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20spine.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLge7a5Up_A-QesoRspwIYkY9kMWfeYjHyVn52srJuuHT8zqQXIpmsjtQMEVteKBgjcMMai7ngvtjjatuWg_ItR7iFtX2amZWrX-H8ofPgvjJ4-2L8h4mwanIbF9TshB03oqZURx7oUQuqd3AJAsqGAOjmYrBXiWdZHKPNxRNX3X7sNdN7im5Z1wlVz0c/s320/Moss-Covered%20Claws%20spine.png" width="114" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div>I love those old ornate, gilt-stamped book spines, and because Jonah had enough pages in their book, it gave us room to create horizontal decorations to break up the space.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I used some of the elements of decoration from the cover to create the elements for the spine, and it was fun to fake-gilt-stamp the logo of Blue Cactus Press at the bottom.</div><div><br /></div><div>The new edition of <i>Moss-Covered Claws</i> will be releasing soon. More info is <a href="https://bluecactuspress.com/product/moss-covered-claws/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's an excerpt!</div><div><br /></div><i>I walk to the edge and look down into the dark abyss. At this time of day—the very beginning—the sunlight hits the water just right, and you can see down to the peat floor in honey golden rays. I peer into the water. It’s filled with shapes—shapes that are familiar and yet so remote. There are people down there, so many people, just lying at the bottom as if in slumber.</i><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-15344815079339370122023-07-11T06:47:00.001-07:002023-07-11T06:47:39.236-07:00a moment in the day: drop-off<p>Early morning, outside with Nicholas, the air chilled and full of the sound of crows. I'm sitting in a chair while Nicholas wanders and sniffs. Pull out my phone and am looking at the weather app.</p><p>Through the shatter of crow sound, suddenly, just above me is a thud at the edge of the roof, and now something drops, fast, past my head, and lands on the concrete just an inch or two away from Nicholas. </p><p>He sniffs at it. I look up: edge of the roof and sky above.</p><p>A crow swoops out from somewhere above the roof, passes above me, and lands on the edge of the roof of the studio a few feet away. </p><p>Did a crow just try to drop a pinecone on my dog?</p><p>Now more crows are trading places across the yard: the roof, the arbor, the fence post. I pick up the pinecone and set it on the table. I figure we might as well head inside, and as I gather Nicholas up and turn toward the door, the crows are already dropping one by one onto the grass. I go in, close the door, and head up the steps, then stop and look out the window as the mirthful murder, all cackle and flutter, close in around and dive into our small offering of last night's chunk of leftover birthday cake from my dessert plate, devour it in moments, and are gone.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-42296861550670989552023-07-04T16:55:00.001-07:002023-07-04T17:44:01.624-07:00a moment in the day: anotherMorning, the radio on, me sitting at the computer with fingers tapping, half-listening.<div><br /></div><div>The NPR reporter says, “We’ve got another shooting. This time in Fort Worth, Texas.”</div><div><br /></div><div>My first reaction is the expected sadness, but then I find myself struck by how he said it. There’s the inevitability conveyed, the resignation in his voice. He only lets a touch of emotion into his words, but it’s enough to show how he feels.</div><div><br /></div><div>But really, it’s the very opening of the statement that stays with me. Those first two words.</div><div><br /></div><div>We’ve got.</div><div><br /></div><div>We, America. Got, have, own. We own this. </div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-34855343855901381662023-07-02T09:29:00.016-07:002023-07-02T09:49:21.963-07:00Book Cover: Chicano Frankenstein<p>Had I not been handed a few specific directions at the start of the project, I might have done exactly what the author didn't want. After all, when you're presented with a book that's based on <i>Frankenstein</i>, your mind immediately goes to that classic image of the monster. Also I am a certified monster-story fanatic (see: <i>City of Weird</i>), particularly vintage monster stories, so I can see myself going all Groovy-Goolies-slash-Boris-Karloff on my cover design, if left to my own devices. Alright, maybe not Groovy Goolies.</p><p>But for the cover of <i>Chicano Frankenstein</i>, author Daniel A. Olivas had two specific wishes, which publisher Laura Stanfill liked and sent my way. First, he wanted to avoid any stitched-together bodies or body parts. So no imagery directly referencing a Frankenstein-monster type of character.</p><p>If you're wondering whether there are in fact any Frankenstein-monster types of characters in the book, here's the publisher description:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>An unnamed paralegal, brought back to life through a controversial process, maneuvers through a near-future world that both needs and resents him. As the United States president spouts anti-reanimation rhetoric and giant pharmaceutical companies rake in profits, the man falls in love with lawyer Faustina Godínez. His world expands as he meets her network of family and friends, setting him on a course to discover his first-life history, which the reanimation process erased. With elements of science fiction, horror, political satire and romance, </i>Chicano Frankenstein<i> confronts our nation’s bigotries and the question of what it truly means to be human.</i></p>(Doesn't that sound so cool?)<div><br /></div><div>Daniel's second wish was that I use the iconography of Día de los Muertos in my cover design. Specifically the skeletons and the lovely, decorative skulls.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTywMeZNCDOZ9xixROLVwps0_Q7tKwfFt56txY2HncbJF8gSHX_ywisWRa1gYgUPiysks1NjsHfwR90zjR83r_m8-jhbtFujWY56MggpSq-9A0-8YryrQeC4dOx0wiBgp4ABUUziiikOdUpDIB57Yd81oZYbF32AUWx8OjPwTFXc7g08UG7kzqoNvzXgI/s780/sugar-skull-6744801_1280%20Image%20by%20Nikola%20Tinkova%CC%81%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="780" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTywMeZNCDOZ9xixROLVwps0_Q7tKwfFt56txY2HncbJF8gSHX_ywisWRa1gYgUPiysks1NjsHfwR90zjR83r_m8-jhbtFujWY56MggpSq-9A0-8YryrQeC4dOx0wiBgp4ABUUziiikOdUpDIB57Yd81oZYbF32AUWx8OjPwTFXc7g08UG7kzqoNvzXgI/s320/sugar-skull-6744801_1280%20Image%20by%20Nikola%20Tinkova%CC%81%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>I was excited to work with this beautiful and thought-provoking imagery, but I wouldn't have explored using iconography with roots in Mexican culture, a culture that isn't mine, if it hadn’t been Daniel's wish. I may have done so, say, ten years ago, but I understand so much more, now, how people are the gatekeepers of their own culture. Only because it was Daniel's suggestion did I, and Laura, feel comfortable referencing it, and what I created would have to get his approval if we were to use it.</div><div><br /></div><div>One idea Daniel had was to reference the old Hitchcock <i>Vertigo</i> movie posters with the swirling vortex and the body falling down and down. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgHVMQ4PfTjcW5jrVTtX2-odUwLC4_Cp0_E1TVf_Z9iGlvTzXKfxy3GtDa1hi_VxQUKEsqFILuTClYlDu9yuH0DCxDRQyxY0ivaSwkx0f2ppQTeJfhgqX0KKoU4jc-5sBfu8xG6HQiYH7yCzoNo7Dh7_RTw_n6Cds2JYc6Kzbf889-mNPmjEx2I-AW3k/s1844/vertigo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1844" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIgHVMQ4PfTjcW5jrVTtX2-odUwLC4_Cp0_E1TVf_Z9iGlvTzXKfxy3GtDa1hi_VxQUKEsqFILuTClYlDu9yuH0DCxDRQyxY0ivaSwkx0f2ppQTeJfhgqX0KKoU4jc-5sBfu8xG6HQiYH7yCzoNo7Dh7_RTw_n6Cds2JYc6Kzbf889-mNPmjEx2I-AW3k/w400-h279/vertigo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And one idea I had was to build the title and author name out of bones. Including skulls for the Os in <i>Chicano</i> and in Daniel's last name.</div><div><br />The first thing I did when getting started was to throw down the title in the 6" x 9" space I had for a cover, to see the room it might take up on the page. I was concerned about how long the word <i>Frankenstein</i> is. The longer the word, the smaller the font has to be. I tried slanting it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet85fU5A5L4OCI-ePIMVvNQcyFF7KfZEzxYHiJJveacJCkrWECDjwqAFa49fGPHcCbaSCHNkbRybSrO_bAVzsHm9U9hL0Vd8iLWhCUwQmfYiiZyIjIKTnfBYtAQKZecyV2qwyNsbYUncZ5AZVfFxhHUJQyH6cyXIe0rxQhP07P3m6217GHN0V00ZnW5Q/s3675/title%20placement%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="3675" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjet85fU5A5L4OCI-ePIMVvNQcyFF7KfZEzxYHiJJveacJCkrWECDjwqAFa49fGPHcCbaSCHNkbRybSrO_bAVzsHm9U9hL0Vd8iLWhCUwQmfYiiZyIjIKTnfBYtAQKZecyV2qwyNsbYUncZ5AZVfFxhHUJQyH6cyXIe0rxQhP07P3m6217GHN0V00ZnW5Q/w400-h295/title%20placement%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I tried breaking it.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPo3ErdWiNdFosGVpOAn-oUOeOBZLnmWmewGpZUGw_abMQG45gTC92lBhVYbPEH3LHNSwoHj7aDx0Yoq2EuNyRx4RMv0xI93gHRQf_RG98js2GPlDIfmY8j9-SKSaxT3Cl0P68J1b9gyeHwZk4F02ziY78CnS_-TlgeQvk4VI_Irc-caaRkUtfyoWMCM/s3675/title%20placement%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="3675" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPo3ErdWiNdFosGVpOAn-oUOeOBZLnmWmewGpZUGw_abMQG45gTC92lBhVYbPEH3LHNSwoHj7aDx0Yoq2EuNyRx4RMv0xI93gHRQf_RG98js2GPlDIfmY8j9-SKSaxT3Cl0P68J1b9gyeHwZk4F02ziY78CnS_-TlgeQvk4VI_Irc-caaRkUtfyoWMCM/w400-h295/title%20placement%2002.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />That was interesting. I wondered whether Laura would be okay with broken words. Would she worry that it would make the title hard to easily and quickly read? I liked the idea of really filling the space up with words made of bones, and the three-piece version left nice space open for the author name and blurb. I decided to give it a try.</div><div><br /></div><div>I liked Daniel's <i>Vertigo</i> idea, too, so I decided to try the vortex as a background for my very text-heavy concept. I built a vortex and some bones.</div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk9zTBTJY3EXNcew-NwqROImmF0ygdV_cm8xFx4zpAx0_Wug5H0TZ4Xgo9TZMBBjcdHrYYgACq182s0pXdFGGsMoFVGEiOPyrc2TxEdTJypvamVAC-oOwTePmgq8M9fnEpHBR4dMiXd0FKIgUbsPRfBIuvv9LlnrIKehlgJNsa6hWdEuzMJfreaUpTc8/s5586/big%20title%20cover%20step%201-04.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5586" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk9zTBTJY3EXNcew-NwqROImmF0ygdV_cm8xFx4zpAx0_Wug5H0TZ4Xgo9TZMBBjcdHrYYgACq182s0pXdFGGsMoFVGEiOPyrc2TxEdTJypvamVAC-oOwTePmgq8M9fnEpHBR4dMiXd0FKIgUbsPRfBIuvv9LlnrIKehlgJNsa6hWdEuzMJfreaUpTc8/w400-h195/big%20title%20cover%20step%201-04.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;">I built a couple of skulls. I wanted to keep them simple and similar since they would be smallish details in a larger text scheme.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3D8cq6wLj5zZ2ErSHdnRnn0kzQrBZ6VNZYq-1c1tjN_DintyeIvIOTBT0vRfjK7SA0Ek-fRw65cd22eOahPzjHvzxny0JXt7aY3OExZCadSvZIgpVdThv6r5ggO1q09zyenVR5m2BN36UOnMnqlKfJO-TZtXelEEkmui_-OXdVieKmtDwXeWc3uDAfs/s2700/Sugar%20Skulls%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="2700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3D8cq6wLj5zZ2ErSHdnRnn0kzQrBZ6VNZYq-1c1tjN_DintyeIvIOTBT0vRfjK7SA0Ek-fRw65cd22eOahPzjHvzxny0JXt7aY3OExZCadSvZIgpVdThv6r5ggO1q09zyenVR5m2BN36UOnMnqlKfJO-TZtXelEEkmui_-OXdVieKmtDwXeWc3uDAfs/w400-h266/Sugar%20Skulls%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;">Working in multiple layers, I arranged the bones into (on top of) the shapes of the words.