Losing Faith - and accurately justifying it.

This is one of the eight books I picked up in New York, this from the wonderfully-named 'Mysterious Bookshop'.

A typical example of the title (spine only visible when I selected it) i.e. font plus colour initially attracting my attention, and then the blurb, which began "We are burying her today."

Speed-reading, I omitted the next paragraph and read the first line of the third: "Faith had been dark, disturbing, a Goth" which presumably (because I remember no conscious thought) removed all expectation that it would be at all religious.

Third paragraph of the opening page describes a breakfast which "sizzles and giggles to itself"; egg yolk described as "a malevolent yellow eye watching me from the plate."
And I am hooked.

And continue to be so throughout the book.  My Goodreads review was as follows:  "I did enjoy this. Disconnected. Fractured. Slow to start, hard to see for much of the time where it is heading. Not at all consecutive and the main character un-named and of dubious character, but a thoroughly engaging read. And one I'll read again."

And two novels more by Daniel Blythe are on their way from Amazon (despite the fact that I subsequently discovered he also writes Dr. Who books!!!)
He also kindly sent me the image for the cover since it does not appear on Goodreads

Musty in here isn't it?

Yes, it's been a while, but I have been away and have not yet got photos, notes in any sort of order, plus lots of catch-up to do.
HOWEVER I was directed to this site which amusingly deals with one of my bêtest noirs: book cover clichés

Dressing to tease?

A letter in yesterday's Daily Telegraph* referred to the cover of the paperback edition of Harlan Coben's Stay Close, saying it had 'absolutely no connection with the story'.  Coincidentally, I had earlier that morning, reviewed G J Moffat's Blindside on Goodreads, beginning with the question 'What the hell does the cover (plane crashed into a loch) have to do with the story?'

Such carelessness is not  universal:  in December 2011, the Daily Telegraph interviewed Suzanne Dean, who explained in some detail how the cover of Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending came about, and many, many books have what are obviously well-thought out covers.  Additionally, I remain fascinated by the ability of publishers to correctly lure me to he type of books I like.
 
So why do some so  totally disregard content?  Fail, at times to even bother with a photograph of the relevant location?  It's not rocket science and any book that has made it thus far deserves better; any reader not to have his intelligence insulted.

Harlan Coben is published by Orion, G J Moffat by Headline, a division of Hachette - neither of them unknown.

*from Keith Edwards, of Tattershall, Lincolnshire

When the going gets tough ...

... or even just because I want to ... And it isn't even procrastination really, just a minor diversion, but this is the (current) version of the cover for the book to follow 'Not wanted on voyage'.   Only a third of it written so far, but I'm wanting to get on with it, which is why I've been head down trying to finish final drafts of both NWOV and 'Making good', the fourth (and possibly, last) in the Bridie and Sean series.

Counting drafts

And no, not the sort that currently waft through even the double glazing today, swirling the polystyrene snow (and yes, I do know they're spelt differently)

Today I finished reading the revisions I'd made after three read-throughs of  'Holding steady', the second full-length novel in the Bridie and Sean series (strictly speaking, the first three were novellas) and have now put it aside to prove for a bit, while I get on with doing much the same for 2011's NaNoWriMo, 'Not wanted on voyage', which started with the intention of being a sort of detective novel but I fear has a hefty dose of romance within it.

So much so that when a friend thought the cover 'very masculine' I knew it had to be tweaked.

I also finished reading, lunchtime, Jane Rusbridge's 'The devil's music' - recommended (I think) in a Spectator review and bought in Wells nine days ago.  Certainly merited the five stars I awarded in on Goodreads.   Certainly makes me aware of the overly-explained nature of some of my writing.

Not wanted on voyage - re-revised

Another version - a first third-round prototype - hopefully avoiding those generic,
one idea fits all images,but intimating a bit more what the book might be about.

(I haven't yet re-thought the blurb, and black is not right for the back page text, but the wood-grain title is an improvement, I think.)

Making good - finished (fingers crossed)

I think this is finished.   

Not totally, upload-it-to-Lulu finished, but all written.

More than a first draft because I always edit as I go, a LOT, as much to inform myself of what is to happen next.   Also because sometimes I need to put stuff down even when I know it's crap writing, which I go back to later to improve.  
This time there is not a great cliff-hanger which appeared at the end of 'Damage limitation' so it might well be the final time Bridie and Sean make their appearance (which feels a bit sad, to be honest.)

And the cover picture is no longer pink because my dearly beloved spouse, viewing the image on-screen, wondered aloud why I had chosen to use a photograph of a pig's ear.

The art of cover appeal - a revision

And possible solution ... ?

The art of cover appeal - a self indulgent poll

The book is written and I'm awaiting feedback before publishing.   I've been designing covers again (and this beats housework any day ...)
To make it less self-indulgent I'm turning it onto a poll.

At a glance, which one would you'd reach for if you saw

it on a shelf, wanting to know if it was something you might

like to read?

would it be (l-r) 

a) splurge of larks

b) boat ribs

c) boat of celebration

d) apples and serpents

e) none of these

More about book covers

 An article in Saturday's Telegraph Review section led me to Google Suzanne Dean - the book designer cited by Julian Barnes in his Man Booker Prize acceptance speech.   It is an ever-fascinating topic to me, not so much at the high class, thing of beauty end (although I appreciate that) but how well books which appeal to me actully signal that fact in their cover.
Links for more about Suzanne Dean and book design are at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8929045/Suzanne-Dean-the-secret-to-a-good-book-cover.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/beautiful-book-covers?newsfeed=true

An experience from my childhood:  a cheap edition (Dean) of a classic story in which one character calls herself 'George' - depicted in the line drawing as a blazer-clad schoolboy with cap. (And having Googled this I find it was a Famous Five, which I read very few of, my father disapproving - the book itself I threw away in disgust.)

Apple and serpent - not working on 'Voyage'

Some more displacement activity while I wait for the words to start flowing again - I have the mysteries of Ian to reveal and the supposedly nightmare-ending rendezvous for Sarah to work out.

In the meantime I thought about an alternative cover design for my NaNo novel and fancied re-using the apple and serpent images created for a screenprint some half a dozen years ago.   I spent a good three hours playing with multiple Photoshop layers to achieve the best possible colour combination.
But my original idea - of a couple of columns of this motif, an outline ship - just did not gel, so I scrapped the lot.

Not a disaster - it allows me to play again another day.