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2qkVtGweRE4ciB4tWLL3z5a08Og-wqDX7mRKR8XAvlAsL3o7uhg25WoOqATxMUct4Ah7PfwIvL1sap9y-QQcTHO2RtRPAfAXHJQr2F8tJTfeUf7ExrncuK0Jr14uvalcNPL8xpA91Ilai5SvLhw1VgKYsjQo0YqVX3Qe-c2dF8z4XIAZiXyWoKia3cw/s1329/big%20title%20cover%20step%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="1329" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2qkVtGweRE4ciB4tWLL3z5a08Og-wqDX7mRKR8XAvlAsL3o7uhg25WoOqATxMUct4Ah7PfwIvL1sap9y-QQcTHO2RtRPAfAXHJQr2F8tJTfeUf7ExrncuK0Jr14uvalcNPL8xpA91Ilai5SvLhw1VgKYsjQo0YqVX3Qe-c2dF8z4XIAZiXyWoKia3cw/w400-h266/big%20title%20cover%20step%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />When I had the layout of text as I wanted it, I popped in the skulls for the Os, and then added some flowers, referencing the flowers in the skulls, as extra ornamentation, particularly so that I could get some more color into the design. Added the requisite placeholder blurb and "a novel," and...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOKBj18Crao62LBjKjtddQg6ZIRCzCYLxxMJhjOgf7jh_Poq7zs-RnzRHR-ufARaax-O26P-7QhfvDHEohTlzHvGsPhyQ5e14YO5dfNoyBKXCFy5J-A8gwux2TYEETryS7qXEmGCYa4vhteRTg7E9-9VzNgRCuChnoygJDFCG8hwap_iNkgDHWEghKu8/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOKBj18Crao62LBjKjtddQg6ZIRCzCYLxxMJhjOgf7jh_Poq7zs-RnzRHR-ufARaax-O26P-7QhfvDHEohTlzHvGsPhyQ5e14YO5dfNoyBKXCFy5J-A8gwux2TYEETryS7qXEmGCYa4vhteRTg7E9-9VzNgRCuChnoygJDFCG8hwap_iNkgDHWEghKu8/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002a.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>The biggest tinkering I did with this concept was with the skull Os. Did they want to be the detailed skulls I had made, or did they want to be something simpler? Again I worried about readability. I tried simplifying them using the actual Os of the original font with added skull detail/decoration.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqU-yUJecnqnpUrS5XhhkDUH5Cq6-g3zBgYZ5RQdYc79V_-6SsytH6DYJ69vmlC3WuBq5iIXv8Odq7MBOhittltrJnCBUPTU8Y37S2mt99yzJGLLccwexNXLQzJJhZNAJPdQbuT4bYr63b_3PaP-ilj-04zG-OFJIJshHeNNkJh_g_UK2ogmhXC6ia5Y/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQqU-yUJecnqnpUrS5XhhkDUH5Cq6-g3zBgYZ5RQdYc79V_-6SsytH6DYJ69vmlC3WuBq5iIXv8Odq7MBOhittltrJnCBUPTU8Y37S2mt99yzJGLLccwexNXLQzJJhZNAJPdQbuT4bYr63b_3PaP-ilj-04zG-OFJIJshHeNNkJh_g_UK2ogmhXC6ia5Y/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002b.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>Hmm. </div><div><br /></div><div>For a moment I tried to tell myself their shape referenced <i>Frankenstein</i> with that classic squared-off head, but no. They just looked like Tic Tacs. I tried with a more rounded O and simplified the design further, thinking if the faces blended into the background, they might look more like Os.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOc26I8A0RPzl1705PstnnMVgewL422k9FMU2LGAxFGHXjiq1XwIh-yYVCpRv01ITvoB9cd7EoGNppbi_dXF3LmJUMgTukTV6xoPc6Q6WIb0Ox_A4uRxR9UJH07QBzVaUAlscC4uu0diLhwgi94sb1TKfHSJT0eqkUF8gDJ84mU7JAH3ErwcA6USdncM/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002c.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOc26I8A0RPzl1705PstnnMVgewL422k9FMU2LGAxFGHXjiq1XwIh-yYVCpRv01ITvoB9cd7EoGNppbi_dXF3LmJUMgTukTV6xoPc6Q6WIb0Ox_A4uRxR9UJH07QBzVaUAlscC4uu0diLhwgi94sb1TKfHSJT0eqkUF8gDJ84mU7JAH3ErwcA6USdncM/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2002c.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>But they looked like decorated eggs.</div><div><br /></div><div>I resolved to send all three, plus a version with no skulls as Os at all, to Laura and see what she thought. Then I moved on to Daniel's <i>Vertigo</i> idea. </div><div><br /></div><div>This time I built a whole skeleton and positioned it falling down through the vortex. I thought it might look cool if the lettering also followed the shape of the vortex, so I used a simple Adobe Illustrator effect to get my title and author name, still in bone form, to twist. I arranged them around the fulcrum of the falling skeleton man and then I started to refine the letters so that they wouldn't look so warped by the effect I'd used on them. Knowing it would take a lot of refining to get the lettering to look as I wanted it to look, I only worked so long before sending samples to get Laura's opinion on the concept. If she liked the concept, and then if Daniel liked it, I'd refine it further.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-tb3zun5ZJ1KySYT7ei2SePZPAjABLz6Ct-RkQbWM79uY84wSdgksm1U5HwFnyl0a2o_Ux_pk2RF88fGNdnXhSf-tYt6lgPZI8125WutO5SNXu1xuwNg6oAyPPe2hmgzyugtZ1HVYPYs_UL-h3tQzL3L_SV8AcC0LIB9yAYLdkDDZVOkx7lKSVHe9g4/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2004.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-tb3zun5ZJ1KySYT7ei2SePZPAjABLz6Ct-RkQbWM79uY84wSdgksm1U5HwFnyl0a2o_Ux_pk2RF88fGNdnXhSf-tYt6lgPZI8125WutO5SNXu1xuwNg6oAyPPe2hmgzyugtZ1HVYPYs_UL-h3tQzL3L_SV8AcC0LIB9yAYLdkDDZVOkx7lKSVHe9g4/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2004.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>I wish I remembered the thought I had that made me pivot to a third concept. I know I was experimenting with what might look good if I left the lettering un-broken and un-warped. If it just sat straight across on the page. Something made me take the skull and blow it up and fill the whole space with it to see where things would fall. Where they fell was great and I got excited. I could position the title and author name so that the eyes and the skeleton teeth peeked out between the words, and it was an arresting image. Then I arranged a handful of flowers at the edges to bring in some color and some balance (dark/light, death/life).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGaMy4GU8BGLlWo02oUtYA69q3ZAXHgiDvo38UwZfAIGBxN5ogALtrYI20PPWZavgjhA0OXb2p6i6cK4qswqyZeGY8yletXvtLAECwp38TmOa60yFz1uhpbo6cT3hOI2oftbzS4FDVkrdc9zuosWHSmrHbBzUuFIRq-a5JgMU_ACB06DnqP0zK50afz4/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2001b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIGaMy4GU8BGLlWo02oUtYA69q3ZAXHgiDvo38UwZfAIGBxN5ogALtrYI20PPWZavgjhA0OXb2p6i6cK4qswqyZeGY8yletXvtLAECwp38TmOa60yFz1uhpbo6cT3hOI2oftbzS4FDVkrdc9zuosWHSmrHbBzUuFIRq-a5JgMU_ACB06DnqP0zK50afz4/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2001b.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>And one last impulse before I sent it all off for Laura to look at. After all the monkeying about with bones, what if the text were simple and clean?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTXyXpDd2e3BuUkbhOBVcZwwzXt-FeF_3E_swZ3i2th7VUuF7gFhDcKKt_oLJ_Njtqxht-bKLf08QtWjJzOqS4T2JngN1gBs0slMZjmRUGf5iENKhrm4MK2BggI8f3vhTIasYL91-dPqsmR9em2xmirpomj4K_5sNH0q-fcrt1Jk78OmK25Fo8k4UXjA/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2001a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTXyXpDd2e3BuUkbhOBVcZwwzXt-FeF_3E_swZ3i2th7VUuF7gFhDcKKt_oLJ_Njtqxht-bKLf08QtWjJzOqS4T2JngN1gBs0slMZjmRUGf5iENKhrm4MK2BggI8f3vhTIasYL91-dPqsmR9em2xmirpomj4K_5sNH0q-fcrt1Jk78OmK25Fo8k4UXjA/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2001a.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>I was very pleased that Laura didn't have any readability issues with the skull-face Os or the broken <i>Frankenstein</i>. In fact, she said, "I also love FRANKEN STEIN split onto two levels because he’s made up of two different bodies. It gets to the stitched-together theme in such a cool way."</div><div><br /></div><div>I always love how conceptual Laura gets with her thoughts on cover art. It was a connection I hadn't made, and I loved that she had found it.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">She was drawn to the covers with more color and asked if I could try bringing more color into both the big-skull cover and, in particular, the <i>Vertigo</i> cover, which had very little ("<span style="color: #26282a;">The tiny skeleton face makes me really happy because of its colors</span>," she said.). For the big skull cover, we experimented with different numbers and arrangements of flowers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzP_Tn42kazvAXDPd5AXuBT6AjaPgg1n0n03SGOTPyDGoEhNWWzcJxEyc95dcewWXeYWmKW22h_TYq-EDcHK7y3tFjHy-OonvjhWavxGvsacjedPdtAOEbUHQTmYux7bvwcgsqamH9Zrboh6vjHUTh2aR715hJRqJNjCFgK56dKm04W566MRkzvpaEXS4/s2793/skull%20color%20samples.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2734" data-original-width="2793" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzP_Tn42kazvAXDPd5AXuBT6AjaPgg1n0n03SGOTPyDGoEhNWWzcJxEyc95dcewWXeYWmKW22h_TYq-EDcHK7y3tFjHy-OonvjhWavxGvsacjedPdtAOEbUHQTmYux7bvwcgsqamH9Zrboh6vjHUTh2aR715hJRqJNjCFgK56dKm04W566MRkzvpaEXS4/w400-h391/skull%20color%20samples.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Laura suggested adding another color to the vortex in the <i>Vertigo</i> cover, and I was surprised and pleased with how well that worked. I was able to add the color and line things up nicely so that it didn't obscure the lettering and kept everything in balance.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YeEv1rEszSBH3WSf2-RdQMPwf2Y2PfFKWKz2owlvSbHWoSEfDqGvzq9RyDNMFMRodn7zISsrGaGF-eFrsn6TXuxwZ5zX4pnmMsVo3Am5R88fqWI7WKnRnRvikA6a3Cg7zJGU2YBLmku1zygT00rTLFCt3kFmkYESMlTYA1Gak4IEqmheemqkyTr4WSc/s2700/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2009b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YeEv1rEszSBH3WSf2-RdQMPwf2Y2PfFKWKz2owlvSbHWoSEfDqGvzq9RyDNMFMRodn7zISsrGaGF-eFrsn6TXuxwZ5zX4pnmMsVo3Am5R88fqWI7WKnRnRvikA6a3Cg7zJGU2YBLmku1zygT00rTLFCt3kFmkYESMlTYA1Gak4IEqmheemqkyTr4WSc/w266-h400/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20sample%2009b.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>And the three added flowers not only added to the color but also to the sense of the twirl. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another thing Daniel envisioned: bones breaking or falling off the body. So I added that detail too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Laura pulled together a sampling of favorites and sent them to Daniel for his thoughts. He chose his favorite, and we had our cover. In his back and forth with Laura, he sent her this cute comment:</div><br />"I am so happy with my new baby's outfit."<div><br /></div><div>I am so happy too. In the end, the simpler concept won out. And we may just sneak some of that vortex design onto the back cover.</div><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzK-xYvYzVvXk0OeNXHLZMLCUgU-uHxZw0WJN5vsaABzN-sp0iwxmywZ3lrfIU6WG_jazeI8mhfMntkShNiMyzZ9AXrsnsq083s3su-38828BvsmSAEpQOYuQNjK9-FQVsbgRHcVAsP4PiNQfYYscE8NcyeCrPmix8a83nEGi4buLcwB5Eyl2dGCUQ7w/s600/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20front%20cover%20for%20post%20400%20x%20600%20px.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVzK-xYvYzVvXk0OeNXHLZMLCUgU-uHxZw0WJN5vsaABzN-sp0iwxmywZ3lrfIU6WG_jazeI8mhfMntkShNiMyzZ9AXrsnsq083s3su-38828BvsmSAEpQOYuQNjK9-FQVsbgRHcVAsP4PiNQfYYscE8NcyeCrPmix8a83nEGi4buLcwB5Eyl2dGCUQ7w/s16000/Chicano%20Frankenstein%20front%20cover%20for%20post%20400%20x%20600%20px.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>Chicano Frankenstein will be out March 5, 2024. More information <a href="https://www.forestavenuepress.com/news/acquisition-olivass-chicano-frankenstein" target="_blank">is here</a>. More info on Daniel and his other books, including <i>How to Date a Flying Mexican</i>, <a href="https://danielolivas.com" target="_blank">is here</a>. The photo I used in this post of Día de los Muertos painted skulls was taken by Nikola Tinková and shared from Pixabay.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's an excerpt from the book!</div><div><br /></div><i>The man closed his apartment door and entered the cool evening. He stretched his legs and twirled his arms in three clockwise circles. The man took a deep breath, put on his hoodie, and then started on his nightly run. He turned left on Hurlbut Street toward Pasadena Avenue and then turned left again. The man let his legs stretch out in long strides as his muscles slowly warmed up. Running cleared his mind, made him feel whole. This night, his arms and legs moved as they should, as part of one machine that was created to function without a hitch, in perfect rhythm. This was not always the case, but tonight, the man felt the kind of balance that calmed a desperate small voice in his head. His breathing grew heavy as his legs moved faster and faster in the cool evening. The man’s mind was free and clear as he ran and ran and ran.</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-40450543401681499522023-06-11T10:21:00.003-07:002023-06-11T11:31:38.643-07:00Some passages from my journals about my good friend Robert Hill<p><i>Robert Hill was my second close friend to pass away in a very short period of time, and I've been looking through my old journals for stories I wrote down about both of them. I compiled a bit of a post with excerpts for each of them, and this one is for Robert—a sadly inadequate and incomplete collection as my journaling is scant at times, especially in these later years full of projects and not enough time. But I'm thankful for the memories I did write down, and I thought I'd share for anyone who's missing him.</i></p><div><i>Some commentary and explanations in italics before the entries. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>*</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i>This took place at the home of Tom Spanbauer where I and some friends were in his Dangerous Writing workshop. The "outside group" I mention is a small writing group threesome of Steve Arndt, Kathleen Lane, and me, that we were talking about expanding, and which eventually became the Henry Writing Group (because we met at the Henry, across the street from Powell's). Diane and Dian are different people, not a typo. I honestly can't remember whether I had met Robert by now. It's the first mention of him in my journals.</i></div>Friday, February 22, 2008, 2:25 PM<i>—</i>Pages went well<i>—</i>rewrite passed<i>—</i>of course, Diane wasn't there. <div><br /></div><div>And outside, we were talking<i>—</i>Kathleen, Steve and me<i>—</i>about the outside group. She's spoken to Robert Hill, who's interested, and she wants to invite Dian.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Just a tiny snippet about when I started reading Robert Hill's first book </i>When All Is Said and Done.</div><div>Thursday, February 28, 2008... 2-28-2008... nice<i>—</i>10:28 AM<i>—</i>Finished Now is the Hour yesterday morning and have started Robert Hill's book.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lots of voice. I've already come across good humor and sadness and social issues.<br /><br /><br /><i>This was a writing retreat the Henry Writers took together, and Robert used the time to work on a story he was writing for the book Stephen and I were producing,</i> The Untold Gaze.<br />Monday, October 20, 2014, 4:05 PM<i>—</i>Lovely day-long writing retreat at the Tiny House. It was Liz, Kathleen, Robert, Sara and I, and the house was lovely. I spent most of the writing time up in the loft bedroom, which was so low you had to crawl across the floor to get to the bed, and the roof was a steep slant over your head. It felt cozy sitting on the bed with pillows and a window at my back. Sounds of frogs through that window. And geese. Geese were flying over constantly. At one point, I sort of stretched and craned my neck back and upside-down saw so many geese fly across the sky. Lovely sounds to write by. That and the occasional giggling of Robert just about directly below me in the great room. Giggling to himself about the piece he was writing for Stephen’s book. In the end he told me he was a little over the limit. “You wanted 600 words, right? Mine’s…” squinty-eyed face, “eleven hundred.”<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Snippet from Henry Writing Group.</i></div><div>Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 9:41 AM—Laura surprised us all with the opening to a new book, and Kathleen surprised us with a piece from a whole book she’s written in a month and a half. Both were amazing. Robert with a gorgeous new early piece to his new book, which was very different and added so much to the story. Sara with an essay on rape, which was strong but which we were able to give her a lot of good feedback on. Which she’s writing for a submission to an anthology headed up by Roxane Gay. Dian with a great story she wrote in a garden in France. Liz with a rejection letter for her memoir that she wanted feedback on. It was a night of being enriched in the company of some of my favorite people. And inspired. <br /> <br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>More writing group. The reference to "poeh-treh" is about a performance Stephen and I did at the Poe Show, but what I love about this entry is that it was the first time Robert saw copies of </i>The Remnants<i>, his second book, which Forest Avenue Press published and whose cover I was honored to design.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Wednesday, January 20, 2016, 2:20 PM—had Group last night to fill my soul up again. I read for the first time in months. It felt very pedestrian and not that interesting, but I just wanted to get them back on track with the reading and me back on track with bringing stuff in. All evening, Liz, Steve and Robert kept talking about “poeh-treh” and laughing and talking about how good we were. Liz said as soon as we finished performing, she stood up in applause. “And I hate standing ovations!” she said. Robert walked me to my car afterward and asked me where the inspiration for Lord and Lady Bungalow came from. So funny that it just popped out of our mouths while driving around, on the way to Cape Meers that early trip when we found Bayocean and didn’t get swept away by a tsunami. Laura brought the first copies of <i>The Remnants</i>, hot off the press. She gave Robert a copy of the <i>Poets and Writers</i> that has the piece on Forest Avenue Press and followed it up with pulling out six copies of the book and handing him one. The delight on his face. So fun to watch him look at the actual book for the first time. A couple times I caught him just sort of lightly petting the cover like it was a delicate bird. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Then the wrap-up of Robert's Powell's book launch for </i>The Remnants<i>.</i><br />Friday, March 18, 2016, 10:24 AM—Well, Robert’s launch was a lovely night. Looks like there were at least 75 people. The party at Liz’ beforehand was very nice. Stephen and I met Wes at the call box, and that was a lovely surprise. There were maybe 25 people at the party, and then Group had the front row for the reading, which I think was nice. Stephen and me, Kathleen, Steve, Liz, Dian, Sara (Margaret was out sick but just found out she was one of the runners up for the PEN, which is amazing), Laura, of course, Norm. Stevan Allred. Brad came, which was nice. Jamie, sitting alone in back. Liz was the intro, which was fabulous, and Robert gave a lovely tribute to Tom, which I told him about in my letter. Robert had flowers and/or presents for folks he was thanking, and mine… I sat on the floor and opened it with Kathleen and Steve and inside… so clever. First I unwrapped what looked like crackers and I thought, OK, where’s the cheese. It wasn’t until I finished going through it that it occurred to me, and I said to Kathleen, no, this is just like in the book! Tea and saltines! He gave me two tea cups and saucers, tea and saltines. And a sprig of apple blossoms which—he searched for… what is it in the book… cherry blossoms? But this was a good substitute. He really had the crowd laughing as he read. Stevan likened it to Shakespeare, how at first, you’re a little lost in the language and then you click into it and it becomes this understood, beautiful language you ride, and I think it’s true—the laughter just built. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><i>Another snippet from writing group, this time on Zoom, with a mention of the next book Robert had been working on. (The "poor mouse" is something a crow left in our birdbath, if you must know.)</i><br />Wed, May 12, 2021 at 12:08 PM—I had Henry group, which was just Liz, Robert, Steve and me as Kathleen, who was supposed to join us at the beginning and then the end, couldn't get back on at the end. I only saw her for a moment as she was getting off (I was a little late because of the poor mouse). Robert read the end of his book, which was amazing, and Liz read the beginning of a new project. So it felt like a momentous meeting. We talked and talked about just the last few lines of Robert's book, and it felt like a privilege to do so. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Finally, here are Robert's final words from the final email I got from him. I wanted to share them, not because he mentions reading the book I've been writing, but because I like to picture him there, sitting outside, just enjoying some coffee, and goofing around, beautifully, with words like always.</i></div>It's going to be 88 here today. It's glorious out. I'm sitting on the front porch with my coffee looking at a haze of sage pollen waft across the driveway just in my sight line to a cluster of daffodils across the road.<div><br />Bugs are buzzing, an owl is hooting, in the distance several dogs are engaged in an a cappella argument. <br /><br />I have barely had any clarity to work on STUCK. Maybe 4 pages in the past 3 weeks? Ugh. But... I am looking forward to devoting a church of outdoor time today to diving into your book because it's so charming. And so you. And so therefore attention must be paid! Wait... Willy? Is that you? Are you home from Albany? The boys have a bone to pick with you! What? Lunch with the mayor of Providence? How... special. I made meatloaf for dinner. Digestion must be made.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-89212823462706355112023-06-04T08:38:00.005-07:002023-06-04T09:42:18.215-07:00Some passages from my journals about my good friend Mara<p><i>I recently lost a very close friend who I'd known since I was six and she was four. I started to poke through my old journals, the ones I'd transcribed to computer (which is far from all of them), where I could do a search of her name and see what I found. Most of what I found was nondescript, mentions of hanging out, vaguely-described good times. But I pulled out some passages that were more particular, going back through the years, that I thought I'd share for anyone who knew Mara. </i></p><p><i>Some commentary and explanations in italics before some entries. Spelling and punctuational errors intact because at the start of this, I am eight.</i></p><p><i>*</i></p><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I had a cassette tape and was getting various friends and family to sing and talk on it with me.</i></div>January 31, 1978—On my tape, Mara and I had made a martian story. Something happened & the tape speeded up. We were talking fast & high. It echoed. It sounded so neat!<div><br /></div><div><i>I'm ashamed to share this one because Mara and I were playing a ditch 'em game from my sister Edina, and how mean is that? Also, apparently we were climbing around Mara's monkey bars with pillows on top of it... eek. But it was a very particular memory I have of being with her, just the two of us.</i><br />April 9, 1978—today Mara and I were trying to get away from edina, and we had an idea. it took a while But I got over mara's Fense. I let mara in the T bar had pillows on it and we got on it, and got the giggles. </div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>We were camping at a place called Campland, and they were shooting some sort of commercial. Friendly the Wolf was the place's mascot.</i></div>May 11, 1980—Today I got in another comercial. I was a background. We made a mound of sand for friendly the wolf to sit on. Shena, Heather, Tom, Edina, Mara, Ryan and I walked in the background while friendly the wolf talked. We went home. I watched video taped movies.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The "(s)" below is me describing a motion with the hands that looks like an S.</i></div><div>September 30, 1982—Edina's birthday. We went to the French Pantry for Edina's birthday. Alaine (a waitress) teaches sign language. She gave us name signs. Mine's an "E" (left hand) rubbing my right arm. (I like to make music). Edina is 2 "E"s signing "talk". Frankie is an "F" with the 3 last fingers chomping the thumb for Pac-Man. Heather is "H" (s) Shena is 2 "S"s playing a flute. Alaine's is an "A" dancing. Mara signs "Super Jew." </div><div><br /></div>October 16, 1982—We played our soap opera. You see, about a weak ago we made a soap opera. I'm Lisa Van Jua, a snob. Mara's my sister Andrea. Heather's Stephany Shore. Edina's her 16 year old sister Kathy Morgan. Shena is Jackie Benit. Frankie is Christopher Shena's son & Heather's adopted son. I'm a modle. It's a lot of fun!<div><br /><i>The Butlers were/are Shena and Mara's good friends.</i><br />February 20, 1983—We went to a mission. Then we ate breakfast out. Then we went home. Noni had a big get-together, the Butlers came. I was so mad. Shena and Mara were acting all hot. I got to Special on Lady bug again. We had sundaes. </div><div><br /></div>May 29, 1983—We swam in the lake again. Today I lost one of my ear plugs in the water. Heather & Frankie made up a "Star Wars" presentation & after it we came home. Tonight, Mara & Heather spent the night. We swam in the pool. We watched part of "The Blue & the Grey", I turned it off & I went to sleap.<div><br /></div><div><i>This entry really got to me because Mara's personality shines through so beautifully. It was a visit with a good friend Ian, who we hadn't really hung out with since his brother (my first best friend) had died a year before. (Colleen was a friend of the family and I guess Sean was her son. I don't remember him.)</i></div>Oct 4, 1984, 6:47 PM—Well, Colline brought Ian and Sean over this after noon. We (Shena, Mara, & I) saw them drive up in the van they've always had, as we walked home from school. Mara, instantly tore off her shoes and began to run toward our house and I followed close behind. Shena, however, stayed back abit. Ian got out of the van and it's true. He's almost as tall as I am. Mara gave him a big hug. I don't know why I didn't. I guess I was too scared to know what to do. Mara said a few words and started, with Shena, towards their house. We went in our house. Colline and Mom were talking and Ian and I just stood around for awhile. He seemed as scared as I was. But, then, we both began to loosen up. We played Sean a couple games of pin-ball. Ian got 500,00 on one game. Sal and Susan were over with Chandler. Then, we all began to play tag. It was Ian and me against all the kids. The boundaries were the whole house and yard and we captured them and put them in our "dungeon" It was like old times. Later, Mara came back up and she, Ian, and I talked in my room about old times and things. We talked about Big Bear and the hill behind his house and the tree house he has in his back yard and camping and playing zoo. I was really sad when he left. I think he's coming back on next Tuesday or something.<br /><div><br /></div>12/25/84 7:11 P.M.—Shena and Mara came by and we took a boat ride with Coco in which we sang songs and saved someone's volleyball. Now, they're gone and we're back at the McFerrin's lake house where we're spending the night.<div><br /></div><div><i>There are a lot of years between my childhood and the millennium that I haven't transcribed for computer. Here, Mara was getting married and friends and family were making a quilt for her as a wedding gift, each person making one square.</i></div>Saturday, July 21, 2001, 6:49 am—I started painting background squares for Mara's quilt square yesterday. I have it laid out and am now onto the painting portion. I hope the thing doesn't look completely stupid. I'm using the story of Mara from our childhood, in which they had just moved in and she was going up and down the street asking if parents had any kids she could play with. I'm leaving Kirsten out and just doing a cartoon of Mara at an open door asking the question, with an inset, then, of an older Mara—because we could find no good childhood photos amongst Mom's stuff, nothing that didn't have a hand in front of the face, etc.<div><br /></div><div>Thursday, July 26, 2001, 6:21 am—Last night, I finished up the square for Mara. I think it looks fine. The picture of her looks pretty good and I was able to use the light board to trace some lettering onto the cloth. I was afraid about that because you can't just draw and erase on cloth like you can on paper, so this worked out well.</div><div> <br /><div><i>Another jump forward. I feel like this might have been the first time we saw Mara's house when she and the boys moved in, here in Portland.</i></div>Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 2:41 PM—And then the evening was Stephen, Frank and me with Mara and the family at her house, a tour of her house and pizza, then Stephen home and Frank and I went off with them to the zoo for Zoo Lights. Asher and Boston were bouncing off the walls and it was so much fun. Rainy and wet but lovely lights all around and a train ride. <br /><br /><i>Lastly, an account of the Zoom surprise birthday party Shena and the boys arranged for Mara in 2020.</i><br />Thursday, 6-25-20 8:25 PM—The lovely, funny chaos of the surprise birthday party for Mara. </div><div><br />I logged on about five minutes till. A few people on already, not Shena. Kirsten (formerly) Butler, which was cool and she said, "Hey, Gigi, do you remember me?" Let's see, the group ended up being Shena, Stephen and me, Peg, Boo, various Woodruffs I mostly know by name, Adam, Kirsten, Dave Lambert (who at first couldn't make his sound work and almost gave up), Michael, Heather, Molly and Ryan Silbernagel, and the boys, sometimes on their own devices and sometimes in the room with Mara. </div><div><br /></div><div>At first Mara was on a work call and Asher was doing all this reconnaissance, trying to get Mara off of work and on with us without giving away the secret. When she finally logged in and started to see people she burst into tears. She didn't have it on gallery view, so she kept discovering people one by one, which was cute, and calling out names and sometimes crying again. It was mostly total chaos and Stephen downstairs and I upstairs just sat and took it in. She kept saying funny things and making oopsy faces at the screen, which was cute. We sang the lamest, most halting, most flying-apart-at-the-seams Happy Birthday song ever. </div><div><br /> But she loved it and felt very loved. It was three thirty in the morning in Barcelona. Shena had big, white bulb lights running in an inverted V over her head. Heather made jokey comments about how dare Kirsten be so hot. When I said I thought David didn't have audio or whatever the ability to talk is, Mara made a joke about, oh good, David should shut up, and then Peg said that David had been the one who delivered the flowers and the cake. Shena was told that as leader of the meeting, she could mute people at will and there was joking about someone having his TV on. Someone had a gorgeous set of windchimes ringing here and there in the background. We were all on in the chaos for about an hour and it was sweet and funny. It was a nice, big group. <br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-63050346865909311912023-04-26T08:04:00.002-07:002023-04-26T08:04:36.864-07:00a moment in the day: stream<p>Evening, and I'm sitting on the futon bed upstairs with Nicholas, watching the live stream, on my phone, of the celebration of life for Darcelle XV at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. I hadn't meant to, didn't know there'd be a live stream, but I sat down to rest after helping Stephen move the furniture around in the living room downstairs, and glanced at my phone for a moment, and there it was, and so I clicked in.</p><p>The celebration is tiny in my hand, a little square on the screen, most of that square just the bright amber color of theater lights. A tiny figure in the center, a man giving reminiscences on stage.</p><p>Years back, when Portland was newish to me, my aunt Kathy was all about going to Darcelle's. I kind of loved that it became our family tradition, that for a while whenever someone came to visit from out of town, we'd go to Darcelle's. Kathy always getting us front-row seats and shoving our hands full of dollar bills, especially for when Darcelle came out in the assless chaps to sing "Rhinestone Cowboy."</p><p>Sometimes in the early part of the pandemic, I'd think, when all of this is done with, I'm telling Kathy we have to celebrate by going to Darcelle's again.</p><p>It's been just over a year, now, since Kathy's been gone.</p><p>I lay my head back against the wall and look up through the skylight to the block of evening light that hangs just over my head.</p><p>Stephen's voice from the bottom of the stairs, calling my name. I get up and go over to stand at the top and look down.</p><p>He says, "I had an idea."</p><p>He draws out the word <i>idea.</i> And the smile on his face is sheepish and hoping. He wants me to help him move the furniture again.</p><p>He tells me he thinks the table in the basement would fit perfectly in that one empty spot by the couch and if I wouldn't mind, just a little more...</p><p>I say, "Sure!" Somehow this tiny square of tribute on my phone feels too sacred to turn off or leave behind, so I take my phone with me. Down the stairs. Down into the basement, where we heft the table and carry it carefully up and out the back door, into the evening air, through the backyard gate and heading to the front of the house, the Portland Gay Men's Chorus singing from my back pocket.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-31786808579855379012023-04-24T06:47:00.002-07:002023-04-24T06:53:17.487-07:00Choir Boy at Portland Center Stage<p>On Friday, Stephen and I went to see a play for the first time since before the pandemic began. Gosh, how I've missed the live theater experience: the sets and lighting, the satisfaction of watching real bodies on stage, the feeling of laughing in a theater filled with laughter and applauding in the shared thunder of an audience.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPs5SATO1XmjMhgAjkOY44izaWuDoRpQ0h2umL9QqeUsej2kDA9MzVxBuhBa_g1kDQFkQbMQLU0X03k4lkif5ZzodY5g_iM01rSEpZz4gY4Sa1es5r17zbkgzkytW0f8cbT_KoBGChlj_xDsxlyMK7qwbN3ceJtZKb_ACqrxy7XdMKrdUFuFs7IMY7/s2048/52164011556_fe71919a9a_k.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPs5SATO1XmjMhgAjkOY44izaWuDoRpQ0h2umL9QqeUsej2kDA9MzVxBuhBa_g1kDQFkQbMQLU0X03k4lkif5ZzodY5g_iM01rSEpZz4gY4Sa1es5r17zbkgzkytW0f8cbT_KoBGChlj_xDsxlyMK7qwbN3ceJtZKb_ACqrxy7XdMKrdUFuFs7IMY7/w210-h320/52164011556_fe71919a9a_k.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>The show was <i>Choir Boy</i>, and it's playing now at Portland Center Stage. It's the story of a handful of teens who sing in the venerated choir of an elite Black boarding school—and in particular Pharus, the group's star singer and choir leader. The play opens with Pharus, a junior, singing a solo at the commencement ceremony for the senior graduating class. His performance is interrupted by the homophobic taunts of Bobby, fellow choir boy and nephew of the school's headmaster. When, later, Pharus is called into the headmaster's office and admonished for getting distracted during the song, the boy refuses to rat out the guilty party out of loyalty to the schoolyard code that says you don't snitch on a classmate.<p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote the play that became the film <i>Moonlight, Choir Boy</i> explores themes of race, class, sexuality, coming of age, striving for connection, and most of all, trying to hold onto one's pride of self.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Pharus starts out with plenty of that. He's confident, ambitious, conspicuously queer, effervescent. He's got a light inside and somehow, even in this all-boys school full of rules and expectations, he isn't afraid to put on the high beams. You get the sense he can't <i>not</i> shine as bright as he does. At first. Many coming of age stories are about a character starting small and growing, starting quiet and finding a voice. In <i>Choir Boy</i> we watch Pharus's already-present shine dip and dim against the shadows of events that threaten his sense of self.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpTX2COXLMUKoweSHEftRPQ13KYBa-vBo0bxSj2fsNOJDq-434SxukRx9Endqj5_R_BXt8YBOozgu9B3VIX4kYBmo69pFLtGQSCD2flMJ725EGVwG2gZ0MhGmn4T6nn4r7f1NN8r0aKnBqslCvPk_ViUKM8RrogUKh-w5TlQAMWDnfF7l_qlcje1UD/s2048/52835392559_82bd25409e_k.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpTX2COXLMUKoweSHEftRPQ13KYBa-vBo0bxSj2fsNOJDq-434SxukRx9Endqj5_R_BXt8YBOozgu9B3VIX4kYBmo69pFLtGQSCD2flMJ725EGVwG2gZ0MhGmn4T6nn4r7f1NN8r0aKnBqslCvPk_ViUKM8RrogUKh-w5TlQAMWDnfF7l_qlcje1UD/w400-h266/52835392559_82bd25409e_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Within this tension, though, and the creeping darkness, the show is funny and clever. And actually: infused with joy. Because of the music.</div><p>Drawing on gospel and spiritual music, including the traditional songs known as Negro Spirituals, the music in <i>Choir Boy</i> is wonderful, sung in gorgeous harmony, often a cappella, by Isaiah Reynolds (Pharus), Luther Brooks IV (Bobby), Gerrin Delane Mitchell (Junior, Bobby's sidekick), Delphon "DJ" Curtis Jr. (David, a bookish classmate who wants to become a priest), and Wildlin Pierrevil (AJ, Pharus's roommate). Every song made me euphoric. Even when the music was there to evoke less joyful feelings—melancholy, longing—the beauty of it still made me euphoric. I'd find myself sitting up straight in my seat, leaning forward, as if to get closer to it. At the end of one song, the man directly in front of me raised his arms and made jazz hands, or maybe praise hands, as the applause erupted. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcmZBSAPB0V7Ax8QZ715wLmCPUL5eBKxI0gXNzAiK4iFafdIOn0oLgvYgG5CO44Y8sffup2c3DjaWd-ORrbYUiPepDbIs6CDZVAYkJ3yCsPv0f91Try8MZhADZl8C8yNrbUewzdoQhQb2p4dVzDWQfw8LsQh2Hmw5JuxGqQv1cHbCcAbat-XspysW/s2048/52835392424_25d71a69fa_k.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcmZBSAPB0V7Ax8QZ715wLmCPUL5eBKxI0gXNzAiK4iFafdIOn0oLgvYgG5CO44Y8sffup2c3DjaWd-ORrbYUiPepDbIs6CDZVAYkJ3yCsPv0f91Try8MZhADZl8C8yNrbUewzdoQhQb2p4dVzDWQfw8LsQh2Hmw5JuxGqQv1cHbCcAbat-XspysW/w400-h266/52835392424_25d71a69fa_k.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I liked the minimal set, the towering columns and brick-wall background that made you feel like you were inside the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys. When we were in the shower room (where the boys wardrobed in nothing but towels made for opportunities for both tension and vulnerability), they rolled in a big tiled half-wall structure to denote the shower. When we were in the dorm room shared by Pharus and AJ, they rolled in two beds, Pharus's decorated with warm white Christmas lights, maybe alluding to that don't-hide-it-under-a-bushel light of his character.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This dorm room is the scene of some of the most important moments in the show, exchanges between Pharus and his roommate AJ that open up Pharus's character and gift him with some of the understanding and connection he needs as that bushel comes down. </div><p></p><div>Watching <i>Choir Boy</i>, you do notice that the source material could use just a little more meat on its bones—the other boys are drawn a bit broadly and the premise isn't new—but this is made up for by the transcendent joy of its music, and the deep meaning of the power and tradition of that music. With clever dialogue and the always-skilled stagecraft of Portland Center Stage, it's a thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking show. It was a great production to experience after my pandemic-induced three-year theater dry spell. </div><div><br /></div><div>And truly, I'd see it again just for the music.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it occurs to me as I say that last thing: this isn't what I should be getting out of going to see<i> Choir Boy</i>. This statement comes from a place of privilege. Me as a white woman, sitting at the edge of my seat enjoying the euphoric rush of beautiful sound. This music was not created for my enjoyment. The play goes into some of its true importance—and it's not my place to whitesplain it—but if you're interested in learning more about the amazing music the play draws from, Portland Center Stage wrote a <a href="https://www.pcs.org/features/the-songs-that-held-us-up?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MediaPhotos%2BInvite-ChoirBoy&utm_content=version_A" target="_blank">great article about it here</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or hold off on the article and save it for reading in your program from your theater seats, <i>Choir Boy</i> runs through May 14, and <a href="https://www.pcs.org/choir-boy" target="_blank">more information is here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Photo captions:</div><div><br /></div><div><div>1) L-R: Gerrin Delane Mitchell, Isaiah Reynolds, Luther Brooks IV, Wildlin Pierrevil, and Delphon "DJ" Curtis Jr. in “Choir Boy”; photo by Jingzi Zhao/courtesy of Portland Center Stage.</div><div><br />2) L-R: Luther Brooks IV, Gerrin Delane Mitchell, Isaiah Reynolds, and Delphon "DJ" Curtis Jr. in “Choir Boy”; photo by Jingzi Zhao/courtesy of Portland Center Stage.<br /><br />Poster design by Nick Orr.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-79673354022545496042023-04-06T07:07:00.008-07:002023-04-06T07:10:28.399-07:00Three moments in three days: dream<p>In the dream, I'm walking out of the theater and into another large space, open, like a convention center or an airport, high ceilings. And coming toward me going the other way is Kathy. She looks the way she used to look except her hair is pure blond, no pink. She's waving hello to someone in the crowd around us, still coming at me but not like she notices me or not like she wants to see me. </p><p>When she passes, I follow. "Kathy, I want to talk to you!" </p><p>It's coming up on a year since she died, and both of those facts are unbelievable to me.</p><p>As I follow, the space around us draws wider and emptier, the people disappear. Nothing all around, just Kathy and me.</p><p>I don't know what I want to say to her when she turns. I ask her how she is. I ask for a hug. I ask if she's seen my dad.</p><p>"Oh yeah," she says. "He comes here, too."</p><p>***</p><p>Next night, I try to go there again. I lie in bed and picture the place, the high ceilings, the nothing all around. Try to dream my way back there, but it doesn't work.</p><p>***</p><p>Next night, I try to go there again. I lie in bed and picture the place, the high ceilings, the nothing all around. Try to dream my way back there, but it doesn't work.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-63066395793943279092023-02-05T10:32:00.000-08:002023-02-05T10:32:14.838-08:00Book cover: Soul Jar<div style="text-align: left;"><i>Soul Jar,</i> the next Forest Avenue Press anthology, is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories written by disabled authors. When I first started mulling cover concepts, I was a little stymied by the question of how best to depict science fiction and fantasy and disability all in one effective image. Disability is a huge, varied subject, and it felt wrong somehow to squeeze it all down into the single object of, say, a wheelchair or a container of pills or a hearing aid. And what about all the invisible disabilities that are also very real? Publisher Laura Stanfill said, don't try to find a simplified visual symbol; disability will be front and center in the subtitle. Instead, she suggested that I think on the stories and find my imagery there, as I did with the giant octopus on the cover of <i>City of Weird</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>She sent me a list of some possibilities that stood out to her. A cranberry bog monster. A pizza delivery guy on Mars. A "geyser pterosaur" that squirts great streams of water from its mouth. A girl born in the sea.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was particularly intrigued with the sea girl whose story is lush and melancholy and magical. And the geyser pterosaur, whose story is light and clever. I spent some time building a pterosaur, which I thought I could eventually add shading and detail to if I liked how it was working...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fbppBkOYb5a9UB-h0lSqJFM4Pvq9ge2VwHLj8lPFy-PeTE8Duy2aMNx8wU06ShFwjDypRmMerkC3tjooAm31k5VFfWCjFVh-qsqGJp-Inr5F-96iwErZrtnCWAGVx83uE1M757f8jk_pUkZjXMWubFPnPCkwoPSFXf2LVADElQXtrVmS__qLVIme/s2433/pteradon%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="976" data-original-width="2433" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3fbppBkOYb5a9UB-h0lSqJFM4Pvq9ge2VwHLj8lPFy-PeTE8Duy2aMNx8wU06ShFwjDypRmMerkC3tjooAm31k5VFfWCjFVh-qsqGJp-Inr5F-96iwErZrtnCWAGVx83uE1M757f8jk_pUkZjXMWubFPnPCkwoPSFXf2LVADElQXtrVmS__qLVIme/w400-h160/pteradon%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>...but it wasn't working. Although I share this image of the creature in progress, mostly because I'm happy with the tongue.</div><div><br /></div><div>I moved on to the sea girl, playing with moody greens and hints of yellow. My idea was a blurred-out seascape background overlaid with all the text: title, subtitle, editor name, blurb. For the title, I found a font I liked and turned it into an outline you could see the sea through, then adjusted the J to add the swirl. My hope was that those text elements would be what you see first, and then in the next second you'd discover that in that seascape behind hides the woman.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguupxEs9yRFpfVbMtqozsoIWt7KhzqaraorsUWVNEHNTE7fm-gwpkZ3ZrnHZGlQcpPQj2zwLWFu3q-YahcIx8YoyoEJxFD_kY8z3t1kW5pGyjZTZ0W2Mmt68Y4jXNjhVQ_RkLG9gMLuFW9qZB1dn_MqOalWC3hlPQXzLEfiW3uo2Yzcw63rYQe8jHt/s2700/Soul%20Jar%20Sample%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguupxEs9yRFpfVbMtqozsoIWt7KhzqaraorsUWVNEHNTE7fm-gwpkZ3ZrnHZGlQcpPQj2zwLWFu3q-YahcIx8YoyoEJxFD_kY8z3t1kW5pGyjZTZ0W2Mmt68Y4jXNjhVQ_RkLG9gMLuFW9qZB1dn_MqOalWC3hlPQXzLEfiW3uo2Yzcw63rYQe8jHt/w266-h400/Soul%20Jar%20Sample%2001.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>But at the same time, when I was doing my image search for seascapes I liked, I found this great picture of a jar with lights coming up out of it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJmBw3aGdF9FGtc81ubSlNulaYYyKzleqYPdb7es5avJLrhzI0MucLLE3D2V6j4ewSkK5v8lJjQytcAlNpZdM8_1SI6UTB1TC3EGzjjixeK9cwWM5unvW071sCzaFj_yQ5DxNmTJeKTQJ5u6yzlTINxLLtqNPJagi5cHylVXfavovBY5sGXo1otvbE/s4570/light-2554695.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4570" data-original-width="3046" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJmBw3aGdF9FGtc81ubSlNulaYYyKzleqYPdb7es5avJLrhzI0MucLLE3D2V6j4ewSkK5v8lJjQytcAlNpZdM8_1SI6UTB1TC3EGzjjixeK9cwWM5unvW071sCzaFj_yQ5DxNmTJeKTQJ5u6yzlTINxLLtqNPJagi5cHylVXfavovBY5sGXo1otvbE/w266-h400/light-2554695.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div>Which led me down another concepting rabbit hole. The question of whether or not, and how, to use the object of the jar from the title in the actual imagery was something I mulled a lot. The term <i>soul jar </i>appears in one of the stories as a metaphor, but Laura told me, "to me it speaks of the body and how we <i>are</i> and <i>aren’t</i> our bodies." I liked that a lot. And for me, <i>soul jar</i> also spoke of the head, specifically—the jar, the head; the soul, imagination. I pictured that jar sitting on the cover but instead of the blurred-out spheres of light rising from it: a dragon. The ultimate symbol of fantasy.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I started by taking the picture of the jar, adjusting the color, and using Photoshop's smudge tool to push the lights around so that it looked kind of... firelike.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLhSfVbcROlc-L0QaHQDulxit3_FwpyO1OQjkh5yQZH7t64tFpn6L7RlLBokwLZGA3qSCwTPcI6pQPvPuuzmvJRiWSqFEoM9HPh0klcSRnKZTf5c-1YYpdvI-ubHMS0d_JYE0FHtw0PBVtIfxoDtx1thgP8V-1JhMYYla-jClkuh3Du4nyEdE42kJ/s2560/for%20post%2005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLhSfVbcROlc-L0QaHQDulxit3_FwpyO1OQjkh5yQZH7t64tFpn6L7RlLBokwLZGA3qSCwTPcI6pQPvPuuzmvJRiWSqFEoM9HPh0klcSRnKZTf5c-1YYpdvI-ubHMS0d_JYE0FHtw0PBVtIfxoDtx1thgP8V-1JhMYYla-jClkuh3Du4nyEdE42kJ/w281-h400/for%20post%2005.png" width="281" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Then I built a stylized dragon in Illustrator and used the firelike blob to create a clipping mask.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc90qKKymnxoMjryEuFZmfkPq-9wFsQ2KuBvedtCTqGZVwXCg9jowsxWAdY3igv7FDhiBwigJXTdcIl-sJV7JCfbxWtiiYtSZmN-kd72vFdNdCXd2Aw4cSJAbezuk21BVlpxqByxMY86puNnN_ReS6ASvDBgP_FQdh9V3wj-E1C8YrkwCfMLbTWf-j/s5490/for%20post%2006.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="5490" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc90qKKymnxoMjryEuFZmfkPq-9wFsQ2KuBvedtCTqGZVwXCg9jowsxWAdY3igv7FDhiBwigJXTdcIl-sJV7JCfbxWtiiYtSZmN-kd72vFdNdCXd2Aw4cSJAbezuk21BVlpxqByxMY86puNnN_ReS6ASvDBgP_FQdh9V3wj-E1C8YrkwCfMLbTWf-j/w400-h196/for%20post%2006.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I went back to Photoshop and did some cutting and pasting and painting and erasing and feathering and blurring until it began to look more and more like a rising, glowing, fiery...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_QiDfO5r7qzrtkf6zdlCSQqw9fHqDyr_wIIY_h_I_DoSI2rIoevvDlHakT7rdzksLcMQ1rwZCOKI1jnqSPEqgyLZ8UW95reJN6E3Tegx1a6WQUKkOmcswcBKD2Etv_fVuXjkTb1Fuc1u0VPHp4U27RUH0Fq1_TbmEiS5N-iSswgbTJhGoFjz-Dyl/s2775/for%20post%2007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1875" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_QiDfO5r7qzrtkf6zdlCSQqw9fHqDyr_wIIY_h_I_DoSI2rIoevvDlHakT7rdzksLcMQ1rwZCOKI1jnqSPEqgyLZ8UW95reJN6E3Tegx1a6WQUKkOmcswcBKD2Etv_fVuXjkTb1Fuc1u0VPHp4U27RUH0Fq1_TbmEiS5N-iSswgbTJhGoFjz-Dyl/w270-h400/for%20post%2007.png" width="270" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">...phantom chicken?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The feather (no pun intended) effect and blurring I was using to soften edges and make this dragon look less chunky and more ethereal (and okay, maybe my original drawing?) made the head look way less dragony than I'd been hoping. And I also started to think: Why did I not make this dragon with its mouth more open? Why did I not make this dragon with its head up? It’s bursting out of the jar, bursting into life; why is it doing it so... casually?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I spent a dragon's age tinkering with that head to try to get it right. Fighting with the effects I needed to keep it looking magical. Work, work work—now it's a chicken. Work, work work—now it's a pig. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When I had a cover sample I liked...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_M8vN9K4oRHYsRlsnJCO4eCCAqRzmb34__-o0Devlhn2PCvESf0XaBoXyxYj4jmzbf4lXzT74QwLD4y3dBBMh0icj9AKRXm5vbikbSlN6WZZgmX9LOqJwxt_85JFISmHBClIsu0Sf-Bm_xPZ4W71vxGGQE78zluiZk28O-kXifoA6yFmhiIh_Hpi/s2700/Soul%20Jar%20Sample%2007.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_M8vN9K4oRHYsRlsnJCO4eCCAqRzmb34__-o0Devlhn2PCvESf0XaBoXyxYj4jmzbf4lXzT74QwLD4y3dBBMh0icj9AKRXm5vbikbSlN6WZZgmX9LOqJwxt_85JFISmHBClIsu0Sf-Bm_xPZ4W71vxGGQE78zluiZk28O-kXifoA6yFmhiIh_Hpi/w266-h400/Soul%20Jar%20Sample%2007.png" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">...I sent it, and the sea girl, and the pterodon for good measure, to Laura. (Well, there were a couple versions of some of these, but who's counting?) Laura chose the ones she thought were working best to send to editor Annie Carl for a look.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div>Annie's reaction made me happy: "I think I love the dragon and mermaid equally!!! The green is so pretty. But I have a soft spot for dragons! I’d love to have a dragon cover!"<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>She seemed to lean toward sea girl at first. Then she showed the samples to some friends and family for their thoughts, and consensus drifted toward the dragon, particularly because of the jar. One beta tester noted that the dragon's teeth might be too scary for readers—granted that tester was Annie's six-year-old son. I started getting excited for the dragon jar cover, but then Annie said: "I personally would like the dragon to look more dragon-like, less dinosaur."</div><div><br /></div><div>Argh! I had a chicken, then I had a pig, now I had a dinosaur. I swear I can make a dragon. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the difficult things about tinkering with that dragon head was the soft edges and, particularly, the blur effect behind it. It was very difficult to make any changes without messing that up, making it look very cut-and-paste and not smooth at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>While considering all this, I went back to the sea girl and thought, why don't I just add a jar?</div><div><br /></div><div>That same jar from the dragon jar cover worked well.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajjrDnTn0Bvp_cxoAd6uTu9sMa6edWAKrjs00C5rZAl-oFKB32VAk48FdFEIPlz-SFcM5yYdlq7vc_0kZIC5d0k-wUl0nLaeevosX6N0YgMPRqGvnu6A7KWp-PpNTq-OJFpjP3zSZd24VK_WuJmN740cJqRSAoNFFtoIpXVNAVfSEUSPQVA1D8qL4/s1800/for%20post%2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="1800" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajjrDnTn0Bvp_cxoAd6uTu9sMa6edWAKrjs00C5rZAl-oFKB32VAk48FdFEIPlz-SFcM5yYdlq7vc_0kZIC5d0k-wUl0nLaeevosX6N0YgMPRqGvnu6A7KWp-PpNTq-OJFpjP3zSZd24VK_WuJmN740cJqRSAoNFFtoIpXVNAVfSEUSPQVA1D8qL4/w400-h111/for%20post%2012.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Happily, Laura and Annie liked this addition. Laura shared Annie's latest comments:</div><br />"So now I’m torn because I love both the dragon/dino and the underwater for different reasons. I think the underwater one is more meditative and hints at something a bit sinister. While the dragon one is obvious about the fantasy elements and potential for sinister stories. It’s also more playful and hints at the humor in the anthology."<div><br /></div><div>Laura said maybe I could add one playful element to the sea girl cover. "I’m thinking of how Richard Scarry books had animals fishing and they always caught an old wet boot. Something like the boot. Just amid the scene, nestled in, to say STORY THIS WAY."</div><div><br /></div><div>Ah ha. The boot made me wonder about a fishing hook hanging in the water. When I mentioned that to Laura, she came back with a frog. Orchids. A golden ring. All elements from different stories.</div><div><br /></div><div>I tried adding a swimming frog because it seemed the funniest, but then, as I was sending this latest sample off to Laura, I thought, no. Not frog. You know what this cover needs. A dragon.</div><div><br /></div><div>No, really, I could do it. I just had to start over and create a completely new dragon. </div><div><br /></div><div>I started with shapes and lines.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkPx_7UQNAuJTzI6R29jnFrhOPBvXEdzULlPVIDDOmqqxSKzGQOqPGPhChgXpGIWHzJMzEq1-_azKTJigsFaH7ZbflsbRVW5zVANQ0VEXvgMk15lzhs-lQGe7xSv4zAvJ_RWXgjUpDdni1XG5Q1YBpEPH4Z3ye1_IKup5W8rJ7qE5NIjMWToeJLNy/s1158/for%20post%2008.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1158" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkPx_7UQNAuJTzI6R29jnFrhOPBvXEdzULlPVIDDOmqqxSKzGQOqPGPhChgXpGIWHzJMzEq1-_azKTJigsFaH7ZbflsbRVW5zVANQ0VEXvgMk15lzhs-lQGe7xSv4zAvJ_RWXgjUpDdni1XG5Q1YBpEPH4Z3ye1_IKup5W8rJ7qE5NIjMWToeJLNy/w400-h275/for%20post%2008.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And I built my details on top of it, using mostly blobby shapes to get the sense of the lizardy-bumpy skin dragons have. I knew I could go high-contrast on my details because in the end this dragon was going to be blurred out and softened a lot, so I'd need sharp details to keep everything from disappearing.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObrBGperW-U6DdozHeoSC1QKGNVYgmhWP3Fhlcbj0d9IrTKQwTMxm2xlNJ6EFikJJ_jUyL6hfQLC9jKNDiNoWMJDn-9aHIABmyGz9nLTE2sL5YxYOO8j4mNZUgQ2VykeAmamC0yIVhX13ntBROP42myplXJa7m5Inao2btPrvt9nb02_NgvCdceHC/s1158/for%20post%2009.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1158" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObrBGperW-U6DdozHeoSC1QKGNVYgmhWP3Fhlcbj0d9IrTKQwTMxm2xlNJ6EFikJJ_jUyL6hfQLC9jKNDiNoWMJDn-9aHIABmyGz9nLTE2sL5YxYOO8j4mNZUgQ2VykeAmamC0yIVhX13ntBROP42myplXJa7m5Inao2btPrvt9nb02_NgvCdceHC/w400-h275/for%20post%2009.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZC3Jzse1n1Oap_Vw_KIBNGkc8ZtiTms4IoI5RFHaaFTqPyzYsPBCuvqevldcU46YLOQlyNBGmyIgWkOOkwMLHLZBjvVnoDiiilhpnt3Vaxl_u8AVo5cbMKb-t_coGzgLX4hfdigyScxqjnN-fus8resZ7fDeELaHjk6SzxHW5ulcbr1SWlIxjCR3/s1158/for%20post%2010.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1158" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZC3Jzse1n1Oap_Vw_KIBNGkc8ZtiTms4IoI5RFHaaFTqPyzYsPBCuvqevldcU46YLOQlyNBGmyIgWkOOkwMLHLZBjvVnoDiiilhpnt3Vaxl_u8AVo5cbMKb-t_coGzgLX4hfdigyScxqjnN-fus8resZ7fDeELaHjk6SzxHW5ulcbr1SWlIxjCR3/w400-h275/for%20post%2010.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrvbPLpj-dXLUzeEncMYvjMaQyZi74BnpH1jaaA25Lr5WQT6CChdxXfseUYndu-iBBqNTEhHQqZRUAs7DEQryUZj1zw1711XG1wb9JV-b2Du2QaC1ZZkTsukPexudRWCsl53TF92iYybhVN9NcqrwlQrLRRMICnO6HZ8rGPVqQ8TUXq3o1Mku6hYz/s1158/for%20post%2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="1158" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrvbPLpj-dXLUzeEncMYvjMaQyZi74BnpH1jaaA25Lr5WQT6CChdxXfseUYndu-iBBqNTEhHQqZRUAs7DEQryUZj1zw1711XG1wb9JV-b2Du2QaC1ZZkTsukPexudRWCsl53TF92iYybhVN9NcqrwlQrLRRMICnO6HZ8rGPVqQ8TUXq3o1Mku6hYz/w400-h275/for%20post%2011.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>It wasn't an old, wet boot, but I hoped it would do.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>With some added bubbles and tweaks to the text, I sent along another sample to Laura. She was happy with it and sent it along to Annie and then sent back Annie's thoughts:</div><div><br /></div>"I. LOVE. IT! This is it! This is the cover!!"<div><br /></div><div>I was thrilled. I'd come full circle with jar and dragon, and had given Annie what she'd wanted, all in one.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4KUE3Iz-FVtWDIin2Uje6EiDQLayPg491OIqvXlJTd-OqmJmNs_GAj00IwmVWKCINriUbpsskutrIV2bvHRzUTGWTTDTGt2WxZp_oNWZgbGnLMiE6BbukxSVz0-lpvmh8xw-zKKzBu4vREyEqv0LoV7LPLMXMae1palIo48OSNSLvD59vk8sXjqC/s600/Soul%20Jar%20Doodle%20front%20cover%20400%20x%20600%20pixels%20for%20blog%20post.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4KUE3Iz-FVtWDIin2Uje6EiDQLayPg491OIqvXlJTd-OqmJmNs_GAj00IwmVWKCINriUbpsskutrIV2bvHRzUTGWTTDTGt2WxZp_oNWZgbGnLMiE6BbukxSVz0-lpvmh8xw-zKKzBu4vREyEqv0LoV7LPLMXMae1palIo48OSNSLvD59vk8sXjqC/s16000/Soul%20Jar%20Doodle%20front%20cover%20400%20x%20600%20pixels%20for%20blog%20post.png" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Soul Jar</i> will be out on October 17, 2023. More information <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/soul-jar-thirty-one-fantastical-tales-by-disabled-authors/19651067?ean=9781942436577" target="_blank">is here</a>. And here's a short, and fitting excerpt. From "The Rising Currents of Ocean Fire in My Blood" by Bethy Wernert.<br /><br /><i>My body adapts. Scales become flesh. Gills become lungs. Fins become limbs. Transforming, I grow into girlhood. My coral-strung hair deepens into the earthen volcanic red of lava, and my algae-green eyes become the emerald of moss.<br /><br /> I look just like them. Humans. The only remnants of my squamous body is the slight, coruscating hue my skin reflects in the crescent of the Harvest Moon.<br /><br /> My mother calls me “a gift from the ocean,” her “oyster,” her “pearl.” And like a pearl, she must keep me safe. Safe from the cavernous mouths of those hungry enough to eat mermaids.<br /><br /> She locks me in an aquarium. A large room painted the abyssal blue of the ocean. In the corner of the room is a dresser, the pink hue of anemones. In the other corner sits a simple wooden bed, seaweed green. From the ceiling hangs a mobile, dangling carved shards of mother-of-pearl and glass figurines composed of various sea creatures. A dolphin, a whale, a sea turtle, an octopus, a fish, a squid, a sea star. All dangling precariously on strings.<br /><br /> I spend hours wading through this room. Wandering and exploring its individual nooks and crevices. But it feels too small.<br /><br /> Contained.</i></div></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-44281929211280465292022-11-01T06:58:00.002-07:002022-11-01T07:03:29.859-07:00Book Cover: Mythwakers: The Minotaur<p>One of the funnest projects I've had lately has been for Kate Ristau's new series Mythwakers. </p><p>Anyone who knows Kate or reads Kate knows that any project having to do with Kate is going to be <i>fun</i>. Like her graphic novel <i><a href="http://kateristau.com/wylde-wings/" target="_blank">Wylde Wings</a></i> (with artist <a href="https://believeinwonder.weebly.com" target="_blank">Brian W. Parker of Believe in Wonder Publishing</a>). She hired me to basically be her last set of eyes on the interiors of the book, making sure it looked as good as it could look, and even being just that tiny part of that project, I felt blessed... blessed with <i>fun</i>. </p><p>Going through that book, I was so drawn into the story and the voice, not to mention the fabulous artwork by the actually magical (no, I'm pretty sure he is) Brian W. Parker. It made me want, more than ever, to be able to get my own hands into a Kate book—and then abracadabra, it happened!</p><p>I love the concept behind Mythwakers. It's a series of books that teach kids (grades 3-5) all about mythology, through the point of view of its characters. The first in the series spotlights the minotaur. It's Asterion himself, telling his story from his own point of view. How fun is that? </p><p>Designing for a series is a very particular experience. Book cover design is about puzzling—taking all the elements (title, subtitle, author name, blurb, relevant imagery, genre, tone) and fitting them together perfectly—but with a series, you're building something that will live beyond the initial book. That's a whole separate kind of puzzling.</p><p>Now, I should mention that Kate Ristau, along with being <i>fun</i>, is a person who knows a heck of a lot about not only writing but creating, concepting, designing—really, all the aspects of putting together a really good book. So she came to me with clear ideas of what she wanted. She had comp titles for me (books that are comparable to hers), ideas on color, thoughts on layout... she even made me some quick sketches to show what she was thinking.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYPnByxvV3R8zP4vbmr_kOSv94vij1uIHlXfwC78nIPEEIG5r3V0nAaGoOkTiBWgYkVKl2W1IOlEy8HgzthIjiIUqIhVRZdndEx61OIatyhBzL3HWuI9-ElQKgErmNbe5zWmb9euizBDli0hZfC6dLFoBIfhqROa7W5naydRku1FxzrDJzPXWyro2H/s3054/Minotaur%20post%2001.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2156" data-original-width="3054" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYPnByxvV3R8zP4vbmr_kOSv94vij1uIHlXfwC78nIPEEIG5r3V0nAaGoOkTiBWgYkVKl2W1IOlEy8HgzthIjiIUqIhVRZdndEx61OIatyhBzL3HWuI9-ElQKgErmNbe5zWmb9euizBDli0hZfC6dLFoBIfhqROa7W5naydRku1FxzrDJzPXWyro2H/w400-h284/Minotaur%20post%2001.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">I loved her ideas of the scrollwork connecting things together. And then I started thinking about the idea of </span><span style="text-align: left;">Mythwakers</span><span style="text-align: left;">. How best to portray the idea of myths </span><i style="text-align: left;">waking</i><span style="text-align: left;">. Coming up out of sleep. Bursting back to life. I pictured the magic of myth coming up out of an open book.</span></div><p>Really, once I'd spent some time thinking it through, the visual concept for Mythwakers burst out much like that mythly magic bursting out from the book: quickly, happily, and fairly fully formed. Kind of like Athena bursting from the head of Zeus, but that's a different myth. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHYCKDXEwoHSISTx0AmQPWde_uP_A0_0pUjJ60pVFJ6rre6kgYWmmCghr4UIJ4Igq-azp9EX9KgGoVNSjfPmjHQI0lXVXMDlBVCoKvcXY6lHwbJMIsobmvBBM8FomcPZRpNubrU4B8EDFnyHyz2lqvgxbMAib7SgHb4-2XEVMW4oU75fDvejUQmbUb/s2979/Mythwakers%20concept%20sample%2001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2979" data-original-width="1862" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHYCKDXEwoHSISTx0AmQPWde_uP_A0_0pUjJ60pVFJ6rre6kgYWmmCghr4UIJ4Igq-azp9EX9KgGoVNSjfPmjHQI0lXVXMDlBVCoKvcXY6lHwbJMIsobmvBBM8FomcPZRpNubrU4B8EDFnyHyz2lqvgxbMAib7SgHb4-2XEVMW4oU75fDvejUQmbUb/s320/Mythwakers%20concept%20sample%2001.png" width="200" /></a></div><p>Usually I send more than one sample-in-progress, but I was so happy with what I'd come up with that I sent that single sample Kate's way. And she really liked it too. Then we made one big change. From a book to a scroll, which brings an element of antiquity into the design. I sent Kate three versions of this for her to choose from.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUDle_y6h2cePMxQ40Jc4vjDsMMeL6qblzNEYJzptjIl3Y2lSj374CGJIjUuwdB3iMWOcTuj2LlCLU_s-Ik3gLcB0f261u1wOCxlXhiXvbrIn3zgy4hOGyfWL3jCeI2wvq4-3ddORGy9Te33T_xHPs7jZTe6xs5JsHbFHwloKuxn5m4n46bQ0PbGB/s4120/Minotaur%20post%2002.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2108" data-original-width="4120" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUDle_y6h2cePMxQ40Jc4vjDsMMeL6qblzNEYJzptjIl3Y2lSj374CGJIjUuwdB3iMWOcTuj2LlCLU_s-Ik3gLcB0f261u1wOCxlXhiXvbrIn3zgy4hOGyfWL3jCeI2wvq4-3ddORGy9Te33T_xHPs7jZTe6xs5JsHbFHwloKuxn5m4n46bQ0PbGB/w400-h205/Minotaur%20post%2002.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>She chose her favorite, and we had our cover!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_tfLcc1KD1qOG9yx5RY6LxO71dyuP-D3qQYUfArL0YvV73RCcb0sUSccObLa0q5cnfPzEE0YnqpCxyRSuqvWPaoZvi3dza-jnTXTtmgBpXRwdqMCSWIyHnDmuj1iYt69--w0m9ktKP2Ng804p0pdwkrm_G6lCHBASlG6PlIGYoo20d8bT7YWLJZ-/s640/Mythwakers%20the%20Minotaur%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_tfLcc1KD1qOG9yx5RY6LxO71dyuP-D3qQYUfArL0YvV73RCcb0sUSccObLa0q5cnfPzEE0YnqpCxyRSuqvWPaoZvi3dza-jnTXTtmgBpXRwdqMCSWIyHnDmuj1iYt69--w0m9ktKP2Ng804p0pdwkrm_G6lCHBASlG6PlIGYoo20d8bT7YWLJZ-/s16000/Mythwakers%20the%20Minotaur%20front%20cover%20400%20px%20wide%20for%20post.png" /></a></div><p>The Kickstarter Pre-Order for <i>Mythwakers: The Minotaur </i>launches today, November 1st, and goes until November 17th. There are lots of fantastic rewards too—including, I'm told, a Minotaur meeting! If you want to check it out and even help bring this book to life, <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kateristau/mythwakers-nonfiction-myth-series-for-kids" target="_blank">you can find that here</a>.</p><p>More info on Kate and all her books <a href="http://kateristau.com" target="_blank">is here.</a></p><p>And here's an excerpt!</p><p>*</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Hi! My name is Asterion! I am a minotaur. You may recognize me from such books as <i>Clockbreakers </i>by Kate Ristau, or from old-timey poems and epic stories written by guys like Ovid and Plutarch. Those authors got some things right, but they got more than a few things wrong, and I’m here to set the historical record straight.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">My life is pretty a-maze-ing. Get it? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">That joke never gets old, even after all these years. I mean, you could almost get lost in it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Like a maze. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Moving on, I am so glad you are here. I am a Mythwaker — a legendary character from an ancient myth that has come to define an entire generation. What? You don’t know what a myth is? You are totally going to love this. Pull up a chair, get comfortable, and we’ll explore myths, mazes, and most importantly: me.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Myths</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">A lot of people use myth to mean a fake story. That’s one meaning of the word myth, but the kind of myths I am talking about are <b>mythology</b> — the foundational narratives, or stories, of a particular culture. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Sorry. I used a lot of big words there. All those centuries trapped in the labyrinth were SUPER BORING, so I read a lot of scrolls. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Back to <b>myths</b> — just think of them as the important beginning stories of a group of people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The group of people — or <b>culture</b> — that we will be talking about today is the Greeks, and a little bit about those Minoan dudes too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Here’s an important thing for you to know: people argue a lot about my story. Some people think it happened. Other people think it didn’t. Some people think Theseus was a hero, while smart people know that he is a ding-dong.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">That’s the thing about myths — they are around for a long time, passed down from one person to the next, so not all the versions are the same. Think about if your best friend told you a story, which you turned around and told your grandma. Would you tell the same exact story your friend told you to your kind, gentle grandmother? Would you keep all the bloody parts or would you clean things up a bit? You would probably make a few changes, right? Most of us do, and that is why myths are never told the same way twice.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Best friend story, now featuring:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Blood and guts!</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Nasty villains!</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Mean kids! </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Burps and farts!</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 12pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Tacos!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Grandma story, politely exploring:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 12pt 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Talking animals.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Snuggly kittens.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Flowers and smiles.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Five guys named Alfred.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in 0.4in 12pt 43pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">• Hard candy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Stories change depending on who is telling them and who is listening to them. If you’re talking to your best friend, you might be shouting about fiery salsa and guacamole. If you are sweetly sitting beside your grandma, you could be whispering about butterscotch and rainbows. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">That’s the thing about myths: the audience matters. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">How we remember myths has a lot to do with who was telling the story and who was listening. The stories were constantly changing, but the ones that hung around were the ones that people remembered. They appealed to the culture. They mattered to the listeners. In this way, the audience and the storytellers can change myths for the good, for the bad, and for the tacos.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652815091354593009.post-25009851933175454212022-10-13T08:52:00.000-07:002022-10-13T08:52:01.884-07:00Ten Years of Forest Avenue Press<p>It seems unimaginable to me that this October is Forest Avenue Press' tenth anniversary. Ten years ago this month we published our first book, <i>Brave on the Page</i>, very DIY style, printing it on the Espresso Book Machine that used to be housed in the Purple Room at Powell's City of Books. We hosted reading events, one of which took place one floor up from the Espresso Book Machine, in Powells' Pearl Room, a coveted spot for writers of all types to present their books.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgiVB8smxZkffbhV2fT65uw39AlVV40N3rrgBzKoPHTxbwbw-BfrTqWUOmMSXW5NrWaeYiMA4EjtNzWq_4UTgujspaLsDcXMJL2k4D4ewrr6OYq-szGVVrxIjJYmfQ-ViXnbK0Ny7FwRs6GRuVPG629rnn3B24ndV-w0vaCdnTTu9g4VyWBvWQlY5/s960/226093_398835276877871_2070626513_n.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="960" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgiVB8smxZkffbhV2fT65uw39AlVV40N3rrgBzKoPHTxbwbw-BfrTqWUOmMSXW5NrWaeYiMA4EjtNzWq_4UTgujspaLsDcXMJL2k4D4ewrr6OYq-szGVVrxIjJYmfQ-ViXnbK0Ny7FwRs6GRuVPG629rnn3B24ndV-w0vaCdnTTu9g4VyWBvWQlY5/w400-h265/226093_398835276877871_2070626513_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I say "we" because I'm of a handful of folks who are involved with the press, including readers, copy-editors, proofers, and our editor-at-large Liz Prato—but really Forest Avenue Press is mainly all Laura Stanfill.</p><p>Star Laura Stanfill—a star the way stars are just before they become black holes: compact and more stellar than you can imagine. That's a weird metaphor and I don't mean to say Laura is compact, or about to turn into a lethal sucking vortex of some kind. I just watched a show about black holes before starting to work on this. Anyway, I'm trying to say there's no one who contains so much energy and so much shine.</p><p>And because it's our tenth anniversary, I just wanted to take a moment to honor her and the press she built and the community she helped grow and the books she brought into the world.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgPD0RhzmmkmvrrWCClQllOEY2OrQ28B2qoiAznEI9VVOUU_g0B_MbU836yGkVPXyg6-R9XyRsP4JqQos-pf5ksGCSnpB60pmPi0_AyYYNGwPw1HwjrIV6swqstd7akmXjC7mtKwUiNZPzlHppxQtCNTZWOFKi3ZV6h8Eo9_EqKmDzOaHkzSX7mZj/s6141/All%20the%20covers%20for%2010th%20anniversary.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6001" data-original-width="6141" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgPD0RhzmmkmvrrWCClQllOEY2OrQ28B2qoiAznEI9VVOUU_g0B_MbU836yGkVPXyg6-R9XyRsP4JqQos-pf5ksGCSnpB60pmPi0_AyYYNGwPw1HwjrIV6swqstd7akmXjC7mtKwUiNZPzlHppxQtCNTZWOFKi3ZV6h8Eo9_EqKmDzOaHkzSX7mZj/w400-h391/All%20the%20covers%20for%2010th%20anniversary.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>But here's the thing about Laura Stanfill. Above, I was talking about how this press is mainly all her. But for Laura, it's all about all of us. She never thinks about Forest Avenue Press as <i>her</i> press. Her aim is helping writers get their stories into the world, helping readers find each other, helping people find community. She's constantly using her very limited free time to give advice to new writers. She's always looking for opportunities to bring people together.</p><p>For my part, I don't think I can adequately express how much better my life is because of her and Forest Avenue Press. I wouldn't have loads of lovely friends I have, and so many amazing experiences, I wouldn't have the wonder that is <i>City of Weird</i>, I wouldn't be a book designer today, if not for the moment she and I stood on the sidewalk after our writing group ten years ago and I said, are you really thinking of publishing a book, and she said yes, and she said, were you serious in there when you said you'd make me a cover, and I said yes. What a ten years it's been. It's made my life infinitely more rich. I say that for myself, but I know it's true for so many other folks too. Happy anniversary*, Forest Avenue Press, and happy anniversary, Laura. Here's to the years to come.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8eXzN4usb6TISHJyGb9NTHL4XmgfD1nApUX6XE04ttSdt-ergiyO401HRRrGD3cG4-c8i1XAUGKEPdAgeI2x95vh2H3kO3nUFglxfnLc9uMnOonISNpk2Mp1rneUY4EdbY1mlabsP1lfBHzwZVcNY682mHzwmAmkn8loIC12RkWt984OuhDrQdan/s640/311126185_2197531087094424_8060110151342203769_n.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="640" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8eXzN4usb6TISHJyGb9NTHL4XmgfD1nApUX6XE04ttSdt-ergiyO401HRRrGD3cG4-c8i1XAUGKEPdAgeI2x95vh2H3kO3nUFglxfnLc9uMnOonISNpk2Mp1rneUY4EdbY1mlabsP1lfBHzwZVcNY682mHzwmAmkn8loIC12RkWt984OuhDrQdan/w400-h265/311126185_2197531087094424_8060110151342203769_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvPAZbjDucSPe0BRNCEHPXHVczl3RU81CP_YdbiQPCFEiORPWLaVztXipeJeQw2jDhQN9ohVjHa5Ll78yK8vzEzfbLZSG2IuFBOnfghgT1iwhfcxOvdEiTxVviJNGpslfBuELwrsG3YwM_zL315qIQ8eHZBe-8CZj6BFmNuzud9qFETSWHEGAb7uY/s482/18268354_10213113186052260_2581638996164981972_n.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="482" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvPAZbjDucSPe0BRNCEHPXHVczl3RU81CP_YdbiQPCFEiORPWLaVztXipeJeQw2jDhQN9ohVjHa5Ll78yK8vzEzfbLZSG2IuFBOnfghgT1iwhfcxOvdEiTxVviJNGpslfBuELwrsG3YwM_zL315qIQ8eHZBe-8CZj6BFmNuzud9qFETSWHEGAb7uY/w400-h400/18268354_10213113186052260_2581638996164981972_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuqB19d9xf4ltgBsnshOo_aK3oMRqFEBX4AxHulgO1yr91hrrZumXaNVCUCuxNNe1rRIzOY9n8kRCNwpUvdULt49AxOzZNu-JYBYTEeOQxML9MxKwIdx-96ysd304m3fadnsYHb1bHBRITt8sIfVHlLCPirA34OGpRhUqAOTMXr37DjWf4P9_qucU/s960/10320516_10152877877454546_7571213730934690703_n.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuqB19d9xf4ltgBsnshOo_aK3oMRqFEBX4AxHulgO1yr91hrrZumXaNVCUCuxNNe1rRIzOY9n8kRCNwpUvdULt49AxOzZNu-JYBYTEeOQxML9MxKwIdx-96ysd304m3fadnsYHb1bHBRITt8sIfVHlLCPirA34OGpRhUqAOTMXr37DjWf4P9_qucU/w400-h300/10320516_10152877877454546_7571213730934690703_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZgR591AzFJRIEvlez6dt6_NjLJweGR4ssJaXD2Af77iRwRsYY2KzbMT3ksKz5uZv0CkfNrnxg9d5HBetLy-hn2z_S7OB141ifuuL-gcwfOMe0eM5WhjcBaVQnVMRdMW_1zTJWo-Ba3-jKYR4FwCU8ECGKWhQMOC-s82Ix2UwDq9dtX0VS37rF30w/s1870/71963375_1297014963812712_599613121404862464_n.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1870" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZgR591AzFJRIEvlez6dt6_NjLJweGR4ssJaXD2Af77iRwRsYY2KzbMT3ksKz5uZv0CkfNrnxg9d5HBetLy-hn2z_S7OB141ifuuL-gcwfOMe0eM5WhjcBaVQnVMRdMW_1zTJWo-Ba3-jKYR4FwCU8ECGKWhQMOC-s82Ix2UwDq9dtX0VS37rF30w/w400-h269/71963375_1297014963812712_599613121404862464_n.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>*OK, I'm not sure which day in October to call the actual anniversary. But I think we should celebrate all month long.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2